Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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SELWYN HOVSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE two inch to half an inch shells, and were perfect in form. Aleco Kairis lent some interesting examples from Florida, specially a good whelk. Richard Hunt brought a very large, dark scallop shell, lovely in color, from a Maine beach. Peter Russel's collection of beautiful cockle shells drew much attention. Some of them were as small and delicate as jewels. Yytis Iiaestli and Howard Sherback both brought shells of interest. Stephen Paquet showed us a sea horse with a tiny baby sea horse, in which we were most interested. john Edd, now in his first year at McGill, presented the Library with very fine specimens of shells from his own collection. These we were glad to have. During the last week of September Michael Berrill brought us a model of a 'Fish House'. It was a copy made by him of the work-house used by the fisher- men on the coast of Maine. The model itself, fourteen inches long by five inches wide, contained all the implements and objects necessary in the work of the fishermen and their activities. Everything was modelled according to scale. A dory, ready to leave for the sea, was tied to the Fish House, while another was upside down and drying out. A roller for drying the nets was nearby, with nets on it. There was a 'Hoist' for bringing up the nets full of hsh. There were black and white buoys to show the position of oyster traps. All the many tools of the hsherman were there, and even reserves of many of them. Near the Fish House were models of a seal, a porpoise and a whale-all made by Michael. XYe were allowed to keep the model for two weeks, and, when it had to be removed, Michael left, in its place, a lovely sea fan and other specimens of coral. A fitting end to our Sea Exhibit. During the first week in October an exhibition of coins and stamps was opened. Stephen Parker was the first contributor with an outstanding collection: four early Victorian stamps were particularly noted. We were interested to see that the hair style in the Queens portrait resembled the 'pony switch' of today. A George III penny of 1797 was also of great interest, as were the silver, copper coins and stamps of Elizabeth II's coronation. Stephen also showed stamps of European countries, as well as of India and Egypt. This was a most compre- hensive exhibit. Bill Hambly's collection of bank notes attracted much attention and the coins in his group were interesting, more especially those of France during the German Occupation. .-X bill which he showed from the Island of Martinique was a rare one in the Library. So many other coins in his collection were of interest, but lack of space prevents a description of them. Maxi Ferro showed bank notes from Italy. Poland and Greece. The por- trait of Sophocles on a ten lire note was beautifully engraved. There was also a striking design on a Polish note of 1030 and a good design on a note from Greece. George Thomson lent a Russian gold coin of tifteen roubles QS-20.00l with a portrait on it of the last fzar of Russia, Nicholas ll. lt was dated 1897. He also lent gold coins of the l'nited States. l14l

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR195-L-1955 School jliutes THE LIBRARY XYhen the Easter holidays were over in 1954, the Library was privileged to have a unique experience in being allowed to exhibit the original drawings made by Mrs. Jacqueline Berrill to illustrate her book entitled XYonders of the XYoodland Animals . The pictures were drawn with a pointed knife on 'Scratch Board' lcardboard covered with plaster and then inkedl. The boys not only admired the lovely drawings, but were absorbed in puzzling out the unusual method used. We were grateful to Mrs. Berrill for allowing us to enjoy these drawings. Birds interested us deeply during May. 195-1. Mr. Howes arranged a loan of feathered specimens from the Redpath Museum, and the talks on the Cardinal, the XYood Duck. and the Cedar lYaxwing were inspiring. Michael Berrill. at the same time, most appropriately exhibited a beauti- ful little spruce tree which he had brought from Maine. It was about a foot high and its branches held tiny little carved and coloured wooden birds, perching here and there. John Chamard surprised us with a small cypress tree. It was over two feet high, and about its base was a small pond in which a turtle disported itself. This, with Michael's spruce. and the birds from McGill. brought the country right into the Library. In spite of our interest in the birds we were diverted by a collection of coins provided by Michael Guite. There were examples from Africa, Asia, and Europe. also from South America. We were specially intrigued with a coin from Pakistan, and a huge George III penny of 1813. Michael Berrill lent us a geological collection with corresponding notes. This was an outstanding exhibit, and was studied well and frequently. Guite's collection of coins inspired others, and Richard l'dd's group of bank bills was unusual. There was a large Roumanian bill for 10.000 lei which attracted attention. There were other European bllls of interest. but the Amer- ican bill with a portrait of Jefferson on it, for two dollars, was a rarity. Timothy Coristine showed some Angola postage stamps which were very interesting, as well as a group of European coins and bills. Carlo de Rege exhibited a small Spanish bill for only one peseta. also a Korean bank note of today. Neither had been seen before in the Library. Rene Des Marais, jeremy Pearce and John Beament showed us coins and bills from France, Germany, Italy and Malaya. September brought us plunder from the sea. Kerry Martin interested us first with a collection of razor-blade clam shells, which we have not had before, also some very small glapers as well as a large one. An original idea of Kerry's was to collect a few pieces of coloured glass which had been worn smooth as marbles by the action of the waves after many years. Martin's exhibit was quickly followed by an excellent group of cockle shells from the Gulf of Mexico, lent by Nicholas Kairis. They were graded from l13l

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 1954-1955 John Le Moine contributed gold too. He showed California gold in eight coins, minted during the gold rush of 1848. He had two .American gold coins of a later date also. The Library was greatly privileged to have these. Alex Grant showed a japanese note for 100 yen. This we have not had before in the library. Michael Guite lent some rare coins. Amongst them there was a silver coin from japan: a penny and also a stamp from Eire. David llurfin contributed a collection of stamps showing the rebuilding of various countries in Europe after the war. Geoffrey Gaherty interested us specially in his group of coins from Ice- land, as we rarely see them in the Library. Harry Bloomfield showed Israel money and stamps which were a novel sight here. He had an ancient coin which aroused much interest. It had been found in Palestine, now Israel, and had on it an inscription of Herod Agrippa the First, A.D. 37-44. There were also two other coins, of the Roman period appar- ently, in his exhibit. Allan Zinman added a token showing the seven-branched Candlestick. Ditlief Knudsen lent the library an American Internal Revenue Special Tax Stamp lor Tobacco. dated 1873. It was certainly the largest stamp ever exhibited here. It measured 1-1 by 7 inches. This was most interesting. A group of sport stamps was shown by William Hesler, and also an ex- cellent set ol hlty-hve portrait stamps depicting distinguished men in many different countries. This exhibit was much appreciated. Christopher Hyde made a very interesting contribution to the Stamps and Coins Exhibition by lending four Canadian silver dollars dated from 1939 to 1953. These are now quite scarce. Richard Cdd lent the Library a collection of valuable stamps which included samples, not only from many countries of Europe, but even from Russia. There were other exhibits which gave much pleasure contributed by Rodney Smith, Lawrence Gainsbury, Patrick Doheny. Eric Rousseau, Miles Tyrer, Christopher Coristine and Robert Bruce. During the month of january 1955, an Exhibition of Weapons was held. Remarkably interesting examples were contributed by members of the Library. There were dreadful-looking knives, swords and daggers from japan, China, India, Africa, Italy, Germany, Scotland and North America. Stephen Parker lent a most terrifying object, a Hara-Kiri sword in a beautiful ivory sheath. The sharp, heavy sword was slightly curved, while the sheath was all too explicitly engraved, depicting as it did a member of the Japan- ese nobility committing suicide. Stephen Parker also contributed a Scotch dirk, an item which is carried conveniently in the stocking. A sharp knife in a bamboo sheath was exhibited by john Harding. It came from China, and was the object of much curiosity. Murdoch Laing lent a small curved dagger from India. It had a beauti- fully enamelled handle and looked almost Persian. l15l