July 1880

THE

PETERITF„ Vol . . II .

JULY, 1880 .

No . 14.

COMMEMORATION DAY. I-IE Annual Commemoration Service was held in the School

T Chapel on Tuesday, June 29th . There was only a small attendance of Old Peterites and outsiders . The Choir gave an Anthem, "The Lord is great in Zion," Best. The Head Master preached the Sermon . After remarking that he thought it would be most in consonance with the feelings of the School that this Commemoration should be kept as quietly as possible, he proceeded : "I have spoken, on a former occasion, of this annual celebration as a commemoration of the foundation of the School, and the building of the Chapel : I desire to-day to consider it, for a few minutes, as a commemoration of benefactors.

Of benefactors in the ordinary sense the School has had very few . Even the foundress, considering the purpose for which she appropriated its endowment to the School, and the purposes to which that endowment has been applied, must be considered almost an involuntary benefactress . The Chapel has been more fortunate in this respect ; there are one or two names that will always be associated with this building of those, who either were mainly instrumental in procuring the erection of it, or who have improved it by subsequent additions, or both . But with the School no one's name, so far as I know, is permanently associated as the donor of a gift secured to the School in perpetuity. Those few who have from time to time given prizes have been rather lifebenefactors than permanent ones ; their gifts have died with them, as far as the School generally is concerned . The School is, I think, unique in this respect, as it is in some others . But if we ask the question, Who benefit a School ? who may, therefore,

21 7

COMMEMORATION DAY.

be commemorated as benefactors to-day and every Commemoration Day ? we open a much wider field, a larger list of benefactors is suggested than the pecuniary benefactors, to whom the term is usually confined, of any School could be . Who benefit a School?

Those who benefit the individual members of the School . And how are those individuals most benefited ? By being aided to carry out the purpose for which they come to School . And what is that purpose ? The improvement of them morally and intellectually . We say in the School Prayer every day that the School vas founded for the promotion of religious and useful knowledge,—a conventional and clumsy phrase, perhaps, but one which expresses an intelligible meaning,--that is, that the School is not carrying out its purpose, or fulfilling its functions as a School, unless those, who are members of, it are being educated in will, in emotion, and in mind ; unless they are learning to cultivate high and pure tastes, to take pleasure in high and pure thoughts, to love the exercise of the intellect, to feel a keen delight in the increasing power to grasp the knowledge that they want, and a continual restless discontent with the knowledge which they have ; unless, further, they are acquiring power over themselves, power to seek the high and spurn the low, power to act on the generous unselfish impulses of their hearts ; unless they are learning not merely to admire goodness, to love to contemplate what is pure and noble, not merely to feel their minds stirred by and towards purity and self-devotion and lofty interests, but to have power to act on those stirrings of the mind ; not merely to feel passing emotions when something appeals to their hearts, and then forget those emotions, to lose sight of all the pure and holy thoughts that have been stirring within them, but to have strength of will to lay hold on those thoughts, to make them their own, and carry them about with them wherever they go, and, full of them, to seek virtue and ensue it, and attack and resent vice and low thoughts, and impure desires, and sordid ambitions in themselves and in others . Above all, that the School is not fulfilling its functions unless the inmates of the School are learning to do all that they do, as to God, and not as to man ; are learning to use all their powers of soul, mind, and body, are striving towards the perfection of will and mind, not for their own sake, not to win applause or money, but in order to be at one with Christ, in order to feel they are devoting to him the best they can devote,

COMMEMORATION DAY .

218

not taking all His love, and giving or trying to give nothing to Him, not offering to God a life that costs them nothing . The benefactors of a School arc all who enable the members of a School to fulfil the object and purpose of their school life . All who have ever helped any one in School to think high thoughts and live pure lives, who have helped to lift the tone of a School, are its greatest benefactors . The world knows nothing of its greatest men, and many and many have passed away from this School beyond a doubt, whose names are unrecorded, but who have by teaching and example conferred priceless benefactions on this School not to be reckoned in market terms, and permanent benefactions, too. For good deeds never die, and a good example descends from generation to generation . To this class of benefactors all may belong who are interested in the School ; from the head of the governing body of the School down to the smallest boy in it, all may aspire to be benefactors of it, all of us may help one another to save our souls alive.

And not the least power in this way is given to the boys in the School . In a negative way you may do much by holding aloof from what is wrong, by doing your duty, by acting honestly and speaking truth, by cleansing your way and allowing no impurity to defile your mind, by harbouring no secret vice. You may thus, by mere passive example, do, we know not how much .

But how much more may be done by active example, by resistance to evil, by active encouragement of good . Evil is very weak at first ; small and hesitating, it is only by travelling from one to the other that it gains strength ; what a priceless benefit will that boy confer on his School who will dare to resist it in its weak beginning . And what a little weapon will overthrow it !

A word or a look, even no word, but silence ; an evil suggestion, received with a frown or in silence, is chilled and frost-bitten ; a low suggestion received with a blush or an averted face, instead of a laugh, is cowed and shamed, however much for the moment the person who makes it may try to brave it out . It is the first step that costs, and the boy who will have the moral courage, and moral presence of mind to speak the word, or hold his tongue, or refuse a laugh at the right moment, will be doing a Christ-like and heroic deed, may save more than one soul alive, and certainly will be a benefactor of his School . All—I repeat it—may find a place on this roll of benefactors . God grant that every year

2l f1

TUE AGAMEMNON AT BALLroL.

may sec it increase ; that every Commemoration may be a silent thanksgiving for such benefactions, whose record will be written in the heightened tone and increased godliness, in the growing manliness, truthfulness, purity, and refinement of the School that they have benefited ."

THE AGAMEMNON AT BALLIOL. "WVith :Iischylus," says a younger poet, "his poetry has not died :" words which we had thought to have outlived their significance by some one and twenty centuries . But the art and literature of Hellas never grow old : so surely and so truly, with what is at times a naive simplicity do they strike home to the central heart of things . Strongly possessed by this conviction, and wishing to enable an academic audience to realise the majesty of one of the Greek dramas with a vividness which the ponderous commentaries of viri doctissimi, refined and condensed by the patient toil of a Paley, cannot ensure, some Undergraduates determined, early last term, to act the Agamemnon . And here I should like to point out that facts scarcely bear out the vaticinations of ` Ouis ' as contained in the last Peteritc. In the words of the Chorodidaskalos (taken from a programme distributed before the performance) "the actors disclaimed any intention of producing a facsimile of a Greek drama : were such a thing possible, to all but antiquarians it would seem grotesque and unmeaning ." Whether (returning to the remarks of ` Ouis') the general effect was "ludicrous," we shall presently consider.

The idea of the performance originated not among scholars and reading men, but, strange to say, with two or three members of the O . U . Athletic Club, particularly F . R . Benson, of New, the three miles champion, and Ilon . W . N . Bruce, of Balliol, who took the parts of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon respectively ; to whom we may add G. Lawrence, of C . C . C . (Cassandra), known to fame by his high jumps . Many well-known names appeared among the actors,—Mr . Courtney, Fellow of New, who has been described as "that man who is a philosopher and looks a lily r uard~man " and who ippcared rather in the latter capacity

THE AGAMEMNON Al' BALLIUL.

99 0

on this occasion, as Watchman ; L . Huxley, Exhibitioner of Balliol, who was sixth Argivc ; J . W. Mackail, of Balliol, who carried off the `blue ribbons ' this year (the Hertford and Ireland Scholarships), eighth Argive ; J . R . Rodd, of Balliol, Newdigate Prizcman for the year, eleventh Argive, who also shared with A . J . Ryle, of New (the Bishop's son), the office of scene painter ; 1\Ir . A . Bradley, hellow of Balliol, taught the Chorus . Balliol College Hall, not " one of the smallest in Oxford," (as the Standard correspondent vainly talks), was given for the performance " by kind permission of the College . " Well packed, it was found to hold some 490 people, and there were two performances on consecutive days . Over the raised dais usually- occupied by the high table, was erected a platform some twenty feet wide, in front of which stood the Thymcle, or Altar of Bacchus . The back scene represented the front of Agamemnon's Palace with the customary three entrances, a parapet surmounting the whole : over the central entrance hung a curtain which could be drawn aside when the interior had to be displayed, which on the Greek stage was done by cccyclema.

There was, of course, nothing corresponding to the usual curtain of the modern stage . The actors were habited much as ordinary Greeks, so far as we know their dress, with the sober Athenian's walking stick . The Chorus wore coloured tunics (blue or red), with a chlamys, or long coloured plaid, thrown over the left shoulder, and fastened on the right by a brooch : some wore sandals, some elected to go barefoot . The Watchman appeared in helmet and kilt ; .,Egisthus and Orestes much the same way.

Agamemnon, a magnificent figure, appeared within one of the doors, in panoply, on his chariot which, having but one wheel and no horse, could not be brought upon the stage . This, certainly, was somewhat comical . Of course there were no masks ; iEschylus himself would have dispensed with them had his plays been addressed to 500 instead of 20,000 people, within doors instead of sub diva, to sympathising critics instead of to critical sympathisers . Distance must have qualified the absurdity of the ancient actor ' s appearance, if, indeed, it ever struck an ancient spectator . I-Ie probably looked more to effective grouping and to bold outline rather than to the minute and realistic perfection of individual figures . Nor did the Chorus dance ; they returned in their entrance song to the original manwuvrc of the Dithy-

221

THE AGAMEMNON AT BALLIOL.

ramb, moving in solemn line around the central altar. This, I fear, would have been voted ludicrous by ` Quis.' One of the so called " Society " papers—a paper sometimes malignant, often indecorous, and always insipid,—anticipated that Professor Jowett, Master of Balliol, would lead the Chorus . Doubtless it would have been a nice piece of scandal for the World to retail if he had ; but he did not.

To give a detailed sketch of the performance would be to presume on the indulgence of the reader, nor could the most graphic pen convey any idea of its peculiar charm . We can only glance at the best points in the conception which various actors formed of their parts, including the Chorus, which, in iEschylus, still retains very much of its original prerogatives as an actor implicated, not only interested, in the action . The part of the Chorus was, as a whole., though the most difficult, yet also the most successfully performed . All the lyrical parts were chanted, most of them being monotoned much as `Quis ' has stated, one or two being set to music composed by Mr. \V .

Parratt, Organist of Magdalen College, as e . g. the short ode before the death-cry of the King. The latter songs were chanted by the whole Chorus, as also any burdens that occur in the rest : otherwise, different choreut<e in turn took different passages.

Thus strophe and antistrophe were for the most part disregarded.

The general effect was much like Church music of the gregorian style . Rodd's recitation of the fine passage in the second chorus which describes the silent unreproaching grief of Menelaus "yearning for his wife beyond seas, whose shapely statues have lost for him the love-light that shone through their eyes," was full of deep feeling . What was particularly noteworthy was that the Chorus worked well together, and nowhere more than in their representation of the prudential indecision of the Argives on hearing the death-cry of their lord, which, prolonged for twenty-eight lines in the original, is as ridiculous as must be the sight of a yelping pack of hounds, eager to rush on the stag at bay, but impressed with it sense of his antlers . Our Argives dealt very gently with the poet here, and lashed themselves into it fury tv hicll wou l d have wrought havoc among the masks and padding of the ancients, but which their wigs happily survived.

One of them throughout sawed the air too much with his hand, but that was a small matter . The final passage of arms (or sticks) with £gisthus (H . A . Dunn, of New) was also good .

TIIE AGAMEMNON AT BALMOL .

222

Of the actors proper, Cassandra (a perfect woman) was the best ; she had evidently studied her part with much care and deep appreciation, as was shown if by nothing else, by her thorough acquaintance with the words : her plaintive appeal to Apollo,—" Apollo, Apollo, the Protector, Apollo mine, " still rings in our ears : and, next to the consultation of the Chorus , above mentioned, her dark picture of the horrid Thycstcan feast and the coming deeds of the " hell-hound fair-tongued, basilisk or Scylla," (Clytemnestra), with the replies of the shuddering Chorus, was among the best things in the piece . Nor is it fair to leave Clytemnestra unnoticed ; her dark, tigress-like beauty, set off by pure white tunic, her gliding, sinuous step, and her queenly bearing and address, were worthy of high praise . Yet one could wish that she had got her part up better, or at least had acquainted herself with some of the elementary rules of Greek scansion . An Ireland Scholar by whom I chanced to sit was much perturbed by these little irregularities ; and I must confess that I myself was rather annoyed when she hashed and mangled her opening speech of 8o lines (one of the best in the play) into 20.

The play was of course considerably curtailed, about 'So lines being nominally omitted, but in reality much more. In order to leave upon the audience an impression somewhat like that of the Trilogy of which their play was but a member, five lines from the Choeph . (395–400) were chanted by the Chorus, containing an appeal to the Fury of retribution : and a final tableau showing Clytemnestra and 1Egisthus lying dead within the house, the avenger, Orestes, standing over them, completed the story . The whole performance occupied two hours and a half, and was much applauded.

Some years ago, during Henley Regatta, some Oxford men performed one of Euripides' plays, successfully on the whole, though the audience occasionally went into fits of laughter . I do not know any other instance of a modern representation of a Greek drama, in Greek, besides the present, which would certainly seem to have been the more effective . Often repeated, it would probably lose its charm for the modern play-goer, who craves an endless variety of life, and scene, and character in what he secs, and cares little, if at all, for the dramatic expression of an eternal law of truth such as .Eschylus ' " By arrogance to make a name is fatal ;

223

SCHOOL LETTER.

on the eyes of such alights the thunderbolt of Zeus " ; or for the elaboration of a world-wide principle, such as " Ah, life of man ! its bright days a passing shadow will blot out . " And these are some of the threads that run through the woof of the Orestean Trilogy .

W. Y . F.

SCHOOL LETTER. HE Gala has come and gone since my last . The weather was

T very unpropitious the first day, but as favourable as could be

wished on the second and third days . The affair was much the same as usual, but I missed my old ghostly friend, the Yhantoscope, whereat a mysterious figure in faded red was wont to warn me to cherish the remembrance of care and sorrow, ' and tell me how he had a sister once— " She was fair : 'eavens, ' ow fair !"

One more story about the late election, and I have done with it.

A reverend and respected gentleman, well known to most of my readers, was assailed in \Valmgate on the election day by two Irishmen who demanded to know his colour . The reverend and respected gentleman ' s unexpected reply of " WWhite " completely disconcerted them, and they rushed off to plump or to split.

The York Regatta is to take place on Tuesday and \Vednesday, July 27th and 28th . The School crew will, in all probability, be :— E . T . G . Wilson (str .), J. H . Mallinson (3), F . W . Greenhow (2), A . P . Chadwick (bow) . We have had quite a number of disappointments ; we had hoped till just lately that A . H . Wood and F . E. Watson would be able to pull ; J . H . Daniel had also been spoken of, but he will probably be in Germany at the date of the Regatta.

Mr . Adams ' s brother, Mathematical Scholar of Balliol, has been down here taking the place of Junior Mathematical Master during a happily brief illness of Mr . Vivian.

Events will follow in rapid succession at the end of term . On the last Saturday there will be the Athletic Sports ; on the Monday, the Old Pupil's Match and the Concert ; on the Tuesday, the Regatta and Prize Distribution ; and on the Wednesday we shall depart individually and collectively, and shall go each man to his own city.

I must not forget to thank all those people who, in response to my modest request, sent me invitations to the Gala . I would have accepted them all (with the consent of the Head-master), but I could not do so without betraying my identity, and I wished to remain not this nor another, but only and mysteriously LITTLE ALEXANDER.

Y .S .—Since writing the above 1 have heard that A . H .

T . Moss will probably be able to row in the Regatta boat .

WOOD

and

224

CORRESPONDENCE. To

THE EDITORS OF THE

a

PETERITE . "

THE BOAT RACES. DEAR SIRS,—AS all interest in the Boat Races will by this time have evaporated, I think it will be better, instead of my writing a fresh account of the Senior House Fours' Race, as I am most courteously invited to do, to say in what particulars the former report should, I think, be amended . In the first place it should be stated to begin with, that a string of barges had come up the river and were moored above the corner, filling up more than half, and leaving insufficient room for two boats to pass with their oars out. Without this explanation the description of the Dayboys endeavouring to take their opponents' (if it was their opponents') water, becomes unintelligible . I would remark by the way that the "fair start " spoken of was a start of a quarter of a length to the School House, owing to the drifting of the boats in starting . It is perfectly obvious that without a tremendous superiority it would be impossible for one boat, in spite of all the efforts of the other, to gain a sufficient lead to take their water at the corner . I would also add to the account that the Dayboys, keeping as close to the barges as possible, were fouled upon their stern, and therefore upon their half of the space between the barges and the opposite bank : under such circumstances the Dayboys could have no chance, and there was a general expectation that the race would be rowed over again ; but the foul, being referred to the Masters, was adjudged to the SchoolHouse by a majority of, I believe, one only.

What I think we have more than anything to complain of is the evident animus pervading these reports . It would be an invidious but not, I believe, an impossible task, to point out the writer from internal evidence, supposing him to be a competitor . I have heard others besides myself express much the same opinion.

I am, yours faithfully, G . H . WADE.

To THE EDITORS OF THE ' PETERITE . " DEAR Suss,—I feel it in some sort incumbent upon me to reply to the letter from G . H . Wade which appeared in your last number, in which he criticises in no measured terms the report of the Boat Races which I sent up to you . Wade has, I believe, written to you before, condemning and finding fault with existing Cricket arrangements ; and in that letter, of which he made no secret, he signed

225

CORRESPONDENCE.

himself " The much-abused Dayboy'' ; instead of which title the next time he feels called upon to expose some glaring injustice I would humbly suggest that he should adopt the far more appropriate one of " The much-abusing Dayboy . " On the present occasion I feel it my duty to give you an explanation of the report of the particular race to which Wade has taken exception in his letter . The race was awarded to the School House on a foul, by the arbitrator to whom both crews agreed to appeal, and it did not seem to me either advisable or necessary to re-open in the School Magazine, at the waste of so much time and space, a discussion which had been finally closed by an appeal to arbitration . But I will here state the exact circumstances of the race . At the bend of the river above the Scarborough Railway Bridge (technically called The Corner " ) two barges were lying alongside each other, just leaving sufficient room for two boats to get past with their oars out.

No objection was made by the Dayboys to rowing the race under such conditions, though they had lost the toss, because they felt confident that they would be so far ahead when they reached the Corner that they would be able to take their opponents ' water with perfect ease . This was the real reason, and their stroke afterwards admitted it to the arbitrator . As it turned out, the School House were only a quarter of a length behind the Dayboys when the Corner was reached : the cox . of the latter pulled his rudder-string a little too sharp, and brought his boat right across the bows of the School House : the result of course was a foul, and the foul was awarded to the School House, after a most careful and impartial consideration of the whole matter by the arbitrator appealed to . How the verdict could be anything but unanimous is incomprehensible, when only one Master acted as arbitrator and adjudged the race . This is, I believe, a correct statement of the facts, and I am only sorry that I did not state them in my report, which unfortunately was sent off in rather a hurry, as you are aware . As to the charges of partisanship and wilful misrepresentation of facts in the accounts of the races which Wade brings forward . they are without the slightest foundation, though I admit that in one or two instances the accounts were somewhat hastily written iii consequence of the pressure oil our time (for they were not written by one person only) : and the contemptible insinuation with which the concludes his letter, charitably hoping, as he does, that the prize-winners are contented, because they are not to be envied, unworthy as it is of any one in his position, is only NvTat might have been expected from the general I ,un, t r op . tone of hi p reni k J . 11 . AIawNsox .

CORRESPONDENCE .

226

[We are sorry to see the tendency to personalities in the second of these two letters, and have felt it our duty to suppress a very personal and utterly irrelevant portion of the letter in question . The whole point at issue lies in the two diametrically opposite statements of the writers . One says that the barges " left insufficient room for two boats to pass with their oars out " ; the other " they left just sufficient room for two boats to get past with their oars out." The Referee decided in favour of the latter : and if the account of the races which appeared in the Peterite had been a little more unbiassed, this controversy would never have arisen . It would certainly have been much more satisfactory, under the circumstances, to have rowed the race over again .—Ens .]

To

THE EDITORS OF THE " PETERITE . "

THE DEBATING SOCIETY. Sn s,—I quite agree with the writer of the article on the DEAR Debating Society in the last number, that a meeting ought to be called, if it is only to accord a vote of thanks to the President for the unremitting energy with which he has lately been discharging his official duties, the way in which he has relieved the Society from the task of deciding how the debates are to be held during the Cricket season, by settling the question on his own responsibility, being especially kind.

Let us hope that while consulting for the interests of the Society, he does not entirely forget his own .

A MEMBER.

To THE EDITORS OF THE " PETERITE . " DEAR Sn.s,—In my last month's report of the proceedings of the Debating Society, I took occasion to pass sonic strictures on the conduct of the President, in neglecting to convene a meeting at the beginning of term in accordance with the rule, a copy of which, in the President's own hand-writing, is now before me : " A meeting of the Society shall be convened by the President within ten days from the beginning of every term, or in his absence by the Vice-President, and meetings shall then be held, if possible, once a week at a convenient time . " One might have thought that what I said last month would suffice, and that the President would atone for his mistake by calling a meeting even at that late hour, and either give his reasons for his conduct or frankly apologize . He has not done either ; nor yet has he written a single word in his defence, though, to quote his own remark, in a magazine representing the whole School, the other side can be

227

CORRESPONDENCE,

heard .' The natural inference is that he has nothing to say ; I have, and as I do not wish to make you responsible for my statements, I am putting my observations into the form of a letter.

First, let me tell the history of the above-quoted rule . Last term the President, in direct opposition to the course taken by his predecessors in office, quietly suppressed the society, until unofficial pressure was brought to bear upon him . When in the dead of the term he at last condescended to call a meeting, this addition to the rules was proposed and carried unanimously . The proposition and adoption of such a motion was practically a vote of censure on the President ' s conduct, yet not one word could that gentleman find to say against it.

The tone of the censure was as moderate as possible, and the Society, never supposing the President would violate the confidence reposed in him, left to him, instead of deputing to another officer, the duty of convening it.

Such were the facts of last term ; what has happened this term has already been told . I suppose that for me, at least, the always pleasant work of reporting the Society ' s proceedings has altogether come to an end, since for this term, at any rate, the Society has ceased to live.

But before I say farewell to your columns, I wish to place on record my protest against the way in which one of our School Institutions has been literally done to death by the high-handed policy of suppression, so successfully carried out by its despotic head . Happily no President can have the power to suppress altogether that which it is his first duty to uphold and maintain . He may do it for a time, but under new rulers the mischief may be repaired ; and it is in the hope that the mischief will be repaired in this case, that I have written this.

Apologizing for trespassing on y our space, I am Your own Ru1'o1:TER. To THE EnITORS OF THE " PETERITE . " THE ATHLETIC SPORTS. DEAR SIRS,—As the Athletic Sports will, in accordance with custom, be held some time at the end of the month, I wish to draw the attention of the authorities to one or two trifling anomalies that have hitherto been conspicuous in the arrangements of the Sports.

In the first place, as long as I can remember, there has never been any feeling of certainty with regard to the number of laps necessary to complete a mile in the cricket ground . The general impression has been that there were six laps to the mile : but vague ideas have from time to time prevailed that seven or five were the correct number . I can never remember the course being properly measured .

228

CRICKET.

There are the distances for the handicaps marked off, certainly ; but they only extend to Ito yards, unless I am mistaken . I would suggest that the whole lap be measured carefully, so that the exact distances should be run.

Again, there is a strange custom prevalent with regard to the Quarter-Mile races . The School Quarter-Mile starts at the left hand top corner, and goes once-and-threw-quarters round, ending at the right hand top corner . But the Old Boys' Quarter-Mile starts at the right hand bottom corner, and goes once-and-a-half round, ending at the left hand top corner . Now, why present Peterites should have to run one side of the ground more than Old Boys to complete their Quarter-Mile, in the words of the poet, `' I cannot quite make out . " Perhaps the Athletic authorities for the year will furnish a solution of the difficulty . I do not wish in the least to complain of them ; but I want to sec such affairs settled by the facts of the case, and not by the traditions of School . Before I end this letter, may I ask if the Hundred Yards' course is always measured ?

I am, dear Sirs, your obedient servant, GARRULUS.

CRICKET. v . BEVERLEY (MR . HODGSON ' S Played at Beverley on Saturday, May 29th.

ST . PETER'S

XI .)

BEVERLEY. First Innings.

F Hutchinson, b liulmer N . L . Salmond, b Bulmer . . .

Rev . F . II . Hill, c Balmer, b Stephenson E . Hodgson, run out A . 1) . hill, b Balmer \V . Ilodgson, h Chadwick . . . . ..

L . Silvester, c Balmer, 1) Chadwick F . E . Watson, b Stephenson ..

G . II . Watson, not out R . Ilodgson, b Chadwick Extras

.. .

. ..

o 5 Si t 32 24 o 2 3 o lo

1 59

Total

ST . PETER ' S. First Innings.

F . T . Griffith, b Salmond U . IT . Eyre, run out . . .

R . AV. Ilulmer, c Ilutchinson, b Salmond ..

A . R . Stephenson, h Salmond A . P. Chadwick, not out F . W . Greenhow, c F . E . Watson, h IIill P . II . Flower, h A . 1) . Ilill .. .

G . W . Bulman, b Salmon(' llill _.

R . C . Wilton . h A . I) .

. ..

o t 8 o 19

. .. .. .

o

_

t

4 6

229

OBITUARY. J . II . Mallinson, c Mill, b Hill Extras

..

.. .

..

4 16

Total . ..

59 The Matches against Richmond Grammar School, S . John's Training College, Yorkshire Gentlemen, Dragoon Guards, and Flaxton Clubs, are unavoidably pressed out for want of space .

OBITUARY. ' ' RICHARD WILLIAM STONE BULMER, .lrxl: lire, 1550, nr Sr . Przrr.a s S~'uour., ' oar..

1

0/14 ./ u

u

1/es . G . In / ;ulmo, Au

ED

15 YeAno.

Something more than the brief statement given above seems due in the case of the only death of a pupil actually at St . Peter's that has occurred for many years . Those of our readers, at least, who are at the school, and who felt in all its force the sorrow and the awfulness of the blow that struck right into the heart of the gladness of the brightest term of the year, will be of the same mind with us . On Tuesday, June 1st, Bulmer played for the first Eleven against Flaxton Cricket Club . Apparently he caught cold at the match ; at any rate, a day or two after we heard that he was taken seriously ill with inflammation of the lungs.

Early on the Thursday morning of the succeeding week, spite of all the untiring care and loving attention of Mr . and Mrs. Stephenson could do, and of the services of a professional nu rse and three medical men, he died, and on the Saturday we followed him to his grave . Almost all the school were present at the Burial Service in the School Chapel and at the cemetery, and fey who were there had ever taken part in a more impressive ceremony . The Eleven were fittingly chosen to be bearers, and some of their number laid wreaths on the coffin in the Chapel . The Service at the school and at the grave, was conducted by the Head-Master, who also preached the funeral Sermon oil the following day . We are glad to add that Mr . Stephenson has consented to its publication.

Of the Schoolfellow we have lost this is hardly the place to say anything . We have written what xe have because we could not pass over this sad event without disrespect . Neither without disrespect could we add commonplaces that would be acceptable to no one—that Bulrner himself would have been the 1 t .st to wish for . Surely here, if anywhere, ' only silence fitteth best .'

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NOTES AND ITEMS. J . R . HUSBAND, Christ ' s College, Cambridge, and R . M . AINSLIE, Pembroke College, Cambridge, have passed the Special Examination in Theology in the first and second Class respectively.

The Athletic Sports have been fixed for Saturday, July 24th, to begin at 1 .45 p .m . There will be the usual Quarter Mile Race for 0. P .'s.

The postponed Concert and Past v . Present Cricket Match will take place on Monday, July 26th . We may again remind O . P . ' s who wish to play, that they should send in their names to F .W . GREENHOvV or F . T . GRIFFITH as soon as possible.

We may be allowed to remind our readers that the death of the Rev . J . ROBINSON, at the beginning of the year, deprived the School of the donor of two annual prizes, one at the Midsummer Examinations for the English Essay, and the other at the Athletic Sports . Is there no O . P . on whom his mantle may fall ?

We beg to acknowledge the recei p t of the following Magazines :— Alleynian, Lily.

The treasurer of the Peterita would be glad to receive this year ' s subscriptions, overdue, from several subscribers . I' . O . 0 . ' s may be sent to W . E . Moore, 24, Burton Lane, York.

The next number of the Peter/le will he published at the beginning of August .

YORK GALA. If you will listen for awhile I'll do my best to tell, What, on the eighteenth day of June, My humble self befell.

Happening that clay to be in York, I followed with the tide, Which was not long in landing me The Gala field inside.

For flowers and ferns the rabble seemed To have but little taste, But I saw many on the fruit Their hungry glances waste .

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YORK GALA.

Again the crowd swept me away, This time into a tent ; And here a fellow with a gong, On deafening me seemed bent.

That show was really worth it all, Squashing and noise and walk, I ' m sure those dogs were able to Do everything but talk.

When I was tired of watching them, Which was not very soon, I struggled back to see the rise Of Coxwell's grand Balloon.

Of clouds of smoke through which I passed The smell was so unclean, I thought, though here cigars were rife, Tobacco scarce was seen.

And now I turned my steps towards A sort of raised up stage, On which there were some negro men Who seemed to be the rage : Why these poor fellows leave their homes Far off in Afric ' s land, To come and make the people laugh, I cannot understand.

And then the fire-works o ' er the field A brilliant lustre shed ; ' Twas quite unsafe, the way the sparks Carte down so near one ' s head !

After, when all were pushing out, For some unfathomed cause, Some P ' liccmen tried with might and main To make the rabble pause.

Although I lost a stone or two, I didn ' t much mind that; They spared my bones, and only smashed My spectacles and hat.

OXFORD : PRINTED II\

W . R . ROVI)FN, I-UGH STREET .