Riverbend School for Girls - Vox Fluminis Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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Page Twenty-one VOX FL UMINIS Saturday afternoon, and to bring everything possible that would be helpful to a needy family. We secured dresses for the children and mothers and fixed them up as best we could. Some knitted things for the baby, others mended or sewed. Then we thought that it would be a novel idea and also a useful gift, to make an afghan for them. So we gathered up all the scraps of wool we had. and brought them to school. In every spare minute we made squares. Soon we got the reputation of being grannies. The afghan consisted of a very colorful array of squares, reds, greens, blues, etc.. made from scraps of wool, except for the black around the edges. When we had completed all the clothes, and the afghan, we procured groceries that we thought would be acceptable and a few little Christmas luxuries, such as candies and nuts. For the children there were dolls, Christmas stockings, and for the mother, a sewing basket. About the third Saturday before Christmas, we wrapped everything up separately in Christmas wrapping, with tags, and next Friday packed them all in a large box. A few weeks later we received a letter from the father and family, who said that it had arrived safely and was gratefully received. -Betty Mackay and Marian McCurdy, 1,-i.. Grade IX. CONSTANTINOPLE i Constantinople, the capital and largest city of the Turkish Empire, derives its name from Constantine the Great, who in 330 A.D. chose Byzantium, the city that stood on this spot, as his capital. This fascinating city is situated at the Southern European end of the narrow Bosporous, which joins the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmora. Many countries have fought for this mysterious, minareted city but in vain, it is still in the hands of the country that held it long ago. .Constantinople to-day consists of many large suburbs of which Galata, Stamboul, and Pera are the most outstanding. It is very easy for a foreigner to spend his money in Constantinople, as the small shops are crushed full of alluring oriental objects. This city is beginning to become modernized but only in a few things, for it still holds that eastern feeling concerning the clothing, especially for the Turkish headgear, the red fez. Even while most of the world is becoming very modernized, Con- stantinople remains a city of mosques, the most beautiful of'which is that of Saint Sophia, erected by Emperor justinian in the sixth century. This city has several fine aqueducts and many things of wonder. Some are the picturesque handmade wares, embroideries, carpets and rugs. Constantinople is also noted for its harbor, the Golden Horn, for over twenty thousand ships enter this harbor every year and it can easily accom- modate one thousand large sea vessels at the same time. Including the suburbs, Constantinople, the wonder city, has a popula- tion of one million two hundred and fifty thousand. -Mary McLean, Grade IX.

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VOX FLUMINIS Page Twenty A HOLIDAY Q Honourable Mentionj We loved the coast and the little town And the small thatched house all cuddled down, White washed roof, and white washed wall, Sea mist or sunlight over it all. We scrambled high on a sheep worn track, The guinea hens cried, Come back, come back! The wind was blowing us out to the sea And the sea gulls kept us company. -Catherine Jefferies, -l-- Grade VIII. THE WOOD AT THE END OF THE WORLD I sometimes wonder what the wood at the end of the world is really like. Perhaps it's a tiny, quiet, beautiful wood, in a secluded glen that only you know the haunts of, only you know its secrets. Perhaps it's a great forest, with majestic trees towering upward to meet the sky. But I do not think it is anything so realistic. Rather, it is a dream, a dream of some un- known wood, that lies-who knows where? A poem, as yet unseen by the eyes of a mortal poet. The lost fairyland. Perhaps it is a place where the ground is soft and green with moss. A silvery brook wends its way between fern-clothed banks, singing and laughing. Hidden somewhere, in a little glen, is a dark quiet pool, whose calm surface is like a mirror: a mirror that reflects the face of some elfin creature. The echoes ring back from behind the clouds, echoing strange music. Little paths wind here and there among the trees, and one may follow elhn footprints along them. There are small graceful silver birches, almost lost among the huge trees, the lords of the forest, that reach their great leafy branches ever upward. Sometimes the breeze hums softly in the tree tops, but at other times a great wind comes sweeping through, mysterious and immortal. Birds of all colors sing softly in the treesg here live the gorgeous birds of paradise. This wood is the lost fairyland where the fairies dance at night beneath the moon and stars. Although the world changes day by day, yet throughout many years the wood at the end of the world, the wood in the clouds, nowhere, yet here, someplace, somewhere, is always the same. -Gladys Cotterell, -i-- Grade VIII. A CHRISTMAS BOX About November, everybody started making Christmas gifts, so we decided we wanted to try and give a happier Christmas to someone, who probably would not have all the things we would have. One of the girls knew of a family, in a nearby municipal district, who would be greatly benefited by a Christmas hamper. We planned to have a meeting every

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VOX FL U M I N I S Page Twenty-two .............................-.................................... .,,,,,,.,,,,,, ,,,UN..,-.H--...N-...UQU ...uu----- . --- ..-.-.-.................-.-..................................... .......-...... I ' ...-..-...-..-................-..........-.-........N... A poor hard worked magazine representative trying to' get a contri- bution from a modest classmate. Magazine Rep.: Please try something to take to the meeting, And you'll give the others a regular beating. Modest Classmate: I love you, dear, with all my heart, But in this I cannot take a part. Magazine Rep.: I know you can't but will you try? You will show them by and by. Modest C Iassinate: You know my brains aren't good enough A To try to do such clever stuff. Magazine Rep.: Keep on trying mon petit, And it will come, all tout de suite. Ill od est Cla-ssnzate : Although I truly love you, Please keep this thought in mind: A clever thought or saying Is more than I can find. Magazine Rep.: I know your brains are rusty, I know they are not good, But don't let them get dusty, Write a poem, as you should! Q They got the poemj. -Shirley Johnston, Grade VIII. SPRING Spring-that one word brings pictures to the mind. After the long winter everyone looks forward to this season. Dreary cold days have gone and instead there are April showers and bright sunshine. The SHOW has melted away and a feeling of Spring is in the air. Even the trees seem to be glad that winter is over and the leaves are all peeping out of their buds, eager to come out and see what the busy world is doing. They seem to know people want to see a leaf after the winter and are eagerly hurrying to satisfy that desire.