Vaughan Road Academy - Acta Studentium Yearbook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)

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MERCIAL COM RM FO T Below: FIRS ATRICULATION M RM FO T Above: FIRS

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ACTA STUDENTIUM Page were drawn out through the neck. The head was then dried and' shrunk, by ref peated insertions of hot sand and pebbles. Although Halloween is a long way off, a look at the curious ceremonial masks of Indians, of various sections of America may give you some ideas, thait will stay with you until you have occasion to degrade your appearance. You cannot miss the Indian groups, for they are in monstrous glass cases, as big as the grand salon of a bungalow. Une of these groups, shows an Indian youth making fire by twirling the end of a stick in a boardg a note says that this job was usually left to a man of the tribe, perhaps that is the reason, I have to light the furnace. My memory is failing me now, so I shall wind this up, so to speak. Very few museums have the edge on this one. You contribute to it, indirectly perhaps, nevertheless, this makes it partly yours, and as such it is worthy of your interest. I. Sliambrook IVB. Allbllb lllflllllliolllill AIRIIEB llPs1DlIRlINIl llEllPtlll3lllf5 AIINIIIID IEBQIUAIB LL men are born free and equal. But are they? This belief has become a fundamental one in our social system and it is with this idea that governments have worked for the wel- fare of nations. They have indeed accomplished a great deal that is un- questionably beneficialfincluding the abolition of slavery and the reduction of the power of the nobility. Unfortunf ately, however, through this belief they have established other institutions not quite so beneficial. They have established in most counf tries a minimum education and each child is sent to an identical school for so many years and does practically the same work. just as so much raw material is put through a factory machine and emerges to be stamped with the Trade Mark of the company, just so we line up our youth on commence' ment night and publicly present them with diplomas which proclaim that they have been through the machine and the company now guarantees that they pose sess certain qualities. This all seems very systematic and practical except that what we put into the big equalizing machine is not just so much identical raw material. You see, there is one mischievous factor which turns everything topsyfturvy and which proves the fallacy of this system. Call it what you will+character, personality, or individuality-you can't escape it. And because of this we can not persuade ourselves that hall men are born free and equal. This disturbing factor, which has, perhaps, a greater influence on our lives than anything else, is already possessed by each one of us at birth. And so, because men are influenced by it more than by any earthly environment, we' realize that all men are not born free, To many people it seems unfair that mans destiny is largly decided before even his first efforts. But imagine how dull and uninteresting our world would be if each new acquaintance were a prototpye of the last: if everyone were just an average manfl You see, we would have no Shakes' peare, no Napoleon, no Beethoven, no Rafael, no Emerson! The solution? We must recognize this vital and facinating thing called indivif duality and let it expand. We must tear down the machines that try so des' pcrately to crush initiative and succeed only in causing turmoil and despair in the heart of our youth. We must let the psychologists lead us into a new world+fa world where each man's spark of genius is nurtured and encouragedf- a world where we think less of the dollar under our nose, and let each man travel the road which, of all men he can travel best-and at the end find his pot of gold! Dorothy Smith V.

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ACTA STIIDENTIYM Page -11 A SlIHlllllsllE9lIE5lll9CY GIIFAIMIES HUMP-thump-thump. I violent' ly twisted myself into another position in the bed, and for the sixtieth time that night I tried to find a cool spot on the pillow, I rammed it into my mouth in despair. If I could only be whisked up to the North Pole, and dumped down among countless snow' drifts, I would dig my throbbing head into every one of them. I recollected that there would not be any of those confounded magazine ads up there to bother the polar bears either. That was the whole trouble. I had been fool enough to accept what sounded like a soft job-working on an advertising survey--3 and now my head buzzed with every slogan from 'kThe clean taste of Spud to All You Can Eat for 60c . But a bright thought suddenly struck me. XVhy of coursesl had forgotten I should count sheep. I tried hard, but it wouln't work bee cause I couldn't see any sheep to count. I was just going to give up, when to my delight a shaggy old man appeared. He looked like Santa Claus in summer underwear. Are you a sheep? I asked wearily, trying to count him. No, I am a shepherd. he droned. Then why all the wool on your face? He looked at me stupidlyg then ref plied, 'll am the man who has ceased to care. I no longer use Gillette razor blades. This disgusted me. Well, I'm supposed to count sheep, I protested. He did not heed meg but beckoned forward a wrinkled old hag, who looked so thin that I dimly wondered whether she had spent her life digesting clock' springs. I take Jad Salts, she croaked, If you do you can keep thin eating four square meals a day. Really? I groaned, trying to look interested. Have you a pink toothbrush? rasped the old dame. No I replied, What difference does it make? These old people bored me. I wondered vaguely how in thunder they had gained access to my room, If you haven't a pink tooth brush, she was crooning, you should write for Ipapa Toothpawste. They supply one wit every tu e. ' Say, I want to see some sheep, I bellowed. The old man gave a low whistle. Pre' sently a sheep trotted in, carrying a book. It stared at me, cow fashion, for a few moments, then said. Young man, do you blush, giggle, titter and feel foolish when you pour a cup of coffee down your hostess' back? Do your friends snigger, snivel and sneer? Send the coupon today. For the small price of one dollar, I will send you, absolutely free of charge, a little book that will make you popular overfnight. Be in a class by yourself, and learn to become a skilled dancer. I replied wearily that I was not in the habit of pouring coffee down peoples' backs. But the foolish thing insisted, Think, only fifteen minutes a day . . . popularity over night . . . They laughed when I sat down to the piano . . .I I suppose somebody had removed the stool, I ventured, The sheep looked at me as if it thought I was a bit denseg blushed modestly, and left. I got ready to countf'Two-Three-. A most pathetic sight met my tired eyes. Two lambs, one as thin as a toothpick, and the other so fat that it wobbled, were wheeled in in baby carriages. The poor little things were shaved right down to the skin, not an inch of wool left on their bodiesg and their bare pink and white flesh was shivering. The one res deeming feature was that each had a little towel around it. The thin one began in a singfsong voice, Brother be ye not confused. We are both the same sheepg my name is 'Before Virol' The other chimed in, And I am 'After