Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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I think that we are a pair or something. I turned to see that another running-shoe exactly Hke me had spoken. This at least was a relief, to know what I was. A very tall man then appeared and packed me and my twin into a box and put us on a shelf. Then followed months of darkness shut up in a stuffy box. I rarely spoke to my twin because there was nothing to talk about as we had only seen light for about an hour. From time to time I could hear someone say, Let me see, white, and we would be whisked down, but then a discouraged, Oh, six and a half — and we would be put back in our place. Sometimes we could catch interesting little bits of conversation and then life did nto seem quite so dull for a time, and once the lid to our box was left off for half an hour and we had a lovely time. It gave us something to talk about for several days. One day our box was removed from the shelf and we were taken out and brought over to a bench and tiied on a girl who was very tall and had huge feet. Many exciting adventures followed but I really like running best, particularly on a court (I have learned quite a lot of slang). Then one dreadful day came. I was in the cloak room on the radiator, my mistress had forgotten to put me beside my twin in her cubby-hole, when a girl came along that I had hear d someone call a sixth-former. She had on a triangular pin with a P on it. I think it stood for Pound or something because she said, I have to take this to pound. Then I was picked up and placed in a large cupboard with a terrible mixture of books, belts shoes and all kinds of running-shoes. I wasn ' t a bit bored because I soon made friends with the other shoes and they told me all about themselves. One time my owner came and after rummaging through the shoes she picked me up and looked inside of me and whispered to another girl (not a pound ) This isn ' t marked, I think I will leave it here. No more detentions for me. About Christmas time (I know because I heard one girl ask another what she wanted for Christmas) I was picked up with our clique (for black ones and me) and sent to a place with 0-R-P-H-A-N-A-G-E- written across the door in large letters. After being taken into the house I was picked up and quickly cast aside again with Begore, an odd one. I am no longer white but a kind of dirty gray and I am telHng my sad tale from the depths of a garbage can. It was not all sad but I didn ' t think that I would end here and hope that my history will be a lesson to girls, to have pity on us running-shoes. Celeste Belnap, Form III. b [30]

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take the overflowing pails from the arms of the others, who had, with some spiUing of sap into their topboots and much laughter, stumbled with them from the trees to the sleigh through the snow. At last the hogshead was full, and taken back to camp, and now it was time to fire up! The pans were filled with the water which was ultimately to become syrup, and a roaring fire lighted under them. Soon the flat pans were boiling furiously, the steam so dense that it was impossible to see even across the little house, while the boiler in which most of the sap was stored threatened instantly to boil over, and required con- stant attention. Our heir became wet with steam and our faces with toil, and the pans continued to boil. For two days more a fire was kept going, only dying down during the night. We children took turns in carrying our dinner up to the woods, so that the boiling might not stop for a second. The colourless sap had now become a yellow brown, and had a decided flavour of syrup. At last it reached a temperature of 219°, and was pronounced ready to be taken off. The pans were lifted bodily from the fire, and the syrup strained through heavy felt into milk cans procured for the purpose. Then it was carried to the house where in a tremendous copper kettle it went through the last stages of its transformation. Gradually degree by degree it rose in temperature, getting thicker and thicker, and more and more like the maple sugar which is seen in grocer-shops. Those who had watched over the sap from its earliest appearance out of the trees, watched over it now, v hile they reaped the fruits of their labour in many a sticky piece of hardening syrup spread on platefuls of snow. At last 238° was reached — the temperature of soft sugar. The pot was taken from the stove the birch-bark cones which had been made that morning, filled; and the rest of the cooling, taffy-like syrup after being beaten, was poured into lard tins, there to cool and harden. Sugar was a debarred subject both that evening and the next day, for we had all eaten so much and become so sticky and sugary, that for the time being everyone was completely satisfied. We had made fifty pounds of soft sugar during the ten days of our stay, and had found the making of it one of the most interesting and pleasant experiences we had ever had. ' HE first words that I ever remember hearing are, Well thank goodness that pair is finished. And happy, right across from me was a nice low miirror where I could get a good view of myself. I was very long and a gleaming white all over. Under my sole was shiny rubber and inside I was white also with a 6 marked in black. I am sure I don ' t know what for, but it marred my beatuy. I didn ' t want to make any breaks, being a greenie so I just kept quiet. Presently I heard a voice say to me, We are running-shoes, I was just finished a little while ago and Jane Howard, Form Upper VI. The Life of a Shoe 129]

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Lament of the Fifth Form Clock (A True Story) I am very badly treated ' Cau.se I cannot tell the time, I ' ve nothing else to do all day And so I ' ll write this rhyme. My face is ah disfigured, And my back is very sore ; I liv e a very boring life Behind the cupboard door. I used to have a smiling face As clean and smooth as satin. I sat upon the teacher ' s desk And cheered the girls at Latin. I could say all Milton ' s poems I knew theorem thirty-two Was attentive to the lessons And interested too. Was careful not to tell a lie. Was never fast, nor slow. I really cannot understand Why they should treat me so ! But they often tipped me over, And they dropped me on the floor ! I have never known such treatment In all my life before. First of all they broke my works. And then they cracked my face; For a clock who ' s been so faithful It ' s a terrible disgrace! [31]