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

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40 The PORCUPINE QUILL -WWW My Favourite Books My favourite books are those dealing with ancient Greece and Rome. When I am read- ing them I feel as if I were the hero in the story, travelling, fighting and worshipping as he did. The book I enjoy most is called A Victor of Salamis by Davis. Through the whole book I pretend that I am Glaucon the hero. The Isthmean games have but begun. Greeks from all over the country have come to SEG me, They admire my beautyg but feel sorry for me because, although I have entered the games, every one is betting on the Spartan. I enter the jumping contest, the running, javelin and quoit throwing, and win them all. This leaves only the wrestling. It is between the Spartan and me, I can feel the pain as he tries to crush me with his huge arms. I elude him by twisting myself like an eel. Grabbing him by the head I give a sudden twist downward with my arms and drop him like a sack of potatoes. He does not rise and I am acclaimed the new champion of the Isthmean Games. This is the part I enjoy most in this book. Second to A Victor of Salamish is The Spartan. He is the son of an Athenian father who is dead, and a Spartan mother. Here again I am the hero. After travelling to many countries for adventure, I return to violet-crowned Athens, my father's city and mine. The Athenians, and even my Spartan mother, believe that I am a traitor: to prove my loyalty I hasten to Thermopylae where the Persians are fighting against the Three Hundred. I join them in the last fight and for over a Week we hold the pass. I am sent to bring a message to Athens, and as I traverse the rocky path I feel that some- thing is the matter with me. .A fierce pain is swelling my face and eyes. I am unable to see and unable to walk. Then I know that I am i11,- almost to death. My servant looks after me and although I try to reach the battlefield again to die like a Spartan, I am unable. The illness lasted for weeks. At last I am Well again and able to use my ar- mour. I keep away from Athens, but join an Athenian army against the Persians. In the battle I distinguished myself so much that I am brought to Athens in triumph. There are a few other books that I like to read, imagining myself the herog but these two are my favourites. GEORGE ANDRUCHUCK The Fire The fire is coming on, smacking its lips greedily over the rich harvest of beautiful trees it is reaping. Like hungry tongues, its flames suck everything into that inferno. In a few minutes they will be upon us. Twenty-six of us are in the I-Iollingef shaft. We came to work this morning be- cause we thought that the fire had burned itself outg but an unkind Wind is fanning the glowing coals into living flame which is leap- ing towards us as if it were human. Two of us have run for refuge to the lake at the foot of the hill, but the foreman thinks it wiser to stay in the shaft until the fire goes pastg so the rest of us are staying with him. . . . The fire is almost upon us nowg so we are going into the shaft-house to shut ourselves in. The foreman is worrying about the 12W0 men who would not stay with us. . . . We are in the shaft-house. It is growing hotter and hotter. Smoke is creeping in through the cracks about the door! We rea- lize our danger. We shall not be burned alive-but we may suifocate, cooped up as we are! . . . We are going to open the door and make a dash for the lake. . . . We couldnit get through-the flames were too thick! The shaft-house is now full of smoke! We are lying on the floor to get what little air there is . . . The fire is almost around us now . . . I can feel myself being scorched! . . . The panes of glass have fallen frames. The smoke is out of the window pouring in . . .I am gasping for breath . . . . The youngmt of our number-a lad of seven- teen, is rushing to the foreman screaming, 'You murderer! We could all have been safe in the lake by nowl' Precious breath is wasted grappling with him and throwing him into a corner . . he is lying there moaning. The blood is pounding at my temples . .

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39 i The PORCUPINE QUILL l- pudent beady eyes. The chickadee is an acrobat and hangs upside down by one toe, while he picks insects from the bark. Their incessant chic-a-dee-dee-dee is very mono- tonous, but every once in a while some little fellow overflowing with emotion sings his love note, phoebe to his mate on the next branch. Suddenly the chickadees cease twittering and the weird loon-like cry of the pileated woodpecker, or cock-of-the-Wood , breaks the stillness. From the top of a lofty pine this red-headed fellow, largest of our woodpeckers, screams his harsh challenge. 'I'he chickadees resume their twittering, but it seems to have a different note. The nut- hatches have joined them, and running up and down the trees these slaty-blue fellows add a squeaking intensity to the chattering of the chick-a-dees Nature Study The Edelweiss is a flower about 4 to 5 inches high. .It has very long and strong roots which grow on the rocks and enter into cracks in the rock. In the springtime when the sun is shining on them they seem a very light white colour. The stem is very hard but when it freezes it breaks easily. In the sum- mertime when the juice is in it it is possible that you can bend them and they do not break. So to say, they have very small green leaves with hairs which make them look white. The animals won't eat this because the juice is a very strong odour. The sepals are in the centre of the flower and fall out as soon as it is ripe. It is something like cotton because the seeds have fibres. Their flowers grow always against the sun. The petals are like a star and look like velvet. The edelweiss is one of the prettiest flower of all Switzerland but it is very hard to get them because they are growing only in the cliffs of the high and snowy mountain. Many men have been killed who wanted to get some, or in the earlier time the eagles and vultures were bad and killed many men too. I never was to get edelweiss in the mountains but I bought the one I have. In the forest there are others what are as pretty, and around some flowers are made fences, because they are very rare. There are some names here-Woodbine, wife-shoe, One day as I walked out of this forest two great birds rose suddenly from the swamp and iiew away on whistling pinions. My heart leapt and missed a beat at the sight of the elusive and wary Canada goose. Always as I paddled homeward the musk- rats ran through the reeds and swam across my path, rippling the water. Often the course of a mink was indicated by a bigger splash and a heavier rippling. At the neck of the swamp and near the creek a pair of wood-ducks could usually be seen, the male swimming and bowing before his indifferent mate. At the end of such a trip I housed my canoe while the red-winged blackbirds flew by overhead. Often I have wished that I were one of them, even if I had to risk the dangers of their ca.refree life in the swamp. GEORGE B. DARLING in Switzerland wild elder. The people go and they take too much and so the plant in a short time dies out. The forests are Very pretty, and there are many roads, and the ones who have not very good lungs can have a morning walk in the fresh morning air. Not only the fiowers make the bush pretty but the birds with their wonderful songs. The sick pupils have every year a walk of about ten days in the bush and in the green fields where are cherries, plums and pears, and if they see the farmer they ask him how much he would like to have for a tree of cherries and if it is cheap they go to the tree and iill their stomachs with any kind of fruits they desire. The flowers which grow in the garden and fields are: snowballs, geraniums, irises, roses, daffodils, tulips, and many more. The vege- tables are the most important in Switzerland and here also. The people there eat very many because they grow very Well, and so you can see in the evening in the summer many people, after a long hard work, work- ing in their gardens. What I liked the best in our garden was the strawberries and the peaches who are so fresh and juicy. I could not say how many iiowers there are, but in my herbarium I had eighty more which are of the rarest plants you can possibly find in Switzerland. BEN BAUMAN

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41 The PORCUPINE QUILL I must have air! If I ever get out of this alive I shall be thankful for every breath I take. ,Life seems so sweet, now . . . I don't want to die! . . . A YOUHE Sa1V8-HOD Army cfiicer is praying near me. Memories are rushing back-clear-agonizing . . . Every- Courtesy of A. Tomkinson thing is growing black . . .I can't stick it out any longer . . .-I must, though . . . I . . . We found them the next morning. Near the hand of one poor victim, charred but de- cipherable. I found this story of how Death came to them. JAMES VEITCH The Pursuer Through the frosty morning air crept the first rosy fingers of Dawn. Sleeping creatures that felt her touch become like fire sparksg they jumped, twittered, and in their own dialect sang for sheer joy that the day was to be bright and sunny. When Dawn had awakened those lusty fellows, she stretched her fingers out further and tapping lightly on a shuttered window, disturbed a young lad's sunny dreams. But up he bounded with no grudge against his early disturber. He leaned over the bed and, pulling off the bedclothing, disclosed tin peaceful slumber! another boy, his churn, who was about his age. My, what a thought- less fellow he is, thought the early bird, and nudging the sleeping fellow, woke him with a start, Must I always be reminding you of forgotten ideas? was the intruder's only remark. There was no answer from the bed, but a knowing look came over the sleepy one, and, before you could say Jack Robinson! both lads were trudging their way through the early morn to set their first boyhood traps. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Their heavy lumber-jack, hobnailed shoes sank but two inches in the crusty snow. The dome that was once an endless blue with Dawn's warm fingers caressing it, now became a 'mass of dirty, greyish, colours. A slight breeze, as delicate as a fleeing fawn, fanned the woods. But soon the fawn had passed, and its pur- suer, in its rage, shook the bare tree limbs. whirled the fallen snow about the trunks of the trees, and made the poplars bend their slender length to him and plead. But not satisfied with humility, he roared on, aveng- quiet. ing himself on everything that was Down came the soft snownakes, and seeing shook something else to terrify, the wind them about and bumped them together. Soon they were helpless in his power. The two young lads, sensing a, change, quickened their speed. The wind tore at them, pulled at their caps, blew open their coats and sent snow flying into their already cold faces. By sheer luck these two poor lads stumbled on a ruined shack. Having brought no fuel with them, they sat on the