Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

Page 15 text:

Mount Everest Mighty Everest stands unconquered, proud! Its wind-swept summit, by man ' s foot untrod, Is held the home of some relentless god Or demon. The pitiless snows enshroud Those gallant men, with courage great endowed Who, burnmg with high hope, came from abroad To take the challenge of the boastful god, With icy sceptre, and for crown a cloud. But daring is not dead, and more will go. And when the lofty peak at last is gained, Despite the bitter winds and shifting snow, The spirits of these men, with joy unfeigned, Will greet the victors, when they surely know The king ' s deposed that there so long has reigned. Margaret E. Murray, Form Upper VI. In}

Page 14 text:

TN THE last year of school we realize more fully what our school days have meant to us. The friendships we have formed, the sympathetic help we have received with our work, and the sports we have enjoyed, have all gone to make our school life at Traf. a very happy one. This year, Trafalgar lost a very dear friend through the retirement of Miss Brown. Owing to ill health. Miss Brown was forced to give up her work, which meant so much to the school. Miss Brown had taught in Trafalgar for a great number of years, and by her untiring devotion, and interest in the school, endeared herself to all who knew her. May we here express our gratitude to Miss Brown for all that she has done for us, and the school? Our school year is nearly over now, and we feel that it has been a very successful one. There has been a good deal of unavoidable absence, due to the necessity for typhoid inoculation. Never ' theless, very good work has been done throughout the school. Sports, also, have not been neglected. This year a basket ' ball league for private schools was formed, so that besides the usual interesting school matches, the League games held our interest all Winter. We wish to congratulate the team for the honour it has brought to the school by winning all these League matches. Owing to the late Fall, we have had a good deal of tennis during this school year, and the new tennis courts have been very much appreciated by all. The Lower Sixth Form entertained us last October, at a very enjoyable Masquerade Hallowe ' en Party. We have also been very fortunate this year in having an unusual number of very interesting lectures. Last year, eight girls got their full ma trie, and we wish to congratulate Jean Macalister on winning the Trafalgar Scholarship. In a few weeks now we will be trying our Matric. and we hope that we may be as successful as the Sixth of last year. We, the Sixth of i926 ' 27, who will be leaving so soon, will never forget dear old Traf., or the high ideals Trafalgar stands for. The memories of the happy days spent at Traf. will always remain with us. We now wish to thank everyone who has helped us with this edition of Trafalgar Echoes. We also wish the best of luck to the Magazine Staff of next year, and to the whole school. I 1 1

Page 16 text:

The Passing of the Country Road A LTHOUGH the country road is not yet quite a thing of the past, it is certainly passing, and in a few years will probably be a pleasant memory along with the horse and buggy. And both owe their downfall to that contrivance of the devil, the horseless-buggy of twenty years ago. No one would have believed it possible for such a change to take place in the country road, once the quiet thoroughfare from one village to another, and now the speedway connecting one hustling city to the next. But the change is more evident every day and it is only fully realized when the country road of today is compared with that of twenty years ago. It used to be that a country road was a country road. It wandered along between ditches luxuriant with wild roses and honeysuckle, daisies and dandelions. It was bounded on either side by rickety old fences on which, sometimes, whole choirs of birds gave cheery concerts. It passed through beautiful groves where the shade was delightful after the heat and dust of the open road. And if the heat and dust were too oppressive, there was always the chance of coming upon some lonely ploughman at work in a field equally as hot as the road; he was only too pleased to have some- one with whom to discuss the weather and the possibilities of good crops. Then sooner or later, the wanderer came to a comfortable farmhouse with barns and outhouses clustered in a friendly group and innumerable children and puppies and chickens playing around the back door. Here, after drinking a glass of buttermilk in the spotless, cool kitchen of the hospitable housewife, the passerby exchanged the latest tit-bits of gossip, and then continued on his way. In the village, at the post office and general store, where the country road invariably had either its beginning or end, a stranger caused several curious glances and whispered questions, a few tentative opening remarks, and then he was one of them. Compare this with what one finds today along the so-called country road. Instead of flowers and hedges, hot-dog stands and quick lunch shacks blossom beside the road. Every grove has its picnic grounds sign; every barn bears an advertisement for the latest brand of cigarette or patent medicine. Fences are plastered with year-old circus posters, soap advertisements, trespassing forbidden signs. The quiet and peace of the former country road is shattered by shrieking motor horns, and one would look in vain for a lonely ploughman; instead would be found an enormous tractor, roaring above the noise of passing cars. Gasoline and service stations adorn every cross- road and turn. Nearly every farmhouse offers tourist accommodations; all without exception boast at least one of the modern conveniences, either a phonograph, a radio or a tin Lizzie. Besides all these changes in the things that used to be characteristic of a country road, there is also the change in the road itself. Then the road was narrow and dusty, and since it was usually made of clay or sand, it became practically impassible after heavy rains. Now, of course, the roads have been widened and well-drained and are built of some material more suitable for fast driving. This change is the only one which can be said to have improved country roads and it was principally the cause of all the other atrocities now found along a country road. The greatest difference between the country road of twenty years ago, and that of today, is not however a material one. It is a change in the spirit of the road. The country road used to be friendly. It may have been full of inconveniences and have lacked many possible improvements but one felt immediately that here was a friend, and that on its narrow way a sense of peace and quiet prevailed. This feeling is what is chiefly lacking in the roads of today. The country road should be a means of enjoying nature and its beauties, not merely a means of making money. It is this change which chiefly constitutes the passing of the country road. Margaret Bell, Form Upper VI. I 14 I