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

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine After showing some pictures of Victoria in the earlier days, explaining taxi- dermy and telling us of wild animals in this province, he then put on the screen various natural history museums throughout the world and ended with some account of the old totem poles. On February 14th, the matriculation forms went over to Strathcona, where R. G. Humphreys, Esq., read an enlightening, if rather abstruse, paper on Communism, which led to a general discussion of the question among those present. On November 14th, Sir Percy Sykes gave an illustrated lecture on Persia. After reviewing briefly the early history of Persia under Cyrus and Darius he proceeded to describe the chief geographical features of the country, its cli- mate and its people. He referred to various expeditions he himself had made both for survey work and in connection with his military service. The slides were very good and especially those which he showed in speaking of the famous ruins of Persepolis in bringing his lecture to a conclusion. CONCERT IMPRESSIONS AT 7:30 o ' clock on Saturday, November 10th, we took our seats for the B annual Rag Concert. We beheld the by now familiar stage setting of divers flags with that of the United States of America above them all (as of course it should be). After not quite (?) as long a wait as usual the tiny herald emerged to remark that the first selection was the result of a telegram just received from Ontario concerning the offspring of a certain M. Dionne. The howlings of the quintuplets subsided, only to give place to a still worse caterwauling when their nurses decided to lull them to sleep. After a brief pause during which the herald again spoke — this time so far honouring us as to call us ladies and gentlemen — the curtain rose on the pitch darkness of Night Life at School, featuring — hardly the correct term under the circumstances — Miss Blank and others in their nocturnal revellings. The herald did his now famous cuckoo clock stunt to proclaim that the next episode was one to be seen often in hotel life though not so often in a school, The Bathroom Door. We were then introduced to a quartette of Chinese contortionists, who endeavoured to respond to the ordinary P. T. commands. They achieved a most saintly appearance and produced some quite unusual effects, being one of the most amusing turns on the programme. Two beautiful ladies then entered from opposite sides. Mrs. Pocahontas, who had, to our sorrow, a strange habit of disappearing into the upper regions at intervals, was, as she herself said, in an emaciated condition, while Mrs. Amoeba was rather a plentiful lady. After a long conversation on the merits of a certain doctor both ladies underwent a complete metamorphosis. After the interval the curtain rose on a tableau which even Jones ii could scarcely fail to recognise as the renowned mural. Alice Through the Looking Glass disclosed Tweedledum and Tweedle- dee. When we had feasted our eyes on them long enough, Alice, whose hair reminded us very much of Lady Godiva ' s a few years ago, engaged the brothers 10

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine of all nations; she does not believe that the great powers should control the smaller nations. France is all that remains today in Continental Europe of democratic policy and ideal. B. C. Nicholas, Esq., on February 7th took as his subject The History of the Newspaper, briefly outlining its development from its origin in the hiero- glyphics of the caveman carved on rock, through the news-letter and Acta Diurna of Julius Caesar to the newspaper of today. He then went on to give some account of the machinery by which the modern paper can be printed at the rate of from thirty to sixty thousand copies an hour, and of the methods by which the news of the day is collected, illustrating also how quickly it is now possible to transmit photographs by means of radio transmission. A most instructive and entertainingly delivered lecture, at the conclusion of which Mr. Nicholas showed copies of newspapers as printed in the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. On the afternoon of February 19th, 1934, Don Mario Colonna favoured the school with a surprise lecture on Italy. Giving us a succinct and clear account of the origin, growth and spread of Fascism, he went on to assure us that the Fascism of the early ' 20 ' s had died years ago. New ideas derived from the corporate state which II Duce had built up on the ruins of the war and the peace, had now displaced the original doctrines of Fascism. The corporate state, the co-operative state — that was the clue to present-day Italy. Though anxious to assure us he was making an apology for Italy and in no way advocating our adoption of her principles, yet that infectious salute Don Mario gave as he triumphantly descended the rostrum was significant, methinks, that he felt inwardly he could say — with the great Caesar he so closely resembled in feature and profile — Vent, vidi, vici. On February 21st L. A. Grogan, Esq., outlined for us the work which was covered by anyone who entered upon the career of a Chartered Accountant, showing that accountancy was not only a matter of dealing in figures, but that it gave scope for assisting businesses and institutions to trace their losses, thus fulfilling the two mottoes, Recte numerare and Plurimis prodesse vult. Having attained matriculation standing, the apprentice need only be conversant with simple arithmetic and study Macaulay so that his English may also be simple and lucid. The requirements for another profession were outlined for us on February 2 8th, when Judge Lampman spoke on Law. Only a graduate of a recognized university could be enrolled, and he then had to be articled to a lawyer for three years, in the course of which he took three examinations. Even then a lawyer had not finished his studying, as almost every case he handled led to more. (Here the Judge unwittingly cited an unfortunate example in speaking of the School Tractor.) Judge Lampman then went on to speak of criminal law, revealing him- self as an advocate of capital punishment: discussing t he aims of punishment: showing how maladministration of justice resulted in mob law and lynching: condemning third degree methods as practised in the States: proving that a counsel has a perfect right to defend a man he knows to be guilty: and plead- ing for a correct use of the word alibi. Wild Life in B. C. was the illustrated lecture given by F. Kermode, Esq., on March 14th. Actually Mr. Kermode covered a very much wider field.

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine in conversation. They then burst into topical rhyme with many pauses where memory failed them. More unkind digs were administered in Dust and Ashes, after which we were introduced to a bearded, modern minor prophet with a notebook in his hand, in case he should forget his lines, and a less bearded, modern minimus prophet. These two worthies proceeded to make a long series of wisecracks of a miscellaneous character on the school in general. To conclude, a chorus, seated somewhere on the stage in darkness, sang three Plantation Songs, and after God Save the King we were at liberty to start comparing this Rag Concert with those of the past. HART HOUSE QUARTETTE HAVING in mind the store of musical memories left to us following the first visit of the Hart House String Quartette last Autumn, it was with feelings of anticipation and gratitude that we took our places in the Big School, already well filled with representatives from Strathcona Lodge and Queen Margaret ' s Schools, on Saturday evening, November 17th; anticipation of another feast of classical music interpreted through the minds and hearts of such noted artists. Before the two major works of the programme, a short biographical sketch of the two masters, Haydn and Schumann, whose compositions were featured, was read to us by Mr. Harry Adaskin, second violin in the ensemble, and served as a fitting background for the music which followed. The opening movement of the Haydn Quartet (G Major, Opus 3, No. 3) was charming, while the serenade (in which the first violin voices and reiterates an enchanting little theme, while the other instruments pluck the accompani- ment) was played with the most delightful tenderness. The minuet had vitality and freshness, while the concluding movement was a real presto vividly coloured. The particular favourite was the adagio movement of the Schumann quartet (A Minor, Opus 41, No. 1), delightful in its beautiful tranquillity. Reminiscent of the pipes were the small figures of the bright little melody of the presto which brought this work to its close. Following a brief intermission we heard a group of English, Scotch and Irish folk tunes which, though played with artistic mastery, failed to com- plete the element of satisfaction hitherto felt in the full richness of the pre- ceding works of the older masters. AN APOCRYPHAL ODYSSEY (With apologies to Homer and his translators) SO FEASTED they in the halls of King Alcinous. Now when they had put from them the desire of meat and drink, then did King Alcinous, Lord of the Phseacians, speak unto Odysseus and say, Odysseus, in no wise do we deem thee to be a knave or a cheat, even as the dark earth rears many such broadcast, fashioning lies whence none can even