December 1950 School Magazine

December, 1950

Brisbane Girls' 'Grammar School Magazine

Brisbane --Girls' Grammar School Magazine December. · l!IS~ -;_ ==============================- stricken owners. We would never know exactly what had happened. We only knew that whatever it was must be stopped, and so the pair were removed from their solutions. We were now on the horns of a dilemma. If we were to '\ -replace Horace)n his solution, we might los,e him altogether.-. 1 ·on the other hand, how could we ex!:Jibit such a stunted, j :miserable thing. At last, we determined upon a desperate ! :measure. With fervent urayers for his safety, we placed Hor- · \ xce again in his solution~ That was yesterday and we canriof'1 ·yet see how successful our gamble has been. However, we - have a feeling that Horace will survive these, and any other 'rtroubles destined for him, and it will not be many months be- fore he has become "the very mirror of 'crystalship'." . -MARGOT MciVOK'Form·v . CATS . I like cats. They are not the servile syncophants that dogs are, pandering to the eternal and rather pitiful egoism of mankind; instead they have an . air of natural dignity and a proud aloofness of f3pirit that commands my admiration. Many people, knowing our inherent fondness ror these animals, have made our home a dumping ground for their unwanted · pets. Thus it is in naming them we have passed through the · Greek alphabet and are now progressing through the Jewish. Jod is the youngest member of the clan. If you should see him lying curled up in a corner, you would think him a small black ball of fluffy wool, or a little heap of soot. But watch him as he chases an elusive piece of string, or . sly1y pounces on his mother's tail, or sidles up, fur a-bristle and tail waving, on such an enemy as his shadow, or a tantalizingly twitching leaf, then, what lightning quickness, what frenzied feints, and boundless energy he displays! Cheth is the hunter, and when we hear his insistent call at the front door, we open it, and there we find him, gin<;~_er and white ringed tail quivering triumphant and bann~r-like straight up in the air, and on the door mat some miset&lble, littie d~ad animal, a bird, a snake, a frilly li21ard; a littl~ field mouse. One night, some weeks ago, it was a baby bandicoot and on my mother's ringing up the museum, some of the staff came out and collected it. The old patriarch of them all is Gimmel, a lean wicked old Tom, weighed down with age and iniquities. He, I verily 4'1

we thought, "of course, there won't be one," and went home for the holidays. The holidays passed, and when we returned _ oh joy! - a mass of tiny crystals in the bottom of our beaker -tiny, dark violet crysta ls, octagonal in shape. From these we selected one to grow. The fortunate owners of long hair were beseiged with reques ts for "A hair, please," and handfuls of hair were torn out for our crystal's benefit. This was Horace, who possessed all the qualities of a perfect crystal and upon whom all our hopes were centred. We nourished Horace and he justified all our care. He grew with amazing speed, and, in our estimation, n othing was too good for him. Our first thought on arriving at school was "Has Horace survived the night?" and away to the lab, we would rush, to the cupboard where he was housed, to gaze admiringly at him. Our last thought at night was that Horace should be still progressing on the morrow. So you can see .that it was not for lack of care that the tragedy occurred. When we think of it now, it seems to us that perhaps it was our care which caused the accident. Our anxiety for Horace was such that he never had c:: moment of peace, and one day, while we were examining him, the calamity happen- ed. Horace fell to the floor and was broken ! ! With despair in our hearts we gently tied him on another ha ir and still more gently placed him in the solution. Our hopes of growing a champion crystal had almost vanished. How could Horace survive such a disaster ! Sadly we tiptoed out of the lab. But Horace, courageous crystal that he is, mended. He was a little lopsided, it is true, but as our hopes revived, we knew that he would yet regain the perfect symmetry which had been his. And he was realising this expectation, when, an even worse disaster befell him. Vl e left school on Friday, and on Monday, to our dismay, we found that Horace had shrunk. Shrunk ! We could hardly believe our eyes. Shrunk! to half his former size. What could we have done to deserve such a blow. And Horace! our poor Horace! At that moment it seemed that he would never achieve the proportions of a perfect crystal. Nor was he alone in his misfortune. A cousin of our favourite, Eustace, a strong arid lusty fellow, though not of such perfection as Horace had been, was found to be stricken by the same strange affliction. Both had wasted away to a shadow of their former strength. Speculation was rife · as to what had caused. this dreadful decline. Many were the sug- gestions put forward, but each was discounted by the grief- 40