Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE Carlo de Rege showed a Moorish dagger from North Africa. It looked delicate but deadly. Germany was represented by three horribly business-like straight daggers. The one lent by Harry Bloomfield was captured from a Nazi Storm Trooper. Stephen Paquet's dagger dated from Germany in 1938. lt had a handsome ivory handle and a long straight blade. Robert Hallett let us show a copy of a Nazi knife. Timothy Gilbert's 'kukri' knife from lndia was one of the most important of the exhibits. lt was even more terrible than the daggers. A primitive leather sheath protected it: its wide blade was heavy and long. lt was slightly curved and was a weapon used in peace time for domestic purposes as well as in time of war for hand-to-hand lighting. David Bogert lent a fine example of an NYIII century pistol. The brass work on it was especially admired. lt was the only pistol in the exhibit. North America in 1812 was brought to mind by a large bullet found on the battlefield of Queenston Heights. This was lent by Roger Bellingham. :X cavalry sword made in Montreal at H357 St. Paul St. tengraved on the handled probably dated from the time of Queen Yictoria. Stephen Parker exhibited this, while Robert Aikman showed a handsome dress sword of the Slvanish-:Xmerican period. Roger Bellingham supplied a fencing foil and mask, which, with the kind gift of Professor Nobbs of his book on Fencing Tactics, gave a fitting introduction to the art of hghting. Guns were lent by Peter Russel and Timothy foristine. The former exhibited a 12 guage shot gun of 1861 and a breech-loading rifle ol 1862, while the latter lent a XYinchester repeating rifle. The guns were an invitation to markmanship and after queues had been formed and curiosity satisfied, the guns were removed for safe-keeping. Much interest was taken in the bullet pouch lent by Robert Aikman. lt apparently dated from the early part ol the NIN century and. to add to the interest, it was full ol bullets. Peter Nobbs let us show a model of a cannon, such as was used in the Tudor period. lt was well modelled in brass and mounted on a wooden carriage. liric Rousseau contributed a large shell of an explosive used in the last war. The 'Weapon Exhibit' was tittingly brought to a close by the loan of Stephen Parker's very tine lndian Peace Pipe. lt had belonged to an lndian Vhief in the XYest of Canada and was decorated with the original bead fringe. The l.ibrary had some extra exhibits which were of interest to all. They ranged from moths to elephant tusks. Peter Terroux lent two Field Signal Corps telephones of 1914. These found a place with our military exhibition. Paul St. Pierre lent three beautifully marked butterflies, and Peter Russel lent twelve specimens of moths, with a book describing their varieties. Donald Steven added a deceased frog, its natural colour somewhat marred. l16l

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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

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FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR 105-L-1955 Philip ivebster contributed a piece of iron ore and a specimen of bauxite. Peter Martin also lent a geological sample. Lawlor XYalcem let us show the skin of a baby chipmunk which he had prepared himself. and which attracted much attention and admiration from everyone. Tony Stikeman contribtlted a skein of raw silk which was carefully in- spected by many. David Murlin exhibited a 'Piper Cub' aeroplane model made by himself, and very well done. Colin Moseley allowed us to show a book of the early XVIII century which has been in his family for many years. lt was called A History of the World and was by M. Chevreau. lt was translated fiom the French and printed in England in 1703. This was a valuable loan. A model of the Kon-Tiki raft was exhibited by john I-Isdaile. lt measured 11 by 513 inches. lt was perfect in detail and greatly admired. Eric Garland surprised us with two handsome ducks, but they did not stay here very long, as leathers were being plucked out to see il they were real or 'just pretending' ducks. Howard Sherbaclc lent a model of Columbus' ship the 'Santa Mariah A very unusual loan was made by Eric Rousseau. lt was part of an ele- phant tusk. M e were not sorry it was only eleven inches of what IULISI have been a formidable tusk. lt was so much enjoyed it was almost worn OLII. David Brown interested us all with a bee's nest and two honeycombs. Allan Zinman presented a robin's nest. The Library was fortunate this year in receiving many welcome gifts of books. Professor Percy Xobbs presented two of his works, Fencing Tactics and Salmon Tactics with kind autographed messages. He also gave the Library an illustrated description of The Great and the Small , containing the wonders of the Universe in comparison. This was conveniently framed. It is clearly lettered by Mr. Brietzche and will be studied with great interest. The National Geographic Magazine, given by the Fifth Form, is being much enjoyed, as is also th: junior Natural History Magazine donated by Gordon Peters. M Ml h l 1 k d fi lh l lv n hi gvsnt' the . iss . 'o sow as ieel a generous on. F, H e Doo 's s' 2 ts gi t o Library cover a wide held in history, geography. biography and reference. Mrs. li. A. fret-ry and Mrs. Graham Ross have each donated an interest- ing collection of books. X ytis lxaesth gave nineteen of his books. lhgy are already in circulation and are in great demand. Welcome gifts of books were accepted from the follow- ing:+Miles Tyrer. Richard M.'aa'r:n, The Royal Norwegian Consulate. Mr. M. Ballantyne. Count de Regs. Sandy Duthie, fihristopher Hyde, Patrick Shangh- nessy, Robert Bloomberg. Roger Bellingham, Mr. F. Tees, Mr. H. de M. Molson. Nigel Greenwood. Firic Garland. Francisco fardona. Rene Desmarais. -loh 1 l17l