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

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine SOME NOTES AT RANDOM (Contributed by C. W. L.) Dear Editor: You demand from me some account of my doings whilst absent from the School. I have visited various places and seen various things. I sampled the hospitality of many friends in the U.S.A. and I must confess that I was over- whelmed by the generosity and kindness of the many parents with whom I had the pleasure of staying in the United States, England and Canada. However, this being my first real visit to the U.S.A., there was much to see and do, from the round of social pleasures in Seattle, Tacoma and Portland at one end of the trip, and through country similar to our own, to the deserts and mountains, of Arizona, California and New Mexico, the studios of Hollywood, the Hun- tington Library, Planetarium, and Universities of the South, at the other. To write at length would be impossible, especially as nearly twenty-five thousand miles of my trip were not in the United States; to write but a short account may be incoherent. Still, having read and heard so much of California I must con- fess to having been somewhat disappointed in fact. A True, the groves of eucalyptus, the oaks, the groves of fruit trees were lovely. The roads are extremely good (superlatively so compared to our own in B.C. ) . The old Missions were of interest to me, J although locally they do not appear to matter much Mtt judging by their poverty. There is agriculture to be , £t considered, of course, otherwise motion pictures and £J| B oil appeared to be the chief interests. 1 thought San Francisco the most interesting city on the Coast, Los Angeles is large in area, and they all seem to share a common heritage of fog. Vancouver harbour compares very favourably with San Francisco in spite of a couple of bridges which are costing many millions of dollars. Stanley Park may not be as fine a park as the Golden Gate Park, but the mounted police ride horses of which they are justly proud. Salt Lake City, in a lovely setting and well laid out, is interesting, and the organ- ization of the Latter Day Saints is remarkable and efficient. The petty officialdom is colossal, the schools are magnificent, the Civic Centres are wondrous, and English is a language which will take you to most places, although the American of Cali- fornia is frequently unable to speak it and his language is often — 29 —

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine SPORTS » THE Land Sports were held during the first fortnight of the Summer Term, producing some very good racing, particularly in the Senior 100 yards. The Water Sports were swum off on Speech Day. Ripley ' s won the House Cup quite easily, but competition for the individual Middle and Junior Cups was very close. Event Winner Second Third House Sports Cup Ripley ' s, 117 pts. Lake ' s, 79 pts. Groves ' , 65 pts. House Relay (Land) Ripley ' s Groves ' Lake ' s Mackie Hicks Taylor Smith i House Relay (Water) Groves ' Lake ' s Ripley ' s Whittle Mcintosh Burchard Budd Senior Cup - Mackie, 15 pts. Whittle ) Mcintosh, 7 pts. Day i j y P ts Midle Cup - - Murphy, 15 pts Fleck, 13 pts. Davis ii, 11 pts. Junior Cup Spencer, 16 pts. Wheeler, 14 pts. Gandossi, 13 pts SENIOR — 100 Yards ....Mackie 1 Cooper Day i J i 4 Mile Mackie Gardner Taylor y 2 Mile Mackie Taylor Gardner Long Jump Day i Budd } Hicks S High Jump Whittle { Mackie Moore S Swimming — 50 Yards Whittle Mcintosh Burchard 250 Yards Burne Ridewood Mcintosh Diving Torland Mcintosh Ridewood MIDDLE— 100 Yards. Murphy Fleck Rhodes 14 Mile Davis ii Murphy Oxholm V 2 Mile ...Davis ii Tupper ii Murphy Long Jump... Fleck Murphy Rhodes High Jump Fleck Oxholm Davis ii Swimming — 50 Yards Derby Matthews i Rhodes 250 Yards ...Matthews i Derby Matthews ii Diving.... ...Rhodes Murphy Matthews ii JUNIOR — 100 Yards Spencer Hall Gandossi 220 Yards Wheeler Spencer Hall Long Jump Wheeler Layard Spencer High Jump Wheeler } Gandossi Layard S Swimming — 50 Yards Gandossi Burns Lake 250 Ya rds..... Gandossi Spencer 1 Layard } Diving Spencer Wilson ii Gandossi BOXING COMPETITION Heavyweight — Gardner beat Wilson I. Lieht Heavies — Mackie beat Day I. Middleweight — Whittle beat Mcin- tosh. Welterweight — Niven I w.o. Newton. Lightweight — Murphy beat Wace. Featherweight — Niven II beat Mat- thews II. Bantamweight — Burns beat McPher- son. Flyweight — Wheeler beat Charleson. Good Loser ' s Cup — Taylor. — 28

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine reminiscent of Spain, of Italy, of Scandinavia and even of New York. The news- papers are large and at times (especially Sundays) florid. But, after all, moving pictures are a major industry. And California provides ideal settings for jungles filled with wild animals, for deserts with camels silhouetted against an arid horizon, for perilous mountain scenes (Los Angeles covers a large area). The domestic affairs of Celebrities appear to be of great community interest, and the daily news is, at least, an antidote to the vitriolic comments of journals while time marches on. The serene austerity of villages like Nephi, Fredonia in Utah, are forgotten as we come upon the older beauty of San Juan Capistrano, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, where one sees living relics of a civilization with a religious background. A quick side trip into Mexico, where no one worries about any- thing, and the Immigration officials care not whether you go or come providing you do not disturb their sleep; and, on returning, the U.S. officials are full of suspicion and want all your papers to examine and let you know how honoured you are to be allowed into the U.S. in spite of the fact that they saw you leave the country a few hours before. They are, of course, Federal agents, and therefore have no use for any single state, and their courtesy is of the gruffer type common to the State and City police. Did I forget politics? Well, before an election they remind me of our own provincial elections. One group of newspapers appear to be backing one candidate and pictures of this man appeared every day in the papers — Mr. . . . sitting at work, Mr. . . . sitting in his shirtsleeves, Mr. ... in the bosom of his (apparently) adoring family, etc., etc. And the less said about the arch-fiend who dares to oppose him the better. I loved the United States. I loved their citizens, individually, yes! but there seems to be less individual liberty than we are accustomed to; this may be due to the method by which government officials are elected. So I left it, hoping to return and revel in the individual courtesy and kindliness I have never before met in such abundance, and I left it hoping to forget that the thing I was to see was the biggest of its type in the world and had cost the most money — the Boulder Dam; the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, all so full of interest, romance or beauty, and in British Columbia we also have a noble share of these things, only, of course, we have no roads. And so three weeks on the Pacific and a farewell to our side. The Pacific, always restless, and the more so in a small ship of 7000 tons. And hence, time to review a few things I had seen. The won- drous educational buildings — but why chiefly buildings? The tre- mendous pleasure I had in seeing so many Old Boys, from Alec Ripley in Los Angeles, who gave me of his time to show me San Diego and its Exposition, to Thane Rogers in San Francisco, and Wilson, Hyde, Kinney at Stanford, Bruce Olsen and Harris in Portland, Doherty and Bill Johnson in Tacoma. They are doing well, our lads. And so to the old city of Panama and the Canal — a very beautiful run through tropical foliage on a perfect day, everything a brilliant green, and if it had not been -— for the presence of several alligators and a couple of — 30 —