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

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THE TWIG On the Death of Autumn j. N. EMERSON The dreary autumn creeps And seeps Into my soul. And yet my heart still beats And leaps Beyond control. l see the autumn glowing red. But even then, when melancholy, dead- What remains? The sordid stains- Dead leaves, And reeking smoky hres- The funeral pyres Of Autumnis beauty. l roam throughout this month of mists O'er marshy lands, Where gently drifts The sultry breeze. Where now are nature's lovely gifts, When sweeping gale, and wind uplifts The falling leaves? Her glowing beauty, her gold, her red Seem glorious, yet to entomb a dead And ageing life, whose charm has fled, Whose rosy cheeks reveal gaunt glaring eyes Which seem melancholy, sadg she yet denies That death has come. Cold and grey, the days prolong, Autumn sings her dreary song Throughout the bare-limbed trees. The cold and frost pervade the air. The lone, gaunt birds just sit and stare Waiting for the colder blasts of winter, Slowly, slowly, day by day The colours dull, the leaves decay. The shroud of Autumn, lean, forlorn, Contains a corpse, then Nature-born, Comes Winter. The month of mists is dead. Oct. I935. A Voyage Into Space WILLIAM E. GRIEVE iispace can be adequately defined as be- ing a complete Vacuum, between the sun, the planets, the stars, the nebulae, etc., declared the eminent professor from his prominent position on the platform of the large lecture hall. His audience, composed of the astronomy students of the great Uni- versity, were intensely interested and, for once, all were paying extraordinary atten- tion to the speaker. lf it were possible, the professor's if was greatly accented by his sharp, piercing voice, 'ito reach a posi- tion almost completely unaffected by the pull of gravity of our planet, the ever in- accessible space would thus have been reached. Man would fulfil one of his greatest ambitions-to travel into the un- known and return-bearing, most likely, a completely new insight into the annals of astronomy. At this point one member of the audience seemingly lost interest in the lecture. i-le began to ponder upon an extremely large subject, yet directly related to one of the smallest words in the English language, the ever important wif . Ulf! if! if! The word was running in the mind of this student, like the constant hum of a high-pitched dynamo. The following few weeks his friends noticed that he wasnit his usual self. l-le seemed worried and, whenever anyone asked him if he was in any trouble or anything was wrong, he always made a denial of it. john Vvesterby, for that was the boy's name, was a clever student in the subject of chemistry, and one quite interested in the co-related subject astronomy. l-le possessed a labora- tory of his own and he usually consumed his spare time conducting experiments devised primarily by his own ingenious mind. He realized that the only factor standing in the way of a trip into space was that of fuel. No fuel had as yet been invented that possessed the extreme power and the com- pactness needed to propel a rocket at such tremendous speed as would be necessary for

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THE T WIC strictly rationed as the rest of the country, and no wine was allowed on the table until the termination of hostilities. His lVlajesty suffered with the people, and his kindness, friendliness, and confidence in adversity, endeared him to all his subjects, making him beloved, not as a figurehead, but as a man. During his eventful reign, the Empire has gained an astonishing unity of purpose, and political solidarity. By lmperial Confer- ences, Britain and her Dominions and Colonies have grown in mutual understand- ing of their problems and policies, and have been able to work together in exceptional harmony. But, above the ties of Law and Commerce, is the stronger bond of affection. When the call to arms rang out, men rallied from every corner of the globe to serve their King. They suffered, bled, and died, not for gain or glory, but in loyalty to the throne, the nation, and the empire. Without the throne, the Empire would dissolve. Their Majesties are its sensitive heart, to which all their subjects are drawn by a common love. Treaties may be broken, but the people's affection for their King and Queen is sufficient, alone, to preserve the Empire. It has always been the King's desire to be regarded as the l-lead of a great house. ln one of his Christmas broadcasts, he said, l would like to think that you who are listen- ing to me now, are bound to me and to one another by the spirit of one great family. That he has succeeded in gathering his peo- ple together is largely due to his sympathetic consideration of all the members of his house, and to a happy knack of putting himself in the other man's place, To Her Maiesty, Queen Mary, the King gives not a little credit for the success of his reign. She has been his guide, counsellor and friend, as well as his wife and the mother of his children. With prudence and judgment she has watched over the Royal Household, and given a high moral tone to the Court. As a mother, she has brought up her family to a strict sense of duty to the Empire, teaching them to win for themselves the respect and affection of the people. So, in her time of trial during the King's illness in l928, the sympathy of the Empire went out to her, and her burden of anxiety was shared by all her people. That time of sickness and distress was a revelation. When His lVlajesty's illness be-- came critical, a pall of gloom settled over the Empire, and an anxious people offered heartfelt prayers for its monarch. That he did recover was, according to the Royal doctors, because he willed himself to live for his people. When, at last, he was able to return to his duties, the Empire bowed in humble and glad thanksgiving. Not even the celebrations of the jubilee, entered into so heartily by the very outposts of the Em- pire, gave finer evidence of the esteem which upholds the British Throne. Not imperial sway, but imperial fellowship, is the bond of loyalty. Thus, in the troublous days of economic depression, when burdens were heavy and anxieties many, the British peoples have been guided by sympathy and kinclliness to the dawn of a better day, and it has been their good fortune to have had so wise a King, so gracious a Queen. Through all the dust of Time, the Stone of Destiny has watched the ways of men. It has seen the armies of the proud come to naught and the common people rise to power, but it has seen no reign more colour- ful ancl glorious, no reign fraught with deeper significance for the welfare of the world, than the reign of George and Mary of Windsor. This essay was one of twentv-Eve prize winning essays in the Dominion- wide competition sponsored by the Robert Simpson Company. 38

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THE T WIC such a trip. He worked unceasingly in his spare time, mixing liquids and solids, liquids and liquids, testing and developing and balancing chemical equations. When his friends learned of his idea they considered him at first as joking, but when they dis- covered that he was in earnest they decided that he must be insane to believe and attempt to foster such a foolish notion. From that date forward, John offered no fur- ther confidences to his friends. One eve- ning, while working late, he happened to be testing a liquid, which he believed pos- sessed all the qualities necessary for the required fuel. He applied a current with an electromotive force of about one hundred volts and kept his eyes glued to the meter- dial in front of him. Was the hand moving or was it just his imagination? No, he was sure of it now, the hand was slowly ascend- ing the dial. The fuel was a success. A giddy feeling of exaltation swept over him, almost causing him to faint. For two whole years he worked upon the development and building and testing of the rocket. He considered the usefulness and advantage of a gyroscope, the best dimen- sions for his craft, a method of avoiding meteorites and numerous other problems un- intelligible to the non-scientific mind. At last after these years of great toil and after great expense, only possible through the wealth of his father, the rocket was com- pleted. John was an impulsive chap and whenever he set his mind on doing some- thing he always attempted it as soon as pos- sible. It was thus that he made his calcula- tions for a direct trip to the planet of Mars. When Mars and the Earth are in what the astronomer calls direct opposition to each other, they are the nearest possible in the elliptical path of each. The distance at this time is approximately thirty-five million miles. Probably a clearer idea of the dis- tance may be realized by the reader if it is stated that it would take a train, travelling at the speed of a mile a rninute, seventy-six years to reach this planet. This position occurs every fifteen to seventeen years and, 40 as the opposition near perihelion was not far distant Ca matter of three monthsl, john Westerby planned to leave then on his momentous voyage. The date was set and final arrangements as to certain positions ol constellations and the likelihood of meteo- rites in the plotted path through space were made with considerable exactness and patience. The eventful day dawned and after last minute preparations as to the fitting of his oxygen suit, food and the adjusting of the miniature telescope mounted within the rocket, John said good-bye to his parents and climbed into the impressive-looking ship of space. flt might be mentioned here that the reason john's parents so readily acquiesced to the voyage was because they were of the opinion that the ship would never leave the ground. They were entirely mistakenj The metal door clanged shut. Did the closing of this door signify the clos- ing of the book of life for this poor mortal, or was it the beginning of a scientific ex- periment ever afterwards to be renowned in the history of the world? At precisely nine p.m., john lighted his instrument panel and closely watched the flickering motion of the numerous needles on the circular dials. spread out in neat array, directly in front of him. Due to the peculiar system of indirect lighting, the inside of the ship appeared to its sole occupant as a ghostly shape, unreal and almost impossible in its fantastic design. For just about five seconds or less, John was afraid he might lose his nerve. He was attempting something never before done by many trying to explore The Almighty's Uni- verse. Was he breaking some powerful law of God? It was a horrible thought, project- ing icy drops of perspiration upon his brow. This feeling soon left him, however, and he steeled himself for the trip ahead. I-le turned the ignition switch and adjusted the electromotive force to one hundred volts. Now the big moment was at hand. Slowly, very slowly, he allowed the peculiar-looking lever in his right hand to move backward. A giddy, sickening sensation assailed him,