Stratford Normal School - Classic Yearbook (Stratford, Ontario Canada)

Page 15 text:

I The Classic June, 1911 The value of character is the standard of human progress. The in- dividual, the Community. the nation, tells its standing, its achieve- ment, its worth, its true wealth and glory in the eye of God hy' its estimation of character. Perhaps, you have been on the shores of a lake one day, when you carelessly threw a stone into the water. It splashed down into the depths of the Howing water-and that was all. No, it was not all. If we look at those eoneentrie rings, rolling their tiny ripples among the reeds, producing an influence slight, but conscious, to the very shores of the lake itself. So we hy our thoughts, words and deeds, are exerting a silent hut certain influence upon the world around us. It is thought that the greatest influence exerted upon others' lives is through our deeds, If we treat others kindly, honestly and uprightly they will invariahly treat us the same. A great influence is exerted hy the words of our lips. .X kind word spoken at the right time has often heen the means of inspir- ing a discouraged one to take hope again. Xlvhen a person speaks angrily to us we are prone to answer in the same tone, hut if we but answer that person kindly, it may he the means of making that anger disappear. The last but not the least influences of one's eharaet-er are those exerted hy our thoughts. XYe might ask the question: Have the thoughts of one any eileet on one's eountenanee? XVe should surely answer in the affirmative. lt our thoughts are Centered on that which is pure and idealistie, it will have a high idealizing effeet upon our lives. We might ask the question: XYho has the greatest intlueneef' I would say, the one who is heing taken as an example hy others. For instance, teachers, who have lives entrusted to their care day by day, have a marked intluenee on their eliaraeters. So, they. especially should aim at an ideal eliaraeter. In conclusion, I would say that we are all exerting a world- wide iniluenee greater than any of us eare to acknowledge, so- XYe can never he too eareful XYhat the seeds our hands shall sow, Love troin love is sure to ripen, Hate from hate is sure to grow. Seeds of good or ill we scatter, Heedlessly along our way, A glad or grievous fruitag-e YYaits us at the harvest day. Whatso'er our sowing he Reaping, we its fruits must see. And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truthsi XYin ns with honest triiles, to betray us In deepest consequence. 9

Page 14 text:

The Classic June, 1911 rather the means to the end which was the motive prompting the organization of this institution. To our country we are indebted and to our country we must contribute. It is the boys and girls of today who are to make the citizens of this fair Dominion, and it is our privilege to inculcate in the child life, a true foundation for education and the principles of a staunch Canadian citizenship. Already we find this Canada of ours a heterogeneous mass, and it will be the work of the public school teacher to weld it into a homogenous whole. 'We have learned to appreciate the correlation of the various branches of our course of study and to know something of their value: let us remain steadfast- to our educational doctrine and en- deavor to elevate such an ideal in others. This will require an effort, but the results will compensate for the sacrifice. Though we separate and our relations as teachers and students will cease, we go from here with a common aim to place a higher standard upon life's greatest things. XVhat is the grandest work of all? The work that comes every day, The Work that meets on every hand. ls the work which for us is truly grand And the love of work is our pay. XVhat is the grandest life of all? It is living day by day True to ourselves from dawn till night And the love of truth for our pay. VVhat is the grandest thing of all? ls it winning Heaven some day? No, and a thousand time No. 'Tis making this old world thrill and low YVith the sun of love: till each shall know Something of Heaven here below And God's lVell done for our pay. MABEL BAILEY, Valedictorian. CHARACTER AND ITS INFLUENCE. THERE is a structure which everybody is building, young and old, each one for himself--it is called character, and every act of life is a stone. If day by day we be careful to build our lives with pure, noble, upright deeds, at the end will stand a fair temple honored by God and man. But, as one leak will sink a ship, and one Haw break a chain, so one mean, dishonorable, untruthful act or word will forever leave its impress, and work its influence on our characters, and not only on our characters, but on the char- acters of those with whom we associate day by day. Our characters are composed of myriads of thoughts and acts. A subtle thing is character and a constant work is its formation. Let us, then, to the very best of our ability form an ideal character. 8

Page 16 text:

The Classic Jung, 1911 SHORT TALK ON BRITISH NATIONAL MELODIES. CBy J. Bottomley, A. R. C. O.j POSSIBLY a short talk on some British national tunes might be somewhat appropriate today, in view of Empire Day. The first song I will refer to is the most important, and also it happens to be first in date. I refer to God Save the King. The British National Anthem, so well known the world over, is a tune that has lived for nearly 300 years. In a MS. book attributed to Dr. John Bull fwho was a famous musicianb, and dated 1619, the melody first appears, although it was not published until 1742. The most essential pecu- liarity of the tune is that it is in two sections of unequal length. The first G bars, the second 8 bars. The tune was a great favorite with VVeber, the great composer, he made use of it several times in liis compositions. It was also a great favorite with the great and immortal Beethoven. In Beethoven's journal, referring to one of his compositions wherein he uses the tune, Beethoven says: I must show the English a little what a blessing they have in 'God Save the Kingf Dr. John Bull was born in 1562. In 1582 he was appointed or- ganist of Hereford Cathedral. In 1591 he petitioned Queen Eliza- beth for a yearly allowance of S30 to relieve his great poverty, which altogether hindered his studies. In 1601 Dr. Bull went abroad for the recovery of his health. But according to one historian, Bull left England owing to his being possessed with crotchets, as many musi- cians are. In 1617 he was appointed organist of Antwerp Cathedral. He died in Antwerp 1628. He was a very ingenious composer and as a player he was in the very first rank. God Save tl1e King, MS. 1619, first published 1742-Dr. John Bull, 15132-1628. God Save tl1e King is sometimes ascribed to Henry Carey, who performed it in 1742. XVith regard to God Save the King, after it became so popular and spread to the continent, it was copied into a German song book fthe music, of coursej and Rev. Charles F. Smith, a Baptist clergy- man of Boston, got hold of the book, and in humming over some of the tunes was struck by the appropriateness of this one for a national air. He accordingly sought to apply it to that use and at once wrote the words of My Country 'Tis of Thee, and set them to this music. Smith was a graduate of Harvard 518293 and the first time the tune was sung in the C. S. was 4th of Julv, 1832. This was in the Park Street Baptist Church, Boston. and the author became famous for all time, at least in the U. S. He had, however, no idea that his tune was the British National Anthem, and the people of the U. S-, generally speaking, are still ignorant of its origin. Many think, or pretend, we stole it from them.-B. S. N. The next song I wish to mention is Rule Britannia. The music of this ode in honor of Great Britain was composed by Dr. Arne and was first performed August lst, 1740. The occasion was to com. 10 E 1 223 03703 3 1833 l