United Colleges - Vox Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

Page 33 text:

In a Public Library There he stands—his old coat Drooping mournfully, and on his gnarled fingers, Arms behind his back, a brown cap Perching. Old wrinkled trousers hang In folds, bent a bit and dusty, overlapping Grey and (when his feet are shifting) Squeaky boots. From out his pocket, Awkwardly, sticks a daily paper, Sort of soiled. Into the shelves of books Peers the grooved face, the white wreath On his head haphazard sitting. And then, Midst coughs and sniffles periodic, Eyebrows raised, forehead folded, Glasses set well back upon his nose, The old man looks with studious eye A few books over. Loophole The artificial city tries with all its strength To harass nature’s harbingers. Vain attempt! All the buildings, all the pavements, All the fences, sewers and sidewalks, All the man-constructed houses, lined in rows — Huge horrid hunks, unsightly on the streets; All metal, iron, wooden braces, Bars and bolts and nuts and screws And nails, nailed in man-molded wood By a thousand city hammers; all the cars And trucks, and screechings from the city’s messy mass Of cold machines, the harsh and heavy Grindings of cog-wheels and axles; All the flag-poles, smoke-stacks, factories And factory accessories, sky-scrapers, tools: Big blocks of builded nature, built By man, fitting adjuncts To this modern world — all, not all unnatural things On earth, can keep the glittering glow of stars and moon, And the low, deep whistle of the wind Out. 31

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Poems by Glen MacKenzie Pictures on the Wall A mass of pictures on the wall Sits silently. Across the hall The pictures hang, on strings Attached to high hooks. Lifeless things, These pictures? Four rows across — Four rows of photographs. And by them pass Each day almost, a flock, a mass Of school-kids. They think not of the loss Behind those pictures; and why should they? Life must move, and these long halls More kids must walk from day to day, From year to year; and as Time falls Down its endless way, boys and girls Must go on learning; learning, laughing, living As others have before them. Classrooms, Posters, pencils, chalk; seats and desks; black¬ boards; A present world-—a NOW unfurls For every present pupil, giving Each bouquet of feelings like spring blooms: They’re new; they’re hoards Of life, meant just for him. But threads Of life already lived, unite this school With more than present worlds; A thousand worlds of man have left here Echoes of their treads. How alike it all is, yet how oddly Different! Each life, alive with novelty, Traverses paths down trodden deep Through many wandering pasts. Perhaps through all eternity those pasts Are wandering yet! But now — today — (What is “today”?)—a mass of students Wanders past a mass of pictures. No doubt in future years There’ll be more pictures on the wall, And for a multitude of reasons: For fame perchance, or honour, or maybe just For graduation. As for these Across the hall—these images of persons That have learned and laughed and lived In this same school; these pictures Showing many men (I wonder who the scholars were . . . The troublemakers . . . the athletic kings?), Many men, with special coats and caps Adorned; these pictures, having names beneath, Have something else beneath them: Satellite It is a smiling, laughing, white moon There in the midnight sky; Beyond the bar-graph, neon-lined horizon It rolls in stillness by. There is a meaning to that moon, That tri-light shade tipped upon its side; That misty mother of the dark, still, black dome; That white, ethereal mover of the tide. Busy, swirling, bothered dust specks Move in hectic mingle on this earthy one, While white, white, distant, cool and white, The shimmering moon sits smiling at the sun. 30

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T HIS YEAR, Dr. Albert Russell Cragg, chair¬ man of the Department of Psychology and lecturer in Religious Studies, retires from the active teaching staff of the College after a long and memorable career. Dr. Cragg was born in Goldstone, near Dray¬ ton, Ontario. He first taught school at Conn, near Mt. Forrest. He became principal of a two- roomed school at Holstein and later taught school in Drayton. When the family moved west to Craik, Sas¬ katchewan, Dr. Cragg came to Wesley College to complete his arts degree, which he had begun at the University of Toronto. He graduated with a B.A. degree in 1918. He proceeded with his studies in theology and, while teaching on the college staff, completed the work required for his B.D. degree, which he received in 1922. He began his work on the college staff as an instructor of English and classics in the Col¬ legiate Department. During these early years he pursued his post-graduate studies in philo¬ sophy and psychology at the University of Chicago and graduated with an M.A. degree from that institution in 1924. He continued to teach Latin and English prose, poetry, drama and composition in the Collegiate Department, and in 1937, after Dr. Heathering- ton’s death, he was made Professor of Psycho¬ logy in the Faculty of Arts and Science. This department he has expanded and developed over a period of nearly twenty years. As a theological student and later as an ordained minister Dr. Cragg has served several churches as minister and as guest preacher. He was pastor of Epworth United Church in the west end of Winnipeg and was assistant minister of St. Paul’s United Church in the days of Dr. Bruce Thornton. All through his teaching career at the college he has found time to conduct church services all over this province and to assist in the important work of preparing Sunday school teachers through training classes given here in the city and in every part of this conference. Dr. Cragg has always stood for excellence in academic achievement and diligence in spiritual witness. In his teaching and in his preaching he has tried to inspire young men and women to the highest level of Christian service. For this great contribution to the cause of higher education, the college authorities bestowed on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity (Honoris Causa) in 1946 at the celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of United College and its forbears. Dr. Cragg has always filled his life with a great variety of interesting activities. He has always enjoyed participating in, coaching, and watching athletics, especially baseball, hockey and football. He loves good music and on sev¬ eral occasions has shared Celebrity Concerts with his friends and students. He is a well- informed amateur gardener, who has spent many happy hours on his knees sharing in mak¬ ing His Master’s world a place of greater beauty. Evidence of this latter interest is his beautiful annual display of flowers lining the sidewalk leading to the college. His service to the community includes Young People’s Work, Canadian Guild of Health, Mani¬ toba Temperance Allia nce, Boys’ Parliament, Winnipeg Presbytery and many others. The staff, his present classes, innumerable former students, and countless others, wish him continued good health and years of happy ser¬ vice ahead. 32