Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

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of the Northern Pacific and the penuriousness of the McDon- ald Government denied them. Col. Broome showed no rancour at this lack of support and was unstinted in his praise of the Am ericans for their help at a critical time of the flight and for the assistance rendered by the Canadian Government. No spoken word of condemnation could have been more impressive, coupled as it was with a frank recognition of the thoroughness of the American preparations and the efficiency of their flyers. Palmam qui meruit ferat. Col. Broome would be the first to award this palm to his successful rivals, but there is another honour often greater than victory — the honour of fighting a losing game against overwhelming odds known from the first, and faced with unflinching bravery to the last. This is the honour won by Col. Broome and his associ- ates. Letter from Form L We, the members of Form I., respectfully offer to the Editor our sincere congratulations upon the second anniversary of his editorial birthday. It is true that his corporeal person- ality is changed since last year, but his high office still remains. The Editor is dead, long live the Editor! We are ourselves young, and, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, we clap him on the back as high up as we can reach, and acclaim him with words of encouragement in his arduous task. It may be mentioned that we are not without our own troubles, which have come to us in the form of a surfeit of new boys, taxing our assimilative powers to such a degree as to cause a kind of mental and moral indigestion. Our Old Guard, steadied by long discipline, and trained in all the finer points of etiquette of scholastic life, were at first inclined to look askance at this barbaric horde and their untutored ways. Many of the newcomers seemed to think that ink was intended for bathing purposes; that window glass was made especially for the purpose of being broken by hurlin g small boys and other missiles through it; that masters, and even prefects,, were mere mortals, to be approached and addressed with the lack of reverence and the debonair freedom with which the modern youth is accustomed to treat his seniors. 17

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Things We Want to Know WHETHER some members of Form I. could not write a testimonial for motor tires. THE NAME of the bright soul who suggested making bunkers for our golf course. WHETHER we shall not soon have to pull down the School to make room for some more playgrounds, or build on the playground to make room for some more school. WHY Halley couldn ' t open his desk during a certain hour. AND WHETHER it had anything to do with the love of cats shown by another member of the same form. WHETHER anybody has picked up the double lately. AND IF NOT, what has happened to it. WHETHER the translation by a Fifth Form boy of the passage omnes fere hostes terga vettevunt into all the enemy turned their backs to weep does not conjure up sad visions for the next war. AND WHETHER the Germans would have been so considerate of our feelings as to. turn their backs. IF IT IS TRUE that the Chaplain has been seen fishing with a piece of string in his well for pheasants. AND IF SO, what kind of bait he uses. Colonel Broome ' s Lecture The School was honoured on Armistice Day by the pres- ence of Lt.-Col. Broome, who gave an extremely interesting account of the unsuccessful attempt to carry the British flag round the world by air. All who were privileged to hear this epic of peril and ad- venture, told in the most simple and unaffected way by the man who bore the brunt of the long and arduous preparations for the flight, could not fail to be impressed by the sincerity of the speaker ' s underlying motive — an effort for Britain. After all, there is honour in all effort made worthily, and Col. Broome left us in no doubt that Major MacLaren and his two able assistants deserved the success that the fogs 16

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However, these delusions are gradually disappearing under the benevolent ministrations of our veterans, and we are more disposed to regard these unsophisticated specimens of primitive man with compassionate toleration when we think of the bene- fits they will derive from sundry rounds with the gloves with some of our past masters in the manly art, and the chastening effects of other forms of more or less moral suasion, which it is the painful duty of our order-loving, older members to dis- pense, and the privilege of new boys to receive. The former altruisically declare that the duty is not painful, the latter asseverate that it is. Perhaps it is a question of the point of view. However this may be, the educative effects are undoubt- edly excellent, and when to these are added the minor results of the form masters ' strenuous efforts to illuminate their mental darkness, even though his success may be more nearly meas- ured by his expectations than by his desires, we begin to see in this primeval protoplasm the potential raw material which may be fashioned into the highly finished product, the polished and accomplished gentlemen whom the presiding genius of the Form above always receives with such hearl-fclt gratitude. FORM I. The Orchestra Someone made a wild suggestion at the beginning of the term, namely, that a School Orchestra should be begun. It was! Miss Lonsdale proceeded with the task of procuring instruments, and is now undertaking the difficult task of bring- ing about the evolution of makers of squeaks and groans into amateur musicians. Although it meant a lot of hard work to orchestrate the different pieces proposed for the concert, Miss Lonsdale has done it, and has added, as recent additions to the orchestra, a flute, oboe and ' cello. Although the inhabitants of the dormitories are kept awake until unholy hours, though the Hill House boys ask rude questions as to whether cats are legitimate game to tor- ture, though the population of Shawnigan toss on sleepless beds, it is all for the best, as will be shown by the concert next year. 18