Trafalgar Castle School - Yearbook (Whitby, Ontario Canada)

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18 VOX (M)LLE(Ul rormation. Such dissipation of EugHsh had never been indulged in by Edna since her youth, and do you know the Maggie look quite vanished, and the dear soul warmed up ; and what a time we had recalling experiences. She really became almost amiable. Hers had been a hard lot. It seemed that she, at the close of her graduation year had quite set her heart, with mat- rimonial intent, on a certain unrespon- sive individual of whom I have the faintest recollections. Finally, in des- pair at his indifference, she bethought her of her old ambition of becoming a nurse, and straightway began her train- ing. I was about to accuse her with utter lack of persistence in her matrimonial intentions when a din arose in the hall, indicative of excited girls. Immediate- ly the stern expression returned to Edna ' s face, and out she flew in a rage — an exaggerated replica of the Ed- die of ' 23 (I recalled that she had never been able to endure noise), I mn-er saw h?r again. While I was impatiently awaiting her return to the room the taxi arrived, but as I passed down the hall I made enquiry of one of the girls who informed me in awe- stricken tones that th nurse had shut herself in her own room, as was lier custom frequently, — especially on Sun- day afternoons. She said that if I were to look up to a certain room from the outside of the building I should se? the nur.se, chin in hand, gazing stonily, vacantly, into space. Once, in explanation of this strange behaviour, the nurse had mumbled, in- coherently, that she did not enjoy watching the squirrels and Bunnies frisking about the lawn; and signifi- cantly tapping her head with forefin- ger, the girl hurried along. Then it was I knew that Nurse Bas- sett was re-living her past, and that the disappointment could never be healed. I waved farewell from the taxi as I de- parted, but there was no response. Evi- dently she was entirely imconscious of her present surroundings. Sadly I returned home, soliloquizing ' Tis true; ' tis true, ' tis pity and pity ' tis, ' tis true. Marion Richardson Even before my husband and I had reached Africa we heard of the fam- ous Flappity, woidd champion pan- cake flipper and it w as with great an- ticipation that we looked forward to encountering this noted person, who, besides her great art in flipping pan- cakes was a great beauty and a con- firmed favourite with the men, many of whom threw their fortunes at her feet. It w as rumoured that her age was un- certain and it really was wonderful how she retained her youthful beauty. It was said she flipped as many as 47 pan-cakes a minute without so much as damaging one — was not this really an art worthy of great note? So it was with great anticipation that we looked forward to meeting this renowned per- son in our journey through Africa, and thereby vei ' ify the .statements we have heard. ( 11 reaching Africa we found that the papers were full of her wonderful achievements and her name was on ev- ery tongue. Ilowever, it was for sever- al days that v e were able to get so much as a glimpse of her on account of the perpetual crowd that invaded the region of her famous pancake estate. But when we d ' d see her — when we act- ually saw the pancakes emerging skill- fully from the flipper at an unbelieve- able sp3ed, rush into the air and return from the ordeal unscathed, we knew that all the praise we had heard of her was ju.stified. Finally she lifted her drooping eyes from her all-absorbing work and looked over the throng be- fore her. She instantly singled out my husband from the crowd and allowed her eyes to rest on him affectionately. I did not blame her altogether, he was a handsome man. Of course he ignored

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vox COLLEGII 17 a medhim height lady appeared dress- ed in silver and lace, with numerous strings of pearls and a pearl bandeau on her hair. What attracted nie more than anything was her very pleasant smile. She told us in a very few words that she would appear in several numbers : (1) As Chai ' lie Chaplin ' s wife with her travelling companion as Charlie; (2) Spring Dance; (3) Stunts on a Motor- cycle; (4) Comic vocal selections and readings. After she had said this my heart beat loudly and I recognized her as Jean Moad, a Senior of ' 23. As she went through her numbers amid the terrible autbursts of applause, I decided that I must see her after. This I accomplished and I saw that there was no great change in her face. She told me that when she was in Boston she married a man who was on the stage. A year fol- lowing he deserted her and she was forced to earn a living in some way. It was at this time that she decided to use her talent as a comedian and enter- tainer. We all wish Jean the best of luck in her new career such as she had at 0. L.C. .Edna Bassett You know there was one little thing 1 had always planned to do before I donned mid-way up the bridge of my nose, the proverbial steel-rims, folded my hands, and devoted my spare time to rem ' niscing, and Just-So storying to the grandchildren ; and that was to pay a short visit to my old Alma Mater — Ontario Ladies ' College — now tenn- ed. euphoniously, Trafalgar Hall. Well, one day last winter, 1950, I treated myself to the long-anticipated visit. Although everything was pain- fully modern, even to the new inlaid hardwood floor in Main Hall, and all the other numerous, dreanied-of im- provements, still I could not overthrow a feeling of depression, as I was escort- ed about the building, which recalled to my mind so many happy associa- tions with the girls of my youth. Suddenly I beheld, swooping down up- on me from the infirmary stair a bux- om individual, in the uniform of a nurse. Some girls who were loitering about gracefully vanished at her ap- proach, but not before 1 had overheard tliem in terrified tones pass word along that Nurse Bassett was on the war- path. Suddenly the significance of the name Bassett occurred to me. Once I had known a Bassett — in fact there had been one, Edna, in the old gradu- ating class of ' 23, whom I had often heard express a strong desire to enter the nursing profession. Mentally, I compared remembrance with perception. Red hair? Yes, there it was, but tightly drawn back and streaked with grey. Deep brown eyes? The same, only these had a steely glint, reminding one strongly of the immortal Maggie Jiggs. Tlie other features of the face corres- ponded absolutely with the expression of the eyes — if not more so ! Talkative hands? Sure enough, there they were, propelling themselves rapid- ly, horizontally, vertically, obliquely, while a well-exercised tongue was hurl- ing invectives after the departing girls. In one rotating hand was grasped se- curely, a huge gargle bottle, similar to many I had steered clear of in the old days, while in the other hand was held a thermometer. From one pocket dang- led a loose end of adhesive. In a much shorter time than it takes me to tell it, I was surprised to find my memory to compare with perception. Onr surprise was mutual, to judge by the change of expression in her face, and we hilariously greeted each other as in the old days : 0 you Apple shrieked Edna and, My Darling old Kill- Joy shouted I at the same moment. 0, you Apple worked a trans-

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VOXCOLLEGII 19 her, (solely on my account, I believe). There seemed to be something so fa- miliar in that clear gaze and the swish of the wrist as it flipped the pancakes, but I instantly dismissed the idea from my mind as foolish and fanciful. How- ever, when Flappity resumed her work I felt more at ease and as an uncontroll- able hunger overcame us we decided to partake of some of these delicious pan- cakes. It was now quite late and the crowd slowly dwindled away until there were only a few individuals left, so Flappity waited on us herself. As she famously flipped one of her famous pancakes for us I heard her mutter ' ' 0 Crackey ! to herself as one pancake ascended into the air an inch too high, and it was now that I had my su spi- cions of where I had seen this woman before, but I wanted to be sure. Later she joined us in conversation, and upon inquiring the location of some places — such as the public library — she lamented with a perfectly candid air that she didn ' t know anything. Now ray suspicions were confirmed. Certain- ly it was M. R., a graduate of O.L.C. even as I was. How could I have been so stupid as not to have recognized her immediately? Now her every move- ment seemed so familiar. How well I remembered her as a sweet girl gradu- ate — ' way back in ' 23. How strange it seemed to see her now. Once our lives had been so close together and then each had gone her several ways and now fat3 had brought us together again and each was so changed, with such a wide gidf between us. Well, odd is life and the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agiae. Lillian Sparling During the summer of 1937 1 liad the pleasure to be visiting the Snoft ' oliski Yacht Club in Northern Russia. The night upon which I arrived was a very busy and excited one. There was to be a presentation of a life membership to a noted and enthusiastic member of the club. This member was not only a member of this club but I was told she had been connected with 89 yacht clubs. At all of these she had entered into the life of clubs and enjoyed it so much that they had all made her a life member. We all waited patiently for the speaker and the noted member to ap- pear. At last the speaker entered, fol- lowed by member of the hour. When the meml er appeared I could not see that she was any diiJerent to anyone else. She had fair hair, rather suspicious looking fair hair. There were traces of her former beauty still visible in those highly rouged cheeks. My attention was taken from the member by the speaker, who had Ijegun his praising speech on belialf of this noteworthy woman. He spoke of her long interest in yacht clubs. How, as far back as 1923 she had loved to at- tend the yacht club near her home. This first club was the Royal St. Law- rence Yacht Club in Montreal, Que. She had become so infatuated by clubs that she desired nothing else before them. He said a gTeat deal more; but I can- not take up your time to relate it all to you now. When the speaker had finished and presented the Life Membership, of course this wonderful woman had to address us. As she came forward I seemed to see something familiar about her walk. I tried to think where I had seen her be- fore. She had been speaking quite a while when she said Ab-so-lute-ly, my dear friends, this is the ' greatest pleas- ure I have ever had thrust upon me. Then I remembered, it was my old