• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

THE CRANLEIGHAN VOLUME SEVENTEEN NUMBER TWO JULY 1938 THE CRANLEIGHAN. JULY, 1938. VOLUME XVII. No. 2. EDITORIAL. TT is customary to head the Summer Term's Editorial with a quotation from the play performed during the term. We apologise for departing from this admirable tradition which more than once, we suspect, has saved a despairing Editor from self-obliteration. The trouble was that instead of allowing the genius of Shakespeare to inspire us with a subject we, no doubt in common with many other preachers, sought a text to suit our subject. It is true that one line from Act IV—"Will no man say Amen?"—nearly inspired us to write about Chapel Ser- vices, but we overcame the temptation. No; the real reason why no impressive italics gracefully head this Editorial is that it would have meant printing about a hundred lines from " Richard II," and however the Editor might have welcomed such a relief from writing his twaddle (as we have heard it called), we think it would be rather a spineless way of getting out of it. For, and at last we are getting to the point, the subject with which we propose to deal is mentioned by Shakespeare not once, but again and again in his "King Richard the Second." It is the subject of war and peace. An objection which will now probably occur to the reader is that it is not the duty of a school magazine to "comment in an airy fashion on world events," as one of our predecessors put it. We agree. In the same way as a daily newspaper's Editorial has a close bearing on its subject-matter, that is, on the whole, political affairs, so a school magazine's Editorial should have a close bearing on the subject-matter of the magazine, that is to say school affairs; and the subject of war and peace is very much a school affair. This is far too little realised; in- deed, it is this very apathy, this lack of interest in the pressing subject of world peace, which is the danger to-day. War—and let no one mistake it—is a very dif- ferent thing in the modern world from what it was when 62 Shakespeare wrote. It vitally affects, if that is not too weak a word, every person, man or woman, boy or girl, in every country in the world, and it concerns those at school probably in a greater—certainly not in a lesser— degree than anyone else. For it is at school that the main principles of one's future outlook on life are settled, and one of these principles should be a horror of war and, far more important, a determination to work for peace. In our opinion, which we offer unasked, permanent peace can never be achieved until the vast majority of ordinary citizens take the trouble to study the problem; and the school age is the most receptive age for such study. There are people who will oppose this on the grounds that we should allow Youth a brief period of innocent enjoyment and care-free happiness; they will learn soon enough the grim realities of the modern world. This is the attitude of the ostrich. To allow future men and women to live in a fools' paradise is not kindness, but blind cruelty, for when the full realisation of modern con- ditions dawns—the muddle of it, the chaos—their only reaction will be stunned amazement and confused inac- tion. It is unfortunate that Youth's Tender Years must be thus rudely interrupted by materialistic thought, but more than that must be sacrificed for peace. It usually happens that those leaving school are exhorted by some perfectly sincere Army officer to do something for their country by joining the Territorials or some other military organisation; but the cause of peace, and by that we mean permanent peace, must have its soldiers too, and they will need as much training as any military soldiers. The situation to-day is so desperate that unless some such great movement of the masses takes place, led essentially by Youth, it is quite certain—and here, to conciliate past and future generations of Editors, we include a quota- tion—• "The blood of English shall manure the ground, "And future ages groan. While "Peace shall go sleep with Turks and Infidels." 63 SCHOOL NOTES. The Summer Term began on Friday, April 29th, and will end on Tuesday, July 26th. Next term will begin on Tuesday, September 20tn. We were very sorry to lose at the end of last term Mr. S. T. Broad, who left to take up a post under the Board of Education. History specialists of the Vlth Form in par- ticular will remember with gratitude his stimulating influence. His place has been taken for this term by Mr. V. J. Wrigley, B.A., late exhibitioner of Queen's College, Oxford. We deeply regret to have to record the death from meningitis, on the day after this term began, of Alfred Puddick, who for twenty years had been butler of the Common Room. For those twenty years he had ruled its members with an obedience of iron, but also with a kind- ness, a courtesy, and a helpfulness which never failed. The School has lost a valued servant and the members of the Common Room a friend. SQUASH RACKETS. Now that the courts have been up two years it has been found possible to make some reduction in the rates of subscription for boys. Starting with next term the annual subscription will in future be two and a half guineas. CHAPEL NOTES. The Festal Altar Frontal, which was presented to the Chapel many years ago, has been entirely re-worked by the Heartsease Society in London and remounted at a cost of about A22. A Chapel Notice Board has been made in the carpenters' shop and presented by C. L. M. Ross. 64 The following have preached in Chapel this term: — May 1. The Reverend C. Crowhurst. 8. The Reverend J. S. Purvis. 15. R. C. Lucas, Esq., Headmaster of Sebright School, Wolverley. 22. The Reverend Canon C. C. Inge. 29. The Reverend Dr. R. Simpson. June 5. The Reverend the Headmaster. 12. The Reverend J. S. Purvis. 19. The Lord Bishop of London, The Right Reverend and Right Hon. A. F. Winnington-Ingram, D.D., K.C.V.O. 26'. The Warden of St. Michael's College, Tenbury, The Reverend C. H. S. Buckmaster. July 3. The Reverend the Headmaster. 10. The Rev. Prebendary E. C. Rich, Vicar of Chiswick. 24. The Reverend J. S. Purvis. * SCHOOL OFFICIALS. Senior Prefect P. H. Looker. School Prefects:— G. 0. R. Meyer, H. D. Wood, K. F. Prebble, R. A. J. Baily, J. E. Mussett, W. M. L. Bispham, W. P. Sargent, P. W. Granet, V. L. Malempre, P. Hunt. Captain of Cricket P. Hunt. Hon. Secretary of Cricket R.. J. C. Higgins. Captain of Sho&tinff V. L. Malempre. Captain of Athletics P. T. J. C. P. Warner. Captain of Fives and Tennis P. T. J. C. P. Warner. Hon. Secretary of Games Committee P. H. Looker. Chapel Readers:— P. H. Looker, G. 0. R. Meyer, H. D. Wood, K. F. Prebble, J... E. Mussett, W. M. L. Bispham, W. P. Sargent, P. W. Granet, V. L. Malempre, P. Hunt. Editor of "The Cranleighari" W. P. Sargent. Sub-Editor J. J. Bliss. 65 HISTORY SOCIETY. Lecture on Abyssinia by Col. Sandford. June 8th. Most people must have come away from Colonel Sand- ford's lecture on Abyssinia with the feeling that they had attended the canonization of a saint, that is if Haile Selassie is eligible for that honour while still alive. The only flaw in the proceedings was the fact that there was no advocatus diaboli or Italian representative. That the two terms are here treated as synonymous is not incon- sistent with the outlook of the lecturer. He himself admitted at the start that after a long-standing acquaint- ance with the Abyssinians he could not help being some- what biased in their favour, although throughout the evening he gave the impression that he considered it a good fault in that he was biased on the right side. Never apparently in world history has there been an emperor like Haile Selassie. He educated his people, he gained their love, he brought them into the League of Nations, and—highest virtue of all—he trained them to believe that the British people always did the decent and sporting thing. Unfortunately, however, when the time of testing came Britain betrayed her trust and broke her promise. The vicious Italian entered and the Emperor went into exile, where he still remains. He is willing to do anything for his people, even to accept a nominal position of authority in Abyssinia under Italian suzerainty. Meanwhile the Italians are reaping the just reward of their iniquities. The country is turbulent and its government is a severe strain. After this last piece of exhilarating news everybody felt ready for a discussion, out of which emerged two main points of interest. The first was that Britain had only pledged the independence of Abyssinia as a member of the League, and thus her failure to take action during the war was in no sense a personal dishonour or breach of promise. The second was to do with the ineffectiveness of the Italian occupation. Colonel Sandford owned a farm at Marji, thirty miles out of Addis Abbaba, for the protec- tion of which the Italians on their arrival at the capital sent a body of troops.

Load more

  71

Copy Link