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UPSTONE AND SON, PRINTERS, QUEEN STREET.
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I. No. 1. MARCH, 1894. THE FRITILLARY.
WHEN yellow buttercups with glittering sheen
Make many a field in merry England gay, When crowds of daisies peer on every green With all-observant eyes, and foam-wreathed may Lies thick on countless hedgerows, who has known One strange shy flower that Oxford calls her own ? Ah ! who has marked them, those deep ruddy bells Now brown, now purple, in the long moist grass ? Within their hearts a golden secret dwells, And, lightly hung, they quiver as winds pass, Or when th' awakening sunbeams through them shine, Glow like translucent cups of fairy wine. Few weeks they linger by their native Thames, Yet all the year their image haunts the mead ; The low wet pastures keep alive their names ; And Fancy's eye beholds them when each reed Is stiff with frost, and paths are white with snow, Or Autumn leaves in stormy whirlwinds blow. Ah, beauteous city of the strange shy flower ! Thus in Life's April we delight in thee, The charm, the vision of our youthful hour For few brief years beheld ; like dreams they flee ! Yet when old age is on us, wintry, chill, We still shall muse on thee, and love the still !
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" How came you to put up a barn just where it would blot out the best of the view ?" asked a touring artist of his landlady. " Why, Sir, that barn was built afore scenery come into fashion," was the conclusive reply. In these days of yachts, and coachdrives, and rhetorical guide books it is hard to realise that mountain and flood were, not so very long ago, objects of indifference or even of horror and dread. When Dr. Johnson asked Boswell if Greenwich Park were not very fine, his accommodating disciple, perhaps, by the bye, with a twinge of regret for Auchinleck, filled the old sage with delight by his enthusiastic " not equal to Fleet Street." On the shores of Loch Ness the venerable philistine decided that " it is easy to sit at home and conceive rocks and heath and waterfalls." The English world of the first half of the eighteenth century was the world of London, of coffee-houses and conversational duels. While Gray was watching the creeping up of evening shadows in Stoke Pogis Churchyard, the typical Georgian Englishman would have yawned and called for a pack of cards. An age that could describe a hill as a " considerable protuberance " was separated as by a gulf from that of Scott and the Trossachs, of Wordsworth and the Cumbrian Hills. All through the Middle Ages the Church painted the actual world as a place from which the sooner one escaped the better, and, seeing the throes of young nations struggling into life, and the weariness attendent on decaying institutions, perhaps the Church was right. Right or wrong, painters were busy drawing attenuated saints, and ignoring perspective, and St. Bernard passed through the heart of the Alps with his eyes on the ground. One man anticipated better times ; Petrarch from the summit of Mount Ventoux saw more than the region of Avignon and the everlasting hills. A passage from the
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Confessions of St. Augustine flashed through his mind like a revelation and he knew then why men should go into the wilderness or to the lonely mountain side. Now we feel that nature even in her savage moods has become part of our very life, though parliament and the London season have not yet consented to accommodate themselves to Ruskin's blue gentian, people being still resolved to crowd into towns when the Alps are at their loveliest. We do recognise, however, that the love of nature is a great humanising element, and when the burden and heat of competitive nineteenth century life is too much for us, we try to be children again and learn of woods and rills. It is one of the signs of the times that polytechnicons and educational societies are tending to promote organised travelling for those who have more than their share of the humdrum of life. Men and women who are struggling day by day with the fiend of sordidness, who are almost choked by the dust and fustian of an unromantic life, see at last a possibility of Alps and Hartz Mountains and the enchanted cities of the south. The expeditions associated with the " Review of Reviews" open up a whole mine of wealth to receptive minds. The young man who climbed the Rigi to see his first sunrise on the Alps, and who was so intoxicated with its beauty, as to make the ascent again, alone, that selfsame day, is but one among the many hundreds in whose lives the Alps would be a very revelation. To how many weary professional people—not too rich, and much too hardworked—might not Mr. Perowne's suggested twelve days' tour round the Fjords, next summer, bring a delightful sense of possibilities. Twelve guineas is not an alarming sum in the face of " something really to look forward to." It is a question perhaps whether the right note is struck in the combined educational and sight-seeing expeditions sometimes arranged ; but whether any permanent
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advantage is gained by speaking bad German for a week or a month at Wartburg, or discussing theology in the Grindelwald, the horizon is widened and that is what we want. While we flock to the towns to jostle one another in the race for life, we say, " Let us not be hedged in by chimney pots, let us have air, and the light of heaven, let us—and above all, let our poorer neighbours—forget once in a while the bricks and mortar." For it is not enough to agitate for a living wage and to insist on our own and our fellows' daily bread. Life is not life without pleasure and we all aspire to be something more than cabbages ! We do not know what we may not be doing by a welltimed suggestion to some dispirited worker. Co-operative expeditions are all the more advisable in that they tend to draw men together, developing their social instincts. Men who have been working in a groove, teachers who have been largely confined to the society of children, have now a chance of rubbing away the rust of months. Especially is it well for teachers to seek companionship and new ideas, when we are told that one of the fraternity was once known to sit down in full sight of the Jungfrau, and calmly mark notes in a Clarendon Press text book. The delightful experiment of " sloyding " has been tried in summer vacations. On one occasion a company of holiday-makers met at Bangor, working for a certain number of hours under an experienced teacher, filling up the rest of the day with boating, or mountain expeditions. For the sum of six pounds, fifteen shillings, a good holiday and a month's Sloyd Course were obtained. In no place, perhaps, is the humanising influence of nature seen more strongly than in the workers of our northern factories and iron-foundries. It was a red-letter day in the life of one north country workman, when after long days spent at the mouth of a great furnace, in the
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din of the heavy steam-hammer, he got for the first-time a glimpse of the Welsh coast, the hills, and the sunny Menai Straits. " Me and my missus, and our childer went, and eh, but it war grand." That workman, through good times and bad times, is now saving up for a week of days that cannot die ; and who shall say that his aim is not a worthy one ? There are grey lives all round us; we could wish those grey lives shot with a thread of gold. AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. DICHTUNG UND WAHRHEIT." ON reading in the daily papers that Mrs. Annie Besant has just been received among the faithful in India as the representative of Mdme. Blavatski, and re-christened, so to speak, Annabai, it occurred to me that it might be of interest to some of the younger and more magnanimous students to hear how a fellow creature was converted from ignorance and a leaning towards Theosophy, to a condition of comparative illumination and a decided preference for less surprising forms of belief. Although it is of no consequence to anyone but myself, I cannot help feeling a deep gratitude to Oxford which was the scene and the occasion of my conversion. In past days I used to look upon London as the centre of the universe. The great people of the earth, the interesting people, so I thought in my mental obscurity, were to be found there and I adored great people. I am by nature a disciple, and not many years of my girlhood were passed before I had knelt at the shrine of several individuals whose names I have not forgotten, though I would willingly forget them, not because I am remorseful —for as an eminent Psychologist has remarked, remorse has got a knack of leaving us on the shortest notice—but because it is unpleasant to feel that one has looked like an idiot. As chance would have it I held, one day, two volumes
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of Mdme. Blavatski's in my arms, each weighing, I should say, some twenty pounds. I was much impressed by them and I said to my mother " I must know this great personage, this Colossus of India, I mean Mdme. Blavatski." My mother said that she drew a line at Mdme. Blavatski, I suggested instead that we should admit her into our family circle. My mother was all that Lady Jeune says a mother ought to be, and she yielded to persuasion ; yet in order that my young mind should be guarded in all its native delicacy, instead of letting me go to see the great woman alone, she went with me. At the door. of Mdme. Blavatski's house it suddenly occurred to me that I might have nothing to say to her when I did see her. I suppressed my panic and walked into the room where the great Russian received anyone and everyone who wished to see her. When the tobacco smoke cleared away a bit, I found myself standing before a great seated antique, hewn out of the solid rock before art had got as far as hinting at the separate existence of the nether limbs. I was horrified, I was full of admiration. Upon this mass of flesh was a small round head of a vigorous type, and covered with crinkly auburn hair. The face belonged to all ages, and the veiled eyes stared without giving you any information. After a moment of embarrassment at having to bow to a seated hostess, for in her later days she never rose except to get from one room to another, I presented my mother. Mdme. Blavatski ejected someone who shared the sofa with her, by a pressure of her fat hand, and I took this person's place. A young man with a face like an inspired monk's drew my mother into animated talk. My impression of the people in the room was that they were more eccentric than really interesting. A man who threw a
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word now and again into my conversation with Mdme. Blavatski had a trick of rolling his eyes every thirty seconds. So often do we in the profanity of our ignorance confound with Pathology what really belongs to Theosophy, that at the first glance I thought he was afflicted with Chorea, and was sorry for him, but observing that he never rolled at any of the men, I became convinced that it was a symptom of the esoteric nature of his beliefs. There was no doubt that Mdme. Blavatski ruled this little company, the more slavish of her admirers were glad to hold her tobacco box. Contrary to what Col. Olcott would have us to understand, about every ten minutes she lost this mysterious looking affair, something between a Hindu temple and a work box, and she never found it without somebody's help. Whoever did find it (under a cushion or even on the limited space, commonly called " my knees," by the absent-minded Mdme. Blavatski), held the lid open while the chief of the Theosophists made a cigarette for herself. I have never seen a cigarette made with such astounding rapidity. It resembled a feat of " legerdemain," but it is one thing to roll up tobacco in a paper at lightning speed and another to bury it at the bottom of the garden without getting up. I told Mdme. Blavatski that I admired her and her books, and then the conscience of the Britisher becoming too strong for me I begged her to tell me whether she believed miracles were an essential part of the Theosophistic mission, I hoped she would say no, it seemed to me the only way out of her difficulties in the Columba case. She said no, and with a certain rough cheerfulness and many French words sprinkled in here and there, she told me of a certain woman in London who had become so much swollen with spiritual egotism that she believed that the commonest domestic occurrences in her house were furthered by the express intervention of Providence.
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",If,is generally said, that women have no sense of humour," I remarked. " No, The life was the Kernel of Theosophy," said Mdme. Blavatski, and as I looked at her I was convinced that some great spiritual energy had possessed itself of her in spite of herself. It surely was impossible that a woman should work as ceaselessly as she did, writing often ten hours a day, for the express purpose of attracting around her a score of simple individuals from the neigbourhood of Bloomsbury and Bayswater. " I shall be understood better fifty years hence," she said, " at present the world is against me. The learned men especially throw stones at me. I've been told I don't know how to spell Budhism—but when I wrote it with two d's,' I really meant, &c., &c., and when I wrote it with one d, 'I really meant, &c., &c." It was all as clear as daylight no doubt, but being an ignorant person I cannot remember which " d " belonged to what. " As a matter of fact," she said to me, " your Rhys David and your other experts have never seen and never will see the MSS. that I have seen, no Buddhist monk would allow the real secrets of Buddhism to be handled by a profane person." " However," she went on, "when a man writes savagely about me I conclude that his liver has taken a chill. People's livers are often out of order, my own is sometimes." I asked her how long it had taken her to write the " Secret Doctrine." " It took me ten months," she said, " and I had neither notes nor books beside me, I trust always to my memory." I was astounded. Did this explain some of the extraordinary statements in the book ? Yet, no, I was incapable of judging.
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Mdme. Blavatski disowned Christianity in no especially new way, and later on I discovered that she enjoyed a good story, she liked to laugh and she had a habit of pawing one when she was pleased. When we had taken our leave, my mother suggested that I ought not to have " gushed " as much as I did over our hostess. " I am not shaken in my opinion," she said, " that the woman is an imposter." " She is a Russian," I replied, " she is probably a liar. It is only a certain mixture of Celt and Teuton, and only a certain middle cut ' so to speak of this mixture, that produces that supreme self-confidence and scorn of other people that we call speaking the truth.' But imposter is another thing. Mdme. Blavatski believes her own doctrines and she is convinced that they will reform society. It is her bounden duty therefore to run everybody into the right path. Sensible persons will be sufficiently attracted thither by the teetotalism, vegetarianism, and the total absence of creature comfort. The respectable people round us are beginning to sacrifice their fleshly passions if you will only give them the chance, but the idiots want to be amused, so for them you have to invent miracles." My mother objected to the tone of my remarks and murmured that it was a pity I had an innate desire to lick somebody's shoes. She meant well, so I merely repeated in her ear some words from the " Dhammapada " ; " From love cometh sorrow ; from love cometh fear ; whosoever is free from love, for him there is no sorrow." Three months later when a rich September sun glowed through the window into the room, my mother sat at her writing table handling letters and some printed papers. " If you will speculate," she said, putting on her glasses and regarding me seriously, " do it properly, become a
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genuine student, go to Oxford and learn. But avoid physical science—this is what your uncle writes—avoid science, especially physics, chemistry, and what used to be called mental physiology and is now called by foolish persons, Psychology. Read Moral Philosophy. It is refining, chilly, impersonal." " I also understand," said my mother, ceasing to read, " that all the Philosophers are dead and that you will only have their books to read and their ideas expanded or watered down, as the case may be, by other people. There will therefore be no one at Oxford, whose boots you will want to lick in my absence. I regard it as the safest place in the world for you." " What ? " I asked, " give up our visits to—," mentioning some names. " Certainly," replied my mother, " What you need is a maximum of intellectual and a minimum of social amusement." I went to Oxford, but in spite of my new surroundings, a year later I was still hankering after Blavatskism. Instead of reading Mill I read Schopenhauer, I preferred Plato to Kant. My tutors did not think me clever. One of them who had a kindly heart, advised me to give up Philosophy and take to crochet. I know that I was a very poor representative of my sex, in that damp but august city. Still I loved the place. One fine summer morning, a friend who pitied me said, " a great man is going to give a lecture on ' Esoteric Buddhism,' will you come ? " " Is he going to give his own ideas or somebody else's?" I asked. " Well," hesitated my friend, "I don't exactly know. I suppose he is going to give us facts drawn from his own researches." " Then I cannot go " I replied, " I have strict orders !
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from home not to see anyone who thinks for themselves, I have," I added, by way of explanation, " a tendency to— well to lean on people, but I never want to lean on people who are propped up themselves." " Nevertheless come !" entreated my friend, and with many misgivings I went. The afternoon was sunny and warm. The audience was not impressive, but it was a turning point in my life when I heard the great man begin to speak, I sat almost breathless. Enlightenment involves suffering. I suffered, I knew that when I should step out again into the sunshine I should have to begin life again. On the way from that lecture room I telegraphed to my mother. " It is all right, I am coming home, I refrain from any opinion on the personal character of H.P.B., but there is no such thing as Esoteric Buddhism. Please communicate this fact to those of our friends whom it may concern." I was even packing up my things when a reply came, " Remain and finish your course." DIALOGUE BETWEEN HEAD-MISTRESS AND APPLICANT FOR POST IN HER SCHOOL. Scene.—Headmistress' Study. Time.-6.3o p.m.
Applicant (A.) waiting. Enter Head-mistress (H.) after an hour's delay. H. Good Afternoon. A. Good Afternoon. H. Are you usually so shy and silent ? A. I don't know . . . er . . . H. Oh, perhaps you are not of a very decided disposition ? A. I think . . .
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H. Evidently not [makes notes.] Of course you know Botany ? A. A little, that is— H. Only a little ? well, that is a great drawback. You are fond of children ? A. Oh, very. H. Indeed ! You know that we cannot allow that sentimental false affection, which endeavours to save labour, by a certain fatuous attempt to allure the devotion of pupils, at the expense of that severe effort, which alone can procure wholesome knowledge ? A. Oh, no— H. You do not then understand these first principles of the Science ? A. I mean, yes, one must of course insist . . . H. Ah ! How often does that insistence of which you speak mean to a child weariness and terror, an eternal striving after what it never can attain, resulting in an accumulation of confused knowledge, which must be a continual hindrance to further effort, and a continual cloud on play—the evils of which, it is difficult, nay, impossible, to measure or appreciate . . . [A. looks puzzled.] Do you usually knit your brows in that manner ? A. I am sorry . . . H. Pray do not apologise, but you will find, I fear, that nervousness stops that freedom of thought and action, that play of imagination, that confidence, that presence of mind, without which no one can ever hope to be a good teacher. A. Yes, but . . . H. Perhaps, if what you are about to say is not of immediate importance, you would be kind enough to allow me to ask you a few questions. What is your age ? A. Twenty-two. H. Thirty-two ? Of course, at that age in the case of Assistant-mistresses, the faculties have passed . . .
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A. Excuse me, twenty-two. H. [with vexation] Indeed ? well, I can hardly blame you for such a misfortune, though at that age the faculties have hardly attained that maturity which the instructor of youth must seek to acquire. At the same time, let me remark that a clear pronunciation is an indispensable qualification for any post of high sal . . . . I mean . . . . high trust. Your certificates I have seen [refers to notes] and in that connection may remind you that such achievements as they denote do not imply the least teaching power, nor can they be depended on, even as a gauge of knowledge acquired. A. Perhaps my testimonials ? H. Ah ! we all know the worth of those documents, wrung from the unwilling hand of teacher or employer, who tosses off commendatory epistles about pupils of whom he does not retain the least memory. I find no mention of Botany in either your certificates or testimonials ; that of course must count against you. A. I have done a . . . H. Well we spoke of that before, did we not ? It is of no use for you to deplore that sad loss now. H. What salary do you ask ? A. I thought 'ioo . . . H. I beg your pardon ? Surely ? A. [hurriedly] L'go. H. [smiling] Dear Madam, is there not some mistake ? Perhaps you do not quite understand'.. . A. [drearily] Between and .80. H. Well, you are quite right to value your services highly, and I am glad to say that if there should be any chance of your coming here, we should be able to offer you nearly .7o—perhaps L'65—or any way it would be raised to that after the first few years. You are of sound opinions—not too decided in any direction, on questions of say, politics, or religion, or education ?
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A. [vaguely] I hope so. H. You hope so ? I trust that the sanguine temperament which you evidently possess does not lead to a blind confidence, which at its best is ever an effectual barrier to progress. [Bell rings for dinner, H. rises.] You will excuse me ? as the machinery of this vast establishment is so easily put out by my prolonged absence, though, let me assure you, it is a machinery worked by hearty goodwill among all. You will hear from me again if the School should be disposed to give you the opportunity of joining us—of course on trial at first. For your own sake, I hope we may do so, as, in the absence of Botany alone, you would find it hard to get work, or in any case good work, elsewhere. A. How soon may I know ? H. [smiling] Well, of course for a post like this there are so many applicants that it is quite impossible to say. [hastily] Good-night, I hope you will be in time for the last train. [Exeunt.] The Fritillary begs to offer its respectful and very cordial congratulations to Mr. Arthur Sidgwick, Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College, on his appointment as University Reader in Greek. The Fritillary counts itself happy that in its very first number it has an opportunity of tendering even this slight acknowledgment to one who has so earnestly and strenuously helped forward the education of one half the human race. Both in Oxford and Cambridge the name of Sidgwick will always be associated with generous, bold and successful endeavour to unseal for women the fountain of knowledge and to give them their due share in the higher and nobler interests of humanity. U.H•D.S. THIS Society met for the first time at St. Hugh's Hall, on Jan. 23rd, the motion being :—" That this House
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approves of the abolition of the House of Lords as at present constituted." The attendance was fairly good, and there was a great deal more life in the meeting than is sometimes the case ; and actually as many as four members of L.M.H. and three of St. Hugh's Hall spoke, instead of letting the whole debate be carried on by Somerville Hall. Miss Deverell (S.H.), the Proposer, set forth the unreasonableness of hereditary right to sit in the House of Lords, and gave a resume of the reforms that had been seriously delayed in the House of Lords—not mentioning, however, that one of the chief functions of that House is to delay measures till all the facts have been properly sifted, and that every measure she instanced was finally passed in some form or other, and is now law. Miss Marshall (L.M.H.), the Opposer, owned that hereditary right to legislate was an anomaly, but was not on that account mischievous, on the contrary, it was an advantage to have some legislators free from the dictation of constituents. Miss Kershaw (S.H.H.) was in favour of abolishing everything. Miss Flamstead (S.H.H.) spoke fourth. Miss Wordsworth (L.M.H.) said that the strength of the House of Lords lay not so much in the `cleverness'' of its members—that cleverness which so often over-rates itself and leads to serious mistakes—as in their sound good sense as English gentlemen. Miss O'Malley (L.M.H.) made a speech which, though very short, was very spirited. We hope to hear Miss O'Malley again. Miss Maitland (S.H.) made a neutral speech, in which she asked various questions concerning the constitution of the House of Lords, but neither the proposer nor the opposer seemed able to reply to these. At any rate Miss Maitland got no answer.
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There also spoke, for the motion :—Miss Kimpster (S.H.), Miss Russell (S.H.) and Miss O'Brien (S.H.) ; against :— Miss Huleatt (L.M.H.), Miss Gibson (S.H.), and Miss H. Wilson (S.H.H.). On the House dividing, the motion was lost by 9 votes to 14. The second meeting this term of the U.H.D.S. was held at Somerville, on Feb. 13th. We regret to say that it was very badly attended. The Motion, " That Ruskin's method of Philanthropic Reform is a failure." The Proposer, Miss Weston (S.H.H.), urged that the secret of Ruskin's failure lies in the fact that he only looks at questions from the artistic point of view. He is too enthusiastic, draws hasty conclusions, and has no power of continuous thought. His observations are superficial, he misses the real points of our nature. His proposed reforms are based on the principle of limitation. He fails because his theories are retrogressive ; he is behind his age. The Opposer, Miss Huleatt (S.H.H.), read an interesting and amusing speech, though it was perhaps a little long. She showed how in education, and other works, Ruskin's theories are gradually being realized. Ruskin's great idea is the importance of the individual. He rightly takes a high view of human nature, and in this, if in nothing else, he has done good ; for nothing so induces a man to lead a good life, as to tell him that he is capable of it. Third Speaker, Miss Maitland (S.H.), spoke well of the position of England in 186o, and of the excitement which was caused by the production of Ruskin's first papers. The fact that now-a-days few of his theories are regarded as startling, shows that we are awakening to their truth. In commerce his teaching has failed, but only because England was unworthy of it. It was somewhat difficult to know on which side the fourth speaker, Miss O'Brien, was arguing, for though in a speech full of quotations, she expressed her inten-
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tion of supporting the proposer, yet she contradicted all the arguments brought forward by that speaker. She declared that Ruskin is neither superficial nor a retrogressionist, he is ahead of his age. He failed because he is too good for his age, &c. ; in his case failure is the highest praise. We regret that want of space prevents us from giving a detailed account of Miss Crawley's (L.M.H.) interesting speech on Ruskin's influence on the position of women ; or of Miss Kinifister's (S.H.) speech on Ruskin's work as a pioneer, and also with regard to China dogs. There spoke also for the motion, Miss Gardiner (L.M.H.), and against the motion Miss Worthington (S.H.). In her summing up the proposer showed as Ruskin gives us principles which it is impossible to follow ; his work is a failure. He caused ill-feeling among different classes, and intensified evils in his efforts to do good. There voted for the motion, none ; against the motion, twelve ; neutrals, seven. To the Editor of the Fritillary. DEAR MADAM,
May I venture to make an appeal through your pages for a little more liveliness at the meetings of our United Halls Debating Society. The stony silence which prevails while the unfortunate proposer or opposer is reading her paper may denote rapt attention, but it is most chilling and disconcerting to the devoted object. Even groans would be far preferable, for they would both rouse the natural instinct of opposition, and would show that people were at any rate taking a little interest in the subject in hand. Again, modesty, though admirable as a general principle, may be carried to excess, and if only the rows of silent members, who have something to say, but are afraid to say it, would rise superior to their natural timidity, the dismal pauses which take away all life from the Debates, would become a memory of the past. I speak feelingly, dear Madam, being A RECENT VICTIM.
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SONNET.
seemest, soul of mine, as one who stands With eyes long bent upon a forest stream Rock-pent, and foliage-shaded from the beam Of gaudy sunlight ; on the pebbled sands Rests the earth-wonted gaze ; but soon expands As suddenly and brightly as a dream. An under-world of sky and verdure, gleam And glory, painted there by spirit hands. Thus, sounding Life's deep Current thou, my soul, See'st at the bottom, earth : till on a day Thy thoughtful downward look discover heaven Beneath the flood ; hence forward shall thy way (Albeit the veil reclose again, once riven) Be blest by constant Faith's serene control. LUCIA.
THOU
THE LAST RESORT.
Now in the citadel of thine own heart Take refuge from the shocks of casual fate, Mourn not, nor weep ; thou art not desolate While thou may'st converse with thyself apart. Behold, not in the city nor the mart, Nor where the anxious suitors stand and wait, Crowding each other at the narrow gate, Shall consolation meet thee. Where thou art There stand secure, outgazing fortune's frown, Strong in thine own unmoved serenity Self-conscious, resting on thy purpose high Not much elate, nor ever much cast down ; And quietude shall mark thee as her own, And peace environ thee with sanctity. LADY MARGARET HALL. The Weekly " Sociables " on Saturday evenings have
been continued as usual this term and have been more popular than ever. Miss Lea-Smith is an energetic and enterprising secretary, and has been very successful in arranging most delightful evenings. Our Terminal Concert in the Holy Trinity school-room in St. Ebbe's parish, took place on February izth, when the combined efforts of St. Hugh's and Lady Margaret
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produced a very good concert, which was greatly appreciated. Romberg's Toy Symphony was perhaps the feature of the evening and evoked most enthusiastic applause. Sharp Practice Society continues with unabated vigour ; Miss Baker being President and Miss Ellis, Secretary. The motions have been very well chosen, but it is to be desired that discussion should become more general, and that eloquence should not only be confined to the few. The Shakespeare Society still continues and is well supported. " As you like it " is now being read. The Athletic Sports have not yet taken place, but the Committee has already begun to make arrangements for them, and it is to be hoped that they will be as successful as those which took place last year. Lady Margaret Hall Hockey Club. Our Hockey Club continues to flourish. It has at present 26 members, not at all a bad proportion of the whole Hall. The weather has not been very propitious this term, but even on some most uninviting days the devotees of hockey have risen superior to outward discomfort. At present we have only played one match, but have several others in prospect. The ladies of Burford were coming over to play against us on Tuesday, the loth, but, unfortunately, the ground was unfit for use. The usual match with Somerville Hall will be on Thursday the 22nd, weather permitting. We play Holloway College on their own ground on the Monday after term. The one match which we have played was against the Oxford High School. I am glad to say that we managed to hold our own, though we had a very hard fight for it. Much credit is due to our backs for their stubborn and gallant defence. There was a strong wind blowing all down the ground. The High School won the toss, and at the end of the first
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half-time, led with one goal. But very soon after the change of ends, two goals were scored for Lady Margaret, both being shot by our centre-forward, Miss Bradby, whom we are rejoiced to have back again with us. The play continued very hard till the umpire's whistle, but nothing more was scored. At present the great theme of interest in the Hockey Club is the projected match against Cambridge, to be played by a joint team from Somerville and Lady Margaret Halls. The date is not yet absolutely fixed, but it will be either Wednesday, March r4th, or Thursday, the 15th. The combined team has only played together once, but we hope to be able to practise several times before the end of term, both Mr. A. L. Smith and Dr. Brooks having kindly promised to come and supervise. L.M.H.L.T.C. It has been decided not to hold tennisties this term, though the champions, Miss Bradby and Miss Baker, may be challenged. No challenges have, however, as yet taken place. Scratch pairs are being played, in which Miss Lodge and Miss Nickels have beaten Miss Baker and Miss Morshead, and Miss Atkins and Miss Carruthers have beaten Miss Alder and Miss Evans. Miss Huleatt and Miss Teale seem the strongest pair, and ought to win. ST. HUGH'S HALL. The Browning Society resumed its meetings on the second Sunday of term with Miss Williams as President. " Strafford " has been read and discussed with much animation by the advocates of the several characters. The Society, which includes most of the members of the Hall, has been very regular in its attendance. The Shakespeare Society has had three meetings ; the play chosen by the President, Miss Thompson, was " Much Ado About Nothing." It is to be regretted that slight
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excuses have been deemed sufficient to interfere with its regular weekly meetings. The Sharp Practice Society has had several stormy meetings and at one time it was feared that its days were numbered, but through the staunch support of a few of its members the crisis has been safely passed, and it now promises to flourish under a somewhat altered constitution. The attendance of its members is still compulsory, but it no longer consists, as formerly, of the whole Hall. The Glee Society. This society has increased in numbers and efficiency by the addition of several members from Lady Margaret Hall. Greater regularity of attendance of all members is to be desired, to reach that standard of excellence which ought to be attained under the able conductor. The Social Side of Life. We have been fortunate enough to have three dances and one musical evening. The musical programme of February 13th was very much appreciated, for it was largely contributed to by Miss M. Barter. The Historical Society holds its meetings every Saturday, at io p.m., in the rooms of the members in turn. The discussions have been animated and, it is to be hoped, profitable ; the attendance is, as yet, exemplary, but we must not forget a well-known proverb about new brooms. The Modern Language Society would do well to follow the example of its contemporary, the Historical Society, in the matter of attendance. The present irregularity may possibly be explained by the absence of cakes and cocoa which form a prominent feature of the aforementioned society. The Dante Readings with Miss Moberly have been much enjoyed. Tennis. A few members have taken advantage of the excellent condition of the gravel court, but the Ties which have been arranged for some time are not yet
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played off, owing either to the lack of interest taken in them by the members, or to the negligence of the Secretary. It is to be hoped that this state of things will be improved before the summer term. Boating. The Secretary, Miss Fairbanks, has arranged for two Races, one over a long, the other over a short course, which are to be rowed on Saturday, Feb. 24th. The members of this club are increasing as the example of a few has fired many with the desire to accomplish the regulation 5o feet. Hockey. The kind invitation of Lady Margaret Hall to join in their practice, has been much appreciated by the more energetic members of the Hall. SOMERVILLE HALL. OUR hearty thanks are due to the Somerville Students' Association for a gift of E3o towards our new buildings. This last has made rapid strides since January. We welcome the sight of the roof and hope soon to see our grounds in their accustomed loveliness. January 24th the Tennis Club submitted its ribbon as a Hall ribbon. Hall colours had long been adopted, but there existed no Hall Ribbon. A new combination of the same colours (red and black) is to be selected for the use of the Tennis Club. S. H. Library. As the business of Librarian proved by sad experience hopelessly incompatible with the requirements of examiners, the administration of the library has been wholly re-organised. It is now in the hands of a committee consisting of a member of council, the resident tutors and two students, annually elected by the Hall, and an official librarian. A new card catalogue has been made, and the backs of all the books have been decorated with labels of wondrous and beautiful colours, bearing numbers of an equally wondrous and beautiful complexity. Numerous additions have been made to the library, both in books and furniture,
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including a generous gift from Mrs. T. H. Green, of books out of the late Professor T. H. Green's library, and a donation of 6s. 8d. from Mr. Grose, of Queen's College. A stock-taking of the library made known the sad fact that several books were missing, including five or six volumes of the Works of Ruskin. On prompt restitution, the thief may yet hope for pardon. S. H. Boat Club. The Club has at length decided that one boat gives but little opportunity for some twenty people to disport themselves on the Cherwell, and is making a vigorous attempt to charter at least one other vessel to accommodate a few more members. Hockey Club. The Club, which now numbers 25 players, has done some good work this term. Play has generally improved under good coaching and with constant hard practice. A match against R.H.C.H.C. was played at Holloway on February 3rd, resulting in three goals to two in favour of the Blues ; and another against C.H.S.H.C., on February i3th, on the Somerville ground, when the home team was beaten by three goals to love. The return match is to be played before the end of term, and also a match against L.M.H.H.C. An Inter-University Match is being arranged with Cambridge, and will be played at Wimbledon on March i4th. The Oxford team will include members of both the S.H.H.C. and the L.M.H.H.C., under the captaincy of B. Huleatt (L.M.H.) HOME STUDENT NEWS. Reading Room. The Reading Room 'continues to flourish, and has now between forty and fifty members. The list of magazines and papers taken is very varied, and calculated to suit all tastes, ranging from the " Nineteenth Century " to " Truth " and " Punch." A considerable number of members avail themselves of the rule allowing
INIMMINIMMOMPMMIWPRIMPIIIRIRM.
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them to take home a magazine or paper from Friday to Tuesday, during which time the Reading Room is closed. The " Afternoon Tea," which can be had for the modest sum of twopence, seems to be fairly well patronised, and we should be glad to impress on any of our friends at the Halls that they are welcome to avail themselves of it at any time. HOCKEY CLUB. THE Home-Students and members of St. Hilda's have combined to form a Hockey Club this term. Some outsiders have been asked to make up the number, which is now over twenty. Lady Margaret Hockey Club has been kind enough to allow us to share Mr. Lynam's field on the days on which they use it, and we are glad to take this opportunity of expressing our gratitude to them. The play has been vigorous and fairly large attendances have L. C. N. GURNEY, been secured. (Acting Secretary).
Home-Students' Tennis Club. Our Tennis Club was started in the Michaelmas term of 1892, and has been flourishing ever since, though it was dropped for one term. The first two terms were played on the now non-existent "Brewer's Courts" at the end of Norham Road, securing a court there for the term by means of the subscriptions of the members, who have always numbered between ten and twelve. Before Easter last year we agreed not to continue the Clubs during the summer term, as the said courts were all gravel, and we felt that in the summer heat the river or an occasional game on a friend's grass court would be pleasanter. When we came up in April we found that our abstinence from Tennis would have been enforced had it not been voluntary, for the courts had been appropriated as a play ground by the Games Club. We anticipated some difficulty in finding a court for the ensuing Michaelmas term when we wished to revive the clubs, but owing to the kindness of Mr. A. H. Johnson and Mr. A. L. Smith, we were able to rent a court much better kept than our old one, on the ground beyond Lady Margaret Hall, and the more energetic members of the club have had many pleasant games there during the last two terms. C. J. M. HUBBACK, Secretary.
A LAMENT. (WRITTEN IN THE SCHOOLS.) 0 gentle stranger, thou who dost pursue The path of pleasure, scorning to be wise, Who in Commem. week, dost come here to view This House of Torture with strange, wondering, eyes Pause e'er you pass away, and sigh aloud For the poor luckless maid who here was ploughed.
Why, when I sat for hours upon this chair And read my questions o'er and o'er again ; Gazing with rapt attention in the air, Frowning ferociously, but all in vain ; Biting my pen and groaning half aloud What have I done that I should thus be ploughed ? 'Tis true my answers were a little weird, 'Tis not on paper that my genius shines. I was concise and brief, (too brief 'tis feared) Told all I knew of Wolsey in three lines. A half page to each essay I allowed, Is that a reason why I should be ploughed ? Ah well ! 'tis over now and I may cease To rack my brains for treaty, date or name ; Now I may spend my days and nights in peace, No more I'll strive to climb the Hill of Fame, No since they thus despise me, I have vowed I'll ne'er again submit to being ploughed. !