Trafalgar Castle School - Yearbook (Whitby, Ontario Canada)

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vox COLLEGII 5 Lammeter, in the novel of Silas Marner : ' ' Miss Nancy, indeed, had never been to any school higher than Dame Tedman ' s; her acquaintance with profane literature hardly went beyond the rhymes she had worked in her large sampler under the lamb and the shepherdess; and in order to balance an account she was obliged to effect her subtraction by removing vis- ible metallic shillings and sixpences from a visible metallic total. There is hardly a servant maid in these days who is not better informed than Miss Nancy; yet The Incoming We are very sorry not to be able to give the readers of the Vox a message from the incoming Lady Principal. Miss Annie Allison Maxwell, M.A. This was not thought of in time, and as Miss Max- well ' s home is in New Brunswick, it was not possible to secure from her a message for this issue. Miss Maxwell comes to the College from one of the most popular and high-toned Ladies ' Schools in the United States, and is certain to prove a great acquisition to the College staff. she had the essential attributes of a lady — JiigJi veracity, delicate Jionor in lier dealings, deference to others and refined personal habits. In concladion let me say that I have a very warm feeling for all the girls that I have taught during m y three years fiere, and shall always be pleased to hear from them. My address will be 657 Spa- dina Ave., Toronto. With all good wish- es for your future happiness, I remain, Yourt. very sincerely, Alice L. Taylor. Lady Principal MISS A. A. MAX YELL, M.A.

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4 VOX COLLEGII I am very grateful for the kindly and earnest words of the Principal Emeritus elect, and in heartily reciprocating his friendship and good will, I cordially join F. L, FAREWELL, B. A. his host of friends in wishing him and Mrs. Hare, whose very life is interwoven with the history of the College, many, many years of continued joy and useful- ness. Miss Taylor ' s Message to the Girls of 1915. My Dear Grirls: This year as I am leaving 0. L. C. I want my message to be not only to the graduates, but to all the girls of 1915. There are very many things that might be said, but I am going to limit my re- marks to the subject of good manners, in itself so wide a subject that whole reams could be written on it without exhausting it. The question I want you to ask your- selves is Are the girls of to-day as well- mannered as their mothers or their grandmothers? Are we training to-day ladies of that beautiful old-fashioned courtesy that we seem to associate with lavender and old lace. In this rush and hurry of to-day are we not losing much that has kept life sweet and beautiful ? You know well that not for one minute would I wish to put you back into the en- vironment of your grandmothers. I would not deprive you of your right to come out into the world, and take your place with your brothers in the great battles of life; I would not take from you the great oportunities of higher edu- cation and a broader outlook on life. In- deed I hope you may have the right to Parliamentary Franchise before you die. But remember that loud voiced aggress- iveness is not going to advance the real cause of womanhood in the world. Now good manne rs seem to me to include two distinct ideas — there is something we must acquire to more comfortably and creditably in our own circle. We must eat and dress accordingly to the fixed usages of our particular Society; we must learn to conform to certain rules of etiquette. These, of course, vary with different countries and nationalities. For instance the American custom of using the fork almost entirely at lunch and dinner seems very strange to us EngHsh people who are trained to use knife and fork together. But I want you to go much deeper than mere social usages in your ideas of manners — necessary as a knowledge of these is — I want no mere surface manners only, but I want you to agree with Tennyson that ' ' Manners are not idle, but the fruit of noble natures. ' ' It is the good manners based on a real consideration for the feelings of others that I want you always to cultivate. Re- member all selfish people are really bad- mannered, however much social veneer they may acquire. If you study the feel- ings of others you must learn to lower your voices, to close doors quietly, to move quietly. Shakespeare, in painting one of his most perfect woman charac- ters, Cordelia, says: — Her voice was ever soft, gentle and low, an excel- lent thing in a woman. George Eliot gives us what she considers the essential attributes of a lady in describing Nancy

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6 VOX COLLEGII