Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

Page 18 text:

SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE It will need hard, steady effort. Your manhood will try to grow at the expense of your godliheadg it need I1Ot do so: do not let it. Shades of the prison-house begin to close upon the growing Boy . That is true, but the same inspired soul who writes that says, with equal truth, The Youth still is Nature's priest, and by the vision splendid is on his way attended. Reading the lives and adventures of great men will surely inspire and help you in your own life. What man has done, man still may do. YVho shall say how much Xenophon, Magellan or Byrd owed to Moses, Ulysses, or E.R.G.R. Evans Cthat splendid plain tale of great deedsj, and others of whom you read ? Read then, read good things: you will find them the most interesting and, as you read, use your imagimztion Cthat is, your power of making pictures - images - in your mindj. Follow the thought of William Blake, who claims immortality for us if we will but be just and true to our own imaginations, those worlds of eternity in which we shall live for ever . But, remember that fanrvv is but the soul-less shadow of imagination, and so do not spend too much time on mere fiction. We spoke just now of our First Lesson in Form VI. Once a year, on leaving day, the evening of your life at school here, another form of words is used. The first sentence will be recognised, at once, as a straight crib , but as much too apt and beautiful to be left out: the rest is our own. Lighten our darkness, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and by Thy great mercy defend us from all dangers and perils of the night. Direct us through the mists and mazes of this life so that, manfully avoiding that which ought not to be done, and worthily accomplishing that which ought to be done, we may come at last to Thy eternal rest, following our guide and pattern, Jesus Christ. Mists are circumstances in which you cannot see any way clearly. Mazes are places where there are plainly several ways to be taken, but you do not know which is the right one. You need then direction. There have been such places, lately, for many men. Let us hope that, in any such case, all Selwynites will try tc get, and will get, the best direction, by asking the Right Person or by reading the Right Book. C.T..-X., hlarch l932. Qu Zlnbian thief Proud in his .ffl'c,71gfh, liif fjvav ax Hack Ill nighf, ll'f'h0.fr Iytljhillg' .vp!f2111'o1n' lII0lik.f 1110 fight that H65 IlI1lI7I'i.VOII,1f in a l'7lV.Vfll! - 1l'ilh lin' fzzfm Qf Fffllillg' .vriffllfu in yoj? .vzzzzznzfr .vkizm Lips .vtrrzzlv .val tcillz mfli c'U10ff0Il Uirifr, Cl7'llz'ff'V and ronrngv, tcilli o IU'0lfddi,fl2lHfI1f H if gods amz' g1't'1llI1r'.f.f vzwz !ll't,'f0l'g0lfF2l .z'.v rzrvrlif ffgilllfi. .ffl lzif drmm.f ttw'r :win .' J. H., Form 5. llfml

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1933-1934 There is one body of English Literature with which the art and joy of reading, in all three modes, have been, for centuries, closely associated, viz., the Liturgy of the Church of Christ Catholic in England as by Commons' Law and Royal Assent Established Qin other words-the Book of Common Prayeri. Passing by such miracles of sense and sound as A General Thanksgiving and The Lord's Prayer , glance for a moment at the Collects. Here, in these brief lyrics of the adoring and petitionary soul, tribrach and anapaest, dactyl and iambus follow one another in gemlike perfection, informed by a rhythm justly consonant with the sense, but unchecked in their grouping by the rigid rules of academic prosody. Scan them as you please, you will not fail to find a beauty of syllabic grouping suiting the cadence to the sense. fNote that alliteration may lend lilt to what were else a listless line.j I used, just now, the term gem-like , and indeed the simile will bear extension, for, as upon a hyacinthine plush, its centre bright beneath the amber's glow, the lapidary's hand, with art and grace, poses some few admingled, unset gems, so- in the soft gloom of sacred arches, from glittering altar or bright chancel stall, the cleric's well-tuned voice daily recites the deathless assonances of Cranmer and his fellows: for example:- Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings, with Thy most gracious favour, and further us with Thy Continual help, that in all our works begun, continued and ended in Thee, we may glorify Thy holy name and finally, by Thy great mercy, obtain everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord This particular example is used here because for some years, about twenty, it has been our First Lesson , daily, in Form VI. It is so old that its history is uncertain. It is so true to life that it might be used by the votaries of any real religion. About once a year a few words of explanation have been given, something like this:- The meaning of these words must be taken in the light of their Latin origin. Prevent does not mean stop , but prae-veni , come in front of us, as a guide or leader, and with favour Cfaveoi, with encouragement, clapping of hands, as a mother or nurse- or, later, a comrade i- cheers you on in your attempts to walk, or win a race. Continual Ccon, teneol means holding to us all the time. Glorify 1 let us shed credit on the leader- ship and guidance, and then, at last, by Thy mercy, obtain everlasting life Ah l that, of course, is a very high ambition. To do some deed, to register some thought, that will live for ever. How many have done it ? Moses, one supposes: Galileo, or Isaac Newton perhaps: surely an Aramaic carpenter's apprentice Cfor very few in all the world at that time saw in Him more than thatj born in a stable in small Bethlehem and sent to a cruel death when only thirty-three: shall Shakespeare wear so bright a crown, or mighty Bach ? May we, in our own times, claim it for Pasteur or for Rutherford F Perhaps for all of these- and others-in some degree. Still, there is the mark at which to aimz- to trace, amid the myriad facts of life, one of those simple-seeming Laws of Nature which have been so fitly called the Thoughts of God z to score, for mortal ears, some theme that may be caught by reverent listener, from the music of the spheres. That is reading Life. U51

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1933-1934 In Barents Doctor Grant, Principal of Cpper Canada College, has kindly permitted us to print the following extract from the 'College Times h, Christmas 1933. A further word to those of you who are parents. Every Autumn a large amount of my time is taken up in the fortnight before Term opens in long talks with parents, who tell me what a nice boy their son is, how willing and sensible in the house, and how his failure to win promotion was due to his inability to get on with Mr. WX , or to the failure of Mr. Y to understand the need of his sensitive soul for constant encouragement, or some such reason. Usually I stand firm, but sometimes I yield, and the result in most cases is unfortunate. The boy, for whom his father is so willing to stand surety, usually plods along for another year at the bottom of the Form, and at the end of the year again falls down in his examinations. It cannot be too often emphasized that the best way to obtain promotion is to win it, and that, except in the case of occasional genius, success in either Pass or Honour Matriculation cannot be gained by one year's steady work, following on two or three years of idleness, even if promotion has been won during these years by a combination of luck and parental intercession. In any case, the first object of this school is not to cram boys through Matriculation but to turn out good citizens of Canada. Such citizens should get, at school, at least the beginning of training in tackling a problem with clearness and with zestg and I hereby warn both boys and parents that next Autumn I shall make an even more resolute attempt than I have in the past to stand firm against parental pleading. May I call your attention to a cartoon in a recent ' Punch 'F It is a wonderful dispensation of Providence, lN'Iadam , says the Headmaster to the fond mother, that all dull boys are orphans. We hope that the above will prove of interest to parents generally. Ghz Qllat Jllzzizg-x' and gzzzmf I wail? lhe lifef f0l1ZiKQ'!1f, .Jud 1111z11gVv 0011155 NIVX' hzzzfv I0 hm' t1j'.flg .1114 11i11f iizief hizfk C11i11a h11111i1'e1i .v0111e have g11e.v.ff'dj ll'ifh p1'01m'f1' 7121.821 we 1'1z111hfad, 1'1z11gi11g fighl, S1z1'1'ed 1171117 ffeek, 011 1'00f.f of a111e.f!1y.vf -7I71fl7'00f.f 0f iC'071N' we 'CC'!Z7l!1IF7'Fd, whiff' .1 f0f11.v-fofozrred 1110011 .vwzmg up the Nihf, .Jud 1IIe111phi.v .vi11111he1'ed i11 zz .viiz'f'1' 111i.ff. U il was fZt'!ZS'F7Z .' 7115! I0 ,vii amz' he .J11liph01111f bc'71t'!1fiZ 501118 1'o'vfzf1'00111 CTlIlif,f07' all Olll' m1'1'ed11e.f.f, we 111961-117 L01111' f1it'7'0lDf7ll71lil' f111'5e.f 170wi11gf1'ee, .ind 111z11'kf11' Il .r1111drzf hzzrliiug through .fha gfoom H0l'fl'0ll1 the 1107107 of R1111zf.ve.f fha Thirrz' .' 1171