Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1946-1947 FORM IA THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL It. is june, the term is finished, and the boys of Selwyn House have gone home. The Good bye, Sirs have been shrilled, and the old Form One classroom seems ready to settle down to a somnolent summer. The form master enters the room, sits down heavily, and begins to clear out his desk. Through the open window sifts the muted murmur of the Sherbrooke Street trafhc and the terse calls of the Trafalgar girls on their tennis court. The afternoon sun streaks a variegated haze of chalk dust and dances on the floor in wanton delight. A lone fly wars against the window glass and then is quiet as he loses his futile fight. The masters glance envelops the room, and he ponders on the hundreds of boys who have squirmed here, labouring with Latin and arriving at odd arithmetic computations. He thinks of the passions of irate masters these walls have witnessed, and the sonorous orations on studious behaviour. Well, they've all finished their year and left their room for a new crop to occupy its space next September, and IA is just a memory. Now, there was a form for you! They weren't too bright and they weren't too stupid. -lust, I guess, an average cross section of boys as a whole. So, like a silver picture upon a screen, Form IA appears before him. There is Trott up in the corner plotting out, behind an open book. a new play for the defence on the hockey team. He lovingly fingers the third stripe upon his cub jersey, for he is the Senior Sixerw a sturdy, reliable boy. Sharing the seat with him is little Timmins, who will probably become Timmins I around 1952, after Nelson departs from the senior form. Billy, like Edward VII, will have to wait a long time! It is the arithmetic hour and the first period. In a rear seat quiet Carsley is doing his work with meticulous mode and method, and, when you catch his eye, he gives you a shy smile. Alexandor sidles in through the half-open door and sneaks to his seat. But alas! the stern eye of the master has seen him. May I ask why you are late again? VVell, sir, the alarm lever stuck, and I didn't get up in timef' There are subdued guffaws from the class, and Carlin as usual has some advice to offer which is quickly suppressed. However, he always bobs up again in a little while as bright as ever. Poole frantically waggles his hand and asks for a new pen nib, as the old one has just fallen into the ink well. fPen nibs disappear very rapidly in this formi Meanwhile, Marpole has whizzed through an example in multiplication and is stunned to discover that his answer is less than what he started out with. Something must have gone wrong, and he struggles back through the strange hieroglyphics in his exercise book. Bill Daly looks up and grins. Perhaps he is thinking of the good time he had on the cub hike to St. Sauveur. Bill was always a sweet-tempered lad. His seatmate, Peter Krohn, reaches beneath for a book, and the entire contents of their desk erupt onto the BOOT, where picture cards of hockey players and aeroplanes mix in clandestine confusion with the less interesting, ink-stained academic tomes. l27l

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SELWYN IIUUSE SCIIUUI. MAGAZINE Uongratulations to all concerned and many, many thanks to you all and to Mrs. Markland. So now you know why we call ourselves a happy Form, tfolleetively speaking, that's all, now for individual items in alphabetical order, except for the first two boys who are Arnold and Bennetts. lVe couple these because their names at once bring to mind a very distinguished English author and playwright, viz:- Arnold Bennett. Perhaps Arnold and Bennetts might collaborate and do likewise- perhapsl Next comes Bronfman, a very generous supporter of the fund and wouldn't you like to know what he gave us for Cliristmasi Carrique comes next, an energetic scout, and Creighton of the gentle voice and ever ready to help. Dimples Davison follows and of him we would say that he goes about doing good in his small way, with a very happy and generous disposition. And now Michael Ferrier, who is something ofa puppy, with his tongue always licking his nose, but a delightful puppy in every way. Labarre, too often absent, but always a pleasure to welcome back. Pierre has brains, too. Next Le Moyne, clever, and with the faculty of pinch-hitting for the presiding pedagogue at any time on any subject. Manolovici, of whom we would say, lXIanolovenit, Manolovidit, lXIanolovincet and let it go at that. Meredith, somewhat boisterous, but a bonnie laddie 3 MacNaughton, or Curly-top , working hard this Term and who had the good sense to be provided with a baby brother a few months ago. VVe shall look forward to welcoming jamie at School about 1952. McKee, who is doing better now, in spite of rather poor health, possibly due to the fact that he usually arrives in School minus some garment or a shoe! We are looking forward to the day when he forgets his etceteras! A newcomer, Pat Northey, who settled down very happily, made himself very popular and who gets down to work before anybody else, Pollock, whom we 'were more than delighted to welcome back after his unfortunate illness. Raper, who excels in all sports, Ross ii, brainy, dreamy, friendly and inevitably minus his spectacles or book or pen or some- thing. Schopllocher t'l'ommy to youj, another newcomer-also very popular, very intelli- gent and who is making a big effort to beat Seymour tnext on the listl for top honours at the end of the School year. At the moment, we are betting on Seymour, who gets there with little effort seemingly. We wonder if David realises the fact that when he grows taller, he will Seymour! Thornton, rotund, with a smile that warms one's heart and a sound work- er. Timxnins tNelsonl, who coughs apologetically every time a mistake in his work is corrected tand he used to cough a lot, but less frequently nowl and finally Peter Romer, another new boy, who, joining late, had to be entered at the foot. of the register. Peter has settled down and is coming along fairly well. Good luck, Peter. You'll get there alright. The following boys have played in llockey matches:--Raper, Northey-Soccer, Carrique I and Northey. Ferrier, Pollock and Le Moyne are ski-ers. Scouts-Carrique, lXlacNaughton, Romer. Cub, Raper. Finally f Work hardg keep smiling and llappy Days to you all. B. K. T. H. IZOI

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SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE .lack Segall and Harry Seifert are working together. Seifert was the best forward on the cub hockey team last winter. Ile is a lad of single purpose who always went all out and played every minute of the game with concentrated design and aim. Cheerful Segall worked hard to perfect his goalie technique. A save is a save, even if one does have to sit on the puck! Pierre Raymond, with the hashing smile and the equally flashing blades on thc ice, leans over to indulge in a contraband conversation with Molson. Poor Eric blushes with agonized embarrassment lest they both be caught. A prefect raps, thrusts his head like an ostrich into the room and announces that the llead wishes to see Buckley. A stir of interest ripples through the room. Perhaps it is only for a talk - perhaps worse! Brian slowly goes toward the awe-inspiring study door. liartholomew, of the sympathetic mind, gives him a eondoling pat as he passes by. As Brian closes the door behind him, a little breeze stirs a paper pinned on the wall. lt is a thank-you note from Patrick Blake to his Docs . They sent him some books and stamps to while away the tedium of staying in bed after a long illness. The French window at the back of the room closes with a bang, and McDougall and Matson rush simultaneously to reopen it. A pronounced thud as heads clash together! Ah! the master remembers these twog Matson, quiet and calm who always did his work wellg McDougall, the athlete, steady and reliable, but not one of the excitable ones, mind you! No sense in that, thinks Purvis. So, on this screen of memory the form master sees these lads again with their foibles and graces. It is much later now, for he has been quietly remembering a long time. The shades of early eventide are shadowing the room. They camouflage its oldness and clothe the walls in a dusk of mauve and dusty greys. The pedagogue arises, collects his chattels from the desk, and departs, gently closing the door bc-cause for a while the room belongs to the ghosts of Form IA. Down the stairs to the first floor in thickening twilight the teacher descends. He puts on his coat and leaves the building. Yes, he leaves the old red house to itself and to its ghosts. But they are friendly ghosts, and no one need be afraid. For every old school, when it is empty, is haunted by silent laughter and misty youth. And this brick building with its winnowed plaster cracks and its creaky floors may retieet for the summer on its contemplations of a grand life well lived. Because, you understand, this edifice houses boys and helps to make them into good men. What better purpose could it ever have served than this? I L. R. P. FOR M IIS Form IB classroom is probably the most strategically placed in the whole School, being opposite the Headmaster's Study and next to the office. Fortunately, the members of the Form pay far more visits to the latter than to the former - in fact, they regard the olliee as a home from home. and rare are the occasions when they are not to be found buzzing around Mrs. Ilowis and Miss Macaulay, like bees round a hive. l2Sl