June 1941 School Magazine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

June, 1941

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

June, 1941

"BY THE WATERS OF BABYLON . Once. more our enemy has struck, and w ith lightning rapid- ity, and the weight of the German yoke has been placed upon the unwilling necks of the people of the Balkans. Until ·Adolf Hitler is thrust out of south-eastern Europe, the lives of sixty mill ion people will be affected by this new regime which he is imposing upon the nations of the Balkans. Yet, a casual visitor might not be able to de tect much change; in fact he would probably think that Empires rise a ·nd fall, but that these people go unaltered. There would be some truth in it because many aspects of the Balkans remain the same under whatever yoke they may bear. But this is only half the story. Most of the people there live on the soil and from the soil. They inhabit little cheaply-constructed houses of wicker work and. mud, or home-made bricks. Grandmothers sit each even- ing on benches in their yards, to enjoy the cool breezes; grand- fqthers sit in shaded little cafes, youths with sheep-skin caps on the ir heads meet peasant girls with flowers in the ir hair, and everyone dances folk dances in the village square. Oxen still pull the slow, creaking wooden waggons over the uneven ground, women beat their clothes on stones besides the brooks, and, once a week, barefooted men and women flock to the market in the nearest town, and, on each g reat holiday, every family gathers at the little village church. So it was when Alexander set out from the Balkans to con- quer the world; so it was when the Crusaders marched through the Balkans on their way to Jerusalem; so it was when the Turks swept up from Asia; and so it is to-day when Adolf Hitle r's trumpets blow. The Nazis may leave many daily tasks and relations un- altered, they may even improve some things. Better roads may appear, better agricultural methods be introduced, and perhaps more stable markets provided. But the difference is deep, poignant and vital. The peasant classes, who have been the rulers will find it hard to conform to the Nazi way of think- ing, the intelligentsia will become unemployed and destitute, and some will resort to revolutionary activity, and a cloud of falsehood and deception will hang over the Balkans. Lying to their Nazi masters and to themselves will warp their thinking. South-east Europe awaits its redemp tion along with the redemption of the world. -Margaret Catt, VI. 21

PREFECTS, 1940.

S. Schemionsck

D. McVin ish

A . Smith

B. Baylis

L Jordan

D. McDonald

M. Parsons

M. Catt

LYRIC PRIZE. 1940 TRANQUILITY The g race of the bending gra8ses, The flush of the dawn-lit sky, The scent that lingers, then passes- When the loitering wind goes by, Are glimpses and hints of sweetness From the unseen depths afar- The foam-edge of Heaven's completeness, Swept onward through flower and star. For the cloud, and the leal, and the blossom, The shadow, the flickering beam, Are waifs on the· sea-like bosom

Of beauty, beyond our dream: Its glow to our earth is given; It freshens the lower air;

Oh! the fathomless wells of heaven- The springs of ths earth rise them!

- EDRIS PLATZER

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