Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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strong in the retrospect than it was in the passing day. Then comes the feeling Can we not have a definite Ijond of union to gather together those who once shared so much of life with us, to ensvire interest if friendship be too strong a name? Some time ago there appeared in Punch a clever little poem giving the supposed soliloquy an old seaman who is carving trifles from drift- Avood ; and he cannot understand why he chooses as his model an old and imseaworthy brig which he hated with all his heart while he sailed in her — hated the boat and everything connected with her. He half realizes with- out being able to put the feeling into fitting words, that it is the romance of the past that is upon him ; — it is not the boat but his past self that is in his mind; the time that he spent there was life and opportunity, whether he realized it or not. The present has its roots in the past. And so with the school, literal or metaphorical. Then comes the question — what can we dc to justify our gathering logether as a club or association at all? In the first place there :s mucn to be gained by a corporate union ; organization is good if the form of it is not so rigid as to crush out the essence — the latter has to be touched verv gently for it evaporates easily. In the second place an Association of old school girls can show itself very strong in the service of others ; and this can be done in more ways than can be touched on here. Altruism, as we understand it, is of comparatively modern growth ; but, like all effort, it grows by Avhat it feeds upon. And so I have no doubt that the iT embers have started, or propose to st art, some means by which the whole will alwavs l)e readv to help the part — especially if that service can be shown to an old school-fellow; a Free-masonry, which, like mercy, will bless both those who give and those that take. In a novel which was once well known, Sir Walter Besant says that women will alwavs be oppressed because thev lack power to comb ' ne. If the novelist had lived a little longer, he would probably have been willing to qualify his statement. Women have proved that they can combine and it only remains for them to show that they can also give continuity of com- bination. As I write these words, many memories rise up, memories of old girls whose qualities and gifts can do much for the body politic ; and I trust that the Association will find out unceasingly new means of uplift for themselves and others. I trust too that their success Avill be constant and steady, and greater thali anything which they had ventured even to hope for. Sursum corda ! and again Sursum corda ! Edinburgh, May 15th, 1922. GRACE FAIRLEY. 6

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The younger members of the Old Girls ' Association will be interested to know that a Sports Committee has been formed with Miss Helen Druni- mond. 448 Sherbrooke St. West, as Convent)r; that a Basket Ball Team is practising, and that matches have been arranged with the Trafalgar School Team. Through the kindness of Miss Cumming we have been ab ' e to hold our meetings at Trafalgar . There has been one general meeting, since that c.jch Committee has met to consider what it is best to do. There has been a k)t of work done in hunting up names and addressee and it has taken weeks to get the list to its present number. By next Autumn the members will be enrolled and with their interest and support we shall be able. I hope, to carry out the se eral ]ilans of the .Association. EFFIE-BAKER. .April 17tli. 1922 President. MISS FAIRLEY ' S GREETINGS TO THE OLD GIRLS ' ASSOCIATION. It seems foolish on most occasions to plead the excuse that one has nothing to say. but as the years go on it becomes more and more difficult to find words that appeal at once to the present and the past — and the future. But when through one of my Old Girls a most kind message came to the effect that some of the group had suggested my writing a few words in connection with the Old Girls ' Association, I could do nothing but consent with many grateful thanks for their memory of me. It will not be hard to bless such a project, and my words will not be many. School time is of course a passing stage of life both for girls and boys; but coming at the only time of life when the days are long, it always appears to amount to more than can be measured by the Calendar. Inter- course with the superior officers of the place can be, and often is of the most happy kind ; but the chance of life is with the comradeship of the day — Youth seeks to youth. For those who have not been so unfortunate as to change schools often, the continuity of association, the fellowship in work and play give opportunities of acquaintance which has every chance of ripening into friendship. T have had friends, said Charles Kingsley, when asked to say something about the supreme happiness of life. The only time when we get close to others is in childhood and early youth ; the degree of intimacy depends upon the individuals. Later on comes the scattering time, which marks the beginning of the next period Avhen the actor takes his own place on the stage, and faces the problems of life. As time goes on, the roinance of the past rises up. also a feeling of comradeship among those who have a common past ; a feeling which is not seldom more 5

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CANADIAN LITERATURE. A most intcrest ' ng address on Canadian Literature as given to the School. Xoveniber 26th hy tlie well-known Canadian Author, ' Sir. Basil King. The object of the lecture was to urge the necessity of arousing the Canadian people to a realization of their possession of an art and literature that was dist- ' nctly Canad ' an. and, further, to reveal the consequent need of a sympatlietic and ;ictive co-operatit n between the antliors and the public. The necessity oi co-operation between the artists and the people ar ' ses out of the dependence of each upon the other. The writer is de- pendent upon the people for the matter for his books, for the thoughts that are woven into his stories. The people are dependent upon the artists for the expression i f their dreams and aspirations; they look to him to give voice to the insistent but vague and imformed ideas that evade the mind, and that need only the touch of his pen to be brought into proper perspective, and to lie rendered into intelligible language. Every nation feels inherently the need of an art and literature that are distinctively its own. A cotmtry that felt no such need would be lacking in spiritual life; for art and literature are the soul of a nation. Consequently art and literattire are more valuable to a nation than the greatest wealth and material prosperity to which it could attain — a declaration that arose not from under-estimation of the importance of material progress to a countr .-. but from a realization of the greater im- portance of a nation ' s spiritual progress. For material prosperit flotirishes only to decay; while a nation ' s spiritual life, like the soul of man, knows no end, but the fruits of its growth, its art and literature, will remain as a last- ing evidence of that nation ' s achievements, and as the standard of its greatness. As a particular illustration. i Ir. King drew attention to two nations of the ancient world. Phoenicia was one of the world powers through the supremacy of her navy and commerce. To the east, of this w ealthy and mighty land lay the tiny, impoverished, agricultural country Israel, ever throughout her historv at the mercy of the great nations that threatened her on everv side. Phoenicia produced merchants: the imaginative and in- tensely spiritual Hebrew race produced poets and philosophers. Phoenicia has left to posterity no record of her greatness. All the Christian world to-day is familiar -with the history of Israel, while the Bible remains to-day 7