Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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MISS ELLEN K. BRYAN TRAFALGAR girls all over Canada will be glad to hear that Miss Ellen K. Bryan, so long and intimately associated with our School, has been appointed Head Mistress of Crofton House, Vancouver. We congratulate Crofton House, and we believe that there is a bright future in store for the School of which Miss Bryan is the Head. Trafalgar has indeed been fortunate to have had for twenty-four years such a teacher as Miss Bryan, and it is as a teacher that we think of her first. A rare personality, richly endowed, she has devoted herself unstintingly to the School. Her love of learning and high scholarship have been an inspiration to all who have come in contact with her brilliant mind. She has the power of calling forth the ' ery best in her pupils, and kindles, in even the slowest, the desire for higher things. Whether it is English, Latin or Greek, she illuminates the subject with the radiance of her own spirit. As a teacher of English Literature she is without peer. Let anyone who has been taught by her pick up a Shakespeare play, or a book of poems, and, across the years. Miss Bryan ' s words come back, as clearly as when they were first heard, and, for a time, we are taken again into [15]

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The vast extciiHioii of llie war (liiriiijj; iImk y ' ar lian a(l(lc J an fvcii Lrn i-r loiic to school life, especially since recently it has spread to our sister Dominion, Australia and to the Far East. The work of our Junior Red Ooss, under the capahle guidance of Mi«s Hicks, has been j reatly increased durinf:; the year. Many arti ;les have been knitted hy the girls and are being sent regularly to the Red ( ross Heaclquarters. During the year the School has had several lectures which were of great interest. Miss Hazel and Mr. Humphreys brought home to us the needs of the West. Rishofi Martin and Bishop Fleming visited us also and were given a hearty welcome. Recently we had the great pleasure of seeing moving pictures about the work the women are doing in this war over in England, and the important place they are taking. The Houses have all had a successful year and great enthusiasm was shown in the Spelling Bee, Junior Music Competition, Inter-House Basket Ball matches and General Knowledge Test. The Prefects have been aided by the newly created Sub-Prefects from the Fifth Form. They are Rae Hunter, Lois Tyndale, Dorothy Burden, Joan Erzinger, Harriet Anderson and Mary Mitham. As we go to press we are very sorry to hear that we are to lose, at the end of this year, one of our Staff — Miss Abbott. This will be a great loss to the School as Miss Abbott has for the last ten years encouraged Art in all classes. We often see posters adorning the corridors, which were all part of Miss Abbott ' s teaching. Not only did she teach Art in the School, but aroused great enthusiasm among the pupils for this subject. Every year, countless people have enjoyed the Art Exhibition which has been supervised by Miss Abbott. We regret very much that she is leaving and we wish her the best of luck in the years to come. The Forsyth Cup awarded to the Senior Girl who has made the most of her oppor tnnities, showing herself friendly and helpful to all, was given to Peggy Muir. The Inter-House Shield, presented by Mrs. Wynne Robinson, was won last )ear by Gunniiing Mouse. PREFECTS HEAD PREFECT: Margaret Burden Nancy Maclure Barbara Grindley A Betty Connal Edith Mather E Charlotte Scrimger Jane Jaques A Margery Campbell Dorothy Turville J Alice Davis Ruth Taylor Marjorie Morgan Jane Edwards Joan Johnston INTER-HOUSE SHIELD [141

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the realms of fiold . It was more than the kiiowh-df e of the partieular poem or play that she gave us: it was an understanding of, and love for, literature which have Htayed with us and strengthened us for life. A man ' s reach should exceed his grasp ; the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars : We have hut faith, we cannot know : these linf s we remember, not so much as Browning ' s, Shakespeare ' s or Tennysoji ' s, hut because Miss Bryan made them real to us, by what she said, and by what she herself was. In the art of teaching Classics, too. Miss Bryan has no rival. I.atin and Greek, those tj-easure-houses of literature, too often glibly called dead languages, send forth their ageless message again to those of us whom she has taught. Under her stimulating guidance, the rudiments of grammar, porto, portas, portat , and hie, haec, hoc , were not just lessons to be laboriously memorized, but keys to the mode of Greek and Roman thought, and vital stepping-stones to the delights of literature that lay ahead. Homer, Vergil and Cicero, were not merely names, but real authors, speaking to us across the centuries; for Miss Bryan clothed them again with the living spirit and brought to life for us the Forum of Rome and the Agora of Athens. To try to estimate what she has done for the School, quite apart from her teaching, is almost impossible. No girl ever went to her for help without receiving it — good measure, pressed down and running over . Her school day was never measured by the clock. To the Sixth Form, in particular, she has been guide, philosopher and friend . She shepherds the prefects through their difficulties, advising, encouraging, often drawing out more than they themselves believed was there, thus training them to be of service to the School, and later to the community. Aware of new movements, she quickly saw the possibilities of the House system, and it is largely due to her planning and devotion that the Houses have become the centre of School activities. The Magazine is a tribute to Miss Bryan ' s organizing power. With the cooperation of the entire School, the spirit of each year is reflected in its pages, and it stands, a record of the life of the School. In that, as in everything she does, she is unsparing of her time and of herself, and, like all great givers, she knows not what she gives. To her fellow-teachers she has been indeed a friend. It was as if she held the torch high for us, and lighted the way. Her help and advice have been invaluable, and some of us are profoundlv grateful to her for helping us find our feet . It is difficult to believe that Miss Bryan is leaving Trafalgar. It is only rarely in the life span uf any school that a teacher as gifted comes its way. She will carry to her new work the heartfelt wishes of us all. She has shown us how to be loving and patient, how to work joyously and courageously, how to give and not to count the cost . Her itiHpiralion and influi nce will live on, a shining light, in the hearts and minds of those who liav ' known and loved her. Ave alque vale, o doniina carissima; aliani tihi similem vix reperiemus. 116