Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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but for some years the room facing the south and east was the home of Form Six. The regular division into forms was in 1893. For a good many years the final examinations were conducted by outside examiners, who set and valued the papers, but later on it was decided as far as possible to send up the forms en bloc in preparation for matriculation. While there were many dis- appointments the school had a fair share of good scholars who have distinguished themselves at McGill University. Although there was no hall suitable for theatrical perform- ances, I remember many excellent charades and little plays, when the only stage was the landing at the head of the short flight of steps which leads up to the small bed-room on the third floor. One of the mental cinemas which we all carry in our minds, flashes back to me one scene in particular, a gouty old man with his bandaged foot upon a chair, exclaiming with a stentorian voice, ' ' hogs is hogs . What the play was or in what connection the words were used I do not remember. The audience at these performances sat on the skylight or in the hall. More ambitious plays were given in the music room. ' ' The King of the Golden River was very well done. Fancy dress balls were frequently held and here too my mental picture gallery shows many a quaint or amusing figure. I shall never forget a huge negro whose make up was quite faultless. The fact that one building served both for residence and also for the school complicated very much the work of the Principal and of the housekeeper and it required much skiful engineering on the part of both to make this a success. Closing Day was a most difficult one. All the packing had to be done in the morn- ing, the trunks removed and the house made ready for the reception of the parents and friends in the afternoon. The building of the school house in 1902 which makes possible a complete separation between the house and the school has lightened very much the work of the staff. During my years at Trafalgar, although the house girls were more in number than they are to-day, the indoor staff consisted of the Principal, three resident teachers and the Housekeeper. The teachers divided the work as follows: — one had indoor duty which entailed general supervision till after lights were out at night. The teacher on out-door duty took the walk and the two study hours, each teacher had one free afternoon and evening a week and every second Sunday. For several years there were two school sessions, a morning and an afternoon one. All my classes in French and German during my first year at Trafalgar were held in the afternoon. The afternoon session lasted till nearty four o ' clock. I think I can hear some of the girls of the present day expressing their pious gratitude that a kind Providence has sent them into a world from which afternoon school sessions have been almost abolished. Probably the girls of the present time work as hard as did their predecessors, but the work is more varied and there are more 10

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EARLY DAYS By a Teacher When to the sessions of sweet silent thought, I summon up remembrance of things past my years at Trafalgar are among the happiest of my recollections. Of the opening year I cannot speak from personal knowledge, as my connection with the school began in the autumn of 1888. The first pupil who arrived in September 1887 has, however, given me the following details. The school opened with three house girls and four day girls. After Christmas three more resident pupils came and a few more day girls. Miss Fairley, who was to have begun her duties in September, was detained by illness, so Miss Woolen became Acting Principal. Miss Blanche Smith was the only teacher in residence. Miss Labatt had charge of the housekeeping. Miss Sym, whose long connection with the school still continues, was the teacher of music. All class rooms, dormitories, and living rooms were at that time in the original house to which no additions had been made. The house girls slept in w iat is still known as the old dormi- tory ; the dining-room was the room which is now used by the Principal as a sitting-room; the recreation room is still the same. The class rooms were the two large south rooms on the second floor. These two rooms were at first sufficient, but as the numbers increased the large rooms on the third floor and also the dining- room were converted into class rooms. This was made possible b} the building of the West Wing which added the present dining- room, the music room and the two east dormitories. There was no gymnasium and no studio, but gymnastic classes and drawing classes were held in a large out-door building that had served as a coach-house for the former occupant of the house. A raised platform had been put up at one end of this hall and on it stood the piano. Two or three times a week the girls danced in this room, and there too the older girls practised. It was necessary to put on wraps to go to and from this building and a teacher generally went with the girl who practised there in the late afternoon, as it was a little lonely. Sir William Dawson ' s arrangement of the proposed curriculum only allowed for two classes in preparation for the University. In 1890 the Trustees decided to open a Preparatory class, this was held in the centre room facing the west on the top floor. The glass cupola that lit the hall below used to be covered with the children ' s wraps, their coats were hung on pegs put up on the walls; there was no other dressing room for the younger girls. The top floor was supposed to be the place for the younger children 9

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diversions, and if it be true, that the years which make us happy make us wise , the young damsels who are fortunate enough to be receiving their education in these days when so much is done to make the desert of learning blossom as the rose, should be wise above their fellow women. No account of the first quarter of a century in the life of Trafalgar can be complete without some reference to Miss Fairley, the Principal during that period. So great, however, is Miss Fairley ' s dislike for publicity that I must touch but lightly her part in building up the sure and safe foundations on which the spiritual and intellectual life of the school were laid. That the work is everything, the worker but a means to an end was a firm belief of Miss Fairley. Workers come and go, each one does his appointed task and passes out of the sphere of active life. The work continues and only by the work can the worker be judged, If the work is well done that is all that is necessary. That the school should be a real training for the wider school of life, that duty should come before pleasure, that the studies of most importance are those which teach concentration, exactness and a willingness to face and to overcome intellectual or moral difficulties were the chief principles by which Miss Fairley was guided. Very little by precept but always by example these ideals were kept ever before pupils and teachers. Miss Fairley took a deep, genuine and personal interest in all the girls. Many of her old pupils are doing useful work in various fields of activity, and there are few who do not acknowl- edge what a wonderful influence she had upon their lives and characters. During the twenty-five years that it was my privilege to work under Miss Fairley I can recall no lowering of one of her high standards under any pressure whatsoever. Of self-interest she was quite incapable. She is one of the company of sincere souls who are content to leave no memorial but a world made a little better by their lives. The Trafalgar chronicles are singularly uneventful and the swiftly passing years record little but a slow but steady growth. In the time of re-construction which will follow the terrible upheaval which is at present shaking the whole world, past, pres- ent and future pupils of Trafalgar will, I am sure, play a worthy part. In so doing they can best carry on the traditions of the school. C. M. MITCHELL. 11