Selwyn House School - Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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30 SELWYN HOUSE SCHOOL MAGAZINE Literary Competition The quality of this year's entries fell short of the standard of recent years. Too many boys submitted slovenly transcripts of class essays, so that certain dreary themes appeared repeatedly, too many contributions were not signed and were therefore automatically reiected. Once again far too many showed a curious misunderstanding of the kind of subiect suitable for a school magazine, and too many regarded a few lines of pitiful doggerel as easier than a longer prose passage. Parental assistance, on the other hand, happily seems to have waned, even if it has not entirely disappeared. Of what remained, the short stories were the least successful. Several cases of unabashed plagiarism occurred, most of the others consisted merely of trivial incidents, largely criminal in nature. The winning contribution admittedly shows the influence of past reading, but it is given preference as an excellent piece of work by a boy whose English is comparatively recently acquired. Much of the poetry limped badly, but several entries showed at least some understanding of the form the writers were attempting. Among the essays, unpolished resumes of encyclopaedia articles were passed over in favour of those in which some attempt was shown to choose words to produce a pleasing effect. Future competitors are reminded that the ultimate test of their work is whether it is enioyable to read. The Junior School is to be congratulated upon the entries which it submitted. Many showed a refreshing zest for the simple things about them, and the standard was most praiseworthy. The prize-winners are: U. Scheel, D. McMartin, J. Allison and A. Victor. A TRIP IN THE ARCTIC My uncle is an engineer for the Department of Northern Affairs, and is stationed at Frobisher Bay. Quite often he has to go on trips to the outlying settlements. Last August he went to Pangnirtung, Broughton Island, Clyde River, Pond Inlet and Grise Fiord. Grise Fiord is on Ellesmere Island, about as far north of Frobisher Bay as Montreal is south, and the other places are either on Baffin Island or on small islands off the coast of Baffin. My uncle and his crew made this trip in a Canso aeroplane, and at Clyde River the wind and sea were so rough, that they had to let a construction crew and their gear off into big freighter canoes and then take off immediately as the aeroplane was dragging its anchor. They had to keep the engines running to keep from being dashed onto the rocks. They had intended spending the night there, with the plane at anchor, but instead they had to go fifteen miles to the United States Coast Guard station at Cape Christian, where there is an air strip on the beach. Next morning, they left at about five thirty, and arrived at Pond Inlet in time for breakfast. They refueled the plane, having to pump gas with a hand pump from forty-five gallon drums in a canoe, into the wing tanks of the plane. Then they headed for Grise Fiord, but were unable to land in the mouth of the Fiord, because of the gigantic icebergs. So they had to fly further up the Fiord to find a stretch of water clear enough for a landing. Landing on ice or water, the plane has no brakes and has to coast to a stop. Two hours later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Boat reached them and took them to the settlement at Grise Fiord.

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