Woonsocket High School - Quiver Yearbook (Woonsocket, RI)

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14 THE QUIVER In addition to paying for the upkeep of her troops, Canada granted war credits to the Imperial Government of $532,000,000, with which to purchase foodstuffs, munitions, e'.c. She also loaned them $200,000,-000 more. In spite of this the country was never before so wealthy. The expenditures for war purposes, up to October, 1918, were about a billion dollars. Much of this was raised by taxes. But more than men and money was needed. There was a pressing need for munitions. Canada had never been a great manufacturing country, but again she surprised herself. She supplied over 60,000,000 shells, and munitions valuing about $ 1,00c,coo,oco. She also helped in ship building, and in 1918 turned out about Sc0.000 tons of new shipping. In aircraft she not only produced about 350 planes a month, but she manned these airships. The people responded nobly to all appeals for the relief of the suffering. They gave generously to the Canadian Patriotic Fund, which looks after the wives, children, and dependents of the men at the front; to the Red Cross; to the Belgian Relief Fund; and for the military work done by the Y. M. C. A. The Canadian troops were regular demons in their attack. When the future of humanity was at stake, they were glad that, as part of the British Empire, they were allowed to be a factor in the great world struggle. The Germans expected them to stay out and could not realize why they went in. At first the boys were influenced only by patriotic reasons, but they soon came in contact with German brutality and their feeling became vastly deeper and more intense. The following is one incident which intensified their feeling: Lieutenant Holt of Winnipeg returned on leave of absence, and brought with him as a souvenir a little doll. In one of the early days, his regiment was forced back by the enemy through a Belgian village. He stopped at a small house to ask directions, and a little girl of about seven ran out and gave him her doll, saying. “Please take my dolly to a safe place.” To please her he took it. Next day the Canadians recaptured the village, and he at once went to see how the child had fared. He found her lying across the threshold, dead, killed by a German bayonet. It has been no selfish struggle, and like the people of the United States, Canada had nothing to gain. She, like us, sought no territory, no indemnity, no advantage; but, nevertheless, was glad and proud to have been in the war. The United States and the British Empire have been helping each other in this great struggle, and will continue, we trust, through the centuries to come, giving mutual aid and strength The Germans have succeeded in unifying the Anglo-Saxon world. DOROTHY MOWRY, ’19.

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THE QUIVER 13 CANADA’S HELP IN THE GREAT WAR We, the people of the United States, have been so engrossed in our own part in the great world struggle for democracy that we have not realized the splendid work which Canada has accomplished. The people of the United States are to have the honor and glory of being, to a large extent, the deciding factor in bringing this terrible war to a happy conclusion; however, had it not been for the brave countries which entered the war long before the United States did, we should not now be receiving this praise. Canada, in the beginning of August, 1914, was totally unprepared lor war, but she felt it her duty to help her mother country. As for military organization, she had none. Although there were 60,000 militia, they had had little training, and had taken their duties lightly. The national spirit rose to the occasion, and when the call for 25,000 vo.unteers to go overseas came, not only 25,000, but 33.000 responded. By October. .918, there was a total of 500,000 enlistments, and of these 450,000 were in Europe. Canada later developed the draft system. In the early days, the casualties were tremendous. She was short of artillery and of rifles, and was unprepared for the poison gas which Germany launched upon her. Up to the last of June, 1918. over 43,000 had been 1 i led. and over 115,000 were wounded or prisoners. In the second battle of Ypres, the Germans used their first poisonous gas. This was sent against Canadians and French troops from Morocco. The Moroccans broke and fled, but the Canadians stood firm. Although greatly outnumbered, they charged against the Germans. Ihe enemy believed they had a large force, so, instead of pushing through, ihey withdrew. The next day reserves were brought up, and ( rlais was saved. But for the brave Canadian boys at that time, the course of the war would nave been very different. The people of the United States think our country has done re-r.iark.ib’y well in gomg ’’over the top in all the Liberty Loan drives. However, in comparing the one hundred and ten million people of the United States with the seven million people of Canada, we find that our neighbor on the north has done even better than we have. At first she thought she could do little toward financing the war, and the mother country advanced money to the various dominions at the same rate • he herself had to pay; but in 1915, Canada began to rely on herself. From that time up till June, 1918, she raised a total of $970,000,000 in response to various calls requesting an amount of $551,000,000. The Canadians, not realizing what they could do, surprised themselves.

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THE QUIVER 15 A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE It was on a summer day that it all happened. Billy Jackson, three eirs old. lived in the heart of a large town. Like most little boys, he was not always good and was well on the road to being spoiled by his loving parents and grandparents. One day he was naughty and his grandmother told him that she would give him to the first rag-peddler that came into the yard. That afternoon Grandmother Jackson heard the well-known cry: “Rags, bottles!’ and, forgetting the rash promise which she had made in the morning, she called the peddler because she had some things to sell h...-was some time before she noticed that her little grandson, who had been with her, had disappeared. She hurried through her business and went to see if the little boy had gone to his own home. He was not there. Billy’s mother was not alarmed, but to please his grandmother, she went to the door and called. There was no re-»ponse. Then Mrs. Jackson became frightened and the two women looked hastily in his grandmother’s house and searched every corner of the yard and of the adjoining yards. The whole neighborhood was aroused, but no one could be found who had seen Billy. As five o’clock drew near, Billy’s mother decided to notify her husband. Grandmother Jackson, tired from the search and almost distracted because it was she who had let him get out of her sight, went into her house to rest. There was a morris-chair in the parlor, so she went there to sit. The first thing she heard was a little voice saying, “Has he gone? Has he gone?’ And the lost child was discovered crouched behind the big morris-chair. The little boy, frightened by the rag-peddler and remembering the punishment which had been promised him, had sought refuge behind the big chair. It was a hot day and keeping quiet had made him feel drowsy. He had fallen asleep and had not awaked until his grandmother entered. CATHERINE M. CONNOR, 20.