Tillsonburg District High School - Tatler Yearbook (Tillsonburg, Ontario Canada)

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NEW CANADIANS AT T.D.H.S. NIGHT CLASSES Uno aspect of the life of the school with which the day-pupils of T. D. H. S. are perhaps not well acquainted is the institution, by the Department of Edu- cation and the local Board, of night classes in Basic English for New Canadians. A very commendable beginning was made in this field several years ago under the guidance of Mr. S. Wightman. This year the Department of Education has en- couraged the expansion of this important effort. On Monday and Wednesday evenings throughout the winter, Miss Howitt and Mr. Hay have instructed two classes of enthusiastic and willing workers. These 68 men and women, boys and girls, oi' various nationalities, are united in their desire to perfect their knowledge of the Canadian speech and to absorb the customs and history of the country of their adoption. By their faithful attendance and enthu- siastic response they have shown their patient and understanding instructors how earnest is this desire. We are glad to welcome these new Canadians and to wish them success and happiness in their new home. Because we feel that our new friends have a desire to use their newly-acquired English and have something to say to us, we are pleased to print some of their compositions. THE TATLER

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THE MEANING OF THE ATOM BOMB by Ruth West, XIA On August 6, 1945, President Truman, speaking about the destruction of the Japanese army at Hiroshima, said, It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the Universe. Immediately the world asked, What is it? What does it mean ? In every language the press and radio rushed answers. The atomic bomb is a name given to a bomb which obtains its explosive energy from the release of atomic energy or, more exactly, the con- version of matter into energy by an atomic change. This process is known to scientists as nuclear fission. It is beyond the comprehension of an ordinary person. It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to estimate the meaning of the bomb. Its final power is not known. Nor, therefore, may we judge the various uses of such power. The first and obvious meaning of the bomb is that man has developed a weapon of destructiveness surpassing any other in his history. In its tiny compass lies power exceeding that of twenty thousand tons of T.N.T. It can devastate four square miles and damage a thousand square miles. It can kill an unthinkable number of people and its deadly radiation may affect people exposed to it years afterward. Military experts claim that in another war no city with a population of a hundred thousand people will remain as an effective operating centre one hour after the outbreak of war. So terrifying is the new weapon that nations are spending millions to develop it. This they do, knowing that in another war the nation without the atomic bomb cannot survive. They are also planning the possibility of moving centres of in- dustry to remote districts and under- ground. The use of the atomic bomb as a force for evil tends to draw attention from its worthier future as a force for peace. Science has long sought the release of atomic energy for the service of man. The great Atomic Bomb Project of World War II made it possible for science to proceed with its research on an undreamed THE TATLER of scale. Millions of people and dollars were devoted to the work. Now, with the war far behind, the knowledge and skills that perfected the bomb are being applied to assist us in the business of living. At the moment man is learning to con- vert this new power into heat. There are enormous plants at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Hannaford, Washington. Outside these plants are piles of uranium, the raw material which has been found most effective for nuclear fission. Uranium is mined at Great Bear Lake and in Colorado. It will be seen that this source of heat removes the fears that existed concerning the exhaustion of coal and oil deposits. In 'many laboratories experiments are going on so that the release of atomic energy will generate electrical power. In others scientists seek to perfect the power for other phases of industry. More im- portant than these is the research con- ducted in the interests of medicine. It is expected that atomic energy will, like the X-ray, become an instrument for the conquest of disease. The present is the time for hope. It is true that the bomb has made us realize that another war may mean disaster and death on a scale that may endanger civilization. On the other hand the very possibility of this may prevent war. There is, too, the fact that in the atomic bomb we have a weapon that, used by an inter- national police, can check any aggressor nation from embroiling others in war. Already the atomic bomb is being re- ferred to as the first milestone of the Atomic Age. Although we can only guess at the way of life that lies ahead, we do know that it will be profoundly different from that of today. Even cautious scien- tists get excited about it. They see a world of peace and a world free of disease, more fancifully, a world where it will be possible to drive a liner across the Atlantic on the energy in a glass of water. - One morning as Bill Mackie awoke at 9 o'clock he remembered that he had to take out the garbage. He dashed down- stairs with his hair tangled and in his night clothes. As he came out, the col- lector came up, and Bill asked, Am I too late for the garbage? The man answered, No, jump right in. 67

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FREEDOM IS HAPPINESS I am an Estonian. I am a refugee of Communism. I left my homeland in 1944, 30th of September. I left it because the Russians came. There was a big war at that time. The Estonian Army was too small against the Red Army. They won and occupied it. Now it is added to the terror in the Soviet Union. At the same time thousands of the Estonian people left the homeland to find a refuge in the large world. So did I. But the most of my people must stay. They had no chance to go. Now they live under the wild terror of Communism. My mother and brother are there. I have known nothing about them for four and a half years. They are behind the Iron Curtain. A great number of the Estonian people were killed at that time. The sea was the only way to go, and the people had not a great number of good boats. They had to use little fishing boats. It was fall, and the sea was very stormy. The boats were too full of people and so many, many of them never did get to the other side of the Baltic Sea. I got happily over the sea to Sweden. Sweden had in wartime a great number of the homeless people who found a refuge there. I lived four years there, and I am very obliged to Swedish people for that time. I came to Canada to find a new home- land. Now I have been here three months. This is a short time and I have not seen much of this country but I like it. I hope to find a good home here and be happy. Freedom is happiness. By Reet Kasekamp. MY STORY In the year 1942f27!2, the Germans took me to Germany when I was fifteen and a half years old. So I stayed in Germany till the year 1944 when the Americans came to Germany. Then after that came the Polish Captain who took all the Polish families to Holland. We stayed in Holland for one month in Mastericht. After that we drove through Belgium to France till we came to Lille. From Lille all those boys who wanted to go to the Polish Army went to Ostandy in Belgium. THE TATLER From Belgium we went to England. But I can't remember which port we landed in, I didn't care. I was so happy that I didn't bother to find out. We stayed in London for two hours waiting for the train. When the train came we went right into Scotland. We landed in Edinburgh. From Edinburgh we went to Kinross, the place where we were sent. I stayed in Kinross for a while before I was sent to the Tenth Brigade of Paratroops. From there I went to the First Battalion Grenadiers where I spent the rest of my time. In 1946 I started to look for my uncle in Canada through the British Red Cross. In the year 1947 I left the Army and I started working in a Sheffield factory. In the meantime the Red Cross found my uncle in Canada, and he asked me if I wanted to come to Canada. So, I came here on July 12, 1948. From then on I started to work on my uncle's tobacco farm. And I like it very much. Now I don't think I would like to go back to the Old Country. By Peter Modney. HOLLAND AND CANADA The teacher puts a very difiicult question, but I will try to write down a little story. What is the difference be- tween Canada and my native land, Hol- land? I live in Canada only half a year. I like it very well over here. I like the people as well as the country. The biggest trouble is the language, not forbthe Canadians but for me. One of the first things by which I was so much impressed when I came over here, was the great distances in this country. The average size of the farms here in Ontario is greater than it is in Holland. Farm work is donemuch more by machines. Many farmers are not only good farmers but are also carpenters and mechanics. V I don't like the way they measure over here on distances, volumes and weights. There are many more wooden buildings than in Holland. Wood must be much cheaper is scarce and dear in Holland. By William Bontje. than bricks and cement. Wood 69