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

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine was Marathon, where a few Greeks stopped the hordes of a vast, slave-polluted Persian Empire. That battle was fought in the dawn of our European civilization and, fortunately, it was the Greeks who Avon. To Britons, who may consider themselves the descendants of freedom-loving Greeks, fell the honour of winning three later victories that kept Europe on the path beaten out for it by all the generations that had marched since Marathon. The victories against the autocracies of Philip II, Napoleon I and Wilhelm II ensured the safety of the English Common Law, England ' s first contribution to freedom, from the whim of a despot. That law had been hammered out according to their needs by the practice and usage of the entire English people, and these three victories, strengthened by the Glorious Revolution and by the Declaration of Independence, ensured that its alteration would follow the wish of all the people rather than that of a single man. Now Britain has entered into a new struggle against a newly barbarized Europe, a Europe won by enemies of reason and progress whose masters look forward no longer. She stands alone but for the strong right arm of her oldest child across the seas. They two alone look onwards t o a new, vital and enduring Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World. The freshly victorious Teutonic hordes sweep over the achieve- ments of slow, hard-fought progress like young children left without guidance. Guidance has, indeed, left them in despair: in the per- sons of Heinrich Bruening, Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann and a host of lesser leading men, it lives in the only two remaining towers of adult sanity. England and America had, since the last outburst of childish irresponsibility, filled almost ceaselessly with the exiles of a tor- tured world, but that flow has now widened into a torrent. From the homes of free men, the exiles join their hopes to those of their hosts that light may come again. The leaderless barbarians do but folloAV in the footsteps of long- dead sires, and it is not accident but rightful logic that has led them again to revive their tribal gods. Christ ' s way is the way of progress, and from progress they have averted their faces. It is we who believe that our path must lie where the world has marched for the thousand years since primitive invaders howled through the streets of a degenerate Rome. The modern Teutons have found a people far more advanced and far less apathetic than the rabble of Rome, one whose virtue bread and shows have not yet sapped. They have seen and they shall yet feel that Christianity and reason have built a different world, a world more honest, more brave and more free than hereto- fore. [ 29 ]

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine was now very fat, and his small beard had become a large one that covered his chin. His hair was slightly grey. His antique shop appeared to be a very ordinary one. He had on show the usual selection of tables and chairs in one showroom. In another, he had a good selection of old paintings, while the floor of the room was covered with tables holding a multitude of coloured vases and bowls. But it was in his third showroom that I was suddenly reminded of my purpose. There I saw what had been lacking so far in his shop. This last showroom was filled with swords, scimitars, rapiers and daggers of all sizes and descriptions. But I saw that each weapon was tended with the utmost care. I saw that this was the part of his shop that he really loved. The other two rooms were sideshows to his magnificent collection of arms. Suddenly I noted at the head of the room, in what might be called the place of honour, two crossed rapiers; but unlike the others they had no cards on them. When I questioned him, he told me that they were his own per- sonal weapons, and I suddenly realized that it must have been one of these that had killed my father. I asked permission to take one down, and as I stood there waving it slowly through the air, I thought that it would be poetic justice if I did not use the revolver in my pocket. Instead, I suddenly lunged ; and my nerve failed just as the rapier pierced his heart. As I looked at him, lying dead in his holy of holies, a feeling of horror possessed me, and I rushed frantically out of the shop. — W. McE. PAST OR FUTURE? We have read of destruction in Britain, of onslaughts in the desert and of strife in Greece, but of the fundamental causes of the turmoil we know but little. Yet those causes are simple. They all resolve themselves into the oft-fought battle of autocracy against democracy. At the end of the conflagration of 1914-18, Ave had hoped that democracy had fought through to a costly but lasting victory. Today, we know that thought was a mistake, but there remain many who believe that, at least, this victory has raised us yet another step in a stiff but con- tinuous climb on to the City of God. Can we doubt that the supremacy of man among animals comes from his use of reason? Or that this use can exist to a proper degree only in a state of freedom ? Yet, many have been the battles fought to preserve this freedom from destruction. The first of them [ 28 ]

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Shawnigan Lake School Magazine Let us pray that they will feel this soon and that soon will be our victory, for only then may the world become one that we shall want our youth to inherit. — L. I. A WELCOME TO THE ENGLISH BOYS In September the School had quite an influx of boys from Eng- lish Schools, a varied selection (both of boys and Schools). Felsted seemed to come out in the largest numbers but Eton and Harrow, Fettes and Marlborough were also represented. We are glad to have these boys, over thirty-five of them all told, because they will help to broaden the outlook of our oavii boys. They will bring new ideas into the West and they have already proved themselves to be worthy assets to this young School, which is more than willing to do what it can to help them during the awful cataclysm now raging in Europe and the old country from whence they come. Also, the advent of these boys may help a little bit to emphasize the truth spoken by a great man, Goethe, who said that Talent develops itself in solitude, character in the stream of life. I feel, therefore, that we can offer these boys something in the stream of life. Stuart Cloete has recently written a book called Yesterday Is Dead. Some of us realize very fully the truth of the title of that book, so much so, that we feel the necessity of putting our every energy into the development of that character which will or should be the backbone of Canada in the years to come. I do not propose to write anything controversial on the relative virtues of Liberalism, Con- servatism, National Socialism or corruption, but we need culture, we need men who can think and can reason for themselves, and we welcome these new boys from England because I think they can help us in this respect. AN APPRECIATION BY AN ENGLISH BOY In this world of ours, where war rages in almost every corner, it is hard to find peace. Canada, however, is fortunately not one of these corners of strife. So it is with deep gratitude that we of England accept the haven from the horrors of bombing offered us by the people of Canada, and especially this School. And yet I think I am speaking for all when I say that there are few of us who would not rather be out there in the thick of it. But fate has willed otherwise, and perhaps we can look forward to the day when it will fall to our lot to make the world safe for evervone. — W. [ 30 ]