The Fritillary, December 1894

No. 3.

Dec., 1894.

Contents.

PAGZ

OUR STUDENT LIFE AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN OXFORD IN THE 19TH CENT. THE KEY TO SHAKESPEARE ON CO-OPERATION MISERY THE A.E.W. U.H.D. S. DEBATES -

27 30 33 35

A.S.D.S. & U.H.D.S. DEBATE SOMERVILLE COLLEGE LADY MARGARET HALL S. HUGH'S HALL HOME STUDENTS LIST OF STUDENTS GONE DOWN NEW STUDENTS, OCT., 1894 A.S.D.S.

35 36 39 41 43 43 44 44 45 45

INTER -UNIVERSITY TENNIS MATCH GIRTON LETTER NOTES FROM NEWNHAM

45 46 46

Oxforo: .PILINTED

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FOR TH13 PROPRIETORS BY ALDEN & COMPANY, LTD., BOCARDO PRESS.

Zhe DECEMBER.

No. 3.

our %tubent ani) Cbaritv Organt3ation.

KIND reader ! be not affrighted at this dry and ugly mouthful of a word, " Organization," which seems to blur all remembrance of the beautiful word " Charity," and to call up a vision only of detected scamps and imposing but exposed beggars.

To its old pensioners, though they vary the word in an ingenious manner, it is by no means a dull abstraction. " Ah," said one dear old body who thought she had offended the Committee, " it 's all up with me. I 'm off with the Organized now ! I '11 make up my bit of a bundle, write the beautifullest letter to the Organized to bless 'em, and walk off straight

to

the work-us ! " But if any philologist student would discover a better word to follow the " Charity,"—of old English extraction preferred—it would be accepted as a handsome subscription to the Society. Is it as dull as it looks ? Can we not enlist the sympathy of our Oxford students and be sure of their steady support, small perhaps in money value, but priceless in interest and encouragement ?

Some of our readers may have heard a sermon by Canon Scott Holland some time ago, in Christ Church Cathedral, giving a soul-stirring description of the spiritual, intellectual and natural glories of Oxford, of its possible influence over our whole

1894.

lives, and our never-ending debt of gratitude to it. There is always another side to the picture, and one man's gain may be another's loss. Has it ever occurred to us that these advantages would not be ours but for the humble workers who do all the drudgery of life for us, and who, from the peculiar conditions of University life, do it with more difficulties and temptations here than elsewhere ? During our eight weeks' Term, everything must be convenient and smooth for us ; thus the town is suddenly filled with several hundreds of persons who must be waited on, washed for, cooked for, and worked for. Now the working folk who perform these operations can only charge the usual prices for their work, although out of the fifty-two weeks of the year they can count upon twenty-four only for constant employment. What strength of mind is required to provide for the future, especially when Term has been a continual round of hard work, Sundays and all, and when the Vacation, with its relief from work, is full of the attraction of an imitation of University amusements, in which scouts and staircase boys, in their masters' left-off clothing, compete for cups and elegant butter-dishes, after the manner of undergraduates ! Add to this the constant appeal to the gambling instinct through the chances of great draws in large tips or substantial pickings of food. Life in Oxford for the poor is not miserable : in

24

THE FRITILLARY.

material things it is rather the other way ; but where to the student it should mean a gain to soul and mind, to the poor it means a danger of demoralization. In the same way, Miss Octavia Hill considers the West end poor of London a greater problem than those of the East end.

Another disadvantage in Oxford is spasmodic charitable help. Persons are here for the Terms. Many of them are charitably disposed ; dinners and beef-tea and the like overwhelm the sick for the time ; then there is a sudden cessation.

Should not those for whose sake this difficult state of things exists feel themselves bound each to do his or her small part in minimising its evils for the short time at any rate that they are still enriching themselves with the benefits that Oxford has to bestow ? All recognize this, doubtless ; the only question is how to choose the best way. We wish to show that from this point of view our Society, with the unattractive name, has a great deal to be said for it.

Clearly, it would be worse than useless for a student to give her money to this or that person brought under her notice in some chance way. We want to help people whom we see to be in difficult surroundings towards that growth of independence, thrift, and reliance on their own exertions, which after all is the secret of most of the ordinary happiness of life.

We can see at a glance that money given may just increase the evil, especially if we have not time to accompany it with anything like friendship. Miss Octavia Hill says she feels she has been much kinder to the working man when she has received money from him than when she has given him any, and whenever we see our poor people paying their pence to the Provident Dispensary or Benefit Club we feel how right she is. But hers is not

the usual idea of charity : it comes only after long and patient watching the lives of the poor, and realizing gradually what raises and what lowers them in the long run ; by deepening our own personal experience by others' knowledge ; and by a continual looking afield to the great problem of social life, whereby causes and effects are revealed to us even in the small corner of our own work.

Now all this watching and consideration and search for knowlege and principle is what the C.O.S. strives after. It is always collecting experience and treasuring knowledge ; it has traditions, but it is always testing them afresh ; it draws into its circle men of as different characters and religious and political opinions as it can, for it feels the necessity of obtaining every possible point of view. For, strange though it may seem, in the simplest decision affecting the lives of the poor, there is a problem,—some big question is to be found lurking in the background : gladly would one refuse to face the difficulty sometimes, but the C.O.S. will not allow this ; everything must be grappled with, for if you leave it alone, the final mischief is probably greater even than if in honestly attacking it you make a mistake.

To give an example of how the C.O.S. works.

Smith is out of work through illness ; his wife applies at our office, and is told that the Committee can do nothing without having a thorough knowledge of the family's past and present circumstances, because upon these depends the kind of help which would be the most helpful.

Very seldom indeed, I may say never, in the case of good, honest people, are these enquiries objected to, although by our enemies they are supposed to be very unreasonable and almost iniquitous. Con-

THE FRITILLARY. sider of what value that help would be which could not be founded on the character and tendencies of the person helped !

Mrs. Smith then gives all particulars, and states what help from other sources she is getting. Care is taken to provide for emergency, but as a rule the case now comes before the Committee, with the addition of a report from two references, named by the applicant ; the report of some trades-person, recognized as the Society's referee for the Smiths' part of the town, who is likely to know the opinion of their own class about them ; and finally a report from the Relieving Officer, to ensure that there is no overlapping of Poor Law and Charity. If the Agent has not already seen the clergyman of the parish, he is written to, and the district visitor is consulted. In Smith's case, all these reports are favourable. The next question is, Has he tried to provide for himself in any way ? And here comes in one of those wider subjects I spoke of. If he has never belonged to a Sick or Trade Club, or to the Provident Dispensary, is he likely to make an effort to pick himself up in the future ? More than that, if we help him, and keep from him the stigma of Poor Law Relief, shall we not be interfering with the magnificent work of the great Benefit Societies ? A member of a good Benefit Society, by a small weekly payment, ensures for himself a far steadier and better help in illness — indeed in most other accidents in life—than any charity can give him :125. or even 15s. a week he gets, and doctor and medicine, and very often extra help from members of his Club, his social equals. The best working people are always trying to persuade others to join their Clubs, and what a wrong should we do, if by our action we discouraged them from making the necessary sacrifice !Therefore if a man has not

25

joined a Club, although he has had the opportunity of doing so, we are very unwilling to help him.

But we will suppose that Smith has been in an old-fashioned Club, which has broken up when he was too old to join another, and he has done what he could by joining the Provident Dispensary, which gives him attendance and medicine forhimself and family for a constant payment of threepence aweek only. We find too that he is attended by a district sick-nurse, so that he can be quite advantageously nursed at home. The next important point is, Can any of his family help ? Here again is a large question, and one which Arnold Toynbee, who had himself indeed " the enthusiasm of humanity," always considered one of the most vital of all. He held that our Poor Law system and unwise charitable help have done incalculable harm in weakening family ties that the supreme duty and responsibilities ; of even the poorest to help parent, child, brother, should be always steadily in view, and no help given to relieve them from it.

Smith has a son in London ; he is written to and contributes his 6d. or is. a week ; he has a daughter married in Oxford, who sends extra food for him ; another in service, who also is encouraged to send some of her wages. Next, it is found that there is a girl at home who has done with school ; somebody on the Committee knows of a place for her ; the Friendless Girls' Society is applied to for her outfit, and her absence makes one mouth less to feed. A boy is old enough to take a little place before and after school hours ;another member of the Committee suggests one ; he is dressed up in C.O.S. clothes—the cast-off of richer boys —and he secures for the family is. 6d. a week. This done, we find there is still 8s. a week required to keep the family going without any stint of food. It is now our duty to see whether charity can be organized.

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THE FRITILLARY.

A. and B. live near, and promise to send good food from their table for the sick man ; C. and D. are found to have employed him or his wife for several years they are applied to and promise 2S. Some of our women-students who promised to help a temporary case of illness, give us is. a week and send the sick man flowers to cheer him the clergy of the parish agree to do something, and finally our own funds make up the rest. Smith in time gets well, he is sent to a Convalescent Home, those who are now interested in him helping towards it he goes back to work, grateful to his own family, and determined to help them in turn when the time comes, and thankful to all his kind helpers, who seem to him now like friends. This is a rosy and pleasant example alas it is not always so.

But this will show you what the C.O.S. aims at. To complete the story, I should have made Mrs. Smith and her daughters join the Women's Benefit Society and so ensure 5s. or 7s. a week for themselves should they ever chance to be ill.

It would be impossible to give an idea of the variety of the Committee's work ; but one other side of it, which was devised and set on foot by Arnold Toynbee, is perhaps the most satisfactory and interesting of all.

The question of " out-door relief" does not cease to disturb men's minds, although the Conferences of Guardians almost always declare against it. The Oxford Guardians, acting in unison with the C.O.S., have so much reduced their out door relief that the Poor Rate has fallen in a most remarkable way, yet the condition of the poor has wonderfully improved. The plan was that the C.O.S. should undertake those cases which could not without hardship be sent into the workhouse for instance good worthy old people, who in the past could not have provided for themselves ; blind or disabled persons, and young widows ;

;

;

;

!

;

:

with families ; these are undertaken by the C.O.S. and a small weekly allowance given, raised by special subscription, to " special cases," the subscribers sometimes visiting themselves. " Each well-to-do family," said Arnold Toynbee, " might well take one poor family into their circle of friends." We could show, did not space fail, how much of friendship and help in all kinds of ways this system gains for the poor people, and how infinitely more human it is than the official help of the Poor Law. Among our visitors during Term time for the last eight years we have been much pleased to number several of our students ; they have principally undertaken to visit the old people, but wherever they have gone they have left pleasant, bright memories behind them ; they would be amused to see the interest displayed in how they have done in this or that examination One old lady never omits to thank us for having sent them to her.

Is it not well that when we take our Oxford education and culture to all parts of England we should also take with us enthusiasm of an educated kind for the class whose lot it is to be Marthas—in a secular sense—while we have the privilege of being Marys ; the class which surrounds, shields and saves us through its hard daily toil, and unlovely occupations and surroundings ? Few of us but sometimes feel a dread when we think of the beauty and delight of our intellectual and cultivated life, lest we should be like some wheel of a mill-stream which ought to work great things, but which whirls round high up above the rushing, surging stream, and does nothing but catch the sunlight for itself. It seems as if an interest in the work of a C.O.S., such as we have in Oxford, might help us to find in the future, opportunities for making our work !

THE FRITILLARY. for the poor, intelligent, educated, and careful. For it is not all heart that is needed in useful work for the poor, but, as we have tried to show, plenty of head too, and a considerable training.

No doubt it is true that most students have little time to bestow, and little money ; and many rightly wish to help the Women's University Settlement in London. Every English man and woman has a responsibility with regard to London ; but in doing each of us the work which lies close at our door, we surely are helping in the crusade against the overpowering misery of London. Were only one country man or woman to drift into London through any negligence of ours, we should probably do more harm than many a subscription to the East end would do good.

There are plenty of institutions to try and patch up failures ; but the teaching of the C.O.S. is that you must try and prevent failures ; and that the way to do this is to see great questions in small everyday affairs, to get all the help which knowledge, investigation and care can give, and to attend first and foremost to the work which is close to our hand, because that is always best done which is done with personal labour and love.

]Education of 'omen in Oxforb in the 'nineteenth Centurp.

AN ESSAY OF THE DISTANT FUTURE.

of light has been thrown of late on this most interesting subject by the discovery of the correspondence of the Jones family. One of the daughters of the house of Jones—a certain Miss Mary— was, as far as we can gather, a student at A FLOOD

27

Oxford from about 1890 to 1893, and this valuable collection contains letters written to and received from various friends and relatives during her residence at the University.

We have but just risen from the delightful task of perusing these letters, with their fresh quaintness and their old-world charm, and are at the stage when we desire all men to come and share in our new pleasure. If the discovery of some crabbed matrimonial treatise tempted Macaulay to write his brilliant essay on Milton, surely this new treasure-trove would have impelled the great critic to discourse on a yet more interesting subject.

But he is no more, and he knew little of the Higher Education of Women ; therefore a humbler brother of the craft must take his place. To plunge, then, in

medias res.

Till lately it has been regarded as an established fact that at the close of the nineteenth century there were five Women's Colleges existing : Girton and Newnham at Cambridge, Somerville, Lady Margaret Hall, and S. Hugh's at Oxford. Within the last year or two, however, an ingenious theory has been started that the firstnamed of these Colleges never existed at all, and that Girton (=girls' town, the abode of girls) was the generic name of all women's colleges. This theory is supported by quotations from various nineteenth century newspapers and magazines, where the typical woman - student is always referred to as a " Girton girl."

It has been to some extent modified by Professor Young, who supposes that while the name " Girton " was applied to all women's colleges, yet the oldest and bestknown was entitled Girton _tar excelleneei and that where the context does not point to Newnham or one of the Oxford colleges the name indicates this special place of

28

THE FRITILLARY.

residence, which he further identifies with the buildings lately excavated about two miles from Cambridge. Between the various forms of this theory we leave our readers to decide, but of its foundation of truth the Jones correspondence does not permit us to doubt. Mary Jones was resident at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford ; and yet we find her aunt writing to her thus : " My dear, I was sorry not to see you the other day ; but I was told you had already returned to Girton." Again her uncle writes : "I hope you will see something of my dear friend's daughter, Lucy Thompson ; she is going up to Girton next October."

We have good evidence that the rate of travelling had not progressed sufficiently at that early period to allow of frequent intercourse between Oxford and Cambridge. Hence this last-named Girton can only have been at Oxford.

But we must leave the discussion of this point for one of less importance, indeed, and yet not without interest to the antiquarian. It has long been questioned whether at the period of which we are writing, women students in Oxford wore the college cap and gown. We know that such was the practice at Holloway College, near London, and at S. Andrews, but the evidence is not so precise with regard to Oxford and Cambridge. Mary Jones and her friends, however, come to our rescue.

Her aunt writes : " I went to a fancy dress party the other night. One of the girls was dressed as an undergraduate in a black cap and gown, such as you always

wear in Oxford."

Mary Jones herself, in another delightful letter, says : " I am sending you a sketch of some naughty prints from Shrimpton's window." (Shrimpton, we presume, was a bookseller in Oxford at the time ) The " naughty prints" apparently represented

a girl in cap and gown accosted by a Proctor with the salutation, " Your name, and College, Miss ?" These prints were caricatures, but their probable foundation on fact helps us to decide this knotty point also. But to proceed. It is almost certain that it was not till a much later date that the degrees of Oxford and Cambridge were conferred on women ; but hitherto it has not been clear whether or no women were admitted beforehand to the qualifying examination. From the Jones correspondence, however, it is manifest that women might enter all Final Schools. Mary speaks of her friends reading for " Greats" (probably a slang term applied to the final examination in Classics), Modern History, etc. It is also clear that women, having passed these examinations, were regarded as graduates de facto if not de lure.

Thus Mary Jones' mother writes : " You will soon be blossoming out as a B.A., my dear." And her aunt : " I suppose you will soon be an M.A." And another, Aunt Maria : "I was staying but lately in a house where there were three sweet girl graduates' from Oxford."

Indeed, from these letters it appears that historians have exaggerated the contempt and disfavour with which women's intellect and women's education were regarded in the nineteenth century. Mary Jones' relatives at least had a high estimate of her abilities and application. Thus her mother counsels her : " You say you are going in for Classical Moderations, but you must not neglect your Modern Languages.

That would be a great pity. You are also keeping up your Mathematics, are you not ?" Such a programme of study was never, we may be sure, drawn up for one of the sterner sex, even in the good old clays of 1893 !

Some idea, however, of the shafts of sarcasm which girl-students had then to

THE FRITILLARY. endure may be gathered from a letter to M. Jones, signed, " Your affectionate friend, Emily Smith." It runs thus : " I suppose you are quite in your element among so many learned people. I have been reading a novel called Dodo.' You will not care to hear about it, I suppose, it is not one of your deep books. You say you are reading Homer. How frightfully learned !

I am trying to study Early Church History, and I find it bad enough in English.

Mother says it must be bad for you to read so much heathen literature. You say Homer never heard of Christianity, but surely you know that S. Paul visited Athens. But I suppose people at Oxford are too busy to read their Bibles ! " Finding such lack of sympathy in her studies, Mary Jones speaks of her Classical Moderations, mathematical, and other work, to our regret, but little. She however tells us of the athletics in vogue at that date. Apparently, Lady Margaret Hall possessed two boats and a half (what species of vessel a half-boat may have been, we are unable to determine), and Somerville and S. Hugh's students disported themselves also on the Cherwell.

Frequent references are also made to a game called " hockey," of the nature of which we are ignorant. Our readers will enjoy the following letter : " There is a flourishing hockey club here, and also at Somerville. We play in a field belonging to a little boys' school. The other day we went down to play, but the little boys turned us off." To those of us who have seen the splendid playing-fields regarded as the special property of women, it is amusing to think of the time when students at Oxford were dependent on the charity of a little boys' school.

The following entry is also instructive : " There are about twenty-six of us in the club. The captain has just instituted a

29

fine for those who do not come to practice.

The fine is id." (a very small coin), " and out of the fines we are to have a grand bump supper' at the end of the term."

Either the defaulters were numerous, and money of greater value than in our own day, or the ideas of a grand " bump supper" in the good old times must have been frugal indeed !

Tennis matches are also mentioned as being played against Somerville, S. Hugh's, and the Cambridge Colleges. In these matches S. Hugh's seems to have been generally victorious, and Cambridge never defeated. Another interesting feature of Oxford College life for women seems to have been Debating Societies. These institutions were as popular as at the present day, and are often mentioned by Mary Jones. One description of such a meeting runs as follows : " The motion was, That this House approves of the Extension of the Franchise to Women.' " The opposer was very vehement, and had some staunch supporters ! Strange, strange indeed, to read these words in our enlightened century !

Mention is also made of a " Sharp Practice Society." As to the nature of this institution, opinions are divided.

Unfortunately none of the extant letters give us any clear account of the proceedings. That it was a species of Debating Society is certain from the terms employed.

Thus : " Last night, the Sharp Practice Society' met, and I was proposer." Some commentators suppose that it was a kind of rehearsal of the true Debate before the Halls separately, but this is impossible for Mary says : " We had a debate on Tuesday on the Home Rule Bill. At Sharp Practice we discussed the AbolitiOn of the Monarchy." Some have supposed it to be a burlesque of the Debating

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THE FRITILLARY.

Society, but this is impossible when we take into consideration the gravity of the problems discussed. " All education is a mistake." " The system of Examinations in this University is barbarous and degrading." " The discomforts of travelling far outweigh the advantages derived from it." (May we not find in these discussions some foreshadowing of the mighty reaction against the monstrous examination system, and of the improvements in speed and comfort in travelling, which Mary Jones perhaps lived to see ?)

It is far more probable that the " Sharp Practice Society " was one of the many serious and soul-stirring debating societies in which the fresh enthusiasm of women just admitted to new privileges found vent.

The nineteenth century was an age of " Sturm and Drang," when great problems were discussed and new paths opened out. It was only in such societies as those of which Mary Jones tells us that women could contribute to these discussions, and forward these pioneer expeditions. We must remember that women were not yet admitted to Parliament, that they were often withheld by modesty from any public speaking at all, and that it was only in the privacy of their chambers that the problems that excited them could be considered and solved. The problems that excited them ! Yes, their privileges were scant, their position a secondary one, their advantages few, and yet their life was not unhappy. In these blasé days of tedium, it is pleasant indeed to read of the bright zest with which, in spite of degrading examinations and collisions with " little boys' schools," the first women-students of Oxford entered into their studies and pastimes. In that golden age the grey towns of Oxford and Cambridge were instinct with the words of the great nineteenth-century poet :

" Girls,

Knowledge is now no more a fountain sealed; Drink deep, until the habits of the slave, The sins of emptiness, gossip, and spite, And slander die."

N.B.—The best authorities fix the date of Tennyson's death at 1891. Mary Jones may then have actually seen and conversed with him.

the 'Rep to Shakespeare.

ONE frequently meets with people who seem to desire a royal road to Shakespeare, or Dante, or Browning. There is a royal road to the understanding of all great poets, that few travel, because, like other royal roads, it is the longest and the hardest. They are kings, who may only be judged by their peers ; and royalty is no sinecure.

It is an obvious reflection, in the face of the flaring advertisements that confront us everywhere, that this age is one that seeks short cuts to whatever it deems desirable. Soaps and mangles are invented which, according to their patentees, dispense altogether with the labour of washing ; while Sapolio absolves us from cleaning. Again, the theological romance furnishes a short cut to philosophy and religion, strewn with flowers of scandal to tempt the frivolous into the way that they should go. As for short cuts to Paradise, they are innumerable, from table-turning and the planchette, to the collection of one's old boots for the relief of the destitute.

Is there, then, no Shakespeare made easy ?

N o. What is made easy is not Shakespeare. His true glossary is life—not the mere scramble for place, or wealth, or popularity, that often passes for life, nor, on the other hand, mere vegetation, but

THE FRITILLARY. something much more difficult and much more honourable than either of these.

Of course we turn to printed glossaries for partial explanations, and for terms that have grown obsolete ; but this is only a fraction of Shakespeare. What we need is the real meaning of words that never do grow obsolete, and that we are all too apt to think we understand—words like love, friendship, loyalty. While we read them wrongly, Shakespeare is a sealed book ; but if we realize their import, though imperfectly, we may turn from life to Shakespeare, confident of finding him, in his turn, the interpreter of life.

Thousands of volumes have been written, testifying to the wisdom and truth of Shakespeare for all time ; but the multitude of silent witnesses, those who, even with hearts breaking, have set their seal to him, has never been numbered. Human experience, of the keenest joy, and the most bitter sorrow, has justified Hamlet, and Othello, and Antony and Cleopatra ; and men of all conditions have borne testimony to the Sonnets, as if they had been written with their own life-blood. Not the light assent of youth and deference : " Shakespeare wrote it, so it must be true !" but a verdict often long in finding : " This thing is as Shakespeare wrote it ! " Of course there is another way, perhaps easier, perhaps harder, of testifying to Shakespeare ; since whether we are true or false, we must testify to the truth : that is, most of us have in our natures possibilities, or probabilities, on which we do not care to dwell. Sometimes it is a lurking Iago, a curious hatred of everything that is better than ourselves, that we hold in leash, carefully concealing his presence from others, even from our own hearts, behind glowing altarcloths, and many symbols of reverence and loyalty.

Or it is a Caliban with whom, perhaps, .

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we were quietly revelling,—not expecting a visit from Prospero. Back into the cave, Caliban ! hither, Ariel—and for heaven's sake look less wooden ! That unearthly, spiritual grace of yours—where is it gone, when it is wanted most ?

Ah ! as if Prospero had not seen the vine branches closing again, behind that sluggish form, as Caliban shuffled away into the cavern. It is useless to try to conceal anything from Prospero, and that is very well.

This is another way, then, of furnishing our individual proof of the reality of the plays. But as it is a proof that we ourselves cease to understand in measure as we furnish it, and as we are considering the mode of understanding Shakespeare, it need not here be dwelt upon. It is sympathy with his very highest creations that we want to secure, since in poetry, as in life, we may choose our own associates. " In poetry, perhaps !" some one demurs. " In life, that is precisely what we cannot do. Some men are thrown away on their surroundings, on others their surroundings are thrown away."

Here a pause generally follows, suggestive of personal illustrations.

Doubtless a good deal of nonsense is talked about uncongenial spirits, chiefly by uncongenial spirits ; but the fact is clear enough that we cannot always have the companionship of the people we care most for, if we are to reckon companionship by letters, visits, grasps of the hand, and the continual exchanges, written or verbal, of " inner life," in which many who rejoice in the possession of this proud but discomposing attribute, find much solace.

But it is a solace often as dangerous as opium, and one which we must learn to do without. It is one of the hardest lessons either in life or in Shakespeare,

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THE FRITILLARY.

that all outward tokens of love or friend- dwelling on the earth, only to be received ship matter comparatively little. It is a with the calm, yet piercing tolerance, lesson people are always stumbling over, which has no touch of scorn for any even when they thought it perfect. Till created thing.

The companionship, then, of Brutus, or they have mastered it, they have not Prospero, Cordelia or Miranda, is not to be mastered the Sonnets. Till they have mastered it, they are yet " passion's secured lightly, though when we are slaves," whom Hamlet himself pronounced worthy of it, or honestly trying to be so, it is secured already. That is, in a certain unworthy of true friendship.

Our companions are just those of whom measure.

Because Shakespeare was so great, it we are worthy, whether we are hearing from them continually or never see or hear takes a lifetime—and what a lifetime !from them at all. Wherever we are we to approach to completely understanding can mount no higher, sink no lower, than him. " Too great a cost !" we say, if we have ourselves. Set any one who is mainly bent on lamenting the sordidness of his hitherto depended on the Clarendon Press surroundings, and his own capacity for Edition. Ah, but it is not only Shakebetter things, in Shakespeare's presence, speare we win It is everything. The and he will come away again thinking less nature of our interest in and love for of Shakespeare than of Shakespeare's literature, is a mere wave-mark. Every thoughts about him. Similarly, in read- one's life is full, brimfull, of tragedy and ing the plays, he will come upon himself comedy, if he has eyes to see it ; and if everywhere, and will measure Hamlet and he has, he will both understand, and to a Brutus and Prospero, only by what he great extent be independent of, Shakethinks he himself would have said and speare. The keys to literature are the done in their places. Not infrequently, his keys to life—love, work, self-forgetfulness. sympathy with the characters is haunted Not three things really, but one. Love is by a regret that they had not the happi- self-forgetfulness, and love without work ness of his acquaintance, since many of is dead. them are persons who would have appreDoubtless the price is heavy, but one must pay for one's life whatever it is. The ciated him—more or less !

This frame of mind is not far removed price of fellowship with the noble people from the one that is always seeking for in Shakespeare, and the noble people in real outward proofs and confirmations of the life—a fellowship of which not apparent beliefs that ought to be too wholly one isolation, not suffering, not death, can rob with the nature for anything outside to us,—must be heavy. It is paid without have power either to shake or establish counting : those pay best to whom the them. It is the jealous, grasping, self- cost seems nothing, and who have no time conscious disposition, which by resolute to calculate. By some it is paid in ceaseright-doing may yet attain the sense of less devotion to one great aim ; by others inward unity with what it loves and in ways manifold, in perpetual effort, honours, that alone gives peace. Without ungrudging helpfulness, honour to all men, that, we might rush indeed into the not only the few whom it is impossible to presence of Shakespeare, as into the help honouring in sympathy with all, not presence of the great and wise now again, the few with whom we prefer to !

;

THE FRITILLARY. think ourselves " in sympathy." It is not paid without the true asceticism that only shuns delights in so far as a noble end withdraws it from meaner ones. It is a price rendered by those alone, " in suffering all who suffer nothing."

The price is heavy—a fact which many of us, at times, are apt to sentimentalize over. Little good can come of sentimentalizing, and of pluming ourselves on an imaginary good bargain in the " eternal verities," still less. Possibly some of those who have,— perhaps really have,— chosen the higher life, are all too ready to exult that they are not as " this Philistine—unsympathetic, irreverent," and the like ; and to treat him in a manner only worthy of a moral or intellectual snob.

It is also possible that at this point the 4 ' higher life," what there was of it, vanishes altogether. Alas, that just when we begin to realize how very well off we are, we come so near being very badly off ! But the antidote is found in the contest with realities, which takes out of most people both pride and sentiment.

However, in considering the question of price apart from sentiment, we need pay very little of it to make us sure that the whole, whatever it may be, is worth paying. It is only another way of saying that we dare not give up our frail hold on what we term " the true good " because it is of such tremendous value. It is the price we cannot afford to pay for sin and self-indulgence.

For an easy life, and freedom from pain, must be purchased as certainly as the knowledge of Shakespeare, though here, as there, we may never pause to calculate the cost. This price is paid in callousness, in stagnation, in the inability to love and honour, even when we are in the very presence of those whom we would love and honour most. It is the paralysis of

33

power to further good- or resist evil. It is the cessation from all friendship, from all gratitude. There is no sentiment about the fact—it is deadly earnest. If we pay this price, we are indeed left bankrupt.

On Co=operation.

THE Labour Question is admitted on all hands to be the question of the day.

Politicians may rant about the iniquity of a Second Chamber or the Wrongs of Ireland ; but the day in which the Radical party represented, or seemed to represent, the aspiration for a better order, is over, and what really arouses public interest now is the social condition of the working classes. Here, it is felt, is the weak point of the modern organization of society ; here, rather than elsewhere, reform is needed ; and here the system of unrestrained competition, the traditional system of the " philosophical Liberals," has been found to be worse than useless.

In view of the tremendous inequalities, not only in realization but in opportunity, which result from the present system, it is felt by all that some change, some reform of society, is needed—by all, that is to say, who are not merely selfish supporters of their own more favoured class, of the " haves " against the " have nots," practical adherents of that ancient principle : " That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can."

So far these idealists are agreed, but inevitable disagreement arises as to the aims and methods of the needed reformation. On the one hand the Socialist advocates a highly centralized society, involving the subordination of the unit to the community in every department of

THE FRITILLARY.

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life. On the other hand the individualist protests that what he desires is scope for the development of the individual in a society that answers to his needs. He is perhaps inclined with Ruskin to be reactionary, and to look back with regret to a time, be it in medival Europe or in classical Greece, when the claims of the individual were not opposed to those of the society to which he belonged and of which he was regarded as an integral part, and when his rights were respected because they were coincident with his duties. It is, in short, the criticism of Aristotle on Plato over again, that the State exists for the individual rather than the individual for the State.

But while theorists talk and Fabians dogmatize there is going on a movement in which men and women of both schools can find a practical outlet for their energies, a practical means for helping to realize the ideal to which they look. In the Co-operative movement there is room for both the Socialist and the Individualist, and the two forms which Co-operation takes may be practical embodiments of the principle of each. On the one hand there, is Consumers' Co-operation,—the system by which consumers unite to employ a body of work-people who have no interest as workers in the profits or the management of their work, but are the servants of the Society this form clearly leads the way to the municipal and State employment of labour, to that nationalization of the means of production which is the aim of the Socialist. On the other hand there are the " Productive Societies," in which the worker takes the larger share in profits and management. Thus his individual responsibilities are increased, he is no longer an _pya VOY a living tool, as Aristotle defined the slave, and as our modern industrial slaves may be too :

clearly defined ; but a man living in and working for the Society which he helps to govern, his duties in which will help to fit him for his larger duties as a citizen of his country and of the world.

Thus these two ideals and methods are more or less opposed to each other in the Co-operative movement to-day ; but in the practical working of that movement it is far more likely that a solution will be found --a practical reconciliation of two principles that are in reality one—than in the wordy disputes of theorists. In argument the natural course is to push your opponent to the extreme point of his position and oblige him to defend that, so that the upholders of different views appear to draw further and further from each other while in practice it is found that a modus vivendi must be established, and often a difference which had seemed great in theory is found to vanish into nothingness. Thus if lovers of the people, Individualists and Socialists, will work together in the cause of Co-operation, they will learn from each other and find their mutual opposition a mistake, and will reserve it for those prosperous members of society who never weary of informing us that whatever is is best.

Both sides of Co-operation are represented in Oxford, the one by a flourishing store with seven branches, the other by the House Decorating and Repairing Society. All who like can, on a small payment, become members of both the one and the other, and by so doing get an insight into the working of the movement and help to reconcile its two sides. ;

S. GURNEY.

THE FRITILLARY. Misery.

WHEN the rain is dripping drearily and drenching

all the land, When the mists are slowly rising from the river, When the sparrows who have scorned to seek a warmer foreign strand Creep to shelter on the leafless boughs and shiver ; When the sky is dark with storm-clouds, and the wind doth wildly wail, And 'tis days since last the sunbeams did appear, When the Past looks sad and gloomy, and the Future makes us quail, Then I think of you and feel that you are near, When I'm weary with much working, and my brain it feels like lead, And "I cannot think at all of what I'm thinking," When my mind is in confusion, and my memory has fled, And in the slough of dark despair I'm sinking ; When the chimney won't stop smoking till I'm almost driven mad, And no arts will make the lamp burn bright and clear, When everything goes wrong with me, and all the world looks sad, Then I think of you and feel that you are near.

When the clouds draw closer round me, and all brightness disappears, And I think of what I fain would be forgetting, When my heart is almost breaking 'neath its weight of doubts and fears, And that ever I was born I am regretting ; When the days are full of worry, and the nights will bring no sleep, And I've violated all my wisest rules, When the simplest little problem for my brain appears too deep, Then I know that you are near me, 0 my " Schools " !

B. E.

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the AT the annual general meeting of the Association on Wednesday, November zest, the formal announcement of Mrs. Johnson's resignation of the Secretaryship of the Association was made by Mr. SIDGWICK, who said that it was well known that the labours of the Lady Secretary had, especially of recent years, and when combined with the Principalship of the Home Students, been more than one person could bear. Some members of the Association had wished to take this opportunity of offering her some testimonial—not as a gift to herself, for that they knew she would never accept, but in the form of a fund towards founding a Home Students' Scholarship, or some similar object,—but this Mrs. Johnson had declined in a letter, which Mr. Sidgwick read to the meeting, on the grounds that she was only giving up a part of her work in connexion with the Association, and also that she would not like to devote to the Home Students alone any offering from her friends in the Association as a whole.

Professor PELHAM, in moving a vote of thanks to Mrs. Johnson, said that to the members of the Association Mrs. Johnson had always been much more than its Secretary. To some she had been a friend—to himself a friend of many years' standing —to very many a friend who had helped and encouraged, and for whom had been felt affection and respect. To the Association as a whole she had been much more than a zealous and devoted servant. When it began its work in Oxford it had had two chief difficulties to contend against :—the fears of those members of the University who, on social grounds, contemplated with alarm the introduction into Oxford of a number of women students; and of those who doubted the reality and seriousness of women's education. It was not too much to say that Mrs. Johnson had done immense service in overcoming these difficulties by the extreme prudence and caution with which she avoided shocking people's prejudices, and also by her unwavering high ideal of what education should mean—an ideal with which she never failed to impress those who knew her. Speaking in the name of the Association Prof. Pelham said " We desire to place on record our deep gratitude for all :

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Mrs. Johnson has done, and our admiration for the zeal and devotion with which she has forwarded the cause of the higher education of women in in Oxford."

Mr. ARMSTRONG, in seconding the vote of thanks, said that Mrs. Johnson's keen sense of humour, and interest in the personal character not only of the students but of the tutors and lecturers, had helped so much to make both work willingly for the Association. He had often had occasion to admire the patience and wonderful tact with which Mrs. Johnson had settled vexed points—things perhaps in themselves insignificant, but still for the moment of real importance. He would congratulate the Home Students in continuing to have Mrs. Johnson as their Principal, and condole very heartily with the other students and with the tutors for the loss of her kind services.

Mrs. GREEN, in comparing the secretarial work of the Association in its infancy with that of to-day, said that amidst the almost overwhelming business which her friends had long contemplated with dismay, Mrs. Johnson had never allowed her work to become in the least a humdrum routine. To her the students had always been above all human beings, and this had been the secret of her unique position with regard to the Association.

Miss WORDSWORTH said it was this characteristic which had made Mrs. Johnson so stimulating and cheering. She never lost heart about the work— always felt that it was worth while to go on labouring for the cause.

The PRESIDENT of MAGDALEN, in conclusion, said that the Association had been very fortunate in the devotion to its services, night and day alike, of a woman of such high aesthetic and intellectual gifts as Mrs. Johnson.

the Irtnfteb balls Vebating Societp.

THE first debate of term was held at St. H ugh's Hall on Thursday, Nov. 25th, the President being Miss Baker (L.M.H.), and the Secretary Miss Deverell (S.C.). The motion before the House was, "That in the opinion of this House, Socialism is impracticable and undesirable."

The Proposer, Miss MARTIN (S.C.), began by

contrasting Socialism and Anarchism, summing up in favour of the latter, since, she argued, "death is better than slavery" : "let us rather perish by the Anarchist's bomb than groan in the fetters of Socialism." The aim of Socialism, she proceeded to show, was the complete revolution of the whole industrial world, the fallacy of the position lying in the fact that though recognizing the abuses of the system of competition, they sought to abolish the whole system—not only the abuses. She then gave the two great aims of the Socialists as found in the programme of the Fabian Society, viz. : the nationalization of ( r) land, (2) industrial capital, and said she would show that these were neither practicable nor desirable.

She spoke of the two schemes of land nationalization, the one of Henry George without compensation, the other of modern Socialism with compensation. Each of these she showed equally impossible; in the first the State would become a thief, in the second a bankrupt.

As to the nationalization of capital, the Proposer said compensation was again an insuperable difficulty, necessitating the gradual undertaking of industrial enterprise by the State, and thus giving it the opportunity of exhibiting its incapacity in this direction, and so forcing it to give up the scheme.

She proceeded to show that in so far as the State in this and other countries had had the opportunity, it had shown itself incapable both- as a producer and employer of labour. She next dwelt on the danger of eliminating the motive force of selfinterest from the industrial world, and the danger of tyrannical officialism. Further, she asked, "How are wages to be fixed by the great sole employer?"

Without the regulating force of competition they must necessarily be artificial. "Political confusion, insolvency, chaos, rebellion, must," she decided, "be the outcome of this suicidal scheme."

Finally, the Proposer showed that Socialism would be a rude interruption of the course of historical progress, being a return to a time long past when the individual was nothing, the State everything. it would destroy the great work of the Renascence and Reformation, viz. : the emancipation of the individual. Progress, she said, depended on Competition. What, then, would be the result of the elimination of competition from

THE FRITILLARY. society ? "This," she summed up "deterioration of national character, universal discontent, ending in some stupendous catastrophe, when mankind, waking from its nightmare, will return to the light of reason, and destroy the tyranny which in its ignorance and folly it has set up."

The Opposer, Miss PHILLIPS (S.C.), said that the aims of Socialism were to foster a feeling for the common good, and a readiness to forego personal advantage for the general gain, and to recognize mutual dependence. Spencer's cry that individualism must be destroyed by Socialism could, she thought, be passed by, after merely glancing at the condition of dock labourers and match-box makers of the present day, to show what is the liberty with which he feared they should tamper. The cry of to-day, she said, was "Social Evolution," and that man's development as an individual was of less importance than his development as a social creature. Socialism would not reduce mankind to one dead level, but by shortening the hours of work would allow some chance for the assertion of individuality, and for the development of men's higher faculties. There was, she continued, an unconscious tendency to Socialism in the air, and it was to this that we owed the Education Act, the Factory Acts, and other similar Acts protecting the interests of the employes. The root of Socialism, she considered, was the land question.

Every Socialist desired that land should no longer be individual but public property. The owners had no moral claim to it, and the system of entrusting it to private individuals had had its day and failed, that is, it had failed to provide sufficient for all men. No sweeping interference in the way of revolution or confiscation was, she held, desirable or possible all must be done gradually, and fair compensation would be given in each case. This compensation would be raised by taxation on Rent Interests and Profits, so that it would fall exclusively on the surplus of industry. A form of compensation lately suggested by Mr. Hobhouse, she said, was that of annuities. When once the land was the property of the State, it would be administered by those bodies which directly represent the people, The present County Councils and the future Parish Councils were all steps, she considered, in the right direction. The land thus vested in these repre:

:

37

sentative bodies would pay a land-tax to the central administration for the expenses of the Imperial government, whilst the remainder of the rental would be retained for the benefit of those who paid it. The municipal authority elected annually by adult suffrage would be able to engage in all branches of industry, and to pay good wages, as it would have no need to make profit for the Public Treasury, as the public revenue would be raised by a direct tax. The State would in time own and manage all Railways, Tramways, Mines, and Insurance Companies. At Huddersfield, the Town.

Council works its own tramways without the intervention of any middleman, and the results, she said, were most satisfactory. The Proposer had pointed out that the paid managers, required to superintend such works, would be an insuperable difficulty.

But we might learn that this would not be the case, by looking at the practical working of the present huge companies engaged in commerce. It was, she said, impossible to enter into the petty details of Socialirn, as such details might suit one set of circumstances and not another. Socialism as a spirit, as an influence, had existed as long as organized thought. It was that which had taught men to think of the good of others, and to live for others as well as for themselves. "Surely in the future for which we work," she summed up, "we may hope for a nobler humanity evolved with sympathy and not with cunning and craft. In that day we may look back and say They builded better than they knew, because their motives were pure and their inspirations were love and justice."

Miss RICE (S.H.H.) supporting the Proposer said she thought Socialism not only impracticable but baked on tyranny and injustice. If the State, which is the father, is a robber, what will its children be but the same? Hence Anarchy would ensue. She thought also the world was not ready for Socialism.

Miss O'BRIEN (S.C.) supported the Opposer.

She believed that the same force that had caused public opinion to advance since the days not long ago when slavery was tolerated would bear on towards Socialism. She thought the desperate greediness of the world was due to the fear of each that he might not get his due, and good organization might amend this. As competition was the moving force of the past so it would be of the :

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THE FRITILLARY.

future, but the strife will be to do, not to get, the most. The difficulty of international trade in a Socialist State might be overcome by international congresses. She objected to the proposer taking a single part of Herbert Spencer's doctrine. If this was allowable she would refer to the works in which he declared land nationalization to be practicable.

Miss RATHBONE (S.C.) asked how the wealth of the one-tenth of the population who now lived in luxurywas to raise the other nine-tenths from squalor to comfort, with a reduction of the hours of labour to four a day.

Miss BUTLIN (S.C.) said statistics showed that every four persons would have a yearly income of ÂŁ165.

Miss RATHBONE thought it hard for four persons to " self-realize " on ÂŁ165 a year.

Miss O'BRIEN (S.C.) showed that much wealth would be saved by every man doing the work he was best fitted for, independently of social status or any other considerations.

Miss DEVERELL (S.C.) said the depressed state of agriculture was due partly to the tyranny of railway monopoly.

There spoke also Miss Baron, Miss Ellis, Miss Mammatt, Miss Pease, Miss Cowlard, and Miss Sampson.

The Proposer, in summing up, said that the moral depravity of the Opposer surprised her. Her opponent mixed up justice and expediency. She denied also that Socialism was the promoter of great altruistic feeling. She did not see that because great men work for art, all men should.

Nor was it, she held, fair to quote the youthful follies of Spencer. She appealed to the House to record their votes against " the annihilation of the individual, and national ruin."

The motion was lost by nine votes.

The second debte of term was held at Somerville Hall on Nov. 6th, the motion being, " That Athletics are too much considered in modern education."

The Proposer, Miss CARRUTHERS (L.M.H.), showed the difference between the object of ancient and modern education. The ancients were taught to live and talk correctly, but modern people, she said,

were taught to hold their own in the world, forgetting that the battle of the igth century was a battle of skill, not of strength. Again, she showed, the high standing given at this time to Athletics tends to an unjust depreciation of intellect, making " the divine mind grovel to the body." Masters in public schools are often chosen rather for their Athletics than their learning. The Germans, she said, are our leaders intellectually, because the manner of their education tends to make them more methodical, such as their long hours and hard work, and severe military training. We lose capable men as officers, etc., because having wasted their time at school in Athletics they cannot pass the necessary examinations. Again, she urged the danger of Athletics to life, and deplored them as tending to the encouragement of cruelty and to a waste of health and energy.

Miss POPE (S.C.) opposed, and said that the aim of education was to acquire the harmonious development of body, soul, and mind. Athletics, she said, not only preserved bodily health but were a good moral training, teaching public spirit and self-subordination. She thought the boys mentioned by the Proposer, who could not pass examinations, would have been less likely to do so if they had abstained from games. It is only the lazy boys, she contended, that cannot excel both in Athletics and work. Effect of Athletic training most valuable in after life, as producing nerve, patience, etc.

Miss LAWSON (S.C.) spoke third, and said that Athletics encouraged accidents and betting, and engendered jealousy.

Miss ELLIS (L.M.H.) spoke fourth, and showed how the Germans, though not athletic, were very liable to accidents from duels, etc. She said also that Athletics were a necessary outlet for boys' high spirits, and were excellent for discipline, also that the motion referred to others besides boys in public schools. She regretted that Athletics were wanting in Board schools.

Miss WILSON (L.M.C.) said from statistics it is to be seen that there is more danger in intellectual pursuits than in Athletics.

Miss ARDINGTON (L.M.C.) showed how Athletics made schools attractive, and also how better examinations came from Athletic schools.

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THE FRITILLARY.

The third speaker, Miss MAYHEW (A.S.D.S), greatness is due to English men, and English men said she was moderate, and disagreed with the lurid are what English women make them."

The Opposer, Miss FOWLER (L.M.H.), said she picture of the Proposer. She showed how the considered the motion too sweeping and an insult modern girl lacked sense in disregarding the liberty to the woman of to-day—(cheers). There were, given her in a public school education. Whilst at she allowed, exceptional cases in which modern school she sat on the same benches as other girls women behaved disgracefully, but if such were of all classes from three to seventeen years of age, restrained they would eventually only go to further but on leaving school many became tied by the extremes. Girls could not devote their whole life to rules of our rotten society, and were discourteous housekeeping, they had talents to do work in other to their old friends, not having sense to use their spheres, and these should be developed. As to liberty. the question of restraining a girl's liberty with Miss MARTIN (S.C.), fourth speaker, said she regard to the literature she read, the Opposer did was indignant at the definition given of the New not see how this could be effectually done even if it Woman. A few perhaps, she allowed, had gone were desirable. Restriction would only rouse the mad, but such were only the exceptions to prove curiosity of nonsensical girls, and right-minded girls the rule. She said they were abused because they would be revolted by low literature. All must assimilated their dress to their amusements, not learn eventually that there are bad things, and their amusements to their dress ; but this they did must face the real battle of life ; and moreover, she because the notions of hygiene had developed. added, as the interests of girls were being widened " Let," she urged, " the woman take a purer atmosunwholesome things would obtain less hold on phere into the Music Halls and purify them." A their minds. As to the modern woman's amuse- better wording of the motion she thought would be, ments, the Opposer thought the value of athletics that woman has had more sense hitherto than was indisputable in improving the physique and liberty to use it. widening the interests. It was also urged, she conThe general discussion was opened by Miss tinued, against the modern girl that she did not MAITLAND, who said the motion was not only untreat her parents with the respect of the last grammatical in form, but insulting in nature. generation. There might be less outward deference, Insulting to that House, because they represented but she was sure there was more inward respect. the woman of to-day, and did they lack sense ?

She complained that her opponent had avoided The Proposer classed them, she continued, with all mention of the average woman of to-day. She the fictitious New Woman. Was she justified ? had taken but the caricature known as the "New (No, no.) Were they, she asked, like the caricature Woman," "which on all sides we hear is non- set up in her speech ? There were, she recognised, existent." Pioneers have always gone further than a small minority of women to-day who were foolish, their movement, have even had to resort to fanati- but this was because they had not had liberty given cism to gain their point. This, she declared, was them : before their limbs had been fettered, and a great movement, and if it went at first to extremes when let free they knew not how to command the pendulum would soon swing back and fall in them. "It is true," she concluded, "of women as with its times. The Opposer accentuated the fact of the whole race. If you deal with them greatly that girls had now to step into the arena of the they will be great : if you give them freedom they struggle for existence, and having to fight for them- will be worthy of it." selves they must have more liberty. " Is it fair," Miss BRUCE (S.C.) said the motion was nonsense she concluded, " that because a few women are since it led to argument in a circle. Sense without foolish all should be barred from liberty ? As experience was impossible, experience without the woman of the past was noble, still more so will liberty equally impossible. .Women's supposed be the woman of to-day with her greater advan- lack of the sense of justice and proportion she tages of education and other powers of develop- ascribed to inadequate education and want of ment." experience.

THE FRITILLARY. Miss HODSON (L.M.H.) said woman had gained her liberty by her own good sense, and showed her good sense by using her liberty so little. She said also that the modern woman read Plato and Aristotle as well as " Dodo " and the " Yellow Aster."

Mrs. NUGENT-JACKSON (A.S.D.S.) said Oxford had•been described as the home of lost causes, but that cause did not seem likely to be lost. She spoke of the sense of woman as shown in her use of the Married Woman's Property Act and other liberties. She asked the House to record a unanimous vote against the motion.

Miss NEWSON spoke of the married life of young American women, showing that their advanced education did not tend to make them less capable as wives and mothers.

Miss KNIGHT (A.S.D.S.) spoke of the advance of public opinion in the matter of athletics. Not long ago swimming, she said, was held in as much abhorrence as football now is by many. She said cycling was more usual in Oxford than elsewhere because it was started by the right people.

Miss ROGERS spoke for the Proposer, though declaring that her sympathies were not all on that side. She thought the modern girl showed lack of sense in using her freedom to do as she would about going to bed, eating her meals, and choosing her dress. The modern woman on the other hand was still much fettered, in that she was not given the credit of being able to deal with serious business matters, and she believed she had more sense than liberty.

Miss BUTLIN (S.C.) approved of the spirit that inspired the modern novel, the aim of which was to break down evils by dealing with them in a realistic way. She deplored the self-consciousness of the modern woman, but believed it to be the outcome of her circumstances.

There spoke also for the motion :—Miss Sergeant (S.C.), Miss Wilson (S.C.), and Miss Dampier (S. M. H.) The Proposer, in summing up, expressed her surprise at the choice of the motion. She thought the House wished her to set up a monster for it to slay. She declared she had erected the monster out of her kindness to the Opposition, and that it had found death at their hands. She believed the

41

women before her were advanced in the true sense, and thinking that none would take her monster as referring to any present, she had erected it that they might slay it.

In a House of rr3 members the motion was lost by a majority of 1 oz.

AGNES WILSON, Reporter.

5omerrille College.

MANY changes took place during the vacation, but we have felt none more than the resignation of Miss Pater ; she was one of the first workers for the cause of Women's Education in Oxford, and the oldest resident of Somerville College. Her resignation is deeply regretted by all the students, who invariably found in her a kind and sympathizing friend.

We have much pleasure in welcoming among us Miss Alice Bruce, who has returned as Miss Maitland's secretary, and Miss Hayllar, formerly of Lady Margaret Hall, who has been appointed as Resident Classical Tutor.

The following appointments have been made :Miss Alexander—Lecturer in History and English Literature at the Crystal Palace.

Miss Gould—Assistant in the Catalogue Department of the Royal Society.

Miss Kimpster—Tutor and Lecturer, Royal Holloway College.

Miss Shearson —Assistant Mistress, Girls' High School, Camborne.

Miss Williams—Lady Principal, Girls' High School, Trivandrum, Travancore.

OPENING OF THE NEW BUILDINGS.

On Saturday, the 2r st of October, 1894, the additions to the West Buildings were formally opened. Miss Maitland, Mrs. Vernon Harcourt and Professor Pelham received the guests, who were shown into the gymnasium by third and fourth year students. Indian rugs and bright drapery adorned the dais, the first and second year students being sufficient decoration for the gallery.

Professor PELHAM, the Chairman, gave an interesting account of the inception and steady growth of the college. He explained that there is still

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much to be done and many wants to be supplied ; we want still more buildings, more scholarships, more books and a better place to keep them in ; for these we look to the loyalty of members of the College and the generosity of those interested in higher education.

The VICE-CHANCELLOR of the University (Dr. Magrath, Provost of Queen's) alluded to the part which he and Dr. Percival (who owing to an accident was unable to be present) had taken in the foundation of the College. There would always, he said, be differences on the question of the education of women, but all were agreed that if women were to be educated, they should be properly housed and well cared for. As in the past scarcely anything which the friends of the Women's Colleges had asked for had been refused, so in the future all their demands would receive the respectful consideration of the University.

The Right Hon. LORD HERSCHELL, the Lord Chancellor, in a much applauded speech, consoled those present by expressing his conviction that college training was not guilty of "Novissima."

Somerville College, by receiving students of all faiths, gave opportunities to each and all for learning that tolerant sympathy and wide charity which were among the most precious possessions of life. He expressed his heartiest sympathy with the work of the College and his hope that the success of the past might he surpassed in the future.

The PRESIDENT Of MAGDALEN' also spoke, and, after the meeting, the new buildings were thrown open for inspection.

THE LIBRARY.—The Library has increased very largely during this term both by gifts and by purchase. Perhaps the most important addition has been the presentation by the Early English Text, the Chaucer, and the Shakespeare Societies of a large number of publications, amounting to about 30o volumes, and including some photograph facsimiles of Chaucer MSS. It is proposed that the book-plates which are required for these acquisitions shall bear the new coat-of-arms of the College.

SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.—The

officers elected for this year are Miss Hoskyns-

Abrahall, President, and Miss Beckingsale, Secretary. At the first meeting of this term Miss Papworth read a paper on the History of Freemasonry, and after a short discussion, the President gave an interesting sketch of the changes which have taken place in the distribution of land and water on the earth's surface, and the effect these have had on the progress of civilization. Miss Legge's paper on Greek Art, with an account of her own travels and research, is eagerly anticipated.

Many new students have joined the Society, and it is hoped that much interesting and useful work will be done in the future.

MERMAID SOCIETY.—Our first meeting this term was held on Saturday, Nov. 3rd, when our founder and ex-president, Miss C. G. Marshall, whom an opportune visit to Oxford enabled to be with us, read a most successful paper on " Childhood."

Other papers are to be read this term by Miss Pease on " Woman's Sphere," and by Miss Martin on " Gothic Architecture."

BROWNING SOCIETY.—The Browning Society has much increased in size, and meetings are held fortnightly. This term we have read a paper " A Blot on the Scutcheon," and several short poems.

Miss Howitt and Miss Russell hold the offices of President and Secretary respectively.

SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY.—President, Miss Moore; Secretary, Miss Carless. This Society has largely increased and now numbers thirty members.

There have been two meetings, at which "A Winter's Tale" was read. "A Midsummer Night's Dream " has been chosen as our next play.

SHARP PRACTICE SOCIETY.—This Society continues to flourish, and many new members have joined it this term. Two meetings have been held.

On Oct. 19th, the motion before the House was "That Total Abstinence is necessary to national perfection ; " this subject did not evoke much enthusiasm. The debate on Nov. 9th was very animated, much eloquence being displayed in discussing the subject of " Slang."

BOAT CLUB.—The Boat Club has recast its constitution on a more democratic basis. The management of the Club now rests in the hands of a Committee, consisting of President, Treasurer, and Secretary, instead of in the hands of a perma-

THE FRITILLARY. nent President as formerly. Miss Pope has been elected President for the ensuing year. The Club has gratefully to acknowledge an anonymous gift of Z8, which it has decided to keep as a reserve fund towards buying a share in a boat-house, when a vacancy shall occur.

HOCKEY CLUB.—No matches have as yet been played this term. Owing to the lack of a full-sized ground it has been almost impossible to practise properly, but there seems promise of some good play among the new students, and most of our old team are still up. We have hopes of a field before next term.

TENNIS CLun.—The constitution of this Club has been re-organized, the management being now vested in a President, Secretary, Treasurer, and a Committee of two. The officers for this year are:— President, Miss Phillips ; Secretary, Miss Marett ; Treasurer, Miss Chard ; Committee, Misses Bruce and Pesel.

%abp flOargaret Society has been continued as usual this term, and has been most successful. " Macbeth " was the play selected, and appears to have been greatly appreciated.

Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and some of the minor characters deserve a special word of praise ; for the way in which these parts have been read has largely contributed to the success of the Society.

SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY.—This

43

success in the match against Cambridge. The Tennis Ties have not yet all been played off, but there is little doubt that Miss Bradby will be our champion. No matches have as yet been played this term, but at the end of last term we were victorious in matches against the Royal Holloway College (7-5, 6-3) and Somerville College (6 —2, 6—o).

HOCKEY CLUB.—Though we naturally miss our ex-captain. Miss Huleatt, and several members of the team who went down last term, the club is doing well under Miss Bradby's able captaincy.

Several promising new members have come up, and owing to increased numbers a second eleven has been formed. The first eleven has only played one match this season, that against Somerville College on Nov. '22nd, when, after a very hard fight, L.M.H. were successful by 3 goals to o. Matches against the Games Club, Royal Holloway College, L.M.H. Old Students, and the return against Somerville College, have been unavoidably postponed. The second eleven played the Home Students' first eleven on Nov. r3th, and were defeated by 4 goals to 3.

The following matches are still to be played :Nov. 26th, znd XI. v. Home Students' znd XI. „ 2 7th, 1St XI. v. „ 1st XI. „ 3oth, znd XI. v. Somerville College and XI.

SHARP PRACTICE SOCIETY.—President, Miss

The purchase of land from St. John's College has been effected, but our new buildings cannot be begun yet, through want of funds.

Baker ; Secretary, Miss Ellis. Most successful weekly meetings have been held during the term.

The attendance has been excellent, and there has never been any lack of speakers.

SOCIABLE. —Despite the great loss which this Society has endured through the departure of some of its most energetic members, it is nevertheless in a very flourishing condition. The weekly meetings are always well attended, and the audience is most enthusiastic. We have one or two very good reciters, and Miss Verney's violin solos are greatly appreciated, but the scarcity of vocalists is much to be deplored.

LAWN TENNIS CLUB.—Our congratulations are due to Miss Bradby on having been champion of the Oxford Ladies' Halls last term, and on her

has had four meetings this term, which have been well attended. Various subjects have been discussed with animation, and several members have read interesting papers.

THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY, under the Presidency of Miss Helen Wilson, has read " Hamlet."

The attendance has been somewhat erratic, but, thanks to the regularity of a few, readers have never been wanting.

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.—This Society has met with great regularity in the rooms of its various members. It has been re-constituted this term, and has gained much advantage from the admission

Z. lbugb's THE LITERARY SOCIETY

THE FRITILLARY.

44

of new members from Lady Margaret Hall. At the first meeting Miss Mammatt (S.H.H.) was elected President, and Miss Fowler (L.M.H.) Secretary. Much varied, and, it is hoped, profitable work has been done in English History, constitutional and political. The attendance has been fairly regular.

THE BROWNING SOCIETY has been very well attended. This term we have read miscellaneous pieces, such as "Cleon," "The Death in the Desert," " Saul." It was thought that the study of some of these shorter works would be a good introduction to the year's reading.

SHARP PRACTICE.—This Society if not peaceable is at any rate lively. The "rebellion " of last winter thinned the numbers, and this term a few alterations have been made in the constitution, of which the conservative members do not wholly approve. The meetings, however, have been entertaining. Every subject has led to lively discussion, although perhaps it has not been often that the House has arrived at any very definite conclusion.

Music.—There has been an Orchestral Society started, and the Glee Society is still flourishing.

LAWN TENNIS.—AS there were only six competitors for the Winter Court Championship this term the ties were played on the American 'Tournament system. Miss Holman came out first, Miss Etlinger second. We are anxiously awaiting the challenges of L.M.H. and S.C. BOATING Cum.—This term we have bought the other half of the "Swan," with its share in the boat-house. We now possess two boats, and our Club is also in a very flourishing condition as to the number of its members. The floods have necessarily interrupted the boating, and we have been unable to arrange for races as we had hoped.

ibome Stubents. the kindness of Mr. Johnson and Mr. Smith, the Home Students have this term enjoyed the use of a gravel court at the University Tennis Courts. The Club consists of nine members, and the days for playing are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Mr. Smith has kindly extended the number of dayi, conditionally, to the whole week.

TENNIS CLUB.—Through

Club has increased in numbers this term, and has practised vigorously twice a week in Mr. Lynam's field, which the L.M.H. Club is good enough to cede to us on 'Tuesdays and Fridays.

Two matches have been played already one with the L.M.H. Second Eleven, resulting in a victory for the Club ; the other with the H.S., in which we were beaten. Other matches are impending with L.M.H. and, it is rumoured, with Somerville.

READING Room.—This is open on four afternoons a week during term. It was originally intended for Home Students, but a comparatively small number of them have availed themselves of it. We hope next term that they will evince more esprit de corps. The subscription is i/6 for the term, and for this small sum they can see a variety of magazines and papers, and also each member is allowed to take home one magazine or paper from Friday to Tuesday.

Members wishing to join next term are requested to send in their names to the Honorary Secretary, 20, Banbury Road, before the end of this term.

HOCKEY CLUB (THE ETCETERAS).—The

:

WE offer congratulations to Miss Coates on her appointment as Organizing Mistress of S. Michael's Hall, Brighton.

List of Students who went down in June.

SOMERVILLE COLLEGE. Miss Kimpster Miss Alexander „ Brown „ Lanyon „ Shearson „ Gould „ Williams „ Helm Princess Bamba Duleep Singh Princess Catherine Duleep Singh LADY MARGARET HALL. Miss Balfour-Browne Miss Fraser Banks „ Huleatt Boone „ Horner „ Lea-Smith Cator „ Lodge Crawley Evans „ Saltmarsh „ Scriven Footman „ Teale Forster S. HUGH'S HALL. Miss Spackman Miss Goodchild „ Ward „ Hudson Miss Weston

THE FRITILLARY. Miss Burrows „ Horsfall

S. HILDA'S. Miss Selby „ Stuart

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S. HUGH'S HALL. Miss Abdy Miss Gratton Medill „ Bell „ Bird Simpson Miss Sparks 1)

HOME STUDENTS. ( Having finished their course in June.)

-Miss Coates „ Cousins „ Cross „ Gurney

Miss Hammond „ Hubbuck „ Knight „ Pemberton-Pigott Miss Robb

Hearty congratulations are offered to :Miss Gould (S.H.) Class I in Natural Science ; Miss Kimpster (S.H.) Class I in English Language and Literature ; Miss Crawley (L.M.H.) Class I in Modern History ; Miss Hubbuck and Miss Gurney (Home Students) Class II in Literati Humaniores ; Miss Hammond (Home Student) Class I in English Language and Literature ; Miss Pemberton-Pigott, Class I in Modern Languages.

HOME STUDENTS. Miss Anger (Bordeaux) Miss Drummond Hathaway (U.S.A.) Bell McCaulley (U.S.A.) Bishop Christopher Rice-Wiggin Sibree (U.S.A.) Comper Spurling Devitt Miss Talcott (U.S.A.) 11

Miss Hughes

S. HILDA'S. Miss Robinson Miss Swainson

S. KENTIGERN'S. Miss Thomson Miss Ward

associates Ztubents' 1Debating %ocietp.

List of Students registered October, 1894.

SOMERVILLE COLLEGE. Miss Noel Miss Ardington „ Price-Hughes „ Cowlard „ Pontifex „ Chappel „ Samson „ Davies „ H. M. Sergeant „ Fry „ V. Sergeant „ Graham „ Shekleton „ Ilbert „ Smale „ Kempson „ Souttar „ Lawson „ Stevenson „ Martino „ Storr „ Moulding Miss Warrack

LADY MARGARET HALL. Miss Jourdain Miss Bayley Moberly „ Clarke Tidd-Pratt „ Craigie-Halkett Verney „ Dampier White „ Fraser Wilkinson „ Gascoigne Wood „ Gunter Miss Wright 57

11

11

)1

THE fifty-fifth meeting was held on Saturday, November 3rd, in the Lecture-room, Alfred Street.

Miss Rowden moved, " That the success of Dodo' is a disgrace to the English public." Her speech was followed by a general discussion. On a division, the motion was lost by one vote.

jiiterotrintrersitp tennis !Bata% THE annual Ladies' Doubles against Cambridge was played on the All England Ground at Wimbledon on Thursday, June 2rst, before many enthusiastic spectators. For the first time since 1890 we gained a complete victory, winning by 3 sets to o.

The representatives for Oxford were Miss L. B. Bradby, L.M.H., and Miss F. Etlinger, S.H.H. ; for Cambridge, Miss Naylor and Miss Stoney.

Miss Bradby played a powerful game from the back of the court, her placing being specially noticeable, while Miss Etlinger was occasionally brilliant at the net. A single was then played between Miss L. B. Bradby and Miss Naylor, the former winning by 2 sets to o.

THE FRITILLARY.

46 Oirton letter.

THE great event at Cambridge this term is the performance of the " Iphigeneia in Tauris " at the Theatre Royal, which will take place from Friday, November 3oth, till the following Wednesday, there being one performance each night and two on Saturday. The majority of Girton students, classical and otherwise, are going, and considerable excitement prevails in the College on the subject.

Hockey has resumed its sway with the winter season ; a match between students of the Second and First Years was drawn ; when played again, it resulted in a victory for the Second Year with two goals to love.

The annual Singles Tennis Match between Newnham and ourselves was played at Newnham ; two out of our three champions being victorious, the much-coveted cup remains in our possession.

The Debating and other Societies are in a flourishing condition. We have had two debates this term, one on the motion : " That hero-worship is detrimental to the character," one on The Old versus the Modern Novel. At our next debate, the proposition "That over-education is a crying evil of the present age," will be discussed.

Before concluding, I must express Girton's cordial sympathy with Somerville College on her newly-acquired dignity. The extension of her buildings created much interest here ; indeed, it seems probable that, if the number of applications for admission to Girton continue to increase as they are doing now, we also shall have to enlarge our accommodation.

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:

'notes from Newnbam. last year has been one of great importance at Newnham, for it has seen the completion of the Pfeiffer Buildings, which connect Sidgwick with Old Hall, so that now at last we are united under one roof, and once more have the happiness of knowing that our Principal is living in the midst of us. Great alterations, too, have been made in the grounds, the garden has been tastefully laid out, a new hockey ground and new tennis courts have been made, and a pavilion, from which both these games can be watched, has been constructed.

THIS

This Term has also seen the erection of the beautiful bronze gates, the students' memorial to the late Principal, Miss Clough, which were formally presented to the Council on November 3rd, in the presence of a large number of old students.

The Tripos lists last term brought us many fresh honours, foremost among which was the brilliant success of Miss Johnson, who was placed alone in the First Class, first division of the second part of the Mathematical Tripos. Besides this there were eleven other First Classes in the various Triposes, making a most satisfactory total.

With regard to our competition with •Girton in hockey and tennis, the result this year has not changed the possession of the cups, for we still continue to hold the cups for hockey and for the doubles in tennis, while Girton keeps the one for the singles.

The friendly rivalry between the different Halls in the various games is as keen as ever. Sidgwick still holds the foremost place, though it has lost the fives cup to Old Hall and the tennis pewter-pots to Clough. There was an extremely close contest for the hockey cup between Clough and Sidgwick Halls, and the latter only succeeded in retaining it after a drawn match.

The Debate Society still flourishes under the Presidency of Miss Johnson. Our last subject of discussion was " That no great cause can succeed without fanaticism," the motion being lost by a large majority.

The Political Society continues to hold its weekly meetings, at which the affairs of the nation are discussed with great zeal, and disposed of with equal celerity.

The Musical Society has so much developed that it was able to give a very successful concert in the Lent Term, at which some three hundred visitors were present.

During the Long Vacation many students were in residence in Old Hall, and these, in the intervals of much hard work, devoted themselves to a Tennis Tournament, and to a Pastoral Play, which they acted with much success for the entertainment of Girton.

Oxford: Printed by ALDEN & CO., LTD., Bocardo Press.