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

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine venient, and begin to play the piano, while the other would steal up behind and drag him out along the floor. When the curtain rose for the second item a heroine and her family were being turned out of their home, as she refused to marry the villain or pay the mortgage. The hero ' s intervention at the critical moment saved her life, after she had been laid on the railway tracks by the villain as the train, which actually materialized, was approaching. This was easily the best turn of the evening. In the next act we had an insight into what the average boy really imagines goes on in the Masters ' Common Room, how they apparently gloat over a boy caught doing wrong, what puns they make, and how they discuss co-sines. We also learned why a staff rugby team is not formed, and some of the excuses put forward to avoid playing. We then had a brief glimpse of Mr. Segar ' s characters, Popeye and Mr. Geezil, as they lunched at Wimpy ' s restaurant, while Toar stood in the back- ground. There followed a shadow play in which a patient was opened up with a hatchet and had many amazing things taken from his stomach. After the intermission we saw Caesar, who, after asking the omens of the haruspex and meting out justice to many plaintiffs, incurred their wrath and was murdered. As he was expiring, Surgery Ne-ow was opportunely called. A master and four boys, dressed for early morning rugby practice, demanded Koko from Mr. Gim, as they were getting old and the morning was cold. They also praised Tiny the strong and Cicero the trymaker. In the following act a butler admitted a stranger who, after a few formalities, obtained some plans from him by holding him up. By pretending to be electrocuted when opening the door, the butler got the gun and held up the stranger till his master arrived. The ninth act was an election scene, complete with inebriated local yokel chairman and hecklers in the audience. In quick succession we heard Messrs. Aberhart, McGeer, Woodsworth, Bennett and King, each with their several promises. The concert ended with community singing. We went behind the scenes to help dismantle the stage, but found the dangers from falling hammers, pieces of two by four, and such like too numerous, and so retired to bed. THE LIBRARY The following books have been added to the Library during the last year: Beggars ' Horses, P. C. Wren; Ships in the Bay, The Dark Mile and The Flight of the Heron, D. K. Broster; David and Destiny, Ian Hay; The Brother of Daphne, and Jonah Co., Dornford Yates; Jalna, and Whiteoaks of Jalna, M. de la Roche; The Jesting Army, Ernest Raymond; Raiders of the Deep, Lowell Thomas; Men Against the Sea, C. Nordhoff and J. N. Hall; King of the Khyber Rifles, Talbot Mundy; Two Black Sheep, Warwick Deeping; The Return of Bulldog Drummond, Sapper ; Celebrated Cases of Charlie Chan, E. D. Biggers; The Hash Knife Outfit, and Tales of Lonely Trails, Zane Grey; Over the River, and Maid in Waiting, John Galsworthy; Heroes of Modern Adventure, T. C. Bridges and H. H. Tiltman; The Arches of the Years, H. Sutherland; Birds of Canada, P. S. Tauverner; Oliver Cromwell, John Buchan; — 29 —

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine as a result of his potations that I felt sure I should glean some most enlightening information. On entering the museum my attention was attracted by a fine, blue Belgian hare. I remarked on the excellence of the specimen, but Lapin would have none of it. Belgian hare, mon dieul Was it that I did not recognize the Welsh Rabbit when I saw one? Truly rare, but to be met with on the slopes of Snowdon where its colour would acclimatise, oh so nicely, with the snows. But I must regard the stuffed bird close by. A chef d ' oeuvre was it not? I agreed that it was a clever mounting of a wood pigeon. A wood pigeon? But where was my knowledge that I did not know the stool pigeon? This impudent rascal, was he not always hanging round the back door, where he had no busi- ness, in the hopes of picking up tit bits? Where, I asked, were the big game. It was only necessary that I should look at the floor, where I was at that moment standing on the skin of a bugbear. And what a terror he had been! And in front of the fireplace did I not see the yellow coat of a dandelion, which he had picked off on the veldt? My gaze was then attracted by a mountain goat, which, I suggested, he had shot in the Rockies on his way across Canada. But what insult that I should think it anything so common. For I should know that this was one of the almost extinct Jewish scapegoats my host had shot in Palestine. After this faux pas I became interested in a lynx, and not being sure of its genus I enquired of Lapin, who had no hesitation in asserting that it was a cufflynx. By the time he had shown me the tooth of a firedog and the scale of a snapdragon I was hard put to it to keep a straight face. In our perigrinations we had now arrived beneath a pair of horns. Lapin was momentarily at a loss, but the puzzled expression soon cleared from his face as he confidently asserted they were the horns of a dilemma. I mildly suggested a llama, surely. To settle the point he climbed up to read what was written below, but losing his balance he fell between two stools and then at last I could give vent to my feelings without hurting his. THE CONCERT UPON entering the big school on Saturday evening, the ninth of November, for the annual rag concert, we sat down and took stock of our surround- ings. The curtain, adorned with the School crest and colours, hung in front of the stage in the centre, while amidst the beams was the Star-spangled banner. A profusion of small flags covered the steps up to the stage and the side fixtures. We had just found out from our programmes that The League of Nations was the first tableau, when the curtain rose. A gorgeously arrayed Haile Selassie, seated on a throne, was holding his court of league delegates, who were grouped around him in a semicircle, with Mussolini himself only a yard from the monarch. His shadow sang a song of fidelity to Selassie, and Gugsa a song of hate to a number of delegates. When the court had filed out Selassie and Musso- lini heartily shook hands. When the lights went on again we could take stock of the spectators: Strathcona, a number of old boys and parents, and the school filled the hall. For the following four intervals two amateur rough-housers performed for us. One would enter by the window, door, or balcony, whichever proved con- — 28 —

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine Mr. Fortune ' s Trial, Bailey; Cappy Ricks, Kyne; Mr. Pepper, Thomson; The Free Fishers, The Courts of the Morning, and A Prince of Captivity, Buchan; The Scarlet Stripe, Taffrail; The Wings of Adventure, Gibs; A Knight on Wheels, Ian Hay; Captain Blood Returns, Sabatini; Very Good, Jeeves, and Money for Nothing, Wodehouse; The Ostrekoff Jewels, Oppenheim; The Golden Scorpion, Rohmer; The Advance of Science, Davis; The Lion, and The Congorilla, Johnson; The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Yeats-Brown; Lad of Sunnybank, Terhune; The Snows of Helicon, Tomlinson; Mutiny on the Bounty, NordhofT and Hall; Good-bye Mr. Chips, Hilton; Great Pirate Stories, French; The War as I Saw It, Scott; Brazilian Adventure, Fleming; In Search of England, Morton; Russia ' s Iron Age, Chamberlin; Science for a New World, Thomson. O, SI SIC OMNES His parents left him with high hopes That he would knowledge gain, Not realising that he was A boy of little brain. Whenever he was late for class, At which he was adept, His face was sadly penitent. You felt he almost wept. On Sundays, singing in the choir, His lusty voice was heard So loud above the other parts, It sounded quite absurd. He often visited his fort, Where he indulged in food Instead of poring over books, A practice he eschewed. He nightly played the saxophone And gravely pained the ear With high, discordant melodies, Or dirges slow and drear. Undaunted he at any game By coach ' s mighty din. Sarcasm could not penetrate The thickness of his skin. Now when matriculation came, He was distressed to find That all the work he should have done Had quite escaped his mind. So having failed in his exam, He quickly left the school, Prepared to be a business man Chained to an office stool.