Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

Page 31 text:

MR. FIN MICKEY FIX liad the most beautiful estate possible. He lived in an old castle built of bone, anil covered with the slime of a ;es. Surrounding: his castle were great lawns and gardens of a bright green hue, tinted with specks of crimson, and his lanes were covered with the most expensive pebbles — blue, green, scarlet, and many other colours. He kept his treasures in an ancient sea chest buried at the bottom of the castle, for lie was a very rich and avaricious young fish. He had two slaves. Snail I and Snail 11, who ilid all his heavy work: Snail I kept his parks clean and tidy, and Snail II housecleaned his castle and prepared his meals. Altogether. Mr. Fin led a very lazy and luxurious life, but unfor- tunatelv he was not happy. He was very lonely: however, he consoled himself bv exploring, and everv day he would come to the edge of his estate and peer through the glass wall. He saw the most curious and interesting sights. It seemed to be another world in which everything was so large that he could scarcely see an entire object at one glance. Occasionally something would move and come close to his estate. It resembled himself in a gigantic way, only it had no tail or fins, just funny sticks, and it was white, while he was the most handsome red-gold. Mr. Fin knew this creature was his benefactor, for it was the creature who had placed at his disposal this magnificent estate, and had provided food for his sumptuous meals. All the same, Mickey was becoming very bored. He found he was getting too fat, and had to exercise with dumb-bells every day. His long, beautiful fins were becoming motheaten. and it required all the time of his two slaves to anoint and comb them, so that he would be presentable. What was worse, he was getting bad-tempered, and he beat his unfortunate slaves every day, until their fuzzy green coats became ragged. But one day salvation came: Mickey was given a friend. He had got out of bed very crossly that morning, when, looking out of his w indow, he saw. floating at the gate, the most beautiful fish he had ever beheld. She was silver, black and pink, and she blinked up at him from underneath long, black eyelashes. Ah! thought Mickey with ecstasy. At last I have been given a friend, and a beautiful one too , and he swished out of his palace to greet hei , never to be lonely or bad-tempered again. Philippa Hansard, Form IVb, Gumming House. [29]

Page 30 text:

various belongings, a little black scottie dog came rushing through the garden, running straight to Mr. Roosevelt. Falla where have you been all day? My goodness, what a dog I have, but, you know, I don ' t know what I ' d do without him. With that Mr. Roosevelt bade good-bye to his friends, and walked into his beautiful home. I may add, he walked without the slightest limp. Anne Berry, Form IVb, Ross House. A DREAM THE night was dark and snowy, the wind howled dismally, but a fire glowed on the hearth, cheering me up and bringing before me vivid memories of days at school. Then, built by the yellow flames, a picture flashed into vague outline before my eyes. Was it? . . . Was it? . . . Yes, it was! Trafalgar School for Girls! I could see plainly now; the scene was brighter, hurrying figures were ascending the steps. Girls, girls, and more girls thronged the halls. I heard a gong sound; a benevolent, yet dignified lady appeared, and there was silence in the assembly hall. Figures vanished from the halls, and I next caught a glimpse of students congregated in Form IV. Some of the students looked wise, some foolish, but, as the mistress entered the room, all were trying to appear quiet and attentive, though not all of them succeeded. A coal fell, and the flames lept up anew. And what was this? Oh! I remem- ber, it was the House Competition. The girls from each House were in certain corners of the gymnasium, representing a certain country. A tall, red-haired lady, accompanied by another lady, seemed to be judging the entries. A door opened and closed behind me, causing the flames to dart up and flicker again. Scenes came and went. I could see student after student pass quickly by, looking, oh, so thin and worried. What could be wrong? Why did they carry so many, many books? Ah! A light broke upon me: it was the nerve-racking, heart-breaking time of Christmas examinations. But in the next instant the worried look had vanished, and, mirrored in the flames — this must be — oh, yes, this was the Christmas concert. The Christmas play was being acted, while the rest of the School, all dressed in white, sang carols. Then I found myself gazing at the Fourth Form. It was night time. Every- one was worried and in a flutter. The next moment they were in the gym, marching in front of a large audience. Of course, now I recalled, it was the night of the Gym Demonstration. I leaned forward and stirred the coals with the poker. The scene changed; again all w ere thin and pale, laden with books, and tottering beneath their burden of knowledge. But what meant that desperate air of finality? Oh, if my memory served me correctly, those were the final and fatal examinations in June. Once again the scene changed, and I saw the school all gathered in the assembly hall in white dresses, the Sixth Form wearing pink and white corsages. On the platform were many distinguished ladies and gentlemen. What could all this mean? Oh, I remember! It was the June closing, at which prizes and cups were presented. This picture faded slowly; I lapsed into a state of happy unconsciousness . . . Ouch! My head hit the back of the chair with a bang, and I awakened suddenly to find the fire out, and my fond dreams of days at school entirely destroyed in the stern reality of a cold night with no fire. Elizabeth Webb, Form IVa, Fairley House. r28i

Page 32 text:

SCHOOL — 1997 This is an excerpt from the diary of Jane Clark, a teen-ager in her ninth year of school. THIS morning I must have got out of bed on the wrong side. To begin with, helicopter traffic was very slow. I left home late — allowing myself only ten minutes instead of fifteen to fly to school, and was nearly late. At school I landed, putting my ' copter into my helilocker. I really must be late , I thought to myself, for Alice is here already . I remembered that Miss Cook had said that I had to wash the ink stains from the top of my plastic desk by today, so I dashed to the wash-room, dampened a towel, rushed to my desk and began to scrub. Alice walked over to me: My but you ' re late today. I ' ve been here a long time. By the way, I couldn ' t do those problems about ' copters for maths, could you? Did you see the baseball game last night on your television set? It was really exciting. Lindsay Crosby sang too; Mother says his father, Bing, was quite the singer in her day. Also ... Oh, Alice, there ' s the bell, and I ' ve not got the marks oflf this desk yet. Here, take this towel and help me. Alice and I finally got the desk to shine. We then grabbed our hymn books and got into line. Nothing unusual happened in prayers, except that my hymn book crashed to the floor and everyone stared at me! I wish we could have the soft, noiseless, leather ones. The morning passed quite pleasantly; of course the history movie was complicated, and for homework we were told to write an essay on it. I ' ll never get it done. The maths problems were terrible, all about jet-propelled planes and ' copters. Dad has a jet-propelled, so he ought to be able to help me. The classroom was very hot this morning, for the sun shone through the fibre glass walls. It was uncomfortable at first, but maybe I got a sun-tan. The lunch at school today was quite good. We had meat and vegetable pills, and for dessert there was chocolate pudding with cream capsules. Those pills are very filling. They certainlv save work and dishes for schools and restaurants. At home we rarely have pills; it ' s usually the real thing. This afternoon we had a French test. Mademoiselle Chartre showed us a short French movie. It was terrible, for we had to write down in French what the movie was about, and the people spoke so fast I did not understand a thing. After French we had games. There was a short movie on basketball, with explanations. Then, for the rest of the period, we played the game, trying to remember all that we had seen. It looked as though there was to be a storm, so at the end of the period we all ran to the helilockers to get our machines. There was a whirr of pro- pellers as we all went up into the sky. I arrived home just as the storm began. I am certainly glad I did not get caught in it. I have finally finished my homework. I guess I ' d better go to bed now so I ' ll be able to leave earlier for school tomorrow. Carolee Beaudoin, Form IVb, Fairley House. [30]