Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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Our Opportunities GIRLS at our age are, as Longfellow says, Standing with reluctant feet, where the brook and river meet ; and the most important question now is, What are we girls going to do? Up to about twentyfive years ago women seldom left the home to earn a living. In the Victorian era they looked askance at any women who dared to go into business, be a doctor or a nurse. It was then considered the thing to be a little delicate. They were the clinging vines, and the men were supposed to be their sheltering oaks. Whether the oak got tired of being clung to, or the vines got tired of clinging, we do not know; we only know that the old order changeth, giving place to new, and women now cling no longer, but stand on their own feet, and enter almost every field that formerly was monopolized by man alone. Florence Nightingale opened the field of nursing for women. It is one of the noblest profes- sions : — For lo! in human hearts unseen The Healer dwelleth still, And they who make His temples clean. They best subserve His will. The Business field has also thrown open its doors to women. In New York one woman has opened three of the largest restaurants in that city; two of the foremost American magazines have women as managing editors; one of the newest hotels soon to go up in New York is to have a managing directress; and in our own city of Montreal one of the largest chain of restaurants has a woman as a buyer. In the Literary field women are forging ahead also. The most successful of all plays in New York ' s history, Abie ' s Irish Rose, was written by a woman. Besides this, we have one Federal M.P. in the House of Commons who is a woman. Miss Agnes Macphail. Of course there are some things men do better than women; they can play Rugby better, and can whistle through their teeth ! My father says that undoubtedly women are smarter than men . He has been married nineteen years, and has heard that every day, so it must be so! But whether that is so or not, what we must realize is that the world needs men and women who do things well. For: — The gods make room upon the hills sublime, Only for those who have the will to climb. Most of our opportunities come to us disguised as hard work. Abraham Lincoln, when he was a young man, bought an old barrel from a passing peddler, and in it he found some old law books, which he spent all his spare time in studying and reading. Later in his life this very studying and reading helped him to win a very difficult case in court — he was prepared when his opportunity came. In an old Greek city, there was a curious statue which has long since disappeared, but a story about it has come down to us. It is in the form of a dialogue: — What is they name, O statue? I am called Opportunity. Why art thou standing on thy toes? To show that I stay but a moment. Why hast thou wings on thy feet? To show how quickly I pass by. But why is thy hair so long on thy forehead? That men may seize me when they meet me. Why is thy head so bald behind? To show that when I have once passed I cannot be caught.

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Reflections (With apologies to William Shakespeare) To-morrow and tcmorrow and to-morrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last hour of our school career, And all our yester-years have lighted girls Beyond matriculation. The time is short: School ' s but a preparation, a brief test. Through which we strive or fret our way to the Great tasks of life which wait us at the end; It is a pebbled shore, with tiny troubles Scattered o ' er the strand, but shelves into The stormy sea of life, which all must weather. We each have our appointed work to do In school and in our later life, and by This work we either make our mark Indelible upon the sands of time. Or else erase our birthright. Be it so! Whatever we become in after years. We owe to our old school a lasting thanks. For all the happy days, the knowledge gained. And all the friends we found at dear old Traf. Alice Smith ' Johannsen, Form Upper V. First Girl — Oh! but that was crazy; why didn ' t he jump in the Seine and be done with it? Second Girl — ' ' Because that would have been in Seine (sane). Lines to a Desk (With apologies to Keats) I have heard that on a day Kay Wood ' s desk chair broke away; Nobody knew why, until A very silly Trafite ' s quill To the Traf. Mag gave the story. Said she saw it in its glory, Then beheld a tiny screw Fall away, whence no one knew. And lo! the chair with sickening noise Carried with it all Kay ' s poise. O you Trafites passed and gone, In what Elysium have you known A downy couch - come now, beware— Cyhoicer than a Traf. desk chair? Marjorii ' . Lynch, Form Upper VI.

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It rests entirely with ourselves; whether we will develop the talents that were given to us, or let them remain dormant: — You are the girl who makes up your mind, Whether you ' ll lead or will linger behind. Whether you ' ll try for the goal that ' s afar, Or be contented to stay where you are. Take it or leave it. Here ' s something to do. Just think it over — it ' s all up to you. Helen Hendery, Form Upper VI. The Masculine Point of View Scene: The Nursery. (Little boy and girl are both on the rocking horsej. Little Boy — One of us will have to get off so that I can have more room. Very stout lady (to social service worker who has just taught her to do the Lazy-daisy stitch) : Excuse me, ma ' am, but is it all right if I skip from flower to flower? Do you like my dress? Is it too short, or are you too far in? Movietone THE newest modern invention is Movietone. The screen, heretofore silent, now breaks into speech whether you like it or not. This innovation may be disliked, but it cannot be dis ' regarded, for it will affect moving pictures in many ways. One thing it will change is the actors. We shall soon be missing some of the old familiar faces whose beauty could not triumph over an atrocious accent. For now the voice ' s the thing. The foreign actors who once shone brilliantly will return home, unless they can learn to speak perfect English in six months, or some such ridiculously short time. Perhaps this weeding out of actors is a good thing. Legitimate actors, or those who have been on the stage at some time in their career, have the best chance; acting on the stage has always been superior to the acting in the movies — a pretty face, in the movies, goes far towards stardom. And then, the stage actors have trained voices — and the greatest asset of a legitimate actor is his voice. What will talkies bring us? Firstly, they will bring a truer form of the drama. Spoken lines will take the place of sub-titles. Thus plays which have been movie-ized will retain more of the original. But then dialogue is not as interesting to hear in the movies as on the stage, and it also slows up the action considerably. There are many eminent dramatists and dramatic critics who croak, Talking pictures are ruining the theatre - -and so on. They are too impatient, for it is still too early to judge the talkies. Every new one is an improvement on the last. They may be only a passing fancy, or they may take the place of silent pictures altogether. Talkies can never approach the stage plays, but they are improving. Talking pictures have not yet proved their worth, and there is still a variety of opinion con- cerning them. Some people are enthusiastic about them; others think they are a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Betty Stewart, Form Upper V. ! M 1