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

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine TO VICTORIA BY BUS AT ABOUT a quarter past nine on a Wednesday morning, we started from . the school towards the village, where we intended to catch the ten o ' clock bus to Victoria. We strode along quite cheerfully, since we were annoying various masters by missing their classes. We passed the garden, where the gar- dener was very busy trying to envelop himself, and the dreary-looking dead plants which he had piled in orderly rows beside him, in a dense cloud of white smoke. Then we went out through the school gate and along the road beside the lake, on the surface of which, much to our surprise, we saw a thin layer of ice that had formed the night before. As we continued on our way we passed the boat house, where one of the cutters had sunk again and was resting on its side in the mud looking very forlorn. Walking briskly on, we soon reached the railway crossing, where we had to wait for a few minutes for a train to com- plete its switching operations, and climbed the hill to the village post office, where we were to buy our tickets. The post office is built onto the front of a very pleasant yellow stucco house in which the postmaster and his family live. As you go in, you see, directly opposite the door, a row of little numbered compartments in some of which are letters, while others are empty. Next to these is the window into the inner office in which is usually seated either the postmaster or his wife. This morning it happened to be his wife, who, after bidding us good morning, asked us what we wanted. We asked for two return tickets to Victoria, and, while she was getting them ready, took the opportunity to have a look about us. The post office was a small room about six feet by twelve. Opposite the door were the compartments where the mail was placed, since there was no delivery. Next to the door, to the left as you came in, was a window, and in the left wall there was another which lighted a writing table. On the rear wall next to the window was a proclamation declaring that balloting would be opened in the Duncan city hall on November the seventh. By the time we had noted all this, the post- mistress had finished our tickets and now told us to go up and wait in the big car parked on the hillside opposite the post office. We got in and had waited a few minutes when the side door of the post office opened and the postmaster came out, followed by a small terrier who, when the door was opened, lea ped into our laps where he proceeded to make himself completely at home. As soon as everybodv was settled satisfactorily, we started on our way to meet the bus at the Millstream store on the Island Highway. When we arrived, the bus was not there, and so we waited in the car for it to come. After a short space of time, the sound of its horn was heard over the hill and it drew up beside us. We got in and, as soon as the driver and the postmaster had completed their arrangements in the rear, which seemed to necessitate the unloading and reloading of all the baggage on the bus, we started for Victoria. The bus went fairly fast and soon reached the ferry slip, where it had to wait for a few minutes while the ferry was completing the operation of dock- ing, which seemed to be very complicated, requiring much quick sta rting and stopping of the engine. At last, however, she was suitably placed and we were able to go aboard. We spent half an hour on the ferry crossing the bay. On our right the — 31 —

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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.

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine bluffs rose almost straight out of the water, so that the whole side of the bay resembled the side of a huge green bathtub with two dirt rings, the road and the railway track, about half way up. On the other side were the farms and villages which dot the whole of the Saanich peninsula. Soon we passed an island in the middle of the bay with a small lighthouse at one end, which, although it was broad daylight, was flick- ering on and off. Passing this, we came in sight of Brentwood Bay, in which there were innumerable fishing boats of all descriptions, ranging from a rather the worse for wear dinghy with an outboard motor, to a luxurious 30-ft. yacht. Just beside this motley collection of craft was the slip, and, accordingly, the ferry slowed down and, making a wide turn, headed in the general direction of the landing place. After bouncing back and forth between the dolphins, she was finally satisfactorily docked and we were able to disembark. The rest of our journey was through the Saanich peninsula with its many pretty hills and valleys. The bus soon passed the Dominion Observatory, which was invisible until we arrived directly below it, since it was almost the same colour as the sky. Shortly after this we began to come into the outskirts of Vic- toria. In a very short time we reached the bus station, where we got out, very glad to have finished our journey. To be, to be a lawyer Has always been my aim, With a ver y lucrative clientele And a K.C. after my name. I ' ve dreamed of stalking into court Arrayed in wig and gown, To move the soul of my breathless jury, To spread a smile o ' er the judicial frown. Or else I ' d be seated at my desk, The pictures, books and rugs just so, With clients waiting — at my pleasure — Such gems of wisdom I might bestow. I ' d render great things for the smallest of things, And gather the fees my dear public offers, To raise me a family and pay off the mortgage And observe with delight the state of my coffers. At present my desk is the law school bench, My client — very poor pay — I ' ve yet to behold any breathless jury As I ' m serving writs most of the day. — Historicus. — 32 —