Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

Page 21 text:

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

Page 20 text:

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

Page 22 text:

the most widely read and most influential piece of literature that the world has ever produced. The Canadian people must co-operate with their writers and artists in stimulating and promoting the growth of Canadian art and literature, that the name of Canada may not perish with the decay of her material body, but that she may leave to civilization an heritage worthy of her greatness. D. C. VI. DAWN. I lay awake in the dim gray light Just at the peep of dawn, When the cold bright moon of the long, long, night Was fading before the morn. The steely sea with shimmering light From the sun beginning to rise. Woke from its sleep of the long, long, night, And the sea-gulls wheeled through the skies. The bright lighthouse with its flashing light Wa s paling before the sun, Which after the weary long, long, night Showed that the day had begun. The bright Avaves sparkling, danced in the light Of the glorious, wonderful sun. Forgetting the moon of the long, long, night In the thought of the day to come. B. C, IV. a. SONG OF THE HARVEST. Now the summer-time is ending Blades of corn with weight are bending Fields of wheat, all ripe and mellow, Rows of pumpkins, large and yellow, Waiting to be gathered in, When the harvest shall begin. Squirrels in the woods are found Hoarding nuts beneath the ground. Higher up red apples grow, Till they tumble down below. Flocks of birds fly south together. Seeking warmer, brighter weather. Too cool winds are apt to blow As the days much shorter grow. Gather up the summer ' s spoils. Earned by Harvest ' s honest toils. — E. T., III. b.. 8