Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School - Collegiate Yearbook (Sarnia, Ontario Canada)

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THE COLLEGIATE lOl q 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8- SHIPS By Nfargarrt Cobbau, 3B Coll. -onassassins:aatotaaanaggggg,, HIPS are treasure ltroves. The very name breathes of romance and adventure. Tales of gallant and daring sailors, tragedies of war and bloodshed come before our minds at the sound of the word. Many a beautiful vessel sailing out of the sunset's glow in days of yore, riding proudly on the crest of the waves, was in reality a deadly menace. On its decks tall, gaunt men could be seen with folded arms. se-arching the sea for their helpless prey. Pirates! How the term thrilled and horrified peaceful, pros- perous merchants! Wit'h scant re- gard for law and order these bravos roam-ed the vast ocean, free, yet de- serving death. To 'them their ship w-as a useful tool and if they loved her it was merely for the strength which enabled them to plunder and destroy. They could never appreci- ate the wealth of love a true mfaster and cap-tain bestows upon his vessel. Tlhen mfarching up from the ghosts of the pasut, come the explorers. Brave, dauntless men, they were, at the time of the reign of good Queen Bess. These men sailed into the un- chartfered seas to discover new lands. Trusty vessels were required to wi.thstand the storms and tempests. lYe can imagine the unstinted love these toilers of the sea must have had f-or their ships. To brave the awful perils of huge, vast stretches of gray wa-ter wi-th merely a frail wooden boat must have required a very real tru-st in their craft. NVith untiring flaith in their Mother count- ry, they 'toiled until as a result there came the word of the discovery of the wonderful new land to the west. Indeed, ever since the bare suppos- ition 'had arisen that there were lands yet undiscovered, the thrilling cry of Westward Ho! had been re- sounding. Wfith royal response the brave explorers suffered and toiled with their vessels to overcome the vast ocean. lVhen we see in our imagination the crudely built wooden ship of the days of yore we think of war. NVar, thrilling yet terrible in its intensity of hate. Ships played no small part in the awful battles fought. Att first -they were built on lines of beauty and grace in order to give the large fleets a magnificent ap- pearance. The old, Roman vessels wereubuilt long and narrow, with beautiful bows. Under tmheir beaultv disguised by ornamented woodwork the galley slaves lived in constant round of toil. L-a-ter, however, ships were more sturdily built and in the case of the Battle of the Spanish Armada, it was the plain British ves- sels which won, rather than the more beautiful ships of the Span- iards. So frail were they for the purpose of war that. as Queen Eliza- beth said. God blew with his wind, and they were scattered. But in more recent years the deadly de- stroyer and submarine are used, and to their power beauty contributes nothing. Beautiful sailing boats and pictur- esque old vessels will always carry an appeal to the lovers of romlance. Men will die rather than leave their sahips, and the voice of a hardened sea-captain quivers as he tells of his last trip wit'h his vessel. This ap- peal of the ships and the sea is well exprersfsed in the poet's words: I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. Everywhere we may see ships sailing to and fro on our Canadian lakes and streams. We must admit their usefulness and their aid in commerce. Tshey may have lost their beauty and graceful lines, their beautiful figureheads and beautiful

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98 THE CO LLEGIATE portunit-ies for progress. From coast to coast lay a large expanse of untouched country which made Canada the 1-argest territorial unit in the world. On the east were forests and good agricultural land. Farther west lay the W-orld's best known highway, the Great Lakes System. Beyond this could be seen an unbounded stretch of prairie land 1 .'.' hich would, in time, contribute to the country's wealth in grain, and fir to the west remained the unseen mining fields of the Rockies. To the north of the Great Lakes lay, untouched, the world's richest mine- rals, which remain even to-day, scarcely developed. lVe now have before ' us a geographical back- ground on which our forefathers advanced. Gradually Canada grew. Her many riches were being discovered and agriculture became t'he leading indusftry. Althougih some mines had been developed, her forests were more rapidly making progress. Gwing to the abundance of raw ma- terial, the cheap power facilities. and the existing labour conditions, nilantgfacturing began to develop. But Canada not only grew indust- rially, but also politically. At first she had varied institutions, but after confederation she adopted one meth- od of government. Since confeder- ation she had been greatly strength- ened for defence, unity and nation- alism, and the last was t'he making of Canada. Also, slhe took an inde- pendent part in the world's affairs and after the war she signed the Treaty of Versailles, only on her own account. Resulting from this signature. she entered the League of Nations and met with the world's standard. The Great NVar had made a vast difference in Canada. Her soldiers had fought side by side with other countries for the same cause, and had tfhus adopted broader views and become one with the world. As a result from this great ohange she was on the threshold of what prom- ised to be a wonderful period of development, surpassing all the a- chievements of her past. But Canada has now passed that period and is entering upon another, still greater. At present agriculture leads t'he industrial source, and Can- ada yields annually to the world the greatest contribution of wlheat and flour. She has every obtain- able mineral except tin, and the ex- tent of her forest growth has placed her as the leading producer of newls- print- Her railway-s too, have strengthened her p'hysically by link- ing coast to coast and transporting a momentous amount of freight each year. Bu-t the government has undergone the test of t'he time. Al- though Canada still belongs to the British Empire, of which the mother country has free government, justice and liberty, ye-t she has an indepen- dent federal government. She has developed her sense of nationality, makes her own treaties, and has a represented citizensihip in the Com- monwealth. Canada is really a con- stitutional. monarchy. The education of our country is rapidly becoming the best in the world. More of the younger gener- ation are interested in teaching, teachers are more thoroughly train- ed for their positions, and scholars receive the education never before equalled. But it goes beyond t'he limits of education at home. De- blting and pufblic speaking are en- tered into very enthusiastically for inter-national competition, and we have just recently a young Canadian taking third place in the World Series. Canadian literature is also mak- ing favourable progress and the bet- ter reading of the time is written by Canadians. It is n-ot the quantity that Canada produces but the quali- ty. It has been quoted by many that Canada is worth more to the Empire than any sugar island in the world, but there remains her future. Canada's future is Within the Em- pire. Gf late, Britain 'has been trading extensively with the rest of the European coun-tries but in time she will be forced -to turn to a

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102 THE CO LL EGIATE prows, but the life of adventure on board a ship still appeals to yfouith. The very sound of the word makes us think of rushing water, gleaming drop-s and white foam. VVe can see a beautiful sail-boat outlined against the sunset with the sunlight and glinting gold on the white sails. We think of cargoes from foreign lands, silks, sihawls and spices. All the tnagedy , all the romance of centur- ies and all the great advance of the world's commerce has centred round the ship and the sea. -O Q-8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8- DAWN By .'l1L1l'flUl'l'f Smith, 3B Coll. assztsssssazsszsssi -8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 W--4 VERYTHING is silent - the birds have hushed their early chatteringg t'he wind has died in the tall silver poplaris and dark pines, the waters of the lake have quieted their thunder to the musical ryithm of the ripples. The stars fade one by one in the western skyg the moon is becoming paler, gradually. Dew covers the shrubs and grasses. A silver mist is spread across the hori- zon. Silently-the whole world waits for dawn. ln the east, small, fluffy clouds are gatihered to greet the monaroh of the day. Huge white masses like sentinels float near by. A flush of delicate colour breaks across the sky. The sm-all clouds turn silver- pink-gold-then become like flames of fire. The sky is a riot of colour- delicate pink-deep orange4bril- O liant scarlet. The huge clouds gradually become crimson. Then ah! then comes the monarch--red as fire. The clouds retreat in awe be- fore his splendid majesty. Tfhe lake becomes his glowing mirror,-reflecting the wondrous colours until it looks like a gleam- ing opal. The dew sparkles like a thousand diamonds: the silver mist fades into the sapphire of the west- ern horizon. Then the lark breaks forth into a song of welco-meg the birds, great and small, beautiful and drab, all join in to greet the rising sun with the Salutation to the Dawn. The trees lift their leafy branclhes to the wonderful sight and t'he flowers raise their faces to this magnificent splend'our. Always the same-al- ways beautiful and inspiring-the dawn. 1 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8- THE STAGES OF MAN -oztsscztsaazoottiii 9 3 'i HAKESPEARE has appropriate- ly written that one man in his time passes through seven ages. Wye all know, at first there is the in- fant, innocent and pure, knowing nothing of the outside forces of the great wide world. Then as the child grows he begins to notice things, tries to talk and wialk, and though quite young many of the happenings of his childhood are so impressed on his mind that they may often be re- called when he has reached matur- ity. At this stage the chiilid cares only for getting the things he wants, exactly at the time he asks for them