Pickering College - Voyageur Yearbook (Newmarket, Ontario Canada)

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Literary the dream 'r wAs ON A HOT, HUMID sUMMER's DAY soixmwnnicn ix lNni..xN.x that a boy sat with his back against the stout trunk of an ancient elm and a book propped open in his lap. The boy was a huge lad for his age of twelve, almost thirteen, years. He stood pine-tree straight at five feet, eight inches in his stocking feet. His face was one that showed health, strength, determination and a sense of understand- ing. He was not what one would call dashing and even at that young age the beginnings of a squareicut jaw and a slightly hooked nose were apparent. The book in which he was so deeply engrossed was entitled The Life and Works of H enry VII. The boy was reading this with such intent that one would think his life depended upon his knowing the contents of this slightly battered book. He was studying it because the novel had been so hard to obtain. After all he had waited four months and walked seven miles to get this particular volume. Presently his eyes began to water, then his eyelids grew heavy, as if in a desperate appeal for rest, his eyes started to ache. With a sigh of almost dis- appointment the boy marked his place carefully and closed the book. He set it on the grass next to him, leaned back against the massive trunk of the elm and began to think. He thought of his past. How his folks had moved from Kentucky to Indiana for better farming land. He thought he remembered vaguely the small log cabin in which he had been born. Ever since he had been able to stand he had been working, now he rose with the sun and bedded down with the same. That was his past but what of the future, tomorrow and the next day and the next? VVas he to carry on in his father's footsteps - a dirt farmer who had struggled to stay alive all through his existence? NVhere was his place in life? Above him a wood-thrush hopped merrily about, trilling her song of happiness. This distracted the boy from his thought so that presently he fell into a world of dreams. He dreamed that he sa.w a tall man in a black suit and a battered black hat speaking to a crowd that listened to him with a deathly-still awe. The crowd appeared to be listening closely as if not to miss a word of the tall man's speech. The man seemed vaguely familiar, like someone he knew very well but couldn't quite place. Suddenly, rudely, a voice broke into his dreams. He finally placed it as the voice of his mother calling him. Abel the voice carried with it a note of irritation. Abraham Lincoln, I know ye're up there. Come, there is wood to be chopped afore ye get supper. ' -BILL OAYLEY Twen ty-three

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T smrelziny and tried getting a job and with what abilities he has . . . tried applying' what experiences he has been privileged to receive. I suggest that a challenge is being given to you now at Pickering. Each of you is in a fortunate position. The stimulus is being provided for you here, to go out and be, not only a responsible citizen, but a lcruler in a democratic society. Not all educational institutions are providing this stimulus these days. Do you know that democracy depends on a very few individuals, an almost lrigliteiiingly low percentage ot' the population, who accept responsibilities to defend it not against the comnumists or against Russia, but against decadence, apathy and intolerance in our own society. Some ol' you at Pickering must become members of The Flew . You are privileged, not because your families had the money to send you here, but because you happen to be here and because you are receiving this kind of stimulus. lf the ideals of Pickering can be applied to a little business here in Newmarket. they can be applied anywhere . . . even in big industry, and they can save our way of life. But they must be maintained through never-ending effort by The Few . The challenge will be there. You will go on reacting to it. You have an obligation to fulfil. The fulfilling of it cannot itself be an end for you. You will go on and on till your life ends, trying to fulfil it. Your contribution to society will be measured according to that never-ending effort. And only you yourself can be its true critic. These things l have said to you this evening have great meaning to me. I hope that you are receiving at least some of the message that I intend to convey. The significance ot' the principles and ideals ot' Pickering did not occur to me with great impact until some time after I left this school, but they were planted firmly in my mind while l was a student. l stumbled on an opportunity to apply them. l hope you will always be in search ot' similar opportunities.. THE FIHTII HOFSE CHOIR it , 1 'L LI !

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why I want to live LL THE woRLn's A STAGE, and each person an actor, but how many really know the part they are to play in this great drama? This is a question that can only only be answered by hard concentration and thought. The grade 11 English class were faced with the problem of deciding why they wanted to live and they came up with some interesting and thought provoking ideas. Printed here are a few excerpts from these essays. I want to live so I can lie on my bed and stare out the Windows when my homework is finishedg so I can wander into another room and sit around and talk with some of my friends! so I can go out and play sports or walk down town and look at the girls, or play a game of poolg so I can go down to supper and after supper go outside and have a cigarette and talk about the exciting summer ahead. Many of the members of the class considered the future and found reasons for living in what they hoped they would accomplish: I want. to live so that I may make a great contribution to mankind and be- come famous. Perhaps I will be a famous scientist and invent a great new rocket, or in the field of medical research, a. cure for cancer. Perhaps I will become a, great statesman, author, lawyer or Nobel prize winner. NVhatever I do in my lifetime I want to be a great success at itf' One student, however, felt there was one thing we didnt want to do: UN home people figure that they would like to get married when they are 19 or 20. But not me. I can't see it. Who would want to be tied down at such an early age in their life? I would like to get married when I am about 28. VVhen I am married I'd like to have a family, a. house and a car. I want to achieve something, but heaven knows what. This sentence summed up the attitude of a large number of students. Life was a challenge in their eyes, but a challenge to what, they were not certain. Everything meets the challenge of life. Plants struggle to get above groundg the animals come out of hiberna- tion after a long winter, and take on new lifeg these are examples of challenges that are met and in most cases, overcome. In my life I want to be happy and contentg I want. to make others happy and contribute something to society: I want to do something a little different and a little better than anybody before meg but most of all, I want to meet the challenges which life offers and overcome them. Some writers sensed that their reason for being alive had nothing to do with their personal desires but rather was involved in the purpose and meaning of all life. It is the belief of every Christian that his God brought him into the world, and that he would not have, if there wasn't a divine reason . To this and many other ideas seine students took strong exception. Did God put me on this earth for a purpose and to do an errand for him? Ridiculous, isn't it? If God wanted something done that bad I'm sure he would do what any human would have done. He would have accomplished it himself and thus been sure of a good result. Even the idea of God came under question, but in a very strange way. There is no God apart from myself. I am God. However, I should have a hard time impressing this on others because they too feel they are divine. A summary for this kind of thing is difficult to find but most of the Writers were in general agreement with the student who wrote: HI happened once. I perhaps could happen again. But since I happened by a freak of nature, let me live out my freakish self to the full, Twen ty-four