Walkerville Collegiate Institute - Blue and White Yearbook (Windsor, Ontario Canada)

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BLUE AND WHITE LITERARY WINNERS OF THE BLUE AND WHITE PROSE CONTEST First Prize SUSIE OF THE TEST TUBES The girl who sighs with envy after re¬ reading ' “Arrowsmith. “Disputed I’as sage.” or “Microbe Hunters” hopes to achieve some day the glory of being the valued assistant of the great Dr. So-and- So. the world’s outstanding research worker in some field or other. Perhaps she has even been inquiring about train¬ ing courses to fit her for this great career: undoubtedly she will be anxious to find out a few of the details of her future life. Let us say she has completed her train¬ ing and is accepted in a famous research lab.—assistant to Dr. Smith ' s chief tech¬ nician! Down to the lab. she comes, eight o’clock sharp, all crisp and white in her new uniform. Anxiously sitting oil the edge of her chair she watches the various staff members drift in, exchange casual remarks, and briskly begin their work of the day. Minutes trudge past, and finally the newcomer approaches a dignified gentleman who is vigorously swirling a flask of muddy yellow liquid, and ventures. “Please, sir. where will I find Dr. Smith’s head technician? I ' m his new assistant.” “Well. I’m sure I don’t know why Jones needs an assistant—he can’t keep busy himself. But you can help me if you like, while you wait. Jones never arrives before nine. I’m Smith.” Susie views with awe this far ■ us scientist, and nervously stands ready to do his bidding. To her surprise, her first task is to wash a dozen racks full of mini¬ ature test tubes containing sticky white jelly, and it takes her nearly two hours, since each tube must lie shaken upside down, prodded with a glass rod, and im¬ mersed in a huge pot of hot green soap. Poor Susie! her hands are now sacrificed to Science! Meanwhile, the tardy Jones arrives, and promises her a job in the animal room as soon as she has van¬ quished the sticky test tubes. This she finally does, half expecting some com¬ ment on their glistening cleanness, but the doctor merely indicates Jones wait¬ ing next door. A pecu ' iar odour greets Susie as she opens the door. Rows and rows of metal drawer-like cages till this room, and the clamour of sharp little squeaks informs her of the presence of thousands of tiny white mice. To her dismay, Mr. Jones calmly pulls out a cage, takes a handful of mice and nods to her to do the same. Just drop them in this glass jar. weigh each one and keep the ones from eighteen to twenty grams. When you’ve put the rest back, bring the good ones to me in the lab.” “But . . . how do I . . . pick them up?” “Haven’t you ever worked with mice? Simply take hold of the tail, like a handle. They don’t often bite!” Susie cautiously approaches one meek little mouse in the corner of the cage, picks him up gingerly, but finding that he squirms, frantically drops him, not in the jar. but on the floor! She scrambles madly after hint diving under tables and i ' nches but he disappears along a drain- Page Thirty-Two

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BLUE AND WHITE ed [sc¬ an as e- al at n- r, to ihI u- tt T- g lid in M)1 or ig er at iis ti- s. iis ly cu he li¬ ed ■ip 01 ut Y ad o- n- in MR. D. C. O’BRIEN Mr. O’Brien was 2 1 C of the Essex Tank Regiment before enlistment. He commanded the Active Service Company at St. Luke’s Barracks from May 1940 to October 1940 whereupon he was called to headquarters M.D. No. 1 as G.S.O. III. In February 1941, he joined the Ontario Tank Regiment and in June of the same year proceeded overseas as squadron commander. He then remained with ti c First Armoured Brigade until he was appointed chief instructor at 2C. A.C.R.U. in February 1943. Later he commanded a wing at 2 C. A.C.R.U. with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After Y-E day Lieu¬ tenant Colonel O’Brien commanded a repatriation depot until his return to Canada in August 1945. Discharged in October 1945, Mr. O’Brien came back to Walkerville to teach again. He was awarded the M.B.E. and E.D. Welcome back, Mr. O’Brien. Your job was very well done, indeed ! MR. H. NIGHSWANDER In 1942, Mr. Nighswander signed his name for his country and the following- year was called to serve it. For a year and a quarter he remained here in Wind¬ sor on the H.M.C.S, Hunter and became a petty officer. He says that during his navy career his most interesting experi¬ ence was “being guard of honour for the Governor-General im Ottawa.” His dis¬ charge was complete in October 1944. whereupon he resumed teaching at Walk¬ erville Collegiate Institute. MISS O. E. SAUNDERS On March 25, 1943. Olive Saunders entered the Wrens and soon worked her¬ self up to a lieutenancy. She was sta¬ tioned at Halifax for 20 months and in Newfoundland for eight months. Among many of her thrilling experiences in the Wrens, Lieutenant Saunders ranks her nine-hour operational flight in an air¬ force bomber over a convoy as the most exciting. She also had the opportunity of : pending two days on a frigate observing submarine detection devices under con¬ ditions at sea. W hile in Newfoundland. Miss Saunders had the opportunity of meeting and chatting with Frank Sinatra. She has a picture of herself shaking- hands with Frankie. Lieutenant Saun¬ ders received her discharge papers on August 1, 1945 and returned to W alker¬ ville Collegiate Institute. MISS G. I. TUNKS Miss Tunks enlisted in the Wrens in December 1942. and by New Year’s Day 1943, found herself one of a group of Wrens travelling over the Rockies to Vancouver. Here, Vancouver played host to its first group of W rens. Ottawa was Miss ' Punks’ home station, and from here she visited various places — Sydney for ten days, for example. While in Sydney she was fortunate to be one of two Wren officers a lowed to go to sea. On board, they worked the powerful Oerlikon guns and witnessed a good deal of minesweep¬ ing. They had the thrilling experience of hoarding Merchant Ships, and on one Tanker, talked with an engineer who was a survivor of three torpedoed tankers. W hile at sea. thev had the self-satisfviner experience of seeing the Captain take seasick pills while the two Wrens found ro need for them. Miss ' Punks feels that her years in the W rens were almost the most educational of her life, and while we know navy life is wonderful, we are glad to welcome her back to Walkerville. PattvosUye ouA aJhj Uii iA, Page Thirty-One

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BLUE AND WHITE pipe. Visibly shaken, Susie turns to the next problem—how to make mice stand still while she weighs them, since they prefer strolling around on the scales and inevitably tumble over the edge. At last she comes back with her jar of mice, little dreaming she is the victim of a ritual endured by every novice in the lab. And so goes the first week of her new life. Weighing mice, washing glassware, holding guinea-pigs for injections, filling racks of test tubes with graduated vol¬ umes of standard solutions—Susie tries her increasingly capable hand at count¬ less new jobs. One unforgettable day she is taught to run the forbidding boiler-like autoclave, or steam sterilizer, and to her horror is left alone with the thing, told to open this valve if the pressure rises too high, close this one if the tempera¬ ture drops, and don’t blow us all up!” By the time that half-hour has crawled past, poor Susie is frantically chewing her nails and muttering. What happens if I forget to turn something?” But she can new sterilize her own equipment, which is a blessing both to her and to the over¬ worked wash-up women.” Finally Susie is given a whole set of tests to run every day. She carefully sets out her shining glass plates each morn¬ ing. prepares new batches of reagents, and follows a definite routine each day so that her test results will be uniform and reliable. Absolute precision becomes automatic: the slightest deviation from the usual pattern, even the tiniest error in measurement makes the whole test meaningless. Of course Susie soon is very efficient and leaves far behind her the stage of forgetting to keep cotton plugs in sterile flasks. Her experiments arc suggested and decided upon bv others, but little Susie has the great satisfaction of knowing that she is the one who transforms their theories into practical fact. She is the research worker’s right hand—the girl behind the experiment. Second Prize MUSIC MILLIONS LOVE When our scholarly brows are furrow¬ ed with the cares of unsolved Math, prob¬ lems, unfinished French exercises, and neglected supplementary reading, we like to kick off our loafers, drop into a com¬ fortable armchair, and just sit back in utter relaxation. Our hand automatically reaches for the dial of the nearby radio, because we want to hear something soothing and interesting. We hurriedly dial past the phoney comedians, the nerve-racking detective mysteries, and the boring news commentators, until a sudden surge of sweet music meets our ears. Ah—at last, the perfect sound for fatigued minds and tense nerves! Let’s listen ! Now a mellow-voiced announcer is in¬ viting us to spend a half-hour with Andre Kostelanetz and his Music Millions Love. This great maestro should keep us well entertained.” we muse, settling ourselves comfortably in the chair, and banishing all worry from our minds. The pro¬ gramme starts off with a dreamy Strauss waltz, which immediately begins the task of lightening our hearts. Before we know it. we are tapping out the lilting rhythm with our foot, and humming along with the orchestra. Our genial announcer next gives us a pleasant introduction to the guest artist of the evening, whether it be Marian Anderson, (tinny Simms, Lily Pons or John Charles Thomas. This introduction stimulates our interest so that we find ourselves eagerly waiting for the num¬ ber to begin. The song is always perfectly suited to the singer’s voice. Marian Anderson, with her vibrant contralto, may sing us a stirring Gypsy Song from Carmen, or Lily I’ons, with her lofty soprano, may t. ' ke our spirits on a soaring trip as she irills through a French aria. If (tinny Fimms is supplying the talent we can count on a lively evening indeed. Her c ' rr. sweet voice is especially adapted Page Thirty-Three DOROTHY WOODS. 13H