THE
P[T[RITE. Vol. . IX .
DECEMBER . 1888 .
No . 78.
OXFORD LETTER. IR,—Your Editorial dignity will be gratified to hear of the immense influence your Magazine exerts over Oxford feeling . Thanks mainly to the strictures of your correspondent last year, the Dons have at last recognised the selfishness of bringing men up to Oxford in the depth of winter, and have, accordingly added two weeks to the Xmas vacation. So far, the term has been uneventful . The Fifth of November went out in a feeble burst of squibs and crackers, and only here and there was there any revival of the good old times . Freshmen are blase and Dons leary, though in one college, at any rate, the latter were distinctly scored off. The edict had gone forth against oil and faggots, and they were banished wholesale from the various rooms . A plentiful supply of oil was smuggled, sub rasa, through the college gates, and faggots were not wanting, thanks to the friendly connivance of a wily scout, who left college with the enigmatical remark : " There are no faggots, but don't look under Mr . So-and-So' s bed . " Consequently, at midnight, there was a lurid glare in the old quad of , and certain household vessels which shall be nameless shot forth a merry flame from every corner and cranny of . the college, filled full with oil and primed with faggots ; and desecration of desecrations, the sound of the football was heard on the sacred grass . A brass band, consisting chiefly of tins and pokers, headed by a silver cornet, with here and there the scraping of an asthmatic banjo, completed the scene . To turn to more serious matters . The Rugby Football team have sadly disappointed their detractors, and have not lost one of their important matches this term . Christopherson is the mainstay of the team behind, but, undoubtedly, the forwards have been responsible for most of the victories . They are a fast, powerful lot on the whole, and, though they have much to learn in packing and wheeling, their tackling is undeniably good, and bids fair to reverse last year's verdict at Kensington .
S