Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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MARSH MARIGOLDS When Spring ' s green skirts have touched the earth That gloomy Winter trod, and hawthorn blossoms Linger on her hair, and violets spring in mirth Where she has stepped, then, ' neath the trees All barr ' d with sunlight, where moss both green and cool Clings to fallen logs, are floating on the swamp Like fairy craft on darkling pool. Marsh-marigolds drifting with the breeze, O ' erbrimming in the pool their mirrored selves Beneath the new-born green of trees. Heather Campbell, Matric. I, Ross House. IN THE NORTHLAND AMONG the many varied regions of Canada there is none more wonderful and yet more unknown than the great track of country between the Laurentians and the Arctic Circle. During the Summer of 1938 we spent sometime in this great stretch of land. Leaving North Bay the highway winds its way north through miles of dense hard- wood forests, by deep blue lakes, over hills and around break-neck, breath-taking curves. In several places the road is blasted through solid rock. White marble-like stone deepen- ing into blue and fading into purples, pinks and gold towered on each side of us like watchful giants guarding the unlimited treasures of the North. Fifteen years ago there was little beyond New Liscard except forests stretching to the Arctic Ocean. Then gold was discovered and great mining plants sprang up. Now there are two cities of more than fifteen thousand people, Timmins and Kirkland Lake — each throbbing with life, the Lake Shore plant in Kirkland Lake being the largest gold mine in Canada. Leaving New Liscard and Kirkland Lake we returned to the Province of Quebec. The road led north over countless hills to the joint towns of Rouyn and Noranda, situated in the centre of a country which shows great promise to settlers. The soil is rich when cleared and drained and tremendous wealth can be realized from the hard and soft woods which now cover the land. The immediate wealth however lies in the gold [27]

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COLOUR IN MODERN LIFE COLOUR is playing an increasingly important part in modern life. The advent of psychology has made us more conscious of colour, and it is being used in many ways that had not been thought of fifty years ago. Doctors have recently discovered that colour can be used to help cure patients who are slow in recuperating from an operation. Patients left in the old type of dead white hospital room are not as apt to get well as fast as those in a gayly coloured ward or room. The reason for this is simple. Colour raises morale, which in turn helps the patient to a faster recovery. Nurses also find that wards painted in colour are less tiring to work in than dead white ones. This has been proven in several hospitals where one wing has been painted in colour and the rest of the building left white. At the new wing, there came a flood of transfer applications from the nurses, asking to be put on duty in the coloured wards. Operating rooms are now painted light green, and surgeons and nurses wear light green operating gowns, not to look more attractive, but to reduce glare. This idea is used at the Neurological Institute, where the most delicate work is done con- stantly. Colour is now used to treat certain types of insanity, for scientists have learned that certain colours have definite effects on people. Blue is a cold colour. Not only does it make one feel physically cold, but it dampens the spirits. Red is the opposite. It intensifies and heats one. Red is a colour that makes one work better. Green induces relaxation, bright yellow gaiety. These are but a few colours and their effects. There are many more, each producing different effects. Colour in not confined to medical science. Air- transport and train companies must be careful in the colours they choose for decorative purposes. There are certain yellows and green they dare not use, for fear their patron might become air-sick or train-sick. Colour is now more daringly used for home decorating purposes. During the Elizabethan and Victorian ages, clothes were bright but homes were dark as caverns. Today woodwork is white, mixed with a touch of yellow, blue or red, to harmonize with the rest of the room and to take the deadness from the white. Rooms are decorated with light, warm colours, with contrasting rugs and furnishings. Everywhere bright colours are used. The New York World ' s Fair is in itself a huge experiment in the use of colour. The buildings are laid out like the spokes of a wheel. Each of the Avenues is decorated in one bright colour. Every building of that Avenue must be of, say, bright blue. The flowers have been planted so that when they blossom, they will harmonize with their surroundings. When the Fair opens the buildings will be a little too bright, but this is to allow for fading. By August it will have reached perfection. These are but a few of the ways in which colour is used today. But from these we see how much it affects our life and well-being. Lyn Berens, Form Va, Riddell House. [26]

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and copper mines of Noranda and Arntfield. From Rouyn we turned east across the Kenogeirs River, into the heart of the Pro- vince. The dense forests were broken in places by small clearings where log cabins and teams of oxen pulling out stumps of trees were occasionally seen. It almost seemed as if we had stepped back a hundred years and were watching our own ancestors find homes in the New Land. Soon we entered the great mineral belt and drove through the Cadillac mines and prospects. The O ' Brien gold mine ranks the highest in the district being fifteen hundred feet deep and having some of the highest grade ore known. A large wire fence sur- rounds the buildings and people can only enter through guarded gates by special permit. The miners here are forced to change their clothes and take shower-baths before they leave the premises in case what is known as high grading — or the stealing of gold — should be practised. From the Cadillacs the road led to the town of Malartic situated where three years before grew uncut timber. The whole country is now punctured with diamond drills. Working at the rate of eight feet per day these drills bore hundreds of feet into the earth and send up a rock ore which is assayed for gold. At present there are three mines around the town — the Canadian, Sladen and East Malartic gold mines. This group of mines was the one with which we became most familiar since we visited it several times, were shown through its numerous buildings and had the privilege of dining with the staff of the East Malartic in their official dining room. Twenty miles east of Malartic, across the great rolling Thompson River, is the town of Val D ' Or which we made the headquarters of our trip. The first building lot was sold on August 1st, 1934; now it is a large commercial town, with an ever increasing population, exceedingly cosmopolitan and extremely busy. Adjoining it is the lovely little town of Bourlamaque with its wide straight streets, grassy lawns and picturesque homes. The gold mine here ranks next to O ' Brien Cadillac in high grade ore. Surrounding Val D ' Or are several mines. The Sisco , located on a beautiful island in the midst of a lake, was one of the first in the region to be opened. When Mr. Sisco, a Pole, sold it to its present owners, he stipulated that no Pole should ever be refused work in the Mine and consequently the garden-island has become a Polish retreat. The Siscoe Mines, although appealing strongly to the imagination, are however eclipsed in size and importance by the Perron group, the last mines which we were able to visit before turning homewards. The Northland ' s great need of communication with the outside world is being met by a railway, which was completed last autumn, from Montreal, through the entire district to Rouyn and by a section of the Trans-Canada highway which is expected to be opened this Spring. There is an atmosphere in the Northland which pervades everything; an atmos- phere of freshness, of youth and of adventure; an exhilarating, captivating spirit that enthralls everyone. It was with keen regret and high hopes for a speedy return that I said Farewell! to this wonderful Canadian North of ' golden ' promise. Allana Reid, Matriculation I, Barclay House. [28]