Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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I strode off and soon found myself in the town square. The buildings were all in the modern manner. On my left stood a large structure with huge windows. Inside at desks sat people of all ages, busy at something or other, while others worked at blackboards. It must be a school of some sort. A policeman was standing on the corner so I asked him what it was. That, he replied pompously, is our recreation hall. But what are the people working at? They aren ' t working. They are enjoying their period of relaxation by doing arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry problems. So! I said. The copper tapped his leg with a yardstick. Why do you carry a yardstick instead of a baton? I inquired. How else could I measure a man ' s intentions? Could you tell me the name of this square? Root, he answered shortly. The man gave me an uneasy feeling so I moved on. Half way across the street I stopped to consider which way to go. A passerby spoke as he hurried along. Don ' t loiter on the parallel lines. Quickly I stepped across the car tracks and, reaching the sidewalk, I saw a woman selling apples. I felt like going up to her and saying, If you have fifty apples and I take twelve away, how many would you have left? But the thought of that policeman across the street held me back. I decided to find a restaurant and have something to eat, by way of passing the time. Walking along I came to a large edifice with guards at the gate. Upon inquiring, I learned that this was where the Great Minds were labouring over theories and problems. I stood and gazed at this seat of evil and then hurried on. Very soon I came to a school which was just emptying for the noon hour. How smug the children looked! Were they ever happy? Perhaps Mathematicians have their own brand of happiness, but I didn ' t care for the countenances it produced. Ha ! Here was a restaurant. I entered and was shown to a table by a waitress who had a number on her sleeve. This made me feel as if I were in prison being waited on by a trusty ! She pointed out that on one side of the menu were tablets for those who lived mathematically. Very nice, I replied. Bring me a steak smothered in onions. Having finished my dinner, I looked around the room and saw a woman who had just entered with a small child. Motioning to the waitress I said, If you would change that number at the door and the small fraction beside it into a vulgar fraction, they can occupy this seat and save a chair for someone else, and then I made a hasty exit. How did you like it? asked the little rabbity man when I got back to my ' plane. That place gives me the creeps. You see I ' m allergic to Mathematics. That is very interesting. I understand that the Great Minds are working on a serum now to counteract that allergy in school children. So! I said, and thanked Heaven that I was a man. Rosemary Graham, Form IIIa., Ross House. TRAFALGAR ECHOES 1944 23

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RIVER OF THE DEEP Down the St. Lawrence so very wide, We went a-sailing with the tide Until we reached the Saguenay, O, thou great river of the free, Mountains rise along your shore, With their great majestic lure Along the deepening river bed, Where thou dost rest thy weary head. The countless spirits of the deep, There ever silent watch do keep. We came to Cape Eternity, Which rose in all her majesty And there the Virgin Mother stands, Her watch to keep o ' er all the lands, With deep and reverent awe we gazed A.nd offered unto God our praise. Doreen Moore, Form IIIa., Barclay House. SHORT STOP THE jerking of the ' plane wakened me. The rabbity little man across the aisle said, We seem to be making an unscheduled landing. I glanced at my watch. We were not due for two hours. Just then the stewardess came to tell us that we were obliged to make a forced landing for a minor repair. This is Mathsland. There will be a delay of ninety minutes. I followed my fellow traveller down the steps and looked about me. So this was Malhsland, that much publicised ideal state set up by a group of Mathematicians. Well, it would be interesting to see what the crazy coots were up to. How far to the centre of the town? I asked a mechanic. Six squares at right angles to that big tree, he answered. So that was the way it was! 22 tkafau;ak echoes 194.4

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TROUBLES IN RHYME-MAKING J love you, darling, you know that, I ' ve told you many limes; But though 1 love you very much, 1 can not make up rhymes. They say that love inspires great things, Oh! little do they know That loving you with all my heart I still can ' t make words go. I ' ve heard it said that genius hums In anybody ' s brain, If he ' s got love behind his pen; And yet I try in vain. I truly wonder why it is That if I try my best I still can ' t write like some folks can Who ' ve no love in their breast; But then I ' m just a little boy, And maybe when I ' m ten (I ' ve only one more year to waitj I ' ll write like famous men. Dad says that Shakespeare wrote rhymes well, So when I ' m great like him I ' ll try to write a rhyme for you; And then they ' ll talk of Jim, And say He writes rhymes really well, I knew him at one time , And you can say with well-earned pride, caused that lovely rhyme! Mary Munroe, Form Vb, Cumming House. IT ' S EASY SHE walked out jauntily swinging her mitts; she was going to show them how foolish it was to say that skiing was difficult, it looked the easiest thing imaginable. She put on her skis and off they went; it was funny the way the things would keep on crossing and sticking, and she was sure they were too long — they were perpetually in ihe way ! She Iried to imitate their easy walk bul failed miserably, so contented herself with loping along in a most undignified fashion. 24 thai ai, ;ak echoks mi