Westdale Secondary School - Le Raconteur Yearbook (Hamilton, Ontario Canada)

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LE RACONTEUR 23 a quiet admiration of life and of the joy to be living. The Northern sky at dawn is beautiful. Diana steals away in her waning robes of misty green, casting soft beams on the mirrored lake. The Milkv Mvay is fast being dissolved by the increasing light. For a background. Nature has painted one of velvet which we readily feel yet can rarely describe in glowing enough terms of admiration and appreciation. land of beautyfCanadal lt is the virgin A HAZARDOUS JOURNEY lliy Zerol We had hitch-hiked otll' way to lluffalo, my chinn and l, and after staying there for two days of viewing the citv, we climbed over the rainbow Peace Bridge, singing patriotic songs to greet the Canadian customs officers. who sent us on our wav in the increasing dusk. Wie passed through Fort Erie and walked along silently till we decided that our camping spot would be along the right side of the road, on a long strip of grass between the highway and the willow trees that sheltered the broad, quiet Yiagara from our view, Wie hung our tarpaulin from a tree to form a tent and snuggled into comfort- able blankets. Hefore retiring, T secreted a tin box of valuables in a small hole in the bank con- cealed by ivy. .Xrising with the sun, we repaired immediatelv to Niagara Falls, where we spent the day. XYhen night descended again. we fol- lowed the river road in search of a vacant lot or small wood. Mve ended at the car barns housing the Gorge street cars, and, on engaging the watclnnan in conversation. he suggested we sleep in the cars. XXX' iumped at the chance. and soon were fast asleep. XYhen T wakened,l sensed that something was wrong. Feeling beside me. l discovered that l was in the middle of a field. Now, l don't believe in fairies. so T knew at once that l was up to mv old tricks-sleep wall-Ting. lretrieved my blankets and crawled sleepily back into the car. ln the morning l discovered that if T had walked as far in the opposite direc- tion l would have plunged over the Gorge and into the XYhirlpool below! Hut the worst was not over. On the way home, T was aware of a peculiar itchiness all over my body. lt was poison-ivv. The hiding place for the valuables must have been surrounded with the infernal weed. From the torture l later endured. I wished that T had walked over the Gorge. CHICAGO, THE WORLD'S FAIR, AND BUST! LC. Greenfield, .X-3327 Twe-Q-e-Q-fsa Winnie sin-iiiai. me ug-in flashed green. and the struggle was on. ,X '26 Dodge touring screamed madly out in front of a host of automobiles and led the procession down Michigan Avenue. L:-training every cylin- der, it rolled on. .X Stutz drew near. crept up almost even, and fell backfthen a lluick. None could touch the speed of this rattling demon. Then, yards ahead of its nearest competitor, the car made a left turn at the next intersection. and drew up before the door of L'hicago's largest hotelsthe l'almer llouse. XX'ith a sarcastic smile, the uniformed attendant opened the car door and said: XYelcome to Chicago. The Miindy City, despite its gangsters, of which we saw none, did itself proud. For months the citizens had been preparing: for months we had been waiting: and so. at last. we were to see the big eventfthe XYorld's Fairl The turnstiles of the Fair had no sooner clicked behind us than we were in a magic land. Stretching out in front was the Moroccan Yil- lage, with its mosque. bazaar, camels and fakirs. Beyond it was the Belgian Yillage, with the Cloth llall, cathedral and quaintly costumed peasants. .Xnd so on down the list: the City of l'aris, lndian villages, Maori huts. groups of buildings too numerous to mention or remember. Following a path around the Fair. seven miles in all. we passed tirst a group of manufacturers' buildings: the glass house.all-metal house. brick, wood and stone houses. Next came the automo- tive buildings, chief of which belong to tfhrysler and General Motors. The former was a huge. pure white affair. containing three floors, ex- pressly for exhibiting the latest models. lleside the edilice was a half-mile track, where daring drivers took more daring spectators for what they termed ua real ride. The General Motors building was easily twice as large as the llamilton .Xrmonries. ln it was a whole construction line where workmen threw Chevrolets together at the rate of one a minute. ,Xfter seeing this done, my advice to prospective Chevrolet owners isstinm do itl We wended our way on: entered and left the Royal Scot: dragged through the huge trans- portation building containing every known mode of travelg witnessed the State and Federal Gov- ernment exhibits, and the liall of Religion, until we came at last to the Fair's best component- the llall of Science, llow Messrs. Gillan and llallantyne would have rubbed their hands in glee! llere were ex- hibited practically every physics or chemistry experiment ever performedfthe making of rub- ber, refining of gasoline, television, experiments with light, heat and electricity. to mention only a few. Then through the electrical building, with its G-E House of Magic, tricks with electricity-all of man's advances with this marvellous element. That was all for the buildings. There were more-hundreds moredbut few people saw them all, anyway. lcwrlllflillllftf on Panic U51

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22 LE RACONTEUR 44 TRAVEL ,, TO HALIFAX tlly llert llearsonl How tiresome a long train journey is! Through the window of the rapidly moving' car, endless stretches of country pass hefore your eyes until, wearying' of the endless monotony, you turn away, glancing out only now and then as some- thing important comes into view. The train ricle to llalifax is like this, for although the land was settled earlier than Un- tario, much of it is wild, wooded country. The travels along' the top of an escarpment tram overlooking the green-pastured .Xnnapolis and Xkientworth valleys, know'n to all of us for their wonderful apples. .X few hours later the train pulls into lflalifax. llalifax is a very old city, lwuilt for the fortifi- cation of its harlwour. The main fortification is the Vitadel. situated on a hill, peering' down upon the city and harlaour lwelow, guarding them like a faithful watchdog, The fortress, a very old one, is circular in shape, and is surrounded hy a wall a yard thick. .Xround the wall lies the moat, aliout twenty-tive feet wide and twenty feet deep, which may he crossed hy the draw- lvridge alone. lnside the walls are the harracks. furnished with rough wooden benches and talmles and whose glassless windows are iron-liarred. Every day at noon a gun is fired from here, so precisely timed that it never varies more than a minute. lirom the Citadel, the harlwour presents a splendid view. lt is congested with fishing' schooners, mostly with sails ,furled, hut here and there, one makes a picturesque scene with its puff- ed sails carrying it out illto the lmlue ocean. From here llalifax appears to lie divided into two parts liy a long inlet called the Northwest Xrm. This provides a playground for the aquatic sport of llalifax, lt extends inland from the sea for aliout three miles. and is aliout half a mile across. .Xlong its shores are situated three lwoat- clulis, similar to our l.eander lloat Cluli, 'hut also including in their activities, swimming, diving and Canoe racing. .klthough the harlwour contains so many small lmoats, these are lmy no means its most important callers. The majestic ocean liners call here. along with many smaller steamers trading' along the .Xtlantic coast. The greatest of these dis- tinguished visitors is the Xcluitania, one of the largest vessels afloat. The .Xquitania is nothing less than a floating palace. There are tive decks, the topmost ot which is used for outdoor sports such as swim- ming, tennis, and even ping-pong. The lower decks are closed in for stormy weather There are long promenades and halls lined with state- rooms. There are lounges, salons, hall-rooms, gyinnasiums and stores. ln fact, it is like a small comnninity. The country surrounding llalifax is very heau- tiful, hut the roads are had. Along' the seashore there are long stretches of hard-packed sand where a car can he driven as fast as you care to drive it. Un these I-teaches, over which tower rocky cliffs, clams are found in ahundance, and clain-hakes are a favourite pastime. Your impression uf llalifax, as you leave. is the impression of a city which has fallen hehind in the mad race of progress. lt lacks the tower- ing' sky-scrapersg its street-cars are out of date, and its streets are narrow and hilly. Yet under this rougher veneer heats the warm heart of a line city, and, ltidding good-hye as the train puffs out of the station. you carry with you mem- ories of happy hours spent in the Land of Evan- geline. EUROPE vs. CANADA tlly l'atricia l.ilwerte. C-SVU lf l were given the alternative of vacationing' either in Europe or Northern Canada, l would certainly choose the latter. To you who have never witnessed the lieauty pageant of the North, there will seem little contrast. The lovely moonlit nights on the wide ocean and the luxu- ries of the modern liners seein to till one with a proud outlook on a facetious world. For in- stance, there is l'aris, the word which spells sparkling nights of revelry, with its warm, ex- hilarating wines and gay, throhhing' music: Florence, the sophisticated artists' centre: and the cities like the great Milan and Naples of which ltaly hoasts. Venice. with its gondolas, invites romancers and the tourist to float down nnvon-shimniered canals. Yisits to other Euro- pean cities conjure up memories of old world beauty and extensive knowledge. llomeward hound after such a trip, one feels verv learned, verv sophisticated, and very tired -glad to return.- filf a vacation in our own un- tamefl North, however, with its fresh-smelling atmosphere of Mother Earth in her most wild. wholesome, appealing form, we never tire. llere we revel in the gentle sigh of a summer's lvreeze. which sings a lullahy through the pines: the soft lapping of white-capped waves rippling' up on sandv laeachesg the lualzny air soothes you into

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