University of Toronto Schools - Twig Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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THE TWIG Macpherson, who as a member of the original staff was an inspiring teacher of History, and later, lecturer in the College of Education. Each of these made notable contributions to the success of the Schools. We mourn, too, the passing of a number of our graduates who were taken on the threshold of useful and honourable careers. Among these we recall Allan Crawford, the youthful but heroic leader of that ill-fated expedition to Wrangel lslandg Maurice Cody and George Lucas, who each gave his life in the effort to save anotherg William Brebner and jack Hendry who, under strangely similar circumstances, contracted fatal illness while engaged in medical research: John Copp, whose tragic passing two years ago shocked the whole province. Splendid lads, all of them. Twenty-five years have passed into his- tory-years crowded with incident and blessed with achievement. ln the beginning an experiment, the University of Toronto Schools have proved worthy of the honour- able name they bear and have fulfilled the prophecy implied in Headmaster Crawfords happy adaptation of the motto Velut Abror aevon of the University of Toronto. in the motto of these Schools, Velut Arbor. ita Ramusf' J.G.W. ,JR Sq ' ,ut 'Q Klembers of the original stall who are still associated with the Schools: Front row: Klr. Irwin, Professors Ferguson, Cornish, Carlisle, Coombs. Back row: Klessrs. Scarrow, lVorl-Lman, Bramfitt, Grainger.

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THE TWIG their classmates. Gradually the club ven- tured into more ambitious efforts culminat- ing last year in a really splendid public presentation under Mr. Gill's direction, of Henry IV fPart Cnej. ln a recent compilation of U.T.S. grad- uates, it was revealed that over fifteen hun- dred boys have passed out of the Schools. These Old Boys are to be found in every walk of life. They have representatives on at least ten leading universities. lan Strachan, one of the original boys and a staunch friend of the Schools, is a member of the provincial legislature. Hugh Plaxton, who was school captain in l922-23 and one of the best athletes, and Denton Massey, nationally known for his work among young men, have recently been elected to the Dominion Parliament. Away back in the early days of the Schools, two brothers in the third form spent their spare time tinkering with a crude wire- less outfit. A few years ago these same brothers developed the batteryless radio re- Dizxrox RIASSEY .J . HUGH PLAXTON ceiver. Their name, Rogers, is now one to conjure with in the radio world. It has been remarked that, for some rea- son or other, U.T.S. graduates show a strong predilection for legal careers. For six suc- cessive years, the gold medallist at Osgoode Hall came from their ranks. The friends of the Schools have every reason to be proud of the part our Old Boys are coming to play in every department of Canadian life. For a number of years, a strong Parents' Association has given splendid support to a wide variety of school activities. ln pro- moting co-operation of Parents, Headmaster and Staff in their common concern-the mental, moral and physical welfare of the boys-the Association is performing a task. the importance of which cannot be esti- mated. During the years, death has taken its toll in our Staff. ln addition to Professor H. Crawford and Dr. Porter, we have lost Pro- fessor T. Crawford, one of the greatest teachers of Mathematics in Ontario, Mr. F. Van Every, a kindly understanding friend of the boys and a distinguished teacher of English and History, and Professor W. E.

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THE TWIG Recollections The Twig is delighted to present the following Recollections contributed by early graduates of the University Schools. first comes Professor B. Brebner, of Columbia University. Somewhere among my papers is the first fee receipt issued at the University Schools, which I received because l had bagged the back seat by the window in the Old Fifth Form and Mr. Bolitho began his collections there. Our form was the rowdy top of the rowdy first year of the school. lt seemed as if every boy who had been in trouble at other schools had entered U.T.S. We in the Fifth should have been an example of up- rightness, but were not. We collected keys which let us wander around the bowels of the building and which explained the famous occasion when limburger on the air-con- ditioning pipes almost emptied the school. We published a most scurrilous paper called Scoop, and shoved it under class-room doors until Jock Carlisle's shrewd guess as to the authorship frightened us into giving it up. The contrast between pupils and masters was too great to last. The original staff of U.T.S, was composed of the most brilliant teachers in the province, and they gradually licked us into shape. The Boss CI-I. Crawford, infected us with his love of Horace and of good food and drink. His namesake T. Crawford, made mathe- matics seem an exciting kind of mental gymnastics. Mr. Stevenson somehow con- nected literature with life, and Mr. Fer- guson almost succeeded in making us sing French and German songs. l myself owe more to lVlr. Macpherson than to any- one else. He won me from loathing history to enioving it enough to try to excel in it on the scholarship examinations. in suite of the fact that there was no scholarship given in history in those dave. Perhaps that is whv. after two years of Classics at Varsity and four years in the army, when 1 forgot every- thing l had learned, l turned back to history at Oxford in 1919 and tumbled into the pro- fession of teaching it, first at Toronto, and for the past ten years at New York. Since l teach Canadian history, and have always been busy at research in it, l spend a good deal of time in Canada. Some of my old masters have died, and a large number of my own generation were killed during the war. But every now and then I run across some one who remembers the mix- ture of hilarity and true education at U.T.S. in I9l0-1913, and we savour it together. l hope the tradition goes on. Now we present Mr. John Porter-Red Porter to hockey fans from Halifax to Van- couver. Mr. Porter is now in the advertis- ing department of the Robert Simpson Co. Mr. Workman seems destined to enter my life asking questions. Seventeen years ago, he asked me eight questions on a geometry exam, but, as I couldn't answer any of them, l received zero. Seventeen days ago, Mr. Workman asked me, along with a number of other Hold timers, to recall some memories of school days on Bloor west. Unfortunately, l recall absolutely nothing of geometry, but l do recall, with a feeling bordering on acute nostalgia: The succulence of the hot roast beef sand- wiches in the first cafeteria. The standing wager of Paul lVlcVicker to drink six bottles of pop-one bottle per swallow. McVicker always won. The stakes were the price of the pop. The great heights of verbiage scaled in the oratorical contest between John Marsh and Herb lrwin in the old Assembly Halt Candy Day in old 3A.