Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

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TRINITY COLLEGE SCIIOOI. Rl'X'UIilI 21 CHICKENS COME HUMIC TO H01 PST? By Spectator. We have a few chickens, Leghorns, and, consider- ing the amount of care they don't get tthe sum total of what they do receive is too neglible for mentionj they repay us in true Christian spirit--full measure, and running over. Running over, reminds me that is what I started to write about. Our chickens, tthough Heaven knows they should be content in a small rocky run-way of about fourteen feet squarel have taken to running over to the neighbors, whether to borrow, or merely to gossip, we haven't yet decided. The question of how they ever got out in the first place is one that occupied our minds for some little time. There are no breaks in the netting enclosing them, and the door leading to their abode, though unable to stand of itself, does nicely when propped by an ancient garden fork, unless, of course, the prop itself lies down on the job, and one would hesitate to accuse an old and tried friend of such ingratitude, when from selfish, or other motives, that is all that it has ever been asked to do! Personally, I blame my husband, and equally dit- to, he blames me! twe are an unique couplei. My argument is this. What more likely than, that when by some strange trick of memory he was mind- ed to feed the flock, before dashing off to his office fifteen minutes later than he had intended, that he should have forgotten to replace said fork? The idea seemed plausible, and I was even prepared to be mag- nanimous enough to overlook the delinquency, had he not'with fiendish cunning, tried to attach the blame to me. Oh no. my dear, he gloatingly replied to my a- foresaid accusation, It wasn't me, I, either, he a- mended hastily, as the light of conquest. and always enjoyable desire to correct, flared up in my accusing eye, I never forget that fork. I know the consequenc- es too well, after chasing the mothers of these chickens who used to get out two or three years ago. No, it was you I am sure, sometime when you have ordered eggs for lunch, and found there weren't any, and so made a rush out at about twelve-forty-five, so you could have them in an omelette at one o'clock sharp. I am sorry, my dear, but I am afraid you are the guilty one, this time. All this with an air of conscious virtue, to which I can never get accustomed, but which ever has the one effect-renders me so speechless with rage, that the dear creature is delivered of his outrageous ut- terances and away, before I can even trust myself to sputter! I think I have said enough to prove to the person of ordinary perspicacity that I am the innocent victim of untoward circumstance. But don't we all know that men are such child- ren that since Adam laid the blame at Eve's floor that-well a million other examples, if I could remem- ber. them, show what an infant the strongest man real- ly is. so we'Il leave the subject, and pretend that it was I who forgot to prop up the chicken-house door fthe idea is really too preposterousj the last time they went off on a holiday. Now, if we are a little Heimy in the amount of care bestowed upon our hens, our neighbors more than make up for it by the unceasing vigilance lavished on theirs. Their chicken-run is roomy, and well-kept, the house is comfortable-almost spacious-the nests are kept clean, straw changed regularly, and for encour- agement in the gentle art ol' lziying --elf-etrir lights burn brightly far into the night. Une would ii-'ver - ten suggest one of these female lleau lirurninels being af- flicted with anything so entirely unbeeozning lu their station as lice, and yet, when two ol' our lousl' bi llyllf wandered over fora peck and a gossip, the ladies we-i-e well received. Indeed it would almost seein that too inurli per- fection had begun to pall on the satiated appetites ui' the lutocrats, so cordial were they in their grei-tint 'll' Welcome to their lowly neighbors. The hen-party was in full glory and had spent a sociable and peaceful afternoon, without even a dog to mar the pleasure, when the owner of the clit-rislied ones drove home from an office which had taxed his pa- tience and ingenuity for the last six or seven hours. As he stepped from his motor, and out oi' the gar- age, he noticed the door of his chicken-house slightly ajar, and after a hasty glance round, discovering two fat hens outside, proceeded with a sigh, and an ill-con- cealed curse, to approach said delinquents, in order to drive them back where they belonged. The hens, who had ideas of their own as to where that place was. started to squawk and scatter in great alarm, follow- ed by the irate gentleman, who chased them wrathfully across the road into our garden, much to the surprise of the lady of the house tniyselfl who happened to be working on some flower-beds at the time. Muttering a hurried excuse for trespassing on our property, our energetic neighbor shouted to his wife and daughter, whom he espied sitting on their veran- dah, to come to his assistance, while I in turn made feeble suggestions that said hens might be ours--not his-but his only reply was a wave of the hand. and a hurried, No, our hen-house gate was open. and these are two of my very best. Qtill doubtful, but feeling myself an entirely in- adequate judge of poultry, I stopped protesting, re- turned to my gardening, and determined not to assist in the chase, for if our neighbors will be careless about leaving doors open, it is surely not my affair, or my duty to help restore the escaped prisoners! Joined by his women-folk ,the gentleman renewed his attack on the excited birds, who, more frightened than ever, now made desperate efforts to escape his frantic clutches. Up and down the garden they flew, through the berry-bushes, and into the corn, followed by their re- lentless pursuers. I, with feelings of intense relief, had quickly given up all claims of ownership, and now watched the con- test with delighted, if surreptitious interest. It was well worth while! All three of my poor friends were presently. what is vulgarly known as in a sweat Their breath came in short gasps, their clothes, and particularly their shoes, showed unmistakable signs of war-fare-and still those stupid hens eluded their grasp, and insisted on their right to remain on our property. At last, after an hour or more of running, dodging. cornering and swearing. both hens were run into the nice, warm, well-lighted house. I could retire, and laugh my fill, after ill-concealed explosions ot' merri- ment all through the chase. VVith gusty sighs of relief, and a most virtuous expression of a hard task well over, my neat neighbors withdrew into their domain, to change and brush clothes, bathe, and rest after their strenuous labour.

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vi g gg gg riuxirv coi.i,i-ma sciiooi. naoogan GREAT MEN AND THEIR WORK 'l'he editors want to run a series under this head- ing. bringing to your notice each week some interesting and important character. who does not come within the scope of your ol'tliI1al'y Work. CERVANTES. Miguelil de Cervantes holds in Spanish Literature the same commanding position that Shakespeare holds in our own. though his fame rests on his stories. not on his plays. He was born eighteen years before Shakes- peare 115-175 and died in the same year Ql616J. His father was a poor travelling doctor who took young Miguel about with him on his wanderings and left his education to chance. Luckily the boy was a great read- er and read everything he found lying about. lelis first wiitten work appeared in 1569, poems of no great merit. 'When he was twenty-three he became a soldier and served with distinction for five years, playing a brave part in the great sea battle of Lepanto, where the forces of Christendom, under the Spainard Don John of Austria, checked once and for all the alarming ad- vance of the Turks into Europe. In those days Spain was the professed champion of the Catholic faith, the backbone of the Church's arm- ies against the infidel Turks or the heretic English. It is impossible not to admire the single-hearted zeal with which she shed her best blood in the cause of faith. ev- en as sh'e shed the blood of others, without scruple and without mercy. Cervantes, in his youth, must have been full of this same zeal, and a large part of it remained with him through life-the best part, because his great genius and the ill-luck which followed so close upon him had taken away that brutal intolerance which too often went with zeal. The writer of Don Quixote, we feel, could never have wielded a thumbscrew or a red hot iron for the Inquisition, though he was so proud of his maimed left arm and the two bullets in his chest, marks of loyal service to his church and king. It is impossible to give a full account of his life. On leaving the army he was captured by Moorish pirates and was a slave in Algiers for five years before being ransomed, Nor was his return to Spain in all ways happy, for he started at once on a long search for employment, making a little money by writing plays and poems that were not suc- cessful. He held various posts for a short time. once as a collector of stores for the Grand Armada, later as a tax collector, and some mismanagement in which no dishonesty was involved, caused him to be twice in pris- on. He cannot have been a very competent person and at the age of fifty his outlook seemed hopeless, with no reputation as yet as a literary man and a reputation for incompetence in the public service. Actually he was on the threshold of immortality, for he turned now to literature as his last hope and set about writing the story of Don Quixote, which was to make his name and keep it alive. A good heart breaks bad fortune. He is con- stantly quoting this old proverb in his works and it might serve as his own epitaph. The calm. half-hum- ourous courage with which he set to work is reflected in the whole book. No self-pity, no bitte1'ness is ever allowed to cheapen its high quality. Literary men are only too apt to cry out and fish for pity when they think they deserve it. but there is no sign that Cervantes even thought he did deserve it. The first part of Don Quix- ote was published in 1605. It seems to have been plan- ned as a satire on books of knight-errantry, the trashy literature of that time. In such books knight- errants were made to do great and impossible things for the sake of their mistresses, who usually repaid them with disdain. The readers of such books, like the movie fans of to-day, imbibed from their reading ideas of life that were utterly false. such as that the love of a lady was the highest prize to which a male could as- pire. Cervantes chose for his hero an imaginary reader of such books, Senor Quixada, an elderly gentleman who had read so many books about knights and en- chanters that he had come to believe them true and re- solved to restore to life the ancient order of knights- errant. So he polished up an old suit of armour, took the name of Don Quixote HKE- HOT- AYJ and set out to seek adventures, redress wrongs and win the love of a half-imaginary beauty, Dulcinea del Toboso. He took as his squire a labourer of the same village, San I Panza, who followed him half out of love. half out of a simple faith in his promises, believing that Don Quix- ote would eventually become an emperor and bestow upon him the government of an island. It is not within the scope of this article to go into the story any more fully, but to give an idea of its na- ture and, if possible, to stimulate some boys to read it, either in the long or the shortened form fboth can be borrowed from the editorsj. The long form is to be recommended, because there are two sides to the story. There are the adventures into which Don Quix- ote ran, which are mostly very funny, in the sort of ro- bust and impossible way in which Dickens and P. G. VVodehouse are funny. Secondly there are the long discussions between master and squire, which bring out the contrast between the two characters, and here the humour is more subtle. Don Quixote is a man who lives in the clouds. His talk is wise and learned, but his vision of the practical world is completely distorted by his craze for knight-errantry. Sancho is a practical man who has at his fingers' ends all the wise proverbs which his simple, religius. practical Spanish ancestors have bequeathed to him. He cannot understand ideals, so only a very small part of his master's lecturing sticks in his mind. He is delightfully frank and never fails to comment favourably or otherwise on anything that Don Quixote does or says. The first part of Don Quixote was followed ten years later by a second, which carried on the story and was, if anything, better than the first. The first vol- ume had raised Cervantes to the front rank of acknow- ledged writers, not only in Spain but in Euiope, and the second was eagerrly awaited and received with ad- miration. Yet he died a poor man, and his grave is un- known, for in those days literature was only indirectly a paying profession, in that success in it usually assur- ed patronage by some rich nobleman. The sales of a best seller can never have been large. At any rate this true hero of literature saw the end of his difficulties before he died. and seems to have had some expecta- tion that his name would be immortal. He said so. once or twice, but it is hard to tell if he spoke in jest or earn- est.

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122 TRINITY COLLE That night at dinner. I was giving a description of the scene to my amused family tthe vicissttudes ot others are nearly always amusing! when the telephone raiw 4 b. Hello, came over the line, That you Jack? Well. have you missed any of your hens? I have just been out to count ours. and find we have two too many. Would you please come over and get them. while they are roosting7 My husband's reply was barely audible, as he hung up the receiver with a click, and turned to ine with a face crimson with convulsed mirth. QE SCHOOI. RECORD They're our chickens after all, he said, and poor Dick has them uncombed, unmanicured, and pro- bably even unable to lay an egg in such unaccustomed grandeur so I'll have to go over right away and bring them back, before they pollute his brood. Oh, my dear. to think of his calling our poor old birds the best of his flock! it is really too good. Amid gales of laughter he departed to rescue our lost ones, and the question as to who was responsible for their escape has never been settled. In fact, we have had so much enjoyment out of the whole affair, that we are almost beginning to regard the erstwhile guilty one as a hero, tor heroinel. JUNIOR SCHOOL RUGBY It cannot be said that we have been successful in winning .matches this fall, but we have really had a most pleasant rugby season nevertheless. Everybody has seemed to enjoy the turn-outs and the games, and fortun- ately there have been no injuries of a serious nature. And this has not been because we have not played hardg the tackling and bucking in some of the games was quite remarkable. and it was the more so when one considers that the team included several boys of only ten and eleven years old and that, for most of them. this was the first rugby season of their lives. Twice we were badly beaten by Lakefield. but with so many of the younger boys showing ability this year, we hope that next year we shall be able to play more of an offensive game. With just a little more shove we might easily have beaten S. A. C. on both occasions, but that necessary extra shove is a product of experience, just as much as it is of verve. and when we have acquired the former. the latter. if it has not always been present. will not fail. Robson was elected captain early in the year and proved popular and helpful throughout the season. Three excellent House matches were played during the season and the Rigbies. piloted by Rogers. are to be congratulated on winning the cup. They won by sheer determination. and that. perhaps. is one of the greatest assets of the House matches. viz., that everybody is out to play his hardest at all costs. The following were awarded Junior School First Team rugby colours after the first S. A. C. game: Rob- son. Cutten, Byers. Baly. Rathbone. The following received their colours at the end of the season: Cassels. Bell, Bickle, Rogers, Staunton, Armstrong, Cochran. Spragge, Pullen. LAKEFIELD GAME. OCT. 10 The game was played on our own grounds and in excellent weather. Lakefield soon showed us that they had a fast team. and in the first half they piled up a tremendous score. Our line was light, but had it stayed low in resisting opposing bucks. it would have been much more effective. Our plays seldom got beyond our own line. and only once did an end-run get away. After half- time, however. we really got down to it. Cutten did some good running, and Baly. Byers and Robson some good tackling. But Lakefield's back field was much too fast for usg their running and passing on end-runs was a treat to see. and it was this that was largely responsible for their rather shocking score of 66. to counterbalance which we were able to gain nothing. S. A. C. GAME. OCT. 17 We enjoyed this game more than the previous one because the teams were evenly matched and because we went about our business with more determination and life than we had before displayed. We lined up quickly, kept low on bucks and put our plays into operation with pre- cision and force. Tackling was good, and Cutten did some excellent running. Rathbone played well on the line. But, though we forced S. A. C. to their one-yard line more than once, we could not score. They gained one try which was nicely converted, and the final score was 6 to 0. LAKEFIELD GAME, OCT. 24 Games away from school are always popular, and this one was no exception. We had a fine drive to the Grove in Lingard's bus, and were most hospitably treated by our hosts during the day. They somewhat embar- rassed us by putting on a team much lighter than before -an embarrassment which was intensified when we were again beaten by 34 to 1. Cassels scored our only point with a slanting kick which went over touch-in- goal. Their backfielcl. which had remained unchanged, was again mostly responsible for the mischief, but apart from this. we played our poorest game of the season. The halves were disappointing, our tackling was not up to par and our bucks had little force behind them. Our spirits revived. however, when we temporarily drowned the memories of the game in numerous ice cream sodas in Peterborough, and we arrived at school again, singing and shouting, and with sufficient tack to have solved for a month all Miss Smith's problems of menu-making. S. A. C. GAME. NOVEMBER 1 The match was played at Aurora and we turned in, perhaps, our best performance of the year. S. A. C. scored early in the first quarter, as a result of a long extended end run, and from then on we buckled down and made the remainder of the game close and exciting. Many times we bucked them down the field, but were not quite able to push the ball over the goal line. Cassels kicked for a point and had Cutten, who was the fastest man on the field. been able to get away, we should have at least tied the score. We tried, however, to put our plays, and in general to run, too much through the centre. Cassels played well and showed us what is meant by tackling hard and lowg Bickle, Bell and Staunton must also be mentioned. Rogers' bucking was really spectacu- lar and he gained the majority of our yards. The final score was 6 to 1. It was a hard game to lose, but it served as a very creditable ending of the season. After the game we indulged in a swim, and to enlighten the rather tiresome journey back to school. we interrupted our slumbers at Oshawa by a visit to Woolworth's and other heretofore less-famous shops.