THE PETERITE Vol. XL IV
MAY, 1952
No. 330
EDITORIAL The early weeks of the past term were overshadowed by the shock of the tragic death of His Majesty King George VI. Although it was true that the King for many months past had "walked with Death", we were quite unprepared for the suddenness of a catastrophe which, when it came, seemed almost unbelievable. When, in the middle of morning school, the news somehow travelled from class-room to classroom, it was received with stunned incredulity. Official confirmation of the calamity came promptly, and, in common with the nation at large, we mourned the passing of a Monarch whose unflinching devotion to duty was a pattern to us all. A Memorial Service was held in the School Chapel on 15th February, and the Head Master made it possible for us to listen to the moving broadcast of the Funeral on the same day. A similar opportunity, of which we took advantage, was afforded us to witness the ceremony in York which marked the accession of Queen Elizabeth II. To the young Queen, who has now shouldered the exacting and life-long burden of kingship, the Royal School of St. Peter proclaims its loyalty and devotion. In our internal affairs the term passed with serenity. It is possible that many of us, in the course of the Christmas holidays, became conscious of the soundness of the Prince's observation in King Henry IV, Part I : "If all the year were playing holidays To sport would be as tedious as to work;" and, after a surfeit of exhausting festivities, we return not altogether reluctantly to the comfortable routine of school life. We are fortified, too, by the knowledge that the coming term will be comparatively brief. But the Easter Term, though the shortest of the year, is not usually the most placid, and our satisfaction is generally not unmixed with foreboding. Experience has taught us that the weather can do its fiendish worst and play havoc with the programme which looks so 1
