United Colleges - Vox Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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24 VOX probably echoed in many a heart on the Western plains: Oh, tuho am I to dream of swing¬ ing ships, Of hrown-sailed fishers beating in with dawn? But I have tasted spray upon my lips, Have loved rough weather, I am island-born. Ah, that grim headland and that gracious bay Are half a world and half a life away. She describes how her allegiance is torn between her adopted and and her native land in ‘‘Hearth Fires”: The river gods of all the world nod wise wet heads and say — Who drinketh of my waters I will call him back some day —- And that perhaps is how indeed the happy strife began, The Thames beneath the Cliveden Woods—the great Saskatche¬ wan. And who has not seen a Canadian summer like this?: Slow lazy days of breathless heat, Piled thunder-heads and slanting rain, Cloud-shadows sailing o’er the wheat, Suns that but set to rise again, The sudden fire-fly’s fairy light, Shrill castanets of of frogs at night, Oh, life, ’ Tis summer in Saskatchewan! The men of Hudson’s Bay Com¬ pany provide the theme for a stir¬ ring song, which sounds out the sturdy tread of a pioneer band: We took the man from London T own, We lured the lad from Liver¬ pool, From distant Isle and heather brown The Celt came West, and made our rule. We never knew the townsmen’s fears, Ho, Ho, we were the pioneers! We went by rivers, wild, un¬ known, We made the trails for men to tread, By lakes seen by the loon alone We built our fire and made our bed. There, where the Dancing Light appears, Ho, Ho, we were the pioneers! In printing a number of Mrs. Willey’s poems in the Annual Poetry Number of December, the Canadian Bookman announced that her collected poems will be published in book form, which will make them available to all. Are the problems of peace too great for us? Where are we to find the spiritual elan and vitality so that by a concerted effort some means can be taken to solve our pressing political and economic problems. Will the church give us a lead? It may head a subscription list, and urge personal giving, but how about the finding and curing of the sources of social evil? The energy, devotedness and economic sacrifice involved in one battle of the Great War would go far to make over the world. ‘‘Peace hath her victories No less renowned than war:” but, we suspect, they are a great deal more difficult of achievement!

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vox 23 A Lyric Poet of the West By T. deYong and B.T.R. It was with all the thrill of dis¬ covering a new poet that we read the selections from the work of Mrs. Christina Willey in the De¬ cember issue of the Canadian Book¬ man. She has been called “The Lyric Voice of the West,” and her poems bear abundant witness to a rich lyric quality. As far as we can ascertain, Mrs. Willey is a native of England, though now living at Bredenbury, Saskatchewan. Much of her verse testifies to her Western outlook, but her gift is not shackled to themes of merely local interest. “The Wanderer” strikes a univer¬ sal note, that of the haunting spirit of age mingled with the com¬ pensations of memory. Its theme is the memory of beautiful Helen of Troy and closes with these verses: I think I journeyed to the outer seas, I think I saw the thundering waters fall Across the very edges of the world. I knew the Great Ones. I forget them all. I have lived much but worn and aged am I. Oh, Stranger! if but once my living eyes Could see the tall towers rise Across that plain, I should be young again. I dream. Tall Troy is down; But wind-blown ashes is the mighty town, And I have lost fair Helen many years. Who am If I forget. I only knew That Time has robbed me even of my tears, That all my songs are sung. Perhaps I was that Paris, as men say, Wearied I am, and old and lost, and grey, But once I loved Gold Helen, and was young. She is successful, also, we think, with her delicate fairy-poems, rem¬ iniscent of childhood. However, the greater number of Mrs. Willey’s poems are Western lyrics. She re¬ cords the conflict in the newcomer’s heart of the demands of the Old Land and the awakening love for the New. She has an artist’s skill with words and records in marvel¬ lous fashion the true beauty of the Prairies. I wonder, can the prairie-born forget The far-off bluff-gap with the marking blaze, The evening wood-smoke when the grass is wet. The river valley blue with bush-fire haze, The badger earth, the fox den on the hill. The rare, sad, ghostly evening whip-poor-will? The gopher, praying hands on vel¬ vet breast, Alert, inquisitive, a prairie clown. The great cranes, flying black against the west, Beauty’s own shadow, as the sun goes down, Green poplar-mist, the miracles of May, The vibrant sun-drenched Western summer day? There is an underlying poign¬ ancy in the following which is

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vox 25 Our Senior Stick-Elect When the student body of Unit¬ ed Colleges elected Mark A. Tal- nicoff as their Senior Stick for 1920-30, they added another laurel to a splendid collection which Mark carries so unassumingly. MARK A. TALNICOFF Mark is a late Victorian, and first became vocal in the great wheat belt, not of Canada, but of Russia. When still a wee toddler this young hopeful emigrated with his parents to the U.S., where they helped to swell the sociologists’ figures of the foreign-born population in Phila¬ delphia. Happily, however, they found their way to Winnipeg in 1913. Mark seems to have retained a wan¬ derlust, and in 1917 went over to England with the Cameron High¬ landers, no doubt as Private Mac- talnicoff! He returned to Winni¬ peg, worked in an office, and in 1924 went to Brandon College, where he matriculated, with a Gov¬ ernor-General ' s award. There he was active in debating and Boy Scout work, and indeed continues these interests. As is well known, Mark is President of Debating in United this year, and has recently taken charge of a Boy Scout patrol of one. Mark has shown himself worthy of our trust by his efficient work in debating, Vox, and as Secretary of the Student Council. We look for¬ ward confidently to a year in which his energy, idealism and quiet com¬ petence will distinguish his leader¬ ship and make its influence f.elt in all student activities. Grace Gordon Grace Gordon, Lady Stick-Elect, was born at Souris, Manitoba, sometime in the year 1909. When asked why she chose Souris as a birth-place, she replied that it was because she wanted to be near her mother. She is the daughter of Principal and Mrs. J. W. Gordon of the Manitou Normal School. As for her early training, we learn by devious methods that she matricu¬ lated with high honors from Mani¬ tou High School, and in grade XII won a scholarship for general pro¬ ficiency. Grace entered Wesley as a “knowing Sophomore” to join the ’30’s. Her class soon recog¬ nized her excellent executive abil¬ ity, for she was elected vice-presi¬ dent in her third year. She was also a member of the Dramatic Executive, vice-president of S.C.M. and vice-president of Co-eds. With