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

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O The Classic June, 1911 character of our pupils. To teach diligently and faithfully every subject in the public school course of study means that those boys and girls under our charge will have the tive senses of their being well developed. Perhaps no one is better able to judge the value of an all round development than a Normal School student. XYhat is the cause of these wailings over art, construction work and music? Is it not because in our childhood, our hands, eyes and ears have not had the privilege of that natural course of development neces- sary for the work of Normal School students. The privilege of re- moving these difficulties is in the control of the public school teacher. True this continuous round of duties becomes irlisome, the pupils' never-ending questions almost unbearable, and you feel that you must run away from it all. Yes, it means self-sacrifice to be a true teacher, but go a few years into the future and you see your reward. This fair Canada of ours will owe to you an inestimable debt of gratitude for the well developed intellectual citizenship of which she boasts. But not only in the school room does the teacher exert his or her induence- Ralph Connors school day type has not yet gone from existence, when the school master wields his innuence over the community in which he holds sway. Our personality should tend toward the elevation of intellectual and moral standard. That is what we stand for, and with Shakespeare we will say: So shall inferior eyes That borrow their behavior from the great Grow great hy your exalnple and put on The dauntless spirit of resolution. STUDENTS' NIGHT AT THE Y. M. C. A. T has been well said that success in the world depends more on energy than on information: and taking this to be true, how disas- trous the result if, from the life of the student, were blotted out those activities so essential to bodily welfare and so necessary to make intellectual training available in the struggle of life. But in this era of advancement on every side, in this century of increas- ing prosperity and growing promise, the world has not forgotten to raise the standard of a better and higher education: and thus the tendency today is to unite the desire of the learned Athenian for in- tellectual culture and refinement with tl1e ambition of his Spartan neighbor for vigour and physique. Thus we have come to realize the truth of the old maxim Mens sana in corpore sane. This athletic spirit first burst forth among the students of the Stratford Normal School on Tuesday morning when Dr. Silcox, our Principal, announced that we were to send a team of seven of our A'Stalwarts down to the Y. M. C. A. on Friday evening to compete in a tug-of-war against various teams of the city. A special dele- 19

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The Classic June, 1911 VALEDICTORY. IME rolls its ceaseless course, and in the course of time, we as students of the Stratford Normal School have come to the parting of the ways when we must say farewell, gird ourselves with the armor of the pedagogue and go forth into the world with a whole- souled purpose in view. The year that is gone has been full of the delights of the student vouchsafed to us, as it were, by special dis- pensation of Providence and the Education Department before we face the stern responsibilities of the teacher. Wie came, we drank at the fountain of pedagogical learning, we tasted the joy of new friendships, we experienced the spiritual uplift, perhaps raised our ideals and widened our mental vision by contact with so many among teachers and students that were men and women in the true sense of the word. An educated nation must be a superior nation, one of highest physical and mental attainments and of high- est moral standing and nobility. YYise men with great foresight and wisdom perceived the need of a nation and laid broad and deep the foundations of our educational system with a view to making a great and happy people. And it devolves upon us to follow in pur- suit of this aim. XVe shall have it in our power to mould and shape in a degree a portion of Canada's future and with what conscien- tious and painstaking effort must we approach itl One who knows has said that the ideal teacher is as Wise as Solomon, as impartial as a telephone directory, as patient as a glacier, as immovable as truth, as untiring as a steam engine, as alert as a mongoose and as rare as a hen's tooth. Surely we would be but little lower than the angels to possess all these qualities. VVho dare aspire to this ideal? XYe dare hope all things, having profited by such precepts and examples as those of the S. N. S. Let us put into our work our whole heart, a sympathetic heart, a cheerful and optimistic spirit, an application of the knowledge and methods we have acquired, a strong sense of duty, a sense of humor, a desire to excel and to see the diffusion of sweetness and light-and then let us hope for re- sults. The training we have had in the practical business of teaching has been excellent, both in the Model Schools here and in the coun- try school where we spent a week. It is a comfort to know that our knowledge of pedagogy does not consist of mere theory, but has been actually experienced and found practicable- Although the criti- cism of the teachers occasionally appalled us and made us feel that we had mistaken our life work, yet we realize now how beneficial they were to us and we feel the truth of the proverb that every cloud has a silver lining and behind the cloud is the sun still shining. NVe have come out into the sunshine now which will dazzle us with its radiance when we hear of the success of Stratford Normal stud- ents. VVe anticipate that glad hour by congratulations. The week in the country school gave us an idea of the need of resourcefulness 14

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The Classic June, 1911 gation composed of the Lion Hearts of Grade B. who under the leadership of their enthusiastic captain, R. S. Shaw, somehow pro- duced a huge rope, and in a very strenuous practice showed from the very word pull that they were winners. On the Friday evening about 7-45 p. m., a mighty host from the Normal, from the Collegiate Institute, and from the Business College gathered to witness the affray. On entering the Y. M. C. A., programs were given out which showed that the first item was the students' greeting in the reception hall. This proved a means ol getting acquainted with each other. The introducing of a few of the quiet bashful boys to such a host of amiable young ladies seemed to remove the thin veneer of stiffness that might otherwise have been exident. One lady in Grade A remarked on the difficulty in remem- bering the names of the boys, but of course it is unnecessary to mention any of the Hdiflicultiesn of the boys. About 8.30 the crowd might have been seen promenading to the beat of the harmonious strains of the city orchestra, wending their way up to the assembly room, where an excellent program was given by the Xormal School students. At this the ladies took a prominent part, proving again that music, song and eloquence do not wholly belong to the sterner sex. The last item, but oh, not least, was the sports in the gym- nasium. The first line up for tug-of-war consisted of the selected seven of the Collegiate against those of the Normal. VVith some pulling and shunting the Collegiate were forced to give way, and the Normal came off winners, but not conquerors. The next line up was between the Y. M. C. A- and the Business College. These two teams could truly boast of their skill at pulling the tug through continued systematic training and practice, but the well trained Y. M. C. A. septet was an easy opponent to the husky Business College Monsters, But now were to come the finals. The Normal, being the first winners, were to pull the Business College, the other happy victors- and it was a terrible contest, a hand and foot engagement, such jerking and slipping and sprawling! Terrible! Terrible! And those walls which had so oft before trembled and shook, now tuned their beams to the shrill screeches of the boys below accompanied by the silvery shouts of enthusiasm Pull! Pull ! that came from the ladies in the gallery, which if we had stopped to listen, would have proven very unlike the high and low Doll that had come from them on previous occasions. You would have thought that the tug was going to break. It held in bewilderment both spectators and judges. But, alas! in the end the College won. VVe are disappointed and could easily give a dozen good excuses for our failure, but Cheer up,', welll do better next time. Of course the girls all said we did nobly, but they had to say something. The task of seeing all the girls home that night loomed large -to the boys, and not wishing to show preference, they very rapidly dis- persed to their respective abodes. But now, forgetting that which gave such full enjoyment and forgetting that which gave such pain for the moment, and looking 20 ,