FRITILLARY June, 1 9 2 5
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Editor. R. A. CROOK (Somerville College). Sub-Editor. R. BAILEY (Lady Margaret Hall). Committee. A. M. C. LA'THAM (Somerville College). E. CRYER (St. Hugh's College). D. M. HILLS (St. Hilda's Hall). M. OWEN (Lady Margaret Hall). J. M. A. STOTT (Oxford Home Students). Treasurer. 1. NE. SHRIGLEY (St. Hugh's College).
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fritillarp Magazine of the Oxford Women's Colleges JUNE, 1925 CONTENTS . Editorial .. On Taking Life Seriously Summer Term . The Playhouse .. Sonnet .. The Ancren Riwule Fashions for the Schools A Garland
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Rest REVIEWS :The Unhurrying Chase Major Dane's Garden Coaching Days .. Epitome . Rain .. .. Notices and Reports
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HERE were moments in the present term when the Editor of this paper wished she might never see it again. She would have consented without a pang to merge it for ever in ' Home Notes,' or to let all its pages be used for wrapping oranges. Her friends said peaceably that it might be worse, but she contradicted them. ' How,' she said, with a fine retorted scorn, `can you make a paper out of three bad prose pieces and the promise of a swimming club report ? ' And she wished very much that she were back in the days of Steele and Addison, when you could apparently create a whole number of the ' Spectator' out of an essay on ' Paradise Lost.' She had by her at the moment three essays on ' Paradise Lost ' ; it would have been pleasant to send one of them to the Holywell Press, and say, ' Here is Fritillary. Please put the quotations in italics.' Into that gloom broke first a long-promised article from Sheila KayeSmith. The Editor sat down gratefully to count its words. She began to toy with the idea of having Fritillary printed in really large lettering—like that which in our childhood made of ' A was an Apple-pie ' a Titanic statement striding a whole page. As she was designing, in her mind, an inchhigh capital for the first paragraph, suddenly it was the week-end before Schools, and the Editor found herself in a 'bus, jolting away from Carfax to spend Saturday-till-Tuesday among the unacademic hills. There was a lady in the 'bus, large and dignified, with a close green hat trimmed with purple, and an orange blouse. ' No,' she said, ' the 'eat never 'urts me. Never 'urts me at all. After all, we wouldn't like it if it was cold, would we ? ' The Editor took this for her first omen. As she
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climbed with her bag up a white lane between fields dappled with their first moon-daisies, she began to believe that things might always be worse than they were. For if the green and purple lady had really felt the heat, no doubt there would have been matter for tragedy. The second omen was Matilda. Matilda awoke the Editor in the morning with a can of hot water, and when the Editor said sleepily, ' Is it really half-past eight ? ' Matilda replied, Yes, miss. Time flies.' She was a small, bright, brown woman, with a smile that ran suddenly, lifting her nose and eyebrows with it, from her mouth up to her hair, and then stopped. A nice day. It followed whatever she said, like a mark of punctuation. The winter. We all have colds.' The sun's lovely.' And then the smile. And the smile again. With anyone else its persistency would have been irritating. But with Matilda it came so suddenly, it was gone so quickly, leaving her face shut and brown again, that one thought of it as something quite separate, a phenomenon in itself, like the Northern Lights. ' What pudding can you suggest, Matilda ? ' Matilda would pause—think' Rice ? ' she would say, and the smile would flash upward, secure, provocative, defying one to say that rice-pudding was not at once an adventure and a discovery. On a hill with Matilda it did not seem to matter whether Fritillary came out this term or not. The Editor, eating rice-pudding at her cottagedoor, achieved a fine detachment. Below her, in the invisible pigmy spot that was Oxford, surely a number of people must be writing articles. She would be saved yet. And she did not again think of Fritillary till she found herself on Tuesday with her face to Oxford, going down the hill. Phrases of Matilda's were going through her head, twining themselves with her thoughts like the lowing of the cows in Alice's dream. Time flies . . . going down . . . my children do it in twenty-five minutes to the bottom of the hill . . . Yes, miss . . . Time flies.' And the moral of that,' she thought, but stopped, for how could she add to Matilda, or say anything but that, for some, Time has flown, bringing with it the last Fritillary, and the end of the hill at hand, where one goes out through the Gate called Schools. When the Editor reached Oxford a number of people had written prose. And here, in spite of everything, is Fritillary. We acknowledge with thanks the Smith Alumnae Quarterly,' the Girton Review ' and Paulina.'
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' She takes life exceedingly seriously. She has just been speaking at Plymouth on Education.' These words about the present writer appeared in a magazine not so very long ago, and they seem to me to illustrate a fallacy at the bottom of the editorial mind ; for (not with undue modesty, I think) it struck me that the last thing which I should have done had I really taken life seriously would have been to speak on Education, a subject of which I know absolutely nothing. The behaviour in question seemed to me more an example of taking life adventurously, anyhow of refusing to take education seriously. But the fact is, of course, that, like most other people, my mind is bursting with ideas on a variety of subjects of which I know nothing, and that any opportunity to give tongue to these ideas is too good to be missed. Had I taken life with true seriousness, I should probably have realised that I might be putting a good cause in jeopardy by my wild and unconsidered utterances. I should have asked for the subject to be handed over to one whose educational knowledge was not limited to having been a victim of the process at a fairly distant date. But I think it is a symptom of modern life that we are apt to divert the tides of our seriousness into channels hitherto reserved for the frothings of frivolity. For instance, how do the numbers who take really serious things seriously, such as education, politics and so on, compare with those who take games seriously ? It has now been made impossible for anybody but an expert to dare to play golf or bridge, except in a secret and childish way, owing to the extreme seriousness with which these things are taken nowadays and the severity with which any blunders or incapacity would be judged. Whereas anyone who chooses may take a hand in the public game of politics or religion, may lift up his voice in criticism or direction, and may find his words receiving special consideration by the very fact that he knows little or nothing about the matter, that he is not, as the newspapers say, either politically or ecclesiastically-minded. Almost the only shop ' which is correctly reported at the present day is Games' shop, such as golf, cricket, tennis or football. Any reporter on the staff can be sent to report an ecclesiastical or medical meeting, or, on emergency, to play the part of dramatic critic at a play ; but no one except an expert would ever be sent to Lord's or Wimbledon or Chelsea to report the matters there in progress. There is in this no doubt a psychological foundation that is common to us all. The tendency in most of us is to give much more serious attention to the details and side issues of life than we do to its central and presumably most important facts. How many women, for instance, give more serious thought to the choosing of a husband than they do to the choosing of a really important gown ? The latter is often a matter of prolonged and serious consideration, while the former is often a mere sudden yielding to impulse ; and yet a failure in husbands cannot be sent back to the shop, altered, renovated, or even bestowed on one's friends. The fact is, probably, that if we really had a sense of proportion and treated each event in life with its due gradations of seriousness, some things would never be done because they would appear altogether too overwhelming and dangerous and far-reaching in their consequences, and others would never be done because they would appear too trivial and childish to be worth while. So Nature has obligingly mixed up our values, and our
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increased attention to the lighter side of life and our haphazard attitude towards its more serious aspects result in both the light and the heavy things getting done somehow. In cases where she has failed to perform this for me, and a human being has his due sense of proportion—indifferent to such matters as clothing, manners, games, and overwhelmed by the more serious side of life, so that he is unable to tackle its business—then we say that that human being has lost his mental balance, that he is mad. Whereas if we look into it, he is the only one of us who really sees things in their true proportion. During the war men in the trenches made fun of death and wounds and horror, because otherwise they would have loomed too large for plain men's dealing. They had to be put on the lighter side of life, being balanced on the heavier side by such matters as leave, baths, letters, and plum and apple jam. All this rather gives one the impression that not only do we fail to take life seriously, but that life does not take us quite seriously ourselves.
Summer term The woods are soft with bells of blue-1 (I've got a mac., but the rain comes through), The oaks are gay with golden bud (Between my toes is the squelching mud) ; The furry bracken fronds are curled, Above the thrushes sing. Oh, the wettest place in the whole wide world Is an English wood in spring. Sweet is the sound of the gramophone (If only my time could be called my own) ; The chestnut blossoms sprinkle the grass (Quickly, quickly, the swift hours pass) ; The sun falls warm on river and lawn In golden dreaming pools. And I wish, I wish I had never been born, Or never been taking schools.
FRITILLARY. On Monday, May t8th, the Oxford Players returned in that piece of dreary realism, ' The Cherry Orchard.' Two characters in the play, Madame Ranevsky (Miss Mary Grey) and Dunyasha (Miss Kathleen 1VIosely) stressed the realism and avoided the dreariness. Madame Raney-
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sky was so entirely natural that, after having met her in the first scene, everything she did and said seemed inevitable ; her confession of her past life, for instance, was to be expected ; a woman who was so futilely generous, so exasperatingly irresponsible and yet so charming would obviously have a lover who would just as obviously ill-treat her, and regret it afterwards. Dunyasha, with her pride in her acquired gentility, and her flirtation with Yasha, was an attractive and convincing character. The others somehow lacked reality, except Lopakhin—Mr. Fred O'Donovan who never failed to convince one, with his energy and remorseless reasoning, and Firs, the old servant, whose senile devotion was wonderfully portrayed by Mr. 0. B. Clarence. Miss Isham made a somewhat colourless Barbara. After the gloomy and life-like Cherry Orchard,' ' The Rivals,' with its gaiety and unreality, was extraordinarily refreshing. It transported the audience to the eighteenth century, which is supposed by those who know no history—and let us keep our illusion, for •
it is a pleasant one—to be the heyday of polished manners, of wit and delicate artificiality. How dashing and gay Jack Absolute was ; no wonder the romantic Lydia fell in love wth him, and did not want such a splendid love affair spoilt by the approval of her aunt and of Sir Anthony. That gentleman was so attractive when he was in a rage, which was entirely devoid of the sinister touch that characterizes bad temper in ordinary life, that it was quite natural to desire him to disapprove of anything. Julia and Falkland, with their quaint misunderstandings and their beautiful reconciliations, what a charming pair they were ; and as for Bob Acres, ' Fighting Bob ' ! Mr. Nigel Playfair's Company brought out all the qualities of Sheridan's characters, and gave them that touch of improbability which they needed. One cannot help comparing ' The Rivals ' to champagne ; both are cool, bright, sparkling, rather dry to the taste and very pleasant fare. N.I.X. •
Sonnet Her still face, like an angel's folded wings, Seemed to have known the earth an untold age, So full it was of knowledgeable things, Though yet not wakened to its heritage. For she herself was young, so, that her face Lay like a death mask on a graceless child, The smooth mouth ever smiling into space, The tranquil •brow like first snow, undefiled. Only the quick eyes, glancing there and here, Showed the bright spirit groping for the light, Eager for life ; nor did she seem to fear That time on her unsullied page should write. Come, passionate moods, on tiptoe past her creep, Lest one unworthy wake that face from sleep.
the ancren 1Riwule DEAR MADAM,
I think some of your readers, especially those who belong to the School of English Language and Literature, may be interested to know that the inspiration of a distinguished research scholar, who wishes to remain anonymous, has thrown light upon a certain prose work of the thirteenth century, with which they may be already acquainted. The work in question goes by the name of ' The Ancien Riwule,' and hitherto, this has always been translated as Rules for Auchoresses.' If, however, it is rendered, as it undoubtedly should be, as ' Rules for Women Students,' many points in the text which till now have seemed obscure at once become clear.
FRITILLARY. For example, there occurs the line warien hwon me punt hire.' What can this mean if not ' Let her beware when men punt her ' ? The writer of the Riwule ' was, above all, a practical man. Again, a little later he says : Northi thet no mon i-sihth on, ne ze i-seoth nenne mon, wel mei don of lower clothes, bean heo hiVite, beon heo blahe.' Which is to say, ' So long as no man sees you, and you see no man, your clothes will do perfectly well, be they white, or be they black.' In the line Aucren sume sungith in hare wimlunge no lesse thene lefdi ' the word wimlunge ' offers some difficulty. Some scholars suggest ' washing,' in which case the line should read : ' Some students sing in their baths no less than ladies.' This explanation, however, is not wholly satisfactory. The author has good counsel for those taking examinations : Ne beo je never idel var anonrilites the veond beat hire his were that ine gode werhe ne wurcheth and he tuteleth anonrilities tonward hire.' Be you never idle, for at once the devil offers his work [ ? Hawkins] to her who does not do good work and at once he tootles towards her ' (or ' he begins to coach her '). Besides his wise words on clothes already quoted, the author gives the following injunction : Ze schulen beon i-dodded four sithen ithe zere, vorto lihten ower heaned (other zef ze wulleth i-schauen hwase wule ieveset) '—` You shall be bobbed four times a year to lighten your head (or if ye will be shaved, let whoso will be shingled).' Then follow what appear to be proctorial rules Withute leave ne ete heo, ne ne drinke ute.' ' Without leave she may not eat or drink out.' Nenne mon ne leten heo in . . . ne ne go uont ut of tune withuten siber vere.' She may let no man in . . . nor ever go out of the town without a trusty companion (? chaperone)." . . . ne ne holde heo uont uone tale mid mon . . . ne toggen mid, ne pleien.' . . . nor enter into conversation with men . . . nor go to Toggers with them, nor play with them.' Hare lates lohen warliche, thet non ne edivite ham ne ine huse, ne ut of huse. On alle wise vorberen to wreththen hore dame, and ase ofte as heo hit cloth . . . undervon the peintence that heo Leith upon lure.' ' Let them be careful about being in late, that none may reproach them in or out of the house.' [N.B.—But some editors read cates ' for lates ' and etwiten ' for edwite,' thus rendering the line as : ' Let them lock their food up carefully, so that no one may eat it up, inside or out of the house.'" In every way let her forbear to annoy her Principal, and as often as she does so . . . let her undergo the penance that she lays upon her.' Ze ancren owen this lutle laste stucchen reden to our wummen everiche wihe eves, wort thet heo hit kunnen.' ' Let one of the students [ ? the student Owen] read these last little pieces to our women every week-end until they know' them.' The above are some of the chief precepts laid down by the learned author of this work. I trust that this interpretation may make their meaning clear to everyone, and may help to prove how little the ways of women students in this University have changed since the thirteenth century. I remain, Madam Yours faithfully, A TWENTIETH CENTURY ANCHORESS. I. E. H. '
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fashions for the Schools 19 Belgrave Square, Mayfair. I have been asked by a young friend of mine to give a few hints to all you poor things who have Schools ' so soon. She writes : ' It's just impossible to know what to wear, for one is so restricted.' But, surely, it is woman's task to transcend restrictions, so I am sending you a few ideas for different types, for, after all, it is type that matters in• dress. The first sketch I called Lady Margaret '—ladylike, yet original. I'm told a black tie is de rigueur, also the black and white motif ; and • your caps ! so beautifully nicky. So in this we have just simple lines, a swathe tie and the ebony stick which, of course, is to be everywhere in August. The next is feminine, clinging . . . I advise marocain for the gown. I'm told St. Hugh's is allowed a different uniform from the others, and I must say I do think knickers and gloves are an improvement. Of course, boots are a difficulty, but then there are always the jolly Russion sort with tops. (But never take your boots off. Never. Only absolutely never-get-there's remove their boots.) The goloshes should be carried.
Lady Margaret.
St. Hugh's.
Somerville.
A secret for you. The galosh is coming into its own ! My next model is a different type. I do realise there are some of you for whom exams. are real and earnest and the grave is not their goal.' And this is for you, who want to get honours, not just pass. Just a rather widely-made coat and skirt, but with my own cavern ' pockets ! You see, all you have to do before the Day dawns is to slip your books into your caverns '—and when they ask you your verbs or your dates, you've got your grammar and history books there, all ready ! Must say, I'm proud of that little effort. I do hope these suggestions have helped, and the best of luck to you all. Your friend, DIANA DUFF-COOPER.
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He thought it was a cart-horse A ploughing up the High, But when he looked he saw it was An asthete passing by.
R Gattanb Wise and noble-souled writers have said that no one should ever read an anthology. The reason for this is not that it is bad for you to read them, that they stultify your judgment and impair your taste, but that you ought to be busy writing your own. And so I hope you are. Meanwhile I will set down a few phrases that have helped me at difficult moments in my life, and if you forget my warning, on your own head be it. First, in fret and struggle, in moments of over-excitement or of torturing indecision, I have repeated to myself these simple words, that must touch the heart of all who have the understanding ear : I've studied it from side to side ; ' Tis four feet long and six feet wide—' so soothing as to be almost soporific. I know not what it was the poet studied and I am content never to know ; but its size will always remain one sure and certain fact in a world of doubt. Less touching in simple sincerity, yet dear to me from the fidelity of detail and the sense of triumphant thanksgiving that breathes through them are the following lines : ' And from a neighbouring street they reskied His hat and coat and boots and weskit—' How they came to be in the neighbouring street is one of those inscrutable
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secrets of the poet's mind, but we may rejoice with him in their reunion. For poignant emotion I shall always remember ' And freedom shrieked when Kosciuski fell ! ' Who that has once heard that shriek ringing down the ages can ever forget? Then think also of the Miltonic organ-roll, the natural dignity which raises the subject, itself a lofty one, into the Grand Style : Innoculation, heavenly maid, descend.' This secret grandeur has visited the inspiration of the poet in this next passage, but it has been transmuted into a mellow humanity, something ' not too bright and good For human nature's daily food,' touching us all by its intimate appeal, yet elevating us to heights whence we learn to look with pity and yet with serenity upon the vaccillations of human fortune : ' Along the wires the electric message came, He is not better ; he is much the same.' You must not think that this exhausts my list of much-loved lines— there is the description of him who sat upon the roof of an itinerant vehicle —and many more which will suggest themselves inevitably by reason of their universal appeal. Yet this little garland has shown treasures, perhaps unsuspected, of simplicity, joy, pathos, drama—nay tragedy, the beautiful and the sublime, !'gleams of half-extinguished thought ' to beckon us up on to the heights, and yet having power to move us too deeply for tears.
iRest You shall have rest, for the hills will be over your eyes And the roots of the trees of the forest will deafen your ears, And your spirits be drawn not again to the clangour and cries Of the battle that never will end till the end of the years. From the voice of the wind and the passionate eyes of the west, From hunger and hatred and pity your hearts shall have rest. And the months will go by and the years, and the stars rise and set Over cities that flourish and fade like the frost of a day ; And your deeds are a part of the world, but the world will forget Your names and your sons', who are valiant and vanish away. O long lives the world ! but your care for its fortune is o'er, And the dream of the city of heaven will vex you no more. A. G. S.
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'Reviews THE UNHURRYING CHASE. By H. F. M. PRESCOTT. (Constable & CO. 1925.) This is a fine book, fine with the mastering beauty of an idea intensely conceived and worked out with a, sure deliberation, that b,rings, home the sense of unhurrying chase. The action moves slowly with the leisurely unfolding of the life of Yves of Rifaucon and the tracing of the line upon line and precept upon precept impressed against his will on his proud and undisciplined nature, until at the end he surrenders quite simply to the Hunter which never tires. The scene is Angouleme in the second half of the twelfth century, and beneath the lives of lesser' men there flows the undercurrent of the ambition, of Richard of Poitou, later the Lion-heart of England. The time, then, is a distant past, and yet this is no accident ; the age is essential to the conception of event and character, and the universal is shown in a particular setting. Within Yves, as within many a man before and since, there is fought out a conflict between his own will and the claims of more than one loyalty—the claims of his God, of his love, of his over-lord, and of his land. He comes, before us first as a proud small boy whose master passion is love for the fief that one day will be his ; and through the years of pagehood and squii ehood in the household of his lord, Count Guilheem of Angouleme, he is fretted by the submission, of personal service and lives but for knighthood and independence. The Count was a just master, but his gibing tongue and uncanny knowledge of all men's affairs touched Yves on the raw of his pride. The first turning point came on the verge of knighthood:: to see Rifaucon once again he left the Count's line of march in sheer undiscipline, and rode through country of compelling fairness. His companion was a wise abbot, who put before him the choice of the Hunter—all or nothing; and at length, drunk with beauty and emotion, he came in the dark to the charnel house that until two days before had been the castle, of his race. Henceforward he is a landless man, wounded beyond repair in the passion of his being, and hopeless of a career in an age founded on land. Fierce hatred of Richard became his hourly companion, and he bent his whole purpose against the man who had broken his life. For a time part-healing came ; in the friendship of a brother-in-arms, the practice of the troubadour's' art, and in the love for Audiant of Rouitlac, a girl-heiress who is drawn close to him by a man-like love of his fief and her interest in farming and draining. But he never lost the soreness of a landless man and was ever ready to believe in the mocking and contempt of others, even of Domna Audriant herself. And so the second turning point came, and ' the ultimate will that is the self, unpersuaded and free in its choice,' deliberately refused the call to Crusade, because so he could not have revenge on Richard. The victory of hate led to service with the routier Malinvaux, and years of the evil and sordid life of the mercenary soldier. The purgatory of degradation and lost ideals took Yves : in that furnace he was purged, and out of the fire salvation came when the Hunter claimed his quarry. With surrender there came joy in the midst of torture. That is the burden of a book to which a summary can do scant justice. It has the qualities and defects of a first book. Some of the defects are
FRITILLARY. small—anachronisms that do not distort the reflection in the mirror held up to life but yet are specks on its surface. Were there grey nuns in 1176, and did a monk tell his beads before St. Dominic devised them for lay brothers ignorant of letters ? More serious, because it tends to blur the sense of reality, is the convention adopted in the dialogue. It is indeed free from the archaisms of Wardour Street, and we do not find prithee and methinks ; yet surely it is a mistake to use hath for has, and ye for you (nominative). The error lies in the barrier set up between the character and the reader, and prevents that full realisation of the lives of another age which makes all history contemporary history. Again, the use of constant dots of omission to express hesitation and emotion is a fault. The tactics of the book are thus in error from a certain want of experience : the strategy is masterly, and the merits of a first book appear in the intensely-realised characters and events, in long-pondered ideas, and in minutely-observed descriptions which make scenes live with amazing vividness and freshness. MAJOR DANE'S GARDEN. By M. F. PERHAM (Hutchinson ; 7/6 net). Miss Perham's first novel gives a strong impression bf power. She knows Somaliland, has observed its people, understands the problems of its administrators, and has here developed with excellent effect a motive of interrelated passions, policies and ambitions. The narrative sweeps on with great vigour and descriptive force, leaving on the reader's mind indelible pictures of the strength and heartlessness of Africa, its power to grip and enervate, the tyranny of it suffering, its ubiquity of death. Into this violent scene the young heroine is introduced, a fine, honest Englishwoman of the better country-house type ' ; her idolised husband, married lately and in haste, proves a brute, and a rival—declared foe of his policy, character and every ideal of administration—wins her heart. An exciting story follows, in which the wife, after giving her husband one chance, joins forces with his enemy and by sheer pluck and ability counters all his plans. In a series of unforgettable scenes—in the desert, among Somal tribesmen, and finally between the wife and the defeated, discredited husband—last of all between the parting lovers—the writer's dramatic power never once falls short of its opportunities, at times sustaining an almost epic note. The minor as well as the leading characters are firmly drawn ; but we should give the palm• to Cavell, the husband, who from first to last is consistent, vivid, repellent, real. For a first, or any, novel Major Dane's Garden is a remarkable achievement. G. COACHING DAYS. Was the first tutor so keen a whip that his prowess on the highway won for him the familiar name? Or was his deportment so lumbering that some unhappy metaphor branded him in the infancy of his career? History is silent on many a salient point. Here is one obscured through its very altitude in deep clouds of custom and tradition, the work of centuries. Etymology might help. But dictionaries are tedious things. However, it is only one word. Here is a possibility—it may have come from the Scandinavian Kocsi,' a wagon 'which provides seating accommodation and moves slowly.' This is not inappropriate. It is very cautious, so that
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even the most susceptible could hardly take offence. It is even flattering. But on the whole it is irrelevant. There is the old French couche,' which means it appears to bring to the lowest level, to flatten, to depress.' If this was the connection discovered for the world, then there was a master-mind at work, a genius of some perception. It strikes at the very heart of the matter. One might play at being one of King Arthur's knights and say with Mallory now am I couched, even as my lance.' Yet is it not subtlety carried to extremes? Spontaneity must have died by the time such depths have been sounded, and nick-names from their very nature spring from the idle word and passing jest. Then who is responsible but the careless fellow, the creator of tanner, Giler, Togger, Prog. : who met an unexpected gamma in fluent (modern) French, with the half-murmured cochon ' ? The Science of Language is an engrossing pursuit. The acceptance of some words and rejection of others seems so entirely irrational. Whatever the metaphor here implied, the significance which first strikes the mind is pleasing, so Yo ho, there, for the St. Hilda's and Balliol Coach,' which goes every week for an hour's absorbing journey. . .
I.S. EPITOME. At the end of Macbeth' the other night Mr. Bridges Adams spoke of himself as a Revenant ; those who, having gone down, return to Oxford, come back, he said, like timid ghosts.' Those of the third year who listened and laughed at this voice from the Other Side had perhaps half a shudder, too, at the thought of their approaching passage, their imminent initiation into the shades. Birth, life death ; coming up, lieing up, going down ; or, if you like, youth, middle age, old age ; first year, second year, third year. The likeness between the two processes or journeyings or whatever they are has often been noticed ; it is curious because the two seem to be not so much likenesses of each other as two among a series of likenesses repeated continuously throughout life, as though it were an arrangement of diminishing glasses. There is spring, summer, winter ; morning, noon, evening ; growth, maturity, decay ; a series of a repetition or reflections of a kind of primary threeness in things. The pattern of the world appears to be a curve ; all things begin, rise to a middle, sink to an end. This phenomenon, it is clear, was observed by the Authorities who had the ordering of this University in hand. They pondered on it in their thoughtful, Academic way ; or else perhaps they were merely swung by a blind 'instinct into conformity with the trend of things. Anyway they reproduced this curve, this threeness, in their University, and made the three years' passage through it, as we have observed, an epitome of life, its portrait in little. Hence the peculiar quality of the summer term. It does not slide past you like the other terms, with a discreet and imperceptible rapidity ; this term will not let you alone, will not allow you to be unconscious. It is provocative, clamorous, inconveniently and oppressively significant. If you listen to its importunities you are moved to sentimentalisings, posturings, as of one with a foot poised above and about to descend into the yawning grave. It stirs you to quotation ; Eheu fugaces,' say you to yourself, or Time, you old gipsy man, will you not stay ? ' or, with a more magnificent melancholy. •` Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so
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do our minutes hasten to their end.' Or to these who remain, with a ges-
ture of renunciation : ' Possess as I possessed, a season The countries I resign—,' So you do your best to answer the demands of the time. But there is some feeling of aggrievedness, too, in your response ; you had been jogging along well enough from day to day for two years and more, and all the while, it now appears, Time was intending this disturbing and unnecessary climax ; he suddenly presents you with it and leaves you half-angry at being taken so by surprise, at being caught by the dramatic moment before you have put on the appropriate gorgeous robe. Time would reply, of course, as he does to those who are taken by surprise when he faces them with the end to the other process, that he gave you plenty of warning ; and even, as to the end of this process, exact warning. But that is no answer. For the end to both processes is none the less astonishing because it has been long expected•; what happens is not what you expected, though it has to be sure some far-away likeness to it. But there is a world of difference. What you expected was something in the future, something vague and generalised and somehow appropriate to the moment of its occurrence •' what happens happens now, is particular, inappropriate, astonishing. So that you have a grievance. But you will say that I have analysed your feelings long enough. And indeed I owe you an apology. You may not be feeling like this at all. I cannot really tell, for as you may have guessed, I am not one of you. I am one of those to whom you made your gesture of renunciation, of those who remain. And, moreover, among the worst of these, among tho se who cling to life beyond the due limit, beyond the fall and conclusion of the curve, into, in fact, a Fourth Year. Though men so strong that they come to four-score years, observes the Psalmist, yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow. Which prediction will, it is to be feared, prove true of the fourth year. They are guilty of excess, insolence, overweening. (Here I refrain from dropping into Greek.) Immoderation, all the wise agree, is dangerous. Yours is therefore the better part. Ours is an ignoble clinging to life ; but yours is death, with judgment, I admit, and not necessarily with honour ; but in any event, with a certain unescapable dignity. And, moreover, to be followed by Ease. This, at any rate, you can be sure of, as you cannot be sure of what follows the' end to the other process. Let this be your comfort. The epitome is only an epitome ; the• small reflection and the great are not the same. The Day of Judgment and the Oxford Final Honour Schools, though frequently confounded, are, as Sir Walter Raleigh pointed out, not identical. What may follow the one must follow the other. And if so Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas, Ease after war, death after life, doth greatly please. R. B'. We have been asked to insert the following : PRESS NOTICE. For the benefit of readers wishing to become acquainted with the literary movements of other countries, and for the use of travellers abroad, the World Association for Adult Education is issuing a series of bibliographies of general books and translations, of which No. t, on Czechoslovakia, is now ready. Copies may be obtained from the Office of the Association, 13 John Street, Adelphi, London, W.C.2, on receipt of a id. stamp.
FRITILLARY. RAIN. A. bowman in high heaven's Topmost Towers Shoots down the silver arrows of the rain. His bowstring twangs : and all the poplars tremble. He shouts : and all the mountains shout again. R.O.H.
TRotices anb 'Reports OXFORD UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S DEBATING SOCIETY. President—N. LE P. OWEN (L. M.H .). Secretary—M. S. LOCK (0.H.S.). Treasurer—A. M. JOHNSTON (L.M.H.). So far the activities of the Society this term have been hampered by the fact that L.M.H. has been in quarantine. Nevertheless two meetings have been held and, in spite of small attendance, the speaking has been good. On May 13th the motion ' This House believes that the results of the Budget will be crippling to Industry ' was carried ; eight voted for the motion and four against it. At the second debate the motion This House believes that a bad man cannot produce a good work of art' was lost by one vote. In the near future the motion This House believes that colonies are a useless encumbrance of the Mother Country ' will be debated. It is disappointing that the Society has not received more support from College Debating Societies ; it is felt that at present the debates are by no means representative of the best debating powers of the women's colleges. However, it is always difficult to secure a good attendance in the Summer term ; the Committee hope that next term greater enthusiasm will be shown. LEAGUE OF NATIONS UNION. The League of Nations Union has been able to offer this term three memorable addresses by Viscount Cecil of Chelmswood, Monsieur Henry de Jouvenel, and Professor Alfred Zimmern. The first and the last are always welcome at Oxford, which knows them too well to miss hearing them—as evidenced by the crowded audiences that they commanded. As for the distinguished French Senator, his eloquence was greatly appreciated by the not inconsiderable number who were able to follow him in his native language. And now Miss Sybil Thorndike has consented to, aid the Union by playing in I` The Medea ' of Euripides, with Professor Murray's translation, the performance to be held in Peckwater Quad. of Christ Church. For the benefit of those who would care to have a more active part in the work of the Union--as for example, by entering a study circle on international relations—it should be added that membership is open to all students of the University at a shilling a term. Also, on payment of an additional sum of half a crown a year, members will receive the monthly publication, Headway; while for a total of one pound there is given a fuller membership which entitles the holder to all the literature published by the League of Nations Union.
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0. U. W. L. T. C. The standard of play has improved slightly this year. There are several promising freshers, particularly A. and M. Brunyate (S. H.C. and L.M.H.), M. P'ryce (0.H.S.), N. D'ebes (S.C.), M. Huxley (S.H.C.). Amongst the Seniors, N. Muller and E. Sharp have greatly improved and have learnt to use their heads. E. Munroe (0.H.S.), B. Morgan (S.H.C.) and A. Bull (S.C.) have also improved. R. I.A. Footman (S.C.) should be a really good player ; she has a hard, well-placed drive, and her volleying has improved, but she must be quicker on her feet. Slowness is a very general fault and, when combined with inaccuracy in foot-placing, it accounts for the mediocrity of the Tennis hue. As usual, the progress of the Tournament has been delayed by the weather, but it is hoped that the Finals may be played before Schools. It is proving a satisfactory institution, and provides a much-needed opportunity for promising players who' have not come up for Trials. The following have been chosen to represent Oxford in the doubles against Cambridge on June igth : R. L. Footman (S.C.), M. Slaney (S.H.C.), E. Sharp (S.C.), N. Muller (S.H.H.), A. Brunyate (S.H.C.), M. Brunyate (L.M.H.). Representatives in the singles have not yet been chosen. Results of matches :— v. Oxford County. Lost, 8—o. v. Parks Club. Won, v. Chelsea P.T.C. Won, 7-2. v. Warwickshire II. Lost, 5-3 (unfinished). v. Chiswick Park. Lost, 6-3. v. London University. Won, 8—x. v. Bedford P.T.C. Won, 5-4• NoTE.—Everyone interested in Tennis is reminded that the O.U.W.L.T.C. match against Cambridge will be played on June r9th and 2oth. M. SLANEY. 0. U. W. S.C.
President—Y. 'CNN (S.C.). Secretary—I. J.
CARLEBACH (O. H.
S.).
Treasurer—V. RUSSELL (S. H. C.). On the whole this Club has had a fairly successful season. The Baths are not open to women as much' as we should like, but they have been well repaired. However, favoured by warm weather, we have had a match in the Rhea Bathing Place every Saturday, and have also been able to practice there. With the exception of Miss Cullen, who' is quite promising, talent has been lacking among the Freshers. The Club is indebted to Mr. Purnell for his coaching, and to the President for her untiring energy and keenness, which has done much to bring the club up to its present standard. The Swimming Team : Y. Cann, (S.C.), C. Awdry Nicks (S.H.C.), V. Sharp (S.C.), I. Carlebach (0.H.S.), A. Cullen (S. H. H.).
FRITILLARY. Style : N. Garvin (S.C.), Y. Cann (S.C.), I. Carlebach (O.H.S.). Diving : A. Bonner (S.H.C.), A. Stock (S.C.), B. Stock (S.H.H.). Water Palo: t, A. Bonner (S.H.C.); 2, Stock ii (S.H.H.); 3, I. Dunn (0.H.S.); 4, I. Carlebach (0.H.S.); 5, Y. Cann (S.C.); 6, V. Sharpe (S.C.); 7, V. Russell (S.H.C.). The following matches have been played :— v. Royal Holloway College. Lost, 4-1. v. London University. Lost, 3-2. v. Dartford P.T.C. Draw, 2-2. v. Reading University Colleg e. Won, 5—o. v. Reading University College (water polo). Won, 2-4. We have still to swim : The City, Cheltenham (water polo), Bournville L.S.C., Cambridge. The Cambridge Match will take place on Friday, June t9th, at 12 o'clock, in the Bath Club, Landon. After term there are matches against : Croydon L.S.C., Hammersmith L.S.C., Mermaid S.C., Beckenham• L.S.C. On Thursday, June rrth, Miss V. N. Newman (Mermaid S.C.), the Olympic Diving Representative for England, is coming down to coach the O.U.W.S.C. and to give a display of fancy diving and swimming. O.U.W.C.C.
Captain
—
S ecretary
—
J.
A.
BULL (S.C.).
ASHMORE
(L. M. H.).
The O.U.W.C.C. has played one match this term, against Dartford Physical Training College. The visitors won by about nineteen runs ; the scores on both sides were very low owing to the difficulty of the wicket. Dartford were better at fielding than Oxford, and their last few batsmen were far more reliable than ours ; but Oxford dropped four catches in one over, and if any one of these had been caught we might have won the match. Several freshers are in the team : the two best are Darling (Cheltenham and S.C.) and Shaw (Wycombe Abbey and O.H.S.) ; they are both good bats and can bowl well ; Shaw is fast but bowls too many wide balls ; Darling generally keeps a good length. Russell, who played last year for Oxford, is an excellent wicket-keep and can play a very good innings; is particularly strong on the off side and can drive well there. Theding el of the team as a whole is distinctly bad ; the bowling is good, and the batting of the first six batsmen is generally very good, but the last batsmen are weak. I should like to take this opportunity of thanking J. Ashmore for all the work she has done as Secretary and Treasurer. The following have played for Oxford and would have been given their colours if there had been a Cambridge match : A. Bull (Roedean and S.C.), J. Ashmore (Bedford and L.M.H.), V. Russell (Clifton and S.H.C.), J. Darling (Cheltenham and S.C.), R. Shaw (Wycombe Abbey and O.H.S.), M. Sumner (Roedean, S. Africa, and O.H.S.), N. Debes (Q.A.S., Caversham, and S.C.), H. Reinold (St. George's and S.C.), J. Hamilton (St. Leonard's and S.C.), S. Budenberg (Wycombe Abbey and S.H.C.), N. Osborne (Wycombe Abbey and S.H.C.).
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LADY MARGARET HALL. The greatest joy of the Summer term is the river. Early in the morning energetic bathers are seen running across the lawn, and before they have finished splashing the first relays of before-breakfast punters have arrived. There is little rest for the •boats after this. We even hold clubmeetings in punts ; our Dramatic Society is looking forward to such a joint meeting with the St. Edmund Hall Dramatic Society. The Dramatic Society produced ' The Countess Cathleen,' by W. B. Yeats, early in the term. Since then we have enjoyed scenes from Ancient and Modern history, as reproduced by the History School, and in Eights Week there was a performance of a Chinese melodrama with musical interludes. The Games Clubs have nothing momentous to chronicle. The weather has been kind to our mixed tennis-parties, but there have been no Cuppers played as yet. The Beaufort Debating Society is as controversial as ever : it has decided, in common with New College, not to reform the proctorial system, and has also inquired whether consistency is the virtue of a fool. The new building continues to rise in height, and the garden has become a happy hunting ground for two newcomers—pet tortoises—we desire to welcome. SOMERVILLE COLLEGE. It is the usual effect of the Summer Term to reduce college societies to a state of coma; Somerville College Literary Society has not entirely succumbed, however. On May mth Miss Darbishire read the Society a paper upon the subject of Anthony Trollope. She made an audience, largely composed of those unacquainted with his works, realize the joy that lay in store for them. On May 3oth the College Dance was held. Fortunately there was no rain, and it was possible to hang Chinese lanterns in the garden after dark. There will be a Garden Party on Saturday, June i3th. The two tennis teams on the whole have had a very successful season this year. The first team has lost none of its last year's members, while the freshers have provided a number of people with a good average standard ; N. Debes plays a particularly nice game. There has been a match against University College, Reading, which the first VI won by five matches to four, and a very enjoyable afternoon was spent playing mixed doubles against Lincoln College VI. Three more matches remain- to be played against outside clubs. The first round of the Cuppers resulted in a victory for both. VI's over St. Hugh's. After L.M.H. had beaten S.H.H. and 0.H.S., Somerville finally won the first VI cup froin them. The final match of the second VI still remains to be played. Teams :—Ist VI : *M. Macnaughten and *R. Footman, *E. Sharp and * J. Young, A. Bull and * M. Smylie. znd VI : * N. Hearn and N. Debes, B. Sanderson and G. Sheppard, J. Marrett and M. Binhy. * In the Somerville team last year.
20
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The cricket club is in a flourishing condition. The season began with a Seniors v. Freshers match, which ended in a draw. J. Darling batted very well for the Freshers. We have also played Lynam's (twice) and Bedford College, London. In the first round of the Cuppers Somerville beat St. Hilda's by 28 runs to 120 for five wickets. The team is weak in fielding, but otherwise quite good. There are not enough change bowlers : A. Bull and J. Darling have to bowl most of the time, and in a big match this might be awkward. The following have been given their colours : J. Darling, J. AdamSmith, N. Debes, H. Walker, H. Reinold, J. Hamilton. The Swimming Club drew in a match with Bedford College, London. The style was won for Somerville by Garvin, and the diving by Garvin and D. Stock. The swimming Cupper is on Friday, June 5th. ST. HUGH'S COLLEGE. No doubt everyone will agree that the term has been a wonderful one especially when it is compared with last summer term, when for part of t e time we could not even go on the river, much less bask in the sun andh enjoy it. The summer term is not an ideal one for indoor societies' meeting; however, there have been a good many. The Literary Society read Tchehov's ' Three Sisters ' with the Brasenose College Literary Society. The History Society had a lecture from Mr. Boase on ' The meaning of chivalry in the Middle Ages,' and one from Miss Tayler on Silchester. Members of the Society also went on an expedition to Woodstock, and hope to go next week to Silchester. There have been several debates, among them one with St. Hilda's Hall Society on ' The perfect snob is the perfect gentleman.' The Cricket XI have won four out of five matches ; the bowling is still weak, but the batting and fielding show improvement. The Tennis Club has been more fortunate this year, as few matches have had to be scratched ; they have all been good and most of them close finishes. The Second VI has had a cheerful term, having won all its matches except one. A considerable number of members of the Swimming Club, though by no means all who nominally belong, have been to the Baths twice a week. The first team lacks a good long-distance swimmer and it is to be hoped that the next year will fill this gap and also produce some good divers. Last week girls from: St. Margaret's Settlement came for the day to Oxford and were entertained by members of St. Hugh's. Another day some hundred visitors from the Toynbee Settlement visited us in the same way. Luckily both days were fine. The S.C.R. • and J.C.R. also gave a children's party on June 6th to about one hundred children of friends and relatives in Oxford. Although the day was so hot, the children ran races and played games with much vigour and, we hope, with as much enjoyment as St. Hugh's found in their company. ST. HILDA'S HALL. As usual in the Trinity Term, College Societies have not been particularly active. On May 2nd Mr. Harold Colombatti gave a much appreciated pianoforte recital before a large audience of students and visitors,
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2!
and on May 21st the Debating Society were the guests of St. Andrew's Hall, Reading University College. The History Club made an expedition to Fairford and Kelmscott Manor on June 3rd and, strange to tell, were blessed by halcyon weather. But most of our energies have been given to outdoor occupations. One result of this is the improvement of St. Hilda's tennis, though we still seem incapable of winning matches. We drew Lady Margaret Hall in both the first and second VI Cuppers. In the first we were beaten by five matches to four, and in the second by five matches to one, unfinished. People should try to become steadier by concentrating on placing the ball rather than hitting it very hard. The art of lobbing is also neglected. The College Tournament is now in progress. Last year the challenge cup was won by Miss Cruden, who is again competing. Inevitably boating has been the greatest attraction ; and the Cherwell has been populous with punts and canoes, propelled by enthusiastic beginners, in charge of the most patient instructresses. The second year is trying to make up for the moist and dreary summer term of 1924, and the first year are taking their tests with great proficiency. Even the third year are basking in the unlooked-for sunshine. We are very sorry that Miss Moberly has not yet been able to return. Owing to her absence the extension of the South Building will not be opened formally till next term. SOCIETY OF OXFORD HOME STUDENTS. This term we welcome a new President of the J.C.R., Miss C. Morrison, and we wish Miss Salt, the retiring President, all good luck in her schools. The Social Service Committee has been the most active of the Clubs. On Whit Monday eighteen girls came down from the Vauxhall Street School Club and were entertained in the morning by sight-seeing; the afternoon on the river was even more popular. They went back in the evening laden with flowers and more pleased with their day than we thought possible. The Beaver Club, which is the Oxford branch of the Committee's activities, held a Shakespearean competition on May t9th, their own girls acting a scene from the Merry Wives of Windsor,' for which they were highly commended. A sale and entertainment were also held in St. Thomas's Schools, and it is hoped that a day's expedition in the country may be arranged from the proceeds. The Club has felt the temporary loss of the President, Miss C. V. Butler, very greatly, and all the members hope she will come back thoroughly rested after her well earned holiday abroad. Games Clubs have put all their energy this term into boating and tennis, and for once the summer has been wonderfully hot for both. In tennis the first VI lost their cupper against Lady Margaret Hall 5-2, the rest of the games unplayed ; and the second VI lost also to Lady Margaret Hall. The following are the first VI : t, D. Price, G. Evershed ; 2, M. Bowden-Smith, E. Monroe (capt.); 3, B. Cuffey, M. Sumner. The Dramatic has15een most active of indoor Societies this term and is intending to give an opportunity to old students to crticise its acting in ' The Privy Council ' at their re-union on June 13th.
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