Timmins High and Vocational School - Porcupine Quill Yearbook (Timmins, Ontario Canada)

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78 The PORCUPINE QUILL sleds pulled by dogs-fine husky-looking dogs. of no special breed or variety but with a loyal, trustworthy look. The jingle of sleigh bells is often heard on the main street and a team of horses drawing cutters full of people covered with fur robes, is not an infrequent sight. One of the oddities of the town is the little green houses that are placed over the hyd- rants to prevent them from freezing, during very cold weather. They are not unlike dog- houses, and are the source of much laughter and inquiry from visitors. Another curiosity is the overhead tent, that is placed on the telegraph wires while cables are being put up. Many of the houses are bare and unpainted, with porches open below, showing the four posts on which they are built. This gives appearance. The as you approach them a rather unstable houses improve, however, what is commonly known as the Hill g here they have a more settled comfortable look. The absence of trees around the houses and throughout the town is very noticeable to strangers, but residents of Timmins do not seem to miss them. The miners' houses are another of the town peculiarities. They are small, bex-like affairs, each being exactly the same size and shape as its equally box-like neighbour. Evening in Timmins is the nicest time. The west becomes Va glory of crimson, orange and emerald. The lovely tints are never the same for an instant, and their changing beauty is reflected on the white snow. The picture made by the low, blue mountains with the fblack sentinel-like Er trees outlined against them, in the distance, and the teams of plodding horses, pulling logs to the mill, in the foreground is one never to be forgotten by a beauty lover. -Gradually the rosy glow in the west fades, and night draws her dark curtains about the winter world. The stars come out, one by one-twmkly, friendly stars that seem to be near enough to reach. Just outside the town a blaze of lights that themselves look like a myriad of sparkling stars, but that are, in reality, the lights of the famous Hollinger Gold Mine, flash a cheery 'fgood-night. There are many other interesting sights in Timmins, but I should like you to have a few surprises when you come to visit us. SI-IEILA LANG Hollinger Mine by Night Courtesy of Mr. J. S. Kitchen

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77 T-T'- The PORCUPINE QUILL Mineral Collecting Are you looking for an excellent hobby, one that will hold your interest the whole year round? I have one that will nll the bill. It is the collecting of minerals. I began my collection when I came across a piece of pyrite. Of course, I thought it was g-old, and took it home as a treasure, It was not long until I had a box filled with different minerals, and it soon became evident that a mineral collection could not be kept in a mere shoe-Jbox. In the next few months I spent my time making a cabinet in which to keep my treasures. In it there was room for over two hundred specimens. Its construc- tion afforded me many hours of pleasure. When I had made a large number of small boxes to it the drawers, and had equipped myself with a pile of paper lalbels, I was ready to start a real collection. With the help of a text-book on mineralogy, I classified the worth-while minerals, which included mala- chzite from the Belgian Congo, lapis lazuli from Chile, asbestos from Quebec, iolilte from Norway, garnets from Alaska, and silver from Cobalt. The collection increased with such rapidity that it now contains more than one hundred species of rock. I also collect stamps, but the majority of my hobby-hours are spent on my collection of minerals. When you pick up a crystal of amethyst, you may be holding an actual piece of South Africa in your hand. ESSES Stamp Collecting Stamp collecting is one of the most inter- esting hobbies. It is the hobby of sheiks, of American million-aires, of sporting English- men, and it is also that of a large number of children throughout the world. I am just one of a thousand Canadian boys who have chosen stamp collecting as a hobby. Like all these boys I love to show my in- expensive, but neat, little collection. It is an interesting pastime. I believe that every boy tries to make his collection more complete than that of his friends. I first took stamps off the letters received at home. Friends began to help me, and now I am the pro-ud possessor of a collection containing over four hundred foreign stamps. Stamp collecting is slow work and many stamps are difficult to obtain. The most important stamp of my collection is a Russian stamp with a picture of the Czar of Russia. I also have a stamp of the time of Queen Elizabeth. Valuable stamps have been found in small collections. President Roosevelt and Pre- mier Bennett own valuable stamp collections. This hobby is now a form of tra-de. Valuable stamp collections are auctioned in stamp markets all over the world. I may have neglected my hobby at one time or an-other, but still I maintain that it is the mos-t interesting hobby of all. DAVY JONES Act IV Surface Showings Scene I: WINTER OPERATIONS Theres no place like home Dear Jean: If you were to come to Timmins during the Winter months you would find it very different from your Southern Ontario home. The mornings are for the most pmt. Cold and foggy, and before you knofw it, your hair and eyelashes are covered with frost. It snows nearly every night, and in the morn- ing, the snowplow, followed by children, is pulled slowly down streets, by a frost-covered horse. The town is always busy and full of life. Children are everywhere - children with skates over their shoulders, on skiis, or on a troop of the drifted

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79 i4' The PORCUPINE QUILL How I Learned to Ski Go down, Armand, you'll not fall, I betcha! Why, I did it just now! I looked dubiously at the hill, which I was then on the very top of, at my skiis, and finally at myself. I thought I was very young yet to die, but only to show I was no coward, I would do it! Yes, I would ski down that big hill! With a brave sweep of my arms, I let myself go. At first the going was slow, but soon the speed increased until I could no longer see because of my eyes being full of water. Here, I let the skiis guide my coLu'se fl don't think I could have guided them myself had I triedl. About halfway down the hill, my left ski started to leave the ground. Then the first thing I knew, I was not touching the ground at all, but was off it completely! But I did not remain long in the air. With a crash and a jar, I landed on my back and rolled over to the bottom of the hill. I was so tangled up in my skiis, that I could not extri- cate myself. My companions ran down the hill, untied my skiis, and lifted me up. Pain- fully, oh, very painfully, I rubbed my sore joints. All of a sudden, the whole crowd started laughing, and to this day I do not know why. But they laughed, and laughed, and laughed! Angrily taking my skiis I ascended the hill, fastened them to my feet, and pushed my- self off again. This time, I went farther down the hill but with the same results. Hurt and determined, I again went up, and again achieved the same results. This went on and on until at last, I did it! Oh, how happy I was! I made that hill numberless times on that day, and did not fall once! 1 tried other hills and skiied down- them triumphantly. I was the happiest :boy in Timmins that day, for I knew how to ski! ARMAND LACHAPELLE , .ig I' J . , -. ' W. f 1..-