The " ladders of the mind " are the clues which we use to track down items of knowledge which can not be immediately remembered . 
The " organisation " and the " shelves " will form important topics in our later discussion . 
The work that goes on at the bench must also be considered . 
For here the items which go into the store may be taken to pieces and reassembled , and a sketch may be made of their internal construction . 
Both the item and the sketch can then go into the store . 
In the mind it is the stored items which constitute our memory and it is the stored sketches which constitute our understanding . 
Thus reading for understanding means taking items of knowledge to pieces as we read them and seeing how the pieces are connected . 
A book is arranged to start at the beginning of the first chapter and to finish at the end of the last chapter . 
This seems natural enough but in fact it is purely an arrangement to suit authors , printers and booksellers . 
It does not at all correspond to the needs of the reader 's mind . 
For a piece of understood knowledge is not a mere succession of ideas . 
It is a pattern of connected ideas . 
Some of the ideas in a book , though connected , may occur on pages which are widely separated . 
If books were designed to meet the needs of the reader they would be printed on one side of the paper only and not bound . 
They would be loose-leaf books . 
And the reader should have a large table on which he could spread out the leaves and see the connections of meaning . 
Of course there are many practical objections to such a method of printing but we must ask how can the reader overcome the handicaps which the present design of books imposes on him ? 
This leads us to consider the reader 's job . 
My main object in this book is to show the solitary student what his job is . 
For in order to become an effective reader you have to learn how to learn , to learn how to remember and to learn how to know . 
This is not a passive process but a real job of work . 
For the serious student it can be a very satisfying job and can take him a long way in navigating the seas of knowledge . 
To each of these three processes , learning , remembering , and knowing , there are four possible approaches . 
These are : 
( 1 ) the philosopher 's approach 
( 2 ) the psychologist 's approach 
( 3 ) the teacher 's approach 
( 4 ) the learner 's approach 
The solitary learner should aim at mastering all four approaches . 
He must be his own philosopher , his own psychologist and his own teacher . 
As a philosopher he will want to know the meanings of these important words learning , remembering and knowing , or rather to decide what meanings they are to have for him . 
For they have many meanings . 
He needs to clarify them , to see their relations one to another and also to his objective . 
As a psychologist he needs to observe himself at work ( and others too if possible ) and to find out what sort of processes are going on when he is coming to grips with new knowledge . 
It is a very variable process and he needs to grasp the nature of the variables which control his efficiency as a learner . 
He may discover that many of his assumptions and preconceptions about the nature of learning are unsound . 
He must become a critic of his own methods and an experimenter in the discovery of better methods . 
He can not expect the professional psychologist to tell him what is best for him because every individual is different . 
The psychologist can tell him what the variables are but not how they combine in his particular case . 
As a teacher he is , of course , in an anomalous position . 
The ordinary teacher is teaching what he knows . 
The self-teacher would seem to be a contradiction . 
But the contradiction is more apparent than real . 
It rests on the mistaken notion that the teacher has something which he is passing on to the learner . 
This is only superficially true . 
The learner is not a passive recipient . 
He already has a certain store of knowledge and a certain vocabulary . 
The job of the teacher is to set the learner 's vocabulary to work on the existing store so as to make it grow . 
He does not simply pack new things into the store . 
The solitary learner has to find out how to do this for himself , with the help of books . 
He uses his vocabulary to ask questions and uses the books to find the answers . 
Thus learning how to learn means becoming your own philosopher , your own psychologist and your own teacher . 
You will then be a well-established learner and the world will be at your feet . 
ONE THE MIND 
Although the word " mind " has given rise to endless controversy among philosophers and psychologists , many of whom would like to abolish it from the dictionary , most of us obstinately go on using it . 
It is short and familiar and its many meanings can be otherwise expressed only by cumbersome and abstract terms which then introduce new difficulties . 
But it is advisable , in any particular context , to narrow down its meaning so as to avoid confusion . 
" Mind " has often been contrasted with " matter " in such a way as to suggest that the two are somehow opposed and incompatible . 
And then you get a knock on the head and all evidence of " mind " vanishes , at any rate for some time . 
It seems very difficult to detach the mind from the brain , and all the biological , surgical and pharmacological evidence points to a very close connection . 
There is a lot to be said for keeping the word " soul " to stand for what many believe to be the imperishable essence of a man which is supposed to persist apart from the body , and to reserve the more prosaic word " mind " for the basis of all those experiences and phenomena which are clearly associated with the brain . 
Can we now put forward any reasonably clear picture of this " basis " of mental phenomena ? 
The physicists have succeeded remarkably well , with the atomic theory , in giving a clear and detailed picture of the basis of such material phenomena as chemical action , magnetism , the behaviour of gases and so on . 
Where has psychology got to in its theories of " mind " ? 
Are there any ultimate units of mind akin to the atoms of matter ? 
At one time it was thought that mind could indeed be analysed into discrete bits . 
These bits were identified as elementary sensations . 
These were thought to combine together to form compound experiences by analogy with the way atoms of matter combine to form molecular compounds . 
But this view led to too many difficulties and was finally abandoned . 
Nevertheless the search for basic units of mind has gone on and will doubtless continue , for it is the aim of science to discover ultimate units . 
We must beware , however , of supposing that there must be any close analogy between the units of quite different sciences . 
For example the success of the atomic theory in physics might lead us to suppose that the ultimate units of geometry must be points . 
It would be more correct to regard operations as the ultimate units of geometry . 
There have been many conflicting tendencies in psychology in its search for ultimate units and here we can only indicate what seems to be the most promising concept which is current today . 
It is known as the schema . 
It is not an easy concept and if I try to make it concrete it will be at the cost of over-simplification but even so it may be better than a meaningless abstraction . 
The following conversation between Hamlet and Polonius shows that Shakespeare had at any rate an intuitive grasp of the notion : " 
Hamlet : Do you see yonder cloud that 's almost in shape of a camel ? 
Polonius : By the mass , and 't is like a camel , indeed . 
Hamlet : Methinks , it is like a weasel . 
Polonius : It is backed like a weasel . 
Hamlet : Or like a whale ? 
Polonius : Very like a whale . " 
Now the whale , the camel etc. , were not in the sky . 
The clouds are mere aggregates of water-drops . 
The whale , etc. , were in the minds of Hamlet and Polonius . 
But they could both see the cloud . 
Thus an image of the cloud was also in their minds . 
Moreover they knew it to be a cloud . 
Yet they could " see " animals in it . 
This is the important fact about mental phenomena . 
The physical cloud in the sky is just itself , made of water-drops . 
The mental cloud is a multiplicity . 
To begin with it is a pattern of brain-processes , just as physical as the water-drops . 
But it is experienced ( 1 ) as a cloud , ( 2 ) as a whale , ( 3 ) as a camel and so on . 
We can not dismiss these as " illusions " for it is just the occurrence of such illusions that we seek to explain — besides why is it illusory to see the thing as a whale but not illusory to see it as a cloud ? 
And how did Hamlet know it was " really " a cloud ? 
For the moment we need not concern ourselves with these last questions . 
What we have to grasp is that there are patterns of brain-activity of different kinds . 
There are patterns which result directly from processes such as seeing , hearing , etc. , e.g. that which is experienced as the shape of the cloud ( but not yet identified as such ) . 
And there are patterns which result in interpretations such as " cloud " , " whale " , " camel " , etc . 
The image is fairly steady and durable . 
The interpretations can shift very rapidly . 
These interpretations are called " schemas " ( or more pedantically " schemata " ) . 
At one time " mind " used to be identified with " consciousness " . 
But " consciousness " simply refers to the stream of changing experiences . 
It will simplify our explanations if we regard consciousness as a property of mind rather than as mind itself . 
If we define " mind " as the totality of schemas in a single brain and regard "consciousness " as a certain transitory state which any schema , or group of schemas , can assume , we can give a more consistent account of our experiences and interpretations . 
Before going further we should try to face what is an almost inevitable difficulty for anyone approaching the study of mind for the first time . 
It is the tendency to get things the wrong way round . 
As a psychologist I am constantly encountering this tendency in friends and acquaintances . 
They think there is something inevitably " queer " about psychology and this feeling of queerness usually boils down to a quite mistaken belief that the psychologist first looks into his own mind and then interprets other people 's minds by what he has found in his own . 
This is what I mean by " getting things the wrong way round " . 
He is far more likely to find out about how his own mind works by looking at other people 's . 
For although looking inwards ( or " introspecting " as it is called ) , is not entirely ruled out , nowadays most psychologists would agree that it is one of the most unreliable methods of getting any precise information . 
And so they prefer objective methods . 
Since they can not directly look into the mental processes of another person they observe his visible behaviour and then try to give theoretical interpretations of what lies behind this behaviour . 
This is no more queer than the method of the doctor who observes signs , and records symptoms , and diagnoses the inner states responsible for them . 
He may never have had the disease himself but he can nevertheless identify it . 
Similarly the psychologist has to be prepared to observe and make inferences about all kinds of processes in other people , whether or not they correspond with anything in his own experience . 
We know very little about the patterns of brain-activity which provide our schemas , nor do we need to know as far as psychology is concerned — these patterns are the concern of the neuro-physiologists . 
The numerically largest group , consisting of male weekly wage-earners up to chargehand level and in the works only , excluding the offices , was therefore selected . 
A detailed age-structure was compiled from personnel department records , revealing that there were ( at that time ) seventeen men seventy years of age or older , thirty-three aged sixty-four years , and sixty-five just fifty years of age . 
A small panel was formed , not on a formally representative basis but rather of energetic and concerned individuals , from various levels in the firm . 
In due course the panel decided to seek further insight into the problems faced by older workers , and approached those seventy years of age or older . 
Interviews with about half these men quickly convinced the panel that any approach at sixty-four — which had been considered as a possible interim stage in the project — was unlikely to be profitable , and a decision was taken to plan a scheme of preparation for retirement suitable for men who had just reached the age of fifty . 
All this took much longer than most people had expected , and it must be taken for granted by anyone wishing to plan and launch schemes of this kind in large industrial undertakings that undue haste will but court disaster . 
In June , 1958 , after careful preliminary work explaining the task of the panel to departmental managers , supervisors and shop stewards , an individual invitation was sent to each of the seventy-three men who reached the age of fifty years in 1958 . 
Following the interviews to which reference has already been made , a meeting took place at which those attending were told more fully about the proposed course and were given the general results of the interviews in which they had taken part . 
Thirty-three of the forty-four men interviewed attended this meeting , and twenty-nine signed-on for the first course . 
This was planned by the writer in co-operation with the panel and in consultation with Mr. R. P. B. Davies , then West Midlands District Secretary of the Workers Educational Association , and naturally owes much to the American schemes described earlier . 
It differs principally in being shorter ( six sessions plus a short weekend gathering to which wives are invited ) ; in using the services of experienced tutors in adult education as discussion group leaders ; and in having available at the relevant meeting expert " consultants " for physical health , mental health and financial planning . 
The Rubery , Owen scheme is now in its fourth year , and opportunity has been taken to revise the course in the light of experience . 
Topics for the six weekly meetings of one-and-a-half hours ( each held half in company time , half in the man 's time ) are now as follows : 
1 . 
Personal adjustment 
2 . 
Health 
3 . 
Work and leisure 
4 . 
Living arrangements 
5 . 
Financial planning 
6 . 
Final discussion 
The weekend conference for the men and their wives , which takes place at company expense in a country or resort hotel , includes an address on "The Woman 's Point of View " and one on " Making the Most of Health " . 
Separate discussions are arranged for the wives in addition to the plenary sessions . 
Of the men reaching fifty years of age since the scheme started , 125 ( 37.2 per cent ) have taken part . 
No pressure of any kind is brought to bear on those who decline the invitation . 
One result of the first course was the formation by the men themselves of the " Half-century Club " , membership of which is open to any man in the company fifty years of age or older ( and their wives ) whether he has passed through the scheme or not . 
At the end of the second course , a request was received from members of the salaried staff that they should be included in the scheme , and this was gladly agreed to . 
The third course produced a request by the men for an evening class in home repairs and decorating , and this was arranged at a local Evening Institute . 
The original scheme was planned to provide short refresher courses at the ages of fifty-five and sixty : the first of these is due in 1963 . 
Meanwhile , each " graduate " is encouraged to seek help and advice in working out his ideas , either through the company 's personnel department or by an approach to members of the panel responsible for the scheme . 
The latter do not regard themselves as expert advisers , but are prepared to seek out the appropriate sources of information or advice . 
The Glasgow Day Release Scheme 
Towards the end of 1956 , Mr. Daniel Grant , an Employee Relations Officer of Rolls-Royce Ltd. and a member of the Workers ' Educational Association , submitted to the Lord Provost of Glasgow , Dr. Andrew Hood , a copy of his report on an enquiry he had made into the problems that beset older workers and the effects of retirement upon them . 
The Lord Provost , having studied the report on " The Morale and Health of Retired Workers " , and being satisfied that the matters raised were of considerable importance to the citizens of Glasgow and warranted further study , set an informal committee representative of bodies particularly concerned with the welfare of older people to examine the report and its implications and to consider the advisability of arranging a Conference on Preparation for and Occupational Activities on Retirement . 
The large attendance and atmosphere of this Conference , held in October , 1957 , reflected not only an increasing awareness of the problems of men and women nearing or already in retirement but also a strong desire on the part of all concerned for concerted action towards preparing men and women for life in retirement and more adequate provision of facilities for crafts , hobbies and leisure-time interests for those who are retired . 
As a result , the Glasgow Retirement Council came into being in April , 1958 , with Dr. Andrew Hood as chairman and Mr. Andrew Atkinson as secretary . 
The Council has active committees on Education and Preparation for Retirement , and on Occupational Centres . 
The former consists of representatives from the Glasgow Corporation Further Education Department ; the Workers ' Educational Association ; the University Extra-Mural Education Committee and departments of psychology , education and social science ; the trades unions ; and the Regional Hospital Board , together with an industrial medical officer and a Medical Officer of Health . 
In 1959 it was suggested by Mr. T. M. Banks , Assistant Director of Education for Glasgow , that industrial firms might be ready to let older employees attend day-release courses on preparation for retirement , their wages paid for the time thus spent . 
An approach was made to about twenty large firms and in October , 1959 , the first experimental day-release course for men was organised . 
Eleven students from seven firms attended a course on six full Fridays and it was made clear both to the men and their employers that the venture was an experiment from which the organisers hoped to learn as much as the participants . 
Alterations are continually being made in the light of experience and the seventh course is still described as " experimental " . 
These courses take place at Langside College in a house , separate from the main building , which has a comfortable classroom and two good upstairs lounges . 
Each course starts with an informal evening meeting when the men , drawn from different firms , can get to know something of one another and of the tutors before the opening session on the morning of the first of the seven consecutive full-day Friday meetings . 
Forenoon sessions are from 9.30 a.m. to 12.45 p.m. with a coffee-break at 11 a.m .. 
Lunch is provided at a charge of 2s. 4d . 
Afternoon sessions last from 1.50 to 5 p.m. , with an afternoon tea-break of 15 minutes at 3 p.m . 
The programme is as follows : 
Tutors — most of them members of the Glasgow Retirement Council — give their services voluntarily . 
Ninety-five men from twenty-one firms have so far taken part ; there is no doubt that the men enjoy the courses and are most appreciative of them . 
They learn much , factually , about the problems of retirement and provision for old age , and , psychologically , in the sharing of their thoughts on retirement . 
They express themselves as feeling better equipped to confront and plan for their retirement and , if some are still pessimistic regarding the future , it is with an " informed pessimism " . 
They are unanimous in their expressed concern that many others working beside them at the same stage in their careers should be given opportunity to benefit similarly from further courses which they strongly recommend should be arranged by the Council . 
The Glasgow courses described above have been for men only . 
But seven women of the staff and supervisory grade from six firms have this year ( 1961 ) taken part in an experimental Day-Release Course for Women arranged by the Council at Langside College of a duration and along lines similar to the above . 
Morning sessions were unaltered but afternoon subjects included " Do-it-Yourself " , Home-craft , Home Cookery , and details of women 's organisations , providing opportunities for voluntary social service , in place of crafts , hobbies , art , drama and music . 
The City Literary Institute 
On the initiative of the Principal , Mr. H. A. Jones , this well-known London County Council Institute has recently started to offer day-release courses in preparation for retirement , following an encouraging experiment with members of the Unilever Pensioners Welfare Organisation . 
Several London firms have co-operated by releasing men and women aged fifty-five and over , both staff and hourly-paid workers . 
DIFFERENT COURSES FOR DIFFERENT KINDS OF PEOPLE 
When describing the Michigan , Chicago and recent British approaches to the problem of preparing employed men and women for their eventual retirement , some reference has in each case been made to the social , educational or intellectual status of those for whom each scheme is designed . 
Although it seems reasonable to assume that the problems of retirement , and the ways in which these can largely be solved in advance , will differ in terms of such variables , very little is known on the matter . 
One useful attempt to remedy this important gap in our knowledge was made by Burgess and his colleagues in Chicago . 
They sought answers to three questions : 
1 . 
Are there differences in adjustment to ageing and retirement according to the occupational level of employees ? 
2 . 
If so , which occupational levels are the better or the poorer prepared for successful adjustment to retirement and in what aspects ? 
3 . 
Does the evidence obtained support a rationale for adapting a pre-retirement planning and preparation programme to the needs of older employees of different occupational levels ? 
Three hundred older employees of the Standard Oil Company of Indiana provided answers to a " Retirement Planning Inventory " containing 100 items — statements with which the person responding is asked to indicate his agreement or disagreement , designed by Burgess and Mack . 
These items in fact comprise twelve groups , eight consisting of ten items each , all dealing with retirement planning and preparation , and a further two of ten items each , both dealing with more general personal adjustment . 
In addition , there are four " category scores " which combine the same 100 items in a different way , providing more broadly-based areas for assessment . 
The 300 employees comprised twenty-four managers , eighty-four supervisory and professionaltechnical staff , and 184 manual workers of all grades . 
Burgess found that in general " the higher the group 's occupational status , the greater is its ( apparent ) adjustment to ( the prospect of ) ageing and retirement " . 
( It is probably desirable to insert the words in parenthesis , having regard to the limitations of the questionnaire method of enquiry . ) 
The investigators go on to suggest , from detailed analysis of the responses obtained , that " the problem for the manual worker does not centre on his conception of old age , but rather on how he interprets its meaning for his own future life " . 
This conclusion is based on differences between the manual workers group and the other two groups in categories of questions covering " Later Maturity " and " Retirement Attitudes " , and in the broadly-based area of " Social Adjustment " . 
Burgess and his colleagues therefore advise retirement planning programmes " to divide into at least two separate units : one to treat the needs of the non-manual upper-level occupational groups who , on the whole , seem well-adjusted to old-age but require a medium through which to reinterpret and assimilate their knowledge and attitudes ; and another for the manual lower-level occupational status who , although conceiving of retirement in an appropriate manner , can not find within the boundaries of old age the promise of a meaningful and well-rounded life " . 
A simple enough question . 
But every one of the passengers who heard it turned to see who asked it . 
The girl 's voice was charming . 
And so was the girl herself . 
But you often find that an attractive voice and an attractive appearance go together . 
Their owner probably takes pains with both ! 
People generally are responsive to voices . 
One voice will give you pleasure , and another will give you a headache . 
Listen to Mollie . 
That girl could charm the bird from the bush . 
But Ethel 's flat voice has as much charm as a codfish ! 
No wonder that employers advertising for a secretary often state : Good speaking voice . 
Listen And Learn 
Listen to voices and you will learn how to improve your own . 
Variations in pitch and speed , changes in expression , a warm quality in the voice itself , clear enunciation — those can help you to that good speaking voice . 
And you will notice , too , that pleasant voices usually belong to pleasant people . 
Is there a moral there for YOU ? 
Incidentally , it 's easy to forget a face . 
But a voice once heard is never forgotten . 
A cynic has said that a good conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself . 
And there is enough truth in that to set you thinking . 
Keep an ear open for snatches of talk you hear during the day . 
WHAT I SAID and WHAT I DID are very popular subjects . 
But they make poor conversation ! 
Sometimes you do meet some one who says little himself . 
But he seems willing to listen a lot . 
Be cautious — there 's an old adage which tells you to beware of the man who lets YOU do all the talking ! 
So what ! 
Just this . 
A good conversationalist talks neither too much nor too little . 
He has the knack of putting things in an interesting way . 
But more than that , he stimulates YOU to contribute to the conversation too . 
And he can set a whole group talking . 
No wonder such a talker is always welcome ! 
Conversation is still a popular form of entertainment . 
And one in which we all can share . 
You can help yourself to play your part in good conversation , either with strangers or in your own circle . 
And it will do wonders for you ! 
You think the man opposite would like to chat . 
And so would you . 
All right ! 
Seize your opportunity when he looks up from his book . 
What will you say ? 
As you have never seen him before , you ca n't very well open with , " My wife has toothache ! " — or something of that sort . 
The usual opening , and you ca n't better it , is to remark on the weather . 
And why not ? 
The weather is of interest to everybody . 
And he will understand you are just sticking to the rules . 
He will do the same . 
If he does n't want to talk , a quick smile and a brief , " Horrid ! " — and he returns to his book . 
But if he likes the look of you he will most likely toss the ball back to you by saying lightly , " Yes — all the fault of the atom-bomb scientists ! " — or some such remark . 
And if you come back again with , " Disturbing chaps — in more ways than one ! " each of you will think the other is talkable-to . 
And away you go . 
Good conversation can be wonderful fun . 
And a grand shortener of journeys . 
Useful , too ! 
One V.I.P. has said that he learns more from conversation than from all the books he has read . 
At least you learn something about human nature . 
We 'll say you arrive — on your own — at a party , and the hostess leaves you with a group of strangers . 
Two or three of them give you a fleeting smile , but continue to listen to what seems to be a dramatic story by one of the group . 
She is telling of her battle with a play producer , but she has n't yet reached the point where she laid him out flat ! 
Splendid ! 
It gives you a breathing-space , and time to get your bearings . 
You are sure to see something of interest to you , something you can talk about . 
It may be a bit of antique furniture , a picture , a tapestry , or even flowers . 
Well , there you are . 
You may — when the producer has been humbled — get by by answering questions . 
But unless you are to appear as a tongue-tied ninny , you simply must say something original . 
For instance , you notice an old writing-desk . 
So you say to your neighbour , " Lovely desk ! 
Do you think it 's Chippendale ? " 
You could n't do better . 
Talk about furniture — especially antiques — and most people will want to join in . 
Just a bit of chatter about some one else — but two completely different styles of talking ! 
One of the gossips talks with sledgehammer blows . 
She is so sure about things . 
But the other feels her way more gently . 
That sledgehammer style — if the blows are short and sharp enough — may suit at a political meeting . 
But conversation wilts under it . 
Try , instead , a more inquiring style — Do n't you think that ... ? will encourage the other one to give his views . 
Oh , that 's nonsense ! will shut him up , or start an argument . 
And an argument can be poor conversation . 
You find yourself more concerned to prove the other fellow wrong than to encourage him to say what he thinks . 
And Do n't Be A Know-all 
There are plenty of people — both sexes — who delight in showing their knowledge . 
Maybe it 's nice to know more than some one else , but it 's a mistake to show it — if you want good conversation . 
Let the other fellow tell YOU something — if he wishes to ! 
At some time or other you will speak in public . 
Perhaps you will join in the discussion at a committee meeting , take sides at the debating society , open a local fe5te , propose a toast — or even make a political speech from the platform . 
No matter what the occasion is , you will want to make a good job of it . 
Here is some advice . 
Be Sincere . 
If you mean what you say there is a ring in your voice and a force in your speaking which you can get in no other way . 
Believe in what you say — or say nothing . 
Be Natural . 
In other words , be yourself . 
Famous orators have their own style . 
You have yours , and by sticking to it you will make a better speech than by imitating some one else . 
But see to it that your own style improves every time you make a speech . 
Those two bits of advice apply whether you speak to a crowd in the Town Hall or to half a dozen in the committee room . 
Be sincere . 
Be natural . 
People will at least listen to you with respect — and maybe with enjoyment ! 
And if you make a good speech you too will enjoy the thrill of it . 
She was so beautifully dressed . 
And she looked just right for the job — to open the bazaar . 
But , oh , dear ! 
She unfolded a sheet of paper and proceeded to read her speech — every word of it . 
Such careful enunciation ! 
And so terribly lifeless ! 
But here 's a speaker of another calibre — at a mass-protest meeting . 
He , too , looks just right for the job ! 
And he is . 
His words pour out with the flow and force of Niagara . 
He has the crowd spellbound ! 
Those two speakers are poles apart . 
Between them come many other speaking-methods . 
Which one is yours ? 
Perhaps you rely on a few notes on a small bit of paper ? 
That , at least , is better than reading the whole thing . 
But the secret of a good speech lies in the contact between speaker and audience . 
Stop to read from a paper , look down at your notes ! — at once you break the spell . 
Yes , it 's " off the cuff " for a really good speech . 
But that does not mean you need not think about it beforehand . 
Some of the best " impromptu " speakers spend hours in preparation . 
So , by all means plan your speech and rehearse it — see next page . 
Take your notes with you — if you must ! 
But if you can lose them and still speak naturally and easily , why — Good For You ! 
You are a speaker ! 
Embarrassed and tongue-tied ! 
Poor fellow ! 
But it need not happen to you — if you plan your speech beforehand . 
You are going to make a speech , so presumably you 've got something to say . 
It may take you two minutes , it may take you twenty minutes ( a long time that ! ) . 
But before you start have it clear in your mind what that message is . 
In writing a letter , you arrange it in paragraphs . 
Do the same with your speech . 
But do n't write it down . 
Content yourself with giving a name to each paragraph , and put those names in a list . 
Suppose , for instance , you finally have four names on your list . 
Then you have four sections to your speech . 
Decide then what you want to say in each — and the best way of saying it — and then rehearse it over and over again . 
But do n't memorize it word for word . 
All you need do is to remember the four names — and the order in which they come . 
Each time you rehearse you will probably put things in a different way . 
All the better ! — it will sound much more spontaneous on the occasion itself . 
Remember your four names — have the list with you if you like — and you simply ca n't be flummoxed ! 
Of course , in any speech a good start and a good finish are half the battle . 
So — see the next page ! 
Yes , they are waiting for you . 
But there is no need to be frightened . 
The audience will eat out of your hand — if they like what you offer them . 
A good start will put them in a good humour . 
Ladies and gentlemen ! 
I 'm afraid I have not had much experience of public speaking . 
But that 's a terrible way to begin ! 
Why tell them you are a novice ? 
It 's their interest you want — not their sympathy . 
And you want to get it from the word GO ! 
Try something like this : 
It is said that television keeps people at home . 
But you , at any rate , have proved that wrong . 
And they say , too , that television makes its appeal to those of lesser intelligence . 
May I suggest that you have proved that right ! 
Congratulations ! 
And away you go into your speech . 
Take some thought , too , for your ending . 
Thank you for listening to me so patiently . 
A political candidate often used that finish . 
No wonder he did n't get in ! 
Instead he might have ended this way : Well , those are my views . 
It 's up to you now to give me an opportunity of putting them into practice . 
A stronger finish — and a stronger candidate ! 
Note : It 's a good plan to memorize your beginning and your ending . 
One speaker predicts that unemployment will considerably increase . 
But another puts it this way : Half the working-men in the country will line up at the Labour Exchange . 
Six words only — line up at the Labour Exchange — but enough to make vividly clear to you what he has in mind . 
He presents you with a picture , and it flashes in your mind 's eye . 
You see what he is talking about . 
The Managing Director is retiring . 
The senior employee makes a presentation and he gives the thing a seagoing setting . 
He calls the Director captain , refers to him starting as cabin-boy , keeping the ship off the rocks , etc . 
A sound idea . 
The metaphors give life to the speech . 
Simple words and homely phrases give the clearest pictures . 
Let some one say : It 's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut ! — and at once you get his meaning . 
But : Using a great output of energy for an exiguous purpose ( it means the same thing ! ) gives you no picture at all . 
So , in preparing your speech , search for the homely phrase and the simple illustration . 
And then in giving your speech , you in effect give your hearers a series of pictures . 
What looked ominously like a pair of legs was showing under the seat in a second-class compartment . 
His fears were realized when some porters helped him to lift out the body of a woman . 
Still puzzling as to what could have happened to his fiance2e , Edward Berry at first watched the growing group of excited railway officials farther up the platform . 
When he learned what was causing the commotion he became greatly alarmed , and after the body had been taken to St Thomas 's Hospital it was his grief-stricken duty formally to identify Elizabeth Camp , aged thirty-three , the girl who was to have been his bride . 
There was little doubt of how she had met her death , and even less that it had been murder . 
She had been struck several times with a blunt instrument , and her head was smashed in . 
There were signs of a violent struggle , blood on the cushions and floor , and the remains of her broken umbrella . 
But a pair of bone cuff-links found in the compartment seemed to provide the only possible clue to the killer . 
The body was examined , and it was definitely established that no sexual assault had taken place . 
It seemed probable that the motive had been robbery , and this was further confirmed when a check was made with the woman 's relations in Hounslow . 
Miss Camp had been the housekeeper at the Good Intent , a public-house in Walworth . 
Her day off was Thursday , and before coming up to London in the evening she had called on her two sisters , one of whom lived at Hammersmith and the other at Hounslow , where she kept a shop . 
Elizabeth had left Hammersmith in the late afternoon , and arrived at Hounslow around 5 P.M. , where she had tea with her other sister , and then went to catch the 7.42 . 
Her sister saw her to the station , helping her with some of her packages . 
This sister was able to establish that she had carried a green purse and had bought a railway ticket . 
But both purse and ticket , and the packages , were gone when the body was found at Waterloo . 
Neither the sisters nor Mr Berry thought it likely that she had been carrying much money . 
A porter at Hounslow supported the sister 's statement that Elizabeth Camp had been alone in her compartment when the train left , but this did not help much , since it had made stops at nine stations before Waterloo . 
The police began a systematic search of the line — no easy task , but one in which patience and method paid off . 
At a spot on the embankment between Putney and Wandsworth they found a bloodstained pestle such as chemists use , with some hairs sticking to it . 
The murder weapon , more than likely , and perhaps evidence enough to have brought a killer to book in modern times . 
But in 1897 , alas ! there was no fingerprint bureau , no experts to check and photograph any " dabs " it might have yielded . 
It was a tough case to tackle , and Superintendent Robinson , of the L.S.W.R. Police , and Chief Inspector Marshall , of Scotland Yard , combined forces in the investigation . 
While accepting the likelihood that Miss Camp had been attacked for the sake of robbery , they did not overlook the possibility that this might have disguised another motive , and a thorough check of her former men friends and acquaintances began . 
They also had to cope with the usual flood of rumours , some well meant , some mischievous , including one that a man had been seen fleeing from Vauxhall station on the Thursday evening , with blood actually dripping from his hands . 
The inquest was opened on February 17 , but , beyond the jury hearing a formal identification of the victim and inspecting at Waterloo the carriage in which she had died , there was nothing on which to proceed , and the inquest was adjourned . 
Day by day the police followed up likely and even unlikely trails . 
It was learned that Elizabeth Camp had been lending money to her relatives , and her brother-in-law was asked for a detailed account of his movements on the 11th . 
The dead woman had been engaged once before — to a barman named Brown . 
This man agreed that his engagement had been broken off after one particular tiff , but denied that he owed Miss Camp any money . 
All the while the police were casting about for a man who had been seen leaving the train at Wandsworth . 
A passenger described this individual as a man of about thirty , of medium height , with a dark moustache , and wearing a frockcoat and a top-hat . 
The porter at the station bore out this description , but the man was not traced . 
Perhaps the news of their search got around , for a man did obligingly present himself at Wandsworth police-station , claiming to have committed the murder — but he was mentally defective , and , despite his claim to infamy , had been nowhere near the 7.42 that evening . 
Even the bone cuff-links found beside the body , which had at first been considered as belonging to the killer , proved yet another red herring , for it was learned that they had been borrowed by Elizabeth Camp from one of her sisters . 
A young man from Reading named Marshall had an uncomfortable time in the presence of the coroner . 
This man was known to have left his home on February 11 , and to have been away for four days . 
Not in itself a crime , but , added to the knowledge that he had gone shopping in the town of Guildford for a false moustache , it left him with something to explain . 
His story was that he had left home to try to join the Army ( presumably feeling that a moustache might enhance his military bearing ) , and this was accepted . 
And so the inquest , which had dragged on , with adjournments , until April 7 , finally had to be content to return a verdict of "wilful murder against some person or persons unknown . " 
The most vital clue of the Wedgwood pestle had been of no assistance . 
The killer must have been very thankful that the science of dactyloscopy was only in its beginnings . 
The next female fatality occurred eight years later , yet so strange were the circumstances that it was a further seven years before even a ghost of a solution emerged . 
There has always been something sinister in the idea of tunnels . 
The building of them was one of the most dangerous jobs connected with railway construction ; and there were many people who believed that to travel through tunnels would be an equally hazardous business . 
Some thought that the result would be all sorts of horrible illnesses brought on by the confined atmosphere . 
" The shareholders who travel by it will be so heartily sick , what with the foul air , smoke and sulphur , that the mention of a railway will be worse than Ipecacuanha , " wrote an anti-railway industrialist when it was proposed to build the Box Tunnel . 
The mere thought of subterranean travel gave others a feeling of danger . 
A medical journal said , " the deafening peal of thunder , the sudden immersion in gloom , and the clash of reverberated sounds in a confined space combine to produce a momentary shudder , or idea of destruction , a thrill of annihilation . " 
It was also prophesied that passengers would be robbed and assaulted in the darkness . 
For all that , as far as England is concerned , there have been only two occasions on which a body has been found in a tunnel in circumstances pointing to murder . 
The first was that of Mr Gold , in the famous Lefroy case , and by an odd chance the second tragedy occurred on the same line , although this time the victim was a woman . 
Though in the minds of most people there was no doubt that the woman had been the victim of foul play , the verdict brought in was that there was not sufficient evidence to show whether she had fallen or been thrown from a train . 
The Merstham Tunnel , on the London-to-Brighton line , is approximately one mile long , and some time before midnight on September 24 , 1905 , a Sunday , Sub-Inspector Peacock , of the London , Brighton and South Coast Railway , who was in charge of a gang of men engaged in relining the tunnel , was walking through when he stumbled over something in the darkness . 
It was the battered and broken body of a woman . 
He sent word straight away to near-by Merstham Station , and a stretcher party took the body to the Feathers Hotel to await identification . 
Was it a case of suicide , where some unhappy soul had walked deliberately into the blackness and into the path of some train ? 
This hardly seemed likely , since , when she was examined by a local doctor , the woman , young , small , and rather plump , was found to have her own silk scarf drawn almost tight enough to strangle her , and the ends thrust in her mouth like a gag . 
Both her wrists bore the marks of severe bruising , and there were other injuries on her body which had occurred before her death was ensured by some train which had roared through the tunnel . 
There were no letters or papers found on her to assist identification , no money , and no railway ticket . 
By then reports were being gathered about all traffic over this stretch of line , but no information was forthcoming about any carriage with an open door , nor any passenger reporting an incident which might relate . 
So the body of this small girl with the blue eyes and long brown hair in a bun at the back of her head remained a mystery until later the following day . 
During that time a description of the girl was circulated , and a Mr Robert Money came forward to identify her as his sister , Mary Money , aged twenty-two . 
The girl , who was described as being " always bright and jolly , " had been unmarried , and lived at Lavender Hill , Clapham , on the premises of a dairyman , Bridger , for whom she worked as a book-keeper . 
On the Sunday , the day of her death , she had gone out in the evening at about seven o'clock , telling her room-mate , Emma Hone , that she was going for a walk , but would not be gone for long . 
According to Miss Hone , she had not been carrying a handbag , but she believed she had had a small purse . 
Mary had certainly taken some money with her , for the police traced her movements to a shop in Clapham , where she had bought some chocolate . 
Miss Golding , who kept the sweet shop in the Station Approach near Clapham Junction , knew Mary well , and knew she was fond of sweets ; and in the brief conversation they had had she recalled that the girl had said she was going to Victoria — hardly the short walk she had suggested to the friend who shared her room . 
At Clapham Junction a ticket-collector was able to identify a photograph of the girl , and he said he had last seen her on platform six waiting to board a train for the short run to Victoria . 
A passenger at Victoria said he had seen a young lady " as near as possible " like the photograph shown him , with a man " very close in conversation and walking arm in arm . " 
A guard reported that at East Croydon he had seen what was accepted as the same couple sitting close together in a first-class compartment of the train from London Bridge of which he was in charge . 
The two could have joined this train by taking one from Victoria and changing at East Croydon . 
He also believed that they had still been together at South Croydon , and he remembered that when they reached Redhill , after passing through Merstham Tunnel , a man who might have been the companion of the girl had left the train . 
Medical evidence established that Mary Money had been dead for about an hour before her body was discovered , and this matched reasonably well with the timetable of the train in question . 
More important evidence came from a signalman at Purley Oaks , who had seen , as the train passed his box , a couple struggling in a first-class compartment ; but he seemed to have been used to seeing couples engaged in close embraces , for he had not attached any importance to the scene at the time . 
There was a division of political responsibility between the Federal Government and the three territorial governments . 
The Federal Assembly would consist of thirty-five members , of whom twenty-six would represent the 200,000 Europeans . 
The 6 million Africans would be represented by six Africans and three Europeans . 
Later amendments of a highly intricate character increased the Federal membership to fifty-nine , increased the membership elected almost wholly by the white vote from twenty-six to forty-four and the African representation from nine to fifteen , with the new members elected on white-predominant mixed rolls . 
It did not take long before the anti-federationists felt their fears were being clearly confirmed . 
As a concession to these doubts , it was stated that the active principle behind the Federation 's racial policies would be , not apartheid , but " partnership " . 
This reassuring word was never precisely defined , and has subsequently been treated by almost every African with derision . 
At the same time the Constitution provided for an " African Affairs Board " which could appeal direct to the British Government against any legislation it regarded as discriminatory . 
( Twice it did so appeal , against the Constitution Amendment Act and the 1958 Electoral Bill . 
Both appeals were immediately rejected . ) 
Africans continued to remember the remark of Sir Godfrey Huggins as Premier of Southern Rhodesia in 1934 : " It is time for the people of England to realize that the white man in Africa is not prepared and never will be prepared to accept the African as an equal either socially or politically . " 
They continued to remember that whatever Huggins said about " partnership " for English consumption , at home he defined it as the sort of partnership that exists between a rider and his horse . 
The Rhodesian system of " partnership " , while less crude and blatant than South Africa 's apartheid , meant colour discrimination almost as pervasive and , it was sometimes held , less honest . 
The white population , one-tenth of the whole , owned half the land ; the franchise was inexorably loaded against the African , Pass Laws continued , the colour-bar , though legally modified in detail from time to time , remained socially inflexible , the Native Affairs Department governed almost every aspect of African life . 
What had happened in South Africa after the Union of 1912 happened in Central Africa after the Federation of 1953 : instead of the tolerant elements leavening and liberalizing the whole , the reverse took place , and so far from white opinion mellowing , it hardened . 
Garfield Todd , the moderately progressive Premier of Southern Rhodesia , was squeezed out of office in 1958 , and the subsequent elections returned the strongly federationist Sir Edgar Whitehead . 
The Federal Government replaced the powerfully pro-settler Sir Godfrey Huggins with the even tougher and more determined ex-trade unionist , ex-boxer , ex-engine-driver Sir Roy Welensky who , so far from modifying his determination that the Africans must never dominate the Federation , continued to reaffirm it with increasing vigour and confidence . 
Of Sir Roy 's extreme rightism it can only be said that his opponents of the Dominion Party , which leans towards the " South African solution " , are even more extreme . 
In all events , he had a mandate now to press the British Government in 1960 for complete independence for an almost exclusively white-controlled Federation . 
Physically , it seemed to begin with , federation paid off : business boomed , Salisbury — capital of both Southern Rhodesia and the Federation — mushroomed into a significant city . 
All around , the political storm-clouds grew . 
The settler community and their spokesmen in London had argued that the African resistance to federation had been based only on prejudice and ignorance , and would disappear as they began to recognize the solid benefits that it brought . 
Precisely the contrary came to pass . 
The Central Africans were by now only too well aware of the yeasty upsurge of nationalist movements all around them , while they remained groping in the stagnant pool . 
With virtually no practical means of political self-expression , nationalist movements grew inwards upon themselves . 
In each of the territories the usual " African National Congress " existed . 
In Southern Rhodesia it had sunk into inactivity , but revived with the emotions against federation . 
In Northern Rhodesia it was active but divided ; a movement against the Congress President , Harry Nkumbula , charged him with softness and tolerance and in 1958 a breakaway group was formed called the " Zambia African Congress " , led by the ex-schoolmaster Kenneth Kaunda . 
Then , as the United National Independence Party , Mr Kaunda 's group promised independence by October 1960 , which was rash . 
The potentialities for conflict existed in all three countries , but it was in Nyasaland that the nationalist organization developed its greatest energy . 
The Nyasaland Congress had been formed in 1950 ; the institution of Federation three years later provided it with its { 6raison d'e5tre , and in 1958 it received at last the genuine leadership and stimulation it had awaited . 
Dr Hastings Banda , after forty years away from his homeland , returned , bursting with vigour , to be instantly elected President of Congress . 
Dr Banda had been a doctor in north London most of the time , combining the practice of medicine with political campaigning for African causes . 
For the three years before his return he had been in Ghana . 
In the summer of 1958 he had a sensationally triumphant return . 
He brought with him a Western education , an African sense of values , a keen sense of political organization and a biting oratorical gift . 
Hastings Banda had something Messianic for the people of Nyasaland . 
Seven months after Dr Banda 's return the first trouble came . 
Fifteen Africans were arrested in February 1959 for holding an unauthorized meeting in the Northern Province of Nyasaland . 
The jail in which they were held was attacked by a furious crowd , which succeeded in rescuing them ; a series of riots at once broke out over the Province , and Federal soldiers were flown into Nyasaland from the Rhodesias to put down the civil disorder . 
In the clash that followed fifty Africans were killed . 
Trouble swiftly developed into crisis . 
In Nyasaland a thousand Congressmen were arrested — including Dr Banda . 
The Governor , Sir Robert Armitage , let it be known that the African Nationalists had prepared a plot to assassinate the white population . 
In Southern Rhodesia 500 more were detained ; in Northern Rhodesia thirty-eight " Zambia Congress " leaders were charged with forming a murderous society to prevent Africans from voting in the coming elections . 
The Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia declared a State of Emergency , shortly afterwards pronounced the African National Congress illegal and legislated for government powers to detain opponents , without charge or trial , for up to five years . 
Even South Africa had up to that time no legislation so drastic . 
At this point the whole issue forced itself into the British consciousness , and became a matter of major political contention . 
It grew even more acute when a four-man commission led by Mr Justice Devlin , sent out to investigate the reasons for the upheaval , produced a long report which shocked everyone — except , as it seemed later , the government . 
The Devlin Commission reported a " deep and bitter division of opinion separating the Government from the people " , and that the African population of Nyasaland was almost solid in its profound opposition to federation . 
While the State of Emergency was justified , it added , " there was no evidence of anything that could be called a plot " . 
Dr Banda , said the commission , would not have approved any such policy of murder . 
" Unnecessary and illegal force " had been used in dealing with the disturbances . 
In the most alarming phrase of all , the report said that the territory of Nyasaland since the declaration of the Emergency had become " a police state " . 
In the subsequent furious debate in Parliament the British Government startled the Opposition by blandly accepting such parts in the Devlin Report that appeared to endorse its policy , and rejecting all parts that were critical . 
The Colonial Secretary , Mr Lennox Boyd , allowed the storm to beat around him . 
The situation remained unchanged ; Dr Banda and his colleagues remained in prison . 
A considerable section of British opinion , aware at last of the great potentialities for danger in Central Africa , began to view the whole Federation with deep uneasiness . 
Sir Roy Welensky continued to prophecy with confidence that the 1960 conference on the constitutional future of the Federation would give him even greater powers . 
The more clamant element among the Rhodesia settlers , incensed at the growing hostility in Britain , began to talk loudly of secession , of a Central African version of the Boston Tea-Party . 
The following year the Colonial Secretary , Mr Lennox Boyd , finally retired from active politics to the board of his family brewing concern , and was replaced by Iain Macleod . 
Almost at once a sensible difference in the situation emerged . 
The new approach was cautious but apparent . 
The Prime Minister led the way with a tour round British Africa , culminating in the Union , where he startled the Nationalist Government by referring to the apartheid policies in fairly critical terms , and spoke of the " wind of change " that was rising throughout the African continent . 
It was not an impassioned denunciation , but it was a great deal more than any British Government spokesman had done before , and it markedly shifted the whole relationship between the United Kingdom and the repressive administrations in Africa . 
Therefore when the new Colonial Secretary himself travelled out to Central and East Africa to investigate conditions there , his mission was regarded with a watchful optimism by the African politicians , and an undisguised hostility from the right-wing settlers . 
The result was a temperate but unmistakable reorientation of the British attitude towards the dependencies in Africa , a realistic Conservative adjustment to the " wind of change . " 
By the spring of 1960 , when Dr Banda was released , the Nyasalanders ' determination was absolute : to secede from the Federation , come what may , and form their own independent nation under wholly African control . 
In this spirit they attended the 1960 conference in London , the outcome of which was surprisingly cordial . 
An agreement was reached on a constitution which although it fell short of Dr Banda 's desire , did establish an African majority in the Legislative Council and Ministerial rank on the Executive Council . 
Taking their cue from Dr Banda , the Nyasalanders were unmoved by the arguments that a poor , resourceless , landlocked country like theirs made independence an unreality . 
Dr Banda has talked of the possibility of another Federation , of African creation — of associating his country with Tanganyika , or with Northern Rhodesia . 
Ethnically and politically there could be much justification for this , but two paradoxical difficulties arise : Tanganyika is too poor , and Northern Rhodesia is too rich . 
Tanganyika 's economic difficulties are almost as great as Nyasaland 's , while Northern Rhodesia 's copper interests are so great that its Europeans would go to serious lengths to preserve the mines from an African administration . 
The Africans of Northern Rhodesia have nevertheless been stimulated by Dr Banda 's success into a new political activity of their own . 
Divided as the Northern Rhodesians are between Harry Nkumbula 's government-tolerated Congress and the more intensely nationalist Zambia group of Kenneth Kaunda , they still have far greater strength than the Africans of Southern Rhodesia . 
Unlike their colleagues of the south , they are permitted — indeed encouraged — to form Trades Unions , and in spite of continuous opposition from the white labour in the mines , their industrial organization is probably the strongest in African Africa . 
The independence disasters in the Congo had their immediate and obvious repercussions in the Rhodesias . 
The settler government of Southern Rhodesia , torn between genuine apprehension of African violence and the nervous satisfaction of having demonstrable reason for tightening legislation , reacted abruptly . 
Sir Edgar Whitehead and his Cabinet felt above all things the necessity to win the elections that had been promised for the following spring , and to do this it seemed necessary to prove to the white electorate its ability to clamp down on upstart Africans and prevent any danger of a "Rhodesian Congo " . 
The opposition Dominion Party , predominantly white-supremacist , was quick to exploit the new racial fears of the Europeans , stimulated by the panic-stories from the European refugees from the Congo . 
The Government 's counter to this was to raise the threat of secession from the Federation in an attempt to force the British Government into relinquishing its reverse powers of veto — long-unused , but still the Africans ' only protection against complete settler rule . 
The so-called human flea ( { Pulex irritans ) is today more of a nuisance than a menace , but was formerly the main carrier of plague . 
In spite of its popular name it associates more naturally with animals such as the fox and the badger , which live in large burrows . 
According to the British Museum booklet , man " evidently did not suffer from { Pulex irritans until he began to occupy a more or less permanent home which must have been — and actually still is — not altogether unlike a large hole " . 
Many architects of our acquaintance would dissent from this last view , but the fact remains that fleas can still be one of the main hazards of lying in bed . 
Readers with chronic Oblomovitis may like a note of the booklet 's advice concerning the odd flea that may still be encountered in bed even in the best-regulated home — or hole . 
This " may with some skill be caught with the fingers , after which the fingers with the flea tightly gripped between them should be dipped under water and the irritating insect is then easily killed " . 
The last animal at all likely to disturb the pleasures of lying in bed is the bed-bug , { Cimex lectularius , which some would regard as the most unpleasant household pest existing in western Europe at the present time . 
The original meaning of the word bug was bogy , hobgoblin , or " terror by night " , and it is found in this sense in the works of Shakespeare and many other Renaissance writers . 
The British naturalist Thomas Moufet mentions it in his { Insectorum Sive Minimorum Animalium Theatrum ( 1634 ) , and one of the contributions to this early entomological compilation describes how in 1583 two ladies of noble birth at Mortlake were much distressed by the presence of the insects . 
John Southall , in his Treatise of Buggs , published in 1730 , says that the creatures had increased greatly during the previous sixty years , especially in the City of London . 
This is no place to go into the natural history of the bed-bug , but it should perhaps be mentioned that , like the louse , it has been given a picturesque collection of popular names . 
These include the " mahogany flat " ( from its colour ) , the " Norfolk Howard " , and even the " B flat " — the last , incidentally , being due to the flat shape of the bug , and not to any special musical ability it has been noticed to possess . 
Another graphic name is the " red army " , strictly non-political in origin , but derived from the bug 's tendency to turn deep purple or dark red when gorged with human blood . 
But it is not only external causes that may destroy the pleasure of lying in bed . 
Anyone who has attempted to relax when in a state of nervous anxiety will be familiar with the condition commonly known as " jittery legs " . 
Although fully extended in the horizontal position the body feels tense and unrelaxed . 
A conscious effort of will is needed to keep the legs still , and the keyed-up feeling which pervades the whole body may even give rise to severe physical pain . 
Sometimes the condition is so acute that the legs twitch and jerk quite involuntarily . 
In such cases the patient may feel so uncomfortable that he will send for a doctor , but an aspirin or some other mild sedative usually suffices to relax the tension . 
Another disagreeable accompaniment of lying in bed may be the condition known as pruritus , which expresses itself in a severe itching sensation as soon as the warmth of the body has heated the bedclothes . 
This is particularly prevalent among elderly people , but can be alleviated by the application of ointments on a medical prescription . 
Hay fever and other allergies may also be associated with lying in bed , due either to feathers in the pillow or mattress or ( less commonly recognized as the cause ) an accumulation of woolly dust under the bed . 
The irritants associated with dust under beds may sometimes be so powerful that the bed 's occupant may seem to be afflicted by a chronic cold . 
These and other effects of bedding on health were recognized as long ago as the eighteen-eighties where it was the custom to stuff pillows and mattresses with pine-shavings in the belief that these would alleviate lung and bronchial conditions . 
In spite of the unpleasant consequences sometimes associated with lying in bed , many people have not been deterred from going to bed quite voluntarily for very long periods . 
One of the present writers knows a healthy woman who retired to bed nearly ten years ago on the death of her husband , and has never stirred out of it since . 
There is also the case cited by Reynolds of the Frenchman , Raoul Duval , who went to bed in Abbeville in 1928 and remained there for eighteen years . 
The reason he gave was that he did not wish to "see the world , nor talk nor think about it " , an ambition that was , however , abruptly shattered in 1940 when the town was heavily dive-bombed . 
As Reynolds remarks , if Duval really did stay in bed throughout this ordeal it shows quite exceptional conscientiousness and determination . 
Another case of a prolonged voluntary stay in bed began in 1875 when a Spanish doctor in Galicia , being tired of visiting reclining patients , eventually decided to follow their example . 
He retired to bed in his own house , where he remained for sixteen years , seeing only those patients who were well enough to come to him . 
As both of these picturesque tales originated in newspaper reports we would be ill-advised to take them too seriously , but we shall conclude this chapter with two further aspects of lying in bed for which there is sound historical evidence : the { lit de justice and the { lit de parade . 
Throughout the centuries there have been cases of people retiring to their beds for certain special reasons , often as a result of some superstitious or ritualistic belief . 
The couvade is one example , and the { lit de justice and { lit de parade are others , although , of course , they are used for quite different reasons . 
The { lit de justice is the older of the two , and may be defined as the custom of a king , dictator , high priest , or other person of great authority issuing edicts and judgements to a formal assembly of his subordinates from his bed . 
The bed is not necessarily , nor even normally , the one he usually sleeps in , but resembles rather a ceremonial couch , elaborate in design and ornamentation , standing in some important place of assembly . 
( See Plate 55 . ) 
It is sometimes stated that the { lit de justice dates from medieval times , but the institution is in fact much older . 
Thus in one of the fragments of the Greek historian Phylarchus , who flourished in the third century B.C. we may read how Alexander the Great used to recline and transact business on a golden bed in the middle of a gigantic tent , with his troops and attendants to the number of two thousand or more drawn up in order around him . 
Roman emperors and high officials also gave audience in the same position , and there can be little doubt that a form of the { lit de justice was used by political leaders and tribal chiefs in the Neolithic Age and even before . 
Henry Havard in the third volume of his { Dictionnaire de l'Ameublement et de la De2coration ( 1887-90 ) gives numerous examples of the { lit de justice in later historical times . 
From the Middle Ages onwards , especially in France , the bed and not the throne was considered the proper place for the installation of royalty at public functions . 
Thus in the fourteenth century when the French king appeared in Parliament he would recline on a bed raised on a dais . 
The dais was approached by seven steps , carpeted in blue velvet embroidered with golden { 6fleurs-de-lis . 
Around the dais were his subordinates , each in a position appropriate to his rank . 
Members of the royal house were seated , the chief nobles stood , the lesser nobles knelt ; there is no record of commoners having been in attendance on such august occasions , but if they were they must presumably have grovelled on the floor . 
At first the prerogative of the { lit de justice was restricted to royal personages , but the idea was obviously so attractive , allowing as it did a combination of ease and authority , that it began to be more widely adopted . 
In this new context , the ceremonial bed , or { lit de parade , became an accepted part of social life in western Europe from early Renaissance times until the French Revolution . 
Those whose social status permitted them to receive visitors without the customary courtesy of standing up were not slow to exploit the possibilities of horizontality in their social contacts . 
It conferred a subtle but undeniable prestige , and paradoxically suggested a superiority of stature which would often have been far less apparent in the vertical position . 
Nobles and others whose status is dependent on hereditary privilege rather than personal merit were among the first to adopt the new technique , and were swiftly followed by the smaller fry who saw in the { lit de parade an easy and comfortable method of establishing their social superiority . 
Women were early in the field , and it became the practice for any woman who felt she could get away with it to receive the consolation or congratulation of her friends in bed on occasions which ranged from the death of a husband to the marriage of a favourite niece . 
Duchesses and courtesans could insist on the { lit de parade as a right based on riches , social position , or physical attraction ; humbler personages enjoyed it only when the production of a child conferred on them an unaccustomed prestige . 
Ceremonial lyings-in after childbirth were nevertheless attended by their own ritual . 
Guests were expected to bring the mother gifts commensurate with her achievement , and dances and other entertainments were arranged for her benefit . 
The { lit de parade also provided women with an excuse to indulge the extravagance so characteristic of their sex . 
It was an opportunity to wear the richest and most seductive garments and to deck the bedroom with expensive silk and satin hangings . 
Thus a letter written in the early seventeenth century tells how the Countess of Salisbury " was brought to bed of a daughter and lyes in very richly , for the hanging of her chamber ... is valued at fourteen thousand pounds " . 
Unchivalrously , the husbands who had to provide such innocent indulgences eventually began to count the cost . 
In fact , in some countries legislation was passed prohibiting any excessive ostentation on the { lit de parade . 
In Milan , for example , women were not allowed to use counterpanes of embroidered silk , or stitched with gold or silver thread , nor to wear silk camisoles when receiving callers . 
Roger de Fe2lice , in his French Furniture under Louis 15 , has some interesting observations on a variation of the { lit de parade practised by ladies of rank in the eighteenth century . 
He writes : 
" Long before the time of Madame Re2camier the indolent belles of the day were fond of receiving { en de2shabille2 , reclining on their " turquoises " or " duchesses " ; for languishing beauty with weary attitudes already existed , side by side with the more general type of sparkling and mutinous beauty : but what seems strange at a period of so much licence , these ladies , far from showing their bare feet , were expected to conceal them with a coverlet of embroidered silk as a concession to decency . " 
The final exploitation of the { lit de parade by the beautiful women of the past was for purposes of lying in state . 
There are many records of this custom , but one example must suffice . 
It concerns the death of the Duchess of Burgundy , wife of the Dauphin of France in 1712 and is taken by Havard from the { Journal de Dangeau . 
On February 12th the body of { Madame la Dauphine lay all day on her bed at Versailles . 
Her face was uncovered and her hands lay above the bedclothes . 
That evening in the presence of her ladies in waiting ( { " une obligation de leur charge " ) a { 6post mortem was performed , but no cause was discovered for her death . 
SOME years ago a contemporary philosopher told us that there was nothing an Englishman would not do ; nothing an American would not say ; nothing an Italian would not sing ; no music to which the Frenchman would not dance ; nothing the German would not covet ; and nothing the Chinese would not eat . 
It is not our purpose to discuss this dictum . 
Suffice to say that few of us stop to marvel at the progress of civilisation which allows a dish borrowed straight from the prehistoric . 
How many centuries ago , in some cave or hilly hide , did our forebears home from the chase hold forth from a spear the welcome gobbet of meat or fish burnt and roasted in the homely and protecting flame . 
How many centuries later did the mercenary in the Roman wars thus impale on pike or lance his evening meal . 
Later came the thrifty peasant , later still the young Victorian buck adventuring in Paris , and even later our attractive young ladies toying with these primitive morsels in the gleam and glitter of our latter-day restaurants . 
And , if certain dishes and modes of food have persisted down the ages , the motive that preserved them has always been the same . 
Apart from the need for nourishment , the instinct of hospitality has always been strong in mankind . 
The sharing of a meal in those earliest dangerous days was an admittance into an acquaintanceship far more important than the casual meetings of the present day ; the desire to share something more intimate than mere converse has always been there . 
The truth is that good food offers a programme of entertainment almost unlimited in its variety and its presentation affords an opportunity of showing a guest something of ourselves . 
AN AMAZING EPOCH OF GROSSNESS AND DELICACY 
It is a far enough cry from the primitive meal-times of a simpler world to the banquets of later days , when the table groaned under its load of complicated dishes , and for all the blossoming of the arts around them the diners were little removed : it was still fingers before forks — from their prototype , the hungry hunter . 
There was always the spice of an orgy in those Roman feasts , for instance , with all their peacocks and nightingales ' tongues ; unreasonable surfeit , too , in the elaborate fashion of eating brought out of Italy into France , we are told , by Catherine de Medici . 
The peasant in those days , as ever , ate sparingly , but generously enough in his own fashion , save at feast times , when he , too , let himself go ; and it was from his simpler food that the later renaissance of cooking was to come . 
Epicures and gourmands , sated by the unending procession of dishes from those mammoth kitchens of the 18th century — that amazing epoch of grossness and delicacy — sought inspiration at last from the dishes of the country , and , instead of gorging the eye with magnitude , began to understand the value of intelligent selection and comparative simplicity , though nowadays their simplified meals would seem quite monstrous . 
THE FLESHPOTS OF EGYPT FOR WHICH ISRAEL SIGHED 
Does one , however , know who first thought of boiling water and food ? 
The ancient Britons , I believe , used to make water hot by dropping a red-hot poker into it , because their pots would not stand fire ; but Jacob must have had one that would , because Esau sold his birthright to him for a mess of pottage — and then we hear of the fleshpots of Egypt after which the Israelites sighed . 
Anyhow , Homer does not seem to have known any way of cooking meat except by roasting and boiling . 
When Achilles gave a royal feast the principal dish was a grill , which he cooked himself , and he knew how to do it , too : — " 
When the languid flames at length subside , 
He throws a bed of glowing embers wide ; 
Above the coals the smoking fragment turns , 
And sprinkles sacred salt from lifted urns . " 
When , however , the Greeks did learn the art of making fireproof earthenware from the Egyptians , their cookery made rapid progress , because they were men of taste and intellect . 
RICHLY-DISTILLED PERFUMES AS AN AID TO DIGESTION 
A remarkable peculiarity in the banquets of the ancient world was the fact that they did not confine the resources of the table to the gratification of one sense alone . 
Having exhausted their invention in the preparation of stimulants for the palate , they broke fresh ground and called another sense to their aid . 
By delicate application of odours and richly-distilled perfumes , these refined voluptuaries aroused the fainting appetite and added a more exquisite and ethereal enjoyment to the grosser pleasures of the board . 
The gratification of the sense of smelling was a subject of no little importance to the Romans . 
They considered flowers as forming a very essential article in their festal preparations ; and it is the opinion of Bassius that at their desserts the number of flowers far exceeded the number of fruits . 
When Nero supped in his Golden House , a mingled shower of flowers and odorous essences fell upon him ; and one of the recreations of Heliogabalus was to smother his courtiers with flowers . 
Nor was it entirely as an object of luxury that the ancients made use of flowers ; they were considered to possess sanative and medicinal qualities . 
According to Pliny , and others , certain herbs and flowers proved of sovereign power in preventing the approaches of ebriety , or , as Bassius less clearly expresses it , in clarifying the functions of the brain . 
THE QUEER DINNERS OF STRANGE LANDS 
It is said that there is nothing new under the sun , but regarding foodstuffs the traveller occasionally encounters a certain measure of novelty . 
In China , for instance , dried rats are esteemed a delicacy . 
The visitor is told that they restore the hair of the bald and that a stewed black rat will ward off a fever . 
A number of newly-born white mice served alive , dipped in treacle and swallowed like a prairie oyster is considered a piece of resistance . 
Among the natives of Northern Australia lizards roasted on the point of a spear are definitely a delicacy while Mediterranean peoples have a high opinion of the octopus as an article of diet . 
So have the Japanese and the Chinese . 
The Celestials , apart from eating it fresh , squash it , press it and dry it , in which form , dusted over with flour , you will find a stack of it in almost any provision shop . 
Bats are eagerly eaten in Dahomey , some of the Polynesian islands , the Malay Archipelago and elsewhere . 
Badger hams are a delicacy in China while mole is eaten in many parts of Africa . 
TASTE AND TEMPERAMENT IN CURIOSITIES OF DIET 
The old saying , " One man 's meat is another man 's poison " , therefore possesses a great deal of truth . 
Taste and temperament in fact play a great part in life , and there are many instances of eccentricity in diet and dishes , as in everything else in life . 
Mankind has tried all kinds of food from roots to bird 's nests , and from snails to elephant 's feet or walrus blubber . 
Though English folk to-day enjoy shrimps and eat periwinkles with a pin , they shudder at the Frenchman who relishes snails and frogs . 
The West Indian negro refuses to look at stewed rabbit , but will eat palm worms fried in oils and is fond of baked snakes . 
In Brazil and Siam the natives eat ants . 
The entrails of animals are relished in Salonica ; they are eaten just as the Italian eats his macaroni . 
The heads of the lambs are considered great delicacies and go first . 
When roasted , the unbounded joy of the native cracking the skull and picking out the tasty bits is nauseating in the extreme . 
Siberian peasants view with disgust the idea of eating hare . 
But there are West Indian natives who declare that no food in the world comes up to fricassee of rats that have fattened themselves in the sugar-cane plantations . 
Each to his taste , therefore , seems to be a reasonable policy to pursue . 
A knowledge of the world 's foods , in any case , ought to increase international tolerance . 
NATIONAL FOODS WHICH AFFECT THE TEMPERAMENT 
Foodlore reflects much more of national temperament than is customarily imagined as well as entering human activities to a greater extent than is usually assumed . 
We naturally can not overlook that Magyar cookery owes one of its most classic features to the Turkish rule under which the Hungarians groaned for nearly 200 years . 
If that country had not been for so long a battlefield red with the blood shed to defend Christian civilisation , Hungary would have been deprived of the condiment which provides many Magyar dishes with a vivid and brilliant scarlet hue . 
The Austrian cuisine embraces the delectable { 6Wiener Schnitzel as well as dishes and stews heightened with aromatics where the paprika insinuates its perfidious fire , aerian creams , ingenious pastries and a crescent-shaped breakfast roll created by a pastry cook to celebrate the victory against the Turks in 1683 . 
Spanish cookery is reminiscent of bull-fights , of Spanish dancing and of Goja : it is vivid , highly coloured , sometimes Quixotic and withal it has a sombre ardour , with streaks of poetry , meat disguised under heavy and vehement sauces , pimentos and rancid butter . 
The Czechoslovak kitchen , again , is so languorous , so passionate , and possibly comparable alone to a gypsy melody . 
The paprika and caraway perfume the meats with their antithesis . 
The opulent varieties of Czechoslovak pastries recall in fact the rich heritage of rich embroideries and costumes specifically national . 
ART AND SCIENCE OF THE KITCHEN : 
The art and science of cookery , however , is essentially French , and , irrespective of the fact that I have never run across anyone in Gaul who has been a glutton , I can positively say that it has been equally difficult to find one who has not been an epicure . 
The French have an inborn appreciation of good food and the gusto which they derive from gastronomy is intellectual and aesthetic as well as physical . 
There is the same finesse about their feeding , the same subtle delicacy of touch , the same unfailing sense of proportion as exists among her writers , music composers and other exponents of things that are typically French . 
The " { pot-au-feu " is as much a national institution in France as is tea drinking among ourselves and it is prepared at least once a week in every bourgeois household . 
Thackeray , of course , waxed enthusiastic about Bouillabaisse and sang — " 
This Bouillabaisse a noble dish is , 
A sort of soup , or broth , or brew , 
A hotch-potch of all sorts of fishes 
That Greenwich never could outdo ; 
Green herbs , red peppers , mussels , saffron , 
Soles , onions , garlic , roach and dace . 
" GENIUS & FOOD — FOOD FOR THOUGHT 
A fascinating study also opens up in the dietary welcomed by men of genius as well as the foods for which they have had an aversion . 
Shelley , for example , had a great contempt for animal food , believing that it impaired the intellectual faculties . 
Bunyan 's breakfast and supper consisted of a piece of coarse bread and a bowl of milk . 
Dante Gabriel Rossetti had simple tastes in food . 
At one dinner he is said to have been blind to the charms of turbot and to have been much more interested in the dish in which it was served . 
He turned it over on the table cloth to examine the marks on the back without going through the formality of having his turbot removed first . 
Wagner was a highly practical feeder . 
He ate very fast , placing his food in his mouth and gulping it down as he talked . 
Brigham Young would make a dinner on tripe which he washed down with beer . 
A writer who had dinner with Dickens says the menu was Whitstable oysters , a brown sole , a baked leg of mutton with oyster & veal stuffing and a gin punch . 
The same man went to see Carlyle , and , after mentioning that he had dined with Longfellow told the sage a very funny story which made Carlyle absolutely laugh ; but all the Chelsea philosopher did in return was to ask if his guest would have a cup of tea ! 
THE YOUNG WOMAN LIVING ALONE 
All that has been said in the foregoing pages about what is meant by a lady , is true for all women and young girls . 
But in these days , so many young women leave the protection of the parental home long before they acquire the status of a married woman , that a few rules for their guidance are most necessary . 
Girls in jobs living in bachelor digs , girl students in towns distant from their homes , girls travelling the world alone , even , may seem and indeed be emancipated , but they are not released from the ordinary rules of good behaviour . 
Indeed , it may be wise for them to observe such rules even more carefully , inasmuch as they are judged entirely on their own behaviour and deportment , and not at all on their home backgrounds or the social standing of their parents . 
It is not the function of this book to enter into questions of morals but to provide a guide to behaviour that will not cause eyebrows to be raised . 
However innocent her morals in actual fact , the young woman whose behaviour departs widely from accepted contemporary standards is likely to cause heads to shake , tongues to wag , and some doors will close to her and some men feel that she could not make them a suitable wife . 
The way she lives is the first problem . 
To live in a recognised residential club such as the Y.W.C.A. or university hostel is one acceptable solution ; others are to board with a family , or to share a flat with one or two other girls in similar circumstances . 
For slightly older , more experienced young women , a room in a " family hotel " , a converted house made over for boarders , or a flat in a respectable block preferably near to friends of her family , or relations , are other possibilities . 
However impeccable her own behaviour , she should avoid living with , or near , people who clearly have less regard for convention . 
In her social relationships with men , the woman living alone must accept certain conventions . 
She should not lunch or dine alone with a married man more than once or twice — unless their relationship is openly a business one that demands it . 
She should never allow a man guest to stay on after a party at her flat or room after other guests have gone , or stay on herself at a man 's party after the rest have left . 
She should not entertain a man alone in her apartment , except for the few brief minutes when he calls for her before an evening out together ; nor should she go alone to a man 's bachelor flat or room . 
In most hostels and boarding houses , convention rules that if a man and woman are alone together , which may at times be perfectly permissible and necessary , the door must be left open . 
The young woman living on her own will not accept an invitation from a man to visit his country home , unless she knows that his mother or other married relation will be there to act as hostess for him . 
Preferably , the invitation should come from his mother . 
The young woman living alone must be especially discreet about drinking only in strict moderation . 
Here again , however innocent her actual life , if she is known not to behave with strict regard for propriety in any one matter , all her other behaviour at once comes under suspicion . 
For the same reason , she should never accept a valuable present from a man who is not a relation . 
A problem common to all young women , not only those living on their own , is that of whether , and when , to offer to " go Dutch " or share expenses of an outing with a young man escort . 
This is quite an accepted custom in these days when young women earn sizeable salaries , but a girl must display good manners in the way she offers to do her share of the paying . 
It is easy to hurt a man 's feelings . 
With a new acquaintance , it is probably best to let the man " make the running " and suggest outings for the first time or two ; the girl should show her appreciation by her obvious enjoyment and animation during the outing and by her thanks at the end of it . 
Then she can either take her turn as host , by saying she has been given theatre tickets ( or , more simply just , " I 've got two theatre tickets " , without more explanation ) and asking him to accompany her , perhaps suggesting that to make it entirely " her " evening , he allows her to take him for a meal beforehand ; or alternatively she can , when accepting his next invitation , say , " Yes , I 'd love to come , but let's go Dutch this time " . 
The important thing is that she must make it plain before the evening begins that some or all of the financial responsibility for it will be hers . 
An argument over the restaurant bill or at the cinema box office is humiliating and undignified for a man , and her good manners must save him from being put in such a situation . 
Similarly , since most men like to be seen to do the paying , it is a tactful precaution if , at the start of the evening out , she gives him the theatre tickets " to take care of " and , if they are going to a restaurant for which she is paying , a small purse containing amply enough for the evening , from which he can settle the bills , taxi fares , etc . 
If they are sharing expenses , it is tactful still to give him the purse , saying "Would you take my share out of that ? " 
This avoids any undignified " settling-up " of each item of the evening . 
Introductions , Acknowledgements and Leave Taking 
When to perform an introduction often puzzles the inexperienced . 
A good rule is " If in doubt , do so " as it is better to risk seeming a little fussy than to leave two people each wondering who the other is and wishing you had introduced them . 
An introduction is a social matter ; therefore one would not introduce a friend to , say , one 's doctor , since a visit to or from the doctor is not a social occasion . 
Naturally if the doctor were also a personal friend , or social acquaintance , the situation might be different and an introduction quite in order . 
Similarly a chance meeting with a friend , while walking with another friend in the street , is not a social occasion and introductions are not called for ; unless it seems likely that one is going to stand and chat for a few minutes , or walk along all together , when an introduction will obviously set everyone more at ease . 
The hostess at a small party will see that guests are introduced to one another ; at a large party it is in order for guests to effect the introductions between people they know , or even to introduce themselves informally to other guests . 
If one brings a friend to a party , who is not known to the hostess , one must , of course , present one 's friend to the hostess immediately on arrival . 
In the business world , strangers should be introduced if it seems likely they will have future dealings with one another . 
For instance , if a regular business contact is waiting in the secretary 's room for an interview with her employer , and one of the firm 's departmental heads comes in , the secretary should introduce the outsider to the departmental head , unless she knows that for any reason her chief would not approve it . 
Guests are not introduced to servants or members of staff , but if on a visit of any duration , the guest should be made aware of the servant 's name and function in some such form as "Aunt Elizabeth , Jane will get you anything you want — just ring for her . " 
The form an introduction takes has been very much simplified in recent years , but the general rule of presenting the less important person to the one it is desired to honour most , still remains . 
Men are introduced to women , untitled people are introduced to titled ones , young people to older ones , old friends to newcomers , the unmarried girl to the married woman and so on . 
Because of the very special honour accorded to Royalty and high-ranking clergy , everyone is presented to them , regardless of title , age or sex . 
To perform an introduction , one says something like , " Mrs. Smith " ( or , if one knows her well , " Mary " ) " may I introduce Miss Jones " , and then , turning to Miss Jones , says simply , "Mrs. Smith " . 
That is all that is necessary , but if one wishes , one may turn again to Mrs. Smith and add "Miss Jones has just returned from a visit to New York " , or some such bit of information which will give Mrs. Smith ( as the senior member of the pair ) a chance to start an interesting conversation . 
When introducing people in circumstances where Christian names are likely to be used straight away ( as with young people , or introducing one 's relations to old and intimate friends ) it is still important to give the surnames clearly on the first introduction ; otherwise circumstances can easily arise where people never know one another 's surnames and the degree of friendship already achieved makes it impossible to ask . 
ACKNOWLEDGING AN INTRODUCTION . 
A lady must rise when being introduced to an older woman or " social superior " or to a clergyman . 
If the difference in their status is great she should remain standing until the other person either has a seat , or goes away . 
" How do you do " is the only possible verbal acknowledgement of an introduction ; it is purely formal , and not intended to be treated as an enquiry after anyone 's health . 
Handshaking on introduction is largely dying out in Britain although it is still very much the correct thing on the Continent . 
In Britain , the former rule was that the socially superior person should be the first to extend a hand — and as few people of gentle instincts like , nowadays , to claim social superiority , the usage is less often followed . 
Exceptions are when a much younger person is introduced to an older one , or where the distinction of rank is obvious ; then the senior person , if she wishes , will extend a hand . 
Although handshaking is less often practised , it is , of course , very important to take instantly a proffered hand , in order to avoid calling attention to any possible lack of savoir-faire in the other person , and , quite simply , not to keep them waiting with hand outstretched . 
There is no especial rule about shaking hands with or without gloves . 
The only rules are , do n't fumble with a glove , and do n't apologise for having one . 
LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION . 
There is a definite etiquette about these . 
Letters should be handed unsealed to the person being introduced , who will , on arrival at the new place , post or leave them by hand on the friend to whom they are addressed , together with a visiting card or brief covering letter indicating where he or she may be contacted . 
It is not etiquette to deliver a letter of introduction in person to the one to whom it is addressed . 
The addressee should then promptly contact the newcomer with an invitation to meet him or her . 
If you have given someone a letter of introduction to a friend or business contact , it is etiquette to write a second letter , later , thanking him or her for the kindness shown to the newly-introduced person . 
THE UNWELCOME INTRODUCTION . 
While people performing introductions will , of course , not do so unless reasonably sure that it will be agreeable to both sides , still , the mere fact of having been formally introduced does not compel one to continue an uncongenial acquaintance , but to break it off too pointedly could be construed as rudeness towards the friend performing the introduction . 
The best course is to be civil but not forthcoming , though occasionally , with a really determined pursuer , stronger means may have to be adopted . 
The introduction , however , has committed one to nothing and one need not feel badly about disrupting the acquaintance . 
Fads and Fancies by W. J. Dore-Dennis 
THE gardens , flower and kitchen , had been much neglected . 
The new owner , admitting that he knew practically nothing of horticulture , gave my friend Ole 'Arry { 6carte blanche , and I was not surprised that the estate was quickly transformed . 
In the first spring after Harry 's appointment he looked me up . 
Did I want any tomato plants ? 
I did , and asked " How many and how much ? " 
His reply was staggering : " 'Underds , an' fer nuffin' " . 
It appeared that he had treated the gardens with manure from the sewage farm . 
The tomato plants were the result , but his employer , when informed as to the origin of the vast crop , had turned " fair pernickety " , ordering that all the plants were to be destroyed and new ones procured from a local nursery . 
Harry and I did well with our condemned plants , which gave a crop excellent both in quality and quantity . 
Our surplus was gladly taken by the village greengrocer , who in turn supplied Harry 's pernickety employer and his family , the nursery-bought plants having failed to come up to expectations . 
Country Scales and Weights by L. Sanders 
A CENTURY and more ago country people had to rely on improvisation and the local craftsman for most of their essential equipment , including means to weigh their produce . 
The Avery Historical Museum has been collecting old weighing instruments from all over the world for a number of years , during which it has acquired many interesting examples made and used in our own countryside . 
Stone weights are among the simpler of these . 
Some may be three or four hundred years old , made from stones taken from field or hillside . 
When farmers had to weigh produce for market and were unable to obtain foundry-made iron weights locally , they sought stones of suitable size , shape and weight and took them to the smith to be fitted with iron lifting rings . 
Then , by a little chipping or the addition of lead , they were adjusted to compare with a neighbour 's weights or with the manorial standards . 
Hard igneous rocks , such as granite , made serviceable weights , reasonably impervious to moisture and capable of withstanding hard wear and exposure . 
Occasionally stone weights of the larger denominations , such as twenty-eight and fifty-six pounds , turn up . 
The large oval one marked " 59 " , illustrated on the previous page , would have been used to weigh bales of wool , the extra three pounds being an agreed tare allowance for straps or bindings . 
This and the twelve-pound weight came from Jersey and were undoubtedly fashioned from large rounded beach pebbles flattened to form a base . 
The square weight below is from Shropshire and , though figured " 56 " , weighs only forty-five pounds . 
This is due not to any dishonesty on the part of the original owner , but to the loss of its lead loading from the large cavity on the under side . 
Cart weighbridges and platform-scales , an English invention of the mid eighteenth century , were scarce even in towns and certainly unknown to the farm worker until well into the second half of the nineteenth century . 
The countryman mostly used beam-scales or hanging steelyards made in the towns by small family concerns employing a few craftsmen and apprentices . 
Some surviving examples are as crude as those used by the ancient Egyptians four or five thousand years earlier , but others show some appreciation of the fundamentals of the science . 
Among the cruder examples are the wooden butter-scales shown below ; they are about three hundred years old . 
A central stand or pillar , turned like a chair-leg on a primitive lathe , carries a wooden beam pivoted on a round iron peg : two wooden bowls or platters are suspended from the ends of the beam . 
Scales of this type were used in farmhouses up to the end of the last century . 
Larger hanging wooden beam-scales were often part of the equipment of the miller for weighing sacks of grain and flour . 
They were sometimes as much as six feet long and strongly constructed with metal fittings and rudimentary knife-edges , combining the skills of carpenter and smith . 
They could be used to weigh several sacks at a time on scale-plates suspended from the end knives by shackles and chains . 
The wooden beam-scale opposite is a comparatively small one , about two feet in length , and probably two hundred years old . 
In contrast , the professional scale-makers of the town constructed their products entirely of metal . 
Steelyards , based on the principle of the uneven-armed balance used by the Romans and still known by their name , were in common use , for they permitted the weighing of heavy loads without a large number of loose weights . 
As they required greater precision in manufacture than the beam-scales , few home-made examples survive . 
The seventeenth and eighteenth-century farmhouse steelyards of English and Continental origin in the Avery collection are small , as steelyards go , and many have wooden arms with metal fittings , poise and knife-edges . 
Graduation marks are provided by brass pegs driven into the wood at regular intervals . 
Most of them have two fulcrum knives and duplicate suspensions to take either light or heavy goods — a principle used by the Romans . 
An example of a craftsman-made wooden steelyard can be seen in the illustration of the fine Orkney pundler , which is one of the prized exhibits in the collection . 
The oak beam is more than six feet in length , and the stone poise weighs thirty-one pounds . 
Graduation marks correspond to multiples of the Scottish pound . 
All the metal fittings are of wrought iron , including the knives which are now well rounded by wear . 
The instrument is believed to have been in use for several hundred years , for the beam bears the weight-stamp of George 3 obliterating a number of older marks . 
Also from Orkney is a wooden bismar or Danish steelyard , used by sliding a cord fulcrum along the counterweighted lever to balance a load . 
The principle was known to early Aryan tribesmen , who found its simplicity convenient for their nomadic way of life . 
The example illustrated above is three feet long and is thought to be of wych-elm . 
For some two thousand years the bismar , dhari or Danish steelyard , as it is variously called , has been widely used throughout the Indian sub-continent and the eastern and northern countries of Europe ; but in England it was made illegal in the reign of Edward 3 in favour of the equal-armed beam and Roman-pattern steelyard . 
New Books about the Country " 
Read not to contradict and confute , nor to believe and take for granted , nor to find talk and discourse ; but to weigh and consider — Bacon " Escapists or Realists ? 
WHEN anyone decides to stop earning a living in the town and tries to earn it in the country , he is dubbed an escapist , as though he were somehow avoiding the responsibilities of civilisation . 
But when a young couple , a successful journalist married to an attractive hotel publicity officer , leave the West End to brave all weathers in a primitive cottage on the Cornish cliffs , working with their hands to grow potatoes and flowers for a livelihood , they are surely realists in the truest sense . 
For ten years the Tangyes have struggled against frost and gales , blight and disease , to supply the fickle markets of the industrial cities with early violets , daffodils , anemones and potatoes . 
When they were nearly ruined fresh hope appeared in the form of A GULL ON THE ROOF ( Joseph , 18s ) , which they called Hubert . 
Derek Tangye describes the whole endeavour , and his wife Jean provides small sketches as illustrations . 
He writes well enough to sustain interest through all the setbacks , encounters with local characters , economics of market gardening and breezy comments from city friends . 
It is also delightful to see the townsman 's sentimental feeling for animals and hatred of traps enduring even in the " peasant life " ; Monty the cat is treated with as much understanding as if all three had stayed in the Mortlake flat and never passed through Lamorna to find Minack . 
Also a grower and journalist , Frederick Street has fought hard to make a living out of rhododendrons and azaleas and now finds his experience has been a FOOL 'S MISTRESS ( Parrish , 17s 6d ) . 
His anger , first at his relatives who disappointed him over his inheritance , a market garden near Woking , then at the difficulties of trying to make fertile 12 acres of derelict land , and finally at the battle between commuter and countryman in his subtopia with its fun-farming and half-way-back-to-the-land movement , makes a provocative autobiography . 
I enjoyed the table showing the relationship between the type of farming a man does and his weekday train to London , from the 8.45 chicken farmer to the 10.30 ( three days a week only ) owner of a pedigree herd of Jerseys . 
A more light-hearted realism comes from R. M. Dashwood , the PROVINCIAL DAUGHTER ( Chatto , 16s ) of the Provincial Lady , E. M. Delafield . 
She lives in the country near Oxford , bringing up three small boys with the occasional aid of a doctor husband and a German help . 
Her diary is written in the style her mother made famous and should have the same general appeal . 
But the last war drove many women straight from the university to household drudgery with only a sense of humour and a ready pen to see them through , so the theme is not quite as fresh as it used to be , though an ability to laugh at one 's self and at domestic difficulties is always well worth sharing . 
Believing that " we are all countrymen at heart " , John Baker also wants to share his rural experiences in the COTTAGE BY THE SPRINGS ( Phoenix , 10s 6d ) , His is a short book , chiefly concerned with water , with the pond by the Wiltshire cottage he converted , with springs , water-weeds , irises and lilies , and eventually with piped water for the whole village . 
Edmund Cooper 's MEN OF SWALEDALE ( Dalesman , Clapham , via Lancaster , 6s ) , another small volume , is a neat slice of social history , mostly 19th-century , taken from contemporary diaries . 
The old farming practices , the crops grown , sheep bred , fertilisers used , bridges built , the amusements of singing , reading , dancing and playing whist , the food and clothes are all mentioned , together with the mining which went hand in hand with the farming , the accidents and fights , and the names of those who emigrated to America when the farming became less arable and the mines closed down . 
Even if you do not know Crackpot Gill or Silkwood Bridge , you will enjoy following briefly the activities of these families in Yorkshire or America . 
Equally easy to follow , though of very different material , is Dennis Wheatley 's SATURDAYS WITH BRICKS ( Hutchinson , 18s ) . 
It has nothing to do with international intrigue but is a mixture of anecdotes about the 1914-18 war and sound advice about building brick walls . 
The author himself is the link ; he laid his first bricks during hostilities and has gone on ever since , so that he can now recommend all the essential tools and clothes , the necessary drink , the way to lay foundations , mix mortar , choose scaffolding and finally lay the actual bricks . 
Compared with this constructive work the war was a chaotic nightmare to which he keeps harking back . 
The artist Edward Wakeford found the 1939-45 war a different sort of nightmare , which he describes logically after his childhood and student days . 
In A PRIZE FOR ART ( Macmillan 25s ) he relives his boyhood in the Isle of Man , walking with his clergyman father , watching the people in church , remembering clearly the things he saw and the way he felt when the bishop visited the family , when a small wild rabbit died or he went down the wrong stairs at the school prize-giving . 
I felt impelled to read on and share his experiences . 
Finally , a peaceful book : PARSON 'S EVENSONG , by " Pilgrim " ( Skeffington , 15s ) . 
In it a retired Church of England clergyman , who prefers to remain anonymous , ruminates over his past life and work , the people , books and places he has known , those he still meets and the faith that has sustained him . 
— Margaret Campbell Isca to Thule 
" BARTHOLOMEW STREET was called Britayne for many centuries , being the area occupied by the British during Saxon times . " 
Labour Junks its Own Books by Harry Short 
" BOOK reading , " wrote Francis Williams , " used to be a Socialist habit . 
To secure an educated Socialist democracy this is a habit we should indulge in as we did years ago . " 
Fifty years ago , when I was a youngster , Socialists said books we must have , though we lack bread , but to-day times have changed . 
Very few Labour voters read Socialist books or treasure a library of their own , and many local Labour Parties have no literature secretaries . 
Social secretaries and Bingo organisers , but no bookstalls . 
When the women 's section of our local Labour Party held a jumble sale recently , one of the stalls contained hundreds of second-hand books . 
All were priced at 3d. each ! 
After most of the mystery , love , romance and adventure books were sold , it was decided to reduce the remainder to 2d. each , for if , as often happens , any old clothes , books , pictures or nick-nacks were left over , it would all be left behind for the caretaker of the school to either burn or give to the dustman . 
None of the bazaar committee members were eager to store a lot of old junk in their homes for the next jumble sale , so for his services of burning the books , pictures , etc. , the caretaker was liberally rewarded . 
I looked at the pile of " remainders " and bought Roads to Freedom ( Bertrand Russell ) , Wealth of Nations ( Adam Smith ) , The Science of Wealth ( J. A. Hobson ) , The Soul of Man under Socialism ( Oscar Wilde ) , Fabian Essays , Man and Superman ( Bernard Shaw ) , The Socialist Movement ( J. R. Macdonald ) , History of the Russian Revolution ( Trotsky ) , New Worlds for Old ( H. G. Wells ) , Political Economy Selections ( edited by W. B. Robinson ) and The Conditions of Britain ( G. D. H. Cole ) . 
On some of the books , on the fly-leaf I saw the name L. S. Woodruff , who for many years was chairman of the Harrow East Labour Party , and was an alderman at the time of his death . 
" Sid " , as he was familiarly known by his colleagues , was one of the most respected and devoted members of the Socialist minority group of a strong Tory Council , and was known to be a well-read , convinced Socialist of burning sincerity . 
In the first World War he was a pacifist and suffered imprisonment for his Socialist beliefs . 
He had the combined gift of keen humour with the virtue of being a good serious propagandist for the Labour Party . 
Sid Woodruff started his pioneering work for Labour when people were overworked , underfed , and lived in sordid slums . 
The lives of the workers in those early days were in the main of narrow dreariness and boisterous brutality , and Alderman Woodruff was one of the educated minority who showed the way to a better life . 
To-day , with a higher standard of living , people imagine they have reached the higher life . 
For most , their reading is the popular newspapers and trashy periodicals . 
When the Nazis made huge bonfires of Socialist literature , I thought of Emerson 's lines , "Every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame ; every prison a more illustrious abode ; every burned book or house enlightens the world . " 
What would Emerson 's thoughts be if he knew that at a Labour Party jumble sale , great thoughts by great men were ignored , while nasty rubbishy books with gaudy covers , dealing with sordid sex and crime , were in great demand ? 
The Tiny Minority Only 
We are living in an age to-day when serious , disturbing and admirably written books , packed with vivid details , and written with deep feeling , are read only by a tiny minority . 
Books that helped to make the Socialist Movement grow to its present strength , which showed how to make the world a far happier place for people of all races to live in , are read by few . 
It was Milton who wrote : " A good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit . " 
The Socialist Movement has produced many men of vision , who in their courageous and fascinating plays , novels , essays and poems , have shown us a nobler and better life . 
They contain all our ambitions , our indignations and our illusions . 
The Literature of Revolt is a heritage we should treasure , so I am indeed happy , that the late Alderman Sid Woodruff 's books are in my bookcase , instead of being burnt by the school caretaker . 
[ Do you make a habit of adding to your knowledge by reading or by taking postal courses ? — Ed . ] 
FOOTNOTE 
"NO . 
A man who volunteers to be an " Aunt-Sally " at a local garden fete and gets a clout on the ear with a ball is not covered by the Industrial Injuries Act . " 
— Answer to Grimsby correspondent in the P.O.E.U. Journal . 
Does T.V. Influence Elections ? by Arthur Woodburn , M.P . 
AFTER the last General Election we all speculated what effect T.V. had on the result . 
Our general impression was that the Labour programmes were the most effective and convincing . 
We all have our own little gallup polls among our friends and acquaintances , but as they are usually of our way of thinking and as we are inclined to look for the answer we want , we can be misled . 
For example , since the election there have been months of controversy about unilateral disarmament . 
Both those for and against are fervently convinced they speak for the great majority of the people . 
Television and the Political Image shows what was actually happening to the minds of the people as they listened or looked in during the election campaign . 
How did the broadcasts affect the elections ? 
It was interesting to see how the persistent propaganda against nationalisation was accepted by even Labour supporters and the feeling that Labour was a divided party was also prevalent . 
It is interesting to read about the items electors mentioned as having , in their view , specially affected the elections . 
Of the total , 32% thought " rash Labour promises — cost of new pension scheme — bribery of electorate " had a bad effect , 26% thought nationalisation hurt Labour and 10% thought strikes , especially that at British Oxygen Works , were bad . 
( The percentages among Labour supporters on these items were 22% , 30% and 7% respectively . ) 
A Common View 
A fairly common view was that " Labour tried to buy their way in " . 
Harold Macmillan cleverly put this across by adding " with your money , of course " . 
Keeping the cost of living down came top as the subject of most immediate interest , treatment of old age was next and a permanent peace settlement third . 
Unemployment came fourth and the control of the H bomb was fifth , and so on down the list . 
It is interesting that the subjects of interest have nearly the same proportional interest among supporters of both parties — cost of living two out of three and H bomb one out of three . 
The general view was that efficiency of the programmes and of the detailed argument did not make a decisive impression . 
Most people were looking for a government ; and , therefore , the overall impression of competence and a total policy that was acceptable and clear were the largest factors . 
The Tory Party 's goodwill rested on its claim to tradition , its claim to represent the whole nation and its claim to defence of individual rights . 
The Labour Party is accepted as standing for the welfare of the people , but its working-class foundation makes it difficult to reconcile this with its claim to act in the " national " interest . 
Its disunity appeared a cause of its losing support . 
Nearly 70% of the electors were reached by Party broadcasts . 
Each Party T.V. programme reached about 20% of the entire adult population . 
About 50% saw the T.V. news bulletins . 
The campaign showed no decisive swing towards either of the main Parties . 
These are only some of the interesting factors which come from the survey . 
There can be no certain conclusions ; but it is clear that not many people change sides during an election , though a little change can mean much . 
Three people in every street changing over could change the government . 
So delicate is the balance that it can be tipped by a slip of the tongue or by some development that shakes the confidence of the timid or uncertain . 
It is on this uncertain group that the choice of government rests . 
It 's a grave thought . 
This book is worth reading . 
Ready Reckoning 
JAPANESE medicine is conventional , but the Chinese always have their own approach to scientific problems and there is a distinctive Chinese therapy which makes great use of herbal brews , exercises and acupuncture needles . 
Similarly , the Chinese have their own traditional methods of ready reckoning . 
In the West the shop or restaurant cashier uses a register , or wrestles with a pencil and a column of figures , but in the East one of the most familiar sounds is the clicking of the abacus as some shop assistant 's nimble fingers flick the beads to and fro at lightning speed to produce the total of your bill . 
Primitive , slow , old-fashioned ? 
In a contest organised by Singapore Trade , Mr. Bei Po-lu of Singapore was timed with a stopwatch the other day as he used his two-dollar abacus to divide 2,644,035 by 1,077 . 
His right hand flashed over the beads and he produced the correct result — 2,455 — in 10.3 seconds . 
A Western-trained accountant then did the same sum on an expensive electric calculating machine . 
It took nearly two seconds longer . 
— Observer Foreign News Service , 21st February . 
Key Point in the Mediterranean by Frank Horrabin 
FRANCE established a protectorate over Tunisia in 1881 , three years after the Congress of Berlin , at which she had agreed to the British seizure of Cyprus . 
Five years ago ( in 1956 ) Tunisia became independent — thus anticipating the freeing of Cyprus by a year or two . 
The French , however , retained their hold on the naval base of Bizerta , situated opposite the channel between Africa and Sicily , the " Narrows " separating the Western from the Eastern Mediterranean ( see map ) . 
Their continued possession of this important strategic point has been constantly questioned by Tunis , but it was a matter for some surprise when Bourguiba , the Tunisian President , suddenly decided a few weeks ago to attempt to take the port by force . 
Tunisia has given aid and shelter to the " rebel " Algerian Government , and there has been much bitter fighting between the French and the Algerian nationalists along the Tunisian frontier . 
Factory Meetings at Lunch Hours 
FOR many years now the West of Scotland N.C.L.C . 
has always managed to run a number of classes or discussion groups during factory lunch hours . 
There is no doubt that such classes are possible in all industrial areas to some extent , and N.C.L.C . 
Organisers have been asked to take up the question where they have not already done so . 
Will any Plebs reader who thinks he can get a class or discussion group going in his factory during the lunch hour please drop a line to the N.C.L.C. , Tillicoultry ? 
It will be passed on to the Organiser concerned . 
It may be too that in your works , through the Works Committee , it might be possible for the management to give apprentices a half-hour off to learn something about the Trade Union Movement . 
The N.C.L.C . 
would be glad to send a speaker to such a meeting , and to approach the management with the assistance of the chief shop steward . 
History on Film Strip 
FILM-strip talks play an important role in many schools all over the country , and they should play a much more important role in the N.C.L.C . 
than they do , because people learn through their eyes as well as through their ears . 
Besides , if one looks at the papers that have the biggest working-class circulations it is they which have the most pictures . 
One of the latest history film strips available is "George 3 and the Revolutionary Wars ( 1760-1815 ) " , published by Common Ground , Ltd . 
A pamphlet of notes on the lecture is provided along with the film strip , which contains 30 pictures . 
The film strip is broken up into the following sections : — King and Parliament , Causes of the American Revolution , The Course of the American Revolution , The Younger Pitt in Peace and War , and the Slow Struggle towards Victory . 
VERSAILLES REVISITED BY JAMES EDWARD HOLROYD 
In a small black pocket-diary in the Bodleian Library there are various brief pencilled entries which record the owner 's holiday in Paris with a friend in the summer of 1901 : " August 7 St. Denis . 
August 9 Louvre buildings . " 
And then : " August 10 Versailles . " 
The diary is signed C. A. E. Moberly on the fly-leaf . 
That laconic entry represents the starting-point of the strange experience of the two English women who saw , or thought they saw , Marie Antoinette and members of her entourage in the grounds of the Petit Trianon at Versailles on that far-off summer afternoon . 
The experience lasted only half an hour . 
The two women thought so little of it at the time that they did not discuss it for a week ; did not write down any account of it for three months ; did not publish it to the world until ten years later . 
When the book appeared pseudonymously under the title of "An Adventure " fifty years ago in 1911 , it aroused controversy which continues today . 
Although the two women , whom we now know to have been Miss Annie Moberly and Miss Eleanor Jourdain , were of high academic standing , their accounts were not without confusion . 
Some of their evidence is careless if not suspect ; some of their research contradictory . 
They have been accused of altering their stories ; of adding later touches which lifted their experience from the light of common day into the rarified atmosphere of the late eighteenth century . 
The two women were always somewhat hypersensitive to criticism , and as if to refute any suggestion of collusion or conspiracy , Miss Moberly deposited their letters and papers in the Bodleian . 
Neither of the two is now alive , but the echoes of their adventure — which has been described as " the most famous ghost story in the world " — still puzzle the inquirer . 
Were they victims of hallucination ? 
Did they only imagine the experiences they described ? 
Could their adventure be explained in natural terms ? 
Or did they , in fact , find a doorway into the past which enabled them to participate , however briefly , in the sunset thoughts of the unhappy queen ? 
There are few places in the world in which it is easier to imagine ghosts than the vast palace of Versailles . 
The echoing halls of the great cha5teau , the labyrinthine walks of the main park with their stone benches and frozen statuary , the haunted gardens of the Petit Trianon — all are alike murmurous with the footfalls of history . 
Miss Moberly was the principal of St. Hugh 's , Oxford , and Miss Jourdain the joint head of a girls ' school at Watford on that August afternoon which was to establish their life-long link with Versailles . 
Their respective ages were fifty-five and thirty-eight . 
Both were daughters of Anglican clergy . 
Miss Moberly was , in fact , the seventh child of a bishop of Salisbury who had previously been headmaster of Winchester . 
She had acted as her father 's secretary , and although lacking formal academic qualifications was appointed to the headship of the first women 's college in Oxford , a post to which she brought considerable gifts of administration and undoubted authority . 
In the summer of 1901 she was seeking a vice-principal for St. Hugh 's , and the sightseeing holiday , with Miss Jourdain 's Paris flat as base , was to be a mutual exploration of temperament and personality . 
Neither of the women claimed to know more of Versailles than occasional casual reading had brought . 
" We had very hazy ideas as to where it was or what there was to be seen , " Miss Moberly wrote of the Petit Trianon . 
" Both of us thought it might prove to be a dull expedition . " 
Miss Jourdain was familiar with French and gave lessons on the history of the Revolution . 
Miss Moberly could read French but was not good at the spoken word . 
Let us now follow them on their adventure at Versailles . 
In the middle of the afternoon , after the usual tourists ' round of the palace , they decided to visit the Petit Trianon . 
They looked up the general direction in Baedeker and walked down through the main grounds until they reached the forecourt of the Grand Trianon . 
Instead of walking along the Avenue des Deux Trianons , which would have brought them immediately to the main entrance to the Petit Trianon , they went along a lane through a gate on the right-hand side of the Grand Trianon forecourt . 
After walking up the lane they made a sharp turn to the right past some buildings . 
Miss Jourdain described them as farm buildings and noted that implements , among them a plough , were lying around . 
In retrospect they always felt that the point at which they passed the buildings marked the beginning of their adventure — that from this moment they trod enchanted ground . 
Only in retrospect , however : at the time they were walking briskly and talking with animation about England and their mutual acquaintances . 
Miss Moberly recorded that although the weather had been very hot all the week , the sky was somewhat overcast that afternoon and a lively wind was blowing across the main park . 
Passing the buildings , they went along the middle path of three , where they met two men and asked the way to the house . 
They were told to go straight on . 
The two men were dressed in long greyish-green coats and , according to Miss Moberly , wore small three-cornered hats . 
The two visitors first spoke of them as gardeners , but later thought they must have been officials of some kind . 
Miss Jourdain remembered that when they spoke to the men she saw to the right a detached cottage with stone steps and a woman and girl at the doorway . 
Miss Moberly apparently did not notice either the cottage or the two occupants . 
Unknown to each other , the two visitors now began to experience a deepening sense of depression . 
Miss Jourdain noted that she began to feel that they had lost their way and that something was wrong . 
After leaving the men , they continued along the path until it was crossed by another at right-angles . 
In front of them , overshadowed by trees , they saw a small building with roofed-in columns . 
In their original notes they referred to this as the Temple de l'Amour , judging it to be this from the map , but in the published account Miss Moberly described it as " a light garden kiosk , circular and like a small bandstand . " 
A man wearing a cloak and a large slouch hat was sitting close to the kiosk . 
As he turned to look at them , both saw that his expression was evil and repulsive , and their growing sense of depression and unease culminated in a feeling of alarm . 
Miss Moberly also recorded that " everything suddenly looked unnatural , therefore unpleasant ; even the trees behind the building seemed to have become flat and lifeless , like a wood worked in tapestry . " 
There were no effects of light and shade and no wind stirred the trees . 
It was all intensely still . 
She thought that nothing would induce her to go to the left — presumably past the seated man . 
In the silence they were relieved to hear someone running towards them . 
Miss Moberly "connecting the sound with the gardeners , " saw it was a handsome young man — " distinctly a gentleman " — who also wore a large sombrero and a dark cloak with one end flying out in his prodigious hurry . 
He told them in French that it was not necessary to go to the left and that they would find the house to the right . 
He then disappeared and they heard his retreating footsteps , still running . 
The two visitors then crossed a small rustic bridge over a tiny ravine with a trickle of water on the right , followed a pathway under trees , and skirted a narrow meadow of long grass , damp and with an orchard look about it . 
This , although they did not realise it at the time , was the English garden on the north side of the Petit Trianon . 
The windows facing them were apparently shuttered . 
As they went up to the terrace bordering the north and west fronts , Miss Moberly noticed a woman sitting below the north terrace and holding a paper at arm's-length as if sketching . 
Afterwards she was able to describe the dress with some particularity , and noted , " I thought she was a tourist , but that her dress was old-fashioned and rather unusual ( though people were wearing fichu bodices that summer ) . " 
Miss Moberly subsequently identified the woman from a photograph as being Marie Antoinette . 
Later it emerged that Miss Jourdain had not noticed anyone at this point , although they asserted that there was no one else in sight . 
The two visitors then crossed over the west terrace fronting the French garden and were moving towards an unshuttered window on the French garden side when they heard a door bang and a young man ( afterwards described as " the Chapel man " ) stepped on to the terrace from what seemed to be a second house at right-angles . 
He told them that the way in was by the entrance court and walked down the French garden with them to an exit in the front drive . 
The visitors then went through the forecourt of the Petit Trianon to the house , where they followed in the wake of a French wedding-party walking arm in arm in a long procession round the rooms . 
They were at the back of the party , too far away from the guide to hear much of his story . 
But they noted that the feeling of depression had passed and that they now felt quite lively . 
Then they drove back to tea at the Ho5tel des Reservoirs in Versailles , and they did not speak of any of the events of the afternoon . 
Because of the wind , Miss Moberly had put on her coat during the drive to the hotel , and as they later returned to Paris by train she noted that " the setting sun at last burst out from under the clouds . " 
"Again and again the thought returned — was Marie Antoinette much at Trianon , and did she see it for the last time long before the fatal drive to Paris accompanied by the mob ? " 
That , in plain terms , was the substance of the adventure ; and a commonplace experience it would have remained , but for the extraordinary circumstances that followed . 
Although the two women stayed on in Paris for a while , they asserted that they never alluded to that afternoon until , a week afterwards , Miss Moberly was writing a letter to her sister in England and suddenly asked Miss Jourdain if she thought the Petit Trianon was haunted . 
Miss Jourdain promptly answered " Yes , " and then , for the first time , they became aware that their feelings of depression and anxiety had begun at the same point of their journey . 
Talking it over , they realised for the first time the theatrical appearance of the running man and the inappropriateness of his wrapped cloak on a warm summer afternoon . 
Miss Jourdain also admitted having disliked the thought of passing the seated man at the kiosk . 
On November 10 , 1901 , three months after the experience , Miss Jourdain was staying with Miss Moberly at Oxford and they returned to the subject , only to discover that Miss Jourdain had not seen the sketching woman . 
Thereupon they resolved to write down separate accounts of the experience to discover how far they had seen the same things . 
These first accounts , both dated November 1901 , are still in existence and can be seen at the Bodleian . 
( For convenience they can be referred to as M1 and J1 . ) 
During November and December they also wrote two more detailed accounts ( which will be referred to as M2 and J2 ) to show to friends . 
These longer accounts were the versions that appeared in their book published in 1911 . 
The original documents of M2 and J2 are no longer in existence , having been lost or destroyed after being copied into a manuscript book in 1906 . 
It is important to note here that in the autumn of 1901 , before either had written down a single word , Miss Moberly had told friends about their " ghost story . " 
What did you dream last night ? 
A SAUCER OF WEDDING RINGS IS PLACED BEFORE HER 
Twice in succession I dreamed of a wedding , one of which was most distinct and realistic . 
In my dream , I was married in a small room like a registry office , and a ring was taken from several in a saucer and placed on the table . 
Then my boy friend came in with an open-necked shirt on and hands in his pockets . 
He walked over to me and wanted to know what I was waiting for . 
I picked up the ring , placed it on my finger and said : " People will wonder why I have n't got an engagement ring . " 
With that we walked out together . 
— Miss C. M. , Derby . 
Explanation — You are dissatisfied with your present relationship with your boy friend . 
You are anxious to get married to him . 
Picking at random a ring offered to you out of a saucer indicates you are in too much of a hurry to be married . 
Your boy friend appears so unsuitably dressed because you are not sure whether he is the right man for you . 
Your remark indicates you are uneasy about the way things are at present , but walking out with him shows you are prepared to put up with a lot of trouble just to be in his company . 
Advice — You must discuss the whole situation with your boy friend . 
If he does not intend to marry you , then a clean break would be best . 
HER DOOR IS BATTERED OPEN — AND IN WALK TWO BULLS 
In my dream , two bulls batter upon my door and I have to open it and divide my only loaf of bread equally between them . 
If one gets a larger piece than his companion , he becomes angry . 
Then they drink from a horse-trough and go peacefully away , but I know they will always return . 
My main thought is that I must be nice to them , and not show any preference either way . 
— Miss C. T. , Essex . 
Explanation — The two bulls in your dream are men who seek your friendship . 
There are probably two men in your life , and you ca n't make up your mind which one you would rather have . 
Advice — You tend to be slightly immature in your outlook on life . 
Try to be more sincere and serious . 
SHE CA N'T ESCAPE THAT VOICE 
I dreamed I could hear the Voice of Nagging Authority , which blamed me for dressing a two-year-old boy on a very hot day in heavy clothing instead of tussore silk . 
The Voice kept on urging and nagging me to find the lighter dress . 
I am unmarried and in my sixties . 
— Miss M. M. , Bath . 
Explanation — The " Voice of Nagging Authority " quite likely belongs to your mother . 
She abuses you for being unable to handle a baby and therefore , in her opinion , you are unfit to marry . 
Advice — Concentrate on the present . 
Try to forget about your mother 's former domineering attitude towards you . 
A Belt Filled With Diamonds 
I dreamed I was in a crowded room . 
In our midst was a woman who has a reputation for going after men . 
My husband walked in carrying a doll made of fur fabric , with a price tag of thirty-five and six attached to it . 
He threw the doll into the lap of the woman , saying that the gift would please her . 
I was furious . 
He tried to calm me , handing over a pink felt belt , with a pin stuck in it . 
I threw it back . 
" Do n't be angry , " he said . 
" Your present is more valuable than hers . 
Open it up . 
It 's full of diamonds ! " 
I picked up the belt , which fell to the floor , but hesitated to open it . 
Before I came to any decision , I woke up . 
I have been happily married for twenty-one years and love my husband very much . 
— Mrs. B. G. H. , Jersey . 
Explanation — No matter how happily you are married and how much you trust your husband , suspicion , tinged with jealousy , will occur , especially if you love him very much . 
Your dream was caused by the thought that another woman might be able to please your husband more than you could . 
He walks into the room and gives her the doll and you the belt . 
On the surface the doll looks the more valuable item , but your husband tells you the belt is full of diamonds . 
The trouble is you hesitate to open it , fearing that , after all , the diamonds may not be there . 
Advice — Despite your happy marriage , you appear to have a shred of distrust toward your husband . 
Search your memory , find the reason for it , tell your husband about it and this slight shadow of suspicion will cease to trouble you . 
STRANGE ENCOUNTER WITH A TALKING SNAKE 
I am shortly to be married and we are going to live in a small house in the country . 
Outside the house there is a water-hole . 
I dreamed my aunt and uncle came to visit us . 
As I was seeing them to their car a great snake rose out of the hole and began to chase us round the field . 
It caught Uncle and squashed him to death . 
Next , it caught hold of my aunt , but I cried out , " Please , snake , do n't kill her . 
She is a good woman . 
Take me instead . " 
" All right , " the snake replied . 
" I only kill wicked people . 
I will guard your house for you on condition that you bake me an apple pie every day . " 
This I did and the snake and I became friendly , but a week later he said : " The weather 's getting chilly now , so I 'm going home . " 
There my dream ended . 
— Miss R. , Bolton . 
Explanation — Your dream concerns your fiance . 
The snake is a symbol of his manliness . 
He wants no interference with the pleasure he enjoys in your company . 
The snake kills your uncle , because he is another man , and lets your aunt go , because she is a woman , and so could n't become a rival . 
Now you offer yourself to the snake to save your aunt , and the snake becomes your guardian ( husband ) . 
Advice — Your dream clearly expresses you have certain doubts about yourself or your fiance , and are afraid that with him you will lead a rather lonely life , and in the end he will get tired of you and leave you . 
Discuss the future fully with him , and then make the final decision . 
She Opened Door After Door 
I dreamed that I saw my friend driving an old car . 
She and the three boy passengers were all wearing crash helmets . 
The car swerved on to the footpath and crashed through the window of a shop . 
No one was hurt . 
My girl friend was taken to a hotel in town and I went to see her as I thought she may have been injured . 
I looked into every room in the hotel but could n't find her . 
— Miss W. , Kilmarnock . 
Explanation — You envy your girl friend who embarks on adventures with the necessary precautions — the crash helmets . 
This explains her ability to get out of events in which other girls might get hurt . 
You go to the hotel not to offer sympathy but to ask her how she gets out of her predicaments . 
You ca n't find her and this shows that you do not fully approve of her behaviour . 
Advice — Do not try to model yourself on your girl friend . 
She may seem to be enjoying herself , but in the long run she will regret her recklessness . 
An Aeroplane Shoots Her 
I have had this dream twice recently . 
I am in a grocer 's shop and just as I come out I see an aeroplane hovering in the sky . 
Suddenly it starts to fire at me and I am wounded in the left arm . 
I am eighteen . 
Could you please tell me the meaning of this ? — Mrs. W. , Scotland . 
Explanation — Your dream indicates a fear that someone might get you involved in some unexpected prank in which you would be the sufferer . 
Advice — If there 's anyone , friend or relative , who constantly teases you and tries to make you inferior , trying to give you the impression you are too young to be married , stop seeing that person . 
If this is impossible where you live , change your abode . 
If the teaser happens to be your husband , make a solid stand against him and hold your status as a capable wife . 
Wants Her Husband — But Ca n't Find Him 
I dreamed I was going with a young woman to see the remains of her old home , which was now a tourist attraction . 
As we turned down a lane , I knew we were going the wrong way . 
Two queer looking animals were chasing each other round a pool , and I was afraid of them . 
I felt very unhappy and wanted to see my husband , but I could n't think of any excuse to get him down there to see me . 
I knew that the woman , who turned into my sister-in-law , would n't understand how I felt about everything . 
I was desperate , because I knew I would have to stay for a holiday . 
— Mrs C. T. , Coventry . 
Explanation — The young woman is trying to lead you astray . 
You follow her despite your knowledge you are doing the wrong thing . 
The queer animals frighten you and you blame your sister-in-law for your troubles . 
You would like to have your husband with you , but he is not coming . 
Therefore , you 'll have to spend a holiday with his sister , whom you apparently dislike , or may even despise . 
Advice — You are frightened of the influence your sister-in-law has over you , and also object to it . 
In your dream , you tried to get your husband to help you in whatever problem you face in connection with her . 
Do it in real life , too . 
Tell him how you feel about his sister , and if there is a problem , try to solve it together . 
" STOP THAT GIRL ! " 
THEY SHOUTED 
I dreamed I was driving a bus along the main road at about eighty miles an hour . 
Then , without warning , I suddenly turned down a side street , causing an accident with another bus coming up behind me . 
When I saw what had happened , I jumped out of my bus and ran for my life down the street . 
I could hear a crowd of people chasing after me shouting : " That 's her ! 
Stop that girl ! 
She 's just caused an accident ! " — Miss B. I. , Bradford . 
Explanation — Driving a vehicle means you have an intense desire to command your own life . 
Driving the bus at a high speed , causing an accident and then trying to escape instead of facing the consequences indicates you could be already involved in an adventure which could have serious and damaging consequences — not only for yourself , but other people as well . 
Advice — If my assumption is correct and you are trying to embark on some sort of an adventure — it might be a love-affair — take the dream 's warning and do n't . 
If the dream is merely an expression of your state of mind , then try to make peace with the world . 
ATTRACTIVE STRANGER GIVES HER FLOWERS 
The man I dream about passes my home every day , but we have only said " Good-morning " to each other . 
I have two of a family , and my husband is inclined to be very jealous . 
I dreamed my husband and I were at the front door as this man passed by . 
When he saw us , he went across the road and picked some flowers out of a garden . 
He gave my husband some tall , red flowers and me a posy of pansies. — Mrs C. H. Somerset . 
Explanation — You are trying to make amends for your husband 's jealousy . 
That 's why the stranger strikes up a friendship with you and your husband , and gives flowers to both of you . 
Advice — Do n't let your husband 's jealousy get you down . 
Whenever he has an attack of jealousy , face him squarely and do n't let him brow-beat you . 
VISITS FAR-AWAY PLACES AS SHE SLEEPS 
I have dreamed I was in Austria , twice in Germany and once in France . 
THE BRITISH WITNESS 
" TAKE the book in your right hand and repeat after me : I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth , the whole truth , and nothing but the truth . " 
You lay the testament on the ledge of the witness-box in front of you . 
The prosecuting advocate rustles through his papers . 
Your mouth feels a little dry . 
Why this sudden feeling of guilt ? 
You have done nothing wrong . 
You are doing your duty as a citizen . 
And what is at stake ? 
This is n't a murder trial . 
If the motorist is found guilty , he will only suffer a fine . 
Surely no one can question your honest recollection . 
Or can they ? 
To the left and slightly above you , the magistrate watches you , reflectively . 
To your right and slightly below you , the defending advocate is watching you with a marked intensity . 
The prosecutor finds the page he wants and clears his throat . 
He , too , looks at you . 
The same question is in the minds of all of them . 
What sort of witness are you going to make ? 
They all know , or can guess , roughly what you are going to say . 
The question is : how are you going to say it ? 
But , surely , you have only to tell the truth . 
You have sworn to tell the truth . 
You are on your oath . 
Let us face one fact which every lawyer knows , though few will admit it . 
From the point of view of your honesty , that oath is almost irrelevant . 
If you have come to court to lie , you are going to lie whether or not you have sworn on the little black book . 
But the oath has one very useful purpose . 
If you decide to lie , and you are caught out , the fact that you have taken the oath enables the police to charge you with perjury . 
And then you will pay dearly for it . 
False evidence 
This is unlikely , especially in a small case . 
When two honest witnesses give diametrically opposite accounts of the same event , how can anyone prove that the evidence you gave was deliberately false ? 
The liar is the person the advocate dreads least . 
He is the easiest to spot , the easiest to trap . 
One little slip , and you will have to start inventing lies on your feet , to cover up that slip . 
And that will involve you in another lie — and another — and another . 
If the advocate knows his job , you will suddenly wake up to find the fifth or sixth lie directly contradicts the first or second . 
And then you 've had it . 
There are few instances of deliberate perjury — at least in minor cases . 
Looking back over more than two thousand cases , I do n't think I ever came across more than a dozen liars — real liars , who gave a deliberately false account of certain facts . 
But among the thousands I have cross-examined , I have heard many patently wrong accounts of incidents given in all honesty . 
And in only a few instances have I been able to convince the witness in the box that his recollection must have been mistaken . 
The British witness is , with few exceptions , basically honest . 
And yet in almost every case witnesses conflict completely . 
How can this be ? 
Simply because everyone sees an incident from his own point of view . 
His true recollection of any set of facts will really consist of a series of isolated flashes of sight or sound . 
His imagination will then set to work to connect up those flashes . 
This process is inevitable . 
The human mind simply will not tolerate a series of unconnected incidents . 
It will arrange them to fit in with a person 's experience , his ideas , his prejudices . 
When his mind has done this work , all in an instant of time , the result will be that person 's absolutely honest recollection of the incident . 
And it may be totally different from what actually happened . 
Considering this , it is sometimes terrifying to realize the importance attached to the British witness . 
The fallibility of the honest recollection is fearful ! 
Give me skidmarks , fingerprints , circumstantial evidence , every time ! 
These things are all capable of explanation , of interpretation , but they can not give the same kind of totally false picture that can be given in absolute honesty by a sincere and truthful witness . 
Put to the test 
The responsibility of the advocate in court rests upon the importance of every witness 's honest recollection being fully tested . 
When a man comes before a court charged with , say , driving dangerously , what it really means is that " in the opinion of a number of witnesses , whom you will see and hear , he was driving dangerously . " 
And all those who are called by the prosecution are already committed to the opinion that he was , while those called by the defence are already committed to the opposite opinion . 
If a witness can be persuaded by an advocate in cross-examination that his honest , preconceived opinion must have been wrong , then that witness 's side of the case suffers a major blow . 
That is why the defending advocate is watching you at this moment with such intensity . 
He is trying to read your mind , to understand your prejudices , to assess your qualities of reason and of reasonableness . 
The first part of your appearance in the box is simple . 
The prosecuting advocate is on your side . 
He has your statement before him . 
He knows what you are going to say . 
He only has to make sure you say it all . 
Steel yourself 
At the same time his object , if he is worth his salt , is to put you at your ease in the box . 
Then the prosecutor sits down and the defence advocate rises to cross-examine you . 
This is your moment of truth . 
You steel yourself , mentally . 
You are ready to anticipate every question as an attack on your honesty . 
But it is not . 
All that is likely to be questioned is your accuracy . 
The opening questions will very probably be polite , respectful , soothing . 
The advocate wants your co-operation . 
Time enough for him to attack , if he fails in this . 
He wants you to relax , to rethink the incident with him , calmly , logically — and from his client 's standpoint . 
He will already have decided the point upon which he thinks you are most easily open to persuasion . 
He is not seeking information — that is the last thing he wants . 
He will never ask you a single question to which he is not pretty sure in advance of your answer . 
I recall a matrimonial case of some ten years ago when I did not follow this principle . 
I was appearing for the husband , an unhappy-looking wretch , battered and bruised after the physical attack which had come as the climax of years of bullying treatment from the huge , muscular female who now glared at me from the witness-box . 
The visual contrast was too much for me . 
" Madam , " I said , pointing out my cringing client , " are you telling the court that this poor little physical wreck attacked you in the way you have described ? " 
She snorted . 
" He was n't a physical wreck until after he attacked me in the way I have described , " she said . 
And my case never recovered . 
It 's Lawrence , Q.C . 
— this time for the PROSECUTION BY GORDON THOMAS 
What makes a shy — even colourless — little man a great criminal lawyer ? 
THE slightly built Queen 's Counsel rustles his newly-laundered gown and settles his bobbed wig more firmly on his brow . 
And in the hushed , expectant courtroom , everyone leans forward to catch and savour his opening words . 
This will be the scene at Lewes Assizes as Frederick Geoffrey Lawrence , Q.C. , steps forward for the first time as Crown Counsel in a murder case . 
In the dock , on trial for their lives , will be three youths , accused of shooting down an unarmed guard in the Worthing Bank Raid . 
For a minute the gentle-looking barrister will peer owlishly around him , taking in the jury , the defendants and spectators . 
Then , in his soft , level voice , he will reveal once more the eloquent gift that has made him one of the ablest advocates in British legal history . 
It is a gift that will face its sternest test during the Worthing shooting case . 
For Lawrence is returning to the criminal bar after an absence of two years . 
Since 1958 , his position as vice-chairman of the Bar Council and his work in the High Court — and elsewhere — have kept him busy . 
But now he is returning to the most dramatic legal arena of all — the murder court . 
Controlled logic 
Shy and retiring , Lawrence is often dismissed as " not really worth his reputation . " 
But a number of unhappy people have found this sneer to be untrue — usually they are driven off to prison . 
Not so long ago , Lawrence 's name meant little to those who had n't seen it beside the entrance to his chambers in the Temple . 
Then one day this little man — five feet five inches of controlled logic — rose to his feet to defend Dr. John Bodkin Adams , accused at the Old Bailey of poisoning one of his patients . 
It was one of the most sensational murder trials of the century . 
The defence had picked Lawrence , a " nobody " in criminal matters , because he was a barrister with a great knowledge of forensic medicine . 
For forty hours of relentless questioning , the gentle-voiced advocate picked expert holes in the prosecution 's case . 
Finally , after a trial lasting seventeen days , he succeeded in getting the Eastbourne doctor acquitted . 
For Frederick Geoffrey Lawrence , it was a famous victory . 
In those seventeen days he had earned himself more fame than in twenty years at the Bar . 
Lawrence learned his craft as counsel in divorce and breach-of-promise cases . 
His grasp of statistics made him a " natural " for the arid work of Ministerial inquiries and Parliamentary committees . 
It also brought him in about £10,000 a year — a figure trebled since he " arrived . " 
Lawrence almost bloomed in the dusty atmosphere of the law-courts , avoiding histrionics , surviving with a stubborn , hard-working desire to get at the truth . 
Nothing obvious 
The Adams case was typical . 
He put in four months of solid pre-trial work — long hours of study , stretching into the small hours . 
And the same kind of groundwork has gone into the Worthing case . 
But expect no obvious tricks from Lawrence at Lewes Assizes . 
He does n't shout or thump law books as Marshall Hall did . 
He does n't need a gold pencil , like Birkett , to mesmerize a witness . 
He lacks the pungent Irish humour of Edward Carson . 
Instead he has his own special tricks . 
He approaches a witness with his eyes blinking furiously . 
His modulated voice puts them at ease . 
The shy type he gently prods with : " Please , I am only trying to get at the truth . 
Try and help . " 
The reluctant he " persuades " with logic . 
And the arrogant , the liars , the " go-to-hell " brigade , soon find themselves in an uncomfortable hell of their own making . 
All eyes will watch him as he opens the prosecution in the Worthing case . 
Already his success has led the pundits at the Royal Courts of Justice to predict that he will become a judge and earn a knighthood . 
Every word and gesture he makes at Lewes Assizes will be weighed and noted . 
And in the Cock Tavern , across the road from the Royal Courts , barristers , solicitors and their clerks will be asking each other : Will this be Lawrence 's trial ? 
But that is a question that only a jury can answer . 
Concluding THE RED SPY RING IN BRITAIN by E. H. Cookridge Watch for a woman with a STRING BAG — and an ORANGE ... — that was Moscow 's secret message to Alexander Foote ( above ) when he was a Russian spy in Switzerland ... 
THE organisation of a Soviet avantpost abroad — a network controlled by a resident director — is fundamentally the same in all countries , but the emphasis on its tasks and " targets " is naturally different . 
During the final stages of an agent 's training , therefore , he is put into one of four groups . 
Group One consists of agents for political intelligence and subversion . 
THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL FORECASTS ... 
ONE OF THESE MARRIAGES WILL FAIL But four happy couples say he 's talking nonsense by DIANA NORMAN 
PEOPLE disapprove of teenagers marrying . 
They shake their heads and say : " They 're too young . " 
They point to official statistics which show that one out of four girls who marry between 16 and 18 ends up in the divorce court . 
And they say : " That proves it . " 
But does it ? 
To find out , I travelled all over the country , meeting couples who married very young . 
None of them was newly married . 
Most had been married for between two to six years . 
I am going to tell you the stories of four such couples . 
If the Registrar General , who compiles national statistics of births , deaths and marriages is right , one of them will be in the divorce court within the next 20 years . 
All of them have encountered greater hardship than most couples who wait until they are older before marrying . 
Almost all have had to face the suspicion that they had to get married , although it was untrue . 
They have come up against parental disapproval , and landladies who wanted to see their marriage lines before offering them accommodation . 
They have all had to raise children on small wages . 
Take , for instance , the case of the Annandales who were married six and a half years ago , when Brian was 17 , and Pam 16 . 
Now they have a nice home in Germany , where 23-year-old Brian , a regular in the RAF , is stationed . 
They have a car and Pat has a fur coat . 
But less than four years ago they went hungry in order that their baby , David , would have food . 
They told me about it recently when Brian was on leave and they were staying with Pam 's parents in Francis-road , Ashford , Kent . 
Brian was then a National Serviceman , getting just under £5 a week . 
He found that , because he was under 21 , the RAF would not give him and Pam married quarters . 
Nor — again because he was a minor — would they grant him the guinea a week extra normally given to married men in the RAF who have to pay their own rent . 
" It was a very bad time , " said Brian . 
" It could have caused a split between us . 
But , luckily , it brought us closer together . " 
He added : " We realise now that we took a terrific risk , marrying so young . 
But when our parents pointed this out to us before we married , we thought they were wrong . " 
Brian and Pam went to the same junior school in Ashford . 
And Brian smilingly recalled : " I could n't stand the sight of her then . " 
TAKE-OVER 
They met again when Brian was in the local cycle speedway team , and Pam , at 15 , was going out with his team captain . 
" Within a week I had accidentally crashed into the captain on the track , broken his arm , taken over his position as captain and taken his girl away from him , " grinned Brian . 
" He was best man at our wedding ... " 
Neither Brian nor Pam can tell you the exact moment when they decided to get married — " it was just an understanding between us . " 
Proposals are rare among teenagers . 
Nearly all say : " We just knew we were going to marry — that 's all . " 
Pam told me : " We came up against a terrific amount of suspicion . 
Suspicion that we had had to get married . 
Even though our baby arrived two years after our wedding , some people still think that he was the reason for our early marriage . " 
Brian agreed that the dice are loaded against teenage marriages . 
" We refused to borrow money from our parents during those difficult times . 
We thought we 'd save rent by buying a caravan on HP . 
" But , because we were both under 21 , the firm refused to sell to us . 
In the end we had to buy it in Pam 's father 's name . " 
Despite the travelling Brian has done since he joined the RAF , Pam has managed to go with him almost everywhere . 
In fact , she told me : " In the six years of our marriage , I 've been away from him only for about three months . " 
Do they quarrel ? 
" Of course , " said Brian . 
" Like mad sometimes ... " 
But he added : " We never row in front of David . 
" We have a really happy marriage . 
The months I spent apart from Pam were the most miserable of my life . " 
Well , that 's the Annandales . 
I 'd risk a large bet that it wo n't be their marriage which ends in failure . 
SCARCE 
And so to the Bowketts ... 
In the two years they 've been married , Keith Bowkett and his pretty , fair-haired wife , Violet — they 're both 18 — have n't lived together at all . 
The housing shortage and scarcity of flats in their home town of Pontardawe , near Swansea , South Wales , have forced Violet to go on living with her parents , sister and three brothers at their home in Holly-street — although she is now a married woman with a small baby . 
Keith , whom she married on her 16th birthday , lives with his parents a short distance away , just as he did when he was a schoolboy . 
They meet each other whenever Keith 's job as a collier on shift work will allow them to . 
They sit in one or other of their parents ' homes watching television . 
Or they hold hands in the pictures or go for walks . 
And at night they kiss each other goodbye and then go back to their respective homes . 
" We thought we would be able to find a place , but we have n't , " said Violet , bluntly . 
" Both our parents ' houses are too small to let us have a bedroom of our own . 
We 're on the council 's waiting list , but I 've known people around here who have waited nearly ten years to be given a house . 
" Flats are scarce and expensive , and landlords do n't want you if you 've got a baby . " 
Keith and Violet , like Brian and Pam Annandale , and so many other youngsters , met at school and began courting at 15 . 
They insisted on marrying as soon as Violet was legally old enough — 16 . 
Violet 's parents were against the marriage . 
Her mother , 40-year-old Mrs. Pearl Epps , said : " I did n't want Violet to marry so young , but when youngsters make up their minds you ca n't stop them . 
" So I made up my mind to make the best of it and gave them a nice wedding reception here at home . 
" HEARTBREAK 
"Sometimes when I see Violet looking after her baby , Steven , and remember it was only a short time ago that she was a baby herself , it nearly breaks my heart . 
" She has no idea of the cost of things , because she 's never had a home of her own to run . 
But I must say she 's making a good job of bringing up Steven . " 
People have told Violet that she deserves better , and that because Keith has n't provided her with a home , she has grounds for divorce . 
But Violet just pushes back her long hair and hugs Steven even closer . 
" Maybe Keith has n't been quite as responsible as he should , " she told me . 
" But if I had my time over again , I 'd marry him just the same — although perhaps not quite so early . 
" He 'll find a home for me one of these days . " 
she added resolutely . 
" And I 'll stick by him . " 
If love , loyalty and courage count for anything , it wo n't be Violet 's marriage that will break up . 
Perhaps Pat Cane , 17 , and her 23-year-old husband , Tom , are a bit luckier . 
At least they have a room to themselves , with a cot in it for their seven-month-old daughter , Michel . 
DIVIDED 
The room is in a council flat at Tulse Hill , in South London — the home of Pat 's parents . 
The other three bedrooms in the flat are divided among Pat 's parents and seven of her ten brothers and sisters . 
Quite a crowd , eh ? 
" We 've tried to find a place of our own . " 
said Pat , who also married on her 16th birthday . 
" In fact , recently we left here for a flat that Tom had found for us . 
But the landlady was terribly bossy — they can be you know — and kept hinting that we were n't married . 
" Eventually I showed her my marriage lines . 
But she said they were probably forged . 
" So we moved back with Mum , who 's been very kind , and we 're now trying to find somewhere else . " 
Tom , a £12-a-week decorator , met Pat over two years ago . 
" I asked her to go to the pictures with me. " said Tom . 
" The film was Look Back in Anger , but WE have n't — not once . 
" When we decided to get married , Pat 's parents did n't object at all . 
Pat 's mum was only 17 when she married , and has been happy ever since . 
" But my mother was very opposed to the marriage . 
She even refused to come to the wedding . " 
Pat , taking up the story , said "I did n't like Tom being " estranged " from his mother , so when Michel was born , I took the baby round to show her , and tried to make things up between them . 
The moment she saw Michel she " came round " . 
Now we get on very well . " 
Pat 's mother , 42-year-old Mrs. Lille Barnham , told me : " I ca n't think why people are so down on teenage marriages , and try to wreck them . 
" If girls are as sensible as Pat , who helped bring up her young brothers and sisters , I ca n't see any objection to their marrying when they like . " 
Surely it wo n't be Tom and Pat Cane who break up . 
Then there are the Bandeys of Wandsworth , London . 
Alice Bandey , age 17 , was expecting her first baby in six weeks when I saw her . 
And she and her 17-year-old husband , Michael , whom she married just over a year ago , were going to have to find another place to live . 
Their present two-room flat they knew would n't be suitable when the baby arrived , because a child might disturb the other tenants . 
They 'd already had to leave one flat because the landlady learned of the expected baby . 
Michael , who works in a banana-packing warehouse , earns £7 10s. a week , from which , when I saw them , they were paying £3 10s. a week rent . 
They had no honeymoon — could n't afford it — and the last new dress Alice had was for her wedding . 
Yet , despite their money and home-hunting problems , they are happy . 
Alice , an orphan , met Michael at school . 
They started courting at 14 , and at 15 decided to get married as soon as they were of age . 
" I never thought of marrying anybody else , " said Alice . 
" And I do n't think I 've missed anything . " 
Michael said : " I reckon I 've got the perfect wife . 
She 's always here when I get home ; always kind , and cheerful — and a lovely cook . " 
But he added : " Marriage certainly is n't a bed of roses — especially at our age . 
" The Marriage Menders by DIANA NORMAN 
SHEILA and Jim were living with Jim 's parents — and none too happily . 
There always seemed tension between Sheila and Jim 's mother . 
And one day it broke , in a blazing row . 
" She started shouting that I could leave as soon as I liked , " Sheila confided afterwards . 
" I said right now was n't soon enough for me . 
" She said I never cleaned our room , which is a lie . 
And when she started on about the baby always crying , I got really wild . 
" " Nobody 's going to criticise my baby " , I said , and started slinging some of my things into a suitcase . 
" She said it was Jim 's case and I was n't taking that , and she tried to pull it out of my hands . 
Jim came in . 
He pushed me and shouted that it was his baby and I was n't going to take her away . 
He hit me across the face and I began to scream . " 
Eventually Sheila left , taking her baby with her and went to live with her own parents . 
And so another marriage might have fallen in ruins had Sheila not had the sense to pour out her problems to the Citizens ' Advice Bureau . 
She went there , hurt and angry , to ask about getting a legal separation from Jim . 
The United Kingdom and the European Common Market Background to negotiations By ROY SHERWOOD 
WITH the exception only of matters of direct bearing on peace or early war , no issue of the present moment is of as far-reaching importance for Britain 's , the Commonwealth 's , and the whole West 's future as the question whether the United Kingdom will join the European Common Market . 
It is not a question to be decided on nationalistic or political party feelings , and no reasonably objective opinion , one way or the other , is likely to be arrived at without going through the process known to the writing world as beginning with Adam and Eve . 
What that means in this case is going back to the war years , when the Governments of Belgium , Luxembourg and Holland were in exile in London and had every reason to be so concerned about the precariousness of their post-war prospects that they organised a careful experts ' study of the subject . 
The outcome , based on the realisation that their chance of economic recovery and their ability to make themselves heard in international politics was desperately poor if taken singly , and decidedly better if they could act in unison , was the agreement to join their three countries in a union to be called Benelux — in which we can now recognise the beginning of all endeavours to unify Western Europe . 
And here we shall do well to note , as throwing a first sidelight on the much bigger problems connected with the European Common Market and the question whether the United Kingdom will be wise in joining it , that today , 16 years after the first measures were taken to establish Benelux , the complete union aimed at between Belgium , Luxembourg and Holland has not yet been fully achieved . 
But in spite of early and subsequent difficulties and complications , Benelux progress was sufficiently striking to activate the ideas on European unity long held by many economists and a number of politicians . 
Even Winston Churchill , arch-priest of British Commonwealth greatness and independence , spoke as early as in 1946 of the desirability of creating a kind of United States of Europe , of which it seems however reasonable to suppose that he envisaged them as an extension of the Commonwealth under British leadership ; and in France General de Gaulle , then still deeply distrustful of Germany , also held views favourable to European unification . 
His , not unnaturally , differed however from Churchill 's in two important points : the de Gaulle conception of that time was a Western European community , largely defensive against the possibility of German resurgence , and therefore without German participation , and not under British but under French leadership . 
It can be seen from this that there were even at that time not only two but actually three different attitudes to unification — that of those who thought mainly in economics , of those who thought in politics , and of those who thought almost exclusively in military values . 
World events have forced the various proponents of these attitudes to modify their ideas and aims in a number of particulars , in addition to which there has occurred one vital change in the situation : the Franco-German rapprochement , which has resulted in Britain becoming an outsider to the extent of no longer being indispensable in plans for Western European unification . 
While on this subject , it is of paramount importance for the people of the United Kingdom to realise that the dominant position held for centuries by this country in world affairs , due to the ability to throw its weight against whichever nation on the continent was growing too powerful for our comfort , is a thing of the past . 
The traditional balance of power policy is dead beyond hope of resurrection . 
In reviewing the various steps towards European unification it is useful to make passing reference to the failure of the European Defence Community ( EDC ) . 
At first fervently advocated by the French , who saw in it a means of making use of West Germany 's potential military strength under strict external supervision , it was categorically rejected by them two years later , in 1952 . 
The point is of importance because it shows that unification must be on a wider than a purely military basis . 
Nor can it be — and this is one of the difficulties — solely economic ; whether the contractants want it so or not , it must also become political . 
And this is the second , mainly psychological , point of difficulty in Britain 's incorporation in European unification . 
Turning to less abortive attempts towards European unity — which were , incidentally , inspired by growing fear of Russia — the first was the US-initiated Organisation for European Economic Co-operation ( OEEC ) . 
It came into existence as early as 1948 in connection with the effort to make the best possible use of American Marshal Aid ; and it led , in its turn , to the creation of the European Payments Union , the existence of which more than one Western European country has to thank for successfully surviving periods of heavy excess of external payments over from-abroad revenues without coming to financial grief . 
Next , and for the first time bringing the six countries together which now constitute the European Common Market , came the European Coal and Steel Community , uniting the three Benelux nations , France and Italy with West Germany . 
The underlying motive in this case was the same which had prompted France 's first enthusiasm for the subsequently rejected European Defence Community : fear of German resurgence , specifically of the high potential of the Ruhr area . 
With it , something new entered upon the political scene . 
Control over the organisation was not vested in an international body subject to any of the participating countries ' veto , but to a supra-national authority entrusted with power to make and to enforce decisions . 
Even during the two years while France was keen on the concept of the European Defence Community , Britain had disliked the implied necessity of a measure of surrender of sovereignty . 
Although these feelings were not openly expressed , there is little doubt that the failure of this particular idea can be attributed in the main to British unwillingness to accept French leadership ( while France advocated the creation of the community ) and to French unwillingness to go on with it when it became obvious that the community would come into existence only if France accepted to play second fiddle . 
Coal and steel production being not directly military matters , and France being moreover the biggest of the six contracting parties , acceptance of a supra-national authority did not in this case offend French susceptibilities . 
On the contrary , Paris was right in seeing in the creation of the community the welcome gain of control over German coal and steel production . 
As for Britain , she had cold-shouldered the plan from the first days of its conception by M. Jean Monnet . 
The cold-shouldering was done by a Labour Government , but the Conservatives were all in favour of it and of a generally welcoming attitude to European integration — as long as they were the opposition party . 
Another dividing factor between this country and its continental wartime allies and associates was atomic research . 
So , while the United Kingdom , having become an atomic power , pursued its own version of European unification endeavour through the Western European Union — a substitute for the rejected European Defence Community created rather in haste under the threat of an American " re-appraisal " of Washington policy with regard to the wartime allies — and by means of the Maudling Committee , the six nations of the Coal and Steel Community drew closer together . 
They combined their atomic efforts in EURATOM and signed the Rome Treaty , thereby laying down the principles of the European Common Market . 
In self defence , Britain took the lead in creating EFTA , the European Free Trade Association . 
This completed the split , and whether looked at from the viewpoint of that time or of the present , it can be seen to have been inevitable . 
None of the continental countries had its freedom of action limited by the kind of obligations imposed on Britain by the British Commonwealth , and the United Kingdom could not disregard them . 
With 378 pages in the English text , the treaty governing the Common Market is obviously too long for detailed study here . 
It is divided into six chapters the last two of which , concerned with organisational matters , protocol , etc. , are of little interest to this study . 
The first chapter states the aim of establishing " harmonious development " and a common market , and of " progressively approximating the economic policies of the member states . " 
Part 2 provides for a customs union , the abolition of internal tariffs and quotas , a common agricultural policy , freedom of movement for persons , services and capital , and a harmonised transport system . 
The third chapter lays down common rules of competition , deals with the co-ordination of economic policies , harmonised features of social policy and the establishment of a European Investment Bank . 
Chapter 4 associates former and present colonial territories of the six parties with the Community . 
No further explanations are needed to realise the closeness of the association and to gain a first impression of the difficulty of fitting the United Kingdom into it . 
For the benefit of those who are not studious readers of international developments it may be useful to begin by recalling the names of the countries composing the EFTA . 
They are : the United Kingdom , Sweden , Norway , Denmark , Austria , Portugal and Switzerland . 
And we may also note that from the first day onwards of talk about Western European unification British thinking always went along the lines of trying to create a great area of unrestricted trading ; but this conception did not include agriculture nor any of the other " harmonisations " of internal policies aimed at by the nations which finalised their decisions in the Rome Treaty . 
In spite of the fact that the British attitude has become modified to some extent on the subject of agriculture , it is not difficult to see that the difference between the two conceptions remains very great . 
And if there were room here for a detailed consideration of all that is implied in the provisions of parts 2 and 3 of the Rome Treaty , it would quickly become evident that the difficulties of bringing the two conceptions together are even greater than appears at first sight . 
Part 4 makes matters even worse . 
The United Kingdom , even if it wanted to , has no power or authority to commit the countries of the Commonwealth to anything ; and the mere mention of internal Commonwealth differences in wages and living standards , levels of productivity , of educational and technological attainment , and of the problems involved in the provisions of the second chapter of the Rome Treaty is sufficient to show that those who declare British membership of the European Common Market to be incompatible with continuance of the British Commonwealth are not completely mad . 
Yet a solution must somehow be found if Western Europe is not to be split into two competitive camps , with every prospect of growing rivalry . 
After protracted endeavours to find one or another kind of basis of negotiation , the present situation is that the Common Market and the Free Trade Association — though neither of them as yet fully operative — face one another as not too friendly strangers . 
Many people even in Britain think that this is largely our own fault , because we have never at any time been decisive or one-minded in our attitude , vacillating between " come and tempt me " and " only on my special terms . " 
On the continental side , as was and is to be expected , France attaches least , and Holland most , importance to bringing the Common Market and the Free Trade Association together in one unit . 
With productivity rising faster in the Common Market countries than in Britain , and Britain 's prospects for the future , moreover , adversely influenced as the provisions of the Rome Treaty will become effective , it has recently become necessary for the United Kingdom to take the initiative towards unambiguous negotiation with the Six , the first step in this direction being , as circumstances will have it , a plain application for membership . 
This , let it be recalled , was made at Brussels on August 10 , and on the same day Denmark also applied . 
What would you do with Middlesex ? 
THE term " Merger " in London Labour circles does not refer to financial alliances or newspaper closures , it refers to the joining of Middlesex with London in the London Labour Party back in 1951 . 
Prior to 1951 , the Middlesex constituency Labour Parties were organised in the Southern Region of the Labour Party . 
The London Labour Party concerned itself only with the Administrative County of London . 
At a Special Conference of the London Labour Party held on December 21 , 1950 , it was agreed by a large majority that Middlesex , if it so wished , should in future be associated with the London Labour Party . 
With only two dissentients the Middlesex Parties supported the proposed merger at a further Conference held on January 30 , 1951 . 
The Rules and Standing Orders of the Party were amended to meet the new situation . 
Special provision was made to preserve certain rights for Middlesex on purely Middlesex matters . 
At the Annual Conference , the delegates representing Middlesex Parties held a special voting card and certain issues were discussed and decided only by the Middlesex Parties . 
A Middlesex County Committee was set up as a sub-committee of the Executive . 
Teething troubles 
The merger brought its problems . 
No one would deny that . 
But gradually the teething troubles abated and by 1960 , the Executive went to Annual Conference with successful proposals to amend again the Rules and Standing Orders which governed voting procedure . 
The special provisions which allowed for the Conference to be split up ( not split ) into London and Middlesex sections , were swept away . 
The Party in London and Middlesex had become pretty well integrated . 
In 1958 , arising from the Wilson Committee on Party Organisation , a proposal was put forward by the National Executive Committee to set up a Regional Council for the Beds , Bucks , Berks , Herts , Middlesex and Oxfordshire area . 
Middlesex Parties would be severed from London and become part of a new set-up . 
At the 44th London Labour Party Conference in 1958 , a motion tabled by the Enfield Labour Party was carried as follows : — 
" This Conference urges upon the National Executive Committee that no useful purpose would be served by the severing of Middlesex Parties from the London Labour Party . " 
Now it is significant that this motion was tabled by a Party which lies on the most northerly extremity of Middlesex and borders on to Hertfordshire . 
The London Labour Party and the constituency Labour Parties in Middlesex by a very large majority opposed the proposed separation of Middlesex from London . 
The mutually beneficial effects of the merger were by this time apparent . 
As a result of our opposition , the National Executive abandoned its earlier idea and decided to leave Middlesex with the London Labour Party but to set up a regional organising area covering the same area as proposed for the Regional Council , which Council has not been established . 
In consequence , Constituency Labour Parties in Middlesex now have to look to Hemel Hempstead on Party organisation questions and to the London Labour Party on other matters . 
The present situation has many defects . 
Deputation 
Organisation , policy and Party administration can not easily be separated . 
There is confusion in the Middlesex Parties as to who should do what . 
Take the recent Middlesex County Council election . 
The policy on which the election is fought is the responsibility of the London Labour Party Executive , the production of posters , leaflets and that kind of thing is undertaken by the Executive and the payment of grants to Parties in need is another job for the London Labour Party . 
But where do you draw the line between producing the policy and the propaganda points and selling them to the Party and the electors ? 
Twelve months ago a deputation met the representative of the National Executive and pressed for a review of the present Middlesex set-up so that the inherent difficulties in the structure could be overcome in readiness for the Middlesex election . 
Following a resolution carried at the Annual Conference in February this year pressing for an Organiser for Middlesex , and following a resolution of the Executive in May pressing for more effective machinery in Middlesex , Bob Mellish , Joe Barrow , Mrs. Forbes and I met the Chairman of the Organisation Sub-Committee of the National Executive Committee and the National Agent for a very full and frank discussion on the Party structure in Middlesex . 
We await the outcome of that meeting . 
Royal Commission 
The difficulties facing the National Executive are recognised . 
There is not a lot of money available for the appointment of an additional organiser whose responsibilities would be entirely devoted to Middlesex affairs . 
The Report of the Royal Commission is out and we all await some indication of the Government 's policy on local government in Greater London . 
The structure of the Party would inevitably bear some relationship to the outline of local government in the area if there should be changes . 
So , the National Executive is inhibited from embarking on a long term solution to the Middlesex problem pending the outcome of the Royal Commission Report . 
On the other hand we can not postpone the Middlesex question indefinitely . 
A General Election could well be with us before the shape of local government in Greater London is settled . 
And we can not blandly assume that the L.C.C . 
and the Middlesex County Council are doomed to disappear . 
The Northern Home Counties idea has not worked . 
The Middlesex Parties feel no pull towards their comparatively rural neighbours . 
The closer community of interest , the lines of communication , the social and economic factors are all much more akin to London . 
The case for having Middlesex as a strong trade union and industrial base for a new Regional Council was demolished when the idea of a new Regional Council for the six Northern Home Counties was abandoned . 
The justification for keeping Middlesex in the Little Six is really to maintain some paper-equality of numbers of constituencies in each Region or Organising area . 
What about alternatives ? 
One solution would be to revert to the pre-1959 position in which Middlesex would be re-integrated with London . 
The difficulty here is that such a solution would not give Middlesex a full-time field man working exclusively in Middlesex . 
Middlesex is a marginal County and needs County-wide "marginal " treatment . 
Middlesex needs to nurture a Middlesex consciousness and County pride . 
The political parties have a heavy responsibility in this direction . 
Middlesex is a very important urban County . 
The National Executive recognised this when it proposed to include Middlesex in the new Region . 
Another solution , drastic and perhaps not immediately favoured would be to sever Middlesex from the London Labour Party and set up a Middlesex Labour Party along similar lines to the London Labour Party . 
There are , of course , obvious financial problems attaching to this proposal but they would have to be resolved . 
Or , a Middlesex Federation of Labour Parties working within a Regional Council covering the Northern Home Counties might be considered as a possible solution . 
The London Labour Party Executive and its Middlesex County Committee are much concerned about the whole thorny problem . 
We must all of us examine the question on the basis of " What is likely to be best for the Party " and not on " How best can we have what we hold . " 
A Labour Middlesex County Council is just as desirable as a Labour L.C.C . 
The recapture of Middlesex in 1964 will bring joy to the many friends of Middlesex in London . 
But we must plan and devise the means of that victory now . 
Midsummer of 1963 will be two years too late . 
INSIDE COUNTY HALL with HAZEL ROSE Are we such bores ? 
IT may be pure coincidence , but in the last few weeks , a number of people have asked me " whatever makes you interested in Local Government ? — it 's so dull ! " 
An image of drains , slums , endless Committees , innumerable housing cases , bureaucratic control , is seemingly evoked in the mind of the average citizen , when surveying the scene . 
A councillor is a worthy " do-gooder . " 
Somewhat limited , always elderly , and usually a bore ! 
To be acceptable to the general public as a politician , one must be able to converse fluently and intelligently on Atom Bombs , Apartheid , Algiers , the African problem , or the general prevailing economic situation . 
Just to be acceptable — one should always refer to Hugh , Frank , Michael or Herbert : and relate the latest anecdote reflecting a particular facet of the personality of these better known gentlemen — and one 's own intimate connections with " the top people . " 
Otherwise it might not easily be recognised that one 's true ambitions lie " across the river , " and that Local Government is merely a lay-by , on the road to Westminster . 
If it is suspected that this is not the case , then one is hastily dismissed as a crank , and an oddity — and ignored from then onwards . 
Why ? 
What is it that makes people look upon Local Government as dull , unexciting , and unrewarding ? 
And the people involved , as failures in the " Grand National " Stakes — or just non-starters ? 
An Englishman 's home is his castle — to a Londoner it 's more likely to be an L.C.C . 
flat or perhaps the prospect of one . 
But either way , where he lives , how he lives , what rent he pays , is surely a matter of the utmost concern , not only to him , but to anyone with the slightest civic conscience . 
Equality of opportunity is no longer a cliche2 of the Left , but a principle accepted by all thinking people — irrespective of party . 
Schools , and all the attendant problems of education should be of the greatest interest , not only to enable an individual to have the advantages ( often denied to his parents ) to lead a fuller and more satisfying life ; but for the greater part he can play in building up this country . 
If the health of the Community is neglected , physical and social activities of young and old are not adequately catered for : however improved our material standards of living may be , the telly , the washing machine and the car , will not bring increased happiness to our increased leisure . 
Nor will they eliminate the mounting frustration , boredom loneliness and tension , felt by an increasing number of people . 
Perhaps it is the knowledge of this fundamental truth — that real happiness and satisfaction is found in doing for others , that enables councillors to labour on year in and year out , unpaid , unrecognised , in what must appear to others to be a thankless and unrewarding task . 
Does this sound priggish , evangelistic , dull ? 
Yes , to a mass of people fed on a diet of sordid sex details , sensational divorces , violence and crime . 
Yes , to those people caught up in the fiercely competitive aggressions of our affluent society , where the goal is more money , and the profit motive , ephemeral pleasures and cheap thrills are the main reasons for living . 
Local Government is live , human and intensely satisfying work . 
Those people successfully involved in it are equally live , human , and fulfilled by their efforts . 
Their values are all right , Jack — what about yours ? 
A TRIBUTE TO HAROLD CLAY 
IT is with deep regret that we pay a last tribute to a great friend and colleague who has passed on . 
Who was this man and what was his claim to our gratitude and affection ? 
Harold Ewart Clay devoted his life to the Labour Movement in its widest sense . 
Tramways 
From his earliest years he was an active trade unionist and Labour Party worker . 
However , it was not until 1920 that I first knew of him . 
He was in Leeds and I in London . 
In that year his Union — the Tramwaymen 's Union — amalgamated with others to form the United Vehicle Workers ' Union ( U.V.W. ) , and my Union , the London Carmen 's Trade Union amalgamated with others to form the National Union of Vehicle Workers ( N.U.V.W. ) . 
He was an officer of the U.V.W. , I was an officer of N.U.V.W. and so our ways were set to meet . 
Merger 
Both unions were trying to serve the interests of all forms of road transport , and it was inevitable that fierce rivalry would lead to conflict . 
Harold in his Union and I in mine , together with many of our colleagues , believed that this conflict could only be solved — and the best interests of the membership and the community at large be served by a wider amalgamation . 
READY FOR LIFE 
THE mother 's face was drawn with anxiety . 
" It 's my little girl , doctor , " she said indicating the fair-haired child sitting by her side . 
" I 'm desperately worried about her . 
I think she 's got cancer . " 
The doctor showed no emotion . 
" And what makes you think that ? " he asked . 
" Well , " said the mother , "she 's developed a lump in her chest . 
It 's getting bigger , too . 
That is how cancer starts , is n't it ? " 
"How old is the child ? " asked the doctor . 
" Just nine years . " 
The doctor completed his examination . 
He was smiling when he spoke again . 
" It 's certainly not cancer , " he told the mother . 
" Your daughter 's growing up , that 's all . 
The swelling is the beginning of her figure . " 
This incident , which took place in the Harley Street consulting-room of one of our leading children 's doctors , is no freak case . 
Nor is it unusual in 1961 Britain . 
For the truth is that in the last few years a tremendous upheaval has shaken our understanding of child development . 
Today , children are growing up — physically — far earlier than their parents did . 
And as breast development is normally the first sign of puberty in a girl , it is not unusual to find this starting as young as nine or ten . 
Some parents can not accept this change in their children 
Earlier puberty is a subject that is proving of enormous interest to the medical profession , but for some odd reason it is one that seems to be passing by the most important people of all — apart from the children — the parents . 
Today 's parents can not seem to accept that the girl who starts menstruating at eleven is not super-advanced , that indeed they must be prepared to expect this to begin round about this time . 
For these are the startling facts : 
Girls are developing earlier , at the rate of four to six months earlier every ten years . 
This means that biologically they are now growing up two to three years earlier than they did at the turn of the century . 
Boys are advancing even faster . 
In fact , it is now getting quite difficult to find choirboys old enough to behave in church who can still sing treble . 
Children are simultaneously getting increasingly taller and heavier as the years roll by . 
For example , on an average , a girl of eight in 1959 was as tall and heavy as a girl of eight-and-a-half in 1949 . 
And in ten years the average height of a ten-year-old has increased by half an inch , the average weight by three-and-a-half pounds . 
Nor does the advance show any signs of halting . 
In fact , it may well be that by the time these children have their children , the majority of girls will be maturing at ten . 
Doctors who are delving into the reasons why this revolution is taking place have come up with some intriguing theories . 
Many say it is because today 's child is much better fed than her ancestors . 
School milk , they say , has quite a bit to do with it . 
Others believe the reason is climatic . 
It 's known that overheating delays the growth of laboratory rats , and it 's been suggested that children now grow considerably faster because their parents do not overclothe them as they used to in the old days . 
Modern psychiatrists , however , have an even more interesting theory . 
They say that it 's the direct result of easier relations between the sexes . 
There is more conversation about sex between boys and girls and a far more natural acceptance of the once unmentionable " facts of life . " 
This theory is borne out by the fact that children in co-educational schools often mature earlier than those who are segregated . 
Getting it through to some parents that earlier puberty is now a fact is proving quite a headache to doctors and teachers . 
Most teachers have very decided views on the subject . 
Like one of our most go-ahead principals , Miss K. C. M. Gent , headmistress of the four hundred strong girls ' grammar school in Lichfield , Staffordshire . 
" Girls start here at eleven , and by the end of the first year at least fifty per cent of them have reached puberty , many having started before they even arrive , " she told me . 
" Because of this I have made it a rule to see each set of parents individually before the child begins her first term , " she went on . 
" I tell them that I insist on every child knowing the facts of life before she starts at my school . 
" If the parents find it difficult or embarrassing to talk to the child I give them a booklet which the child can read . 
" Almost every mother I meet seems surprised that I insist on this so early . 
" They ca n't seem to take in the fact that girls are maturing so quickly . 
But once they realize the truth of it they 're glad to co-operate and teach their daughters . " 
Now more than ever children crave wise guidance 
Though we may think it a good idea that children should grow up more quickly , let none of us imagine that earlier puberty does n't bring its own set of difficult problems . 
The toughest of these is this : that though physical development has advanced so rapidly social development has stood still . 
A girl of eleven today — even if she does happen to wear a thirty-four-inch bra — is still , to her mother and father , a child . 
And that 's the way society looks at her , too . 
So who can blame her if she gets all mixed up ? 
She has not had enough experience of life to cope with the new process . 
She has been well protected in the junior school , and at home she has always been regarded as " a kid . " 
No wonder , then , that she does n't know whether to play with toys or go out with boys . 
No wonder she craves wise parental guidance and friendship more now than ever before . 
Which brings us back to the mother . 
What exactly are the problems likely to come up when she suddenly finds herself confronted by a little woman of twelve ? 
How can she cope with the child 's emotional growing pains in the kindest , most sensible way ? 
How can she tell her daughter that , physically , she is now a woman ? 
I sought the answers from doctors and psychiatrists , teachers and social workers . 
CONTINUING READY FOR LIFE by ROSALIE SHANN ADOLESCENCE is one of the most important times in a woman 's life 
IT is a fact that girls are developing earlier at the rate of four to six months every ten years . 
This means that biologically they are now growing up two to three years earlier than they did at the turn of the century . 
Boys are advancing even faster . 
And this creates a whole new set of problems for the parents . 
Everyone is agreed that as puberty advances so they must also advance their attitude to the growing child . 
A girl may well be emotionally unready for puberty because that emotional development is still way behind physical development . 
Her emotions have given her no warning of imminent changes . 
But though she may be unprepared her mother must not be . 
It is essential she tell the child the facts of life in time , not just the usual item about where babies come from , but what puberty is , what changes will take place , and why . 
What exactly is meant by " in time " ? 
Well , it varies from child to child , but generally speaking changes should be discussed as soon as they begin in the child . 
The first sign is invariably the beginning of the development of the bust . 
As soon as a mother notices this she should talk to the girl , perhaps before if the opportunity has arisen , but never later than this . 
A child , incidentally , is far more likely to accept the facts naturally and easily and without embarrassment if she is used to seeing her mother undressed . 
Then as soon as menstruation starts the mother should explain to her daughter all over again what it is and why it happens . 
Physical changes indicate the child 's approaching maturity 
Doctors say it is important to explain to the child twice — before menstruation happens and when it does — as she can not fully appreciate the facts the first time . 
Above all , a mother should appear pleased about her daughter 's physical changes because it indicates approaching maturity , and this is something , the mother must imply , to be looked forward to , not dreaded . 
If a mother views the onset of her daughter 's adolescence with misgiving , believing — because of what she 's heard — that it 's always a troubled time for all concerned , then this fear will be communicated to the child , and the inevitable obstacles will be anticipated and probably enlarged . 
A fact mothers must also be prepared for is that different levels of maturity exist side by side . 
This can be extremely tricky to understand , both from the parents ' and the child 's point of view . 
There often is , for instance , a child who can partake in quite adult activities , such as intellectual conversation , yet at the same time spend hours reading her childish comics . 
Moods vary , too , and with such speed that the poor parent is often at a loss to keep up . 
One minute the child is lost in desolation , quite sure she is a failure in every way . 
The next , while the parent is still trying to comfort her , she is brimming over with self-confidence and a brand new bout of enthusiasm . 
By far the best , and most sensible , way for mothers to face this time is to accept that the child is changing , and to welcome that change . 
This , of course , is far easier said than done , for , whatever the psychiatrists say , it cuts the heart when a dearly loved child , once so docile and parent-attached , suddenly wants to strike out by herself , choosing her own friends . 
But it is some compensation to realize that this desire for independence is a good thing for the child . 
It shows she is anxious to stand on her own feet and make a place for herself in the world later on . 
If her naturally healthy desire to grow up is frustrated she will either lose her urge to be independent or she will rebel and go her own way anyhow . 
And this last spells trouble in the home . 
A child psychiatrist was adamant on this point of independence . 
" So many mothers , " he said , "make the mistake of expecting to know everything about their daughters . 
The brutal truth is that a girl will not grow up normally unless she has a secret life away from her parents . 
" In fact , the daughter who tells her mother everything is very suspect from the psychiatrist 's point of view because she is not being allowed to grow naturally into an adult . " 
IT 's enlightening , and a little shattering , to learn from the psychiatrist that that state which mothers boast about , " we 're more like sisters than mother and daughter " is not one to be envied . 
Indeed , this very closeness and dependence is considered detrimental to normal development . 
" It 's far more healthy for girls to giggle among themselves and have " best friends " from their own classmates , " the psychiatrist told me . 
" The mother just must n't be that " best friend " because it suggests that the daughter is still clinging to her . 
" I know this is a bitter pill for mothers to swallow , particularly those who are bringing up daughters alone without their husbands . 
I often advise these women to get themselves an interesting job . 
Just for the sake of the girl . " 
Many young women who finally end up with nervous breakdowns or other mental disorders do so just because they have never broken away from their families . 
" You have no idea how many girls come here who have never been shopping by themselves , " another psychiatrist said . 
" A young person should be allowed a lot more responsibility and freedom from the age of ten or eleven onwards . 
" She should be able to choose some of her own clothes and perhaps her own wallpaper . 
She must be able to spend her own pocket money the way she wants , and keep a diary which no one will read . " 
Sign Here FOR HAPPINESS JUDITH SIMONS meets a woman who shares our happiest and our saddest moments Life 's greatest dramas — they 're all in a day 's work for Dorothy Taylor Horrocks . 
BACK in World War One an excited young mother entered the Registrar 's Office at Ramsbottom in Lancashire . 
" I 've had triplets , " she announced proudly . 
" I 'd like to call them France , Belgium and Russia — after our Allies . " 
The Deputy Registrar , pretty young Miss Dorothy Taylor Horrocks , looked startled , but her voice stayed calm . 
" Does your husband like those names ? " 
"I have n't asked him . 
He 's serving in France . " 
"Well , do write and see what he says before deciding , " Miss Horrocks advised gently . 
" When the boys grow up , those names might be an embarrassment . 
But of course , if your husband approves , we 'll register the babies as you wish . " 
A lesson in tact 
A week later the mother came back . 
" I 'm glad you made me tell my husband before naming the boys , " she said gratefully . 
" We 've decided to call them Frank , Charles and Richard . " 
Today , Dorothy Taylor Horrocks — now Registrar for Radcliffe , Whitefield and Prestwich — still remembers that early exercise in common sense and tact . 
" Though there are not many women registrars yet , I think we can give men registrars a lead in some ways , " she told me with a smile . 
" Men may be more efficient and businesslike , but on the personal side of Births , Deaths and Marriages women have a more sympathetic approach . " 
I could see Miss Horrocks ' point . 
Neither her conventional , impersonal office nor her plain black suit could deflect from the warm personality of this woman who records the greatest dramas of our lives . 
With Miss Horrocks , her job is not just a matter of making an entry in an official book , issuing an official certificate . 
When a woman who is newly widowed comes to register her husband 's death , Miss Horrocks can sense at once if she needs a friendly ear . 
" Do n't worry , " she will say with gentle patience . 
" I 'm here to help you . 
Now sit down and tell me about it ... " 
With a girl registering an illegitimate birth , her manner is similarly sympathetic . 
One such girl expressed the feelings of many : "When I walked in here and saw the registrar was this kind lady I was so relieved . " 
One reason , perhaps , why Miss Horrocks has this work at her finger-tips is that she was born into the business ! 
Her father , too , was a registrar , and though she had originally hoped to be a nurse , Miss Horrocks found herself following in his footsteps . 
" It 's in registering births that our real test comes , especially when the mother chooses an impossible name . 
Incidentally , it 's always the Mums who are fanciful ! 
Back to old names 
" If the father is in doubt about the name , or perhaps does n't even know the wife 's choice if he is away , often I can influence the balance of opinion . 
But if both parents approve I must comply with their wishes . 
" One wife wanted to name her baby daughter Rowena — Ophelia — Elvira — Cardetta — Osberga — after the ships on which her sailor husband had served . 
In this case the husband was thrilled with the names , so I could do no more ! " 
Miss Horrocks smiled . 
" Lately I 've registered very few strange names . 
Even the fashion of calling babies after film stars is n't so popular these days . 
We seem to be having a swing back to the old-fashioned , tried and trusted names — especially Mark for boys and Jane for girls . " 
The next step on the path of life — marriage — is a routine job for Miss Horrocks , but it occupies most of her time ! 
Apart from ceremonies conducted in her office by the Superintendent Registrar , each Saturday she 's off on a round of Roman Catholic and other non-Conformist churches where it is necessary for a registrar to be present at a marriage ceremony . 
" I 've spent more time waiting at the church than any other woman in Lancashire , " laughs Miss Horrocks . 
" When a bride is late I 'm on tenterhooks — wondering if I 'll be in time for my next wedding . 
" But I do n't really mind . 
It 's the bride 's great day . 
" I have never been married myself , but if I had , I know I 'd have been late , too ! 
" I always enjoy watching a wedding . 
Today a great many of the girls are wearing those pretty Princess Margaret style bridal headdresses , and they wear more elaborate dresses than they used to do . 
But the grooms are usually more nervous . " 
Only one hitch in years 
In her long career Miss Horrocks has known only one marriage hitch — last summer , when ex-assistant-hangman Brian Allen and his Spanish bride Angela Corillo went through a marriage ceremony at a Roman Catholic church , but forgot to inform Miss Horrocks . 
" They were therefore not legally married ! " 
Miss Horrocks told me . 
" Still , it was all put right . 
They delayed their honeymoon and came to me for a special licence . " 
Miss Horrocks holds another record . 
One morning she attended a wedding , two and a half hours later she was informed the bride had given birth to twins and that one of the babies had died . 
So in the space of a day she had registered a marriage , two births and a death — all in one family ! 
And what of Miss Horrocks ' own life ? 
It is very much drama-free , she admits . 
She shares a house with a retired headmistress , belongs to an exclusive women 's club , does n't do much in the way of hobbies because she has n't the time . 
" But after my daily panorama of the highlights in other people 's lives , I 'm perfectly content with a quiet life of my own , " she smiled . 
DID YOU KNOW the part a registrar plays in your life ? 
BIRTHS 
THE birth of a baby should be reported to the registrar within forty-two days . 
There is a fee of 3s. 9d. for a certified copy and 9d. for short birth certificate . 
If you later regret your choice of Christian names and want to change them or make an addition , this can be done at the Registrar 's Office within a year of first registering the birth . 
The birth certificate will then be amended for a fee of 1s. 6d . 
A Christian name or names can be changed , through baptism , at any time . 
MARRIAGES 
For a marriage by certificate ( the usual form of marriage ) the registrar requires twenty-one clear days ' notice . 
The fee is 3s. if the couple wishing to be married live in the same district , 6s. if they live in different districts . 
The fee for marriage at three days ' notice is £2 8s . 
This covers the cost of a licence only . 
The licence for a church wedding without the waiting time for banns to be called costs £2 15s . 
( Not under a registrar 's jurisdiction . ) 
Contrary to popular belief , a special licence is not one which enables a couple to marry quickly . 
This special licence is granted by the appropriate Bishop only in exceptional circumstances ( for example , when a couple wish to marry in a district where they neither live nor worship or in a place which is not licensed for marriage — a college chapel , etc . ) . 
There is no set waiting period before a special licence wedding takes place , and it costs £25 . 
DEATHS 
When a doctor has issued a certificate showing the cause of death , this must be taken to the registrar , who will then issue an official burial or cremation certificate . 
This is needed before burial or cremation can take place and is issued free of charge . 
All certificates for personal purposes must be paid . 
The fee charged is according to the purpose for which the certificates are needed . 
Most of us have lived through it — that moment when all hope of happiness seems lost for ever They said they 'd NEVER LOVE AGAIN 
" NEVER ! 
I 'll never get over him . 
I know I 'll never love again . " 
The girl threw herself , sobbing , on the bed . 
For hours — or so it seemed — she lay there , the victim of a bleak all-enveloping despair . 
For the moment , at any rate , she knew that this man , who had so recently gone out of her life , would be in her heart for ever . 
She would never get over him ... 
This scene , which surely every woman has lived through herself , goes on everywhere , all the time . 
The broken romance , the terrible grief when you realise that the one you love has gone out of your life for ever ... 
But here is a heartening thing : to almost everyone who has ever loved and lost , there comes , in time , another love , another day when the heart sings through joy of loving ... 
Time , it is true , heals even the most bruised hearts . 
Time , and a second love . 
Those unlucky enough to be going through just this sad phase in life right now , may look at some of the great loves of recent years , loves that have come to nothing or have ended tragically and yet whose partners have gone on to love again — and take heart ! 
Look first at the most ill-fated romance of the century . 
That of Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend . 
If ever there was a modern fairy-tale that went wrong , then Margaret 's and Peter 's must surely be it . 
After two long years 
THEY knew each other for thirteen years , first met when Margaret was a boisterous schoolgirl and Peter the " new boy " at the Palace . 
When it was discovered in Royal Circles that they were in love , Peter was posted to Brussels as an air attache2 . 
They had to be apart for two years , perhaps to test if their love was strong enough to bear the separation . 
It was . 
In the autumn of 1955 , Peter Townsend flew back home and went straight to Clarence House to meet Margaret . 
In New York the papers headlined the news : Only a Matter of Hours Now . 
But the hours spun out into days , the days into weeks . 
Indeed it was eighteen days before Margaret finally decided . 
During that time they were constantly in each other 's company . 
Either at Clarence House or in the homes of their friends . 
Four private dinner parties were given for them in London . 
Twice they spent the weekend as guests of close friends in the country . 
They walked hand in hand under the trees aglow with autumn colours , and went over the problem endlessly , again and again and again ... 
It was no good , and they both knew it . 
Peter Townsend had been the innocent party in a divorce case . 
And that was enough to make him unsuitable by Royal standards . 
Their first meeting 
ALONE in the Clarence House drawing-room on the day when she made public the renunciation of her love , Margaret read through once more the draft of a personal message , which in a hundred and fourteen words , told the world of her decision : " I would like it to be known that I have decided not to marry Group Captain Townsend ... " 
Few of us will forget the heartbreaking pictures of Margaret that were in the papers the following day . 
Bravely , she tried to show a face of composure to the world in true Royal Family tradition . 
But no camera could fail to record her grief . 
A little later came the story that Margaret and Peter had sworn never to wed . 
The Group Captain was quoted as having said : "As we can not marry each other , then neither of us will ever marry anyone else . " 
But it was not to be . 
And a good thing , too . 
Nobody would wish these two young people to go through life alone for the rest of their days . 
Within five years from that fateful October evening , both of them had married other people . 
Peter Townsend , a pretty French girl , who looked so remarkably like the Princess ; and Margaret the good-looking photographer , Tony Armstrong-Jones . 
It had been three years though before she had found another love . 
Three years , while she nursed her broken heart and looked sadly on all the young men who asked to take her out . 
Then on the night of March 31 , 1958 , she went to a Hallowe'en ball at London 's Dorchester Hotel with Billy Wallace and other friends . 
WHY INTOXICANTS ? 
Man 's search for immortality ... by Wesley M. Clark 
AS FAR BACK as primitive man , one discovers him directly dependent on the whims and moods of nature . 
Her laws dared not be flaunted by him . 
Her contrasts , the warm-breathing summer , with a plentiful supply of everything needful , relentless winter , when everything seemed dead without a shaft of sunlight for weeks at a time — dire want . 
All the suffering awakened and sharpened in him his perceptive faculties . 
Primitive man noted the mood between the lustrous sun in the cerulean vault of the daytime , and the changing faces of the moon that gleamed coldly during the fear-inspiring night . 
He wondered at the mysterious stars that seemed at times to travel across the vision of the black face of the night . 
Occasionally , these shimmering stars plunged downward toward the earth at tremendous speed . 
Then there were times when the sky would change from tranquillity to sudden anger . 
Great ominous clouds galloped across the heavenly firmament , writhing and with diabolical unpredictability , seemingly resembling unleashed monsters , spitting fire , roaring angrily , and emptying deluges of water to the earth . 
Why ? 
Man asked himself . 
Who ? 
What does all this ? 
When a member of man 's family died , the body , which only an hour before had been warm , talked and breathed , suddenly was inert and cold . 
Its appearance had not changed outwardly , yet it was not the same . 
There was no longer the rhythmic breathing . 
With the last gasp , life departed . 
Breath , then , was life . 
But where had breath gone ? 
And he could smell the aroma of the flowers , the pungent exhalations from the trees , the earth . 
The thought occurred to him , all this is like my breath — my breath which vanishes when I die . 
And when I die , where do I go ? 
These phenomena which man experienced eventually evolved into a conception of one or more spiritual beings of invisible forces or powers within the many objects about him . 
It was the Breath that separated from the live body and departed elsewhere , leaving behind the inanimate , which gave first rise to the conception of spirits . 
Everywhere man was this conception existed . 
Among the Primal Aryans , it was called Gust , Breath or Whiff . 
The Greeks termed it Atman , breath , air ; or , Pneuma , air . 
The Romans , whether of ancient pagan days or modern Christian times , used the term Spiritus for breath ; while Geist , Ghost , Gast , or Gaest , was the way the German and his Teutonic forebears summed it up . 
The conception has been incorporated almost in its original form in the Old Testament which states : "In creating man , God breathed into him the Breath of life , the Spirit , the Soul . " 
Primitive man 's logic was naive . 
Upon developing the concept of a world of spirits , he immediately entered upon the system of spirit worship , which in its most elemental form , was a worship of the dead . 
The dead continued to live as spirits ; in the wind , the flowers , the trees , the thunder , the volcano , an animal . 
But it did not matter so much where they lived , as that man felt the spirits needed food , both liquid and solid , just the same as when they still dwelt in their mortal bodies . 
Therefore , man deduced it was his duty — a sacred obligation for him to supply spirits with food , drink , clothing , weapons , slaves — everything he was used to using while he was alive . 
This was motivated through fear or love . 
In the Occident as in the Orient , in Africa , Australia or America , wherever primitive man or primitive man 's history may be researched , the custom became firmly established . 
Nor has it disappeared today . 
Among certain Christianised people , the ritual of setting aside daily food and drink for the departed is strictly adhered to ; or dishes and beverage are taken on the anniversary of the dead to their place of burial . 
The libation in honour of the deceased is found as a part of the most modern customs , as when some drops are poured out before a drink is taken : the toast . 
From this simplest-of-all worship of the dead , there gradually grew a worship of spirits in general . 
This conviction of the superhuman and following it , the need of appeasement either because of fear or love , found its visible expression in offerings , sacrifices to the spirits or deities . 
And what could be found more pleasing to them than food and drink ? 
These two items became an integral part of worship . 
Primitive man 's first thought at the birth of his first conception of the supernatural survival of his ancestors ' spirits , to whom he consecrated sacrifices , food , and drink , evolved without a break for hundreds of centuries . 
With the Jews , until the Mosaic period , even until the destruction of Jerusalem , when bloody sacrifices were ended ; with the Christians of the Roman Empire , until the reign of THEODOSIUS ( 392 A.D. ) , when bloody sacrifices were abolished , and only the unbloody one — the offertorium at Mass — bread and wine has gone on unchecked . 
The fact stands out , boldly and indisputable , that deeply rooted in the human consciousness there grew a feeling of dependence upon a power which was able to discern his fate for better or worse . 
That feeling filled him with awe , dread , confidence and veneration . 
Along with , and as strong as the consciousness of his dependence upon the spirits — deities — man was influenced by the reflection that it was wise to propitiate ; in fact to get into communication indirectly , or directly if possible with those supernatural powers or beings . 
This he attempted and succeeded in doing by the exercise of the various forms of worship : libations , fastings , sacrifices , prayers , singing or hymns , dancing . 
Prayer , psychic abandonment and the many kinds of devotional exercises induced in primitive man , accompanied , as it did in all his descendants , the condition known as spiritual elevation and exhaltation , followed by the more advanced stages of inspiration and ecstasy . 
It was only in these later spiritual phases , that the human mind was able to step across the threshold of material thought into the sphere of the immaterial or supernatural world . 
In these phases only , could man leave his objective consciousness entirely behind him . 
There only , he was able to feel the Breath , the Spirit of the god , to resemble in his whole being the spiritual entity to the god , to be filled with it . 
In that condition , he was inspired . 
This fundamental idea immediately found its way into man 's speech , which henceforth became filled with words and idioms expressing it . 
In theology one is cognisant of the inspired prophets , the inspiration of the scriptures . 
There are in ordinary speech the expressions : the inspired artist , orator , writer , musician — and on a more profane level , there is the inspiration of the fermented juice . 
Side by side with inspiration and its meaning , in fact identical to it in many usages , came the word " enthusiasm . " 
To the ancient Greeks who passed it on to the contemporary world , the word meant : "in God , " " being in God , " " united with God " . 
( en — in , theos — God ) . 
In common usage , however , enthusiasm has come to mean , " the intense , rapturous feeling felt by individuals or masses , especially as exhibited in ardent zeal or a person , principle , or cause . " 
Back in the nebulosity of time , there developed in man a religious inspiration and religious ecstasy produced in their elemental form by mental and immaterial or psychic agents . 
Later , however , it became necessary , because of some crisis or urgent need that arose in the life of the individual or tribe , to propitiate one of these deities , to induce quickly by physical means this same intense feeling . 
Out of nature 's vast store , it was a simple matter to select just those things which would do this , and there is found use by man at whatever stage of his history , of two classes of material , namely : 
1 . 
Narcotics : i.e. narcotic roots , leaves , herbs , which were either eaten , smoked or chewed ; and incense . 
2 . 
Intoxicants : i.e. natural juices or narcotic , or toxic plants , or fruits unfermented and fermented — the prepared beverages . 
To this list was added , through man 's own ingenuity , other means of obtaining the same end : e.g. ceremonial dances , singing , and incantations . 
While these methods should rightly be classed as intermediaries between physical and mental stimulation , i.e. in the realm of religious auto-suggestion , yet , used in conjunction with one or more of the purely physical and mental agents , they came to play , through its entirety from the most primitive to the most modern , a tremendously important part in the process of worship . 
Ample illustrations of this are to be seen in the twentieth century . 
For example : The singing and music in churches , the clashing of the tambourines of the Salvation Army as they put the devil on the run , the incantations and frenzy attending them of the revival meetings . 
It would be impossible to express logical doubt as to whether early man distinguished between narcotics and intoxicants . 
They both produced the singular effect desired . 
But during the awakening of human consciousness and the first presentiment of something beyond his material being , the psychic intoxication differed from the physical intoxication only in its means and not in principle . 
This presentiment was coincident with the discovery of mysterious forces in certain of the products of nature , and which possessed the power of translating him into a condition of bliss , of enthusiasm , and ecstasy . 
Man has always followed complicated patterns of worship , each with his own formula for putting him in contact with the world of his deities . 
The various patterns of worship , upon analysis , prove to be merely variations of the same original pattern : spirit worship and worship of the dead . 
The means by which man entered into relationship with the deities was always the same ; and of these means , the physical , and especially the spirituous and intoxicating beverages , prepared by each people in its own way , has always been an integral and chief part of every religious worship . 
Man , in whatever clime , had some plant from which he obtained a product that caused a pleasurable mental state , and which he elevated to the rank of god . 
Intoxicating beverages and religious worship came up through the ages blending with the human , essential elements of the material world in which man lived , and the spiritual world toward which he strived . 
With the spread of education and attendant complexities of the processes of logic , which events led to placing of more and more reliance on the purely spiritual — psychic stimulation — there has grown a tendency for man to look with disfavour upon the more physical stimulants , i.e. intoxicants . 
Man has come by his natural taste for , or his tendency towards stimulants and intoxicants by the Law of Inheritance . 
Early man , on the high plateaus of central Asia east of the Caspian Sea and northwest of Hindustan , were pastoral people — the Aryans . 
From this mother race , two distinct branches originated . 
One , the Indo-Europeans , gave rise to most of the European races . 
The Kelts , who settled in Gaul and Britain , Ireland , Wales , Scotland ; the Germanic races , German , English , Scandinavian , Dutch , Flemish , Icelandic ; the Slavs , Russian , Polish , Slavonian , Bohemian ; the Greeks ; the Latins , from whom stem the Italian , French , Spanish , Portuguese , and Roumanian . 
The other branch remained in Asia and became the Medes , Persians , and Hindoos . 
The mother tongue of the Indo-European languages is Sanskrit , and in this language are written the four Vedas , the holy writings of the Brahmans , the oldest literary works of these people , circa 10,000 years . 
The language of the Ancient Persia is the so-called Zend , and the Zend-Avesta contains the sacred writings of this branch of the Sanskrit tongue . 
The oldest Vedic Book ( hymn Veda ) , the "Bible of the Hindoos " , states clearly about Soma . 
" Soma , the Creator and Father of the gods ; god Soma declares the birth of the gods ; this god poured forth the gods ; King of gods and men , and he confers immortality on gods and men . " 
Soma a plant , and Soma , an intoxicating beverage , as father of the gods , pre-existed before , and above all gods , king of material and immaterial universe — immortality . 
Guarding Lakeland 's Life and Beauty 
IN 1937 , when the idea of Lakeland becoming a " National Park " was an idea only , as was the Town and Country Planning Act , there were increasing dangers in the Lake District , both to the beauty of its landscape and to its traditional agriculture and local life . 
Some of those dangers were ugly or badly sited buildings , commercial afforestation and injurious road schemes . 
The National Trust was , of course , a landowner in Lakeland , but the Trust had to make public appeals for subscriptions , a slow method and one which could be repeated only at infrequent intervals . 
Sometimes private persons intervened by buying up at the last moment farm lands which were threatened by possible building or by other so called "development , " but the number of such public benefactors was necessarily limited . 
In these circumstances , in 1937 , a Company named the Lake District Farm Estates Limited was formed and registered under the Industrial Provident Societies Acts , to organise the great amount of good will towards the Lake District . 
This it did by making it possible for lovers of the Lake District , who were not in a position to purchase or to manage farms or to make gifts to the National Trust , to lend money to the Company , at a low rate of interest , or even interest free . 
The Company 's powers covered the purchase , ownership and management of land and buildings in Lakeland , with the aim of maintaining them in their present agricultural character and safeguarding both the beauty of the landscape and the traditional livelihood of the dalesman . 
Lakeland was defined as lying inside a circle having a radius of 20 miles from the Langdale Pikes . 
In carrying out its objects one of the rules of the Company imposes an obligation on the Company to give covenants to the National Trust over any land purchased by the Company . 
The first stipulation and restriction imposed on land covenanted is as follows : " 
No act or thing shall be done or placed or permitted to remain upon the restricted land which , in the opinion of the National Trust , shall injure , prejudice , affect or destroy the natural aspect or condition thereof or the adjoining parts of the dale . " 
The other stipulations refer to the prohibition of new buildings , mining or quarrying , felling of trees and the planting of conifers , without the permission of the Trust . 
Another rule provides that if the Company decides to sell any of its properties , it must first offer to sell the property to the National Trust . 
THE farm which was the Company 's first purchase , High Wallabarrow , lies on the Cumberland bank of the Duddon , opposite to the hamlet of Seathwaite in Dunnerdale , and adjoins the National Trust property at Wallabarrow Crag . 
The farm and its fell land are within the area which the Forestry Commission had declined to preserve from commercial afforestation and it was to anticipate a purchase by the Forestry Commission that this farm was acquired by the Company . 
The landscape is a fine example of the beauty characteristic of the Duddon Valley , and the farm house , though in itself a small one , is delightfully situated . 
In 1940 , in order to safeguard further this very vital part of the Duddon Valley , the purchase was made of 230 acres of intakes , the small house at Low Wallabarrow and of certain inside land . 
A considerable gift towards the purchase was received from the Friends of the Lake District . 
The next purchase by the Company was Skelwith Farm , which lies to the south of Skelwith Bridge and on the right bank of the River Brathay . 
This farm included an important part of the landscape seen by those going up Langdale from Clappersgate and Ambleside . 
The fell land was immediately threatened by the Forestry Commission , which had refused to exclude the Coniston — Hawkshead Brathay district from the area in which they desired to carry out commercial afforestation , and a good deal of the lower land offered opportunity for speculative building . 
The purchase of this farm therefore had a high protective value . 
SOON afterwards the Company purchased , in the north of Lakeland , Rannerdale Farm on Crummock Water . 
This farm which lies on the shores of the Lake was one of the few areas on these shores which were not already protected by restrictive covenants . 
In 1941 , the Company extended its interest into a new dale , Ennerdale . 
Here the sheep farm known as Mireside gave a fine opportunity of protecting the landscape . 
The farm had a frontage to Ennerdale Lake . 
A few years later its ownership entitled the Company to be heard when the question of raising Ennerdale Lake was considered at a Public Enquiry . 
Certain fields adjoining Mireside were purchased at a later date , and the farm now has quite an important share in controlling the entrance to Ennerdale and in maintaining its seclusion against exploitation by motor traffic , by reason of the fact that the road up the dale is a private road . 
No further purchase was made until 1944 , when two farms — Ghyll and Buckbarrow — were purchased at the approach to Wastwater . 
With this purchase the Company now had interests in Duddon , Buttermere , Ennerdale and Wasdale . 
A further farm in Wasdale , Harrowhead Farm , which adjoins Ghyll and Buckbarrow , was purchased in 1949 . 
LONGHOUSE Farm , Duddon , which has a commanding position in Seathwaite in Dunnerdale , by controlling the land at the foot of Walna Scar was purchased in 1948 , and is a typical fell farm . 
Now was the time when the prices of farms rose prodigiously and with its limited means the Company was unable to make new purchases for the next few years . 
With the death of a tenant in 1954 , however , the Company decided that it must take the opportunity of acquiring cash to be available for other purchases , and Rannerdale which , as previously mentioned , had been placed upon protective covenants to the National Trust , was sold . 
The next year Skelwith Fold was also sold to the tenant , subject to protective covenants . 
When land has been placed under these covenants by the Company , they continue in force and are not weakened by any change of ownership . 
WITH the proceeds from the sale of these two farms , the Company again had funds available to make new purchases . 
When , in 1955 a small farm , Ghyll Bank , at Boot in Eskdale , came on to the market the Company decided to purchase . 
This farm lies half a mile north of Boot on the Burnmoor Track with fell rights on the northern portion of Burnmoor and the west face of Scafell , extending to the peak of Scafell . 
There was a great danger that it would cease to be a farming unit and that the land would be taken over by adjoining farms and the buildings become ruins , so the farm with its Herdwick sheep flock was bought . 
A FARM in Patterdale and one in Borrowdale were acquired by the Company in 1957 , and , taking the Langdale Pikes as a central point , the Company now owned farms to the north , south , east and west . 
The farm in Patterdale is Howe Green Farm , Hartsop , at the foot of the north side of the Kirkstone Pass , and is as characteristic a fell farm as any which the Company own . 
An interesting feature of this place is an old corn drying kiln , which seems to be of a unique type . 
A generous gift by the late Rev. H. H. Symonds made it possible to repair this kiln . 
The farm purchased in Borrowdale is Yew Tree Farm , at Rosthwaite . 
This farm has wide and important fell rights on the Langstrath side of Borrowdale and is of great importance for the Company 's objects . 
Since the Company was formed , Lakeland has become a National Park , and the Town and Country Planning Act can prevent the happening of some of the dangers that were envisaged when the Company was formed . 
But by its selective purchases the Company continues to fulfil its general objects by such management of the properties as will safeguard not only the beauty of the landscape but also , and no less important , the traditional livelihood of the dalesmen . 
To people concerned about the furtherance of these objects the Company continues to provide a means where money may be used , and where the donor asks only a low rate of interest , or none at all . 
THE first chairman of the Company , which has its offices at Exchange Chambers , Kendal , was Mr. Francis C. Scott , and the members of the original committee of management were Lord Howard of Penrith , Lord Birkett , Lord Chorley , Mr. A. M. Carrs-Saunders , Mr. W. Farrar , Col. J. F. Hopkinson , Mr. C. S. Orwin , Col. A. T. Porritt , and the Rev. H. H. Symonds . 
The present Chairman is Lord Chorley , and the Vice-Chairman , Col. J. F. Hopkinson . 
LIFE IN LAKELAND Peace and Friendship at Stone Bower " To everyone here it is really home . 
They have no-where else to go , " says warden Fred Hellowell . 
WHEN the German blitzes began in 1940 , the Government had many schemes for mothers and children . 
Elderly folk who were bombed out of their homes had no such schemes to help them except in the institutions of those days . 
So a group of conscientious objectors set about to provide private accommodation for the old folk of the big cities whose homes had been wrecked by German bombs . 
An old derelict house in Burton-in-Lonsdale named Stone Bower was taken over . 
An appeal was made for help . 
Someone offered 40 old iron bedsteads and furniture . 
Two of the members of the organising group promised the first year 's rent . 
Blankets were forthcoming from the Canadian Red Cross . 
Starting with nothing , the group founded the Stone Bower Fellowship which survives to this day in the village of Silverdale , where 30 men and women live in peaceful security at an 18-bedroom house standing in eight and a half acres of ground . 
Warden of the Fellowship from its inception , and a tireless worker for the home to-day , is Mr. Fred Hellowell , and he told me of the history and impact of the enterprise . 
To-day Mr. and Mrs. Hellowell are joint wardens . 
The pacifist group which founded it were mainly from the Morecambe and Lancashire area . 
The members felt that it provided them with an opportunity for worth-while Christian activity . 
Stone Bower served the elderly folk until 1945 , when many of the conscientious objectors began to return to their own jobs . 
Yet 15 old people remained at the home , and they had no homes to which they could go . 
IN those days the National Assistance Act had not come into force , and there were no homes for old people such as there are to-day . 
The committee of Stone Bower disbanded , but three members felt they ought to carry the Fellowship on as a permanent scheme . 
They were Mr. Charles Wade , a Quaker who lived at Bentham ; Mr. Fred Hellowell and his brother John Hellowell . 
Even though the position looked so difficult they felt that they should continue for the sake of the old people . 
In 1951 the house at Silverdale became available . 
The Fellowship had no funds , but the National Corporation for the Care of Old People , part of the Nuffield Foundation gave £4,000 . 
Another £1,000 was forthcoming from the Lancashire County Council . 
There was an appeal broadcast by the B.B.C. Altogether £8,500 was raised , and the house was purchased . 
I toured the fine house at Silverdale , and in a sense I envied the old folk their peace of mind and their security , two essentials to a happy life for those who are old , without homes of their own and with few relatives . 
The scheme has been run on a pocket money basis . 
For the last six or seven years , the staff have received 30s. a week pocket money and their keep . 
They were happy to do the job voluntarily . 
" We felt , and still feel , that our little piece of practical Christian service is to give our services in this way for people in need , " said Mr. Hellowell . 
YET in recent weeks there has been such a difficult time that it is being realised that more staff is needed . 
Mediatrics Or the care of the Middle-aged By H. F. Ellis 6 . 
Relaxation in the Middle Years — Hobbies — The Secret of Enjoyment 
THE belief that a man is as old as he feels is responsible for a great many pulled muscles . 
A wiser principle to follow is that a man , broadly speaking , is as old as he is . 
He may be older . 
He is unlikely to be younger , and if he is , will do well not to show it unless he cares nothing for the good opinion of his contemporaries . 
Far too much sentimental rubbish has been written about the sadness of taking off cricket boots for the last time , putting away tennis rackets and similar dramatic moments . 
The well-balanced man will take his cricket boots off for the last time with at least as much relief as he has experienced when taking them off on a hundred previous occasions . 
He will waste no time in vain regrets as he struggles with the laces , knowing very well that in all probability he will change his mind next May and put the great heavy things on again — and that , if he does not , it will be because he does n't want to . 
Every psychologist knows that nine out of ten men who consciously do something for the last time have been secretly longing to do just that for at least a couple of years . 
Only the mistaken idea that it will be a wrench has held them back . 
Giving things up is , or should be , one of the great consolations of middle age . 
The man of fifty-plus , waving goodbye from his deck-chair with a resigned " Off you go and enjoy yourselves . 
I 'm too old for that kind of thing now , " is a living proof of the essential beneficence of the natural processes . 
There is a strong sense of release . 
The annoyance of not being able to do something as well as he used can be terminated , the wise man of forty-five suddenly realizes , by not doing it . 
The pity is that he did not realize it at forty . 
This is not to say that middle age is to be a gradual recession from activity of any kind . 
On the contrary it is a time for constantly taking up new pastimes , new interests . 
What must be dropped is those physical leisure-time exercises taken up in youth and now inevitably being performed with diminishing success . 
A man , it has been well said , whose enjoyment consists of constant reminders that he is not as young as he was should take medical advice immediately . 
New activities , of whatever kind , are free from this fatal defect . 
There is no reason why a man of fifty , or even fifty-five , should not take up cricket if he can find a team sufficiently short of men . 
He is unlikely to overstrain himself by trying to do what he never did in his twenties ; nor can he be vexed by loss of form at a game he never played before . 
Indeed he will probably improve for a season or two , and may look forward to reaching his peak at sixty . 
Doctors agree on the therapeutic value of nearly all new skills acquired in late middle age . 
But it must be understood that exercise , as such , has nothing to do with it . 
" Keeping fit " is a sign of immaturity , as is any other spare-time occupation that demands continuity of effort . 
The touchstone , for a man of mature years considering what to take up next , must always be "Shall I be able to drop it again without loss of self-respect ? " 
Whether it is good or bad for him , whether it produces anything useful , whether he will get anywhere with it — these things are beside the point . 
In middle age there are enough things that have to be done with some ulterior motive ; it is folly to take up voluntarily anything that may become a taskmaster . 
Home carpentry , as we have seen in the first of this series of papers , may begin to show itself as early as E.M . 
1 , though the main rush of displacement activities is ordinarily delayed until the second period of Middle Middle Age when tennis and dancing are finally dispensed with . 
There is a sure instinct at work here , for carpentry is of all things an occupation that lends itself to being laid down at will , either temporarily or permanently . 
The object under construction is rarely if ever worth completion for itself , nor is some immediate justification for discontinuing the work ( e.g. blunt tenon-saw or shortage of 1 1/28 screws ) hard to find . 
One has only to compare the study of History , which so many men almost take up in their fifties , to realize that it is worth while spending a little care over the choice of new interests . 
It is not difficult , exactly , to lay down the Conquest of Peru or Vol. 2 of the Cambridge Mediaeval History once it has been taken up ; but it is not easy to feel altogether happy about never taking it up again . 
" The trouble is , " as a patient of mine who had had an extraordinary urge to learn something about America once put it , " that when you have spent a lot of money on two great volumes about the Civil War they glare at you from the shelves for months afterwards . 
You might as well be seventeen again , with both your parents at you for never sticking to anything you start . " 
We see , then , that the ideal hobbies and relaxations are those that make no demands , stir up no distressful ambitions and , if they have an end-product , have one that need never be reached . 
At the same time they should not be over simplified . 
There should be an assemblage of apparatus . 
One of the chief factors that age and depress men in middle life , other than bachelors , is the constant spending of money on other people . 
Often , practically all the money expended by a man for his own gratification is provided by his firm through an expense account , which is useful but dull . 
The wise choice of a hobby will enable him from time to time to slip out and buy something — a tool , a box of flies , an exposure meter , a thing for looking at watermarks with — out of his own pocket and for himself alone . 
This gives more pleasure than those who have never tried it would readily believe . 
A further advantage in apparatus hobbies is that the laying out process may take so long that there is no time actually to begin . 
The preliminary arrangement , which is often more absorbing and always less exhausting than the operation itself , may last till bedtime if it is conscientiously done . 
One of the happiest and most well-adjusted fishermen I know spends at least one hour sitting on the bank selecting and tying on a fly , drying and re-greasing his line and so on for every ten minutes his fly is actually on the water — and that of course takes no account of the endless pre-preparatory work he does at home in sorting , retying , gut testing , winding , unwinding and practising knots . 
Painting with oils , for the same reason , is to be preferred to water-colours owing to the multiplicity of tubes , the turps and linseed oil , the scraping and mixing , the additional precautions that must be taken against the possibility of a mess should a start ever be made . 
To be busy but not anxious — that is the thing . 
You have only to compare a woman cutting out material round paper patterns with her husband making plans , with the aid of innumerable maps and Cook 's Continental Timetable , for next year 's holiday — each , in his and her different ways , indulging in a spare-time relaxation — to realize the importance of choosing a hobby where mistakes do not matter or , better , where the point at which a mistake would matter is hardly ever reached . 
I am sometimes asked by patients of a serious turn of mind , who would regard philately , say , as too frivolous for them , whether I would advise them to take up writing as a leisure time occupation — the writing , that is to say , of some worthwhile book , not of a novel and still less of random articles for money . 
It is not unusual for a man in L.M. 1 or thereabouts to feel this call to perpetuate himself in print , his efforts to perpetuate himself in other ways having reached University age and got too big for their boots , and I do not discourage the urge . 
It is certainly a more wholesome activity for late middle age than " social work , " a host of vice-presidencies , and the long debilitating struggle to become a J.P . 
But here again there must be care to ensure that the end-product does not become tiresomely assertive . 
As before , it is the assemblage of the materials that counts — the note-taking , the comparison of sources , the visits to the British Museum , the constant putting of slips of paper into large volumes — and a subject must be chosen that will defer the drudgery of actual writing till death . 
Or even later . 
I recently came across a case ( not professionally ; this was before the days of mediatrics ) of a man , a solicitor with no previous knowledge of the subject , who decided on his fiftieth birthday to write a History of Man on a new plan . 
On his death at eighty-four he bequeathed his notes , comparative charts and unreturned library books to his son , then aged fifty-six , with the request that he complete the task by knocking the book together . 
The son occupied twenty-two years very pleasantly in reading through , revising and annotating his father 's notes , and it was a grandson , a very well-rounded personality of forty-eight with no leisure-time problems , from whom I heard the story . 
Here is wisdom indeed , when a man can cater not only for his own middle-age and old age relaxations but for those of his descendants as well . 
For we have to remember — and there is much comfort in the thought — that the children who may be a grief and vexation to us now will themselves one day be middle-aged , and will then stand in need of all the comfort and advice that we , as old men , can give them . 
I hope in my next paper to suggest a few simple precautions by which what I may call the pinpricks of middle age may be avoided or at least ameliorated . 
It may seem strange , after the graver problems with which we have already dealt , to concern ourselves with ostensibly minor vexations , but as every mediatrist knows a succession of pinpricks may be anything but a laughing matter . 
It is by no means unheard of for a man of forty-five or over to have a heart attack simply through lack of care in selecting his reading matter . 
Politic Worms By JANE CLAPPERTON 
ACCORDING to the Worm Runners ' Digest ( and let's have no giggling at the back there , please ; this is a serious subject ) experiments are now , right this minute , going forward at Washington University , St. Louis , that are enough to curl your hair . 
It seems that Washington University has a Dr. Edward Ernhart on its staff , and this Dr. Ernhart has made the fairly unattractive discovery that by splitting a worm 's head down the middle you get not only , as you might expect , a maladjusted and potentially delinquent worm with a grudge against society in general and Dr. Ernhart in particular but a worm with two heads . 
( Dr. Ernhart does n't actually say his patients are maladjusted after treatment but it seems a fair bet . ) 
Furthermore this two-headed worm reacts more rapidly to electric shock-light stimulus than do the obsolescent Mark 1 worms with only one head . 
So there . 
The deeper implications of all this only begin to writhe to the surface when we see that the Daily Telegraph , whence comes this awesome bulletin , describes the Worm Runners ' Digest as a publication dealing with " studies started to find out if worms could be taught anything . " 
THRACIAN PAYS A DIVIDEND By Captain C. F. " Trader " HORN A salvage award may be the seaman 's " pools prize " — but often it is no more than a fourth dividend ... 
SALVAGE ! 
The very word has a special ring for the sailor , rather like the magic words " first dividend " have for the football pools enthusiast ashore . 
The very nature of the sailor 's calling very often debars him from taking part in the pools , so any dreams he may have of sudden opulence are usually centred around a share of a big award for salvage at sea . 
Even so , any award he may get wo n't compare with the fabulous pools ' prizes , and he 'll undoubtedly have to work extremely hard for it , and possibly face great danger . 
Salvage awards are determined by the Admiralty Courts , which take into account all the risks involved , so even if our sailor chances upon an abandoned luxury liner , lying placidly on a tranquil sea and just waiting to be towed in , it wo n't bring him a first dividend ! 
Marine salvage laws are complex , and one needs to be a Dutch lawyer to understand them . 
Sufficient for the sailor to know the main factors which govern the amount he is likely to get for his prize if , in fact , anything at all ! 
Masters of all ships have an express duty to render assistance to persons in danger at sea , oddly enough including enemy subjects in time of war . 
The rescue of ships , lives or cargo from danger is a salvage service , and rewards for such services are paid according to the risks run by the salvors , the value of the property they risk and , of course , what is saved and from what danger . 
The few occasions when I 've had a personal interest in a salvage claim — even when all added together — have n't produced enough even to buy a coffee stall . 
They all occurred during my service with the Trinity House , which is not altogether surprising when one remembers that ships of the Trinity House Service frequently put to sea on emergency calls , when other ships are running for shelter , and it 's usually under just those conditions that help is called for . 
They ranged from drifting bales of raw silk to part cargo from the much-publicized wreck of the Flying Enterprise , but the biggest one , which initially seemed to spell shore-bound independence , happened in the winter of 1955 , just one year before I " swallowed the anchor " . 
As is nearly always the case with salvage work , it was one of those nights when sailors envy farmers their jobs — as black as Egypt 's night , pouring with rain and blowing a gale from the south-east . 
We 'd had a really dirty passage south from Flamborough Head , and had tucked ourselves close under the lee of Scroby Elbow in Yarmouth Roads for the night . 
Scroby Elbow is a small , natural inlet on the landward side of the Scroby Sands , which run parallel to the Norfolk coast , and quite a big ship can creep in there with local knowledge — it 's the only bit of shelter for miles when the wind 's south-easterly in that area . 
I was quite tired and very relieved when I wrote "Finished with engines " in the logbook , set anchor watches and went below to the wardroom . 
We 'd just about settled down to our evening meal when a quartermaster appeared to report a ship on fire about three miles north of us . 
In view of the weather conditions , we 'd maintained a full head of steam , so it was n't long before we were under way and steaming towards the other ship at our best speed . 
I was on the navigating bridge , while the officers mustered the hands to make our boats ready with blankets and medical stores , and prepared the fire-fighting equipment . 
I could tell from the bearing of the ship in distress that she was probably ashore on the northern end of the sandbank , and the flames the quartermaster had seen were actually distress signals which are described in the regulations as " flames from a burning tar barrel , oil barrel , etc . " . 
Soon this was confirmed as she started to fire distress rockets , and I saw the maroon from shore announcing the launching of the Caister lifeboat . 
The lifeboat and the ship I was commanding , the T.H.V. Warden , reached a spot abreast of the grounded ship at the same time , and our motor launch was lowered to assist the lifeboat in the rescue of the crew . 
This tricky manoeuvre was carried out by the lifeboat 's crew with an easy coolness , in spite of the foul weather and , as a sailor , I was filled with admiration for the seamanlike way in which it was done . 
When the stranded ship had been abandoned , we approached her as near as possible , with a searchlight playing on the wreck . 
In its powerful beam I could see that she was a steam trawler of some two-hundred and fifty tons , the Thracian , registered in the port of Grimsby , and I learned later that she was bound for Ostend . 
It was still flood tide ( rising ) although it had eased , and the force of the wind was great enough to prevent her driving any farther on to the bank . 
This was a good omen , for I hoped that at slack water the gale force weight of the wind might shift her . 
We had to stay by her in any case . 
As a derelict , she was a potential danger to navigation and was , therefore , the responsibility of Trinity House . 
Added to this , in their haste to leave her , the crew had left her navigation lights burning , which could easily be misleading to other shipping . 
My surmise was right , for an hour or so later her bow started to lift to the big ground swell , showing that only her stern was still aground . 
We weighed anchor and approached her still nearer , but with great care , fixing our position constantly , and continuously sounding the depth of water , for this was the moment if we were going to get her off . 
Some of our ratings had already been placed on board Thracian by Warden 's motor boat , and had put out a fire , on her engine-room skylight , which had been started by the flame distress signals . 
They 'd also drawn her stokehold fires , for if they 'd been left alight , with no feed water going into the boilers , they might have blown up . 
In a ship drawing fifteen feet , when one is approaching a hidden danger in a full gale and , with the tide setting on one side and the wind pressing on the other , making leeway which can not be accurately calculated , it is not easy to appear calm as , in sing-song monotony , the soundings are called to the bridge from the leadsman in the chains . 
" By the mark , three . " 
"And a quarter less , three . " 
This was as near as we could go , with just eighteen inches of water under our keel . 
Now my ship had to be held there , for we were near enough to run a rope away and get it on board the trawler . 
In retrospect , it was an easy job , for there were no snags ; but I suspect that I got three more grey hairs during the operation . 
At long last we had the Thracian secured alongside our starboard side , against huge coir fenders , our launch was hoisted inboard and both ships were in deep water again . 
The weather had worsened , and to leave the comparative shelter of Yarmouth Roads would have been madness . 
Yarmouth Haven is always a tricky place to enter in a south-east wind , and even for an unimpeded ship it would have been hazardous under the prevailing conditions . 
To do so with another vessel in tow was impossible , so I took my tow back to my sheltered anchorage to ride out the storm . 
When daylight came I surveyed my prize . 
She was no luxury liner . 
She certainly looked her part of a derelict , and I learned later that she had been sold for scrap , and a scratch crew were taking her on her last voyage to the Belgian breakers ' yard . 
Just my luck , I thought . 
For the next two days it blew really hard without the slightest abatement . 
Thracian surged and ranged against our ship-side , chewing away the fendering , and fraying and parting the mooring ropes holding the two ships together . 
We dropped her astern , on the end of a seven-inch manilla , for comfort , and she laid comfortably on the ebb tide ; but so great was the wind force , that on the flood she kept driving up on us , so there was no respite for the watch on deck . 
Twice we got under way and ran down to the haven entrance , but each time we poked our noses outside the friendly lee of the sands , it was obvious that it was quite hopeless . 
The seas breaking high over the south pier lighthouse , and the gyrating boil between the piers , spelt disaster for anyone ill-advised enough to attempt to cross the bar . 
I learned over the radio-telephone that charges for towage into the port were based on the tonnage of the towing vessel , so I engaged a local tug to do the job for twenty pounds . 
It was more than forty-eight hours after we had plucked the trawler off the sandbank before conditions improved sufficiently to allow us to hand her over to the harbour tug , and be berthed in Yarmouth Haven . 
I deposited a claim for salvage with the Receiver of Wrecks , and learned that I was now a ship owner , and responsible for all debts she incurred , such as harbour dues , moorings , etc. , until such time as she was handed back to her rightful owner . 
For his part , he had to deposit a considerable sum of money before he could sail her again , pending negotiations on our claim . 
These were quite protracted , and it was many months before we agreed a mutual settlement . 
It was n't a first dividend — unless there were a lot of winners that week ! 
THE LAWS OF SALVAGE 
AS salvage operations are often attended by considerable hard work and great risk , the obligation to pay compensation is so obviously based on the principles of justice that payment has been allowed at all times by every civilized country . 
To qualify for salvage , it must be shown that ( 1 ) services were rendered voluntarily , ( 2 ) there was the chance of destruction if the service had been withheld , and ( 3 ) the services rendered were of actual benefit . 
Towage , in most cases , gives no right to compensation payment as distinct from towage fees , and a ship 's crew is expected , in the ordinary course of duty , to do all that may be necessary to save their vessel . 
However , if unusual services are performed , or unforeseen perils encountered , a claim is nearly always sustained . 
Salvage laws quote an example of circumstances in which there would be an entitlement to reward . 
If a vessel , whose captain is ignorant of the locality , during a heavy storm is driving towards a dangerous shore , and a pilot , seeing her loss to be inevitable , puts out to sea to assist , he would be entitled to salvage , because his services could not reasonably be expected in return for ordinary pilots ' fees . 
In the absence of any prior agreement between the parties as to the rate of salvage payable , the amount is assessed , as a rule , by the Admiralty Court . 
And in the case of any such agreement having been made , the Court would still set it aside if it considered the amount exorbitant , and that it had been agreed to by the master of the ship under moral compulsion . 
Salvage money is divided in certain proportions between the owners , captain , other officers , and the crew of the salving vessel . 
GIRL DIVERS OF JAPAN 
EVER since the tenth century , Japanese girls have been plunging into the waters around their country 's coastline , in their search for pearls , and for the seaweed used as fertilizer . 
Known as amas , these girls , wearing only shorts and goggles , comb the sea bed for the prize , their sole equipment being a knife with a foot-long blade , and a basket to carry their catch . 
The other barges were beached and grounded now , as the Navy had ordered : Skipper Harold Miller 's Royalty , Charlie Webb 's Barbara Jean , Harry Potter 's Aidie , the Ena under Captain Alfred Page . 
Tollesbury was the last of her line : she must survive the carnage . 
Worse , Webb had seen with a prickle of horror the Doris , sinking rapidly and abandoned , drifting on the remorseless tide towards the Nieuport shore . 
His own brother-in-law , Captain Fred Finbow , was the skipper . 
As in a mist , Webb saw one hope of salvation : the old Thames tug Cervia , under Captain William Simmons , was moving in to take them in tow . 
Now a fresh problem arose : no sooner was the tow-rope secured to the Tollesbury than Simmons , anxious to put Dunkirk behind him , went ahead fast . 
It was too much for the barge . 
With an unearthly splintering the tug tore her bit-head — the stout wooden casing of the windlass — clean out by the roots . 
Again Tollesbury was adrift on a sea burnished red with the blood of men whose voyaging was over . 
The day was marked by such courage . 
At Bergues , key strong-point of the western perimeter , the Loyal Regiment had stood fast for two days , but as the line contracted , artillery pressure on the old walled town stepped up . 
To man the stout seventeenth-century ramparts Lieut.-Colonel John Sandie had only 26 officers and 451 men ; for the rest of the garrison were stragglers doing their best ... a transport company of ex-London bus-drivers who 'd indented for a musketry instructor ... the Rev. Alfred Naylor , Deputy Chaplain General , holding one gate of the town for three days with a mixed bag of chaplains . 
Barred from active combat by their cloth , Naylor and his cadre did sterling work questioning suspect fifth-columnists . 
And the civilians weighed in too . 
At Steene , west of the town , General von Kleist 's tanks were advancing steadily , but Mayor Jean Duriez , an industrial alcohol manufacturer , turned the faucets of his ten vast stills to send two million gallons of raw spirit gushing across the already flooded land . 
As Duriez watched a chance artillery shell , exploding like a thunderclap , transformed the waters to a raging sea of flame — " like a gigantic Planter 's Punch . " 
In fascinated dread Duriez saw two of von Kleist 's tanks trapped by the torrent , glowing white-hot as the holocaust engulfed them . 
The advance from the west was stalled . 
But by Saturday midday the Loyals could no longer hold Bergues itself . 
Already the troops dug in on the ancient ramparts sweltered from the heat of burning buildings — the smoke so dense even dispatch riders groped through the town on foot , mouths and noses bound with damp cloths . 
By noon the exposed canal bank beyond the northern ramparts had become the Loyals ' last stockade — with men toppling like ten-pins under devastating artillery fire . 
Now in Captain Henry Joynson 's company the troops were so tired the officers had to haul them across the road like sacks of coal . 
Then by a miracle the wind changed — impelling a black choking banner of smoke from the burning town into the heart of the German lines . 
Even von Kleist 's tanks could no longer advance : the few that did try , foxed by the smoke , tilted disastrously into the canal . 
The infantry advance held off — though not until 9 p.m. could the Loyals withdraw , doubling between waves of mortar fire towards Dunkirk . 
Many , by order of Major-General Harry Curtis , had left their rifles propped in position . 
Bound with a contraption of string , weights and slow-burning candles , they would keep firing at intervals , creating the illusion of a tough task force still on the alert . 
Three miles to the east the East Lancashire Regiment had it as bad ; with all ammunition spent , their 1st Battalion fell back towards Dunkirk , only a forty-strong force under Captain Harold Ervine-Andrews , to cover the thousand-yard front as they withdrew . 
A thick-set , heavily-built Irishman , Andrews was venerated by his men for his genially informal manner , though senior officers were less sure of him . 
On pre-war service in India and China his feats had become an eccentric legend — walking fifty-six miles for a £5 bet , shooting a black buck in the jungle , then carrying it home draped round his shoulders . 
All that night Andrews and his men crouched under annihilating shellfire until it seemed the end was near . 
Already they had been blasted from their farmhouse quarters ; now the Dutch barn to which they 'd retreated was in flames , too . 
As they doubled behind a hedge , sparks and blazing straw eddying , they sighted the German infantry moving in a spaced dangerous line through growing dusk . 
Andrews exhorted his men : " Look , there are 500 of them , maybe thirty-six of us — let them get a bit closer and then here goes . " 
His whistle shrilling , Andrews leapt forward , weaving towards the advancing hordes like a footballer moving in to tackle . 
As the howling mob of East Lancs followed at his heels the Germans fell back , seeking cover . 
Scrambling to the roof of a barn with a rifle , Andrews picked off no less than seventeen Germans — then seizing a bren-gun , he lunged forward again . 
Private John Taylor , in the thick of it , recalls : " It was a right do — when the ammo ran low we kicked , choked , even bit them . " 
After fifteen blood-stained minutes the Germans fell back in confusion . 
The line was held — but Andrews after sending his wounded to the rear , was down to eight men now . 
Resolutely , at the head of his little band , he struck across-country splashing for a quarter of a mile through the flooded fields towards Dunkirk . 
He was to win the first Victoria Cross awarded to any officer in World War Two . 
On the beaches , the savage fury of the attack had one result . 
By 1 p.m. — six hours after the raid began — every man and woman still left had one resolve : the only thing that mattered now was the lives of others . 
Jog-trotting along the Eastern Mole , Colonel Sidney Harrison 's 6th Lincolns had their own wounded slung like sacks over their shoulders — but they stumbled on , negotiating yawning four-foot gaps somehow , loading them on to ship after ship . 
In the shadow of the Mole , Gunner Albert Collins saw an officer bent on a task to tax Samson : a rope bound like a yoke round his forehead , he swam valiantly for a Dutch schuit , towing a Carley float with six men aboard . 
Lance-Bombardier George Brockerton took risks as great as any he 'd taken as a Wall of Death trick cyclist : finding eighty-one men trapped in a bombed cellar he worked for two hours to free them with hammer and chisel , using French hand-grenades in lieu of gelignite . 
Oblivious to the crash of bombs , he helped out every man , then , to keep their peckers up , did some conjuring tricks . 
Private Walter Allington of the Lincolns was in his element too . 
Already he 'd spent one whole night trying to help a man crazed by a head wound ... then , taking a vest and shirt , he 'd plugged a terrible hole in another man 's shoulder . 
Now , despite the writhing pains in his abdomen , he saw a bullet aimed at the diving Stukas had gone too low . 
A long way off , a man had fallen , the bullet lodging in the small of his back . 
Somehow , though other men were nearer , Allington was again first to help — but the big gentle man had used his only field-dressing on that Belgian cripple . 
Working doggedly on his own , he found an abandoned ambulance , checked it was in running order , and loaded the man aboard . 
Then , despite the swooping Stukas , he drove until the Channel water was lapping over the bonnet . 
Standing on the roof of the truck , he flagged a destroyer 's whaler to ferry the man away . 
Everywhere men plumbed unsuspected depths in themselves . 
Brigadier Evelyn Barker was at the water 's edge when a shell dropped close , shattering a soldier 's arm so that it hung by a thread . 
Without more ado Barker borrowed a knife from his Brigade Major and honed it on a carborundum stone as coolly as a butcher . 
Lacking narcotics , he first gave the man a nip of cherry brandy before taking his arm off at the shoulder . 
Then improving a tourniquet with handkerchief and pencil , Barker and his aide carried their patient along the beach on a mackintosh to place him in a doctor 's charge . 
Able Seaman Samuel Palmer , with twenty years ' naval service , did n't know a crankshaft from a camshaft but he took the motor yacht Naiad Errant over with a crew of three — then after losing them took her back with nine thankful Tommies , helping out the one engine still operative with paddles fashioned from shattered doors . 
Stoker David Banks from Sheerness did even better ... making seven trips as skipper of the motor-boat Pauleter ... doing his trick at the wheel ... manning the bren-gun when the Stukas dived ... rescuing 400 single-handed . 
Off the same beaches Commander Charles Lightoller , former second officer of the Titanic , was packing them in aboard his yacht Sundowner : his biggest kick was the stupefaction of Ramsgate 's naval authorities when they found his 60-footer had brought back 130 men . 
The tiros were well to the fore . 
Captain " Paddy " Atley of the East Yorks found the barge Ena grounded where Lemon Webb 's flotilla had lain , took her back with forty men , on the strength of five sailing holidays in Norfolk . 
It took fourteen hours , including a surprise return to Dunkirk , but they made it finally . 
Captain David Strangeways of the Duke of Wellington 's Regiment hit on another barge , appropriately named the Iron Duke . 
Naked save for the skipper 's doormat , which he wore like a sarong , Strangeways brought back twenty-six men , navigating with compass and school atlas . 
To the doctors , life-saving was a dedication , but it was an uphill fight now . 
In Private William Horne 's ambulance unit the only medication to deal with searing phosphorous burns was a bottle of acriflavine tablets diluted in water . 
At Rosendael , the dressings were all but exhausted ; Major Philip Newman , the surgeon , did one last amputation by torchlight , then gave up . 
The ambulance unit at La Panne had packed up , too , after a record 2,000 operations in one week , but many doctors carried on as and how they could . 
Where equipment was lacking , they improvised . 
Captain William MacDonald , in a dugout in the dunes , sterilised wounds with abandoned petrol . 
Captain Joseph Reynolds , lacking the Thomas splints used for compound fractures , secured fractured femurs with rifles . 
And scores cut off from their units or families lent a ready hand ... slicing up battledress trousers to make bandages ... ransacking abandoned homes for sheets ... pretty Solange Bisiaux , a French doctor 's wife , wringing out blood-stained bandages in salt water ... other men working eight to a relay to carry stretchers on board the ships . 
Round every ambulance and aid-post Sapper George Brooks noted the same hushed aura : the " undercurrent of grief that moves like a wind when a coffin is carried from a house . " 
Injuries or no , some men were determined to make the journey home . 
Lieutenant J. P. Walsh of the Loyals , knocked down by a lorry near Bergues , still plodded the five miles to Dunkirk : later the surgeons found his pelvis was fractured . 
Captain John Whitty of the Royal West Kents , wounded in the stomach , slogged some of the fifty miles from Fle5tre , where his battalion was trapped , then , at last gasp , hailed a passing motor-cyclist and rode pillion to the beaches . 
Bundled into an ambulance and driven to the Mole , Whitty found the wait tedious ; he climbed out , exhorting other wounded to follow him , and got them all passages on a home-bound boat . 
There was the same spirit on the ships . 
Aboard the trawler Brock , a Surgeon-Lieutenant coped with grievous burn cases and a shortage of tannic acid by filling a zinc bath with tea and immersing his patients up to their necks . 
The destroyer Whitehall 's doctor , Surgeon-Lieutenant David Brown , went so swiftly to aid the wounded aboard the minesweeper Jackeve that he left his instruments behind . 
Nothing loth , he amputated with the engine-room 's hacksaw , sterilised with blazing chloroform , the ex-trawler 's fish hatch serving as operating table . 
Consuelo thought that the one from Queen Victoria should have been handed to her on a silver platter . 
In due course she was lectured on the various families whose pedigrees , titles and positions she would have to learn by heart . 
They went for a trip in the Mediterranean , the voyage across the Atlantic being made more depressing for her on account of the Duke 's seasickness and consequent melancholy . 
They saw the usual places in Spain and then visited Monaco , where the sight of fair women and well-groomed men pleased her . 
Her husband seemed to know many of them , but replied evasively when asked who they were . 
She later learnt that the women were of " easy virtue " , owing to which social stigma she could not even claim acquaintance with certain of their male companions who had once been her suitors . 
The importance of the family into which she had married was impressed on her by the Duke , who described her as " a link in the chain " , and she perceived that her first duty was to perpetuate the house of Marlborough . 
After seeing something of Italy and making an uncomfortable trip up the Nile , they stayed at the Hotel Bristol in Paris , where her husband behaved as her mother had done and chose her gowns . 
In London at last she was made acquainted with the Churchill clan , some of whom seemed to believe that all Americans lived on plantations with negro slaves , in daily dread of Red Indians with scalping knives . 
She was introduced to an intimidating old lady , her husband 's grandmother , the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough , who had made Lady Randolph Churchill 's life so uncomfortable at Blenheim , and who now , using an ear-trumpet , embarrassed Consuelo with an order and a question : " Your first duty is to have a child , and it must be a son , because it would be intolerable to have that little upstart Winston become Duke . 
Are you in the family way ? " 
They proceeded to the family stud at Blenheim , being received by the mayor and corporation of Woodstock . 
Having delivered his speech of welcome , the mayor said to her : " Your Grace will no doubt be interested to know that Woodstock had a mayor and a corporation before America was discovered . " 
Meditating on this weighty pronouncement she got into the carriage , which was dragged by the townsmen to the palace amid tumultuous cheers and beneath triumphal arches . 
At Blenheim she discovered that she not only had to learn the pedigrees of the nobility but the social grades of the servants . 
One day she rang the bell and asked the butler to put a match to the fire . 
" I will send the footman , your Grace . " 
" Oh , do n't bother ! 
I 'll do it myself . " 
The domestic hierarchy resembled a modern trade union . 
She dreaded the ceremonious dinners with her husband , who had a habit of filling his plate with food , pushing it away with refined gestures , doing the same to the feeding and drinking utensils , backing his chair , crossing his legs , twirling a ring on his finger , and remaining for perhaps fifteen minutes in a state of abstraction ; after which he would come to life , eat his food with much deliberation , and complain that it was cold . 
When inured to this process , she filled in the time by knitting . 
They seldom spoke . 
She thought him arrogant , despising everything not British , and her pride was hurt . 
On the other hand , " that little upstart Winston " was one of the few Churchills she liked . 
He was lively , enthusiastic and stimulating , the very opposite of his cousin the Duke , but of course he had the advantage of being half-American . 
She did her best to hit it off with the rest of the family , though the Dowager Duchess was heard to say : " Her Grace does not realise the importance of her position . " 
She had much to do at Blenheim , entertaining social and political big-wigs , visiting the poor , writing letters , supervising the running of the house . 
As they had never found love , she and her husband had none to lose ; but the strain of maintaining the social and physical relationship essential to her position as a breeding duchess was never eased and steadily grew . 
In 1900 she was temporarily released from the Duke , who went to South Africa as Assistant Military Secretary to Lord Roberts ; but the following year he became Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies , and she had to learn all about the leading colonials who were entertained at Blenheim . 
Sometimes she received unexpected compliments . 
Having undergone the ordeal of presentation at a Drawing-room , whereat the Prince and Princess of Wales represented Queen Victoria , her mother-in-law Lady Blandford , the practical joker , said that no one would take her for an American . 
" What would you think if I said you were not at all like an Englishwoman ? " asked Consuelo . 
" Oh , that 's quite different ! " 
" Different to you , but not to me . " 
Occasionally she was reproved for behaviour unbecoming to a duchess . 
At a dinner in honour of the Prince and Princess of Wales she wore a diamond crescent instead of the usual tiara . 
The Prince stared at it and said : " The Princess has taken the trouble to wear a tiara . 
Why have you not done so ? " 
She found all these functions intolerably boring , and the racing at Newmarket equally so . 
She had to accompany her husband to Leicestershire for the hunting , which gave her no pleasure , and she made the fatal error of letting her mind wander away from horses and hounds and foxes into the realm of good deeds . 
Hearing , during one hunting season , that there was much unemployment and hardship at Woodstock , she sent money to provide work . 
The obliged recipients wrote a letter of thanks to her husband , then exclusively occupied with the solemn matter of fox-chasing . 
He was amazed to hear that the roads on his estate had been repaired , displeased to receive expressions of gratitude for what he had not done , and quickly informed his wife that she was not entitled to act in that manner without his approval . 
However he was good enough to approve the births of her two sons . 
She was unconscious for a week after the birth of her first , but recovered quickly on regaining consciousness . 
Following the arrival of the second , she reflected that she had done her duty to the dukedom and could now please herself . 
But life 's realities were kept at bay in the splendour of Blenheim , and she became more and more bored by the necessity of walking " on an endlessly spread red carpet " . 
Moreover the conversation of the nobility made little appeal to her , and when she met a number of Austrian aristocrats in Vienna she thought it " a pity that they could express their thoughts in so many different languages when they had so few thoughts to express " . 
Queen Victoria died in January 1901 , and when Consuelo spent some weeks in Paris that spring in the agreeable company of her father she was depressed by having to wear black clothes . 
All she dared do was to wear white gloves , thereby earning a lecture at Longchamps from the Duchess of Devonshire , who had been a leader of the fast set a generation before but was now a raddled old woman in a brown wig , her wrinkles filled with paint , her mouth a red slash . 
How , she asked , could Consuelo show so little respect to the memory of a great Queen as to exhibit white gloves ? 
As the shocked lady was an incorrigible gossip , Consuelo 's impropriety no doubt received much publicity ; in spite of which she was chosen to act as canopy-bearer to the new Queen at the coronation of Edward 7 , her fellow-bearers being the Duchesses of Portland , Montrose and Sutherland . 
When Alexandra was anointed by the old Archbishop of Canterbury they held the canopy over her . 
The oil was placed on her forehead by his shaky hand and a little trickled down her nose . 
She did not move a muscle but her eyes expressed anguish . 
After eleven years of nervous stress , either waiting for the Duke , who was invariably late for lunch , or being with him , which was worse , Consuelo pined for relaxation , and they agreed to separate , the arrangement giving them equal custody of the children . 
In those days divorce was difficult and still scandalous , and since neither of them wished to marry again a legal separation met the case . 
It was estimated that about ten million of the Vanderbilt dollars had been spent on Blenheim and their London house , and as she had produced his heirs the Duke had no cause to complain . 
She went to live at Sunderland House , built for her as a present from her father , and here she gave musical parties . 
She also became absorbed in social work , starting a home for women whose husbands were in prison and a recreation centre for working girls . 
She sat on a national committee which enquired into the decline of the birth-rate , and obtained a donation of a hundred thousand guineas for the removal of Bedford College , of which she was Hon. Treasurer , from Baker Street to Regent 's Park . 
Her mother , who had become Mrs Oliver Belmont since her divorce , led the women 's suffrage movement in the United States , and when the 1914 war broke out Consuelo worked for the American Women 's War Relief Fund , collecting a lot of money by writing and lecturing . 
To enable women to be represented by their own sex on municipal councils , she founded a Women 's Municipal Party , and when a vacancy occurred on the London County Council she sat for North Southwark . 
At the election of 1919 she stood as a Progressive for that borough and topped the poll . 
When the 1914-18 war came to an end the moral standards were loosened and she obtained a divorce from the Duke . 
In July '21 she married Jacques Balsan at the Chapel Royal , Savoy , where divorced persons were treated with indulgence . 
He had been an airman in the war , and a balloonist before that , several times staying at Blenheim . 
His nature appealed wholly to hers , and they were very happy together . 
The Duke had now become a Roman Catholic , and as he wished to marry another American , Gladys Deacon , he asked Consuelo to get their own marriage annulled . 
Since Jacques Balsan was a Roman Catholic and she wished to appease his family , she granted the Duke 's request . 
Her only way of doing so was to swear that she had been married to him against her will . 
She was now on friendly terms with her mother , who consented to make the declaration , testifying before an English tribunal of Catholic priests , that " when I issued an order nobody discussed it . 
I therefore did not beg , but ordered her to marry the Duke " . 
The annulment being granted , Consuelo married Jacques in a Catholic church , and was affectionately received by his family at Cha5teauroux . 
They then settled down in Paris , and soon she was busy helping to raise money for the construction of a hospital for the middle classes , receiving the Legion of Honour in 1931 . 
Three years later her son succeeded his father as tenth Duke of Marlborough . 
Consuelo and Jacques built a house on the Riviera and took a cha5teau at St Georges-Motel , where her philanthropic work continued . 
Like so many others , they had to bolt when the Germans entered France in 1940 . 
With difficulty they escaped to Spain , and thence to Portugal , where they got a plane across the Atlantic . 
And so her story ends . 
5 Wives of a Viceroy Mary Leiter and Lord Curzon Grace Duggan and Lord Curzon 
Other things being equal , which they never are , it is curious to reflect that if Mrs Vanderbilt had aimed a little lower and married Consuelo to a lesser title but more imposing figure , the story of an eminent English statesman , George Nathaniel Curzon , would have been vastly different . 
Like Marlborough , Curzon married for money , but the union , unlike Marlborough 's , became a marriage of hearts . 
Being an intelligent man , Curzon would have been influenced by Consuelo , who might have fallen in love with him but would never have allowed her critical sense to remain dormant on that account . 
Although the offender made amends by marrying the girl , he never managed to regain the favour of his General , who nominated a wealthy Cuban landowner , Porcallo de Figueroa , in his place . 
It was an unfortunate appointment . 
Porcallo de Figueroa 's main interest in the venture was to acquire slaves for his estates , and although he enriched the expedition with ample supplies and equipment , he unashamedly abandoned it the moment he realized how dearly the savages of Florida would sell their freedom . 
The rank and file of the expedition were drawn from many parts of the Emperor 's wide domains , and even from lands beyond . 
A particularly large and well-armed contingent came from Portugal , and it is to one of these Portuguese adventurers , known as the Gentleman of Elvas , that we owe the most circumstantial first-hand account of the expedition . 
Amongst volunteers of other nationality we find mention of a French priest from Paris , Biscayan carpenters , a Genoa master-craftsman who could construct anything from a bridge to a brigantine , a Spaniard reared in England , and even an unnamed Englishman whose skill with the long-bow matched that of the Indians . 
In addition to the fighting-men , there were a few women , numerous native servants and negro slaves , more than two hundred horses , and a pack of ferocious mastiffs trained to track down , guard , or tear recalcitrant Indians to pieces . 
A herd of swine — possibly the ancestors of the razor-backs of the south-west today — were taken along to serve as a reserve of pork rations . 
De Soto opened operations by sending Captain Juan de An4asco to reconnoitre the coast of Florida for a harbour where the main expedition could disembark . 
The Comptroller returned without discovering anything suitable , and de Soto was obliged to make his landfall somewhere in the capacious , many-armed Bahi2a del Espi2ritu Santo , now known as Tampa Bay , which had been the starting point for the ill-fated Narva2ez expedition eleven years before . 
The Spaniards were in jubilant mood . 
Juan de An4asco had managed to kidnap a couple of savages from whose outlandish speech and vague signs they hopefully deduced the proximity of abundant gold . 
The soldiers boasted that their General had once helped to win the hoarded wealth of the Incas and would now surely lead them to still more fabulous treasure . 
They saw before them a virgin land , lush and sweet-scented in its spring freshness . 
The first to land returned with armfuls of rich grass for the exhausted horses and clusters of wild grapes for their comrades . 
Florida seemed a promised land indeed . 
It was not until some days later that the first Indians were encountered . 
Amongst them was a man , all but indistinguishable from the natives , whom the Spaniards almost rode down . 
Luckily for himself and his rescuers , he was spared just in time on account of the few disjointed words of Castillian which he called out . 
It was Juan Ortiz , the sailor who had fallen into the hands of the Indians eleven years before when serving with the Narva2ez expedition , and who had survived by turning native . 
The adhesion of this man to de Soto 's forces proved to be an event of major importance . 
Now , for the first time , the Spaniards could count on a trustworthy interpreter familiar with the language and mentality of the Florida Indians . 
Through Ortiz , de Soto was able to establish contact with Mucozo , the chieftain who had befriended him . 
After bestowing gifts of clothes , weapons , and a fine horse , de Soto came briskly to the point and asked whether Mucozo had knowledge of any land where gold and silver were to be found . 
The Indian replied simply that he knew nothing of such things , as he had never ventured further than a dozen leagues from his dwelling place ; but some thirty leagues off , he added , there lived a more powerful chief called Paracoxi in a land of rich maize-fields . 
De Soto forthwith despatched a captain to seek him out . 
But Paracoxi , though professing friendship , was distrustful of the Spaniards and went into hiding . 
His messengers told the Spaniards that they could find what they were seeking to the west , at a place called Cale , " where summer reigned for most of the year , and men wore golden hats like helmets " . 
A number of Paracoxi 's men , in token of friendship and in hope of plunder , offered to accompany the Spaniards . 
To Cale , then , de Soto decided to march . 
A garrison of one hundred men was left behind as a base , and a small ship sent back to convey Porcallo de Figueroa , already disillusioned with the prospects of Florida as a slave reserve , to Cuba . 
The hardships of the campaign now began in grim earnest . 
The trail which the Spaniards followed led across a marsh , which the foot soldiers crossed by a makeshift bridge and the horses with the help of a hawser . 
Food was short . 
Water-cress and palmetto leaves were poor sustenance for men on the march , and even the maize they had found at Cale was a mean substitute for the gold they had looked for . 
Since few Indians had been captured , the Spaniards had to attend to their own needs themselves , pounding the maize laboriously in mortars of hollowed log with the help of wooden pestles , and then sifting the flour through their shirts of mail , or munching the parched grains whole when they lacked the patience for this labour . 
But visions of ease and plenty beckoned them on ; in Apalache , the natives assured them , they would find everything they desired . 
Before leaving Cale , the Spaniards suffered a loss which , though trivial in itself , throws light on the scale of values prevailing amongst the conquistadores and was deeply lamented throughout the army . 
Bruto , the most redoubtable and sagacious of their mastiffs , fell a victim to Indian arrows . 
The incident occurred when a force of hostile braves suddenly appeared on the further bank of a river which the Spaniards were preparing to cross . 
Before his masters could hold him back , Bruto broke away from the page who held his leash and made straight for the enemy . 
The stream was broad and swift , and the animal 's head presented an easy target for the Indian marksmen . 
He succeeded in reaching the far side only to fall dead as he struggled from the water , his head and shoulders pierced , so Garcilaso declares , by more than fifty arrows . 
Thus did Bruto join the shades of Ponce de Leo2n 's Becerillo and the latter 's Leoncillo , who won for his master Balboa more than two thousand pesos of gold as his share of plunder , in the Valhalla of the Spaniards ' war-dogs . 
As the army toiled across the water-logged wilderness towards Apalache , the soldiers became aware that they were heading for regions through which , like the men of Narva2ez , they might be unable to force a path . 
Some began to murmur that they should turn back while there was yet time . 
But de Soto was inflexible , refusing to admit that what others found impossible would be impossible for him . 
Meanwhile , there were more immediate dangers to face . 
The natives were professing friendship , but de Soto suspected treachery , especially when they began to assemble powerful forces on the pretext that they had come to honour the strangers by staging a ceremonial parade . 
The Spaniards resolved to strike first , and fell upon them in a stretch of open country bounded by two lakes . 
The Indians , taken by surprise could offer little resistance . 
More than three hundred of them were run down and lanced , a few managed to escape into the forests , while the rest sought safety in the lakes . 
Grimly the Spaniards posted themselves around the water and tried to shoot down the fugitives with cross-bows and arquebus . 
Cold and exhaustion at length forced the Indians to make for the shore under cover of darkness , their heads camouflaged with the leaves of aquatic plants . 
But the horsemen were waiting for them , and would charge into the water , forcing the Indians to give themselves up or turn back . 
Juan Ortiz called to them loudly in the Indian tongue , bidding them come forth if they would save their lives . 
One after another , the braves struggled from the water and gave themselves up , until only a dozen or so , the strongest and most stubborn , remained in the water . 
Finally , de Soto ordered his native auxiliaries to plunge in after them . 
The last of the enemy were dragged out by the hair , more dead than alive , put into chains , and divided up amongst their captors with the rest . 
Garcilaso says that , as a result of this battle and the trapping of the Indians in the lakes , more than nine hundred fell captive to the Spaniards . 
But these warlike savages were not the stuff of which slaves could be made , and they soon turned on their captors . 
One day , when the Spaniards had just finished eating , the captive chieftain who had been seated beside de Soto " rose to his feet with all conceivable savagery and ferocity and closed at once with the Adelantado . 
Seizing him by the collar with his left hand , he gave him such a blow over the eyes , mouth and nose with his right fist that he knocked down the chair in which he was seated and stretched him out senseless on his back as if he had been a child . 
Then , to finish off his victim , he let himself fall upon him , whilst at the same time giving such a tremendous roar that it could be heard a quarter of a league around . " 
This roar was the signal for the other captives to set upon their masters throughout the camp . 
" As weapons , they made use of the burning wood from the fire or other things found at hand ; many struck their masters in the face and burned them with pots of boiling food , others struck them with plates , crocks , jars , and pitchers , whilst others again used chairs , benches , and tables if they were to be had , and if not , anything else that came to hand . " 
But the revolt of the fettered savages — as desperate a piece of tragic slapstick as can be found in the annals of the Conquista — could end only in one way . 
Their bruised and resentful masters restored order and sent the captives off to execution . 
Those who were not struck down at once were bound to stakes and then shot to death by the Indians whom the Spaniards had brought along with them from the friendly tribe of Paracoxi . 
It was now the end of October , and the army pushed on through swamps and lurking Indian ambushes towards Apalache . 
They were approaching a fertile country , with numerous settlements and plantations of maize and beans . 
Here Narva2ez had quartered his army and sought in vain for the rumoured hoards of gold . 
The coast was only some ten leagues away , but the maze of creeks and marsh land which fringed it thwarted the attempts of reconnaissance parties to break through to the open sea . 
At length they reached a lagoon on the shores of which were traces of an abandoned camp . 
Heaps of charcoal ashes marked the spot where a forge had once been built , and the ground was strewn with the skulls of horses . 
The Spaniards had reached the Bahi2a de los Caballos , where Narva2ez had built his brigantines and the cavalry had sacrificed their mounts . 
De Soto 's men scanned the trunks of the trees for any messages which their predecessors might have left , but nothing was found . 
Further down the shores of the lagoon , a search party came upon some disused canoes in which they put out to take soundings . 
The water was just deep enough , it seemed to them , to take larger vessels . 
With this report they returned to the General who decided that the time was now ripe to order the evacuation of the garrison which he had left behind at Tampa Bay where his expedition had first landed . 
The difficult task of returning overland to Tampa Bay , through regions where the Indians would be quick to take up arms against their old enemies , was entrusted to the Comptroller , Juan de An4asco , and a picked band of horsemen . 
The Sea-Country of Mehalah by J. WENTWORTH DAY 
" MEHALAH BAKER ! 
I know 'd she well , poor gal . 
We went to dame 's school together — three halfpence a week to learn reading , writing and 'rithmetic . 
She lived across the creek on Ray Island , with her old mother , who was forever drunk on gin . 
You could get a masterful lot of gin then for tuppence . 
Poor Mehalah — she had a sad life on't. 'Course , the Raverand over at East wrote a book about her . 
That was all the go that time o' day . 
Everybody was a-readin' o' it . 
The Raverand was a tall , thin man . 
Used to walk about the marsh roads , singin' in the wind . 
He was a rare scholard , a right larned man . " 
Thus spoke my revered , and now , alas , dead , friend , Mrs Jane Pullen , landlady of that very old , sun-warmed inn , the Peldon Rose , which crouches in its willows on the Essex shore , cocking a wary eye across the water at the independent isle of Mersea . 
For fifty years she was landlady of this ancient inn , which the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould , that master of Victorian melodrama , immortalized in Mehalah , A Story of the Salt Marshes , first published in 1880 . 
Today it is a collector 's piece . 
It sent shudders down the delicate spines of our grandmothers . 
Mrs Pullen was over eighty when she died , thirty years ago . 
That helps to date Mehalah Baker , the pathetic girl of the Essex marshes who lived in a small farmhouse built of wreckage timber and roofed with red pantiles , on Ray Island . 
You may still trace the foundations among wind-twisted thorn trees on that lonely little isle of saltings and coarse grass , between the shifting tides of the twin creeks , Ray Channel and Strood Channel , which cut off the bold , bright men of Mersea from the duller chaps over in England . 
Baring-Gould 's story of Mehalah is high-pitched , grim , melodramatic , removed to the end of the 18th century for romantic effect . 
Redeemed by exquisite word-pictures of the marshes and true-life portraits of marshland characters , it has been reprinted eighteen times . 
Briefly , the Mehalah Sharland of the melodrama is wooed by Elijah Rebow , a marsh farmer , brutal , cunning , ferocious . 
He owns the Ray and lives in Red Hall . 
Mehalah , vivid , raven-haired and gipsy-fierce , hates him . 
Her heart is set on George De Witt , a young fisherman . 
Rebow , in revenge , supplies her mother with secret kegs of smuggled rum , steals their sheep , betrays De Witt to the press gang , and finally sets fire to the Ray farmhouse and takes the now penniless girl and her almost senile mother to live at Red Hall . 
In despair she marries him , swearing never to consummate the marriage . 
On her wedding night , Mehalah hits Rebow with a bottle . 
It contains vitriol and blinds him . 
Stunned by remorse , she swears to look after him for the rest of her life . 
Her old admirer , George De Witt , returns from the navy ; but it is too late . 
He announces that he will marry her rival , Phoebe Musset , and Mehalah realizes that Rebow alone is constant . 
Later , in a passion the blind man knocks her senseless , lifts her into his boat , rows out to sea and pulls out the boat 's plug . 
The pair , their marriage unconsummated , drown together . 
Despite this barn-storming quality , the book grips you . 
Those who remember , as I do , the fanatical , biblical frenzy of marshland religious beliefs and family feuds , glimpse flashes of truth . 
There are still De Witts , Mussets , Petticans , Pudneys and others in the marsh villages . 
And Rebow is a remembered name . 
The melodrama , however , as told by Baring-Gould is , I believe , pure fantasy , apart from the use of local place-names and surnames . 
Except for the seaward side of Mersea Island which is ruined by a sprawl of suburban bungalows , utterly alien to the island tradition of building , this fascinating half-land of sea-creeks and salt marshes is much as Mehalah knew it . 
Salt tides still gurgle in crab-holes . 
The ebb bares the shining mud-flats . 
Lonely creeks are opal in the dawn , sword-blue in the sun , greyly silver under misty moons . 
Curlew whistle haunting music . 
Redshank ring their million bells in the courting days of spring . 
At night , bar-geese laugh their ghastly laughter far out on the crawling tide — the ghosts , they say , of drowned sailors , down in the green alleys of Fiddlers ' Green , mocking the living about to join them . 
In winter the brent geese come south over bitter seas from Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya to winter on Dengie Flats , where the sea-wall , houseless , manless , goes marching down the coast for a dozen lonely miles . 
The tides ebb out for a mile or more . 
If you are lost in a duck-punt in a winter fog , as I have been , sea and land melt into grey , terrifying nothingness . 
You can only tell the direction of the land when the tide has ebbed by the lie of seaweed and eel-grass on the mud . 
A country of high skies and incredibly clear lights , of drifting sea-fogs and sharp tides . 
An old , old land of beauty and mystery haunted by Roman and Dane , East Saxon and Norman , and by all that rough crew of smugglers and wreckers , wildfowlers and fishermen , poachers and marsh-men whose immemorial kingdom it is . 
Landward , miles of rough grass marshes , cattle-dotted , seamed by reedy " fleets " where wild duck nest and reed-warblers chitter in the reeds , melt into low uplands , bright with corn . 
Great farmhouses , built when the Armada was a boding threat , stand within moats starred by water-lilies , sentinelled by cloudy elms . 
They and their villages bear names that echo Saxon and Roman , Dane and Norman . 
Most of them lie at the head of lonely creeks . 
In the old days sprit-sailed barges glided , red-sailed , above the land to village hithes with cattle and corn , coals and wood , or stacked high with hay . 
The old green "barge roads " , raised causeways of grass , still run from many a farmyard to forgotten havens where weed-grown posts stand memorial to the rough seaman who tied up there . 
There is such an old green road from the off-buildings at Decoy Farm on Bohun 's Hall at Tollesbury to Thurslet Creek , which maps show as Thistly Creek , a name not used locally . 
Across the fields lie Tolleshunt D'Arcy Hall and Bourchier 's Hall ; the first within a perfect moat , the second with fragments of a homestead moat . 
Within a gunshot of Bourchier 's Hall stand the mournful remains of Guisnes Court , built from the old stones of London Bridge . 
Those four house names preserve manorial memories . 
It was Baron Bohun who , with Bigod , threw the threats of Edward 1 in his face with the words : " By God , Sir King , we will neither go nor hang . " 
Tolleshunt D'Arcy derives from the D'Arcys who held half this wild marsh country in feudal fee . 
Baldwin , Earl of Guisnes , held a knight 's fee of the Honour of Boulogne in Tollesbury in the reign of King John , which passed later to Robert Bourchier , Lord Chancellor of England and Earl of Essex . 
Robert , Lord Bourchier , kept his first court at Bourchier 's Hall in 1329 . 
For the rest of these echoes of history , there lie , scattered under wide marsh skies , manors and villages which sing on the tongue — Salcott-cum-Virley , Bradwell-juxta-Mare , Tolleshunt Knights , Layer Breton , Layer-de-la-Haye : all are Norman . 
Fingringhoe , Langenhoe and Wivenhoe smell of the Viking . 
The gaunt grey priory of St. Osyth , across the Colne to the east of Brightlingsea , is dedicated to a forgotten Saxon saint . 
All this coast is vivid with history . 
A mile east of Bradwell , at the end of the straight Roman road which leads through wheat and barley to the sea , you will find remnants of the twelve-foot-thick walls of the old Roman fort of Othona , built to guard the mouth of the Blackwater in the reign of Diocletian or Constantine 1 . 
It was garrisoned by the Count of the Saxon Shore . 
There , in A.D. 653 , Cedd , Bishop of the East Saxons , built from the Roman ruins St. Peter 's Chapel , the little cathedral which stands , earth-floored , wind-beaten , on a slight rise at the end of the sea-wall . 
It is fifty-five feet long and twenty-six feet wide , barely large enough to hold a couple of dozen worshippers . 
Hundreds of pilgrims visit it each year and camp in army huts on the near-by marsh . 
Elizabethan seamen used it as a beacon tower whose flames flickered at night far over the treacherous sea-flats . 
Georgian smugglers stored their barrels in it . 
In the First World War , troops used it as a look-out . 
Today , it is reconsecrated , a place of God . 
The only dead man to lie in state , during the last century or more , within those lonely walls on the edge of the crawling sea was my gallant old friend Walter Linnett , " the last of the Essex fowlers " , who died only a year or two ago . 
He lived his long life in the one-storeyed , three-roomed wooden coastguard cottage which crouches , bowered in vines , on the seaward side of the sea-wall at the foot of the old Roman fort . 
There he reared his family of six and fed them with the spoils of punt-gun and peter-net , eel-spear and rabbit-snare . 
His great punt-gun , ten feet long , two-and-a-half inches in bore , three hundred pounds in weight , capable of firing two pounds of swan shot , now stands in my hall . 
They say it has killed fifty thousand wild geese and wild duck in the last hundred years . 
The wild geese are protected now ; and in winter the marshes and bitter mud-flats of Mehalah 's country are haunted at dawn and dusk by long wavering skeins of the great birds like windblown witches . 
The Romans built not only the fort of Othona : they had a pharos , or lighthouse , on Mersea . 
They laid the foundations of the Strood , the causeway which connects the island with the mainland . 
They went to Mersea for oysters . 
They sent their sick there to recover . 
They built a temple to Vesta on the site of West Mersea church . 
When I had the shooting on Fingringhoe Wick at the mouth of the River Colne , a lonely peninsula of sandy gravel and saltings , we found the complete foundations of a Roman villa with a mass of oyster shells . 
Salcott-cum-Virley is still a village ; across the creek is the ghost of the vanished village of Virley . 
The Sun Inn , immortalized in Mehalah , stands in the village street , as yet , thank God , unmodernized . 
But Virley Church , where Mehalah was married to the brutal Elijah Rebow by the Reverend Mr Rabbit , is a ruin , whilst the near-by White Hart Inn , once a den of smugglers , was blotted out by a bomb in the last war . 
The picture of that tragic wedding , as re-told by Herbert Tompkins in his Marsh Country Rambles , is a pathetic commentary on the rough marsh-life of the day . 
The " nots " in the Decalogue had been erased by a village humourist ; a wormeaten deal table did duty for an altar ; the curate 's red cotton handkerchief was the only altar-cloth . 
The floor of the chancel was eaten through by rats ; the bones beneath were exposed to view . 
The congregation consisted chiefly of a few young folk , who snored sonorously , or cracked nuts , or adorned the pews with rude sketches of ships . 
On the wedding-day a motley crowd assembled to see the fun , and the tiny church was crowded . 
In the west gallery boys dropped broken tobacco-pipes on the heads of the persons below ; a sweep , unwashed , pushed forward and took a seat beside the altar ; the Communion-rails were broken down and the chancel filled with a noisy squabbling mob . 
Pen and ink were , with difficulty , found ; while the sight-seers exchanged uncomplimentary sentences aloud in the presence of the Reverend Mr Rabbit . 
The bridegroom was arrayed in a " blue coat with brass buttons and knee-breeches " ; old Mrs De Witt , a queer character , had thrown a smart red coat over her silk dress ; on her head was a " broad white chip hat " , tied with ribbons of sky blue ; in her frizzled hair was a bunch of forget-me-nots . 
The persons who suffered in the revolt of that year were for the most part either churchmen ( and the ballads , as the peasants , do reveal an animus against the richer cleric ) , or individuals personally associated with misgovernment or the abuse of office ( the sheriff of Nottingham 's chief crime was clearly abuse of his official position ) . 
The men who were attacked in 1381 were persons such as Sudbury and Hales and Legge , whose names were linked with the imposition of the Poll Tax ; John of Gaunt , who was suspected of designs on the throne , and his affinity : and the lawyers , from justices like Bealknap and Cavendish down to the apprentices of the Temple — the men , that is , who would have been individually responsible for resisting the peasants ' claims at law , when they attempted to establish their free status by exemplifications out of Domesday , or were charged with breaking the Statute of Labourers . 
In other words the brunt of the attack in 1381 fell on those who were , either professionally or personally , directly associated with political mismanagement or legal oppression . 
It was the same at the time of Cade 's Revolt , when lesser gentry fought side by side with the peasant : their attack was on the politicians and the corrupt Lancastrian officials , James Fiennes and his affinity , and the sheriffs and under-sheriffs of counties . 
Rumours of plans for the wholesale slaughter of the aristocracy in 1381 , and of the clergy in 1450 , were clearly exaggerated . 
Men of the period , both humble and gentle , accepted a stratified society : what they resented was the abuse of official or social position , and this is precisely the attitude which the ballads echo , with their detailed catalogue of the crimes of men like the sheriff of Nottingham and the Abbot of St. Mary 's . 
One should not expect popular literature to concentrate its attack on the manorial system or the inconvenience of villein status , because the peasants themselves did not see their grievances in economic or systematic terms : they saw them rather in terms of the personal viciousness of individual lords . 
The men they were after were Hobbe the Robber and the lawyers who had set " { 1Trewthe under a lokke " and would not unfasten it for any " { 1but he sing dedero " . 
There are however other reasons , Mr. Holt declares , why the ballads should not appeal to a peasant audience . 
For instance , the crucial events centre round the county courts , where the sheriff and the knights were the dominant figures ; and there is no mention in them of the justices of the peace , with whom the humble criminal would surely have had more to do . 
The reason for this seems , however , to be elementary : the justices of the peace could not declare outlawry , which had to be proclaimed by the sheriff in the county court . 
That peasants would be unconcerned about this would hardly seem a tenable view in the light of Wat Tyler 's demand at Smithfield in 1381 " that sentence of outlawry be not pronounced henceforth in any process at law " . 
Again , Mr. Holt asserts that the methods and manner of poaching in the ballads are aristocratic , and its object sport , not food . 
What then of the outlaws ' claim in the { 1Gest of Robyn Hode : " 
{ 1We lyve by our kynge " s dere , 
Other shyft have not wee . " 
Here surely food is the implied object of poaching . 
That the ballads make no mention of the trapping of rabbits and other lesser game is hardly germane , for the ballads are certainly intended to be heroic and this is not a heroic topic . 
Peasant poaching was by no means confined to humble quarry : another of Wat Tyler 's demands in 1381 was that all warrens , parks and chases should be free , " so that throughout the realm , in ... the woods and forests , poor as well as rich might take wild beasts and hunt the hare in the field " . 
Moreover the manner of poaching in the ballads surely stamps it as humble . 
The rich man hunted with dogs , as the example of Abbot Clowne of Leicester , whose success in breeding hounds earned him the respect of the highest in the realm , reminds us . 
The outlaws shot their deer with the bow , which was not the weapon of the aristocrat . 
The great schools of English archery were the village butts , and it was from among the men who had learned their skill there that Edward 3 recruited his longbowmen . 
The military importance of the archer led Edward to make archery contests compulsory on feast days , but it never earned the archer social status . 
The poachers of Sherwood , whose skill proved so useful at Halidon Hill in 1333 , were not sporting gentry , but men arrayed from among those humble people whom the Statute of Winchester had commanded to keep " bows and arrows out of the forest , and in the forest bows and bolts " . 
Edward 1 had clearly realised to what use men who had less than twenty marks in goods and who lived in the forest would put their arrows , and protected his venison accordingly . 
The arguments which are said to preclude the ballads from appealing primarily to a peasant audience seem therefore to be weak ones . 
What then of the positive arguments for their being composed for gentle ears ? 
Mr. Holt says that the knightly class is consistently treated with favour in them . 
It is true that in the Gest Sir Richard atte Lee is on the side of light and that Gamelyn was a knight 's son . 
What , however , are we to make of the county knights in the Tale of Gamelyn , who were ready to a man to conspire with Gamelyn 's villainous elder brother to cheat the boy of his inheritance ? 
What are we to say of Alan a'Dale , who but for Robin Hood would have died broken-hearted because his love was chosen " to be an old knight 's delight ? " 
And from what class were the sheriffs and justices of the ballads chosen , if not from among the knights ? 
The fact is that the knights as a class are not treated consistently in the ballads , which in my submission is what we should expect . 
The commons had no animus against social rank as such : what they resented was the lordship of unjust men and their corrupt practices . 
Their political horizons were limited and local : their grievances were specific . 
Their appeal in 1381 was to specified rights of ancient standing , to charters of Cnut and Offa and to Domesday Book : in 1450 they drew up their complaints in a list , setting them out one by one . 
And on both occasions they limited their governmental demands to the removal of evil councillors and officials . 
So in the outlaw stories the final resolution is the substitution of just men for corrupt officials : the way to set the world to rights is not to reform the system , but to kill the Sheriff of Nottingham and to make Gamelyn Chief Justice of the Forest . 
Hero and villain are differentiated in the manner which a medieval audience would have understood , by distinction of personal character rather than social class . 
The knights are not all good or all bad : Gamelyn , the Outlaw King , is the hero , and his brother , the sheriff , is the villain , but both are born of the same father and are of the same social standing . 
Neither the attitude expressed in the ballads towards persons of high social status nor their attitude towards social problems seem necessarily to associate them with the views of the knightly class . 
Mr. Holt claims that their appeal to this section of the community is also revealed by the background of the stories , which he describes as that of " maintenance and misgovernment at their worst , of baronial and border warfare " , subjects of primary interest to the gentry and to the northern gentry at that . 
I have failed to find a single reference to border warfare in any of the genuinely early Robin Hood ballads . 
This is the more surprising , since certain incidents recounted of Robin Hood in the ballads are also told of border heroes . 
The Outlaw Murray of Ettrick Forest warred on the " Southrons " at the head of a band clad in Lincoln green , and William Wallace , according to Blind Harry , adopted the classical outlaw 's disguise of a potter to spy on his enemies . 
This disguise was used by Eustace the Monk , the central figure of a thirteenth-century romance , and by Robin Hood . 
Incidents in another French romance of the same period , that of Fulk Fitzwarin , also resemble stories told of Robin Hood , as do some of the incidents in the story of Hereward the Wake . 
Since a great deal of the matter common to these stories ( for instance the chivalrous episodes , the fights with giants and dragons , and the scenes of courtly love ) are clearly intended for an aristocratic audience , Mr. Holt argues that the Robin Hood ballads were meant for the same ears . 
What seems to me significant , however , is that while the romances share these common themes with the story of William Wallace , which concerns knightly struggles in Scotland and on the Border , courtly and chivalrous material are entirely lacking from the story of Robin Hood . 
In other words , it looks as if the matter common to these knightly tales and to the outlaw ballads is not in the latter case derivative , but is the result of borrowing from the same source . 
Moreover , the omission from the ballads of chivalrous material and of references , for instance , to the border wars , surely suggests that they were aimed not at the same audience as the longer romances , but at a different one which was less interested in these subjects . 
That this was the case is confirmed both by the testimony of the earliest references to Robin Hood in the chronicles , and by the consistently favourable attitude of the outlaws of story towards the poorer classes . 
The outlaws were not always poor men , but the poor man did not demand that . 
He demanded kindness , good lordship to engage his fidelity , and this is what the outlaw gave . 
It is the theme of Robin Hood 's famous advice : " 
{ 1But loke ye do no husbonde harm , 
That tilleth with his ploughe . " 
It is the theme , too , of his final epitaph in the Gest : " 
{ 1For he was a good outlawe , 
And dyde pore men moch god . " 
How the outlaw was rewarded is told in the Tale of Gamelyn : the knights of the county might conspire to cheat him , but his villeins were faithful even in the hour of extreme misfortune : " 
{ 1Tho were his bonde-men sory and nothing glad 
When Gamelyn her lord wolves heed was cryed and maad . " 
It was to protect them against the oppressions of their new master that Gamelyn came to the Moot Hall , where he was arrested and bound by the sheriff . 
Whether he is like Gamelyn a knight or like Robin Hood a yeoman , the outlaw hero of the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century stories is the friend of the poor : he is not consistently the friend of the knight . 
The word " poor " , as I have used it here , does require a gloss . 
The poor men of the outlaw ballads are not , certainly , thirteenth-century villeins , bound down by ancestral thraldom and working three days a week on their lord 's land . 
They are mostly yeomen , bound to one another by the ties of " good yeomanry " , proud , independent and free . 
Because this independence of spirit is a striking feature of the outlaw ballads , Mr. Holt has drawn a sharp distinction between the yeoman and the peasant . 
He defines the word yeoman as meaning a special kind of household servant , in rank only a little inferior to the squire and quite possibly of gentle breeding . 
I doubt very much whether the word can be limited to this meaning in fourteenth- or fifteenth-century usage , and this is after all the period in which the ballads as we know them were composed . 
I do not see how such a meaning can be squared with the reference to " { genz de mestre et d'artifice appellez yomen " in the Parliament Roll of 1363 , or with Barbour 's description of yeomen who fight " { 1apon fut " — a most unknightly situation . 
After a long struggle Wratislaw won his case with costs , and Arnold had to accept the remaining Wratislaw and Gibb children even though they knew no Latin . 
However , no general attempt was made to restore the lost forms , and the local children who happened to attend in spite of the headmaster 's displeasure had to be coached specially . 
The Wratislaw case of 1839 was the last of the individual protests . 
His social position was exceptional . 
As an acknowledged member of a foreign nobility he was the social superior of everyone locally in spite of his professional occupation . 
Without the English tradition behind him he was able to question national and local opinions on a rational basis , and this independence of mind made him and his family Radicals in a predominantly Tory neighbourhood . 
The probe into his own rights was no doubt as much a reflection of his own position as a member of the first generation on foreign soil as a consequence of his experience as a solicitor and his ability to assess the legal position at first hand . 
After Wratislaw came the revolt of the traders . 
A few middle class sons were always to be found at Rugby School , but the numbers from Rugby itself were few . 
On the other hand acceptance of the sons of gentry and local professional men — doctors , bankers and solicitors — was a traditional practice , and , more important still , the sons of such parents were accepted or at least grudgingly tolerated by the boys . 
In the 1830s and 1840s these " accepted " groups sent numbers varying from five to seventeen in each year , while the total number of traders ' sons was only eleven for the same entire period of twenty years in spite of the large number of such children available . 
The trader 's son had a very tough time . 
At the least he was ostracised and at the worst severely bullied , particularly in the lower forms . 
There is overwhelming evidence of this both from outside and inside the school , and enough of it was known locally to prevent the middle classes generally from risking their children . 
On the other hand there was no provision for middle class education in the town before 1840 apart from a special group at the lower class school , and the main mass went elsewhere — a few walked to Barnwell and Sheasby 's School at Bilton , while others went as boarders to neighbouring towns , Daventry , Hinckley , Husbands Bosworth , Atherstone . 
This was expensive and even later , when a middle class day academy was set up , the cost varied from £6 to £10 p.a. depending on the number of extras . 
Over Rugby School the traders were in a dilemma for they were dependent on it for trade while the headmasters actively discouraged use of the school . 
The declaration of a shop out of bounds could bring ruin and there was no lack of precedence for this . 
The traders were torn in two directions . 
Economy and their rights as townfolk and parents urged them to use the school , while economic survival forbade it . 
Very few braved the consequences and sent sons , although in one or two cases like the Sale and Edmunds families there was a long tradition of usage . 
While the school prospered the traders had the satisfaction of sharing in the prosperity even if denied their birthright , yet , when adversity came under the headmastership of Goulburn from 1850 to 1857 they lost both ways : " 
... the reason why the inhabitants do not avail themselves of the privilege ( of educating their sons at Rugby School ) is their general apathy , supineness and dread of losing the patronage of the masters , who derive their income from the Charity . " 
Even so four traders took courage and submitted sons ( 1855 ) , but the next year the number was down to one , and reduced again the next year . 
However , with a new headmaster , the situation changed dramatically . 
Within months the prosperity of the town was restored and for two successive years they sent sons to the school in increasing numbers — five traders being involved in 1858 and twelve in 1859 . 
But that was the end . 
Middle class initiative declined rapidly never to be renewed , and this was in effect , the last defiance of tradition by the local traders . 
The explanation of this episode is linked with the background of the new headmaster , Frederick Temple . 
He was knowledgable in the social sense by his association with the lower classes generally and the workhouse in particular through his Principalship at Kneller Hall , a college designed to produce teachers of children in the workhouses of the country . 
It was reasonable to suppose that such a man 's sympathies would be wide and not geared specifically to the upper classes . 
This view was strengthened by the fact that he had written only two years before a paper on National Education , through which he had become one of the champions of middle class education . 
His scheme had involved a reassessment of the 704 grammar schools . 
While he felt that the great Public Schools were justified in clinging on to the classics , elsewhere it was a mistake . 
To the traders of Rugby his words must have sounded almost prophetic : " 
They [ grammar schools ] were intended for the education of the whole community , but specially for that of the middle classes ... yet the schools were assuredly not intended for the gentry alone , but rather looked to poverty as a special qualification for admission . 
The middle classes were thus marked out as the chief objects of the goodwill of the founders . " 
Or again " 
These schools [ grammar schools ] were meant for the middle classes : they were meant to teach Greek and Latin . 
One must be sacrificed — either the persons or the things . 
Can there be a doubt which ought to be sacrificed ? " 
The whole trend of his writing emphasised the fact that his own school , Rugby , was not fulfilling its real object . 
Temple was embarrassed and could hardly object to the children of locals with the vigour of his predecessors . 
No wonder that traders ' children poured in during 1858 and 1859 . 
But the experiment was not successful . 
It was soon clear that Temple did not really welcome his new clients any more than the others had done . 
Any idea of mixing the social classes appalled him . 
In a similar situation he was later to warn the middle classes of Rugby most forcibly that they would ruin any middle class school of their own if they allowed entry to lower class children . 
Even so headmaster and school had a conscience , and we know that at one time the assistant masters formed a committee of their own to consider what could be done educationally for the town . 
So the second phase of local resistance faded . 
The arguments continued and at least one pamphlet was published , but as far as records indicate the locality was relatively quiet up to and during the national clamour that led to the setting up of the Public Schools Commission . 
Eventually , in 1864 , when this Commission published its findings it advised that any wishes of the Founder should be ignored since the modern town bore no resemblance to the Elizabethan counterpart and since Rugby School was in fact a long standing specialised boarding school and could not be altered . 
Their recommendation was obvious : " 
That the local qualification should , in course of time , cease to confer any advantage . " 
In one way the argument was sound enough . 
When Lawrence Sheriff , the founder , made his will in 1567 , Rugby was a mere village of 350 people ; by 1800 it was a town of almost 1,500 . 
Had he been able to penetrate two and a half centuries of time he would have recognised nothing , for not only had the town grown but it had changed , and the only link with the past was the name of one tavern — " The Hen and Chickens " . 
He would have found the people equally strange , not only in name but in habits , dress and manners . 
Only if he had moved right away from the people and their town would he have seen something familiar in the lie of the land , the flow of the Avon , and his own tiny hamlet of Brownsover . 
The town of 1800 , however , bore no relation whatever to the Rugby of Lawrence Sheriff . 
But this was not the whole story and it is a big step from showing the weakness of an argument to assume that all claim is void and that a decision must be made in favour of the existing situation where indeed the argument was considerably weaker still . 
Within the town itself the Report produced a sensation . 
There was real cause for complaint since the Commissioners had not asked for the opinions of any of the townsfolk proper . 
From this point of view the Report was very one-sided . 
The Commissioners had produced a very bulky document in four volumes but they were hardly neutral observers . 
Of the seven members , four were in titled aristocratic families , four were at Eton or had close relatives there , one went to Westminster and was a governor of Charterhouse , while another was an Old Rugbeian . 
As for the man who can not thus be classified , he was W. H. Thompson , Regius Professor of Greek and future Master of Trinity , already deeply concerned about the effects of reform on his own college at Cambridge . 
The Report produced a third and co-operative phase in the town 's fight for its rights . 
Previously objection had come either from a single member of the community ( Wratislaw ) or from the trader group of the middle classes spurred on by such men as E. Edmunds , T. W. Tipler and J. Haswell . 
Hitherto the local gentry and professional classes had held aloof for the school had accepted their sons readily enough . 
But now the ban was to apply to everyone , gentry as much as trader , while the town would no longer attract rich residents merely for the sake of the education . 
In the matter of justice and in terms of economics the town was threatened with starvation . 
Among the first to react was the headmaster , Temple , himself . 
He suggested that £600 p.a. of the income from the charity be spent in providing a separate school for the middle classes of the town . 
Fifty local boys would be taught there free and seven boys a year would pass from this school into Rugby School proper . 
This " lower " school was to concentrate on a sound commercial education of English , writing , mathematics , French , Latin , but no Greek . 
Unfortunately Temple had chosen the wrong moment and everyone condemned the scheme since the offered £600 did not begin to compare with the Sheriff income of £5,000 , while a cash settlement of the kind suggested appeared to some almost in the nature of a bribe for the surrender of the town 's rights . 
The Report of the Public Schools Commission was followed by the Public Schools Bill . 
Under this free education at Rugby was to cease although the Governing Body was to use part of the income for the benefit of the town , perhaps in the form of a new school . 
This official proposal met with even more resistance than Temple 's original plan . 
All classes except the lower joined together . 
A public meeting was called for 22nd March 1865 and a committee formed of the Rector , the brother of the Lord of the Manor , other gentry , a banker , professional men and traders , with solicitors acting as secretaries and a backing of £652 to cover expenses . 
The campaign was off to a fine start but when a petition of protest was opened for the public to sign , only 200 in fact did so . 
In a population of 8,000 this is a very small number and represents less than a third of the gentry and middle class adults alone . 
The vast majority of the gentry and most of the trading classes held aloof . 
The lower classes were , as always , mere spectators . 
This small response was not entirely due to apathy for many of the traders were frightened of Temple 's displeasure , and the gentry who had come to the town specially for the education had the welfare of their sons at the school as their prime and indeed only consideration . 
Ayrshire 's Little Castle BY VICTORIA GAUL " 
When the last leaf { 2draps fae the { 2auld aish tree , 
The Boyds o' Penkill maun cease tae be . " 
SO RUNS AN OLD RHYME WHICH CAME SADLY true when , in 1897 , there died Miss Alice Boyd , 15th Laird of Penkill and the last of the Boyds . 
Her brother , Spencer Boyd , 14th Laird , last in the direct line , and descendant of James Boyd , second son of John Boyd of Penkill and Trochrig , had died in 1867 . 
He left Penkill to his sister , with instructions that , when she died , it was to go to the children of his mother 's second marriage to Mr. Henry Courtney . 
Thus , in 1897 , a grand-daughter of his mother 's , Eleanor Margaret Courtney , became owner of Penkill and assumed the name " Courtney-Boyd , " which name the present owner , her half-sister , Miss Evelyn May Courtney , also assumed on succeeding to the estate in 1946 . 
Penkill Castle sits , perched on a hill about three miles from Girvan , so hidden by trees that it is almost invisible from the road . 
It was built by Adam Boyd , grandson of Robert , Lord of Kilmarnock , around 1450 , on land granted to him by Alexander 3 for assisting him at the Battle of Largs . 
Penkill was a tall keep with corner turrets pierced with loop-holes for defence . 
The living-room above the basement where the cattle were housed was paved in red and yellow tiles , while , above this , was the Lady 's Bower . 
Deep glens made a natural moat and there was a drawbridge and portcullis ( found years later lying in a blacksmith 's yard ) . 
The castle fell into disrepair , and when , in 1628 , Thomas Boyd brought his young love , Marion Mure of Rowallan , to view his heritage , they found it in a sorry state . 
Yet , we can imagine Marion , fired by its ancient beauty , crying , " Thomas , we maun bide in Penkill . 
We 'll make it a bonnie hame . " 
And together they did . 
With Marion 's dowry , walls were repaired , rooms added , and an outside stair built . 
Above its doorway was inserted a plaque uniting the heraldry of both families . 
Oak chairs ( still to be seen today ) were carved with their initials and the date , 1628 . 
Though Penkill descended from father to son till 1750 , the house was neglected , and when , in 1827 , Spencer Boyd inherited Penkill it had been a deserted ruin for nearly a hundred years . 
However , when he came of age , his maternal English grandfather , William Losh , proud of his grandson 's Scottish heritage , provided the necessary money to restore it , and , with his mother and sister , Spencer Boyd made it their home . 
So , in the 1800's rose the Penkill we know . 
Probably influenced by the Victorian taste for heavy architecture , Spencer caused to be built a great tower to enclose a handsome circular staircase . 
The ruined staircase and doorway were swept away and passages and ante-rooms joined the staircase to the rooms of the keep . 
Oak trees on the estate were used in the renovations . 
His sister , Alice , a woman of fine , artistic perception , had the deep windows of the keep , with their stone seats , glazed with clear glass so that the views from each appear like framed pictures . 
When their mother died , Alice Boyd , wishing to further her interest in painting , went to Newcastle School of Art , where she met one of the executive , William Bell Scott , painter and poet . 
Thus began a close friendship with him and his wife . 
Later , the families divided their time between Penkill and London , where Scott was appointed decorative artist at South Kensington . 
During their stay in London , the families met many famous people , Holman Hunt , Swinburne , Tennyson , William Morris and Dante and Christina Rossetti . 
Spencer Boyd died in 1867 , and was buried on a wild day of snow in Old Dailly churchyard . 
After her brother 's death , Alice Boyd commissioned Scott to paint a mural on the circular staircase . 
He chose to illustrate " The King 's Quair , " executing it with oil pigments , the medium being wax dissolved in turpentine . 
Some of the painting , which took four years to complete , was ruined by the lime of the thick walls having not yet dried out , and Scott repainted part in zinc . 
Though he wrote later in his autobiography , " Most probably the pictures will now remain without change , " part has again corroded , but enough remains to show the brilliance of colour and design . 
In 1868 , Dante Gabriel Rossetti , in despair because of failing eyesight , was invited to Penkill . 
Here he found tranquillity in its worn battlements , and in the rolling meadows and deep glens . 
Christina Rossetti came also to Penkill , and wrote some of her poems in " Windy Room , " a bedroom at the top of the keep . 
She described Alice Boyd as " perhaps the prettiest , handsomest woman I ever met . " 
Penkill is not a pretentious castle . 
It is a well-loved , comfortable home ever open to those who love the countryside . 
With no rich furnishings , it yet retains , with its priceless tapestries , a harmony befitting its ancient grey stone . 
The deep windows in the low-roofed library , with its grey velvet settee drawn up to the fire , look towards the west , the glowing colours of orange , red , and blue , in the carpets , seeming to vie with the hues of the sunset as it burns over Ailsa and Kintyre . 
Above is the square drawing-room , with rose carpet and wine curtains contrasting with the deep blue panelled roof . 
The Flemish tapestries on the walls make a fitting background for the gilt furniture . 
The roof of the Laird 's bedroom , in the 1628 part of the house , was painted by Alice Boyd , whose work , with that of William Morris , appears in some of the rooms . 
The dark oak furniture was carved by Spencer Boyd . 
To the right of the tower which dominates Penkill is the long addition which William Bell Scott designed in 1883 as a gallery for his paintings and those of Dante Gabriel Rossetti . 
Now an attractive dining-room , it is approached by a passage hung with William Morris tapestries . 
It contains many fine paintings and drawings by Rossetti , David Scott ( whose fine portrait of his brother William is in the National Gallery ) , and William Bell Scott . 
The latter 's "Una and the Lion " hangs here . 
This room , panelled in pitch pine , contains the Chippendale chairs and gate-legged table belonging to the grandfather Losh who helped to redeem Penkill . 
MacDougall Chief and the Robber BY SETON GORDON 
JOHN MACDOUGALL OF MACDOUGALL , CHIEF OF THE CLAN , LIVED IN the early 18th century . 
He was usually known as Iain Ciar , which may be translated in English as Dark-complexioned John . 
He was a leading figure in the first Jacobite rising in 1715 , and on the suppression of that rising was an outlaw for a number of years . 
During his wanderings in disguise , he crossed the sea to Ireland in order to visit the Earl of Antrim , his kinsman . 
At the edge of a wide and dark forest , he was advised by a woman he met to continue his journey through open country , for she said that a noted robber lived in the forest , and waylaid anyone who should pass that way . 
She told Iain Ciar that , so great a menace was the robber , the Earl of Antrim had offered a reward of £1000 to anyone who should slay him and bring him his head . 
The MacDougall chief , penniless and anxious to cross the sea to France to be beyond the reach of his enemies , thought that this was an opportunity not to be missed . 
He and his trusty companion , Livingstone by name , therefore entered the forest , and as they followed a faint and devious track through the dark undergrowth and beneath old and gnarled trees , it was not long before they saw the famous robber standing before them . 
He demanded from Iain Ciar his money or his life . 
The Highland chief was without more than the proverbial sixpence , but that was the last thing he wished the robber to know . 
Telling the highwayman that he was prepared to part with neither , he challenged him to mortal combat . 
Both men were expert swordsmen and the fight was long and hard , but the victory was at last gained by Iain Ciar , who carried the robber 's head to the Earl of Antrim , and received from him the £1000 reward . 
The robber 's whistle is one of the heirlooms at Dunollie Castle , Oban , the ancestral seat of the Chiefs of MacDougall , where the family still reside below the ancient stronghold on its rock looking out towards the Isle of Mull . 
Beneath the ivy-grown castle is an old and weather-beaten Scots fir . 
This tree is now upwards of 150 years old . 
It was planted to commemorate Captain Alexander MacDougall of MacDougall , of the 72nd regiment ( later the Seaforth Highlanders ) , eldest son of Patrick MacDougall , Chief of the Clan . 
Captain Alexander was killed , at the age of 27 , at Cuidad Rodrigo in Spain , in 1812 . 
His miniature , by William Englehart , is preserved at Dunollie . 
The name of Captain MacDougall is well known to pipers of the present day , for a celebrated composition in Ceo3l Mo2r , the Great Music of the Highland bagpipe , was written in his honour by almost the last of the hereditary MacDougall pipers to the chiefs , Ronald MacDougall . 
The hereditary MacDougall pipers , while not so famous as the MacCrimmons of Skye , were players and composers of distinction , and the tune , " Lament for Captain MacDougall , " is one of delicacy and feeling . 
These pipers lived at Moleigh , near Oban , and their portion of land was known as Croit nam Piobairean , the Piper 's Croft . 
Like the MacCrimmons , the MacDougalls had their College of Piping , the last who presided at this college being Ronald Ba3n MacDougall , who was the grandfather of Ronald Mo2r , the last hereditary piper to the clan . 
" THE DUKE " BY HUBERT FENWICK The Story of James , Duke of Albany and York , as Lord High Commissioner at Holyroodhouse 
THE VISIT OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN TO the General Assembly last October was unique in many ways . 
The occasion was , of course , the Quatercentenary of the Scottish Reformation , but besides this Her Majesty was the very first Sovereign Lady to honour the " Fathers and Brethren " with her presence , a circumstance not lacking in significance , especially when one recalls John Knox 's well kent fulminations against women in general and female rulers in particular . 
The last reigning monarch to attend the Assembly was actually James 6 , before he became the King of " Great Brittany , " and before the appearance of his Authorised Version of the Bible ; and he did so in order to discipline the members , not to praise or encourage them . 
It was he , too , who instituted the office of High Commissioner , so that the Crown could keep a good eye on the proceedings ; and ever since Jacobean times the Sovereign has been represented at the Assembly by a royally appointed representative . 
The office of Lord High Commissioner is now more ornamental than functional , at least in the sense that the holder is no longer a " spy " in the pay of the Crown , which itself has changed beyond all recognition and is completely above politics or religious faction . 
Curiously enough , however , the first purely Scottish Bill of the present Parliament proposed an increase in the allowance made to the Queen 's representative to the General Assembly , and in doing so drew unexpected attention to the altered meaning of that role , showing how it too had lost its controversial flavour . 
Many Commissioners have come from the ranks of the aristocracy and professional classes , some have been personally associated with the work of the Kirk , while one , James , Duke of Albany and York , brother of Charles 2 , was a convert to Roman Catholicism . 
Unlike the " Merry Monarch , " the future James 7 and 2 stubbornly refused to subscribe to the " Test Act , " which required all holders of office under the Crown to declare themselves Protestants . 
He found himself excluded from the Court , removed from the Navy Office , and banished , first to Holland , and then , in 1679 , to Scotland , where the law was less rigorous . 
EL CID The Facts behind the Legend by Henry Austin " 
The Canon in " Don Quixote " : There is no doubt that there was such a man as El Cid , but much doubt whether he achieved what is attributed to him . " 
El Cid — the hero idealised in Spain 's most famous mediaeval epic poem , also by Corneille and Victor Hugo , and now in an American spectacular film . 
What are the facts about this man who has inspired such a powerful legend ? 
Rodrigo de Vivar , named by the Moslem Spaniards , El Sayyid Campeador , the lord and champion , was born about 1043 and died at the age of 56 in 1099 . 
The date and place of his birth are unknown . 
His mother , of the Asturian nobility , and his father , a Castilian , lived in Vivar , a little village which even today is primitive and grim in appearance . 
The young Rodrigo found himself from the start in the midst of the strains and tensions that Spain was then enduring . 
This barren land , glacial in winter and torrid in summer , was on the frontier between the rival Christian kingdoms of Castile and Navarre , both sides allying themselves to one or other of the Moslem states of Spain to gain a temporary advantage . 
The Moslem Spaniards 
At this stage of Europe 's history , regional not national power was the chief motive in politics ; in Spain , neither secular nor religious unity was considered a goal worth fighting for . 
The small Christian states in the north were divided ; so were the Moslem states of central and northern Spain . 
The Moslems of Spain , the so-called Moors , were for the most part of Spanish blood . 
They had adopted the language and ways of living , and some the faith of the Moslems . 
Many of them had two names , Moslem and European , and had adopted such customs as the harem and certain legal procedures . 
Arabic was the written language of law and commerce for two centuries after the Christian conquest of Toledo by Alphonso 6 in 1085 . 
Peace and War 
Rodrigo de Vivar has been called by one historian " the most colourful of the Mozarabs " , the Spaniards who had adopted the Moslem way of life ( in Arabic , mustarib ) . 
He spent most of his life among these people . 
Having received a good education at the Christian court of Sancho 2 , King of Castile , he became the Constable of the little kingdom , a rank which included command of the army and of the legal administration . 
His first taste of action had been in the battle of Graus , at the age of twenty , between Sancho , in alliance with the Moors of Saragossa , and Ramiro 1 , King of Aragon . 
For the next twelve years of his life , he led a peaceful existence as a country gentleman , carefully looking after his property . 
During this time , he became involved in only one battle . 
Sancho sent him to Seville to collect tribute from the king , Motamid . 
While he was there Abdullah , King of Granada , attacked Seville but without success . 
Apart from this one excitement , Rodrigo led a quiet life , in the words of Louis Bertrand , in his History of Spain , " saddling his horse only to go and raid his neighbour 's cows and sheep . " 
Jimena 
To please Alphonso , Sancho 's brother and rival , he agreed to marry Jimena Diaz , daughter of the Count of Oviedo , and niece of Alphonso 5 , King of Leon . 
This marriage of convenience was designed to strengthen an alliance between the Castilian and Leonese nobility . 
Later Rodrigo helped Sancho in his struggle for power with his brother , by suggesting a deceitful way of taking possession of Leon . 
A new period in Rodrigo 's life began in his late thirties , in 1081 , when Alphonso 6 , Sancho 's younger brother and successor , exiled him from his kingdom . 
He had , it was alleged , kept part of the tribute he had collected from Motamid of Seville . 
For this he was dismissed from the court and banished . 
At the head of three hundred free lances , he rode out of Vivar , leaving Jimena and his children , to begin a life of mercenary combat , living by what he could commandeer . 
In his subsequent conduct , made up of both cruelty and kindness , " he was almost as much Moslem as Christian " ( Philip Hitti , History of the Arabs ) . 
He first offered his services to Berenguer , the Christian Count of Barcelona . 
The count rejected him . 
He then travelled on to Saragossa , where Moktadir , the Moslem king now ruled . 
This time his offer was accepted . 
As Moktadir was in alliance with Alphonso of Castile , Rodrigo was not making any dramatic or even unusual departure from one way of life to another . 
Such hard and fast divisions of humanity were to come later . 
At Saragossa , the old Roman town of Caesarea Augustus , Rodrigo served his new master well . 
Fighting for him against the Christian King of Navarre , he won from his Moslem soldiers the title of El Cid Campeador . 
He extended the Moslem dominions at the expense of the Christian states of Aragon and Barcelona , and led raids into his former province of Castile . 
Moktadir , the King of Saragossa , was a man of letters and the cultured head of a court of poets , philosophers and tutors . 
Rodrigo made this court his home and the base for his career of freebooting . 
Saragossa , the most Islamised city of Spain , a town of minarets and mosques , fountains and entertainment , must have been a fascinating place to live in . 
Rodrigo lived here for more than ten years , until he established himself as sole ruler of Valencia in 1094 . 
Valencia 
In the words of Louis Bertrand , " the great love of the Cid was not Jimena ; it was Valencia " . 
In charge of an army of seven thousand men , most of them Moslem , he besieged this Moslem city for nine months and finally defeated it . 
All the conditions he had agreed to before the surrender , he violated ; the Cadi , his opposite number , he burnt alive . 
Before the occupation of Valencia , Rodrigo had shown inexcusable cruelty by throwing refugees from the city onto bivouac fires . 
He chased the remainder back into the town , unleashing his camp dogs onto them . 
Having established himself as sole ruler of Valencia and Murcia , he summoned his wife and his daughters . 
He made the chief Mosque a Cathedral and installed an archbishop . 
In general policy he followed the course that he had adopted at the court of Moktamid , of peaceful co-operation with both the Christians and the Moslems in his domain . 
He proudly called himself " Emperor of the Two Religions " , but he withstood any prompting he may have received of giving himself the official title of King . 
The Berbers 
Rodrigo and his family only enjoyed four years of rule in Valencia . 
In 1099 his realm was attacked by the Berber warriors of North Africa , attracted across the narrow Straits by the high standard of living and the riches of Moslem Spain . 
At the battle of Cuenca he was defeated and he died shortly afterwards of a fever . 
Valencia held out for another three years , at the end of which , Jimena left the city with her children , taking with her the bones of her dead husband , to bury them in the monastery of San Pedro at Cardena , near Burgos . 
The Legend 
The anonymous { Poema del Cid , the finest and the oldest extant Spanish literary work , appeared in the latter half of the twelfth century . 
This poem , together with nearly two hundred ballads written about him , most of which were written in the sixteenth century , extol Rodrigo as a brave and chivalrous knight , and as the inspirational hero of the Christian conquest of Spain . 
The Poema has deeply influenced Spanish thought and the formation of the national character . 
El Cid , in fact , lived comfortably in both the Christian and Moslem courts of Spain . 
He fought the invading Berbers , it is true ; but then , so did the Moslem states of Spain also . 
Some writers have tried to justify the claims made by the Poema and the ballads ; one of them , Louis Bertrand , in his History of Spain , can only say : " It is impossible that this great Castilian should not have conceived the future unification of Spain as an absolute necessity " . 
The known facts of Rodrigo 's life show that he was more concerned with truly peaceful co-existence between the two religions ( with an occasional raid as a diversion and an extension of diplomacy ) than with the concept of total victory for one side or the other . 
PETER THE GREAT in London by Francis Carr 
The strangest sight in London in 1698 was that of the giant Tsar of Russia , striding out of his house in Norfolk Street , just off the Strand , and entering one of the local taverns to quaff a pint of ale . 
At six foot nine inches , he was certainly the tallest celebrity in the western world . 
On January 10th , of that year , at the age of twenty-six , Peter arrived in London . 
He had come from Amsterdam with an escort of three British war-ships aboard " The Royal Transport " , a fine new yacht which King William was later to present to him . 
Stories of Peter 's " grand embassy " had already spread throughout every country on the Continent . 
Never before had such a large body of Russians come so far from their native land , and never before had western Europe seen a Tsar . 
On his journey through Hanover Peter had met the beautiful Electress of Brandenburg , Princess Sophia Charlotte , whose husband , Frederick , was four years later to declare himself the first King of Prussia . 
She and her mother Sophia , the Electress of Hanover , gave a large banquet in Peter 's honour ; being unused to western manners , he became embarrassed and almost speechless . 
He amused the company by saying , in reply to questions about his favourite pastimes , " from my youth up I have had a real passion for navigation and fireworks " . 
After the banquet he played to the court on his own drum . 
In Holland he lived incognito as a carpenter in the shipyards of the East India Company at Amsterdam . 
This soon became an open secret , but Peter insisted on keeping up the pretence , turning his back on anyone calling him " Your Majesty " . 
He lived and dressed as a workman , lit his own fire and cooked his own meals . 
The Duke of Marlborough came to the shipyards to look at him , and the foreman pointed him out — hardly necessary on account of his great height — by saying : "Peterbas ( Master Peter ) , help those men carry the planks " . 
During the five months he stayed in Holland , he studied , besides carpentry , navigation , astronomy , law-court procedure , fortification , mathematics , printing , botany , copper-plate engraving , surgery , dentistry , and the making of fire-engines and fireworks . 
He impressed his instructors by his eagerness to learn and the speed with which he grasped the essentials of each subject . 
He arranged for 345 Dutch sailors , several ship 's captains and doctors , and many other craftsmen to sail to Russia to teach their various skills . 
Having been told ( by an Englishman ) that in England he would find the cleverest shipbuilders in the world , he asked King William , whom he met in Utrecht , for permission to come to this country . 
This was gladly given , and the King , when he was back in England , gave him his newest yacht , the " Royal Transport " , a handsome vessel mounting twenty brass cannon , and three men-of-war as escort . 
Peter set sail from Amsterdam with a dozen of his friends , having left behind the greater part of his embassy to continue their apprenticeship in the Dutch shipyards and munition works . 
In charge of the convoy was Vice-Admiral Mitchell , to whom Peter later said , while watching a sham naval battle off Spithead , that he thought an English admiral was a happier man than a Tsar . 
In his shirtsleeves 
After three days at sea the Russians arrived at Greenwich , where Peter left his yacht and boarded the royal barge , which took him to the Strand . 
Here he was given a house in Norfolk Street . 
This soon resembled a stable . 
Three days after his arrival , William called on him and was taken up to his bedroom , where the Tsar met the King in his shirtsleeves . 
TALKING ABOUT HEALTH OUR FAMILY DOCTOR SPRAINED ANKLE 
She was not quite thirty and was obviously having trouble putting her left foot to the ground . 
Her husband had to help her into my consulting room . 
She told me what had happened . 
" I was coming downstairs with an armful of things and I tripped on the last step but one . 
The carpet 's loose there and my heel got caught . 
I fell with my foot underneath me . " 
Obediently she slipped off her right shoe and stocking . 
I helped her out of the slipper she was wearing on her left foot . 
" I took my stocking off to bathe my foot in cold water , " she said apologetically . 
I made her lie on the examination couch , and compared the two ankles . 
There was nothing much to see except that the left one was badly swollen . 
I persuaded her to try all the different movements of the ankles and toes . 
Her right foot moved normally of course . 
Her left foot would move a little in most directions but all her movements were limited and painful . 
It hurt most when she tried to twist the foot outwards . 
Clearly there was no damage to her foot or to her freely wiggling toes . 
The damage and the worst pain was in the area just below the left ankle bone on the outer side . 
I felt each ankle in turn carefully , and although the left one hurt her it was fairly certain that no bones were broken . 
" You 've been lucky , " I told her . 
" I do n't think there 's a fracture . 
Just a bad sprain with bruising and swelling . 
" But we 'd better have an X-ray to be quite sure about it . " 
Armed with my note , her husband took her in their car to the casualty department . 
They were back in just over an hour . 
There was no fracture and all that had been needed was the simplest treatment . 
What they had done was to take a three-inch elastic adhesive bandage and apply it carefully but firmly from below upwards , so that it supported the torn outer ligament of her ankle . 
I encouraged her to try walking on it now that it was safely strapped up . 
She was unsteady but she could manage a few steps . 
" That 's a lot more comfortable , " she agreed . 
I instructed her to walk on it a little each day , increasing the time daily , but being careful for a week and not overdoing it . 
At the end of a fortnight I was able to take off the bandage . 
For now the cure was complete . 
But to be on the safe side I advised her to take it easy for another fortnight . 
She was very good about it . 
And her husband has made sure that there are now no loose stair-carpets , mats , or rugs anywhere in the household . 
Dr. MERIDITH. facts about eczema JOAN WILLIAMS S.R.N. , S.C.M . 
advises on the best ways to relieve discomfort 
IN the ordinary way , a baby 's skin and the skin of a young child is perfect and quite flawless . 
But in some circumstances , a rash may develop of one kind or another . 
And of these , eczema calls for the greatest amount of skilful management and patience . 
Sufferers from eczema can be divided into three groups . 
Firstly , babies who develop it at about four months of age , and in whom the trouble clears up spontaneously by the second birthday ; secondly , babies in whom the rash persists after this point has been reached ; and thirdly , children who have no sign of eczema in babyhood , but who develop it when they are around two or three years of age , or even later . 
Of these three groups , the first is by far the most common . 
Eczema usually begins on the cheeks , which become first bright red , then very shiny . 
Next the skin begins to crack . 
Then follows the " weeping " stage . 
The rash tends to spread from the child 's cheeks to his head , neck , body and limbs . 
It 's an uncomfortable condition because of the irritation , and unless he is checked , the child will inevitably scratch . 
But this is precisely what he must n't do , because scratching can lead to bad infection . 
And , quite apart from anything else , skin infections can be passed on to other people , although eczema itself is never contagious . 
How can this scratching and subsequent infection be prevented ? 
By making impossible direct contact between the baby 's hands and the affected skin . 
This entails completely covering the latter by means of dry sterile gauze and bandages , and/or a washable cotton garment . 
And , unless he is at an age when he can take them off , by putting his hands in cotton mitts. cure unknown 
There is no known way of curing eczema . 
If it 's going to clear up , as is usually the case , it will do so of its own accord , generally when the child is between eighteen months and two years of age . 
If it does n't go spontaneously by this time , it 's likely to last for several years , as is the case when the older child develops it . 
Fortunately , in these circumstances , the eczema is generally the " dry " type , and only slight , restricted to neck , elbows , and behind the knees . 
But even though there is no specific treatment which will cure eczema , there are ways by which discomfort can be greatly eased . 
First on the list of relief measures is a simple lotion , cream or ointment , which is applied direct to the affected skin in order to relieve the irritation . 
Usually , the doctor will prescribe calamine for " weeping " eczema , and zinc cream or coal tar ointment for the " dry " type . 
sedative 
Almost certainly , he will prescribe a suitable sedative , too . 
Probably , one which is also an anti-histamine ( which means it is able to offset to some extent at least , the irritating effect of the chemical substance called histamine spilling out from body cells into the tissues ) . 
Something else the doctor is likely to prescribe is a special emulsifying ointment . 
This is used instead of ordinary soap . 
For the latter may well increase the irritation and probably aggravate the rash . 
Since wool is also irritating to the child with eczema , it 's advisable for his mother to make him removable linings or little undergarments of butter muslin or cotton . 
But it 's not necessary to put him on a special diet . 
Some babies seem to improve when fed on a reliable brand of evaporated milk or soya bean flour instead of fresh or dried milk . 
But then the well-known child specialist with whom I discussed the subject of eczema is convinced that these children would improve anyway , and that it has nothing to do with the milk . 
One last word . 
Just as there is no specific cure for eczema , so there is no one specific cause . 
Nevertheless , it is regarded as an allergic reaction , although it 's only in rare cases that a particular substance can be detected to which the child is allergic . 
Some believe that eczema is caused by emotional factors , even in the youngest baby . 
But while most experienced doctors will agree that the condition is aggravated by tension , they do not agree that this is the basic cause . 
Except , possibly , in the older child . 
Certainly in such a child , eczema is made worse by parental tension , and by repeated attempts to find someone who will cure him . 
Fortunately , it 's equally true that the condition begins to improve once the family doctor can induce the parents to accept philosophically the fact that their child has eczema , that there is no specific cure , but that , in time , it 's almost certain to disappear . 
This spontaneous disappearance of the rash is even more likely when , in addition to carrying out the proper treatment , the parents are able to provide tranquillity and happiness within the home itself , and in their day-to-day dealings with their child . 
TALKING ABOUT HEALTH OUR FAMILY DOCTOR CRAMP 
She was a tall , slim , athletic looking nineteen-year-old . 
" I 'm going on holiday with friends next month , " she said , " and want to swim a lot . 
I 'm apt to get cramp and wondered how to prevent it ? " 
"When do you get cramp ? " 
"Mostly at night , but I 'm worried about getting it while I 'm swimming . 
Usually it starts just as I 'm going to sleep , " she added . 
" Always in my right leg . 
Here , " touching her calf muscles . 
" But if I get up and stamp around the bedroom it soon goes . " 
"Does it happen any special night in the week ? " 
I asked . 
She said slowly : " Well , I 've noticed it on Tuesdays and Thursdays . " 
"What do you do on those days that you do n't on others ? " 
The answer was that she went to keep-fit sessions at a local gymnasium . 
" Do you perspire a lot ? " 
"We all do , but we drink lots of lemonade and that sort of thing . " 
I explained to her that cramp is often caused by having lost salt through sweating . 
" You get thirsty and drink a lot . 
" All the body fluids are salty , and the salt and water is carefully balanced . 
Lose water and salt by sweating profusely and they stay in balance . 
Replace only the water and the balance of salt gets upset and that shows up very commonly as a muscular cramp later on . 
" You must try what people do in hot countries . 
Drop a salt tablet into the water or lemonade and you replace both salt and water . 
Then you wo n't get cramp . " 
On holiday , I told her , she was more likely to get cramp if she swam soon after a meal . 
" Wait at least an hour after eating , and never swim when you are cold . 
Warm up your muscles by running about and doing a few exercises before you go into the water . 
" If ever you do get cramp in the water , do n't panic . 
Float on your back and use your hands and arms to scull yourself back to the beach . 
" Then pull the cramped leg right up to your chest and massage the affected calf muscles . 
If you can get some heat into them — say from a handkerchief soaked in a thermos of hot tea — so much the better . 
" And if you should get cramp again in bed at night pull your leg up to your chest . 
Then try to pull your toes up towards your chin . 
That lengthens and stretches the contracted muscles and the cramp will soon go . " 
I learnt later that she had a really wonderful holiday with never a hint of cramp . 
DR . 
MERIDITH. hoping for a baby Discussing delayed pregnancy , JOAN WILLIAMS S.R.N. , S.C.M . 
emphasizes that , with rare exceptions , every young couple may become parents 
IT is a known fact that within the framework of marriages where there is a complete and natural sex relationship , pregnancy will begin within a year for about eighty out of a hundred couples . 
And with only a further ten per cent will it occur during the second year . 
Obviously then , a couple who have tried unsuccessfully for a whole year to have a baby are justified in thinking that something may be wrong . 
And they are equally justified in seeking medical advice . 
Indeed , they would be wise to do so : particularly if the wife is in her late twenties or older . 
They may well find that the delay has a very simple explanation which is quickly revealed through a quiet talk with their doctor . 
For often the root of the trouble is their lack of true understanding in regard to marital relationship , and/or the fertile phase in the menstrual cycle . 
adjustment 
In this case , the putting into practice of necessary adjustments will probably lead to the desired pregnancy within a few months . 
Or maybe even sooner . 
And if the doctor can not find any obvious cause for the delay in conception ? 
If he advises specialist investigation ? 
There is still no cause for despondency or apprehension . 
For true sterility is rare , and there is every chance that the cause or causes of delay will be found through tests — none of which is in the least alarming . 
( A brief description of what is likely to be involved is given in my free newsheet entitled "Routine Fertility Tests . " 
IMPORTANT SERIES FOR MOTHERS-TO-BE No. 6 The Long Wait Over 
DURING pregnancy , a baby lies curled up in his mother 's womb , surrounded by a bag of warm , protective fluid . 
The neck of the womb ( cervix ) is tightly closed beneath him , and sealed with a plug of jelly-like mucus , which prevents infection from getting to the womb . 
When he is ready to be born , three things must happen . 
The plug of mucus must drop away , then the womb is no longer sealed . 
The cervix must stretch sufficiently to let the baby pass through into the front passage , and the bag of membrane which holds the protective fluid must give way , allowing the fluid to escape — otherwise the baby would be held in the womb even after the cervix had stretched completely . 
Usually , the first thing that the mother notices when labour begins , is that the tightening and relaxing of her womb ( which has been going on for some time during pregnancy ) has suddenly taken on a rhythm . 
That is , the contractions are occurring regularly . 
When this happens , even though half an hour , or even longer , may pass between contractions , she will know that her labour has started . 
With or without regular contractions , she may have a "show . " 
This is just the plug of mucus which has left the cervix and passed down the vagina . 
Usually it is streaked with a little blood . 
Although it 's as well to notify hospital or midwife when labour contractions are coming at fifteen minute intervals , or less , there 's no need , as a rule , to do anything about a show which is not accompanied by either of the other two signs of labour . 
However , if the show contains more blood than would go on a penny , then it 's a wise precaution to seek advice . 
For this might mean that labour is progressing more rapidly than is expected . 
Sometimes the first sign that labour has begun is the breaking of the bag of waters , or "rupture of the membranes . " 
There is a sudden , uncontrolled gush of fluid , which comes from the womb , not from the bladder . 
In point of fact , the waters can break at any time during labour . 
Sometimes this does n't happen until the baby is ready to be born . 
But when they break right at the beginning , even though there have been no regular contractions , and no show , it 's a sign that Baby is starting his journey , and the expectant mother should notify hospital or midwife . 
The first stage of labour progresses steadily , but quite slowly , as a rule . 
With first babies it may take anything up to twenty-four hours or so . 
During this time , the regular , rhythmic contractions of the womb gradually draw open , or stretch , the cervix . 
As the cervix stretches , the baby sinks lower in the womb . 
Usually an expectant mother is quite happy to remain up and about during the early first stage of labour — unless it 's night time , of course . 
It 's when contractions are stronger , and more frequent , that she prefers to lie down . 
Various preparations and examinations are carried out during this stage of labour . 
Preparations such as shaving away body hair , and giving an enema , to ensure cleanliness when the baby is born . 
And examinations to discover how rapidly labour is progressing , and to check the condition of both mother and baby . 
The commonest , and most frequent , of these examinations is a regular pulse , temperature and blood pressure check , and gentle examination of the mother 's tummy to track Baby 's downward progress . 
Combined with careful listening to his heartbeats through a little metal stethoscope . 
But , in addition to these regular examinations , it is quite usual for an internal examination to be made some time during labour — or maybe more than one . 
This is nothing to be alarmed about . 
If the doctor or midwife decides that such an examination is needed it does n't mean that there is anything wrong . 
Simply that it 's the most accurate way , at that point , of checking how far labour has progressed , of estimating how much longer it is likely to last , and of deciding how best to help the mother relax , so that she can co-operate with the contractions that are bringing her baby into the world . 
It 's during the first stage of labour that the fruits of an expectant mother 's daily practice of relaxation and breath control can really come into their own . 
For if she is able to relax , and " go with " each contraction , she will not only be helping herself to experience the minimum of discomfort , but she will also be helping the contraction to exert the maximum stretching power on her cervix . 
This can result in a shorter labour , for it follows that the more the cervix stretches with each contraction , the fewer contractions will be needed for the end result . 
This does not mean , however , that an expectant mother carries the responsibility for the duration or outcome of her labour . 
Simply that she can help , as a rule . 
In addition to her efforts in this direction , she should never hesitate to accept any drug or gas that may be offered to help her . 
For such drugs in no way prevent her from having a natural birth , and their use does not in any way mean either that something is not quite right or that she is not managing splendidly . 
Far from it . 
The purpose of these drugs is to back up the mother 's work , to help her relax not only between , but also during contractions , and to diminish the sensation of those contractions when they become strong . 
But to diminish the sensation without in any way undermining their usefulness . 
As the first stage of labour draws towards its close , the contractions become stronger and much closer together . 
Usually they arrive at two to three minute intervals just before Baby is ready to be born . 
It 's at this stage that many a mother feels a bit panicky — feels that she 's being swept along on a tide that she ca n't control . 
She wants to bear down , perhaps , but it 's not quite time for her to do so . 
She longs for her labour to be over , and for a very little while she may be afraid . 
But it will help her if she will hold hard to the knowledge that all this is quite natural , and that it simply means that it 's almost time for her to work really hard , and push her baby into the world . 
Deep breathing , and the use of the gas and air apparatus which is usually offered , will help her over this last difficult phase of the first stage of labour . 
And , in a very short while , the moment will come when the midwife or doctor will say that the cervix is stretched completely , and that now she can do what she 's been waiting to do — work as hard as she possibly can , with the contractions of her womb , to help her baby to be born . 
For now , instead of relaxing both between and during contractions , it 's a case of relaxing between them to gather strength for the next effort , and really working when it comes . 
With each contraction , she will be asked to take a really deep breath , to hold it , and to bear down as hard as she can , and for as long as she can . 
For with each contraction , Baby comes a little nearer the outside world . 
Soon the head can be seen . 
A few more pushes , and it 's half born . 
And then the mother will be asked to stop pushing , and to breathe quickly in and out — like a dog panting . 
This helps whoever is delivering the baby to hold the head gently until the force of the contraction passes , and then to guide it gently into the world between contractions , so reducing the possibility of stitches being needed . 
Once Baby 's head is delivered the rest of the body follows quickly . 
The second stage of labour is over . 
Baby is born . 
Here at last . 
A gasp , and a lusty yell . 
The cord is tied and cut , and Baby is snugly wrapped in a warm blanket . 
And , for the first time , Mother can hold him in her arms . 
It just remains for the afterbirth to come away . 
This only takes a few minutes as a rule , and we call it the third stage of labour . 
The new mother need n't give it a thought . 
She can lie back and enjoy her baby , until the midwife , knowing that the afterbirth is ready to pop out , either asks her to relax while her tummy is pressed gently , or else to take a deep breath and to push down as she did when the baby arrived . 
One contraction , and the afterbirth comes away ! 
Everything is over . 
A proud mother is made clean and comfortable , and is given the best cup of tea she 's ever tasted . 
A brand new baby is washed , weighed and dressed . 
Then when both have rested from their efforts , they can lie back and receive the congratulations and good wishes of relatives and friends . 
And how well deserved they are ! 
OTHER MOTHERS ' PROBLEMS Answered by JOAN WILLIAMS , S.R.N. , S.C.M . 
Vitamin C 
My baby , Aileen , is ten weeks old , fully breast fed , and thriving well . 
But there 's just one difficulty — neither welfare orange juice , rose hip syrup , nor blackcurrant juice , seems to suit her . 
All three bring her out in a rash , even though I follow the directions very carefully when giving them . 
Have you any suggestions , please ? 
POSSIBLY your baby may be sensitive to some substance contained in all three of the vitamin C drinks you have given her . 
If that is so , then your doctor is the person to guide you . 
But before taking Aileen to him , try giving her fresh orange juice . 
Squeeze the juice from a cut orange , making quite sure that it contains no pips or bits , and give Baby just one teaspoon of this in a little cool , boiled water , with just a tiny bit of sugar — less than a quarter teaspoon — to taste . 
If she tolerates this without trouble , then gradually work up the amount until she is having a tablespoon of pure juice , in a couple of ounces of boiled water , and a teaspoon of sugar . 
But do n't continue giving the juice if she shows the slightest sign of sickness , loose motions , tummy discomfort or a rash . 
If any of these happen , take Baby to your doctor . 
He may think it a good idea to try her on guava juice , as this is rich in vitamin C , or the juice of fresh tomatoes . 
Or he may prescribe vitamin C tablets . 
Baby Book 
I believe that you have written a book to help expectant mothers . 
Please could you give me details ? 
MY little book " Baby and You , " has recently been completely revised , and brought up to date . 
It includes sections on how a baby develops in the womb , how his mother can care for her general health during the waiting months , how she can prepare herself for the birth , plan his layette , and care for him after he is born . 
It also includes a section on the actual birth of the baby . 
The booklet costs one shilling and sixpence , post free , from this address . 
An order form is on page 27 . 
Small Operation 
My doctor tells me that I have a polyp on the neck of my womb , and I am waiting to go into hospital to have it removed . 
But I would like to know what this entails , and what is meant by a polyp . 
I ca n't help worrying . 
REMOVAL of a polyp is a very simple operation , and one that certainly need n't alarm you . 
The polyp is a tiny little growth attached to the neck of the womb . 
It has nothing at all to do with cancer , or indeed with any other serious condition . 
But it does cause " nuisance " symptoms as a rule — bleeding between periods , for example , or a vaginal discharge — and therefore it 's best removed . 
You 'll probably be asked to go into hospital one or two days before the operation is to be performed . 
THE " FRIEND " DOCTOR TALKS Something Hot , Something Cold 
MORE than half my work consists of dealing with stomach trouble . 
And I know that very nearly all of it could so easily be avoided . 
Cultivate a good digestion and you 'll not only feel better physically . 
You 'll live longer . 
Right away , let me say you do n't need to be fussy about your diet . 
Just take heed of a few simple rules . 
Here 's a most important one for dinner-time . 
Whether it 's winter or summer have something hot and something cold . 
An all-cold lunch is bad for you . 
It stuns the stomach . 
Your digestion is out of action for hours . 
An all-hot meal in winter is almost as bad . 
You need a cold sweet to even up the inside temperature . 
DO N'T shut your eyes to the fact that some of the tastiest foods are pretty indigestible . 
I 'm not going to be a spoilsport and tell you to cut them out . 
But try not to overdo these things : — 
Hot buttered toast . 
The fat seals off the bread and the gastric juice ca n't get to work . 
The toast will lie on your stomach three times as long as plain bread . 
So try to make do with just one slice . 
There 's no doubt that cheese is a grand food . 
But have you any idea how much you should have at a time ? 
It 's a piece the size of a small matchbox . 
Any more and you 've only yourself to blame if you get indigestion . 
And the fancier the cheese the less you need . 
Pork is one of the hardest foods to digest . 
It 's a five-hour job for the stomach , so a little is enough . 
And here 's an idea to help avoid any ill-effects . 
Next time you have pork make a point of having stewed fruit in the meal . 
The fruit peps up the gastric juices and helps the digestion enormously . 
THE most indigestible fruit is the pear that is n't quite ripe . 
And warn your children not to go eating green , unripened apples . 
They can make a youngster ill for days , and it 's no exaggeration to say the stomach may never fully recover . 
I 've cured quite a few patients of the kind of indigestion that gives you a blown-up feeling . 
It 's nearly always caused by drinking with a meal , so try not to wash your food down . 
And when you do have a glass of water do n't swallow it at one gulp . 
Finally , you can have a good , sound digestion if you 'll only remember to chew every mouthful of food twenty times . 
It 's Time To Check Your Weight 
THERE 'S one thing I 'd like everyone to do this week . 
Weigh yourself ! 
This is the most important time of the year to check up . 
Do n't worry if you 're a bit underweight . 
That 's natural . 
But if the scales show a pound or two extra , then take this warning . 
If you 've a tendency to fat , it 's in the summer you put on weight that 's going to be there for good ! 
What 's more , it 's important to know where the extra poundage has gone . 
Round the waist line is worst of all . 
Stand erect and pull in the stomach . 
If you still bulge round the middle , then it 's high time you did something about it . 
FAT is not a solid thing . 
It tends to flow where the skin is loose . 
So if you 're out of condition and your stomach muscles are flabby — that 's where the fat goes . 
Stomach fat goes to two areas — around the bowel and below the liver . 
And when this part of the system is hampered and clogged , the breathing suffers . 
But here 's the biggest danger . 
When there 's no more room round the middle , the fat can go straight to the heart . 
Women are the worst sufferers from breathlessness due to fat . 
If a man becomes breathless he 's pretty quick to see a doctor . 
But women seem to take it for granted . 
Another area where fat can be dangerous is in the arteries . 
Anyone suffering from overweight risks the fat lingering in the bloodstream . 
Because of this you should never ignore a pounding in the heart or a throbbing of the head if you 're overweight . 
If you do , you may be risking coronary thrombosis . 
YOU may be surprised to learn that fat can be dangerous on the hands and feet . 
This is n't common . 
But the moment a grown-up discovers she needs a bigger size in shoes and gloves — see a doctor . 
Thick ankles are not always due to mere fat . 
Often varicose veins are to blame . 
The safest place for fat is on the arms . 
It helps to keep the muscles in shape . 
Fat round the neck is not so frightening as you might believe . 
Whether the fat is at the back or under the chin , the excess wo n't do any harm so long as there is n't too much of it . 
The first signs of a thick neck affecting health are headaches and irritability . 
These indicate blood pressure . 
By far the luckiest folk are the ones with a thin layer of overall fat . 
They can stand both cold and hot weather , because the fat under the skin helps control the body temperature . 
Little Signs I Do n't Like To See 
I DID N'T like the look of a patient who came to see me a few evenings ago . 
He 'd rushed to the surgery and was breathing heavily . 
But it was n't that which disturbed me . 
It was the time he took to recover . 
If you 're under 25 you should get your breath back in one minute . 
Under 45 I 'd say two minutes . 
Up to 65 the breathing should be easier inside four minutes . 
What are the other little signs a doctor does n't like to see ? 
When a woman comes to me complaining of tiredness and breathlessness , the shape of her ankles can tell me a lot . 
If her ankles have been steadily getting thicker I suspect trouble with the heart . 
But when there 's no breathlessness and no general fatigue then the ankles have simply thickened with too much standing or walking . 
FOLK over 45 would do well to watch the veins at the side of their necks . 
These veins stand out pretty far when you 're bursting with anger or physical exertion . 
But when the anger dies away or the exertion is over these veins should subside . 
If they do n't I 've a suspicion the heart is congested and overtaxed . 
The heart has another way to tell the world it 's under strain . 
The pulse beats at the side of the neck just where a man 's collar is . 
Maybe you 've noticed this yourself in a person full of suppressed excitement — usually someone who takes a pride in self-control . 
Well , self-control is n't always good for health . 
The body 's normal reactions do n't like being suppressed . 
Secret worry and suppressed emotion affect the heart , and in many cases this shows in the pulse beat I mentioned . 
Occasionally I notice my patient has a quiver round the mouth or lip . 
This indicates nervous strain . 
No matter how you try to control yourself , the muscles round the mouth are first to give way . 
I ONCE warned a patient he was due for an attack of lumbago unless he was careful . 
" But how can you tell ? " he asked . 
" It 's quite easy , " I told him . 
" You 're walking at a slight forward angle . 
That tells me your back muscles are taxed and uncomfortable . 
They 're fighting the lumbago . " 
Bloodlessness is n't so easy to detect as you might imagine . 
You can look as fit as a fiddle and yet be bloodless . 
My test rarely fails . 
I look — not at the lips , which can be deceptive — but at the ear lobes . 
I can learn a lot when the light is shining through the lobes from behind . 
I do n't like to see the lobes pale or dull pink . 
The richer the colour the better . 
When There 's Nothing Better Than A Poultice 
YOU know that awful feeling you get about two o'clock in the morning , when you have a pain that wo n't let you get to sleep . 
A patient of mine had a pain like that in her shoulder . 
It gnawed and gnawed for hours . 
At last she got up in desperation . 
There was no fire and she was out of aspirins . 
Do you know what she did ? 
She opened the oven door , lit the gas , and then sat in front of it . 
The heat certainly eased the pain . 
But if only she 'd known she could have been lying comfortably in bed getting the same relief . 
All she had to do was to make an old-fashioned poultice . 
A HOME-Made bread poultice can work wonders . 
Just cut one slice of bread about an inch thick . 
Roll it in gauze muslin or thin cotton . 
Dip it into hot water then wring out . 
The secret is to do it gently . 
The poultice should never be dripping wet . 
Then test it for heat on the back of the hand . 
Mould the poultice over the painful part and make sure it extends three inches all round beyond the pain . 
Finally cover the lot with a piece of old flannel , cotton wool , or a double thickness of lint . 
Why does a poultice do the trick so well ? 
Well , it dilates the blood vessels . 
It draws blood to the painful area . 
This in turn restores the damaged tissue and carries away harmful poison . 
And there 's nothing like a poultice to help you get to sleep . 
When you 're in pain all the muscles round the area tighten up and make the pain worse . 
But the poultice slackens off this muscle tension , and half your battle for sleep is won . 
OF all ailments I think chest troubles get most relief from a poultice . 
Bad bronchitis can be specially distressing . 
Yet a poultice can ease the breathing and loosen the tightness in the chest . 
But , remember , children or anyone who is frail should not have the poultice on the chest . 
The weight might restrict the breathing . 
So for these folk put the poultice across the shoulders , just below the shoulder blades . 
The biggest poultice of all is needed for pleurisy . 
It should start under the armpit and go down almost to the waist . 
Of course , the best poultice of all is the kaolin variety — if it 's fresh and moist . 
But you can take comfort in the fact that you need never be stuck — so long as you have a slice of bread in the house . 
Seven Golden Rules For The Winter 
NOW 'S the time a lot of my patients ask me the same question . 
" How is it , doctor , that you manage to keep so clear of colds every winter ? " 
They think I have some special medicine , but I do n't . 
All I do is follow these golden rules : — 
1 . 
When the first frosts come start the day with porridge and milk . 
The lime in the oatmeal and in the milk is good for the circulation . 
It 's specially good for anyone plagued with chilblains . 
But the porridge does more . 
That mass of warm oatmeal in your stomach is central heating at its best . 
You wo n't feel the cold so much on your way to work . 
You wo n't chill so easily standing for a bus . 
2 . 
Never go out on a winter 's morning with an empty or cold stomach . 
If you do , the blood has to rush inwards to warm up the stomach . 
There 's less blood for the outer areas , and that can mean a chill . 
3 . 
Always keep on the move . 
If you pop your finger quickly in and out of cold water you 'll hardly feel the cold . 
Keep the finger in for a longer time and it will " freeze . " 
In the same way you can walk along wet roads without becoming chilled . 
But you 're asking for trouble if you stand around for a gossip . 
4 . 
In cold weather a little exercise is the best defence against rheumatism — particularly fibrositis . 
There 's no need for special exercises . 
Simply stretch yourself . 
Wiggle your hands and toes . 
The older you are the less strenuous the exercises should be . 
But even if you 're over seventy , do try to get your muscles moving . 
Their ideal was to keep close to the exact photographic truth but to render it with a vigorous , personal handling of the paint , which gave it a character not possessed by a photograph . 
At the end of the nineteenth century the leading portrait painters in Britain included Sargent , John Lavery and the veteran Watts , while in landscape Alfred East and D. Y. Cameron were among the leaders . 
But a kind of work that was particularly typical of this period was inspired , not by the French Impressionists , but by a group who preceded them in France , called the { Plein Air ( Open Air ) School . 
These { Plein Airists chose to paint their pictures on the spot — not in the studio . 
They believed in working direct from nature , out of doors . 
Those British painters who tried to follow these ideals found themselves in difficulties with the British climate , for the climate of France is much more suitable to long hours of painting out of doors . 
However , they found a solution by moving to the mildness of Cornwall , in the south-west , to live . 
There , in such places as Penzance and Newlyn , colonies of painters settled . 
Stanhope Forbes and Frank Bramley represented faithfully scenes from the lives of the Cornish fishermen . 
Henry La Thangue and George Clausen also found , in the everyday life of humble folk , their favourite subjects . 
We can see many pictures by British artists , as well as those of the more recent foreign painters , at the Tate Gallery in London , which was opened in 1897 — an important event for art in Britain . 
This gallery was the generous gift of Henry Tate , the sugar merchant , who was made a baron by Queen Victoria just before he died , as a mark of the gratitude of the nation . 
Queen Victoria herself died in 1901 , and by that time the influence of the Impressionists was being felt strongly in Britain . 
Painters like Lucien Pissarro , Wilson Steer , Spencer Gore and Sickert were working in a fully Impressionist way , and this kind of painting was at last becoming accepted by the British public in spite of the constant prejudice against new things in art . 
So the pioneer work of Constable and Turner , having been nurtured on foreign soil , echoed back to their native land after more than half a century had passed . 
However , by that time a new war had been raging in Paris for some time , where the Post-Impressionists were attacking the ideas of the Impressionists , though once again it was some time before this new conflict spread to Britain . 
The Impressionists , in their devotion to light , had tended to become quite indifferent to the objects in their pictures . 
The Post-Impressionists felt that this impartiality was itself a limiting thing . 
They held that it was the painter 's feelings about a scene that should be expressed , not just the light that reflected from the scene . 
With this in view they permitted themselves to exaggerate any quality which they found exciting — they claimed the right to distort the facts according to their own feelings . 
In doing so these painters finally abandoned all attempt to compete with the camera . 
They turned their back on realism and threw overboard all their time-honoured traditions . 
Many painters still continued to represent nature in the traditional way , of course . 
Such painters are called academic , because in general they keep to the ideals of the old academies , which have tended to oppose any new movements in painting . 
We still have many such academic painters today , and they will continue ; but gradually the British public is accepting the other kind — those who feel that a painter 's job is to abandon the task of representing nature in a literal , realistic way and to explore beyond the region of actual appearances . 
This breaking away from accepted standards in painting has usually been brought about by small groups of young painters who have shared the same ideals and given each other encouragement and help . 
These groups , as they have arisen one after another , have been regarded by most older painters as dangerous rebels and have been outcasts , excluded from all established groups such as the Royal Academy . 
However as time goes on they have managed to convert many of their fellow-artists and finally the general public to their new ideas , which have then lost their novelty and no longer appear so shocking and outrageous , but are finally regarded as quite traditional and old fashioned . 
These rebel painters by then will have grown old and their style may have come to be regarded as sufficiently respectable for them to be themselves elected to the Royal Academy and other societies which once rejected them . 
They then tend , in their turn , to oppose the newer groups whose ideas and methods are more modern still . 
Thus the old-established art societies , and particularly the Royal Academy , have been constantly rejecting and thwarting new groups of young rebels as they have come into being one after another . 
This has tended to lessen the prestige of the Royal Academy in the eyes , first of many painters , and eventually of the general public . 
It is still important and has great influence , but that influence is less than it once was . 
On the other hand various groups in turn , such as the New English Art Club , the Camden Town Group and the London Group , have organised exhibitions which have been more vigorous and exciting than the Academy itself and have often attracted more attention . 
Recently there have been a number of painters who could have become associates of the Royal Academy and finally academicians , but have preferred to remain outside , for they wanted to be regarded as advanced and unorthodox in their work and not to become associated with any society which might be considered old fashioned and hidebound . 
It is really rather surprising how well the Royal Academy has managed to adjust itself to changing styles and ideals in art , considering how it is organised . 
Painters , before they are elected as associates or academicians have nearly always been exhibiting for some years and are therefore no longer young men , so the A.R.A. 's and R.A. 's are , on the whole , middle-aged or elderly . 
At that age people tend to become somewhat set in their ways . 
What is remarkable is not so much that the Royal Academy should have remained distinctly academic , but that it should have shown so much tolerance as it has to the younger men . 
Since the days of the Impressionists the world of art has grown much smaller . 
Rapid communications have broken down the national barriers that previously gave painters in Britain a certain amount of isolation . 
Art has thus become much more international . 
Paris has continued as the focus-point of change in art . 
Here the new ideas have mostly originated , but they have spread much more quickly than in previous periods . 
In the past fifty years or so we have seen a number of " isms " , following each other in quick succession — Cubism , Futurism , Fauvism , Surrealism and others . 
These movements have mostly consisted in the exaggeration of some single factor in painting — some factor that has been part of the stock-in-trade of painters from the first — and enlarging this to become the whole . 
By discarding all the other factors , or most of them , this then becomes the sole interest of the painter . 
To take a single instance , Cubism consisted in the exaggeration of the geometric characteristics of natural forms . 
There have always been painters who enjoyed the squareness or roundness of things , and have tended in consequence to exaggerate the squareness of an elbow or a cliff edge and the roundness of a forehead or a hilltop at the expense of other aspects of objects . 
The Cubists took this to the limit , reducing every form to its simplest , geometric counterpart — making human figures , trees , hills and everything else into arrangements of cubes , spheres and cylinders . 
Of course , in order to do this they had to deny themselves nearly every quality other than geometric forms ; but that is the nature of an " ism " in art . 
Many British painters have been influenced by Cubism , among them Wyndham Lewis , Paul Nash , Edward Wadsworth and William Roberts . 
Another characteristic of painting in recent times is the repeated turning back for inspiration to early or primitive artistic traditions . 
This is not just the kind of home sickness for simpler ways which we have seen already , among the Pre-Raphaelites for instance . 
No doubt this feeling enters into it , but there is more to it than that . 
It is part of a questing for new purpose and aim in art . 
Of course there are still many painters who are content to continue working in the academic way , developing new variations within the tradition of more or less descriptive painting . 
But there is a growing number who have become dissatisfied with this . 
They have come to feel that realistic painting has run its course and that the whole of that road has been thoroughly explored and no further progress is possible . 
There is no feeling of adventure for them in this field , no anticipation of new discovery , and without this a painter 's work becomes unbearable drudgery . 
Unless he feels that he can improve , he must either give up or go back and start again on a new route . 
That is just what many painters have been doing in recent years . 
They can not beat the camera at its own work and they can not improve on the work of the great realistic painters before them , so they go back along the route of painting of the past in the hope of finding some side-track branching off , which will open up into a royal road to new achievements and exciting discoveries . 
So the modern painters have often taken the ancient Greeks or Mexicans , or perhaps the more recent carvers of West Africa , or the Fiji Islands as their inspiration , just as explorers in a strange land will employ local guides . 
After all , there have been artists in the world for nearly fifty thousand years , but painters have been working in the academic style for only about the last six hundred years , and most of that time in only one part of the world — western Europe . 
This academic painting is a recent , very wonderful episode if we consider it against the whole of art history . 
It is like one short act in a long performance ; and while painters in Europe have been perfecting their own tradition , there were many other artistic traditions , both past and present , about which they were very ignorant . 
All these alien styles were available to help them when they felt the need to make a new beginning . 
Some artists have found a new path in their work by abandoning subject-matter entirely . 
They have taken this much further than Whistler and the Impressionists did , and represent nothing in their pictures , employing only purely abstract shapes . 
Ben Nicholson is the best known of the British abstract painters . 
Many painters , in quite recent times , feel more and more out of tune with modern society . 
They feel that the world today belongs to science and machines and has no place for art — that everywhere a falsely high value is placed on material things , and the mind and spirit of man is being neglected . 
Some of them , especially certain groups abroad , have expressed in their pictures the frustration and dissatisfaction which they feel . 
At times such painters have gone far beyond the satire of Hogarth and Rowlandson , and have held mankind up to derision in their canvases , depicting humanity as distorted by corruption and lunacy . 
As usual , these new movements have mostly been in existence for some time on the Continent before they reached Britain ; and when they have been seen here it has often been only in a modified form . 
But a great deal of the art of today in this country has been affected by them . 
The recent tendency to turn away from realism in painting has been made easier because photography has now relieved painters of much of their previous task of recording facts and portraying people and places . 
TRADITIONAL CUSTOMS 
Meistertrunk ( Master Draught ) and Shepherd 's Dance , Rothenburg-on-Tauber , Sundays in June , July and August . 
The Meistertrunk is the best known and most popular of the Bavarian history plays . 
And it takes place , of course , in perhaps the most picturesque medieval town in Germany . 
" The Master Draught " is based on chronicled events of the Thirty Years ' War . 
When , in October , 1631 , the Imperial Field Marshal Tilly brought his troops to the town , demanding its surrender , the citizens refused . 
However , at last they had to give in , and the conqueror decided the burgomaster and the councilmen should suffer the death penalty . 
Pleas from the women and children softened Tilly 's heart somewhat . 
But good wine did more , for when he saw the magnificent state beaker he stated that if the burgomaster or one of the council could empty it at one draught all should live and the city be spared . 
Burgomaster Nush undertook the task , and emptied the beaker at one draught , thus saving everyone . 
This historical beaker is still used when the epic story is re-enacted to-day , although this scene is but one in a play in which the actors wear period costumes . 
The entire town is the stage , with the troop encampment outside the city walls , the children 's plea with Tilly on the market square , and all the rest . 
In the afternoon of some days of the history play , the historical shepherds ' dance is performed in the market square . 
It is danced in honour of St. Wolfgang , patron-saint of shepherds , and commemorates a member of the shepherds ' guild who made a race from his pastures to the city to bring warning of the approach of an enemy . 
The troop encampment outside the city walls lasts until late , when camp fires and torch-light add to the romantic scene . 
On certain evenings during the summer , Hans Sachs plays are given in a local hall . 
Kinderzeche ( Children 's Feast ) , Dinkelsbu " hl , July . 
This medieval town , not far from Rothenburg , also re-enacts an episode from the Thirty Years ' War . 
When a Swedish colonel came with his troops to conquer the town , the burghers were split in their attitude . 
In perplexity the city fathers tried vainly to find a solution . 
Ruin and destruction seemed inevitable . 
It was then that a beautiful young girl , named Lore , accompanied by a crowd of small children , offered to go out to meet the Colonel and to beg pity for the town . 
But before the plan could be realised the Swedish troops had entered the city , ready to destroy it . 
At that moment , the song of children 's voices sounded from afar , and then Lore appeared with her young band . 
Fearlessly she faced the conqueror , knelt and begged his mercy for the town and its people . 
The colonel 's heart softened , and Dinkelsbu " hl was saved from destruction . 
The Kinderzeche festival is first of all a children 's event . 
It usually begins on the Saturday before the third Monday in July with beer sampling on the " shooting meadows . " 
The next morning the boys ' band marches through the city in historical costumes , playing lustily . 
The festival play is performed in the ancient market hall . 
During the play period , the entire town is one great festival ground . 
There are processions , children 's dances , concerts , guild and sword dances , and many other entertainments . 
Hamelin is mainly familiar to us through the legend of the Rattenfa " nger ( Rat-catcher ) , related in Browning 's poem . 
The event is celebrated each Sunday in summer when the story is re-enacted by a piper and boys , the latter disguised as mice . 
Unfortunately , modern research tends to discredit the legend , claiming that what really happened was a visit from a labour agent who attracted many local young men away to Bohemia , with the promise of good wages . 
The Princely Wedding , Landshut , every two or three years ( usually on three Sundays in June and July ) . 
This is one of the most colourful events in Europe . 
It is a re-enactment of a gorgeous wedding which took place in 1745 when Ludwig the Rich married his son , Duke George , to Hedwiga of the Royal House of Poland . 
In addition to a festive procession , the houses of this medieval town are beautifully decorated for the occasion , and nearly a thousand " burghers , " dressed in the rich costumes of the Middle Ages , strut around and bring those opulent days back to life for a short while . 
I say " opulent , " for it is officially recorded that at the feasting which followed the actual wedding , 333 oxen , 275 fat pigs , 40 calves , and 12,000 geese were eaten . 
Tanzel-Festival , Kaufbeuren , July . 
This is another outstanding costume festival held in a small town lying between Augsburg and Fu " ssen . 
It celebrates an old custom dating back to 1497 , and begins with the enactment of an historic scene , when the burgomaster with his councillors receives King Conradin who , on horseback and accompanied by his knights and bishops , appears at the door of the town hall . 
The festival 's climax , however , is the great procession through the town , with heralds , flower-girls , drummers , the King , the city council and their ladies , lansquenets in plus-fours , followed by the guilds and their state carriages , among them weavers , brewers , tanners and blacksmiths . 
Archers appear , flag-wavers , medievally-clad soldiers and yellow mail coaches with postillions industriously blowing their horns . 
There are many bands , while perhaps the most beautiful features of the festival are the 800 children , dressed in historic costumes . 
Anno 1634 , No " rdlingen , during summer months . 
This is the most southerly of the three medieval towns lying on the " Romantic Road , " and it still retains its fortress wall with 18 towers . 
The Daniel Tower of its fine St. George 's Church still sees a unique nightly ceremony , for at nine each night a watchman at its summit cries to another on the ground that " All 's well . " 
The play re-enacts various events in the Thirty Years ' War . 
There are dances in period costumes , concerts and other entertainments . 
The town 's populace form the cast for the play , and the streets offer a fascinating picture , resembling indeed a medieval master 's painting . 
Spearing the Dragon , Fu " rth-im-Wald . 
For 500 years this town in the Bayerischer Wald has performed an exciting open-air play ( every second Sunday in August ) , called " Drachenstich " ( spearing the dragon ) . 
It is based , obviously , on some pagan legend . 
Performed in the market square , the play has as its climax the killing of the dragon ( 50 ft. long , 10 ft. high , and weighing over a ton ) by a knight on horseback who pierces the monster 's head by thrusting his spear into it through the throat . 
The hero must be careful , however , not to miss a pig 's bladder filled with ox blood , so the wounded animal can spout blood . 
The dragon looks comically gruesome when it spouts fire , rolls the eyes , shows its giant teeth , wiggles its large blood-red tongue and twists its huge body . 
With the Drachenstich , of course , go merrymaking and various festivities , including a grand procession through the streets . 
Fu " rth-im-Wald is also the scene of a Leonhardi Ride — a religious festival really , and it takes place on Easter Monday . 
Other Leonhardi Rides in Bavaria are usually held on November 6th , the saint 's day . 
Trenck , the Pandur , Waldmu " nchen ( July to August ) . 
This open-air play performed after dark is notable for its excellent artistic management and the highly realistic acting . 
Among the players are many direct descendants of the characters they represent in the play . 
The story is about the capture , sack and burning of the town by a notorious leader of Hungarian Pandur bands in the year 1742 . 
The nightly troop encampment scenes , wild riding , and especially the storming of the town with scaling ladders , torches and burning pitch , are exciting and exceedingly well done . 
{ Ulmer Fischerstechen , Ulm , first Monday in August on the Danube . 
According to old tradition , two boats approach with the participants in old costumes , and try and joust each other into the water with lances . 
The " sport " was already popular in the 16th century when Kaiser Karl 5 and his son , later King Philip 2 of Spain , allowed it in 1549 . 
This { Turnier auf dem Wasser ( tournament on the water ) was played in the old Ulm days when it was a free city and the game took place between youngsters of the fishermen 's guild . 
It is today performed as a pageant , and is also popular in other countries . 
Potters ' Festival , Passau , first Saturday in August . 
The products of the potters of the Ilz section of this three-river city have long been famous . 
Although their great boom period is no more , the Ilz "Haferl Festival " ( pottery festival ) is still celebrated with great enthusiasm . 
All the buildings in town and the moated castle , Niederhaus , are specially illuminated , dance music is played in the open , there are open-air performances , water games , boat racing , and a pageant . 
The climax is a large scale illumination of the town and Oberhaus fortress and the old section of Passau . 
There is a splendid display of fireworks ; and one seems wafted to a night in Venice . 
Folk Festival , Nuremburg , usually in August . 
Founded in 1826 , this festival is rather similar to the better-known Oktoberfest of Munich . 
There are the great beer tents , representative shows , entertainments and other attractions . 
On the Friday before the first festival Sunday the chief burgomaster empties the first " mass " ( about one quart ) in the course of a grand beer sampling ceremony . 
Crowds pour into the city from the surrounding Bavarian towns and villages , and there is a joyous atmosphere of wit and good humour — two strong characteristics of the citizens . 
Teenagers ' Festival , Worms , first week in September . 
This is one of the most amusing festivals in Germany . 
Among the events are the historical coachmen 's dance , a hilarious fishermen 's jousting tournament on the Rhine , fought from small boats , a parade of illuminated vessels , and a giant firework display . 
Huge wine and beer tents , holding thousands of visitors , as well as numerous booths are to be found in the fair grounds beside the river 's bank . 
The { Tura Michele , Augsburg . 
Since 1526 , a group of figures representing the archangel Michael with the Devil at his feet has been in the understructure of the Perlach Tower of the city hall . 
On St. Michael 's Day , September 29th , the angel appears every hour on the hour , and with each sound of the hour stabs the struggling Devil . 
During the last war the historical figure was destroyed , but a new one is now carrying on the old custom . 
Every year a fair is held on this day and the so-called "{ Tura Michele " is visited by many tourists . 
Driving the Cattle Home , Bavarian Alps . 
According to an ancient custom the almabtrieb — driving the cattle home from the mountains — is the occasion of a great autumn festival in the Bavarian Alps . 
In a festive procession the cattle , wreathed and garlanded , stamp down the hills , the dairy maid out front and the shepherd boy following the herd . 
Particularly pretty is the driving-down of the cows from the pastures above Lake Ko " nigssee near Berchtesgaden , where the cattle are carried across the lake by boat . 
Traditional Costume Festivals , Southern Bavaria . 
The " Union of Bavarian Costume Clubs " comprises some 650 clubs with a total of 70,000 members . 
Throughout the year , but especially during the summer months , these clubs hold costume festivals . 
One of the outstanding examples is the Annual Pageant in Munich in October . 
The most beautiful native costumes from all over the country are on parade there , to the accompaniment of bands , also in native garb . 
These costume days and festivals are real folk events , complete with field mass , extended processions , honour dances , and music band contests . 
Leonhardi-Ride , Bad To " lz . 
November 6th is the name-day of St. Leonhard , patron saint of the horses . 
In Old Bavaria , the day has been observed for centuries by the peasants ' " Leonhardi Ride " to church in which well-groomed , beautifully harnessed horses draw richly decorated wagons . 
While many villages have clung to this ancient custom , no Leonhardi Ride has become so famous as the one of To " lz in the Isar river bend . 
The preparations take weeks , and from distant farmsteads they come to Kalvarien ( Calvary ) Mountain at To " lz , high above the Isar . 
Editing in Eskimo by Francis Dickie 
FIFTY YEARS AGO , the Canadian Eskimo , scattered across half a million square miles of the Arctic , from the Atlantic seaboard to the Bering Sea on the Pacific , was a primitive race . 
Now , Canada 's Department of Northern Affairs is publishing the first magazine entirely in the Canadian Eskimo tongue ever produced . 
Remembering that it is only fifty years since a syllabic written version of the Canadian Eskimo language was created by missionaries , the production now of an all-Eskimo magazine , in two separate dialects , is truly an amazing step forward . 
For , it must be remembered , fifty years ago the Canadian Eskimo was still a stone-age people . 
The fact that the different tribes were so widely scattered over such an enormous territory , and were constantly on the move in pursuit of sea and land animals and fish , made the missionary 's teaching of the syllabics slower and more difficult . 
THIS FIRST MAGAZINE is , therefore , a triumph : until its appearance , the use of syllabics was confined to letters , brief messages , and the Bible . 
In future , across the vast reaches of the Arctic , almost the entire population will for the first time be able to read their language in a modern magazine . 
Canada 's first Eskimo magazine editor is Mary Panegoosho , born at Pond Inlet in 1939 . 
The eldest of nine children , she had three brothers and five sisters . 
Mary went to work as a nurse 's assistant at Hamilton , Ontario , Mountain Sanatorium at fifteen . 
She has been with the Department of Northern Affairs for a year and three months . 
The magazine she edits is published in three editions : " Inuktitut " in the eastern Arctic dialect and in syllabics , " Inuktitun " in the western Arctic dialect in Roman characters , and a third edition in English . 
Both , of course , mean " The Eskimo Way . " 
The first issue of the magazine was greeted with great enthusiasm by the Eskimos . 
Reluctant as they always are to show even their best work , such as carving , it was most gratifying that some contributions were sent in for the second issue . 
The editorial team is made up of Eskimo members of the Eskimology Section of the Northern Welfare Service . 
The total number of copies printed in Eskimo is three thousand five hundred — one for each Eskimo family . 
About two thousand are printed in the eastern Arctic dialect , fifteen hundred in the western . 
These circulation figures are more or less fixed and may only increase slowly as the Eskimo population itself grows . 
The publication of the magazine is only one part of the many functions of the Eskimology Section . 
The Section 's primary concern is assisting the welfare programme and providing consultative services , translating letters from Eskimos , etc . 
In so far as the demands of the main functions will allow , therefore , the magazine will be published every four months or so . 
THE CANADIAN ESKIMO scarcely knew of any written language until the Rev. Edmund J. Peck , D.D. , an Anglican missionary , adapted a system of syllabics to the Eskimo tongue . 
The syllabic system , in which sounds are represented by little hooks and crooks resembling shorthand , was first devised by the Rev. James Evans a hundred years ago for use with the Cree Indians . 
The typewriter used is a Remington Rand , which looks like any other typewriter except that it is fitted with syllabic Eskimo letters . 
It was designed about ten years ago by the late Leo Manning , an Eskimo linguist with this Department . 
Besides the usual keys for shift and lock , back spacing , margin release , etc. , it has forty-six keys . 
The first number of the magazine includes an Eskimo 's account of the previous year 's goodwill mission to Greenland , some Eskimo folk-tales sent in by people from Igloolik , a story of a hunting adventure by a man who was a sanatorium patient not long ago , and numerous other articles . 
There is also a children 's page . 
There are excellent illustrations drawn by Eskimos , including the magazine 's editor , Miss Mary Panegoosho , who also designed the cover . 
THERE IS ONE SLIGHT DEFECT in the syllabic system so long in use in Canada : that is that the Eskimos here are the only ones who use it . 
This prevents them at present from sharing in reading the literature of the same race from Greenland and Labrador because in those lands this syllabic system is not used . 
A development in the present Eskimo written tongue is now being considered , by means of which all Eskimo , including those in Greenland and Labrador , who use a different system of writing , could read the same literature . 
However , for the present , this first Canadian Eskimo magazine is a wonderful accomplishment . 
To the continuing of it , the Department of Northern Affairs is sparing no effort or expense . 
And , by airplane , boat and dog-team , across a half million square miles , this Quarterly reaches 3,500 non-paying subscribers , in a land of seven months winter — the most widely scattered people in the world ever to receive a modern magazine in their own tongue ! 
Eskimo Arts and Crafts by Dawn MacLeod 
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED how Eskimos pass the time during their long Arctic winter night ? 
As children we were told that the women sewed skins together for clothing , the men made or repaired dog-traces and fishing tackle , and the children ate , slept , and played what games they could in the confined space inside their ice-hut or igloo . 
But since I came to Canada I have discovered that the Eskimo does not spend all his time in utilitarian pursuits . 
Among the Canadian Eskimos there are sculptors and artists with a high degree of good taste and skill , who take delight in creating things of beauty . 
Their small stone carvings , carefully wrapped in soft skin for safe storage , are brought out and handed round when friends visit them ; their pictures adorn the walls of the home . 
The recently formed Department of Northern Affairs , which takes a fatherly interest in the welfare of nine or ten thousand Eskimos living on Canadian territory , has been organising exhibitions of their work in most of the larger cities , and a scheme has been set up under which supplies for sale to the public are being made available to selected shops . 
A little carving in stone of a mother and child was accepted by H.M. the Queen during her visit to the Dominion , and the man who carved it , Munamee of Baffin Island , takes immense pride in the knowledge that his work has gone to Buckingham Palace . 
The Eskimo never duplicates his figures , but other examples of this artist 's skill are being snapped up by tourists and collectors . 
THE TRADITIONAL CRAFTS of Eskimos are stone carving by the men and leather applique2 work by the women , with the addition of basketry in parts of the eastern Arctic where coarse grasses grow . 
This is similar in technique to the coiled basket-work made popular by the Navaho Indians . 
The carving of small figures and animals by the Eskimo men probably developed from their formerly essential skill in whittling down stone to make adzes , reamers and crude saws — the only tools they had until white traders brought steel and other metals to the Arctic regions . 
Leather applique2 by the women originally had a purely functional application , for the narrow bands of sealskin in contrasting tones were used to strengthen garments at points of greatest wear . 
Gradually these applique2 clothes developed into things of beauty , and the Eskimo wife could earn respect for herself and her family by outstanding skill at the craft . 
Eskimo women , as well as men , have now found time to fashion things solely for pleasure , and their art takes the form of applique2 skin pictures . 
Some of these are rich in invention and full of action . 
The designs — mostly human figures , dog teams , and wild creatures of the Arctic — are visualised and then cut out direct from the skin without any preliminary drawing , and are usually in dark-toned leather sewn to backgrounds of bleached caribou hide or sealskin . 
Sometimes the shapes of tools in daily use about the home are employed as motifs , and it is believed that such designs have some magical significance ; but the artists , who have every right to keep their secrets inviolate if they choose , do not seem disposed to explain the meaning of these conceptions . 
Possibly some of us would be equally reluctant to tell an audience of Eskimos just why we throw a pinch of spilled salt over our shoulder , or take care to avoid walking under a ladder . 
THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS in the arts of the Eskimo have come , oddly enough , by way of Japan . 
A Canadian artist who is attached to the Department of Northern Affairs was sent to the Far East to study the Japanese technique of colour-printing from wood blocks , and he thought that this craft might well be adapted to the Eskimo 's natural material — that is , the fairly soft talcs , grey-green waxy steatite or " soap-stone , " and what is locally known as " pipe-stone " : the latter not to be confused with the russet-coloured Missouri clay , catlinite , which was used by the Red Indian for his sacred pipe of peace . 
When the artist returned to his base , at Cape Dorset on the south coast of Baffin Island , he demonstrated the methods of the Japanese wood-block printers , and immediately these were seized upon by delighted Eskimo craftsmen and adapted to their own material and ideas . 
Bold designs of birds and beasts were cut on stone blocks and printed in two or three colours on the special rice-paper brought from Japan . 
The traditional leather work of the women was also brought into use for a method of printing : the skins were cut to form stencils , and paint or ink was forced through the apertures on to a sheet of paper . 
The usual Eskimo pigments , two colours only , consist of a rich black made from the glutinous residue found at the bottom of seal-oil lamps , and a brownish-red obtained from local deposits of iron rust . 
Both pigments are reduced with seal oil to a suitable brushing consistency . 
To give the print-makers a fuller palette , other paints have now been imported , and the Eskimo artists are enjoying the use of blue for the first time in their history . 
One famous craftsman and hunter , Niviaksiak , made a dramatic stencilled design of a polar bear and her cub emerging from a steely-blue hole in the ice . 
Unfortunately this gifted artist was killed while on a seal-hunt soon afterwards . 
THE ESKIMOS , like the crofter folk in the Hebridean islands , are no longer content to live entirely upon the produce of their land and sea . 
Hudson Bay posts carry stocks of manufactured goods which the Eskimo families find highly desirable — such as woollen duffle cloth for light summer clothing in place of the heavier skin garments . 
But hitherto the only produce they have been able to trade for goods has been the white fox pelt , and the catch fluctuates to such an extent — from 4,000 skins in a good season to 200 in a bad one — that the income from this source has always been precarious . 
The Government scheme to export and sell Eskimo carvings and prints is therefore of some importance in the economy of the people . 
At present it affects a comparatively small group in the Cape Dorset area , but it will probably spread to other communities . 
As the Eskimo artists are self-critical , and their work is being fostered with knowledge and sympathy , it is not in any danger of becoming vulgarised by commercial exploitation . 
Their traditional dislike of repetition has been linked to the newly introduced printing techniques , for only ten or twelve impressions are taken from each set of blocks or stencils before these are destroyed . 
As a result of this wise limitation , the supply of Eskimo pictures will not flood the market . 
Already demands are coming in from private collectors and galleries all over the world , and it is known that UNICEF plans to issue an Arctic design as a Christmas card next year . 
CARIBOU , MUSK-OX , polar bear , snow-goose , walrus and seal — all the familiar life around them is studied and reproduced by the Eskimo hunters with keenness of observation and economy of line . 
MAY SONGS OF BEDFORDSHIRE BY F. B. HAMER 
The village blacksmith of Harrold , a well known character , gave me the May carol he used to sing , with his parents and family , round the village , including the numerous country houses of that neighbourhood . 
The tune was the same as that published by Lucy Broadwood in her Traditional Songs and Carols , and , except for some transposition of verses and the addition of a wish for a joyful May , it was the same song . 
Years later , after I had come across other versions of the song , I discovered why . 
Mr. Crouch , the blacksmith , as a child , had been in the party that gave the song to Sir Ernest Clarke at Hinwick Hall in the first decade of the century , and it was Sir Ernest who had sent it to Lucy Broadwood . 
It was the Church family of Biddenham who first brought home to me the fact that there were other versions of this carol still known , and sometimes still sung , in Bedfordshire . 
Mrs. E. Church gave me the one she used to sing in Kimbolton and the villages on the Bedfordshire border with Huntingdonshire . 
Her father-in-law , Walter " Paddy " Church , told me that when he was a boy in Bromham ( c. 1880 ) the custom was for the young men to gather thorn branches the night before May Day , and these they planted in front of the door of all the unmarried women of the village . 
During May Day morning they went round again , this time to collect their reward in the form of money and sometimes beer or food . 
They sang on each of these perambulations , using the same tune , but having two sets of words . 
I have since found that this was the custom at other places in the county . 
At Keysoe the bushes were graded according to the degree of eligibility of the lady , and the unwanted spinster had a briar bush instead . 
At Wrestlingworth it appears to have been a male custom too , and Northill , with its magnificent maypole and unique records of sixteenth-century May games , boasted a more elaborate ceremony . 
They had a set of " Moggies " attending the May Bush cart on its journey . 
The mayers or " Moggies " , usually about eight or ten young men , carried tall , beribboned staves like tutti poles and had as leaders a " lord " and "lady " , and included a shabbily dressed , black-faced man and " woman " , carrying besoms — these last the " Moggies " who gave their name to the whole party . 
Elstow too had its " moggies " and its own song before these were submerged in the present-day Whitelands-sponsored Ruskinade with its miniature pole and the full Queen-of-the-May ceremony . 
The more usual custom is for children , usually girls only , to take round a decorated garland made of a flower-decked hoop or double hoop with a doll dressed in white suspended in the centre . 
Sometimes a pram or chair , carrying a doll and decorated with flowers , takes the place of the hoops . 
The song is usually shorter than the full Harrold version and often contains only a verse or two about the branch or garland of May and the que5te verses . 
The Eaton Bray song is an example . 
In the north of the county another tune appears , sometimes in the same village as the more usual one . 
It is used by children with a garland . 
Here are two versions of it . 
I have not attempted a systematic survey of the county . 
The examples I have came to me almost by chance , which accounts for the fact that there are extensive gaps in the south . 
I count it a very fortunate chance which brought me the very lovely song sung in Buckworth ( Hunts. ) and the northern borders of Bedfordshire . 
Here it is as given to me by Mrs. Johnstone who now lives in Bedford . 
SOME ADDITIONAL MAY SONGS FROM THE EAST MIDLANDS 
THE FOREGOING are only a few of Mr. Hamer 's extensive collection of May Songs from Bedfordshire and the neighbouring counties . 
He has , however , kindly consented to some further examples from other collections being appended to his article . 
Mrs. Ruth Craufurd of Aldbury , near Tring , has recently contributed to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library seven versions from the south-west of Hertfordshire . 
Two of these , representing the two distinct types which she has found in this restricted area , are here reproduced . 
The Aldbury melody is very close to that of the King 's Langley , Herts. , May Day song "The Moon shines bright " ( L. E. Broadwood , English County Songs , p. 108 ) . 
The Marsworth song may be compared with Mr. Hamer 's North Bedfordshire versions . 
Mrs. Craufurd writes : " 
One of the interesting comparisons between these two neighbouring May songs is the complete difference in both airs and words . 
Although Marsworth is barely five miles from Aldbury , villages were almost isolated from each other in the days before cars and bicycles and had only a market town in common , so that they lived in a little world of their own . " 
Another point of interest is the money asked . 
Aldbury , a village with a great house and a rich parsonage , asks for " a little silver " , but Marsworth , a poor marshland village , only hopes for a ha'penny . 
Marsworth also makes an interesting reference to the Tring Chimney Sweeps who " come a-dancing all May-day " , which refers to the Jack-in-the-Green , the May Garland in the far-off days of the little climbing boys and in still further off days when the dancer in it represented the spirit of vegetation visiting each house to bring fertility in the coming year . 
Miss Beattie Burch , one of the Aldbury Mayers from whom I got the song , told me : " We used to get up at six in the morning on May Day and make our garlands , and then go with them to the bigger houses and farms before school " . 
If they resisted the temptation to play truant from school on May Day they were rewarded the following Saturday by a Festivity which consisted in " a procession round the pond , ending up at the Rectory or Stocks ( the great house ) where we were each given a bun and a penny " . 
Their garlands were often " a little doll with a wreath of flowers in her hair , sitting in a child 's arm-chair decorated with ribbons and flowers and curtained all round so that only those who gave us money could see the May Doll when we pulled the curtains back for them " . 
These and other local versions of the May song are now sung annually at the Aldbury Women 's Institute May Festival held on Whit-Saturday . 
The following examples from the Editor 's collection represent , firstly , the version generally current in the south of Northamptonshire and the adjacent part of Buckinghamshire and , secondly , the " night song " from Gravely on the Cambridgeshire-Huntingdonshire border . 
A very similar version of the May song used to be current in the nearby villages , such as Deanshanger and Wicken ( Northants . ) . 
The May Garlanding by the children of Leckhampstead is not school-sponsored and was kept up regularly on May 1 at least until 1954 . 
The children told me that they did not go out in 1955 because May 1 was a Sunday . 
There used to be three separate parties , each with a garland , but there was then only one consisting of about five girls from eight to eleven years of age . 
The substitution of " Good evening " for the usual " Good morning " in verse 1 resulted from the closing of the village school , since when the children go to Buckingham and no longer have a holiday on May Day . 
Except on a Saturday the garlanding has therefore to be postponed until after school . 
At Gravely the custom was that a party of four or five men — one with an accordion — went round the village about midnight on May Day eve with branches of may cut from the hedges . 
At each house where they sang the song they left a branch ( " May Bush " ) , and money was then thrown down from the bedroom windows ; but people who were disliked were left a briar — a briar indicated a liar , said Mrs. Howlett — and those of bad moral character were left a branch of elder , or hemlock and stinging nettle . 
Thus the full implication of the first verse becomes apparent . 
It will be noticed that , in contrast to Mr. Hamer 's Bromham example , there was here no second visiting and that verses of the night and day songs have been combined . 
Mrs. Howlett , however , mentioned that her mother made very good May garlands with a doll hung inside , so it would appear that the day-time May Garlanding was also carried on at Gravely . 
The Gravely melody is related to the twice noted Fowlmere , Cambs. , version ( L. E. Broadwood , J. Folk Song Society , 1902 , 1 , 180 ; R. Vaughan Williams , Eight Traditional Carols , 1919 , reprinted in The Oxford Book of Carols , no. 47 ) . 
Further references are given by M. Dean-Smith , A Guide to English Folk Song Collections , 1954 ( " May Day Carols " , " The Moon shines bright " , etc . ) . 
The main purpose of these additional notes is to indicate the need for a detailed survey of the various May Song tunes and their related customs . 
The most recent study of this kind seems to have appeared as long ago as 1904 , and this was confined to a single county ( W. B. Gerish , " The Mayers and their Song , or some account of the First of May and its observance in Hertfordshire " , printed by S. Austin & Sons , Hertford ) . 
EDITOR . 
THE INTERNATIONAL FOLK MUSIC COUNCIL 
THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE of the International Folk Music Council was held in the Universite2 Laval in Quebec from August 28 to September 3 , 1961 . 
The Conference was organized by a special Canadian Committee which included the University and the Canadian Folk Music Society . 
The leading spirit in this enterprise was Dr. Marius Barbeau , the President of the Society and the grand old man of French-Canadian and Red Indian folk music , known throughout the world from the work done when he was attached to the National Museum in Ottawa . 
This Conference attracted musicians , folk-lorists and dancers from all over the world , with a particularly strong contingent from the United States . 
It met in the mornings and afternoons and the Members were entertained in various ways during the evenings with concerts and performances . 
There was an opportunity for one excursion to the Indian reservation in Lorette , where a programme of Huron and Iroquois ceremonies was given under Dr. Barbeau 's direction . 
The University of Laval is itself a strong centre of French-Canadian folk-lore and the members of the Conference were fortunate in having this opportunity to have the folk-lore section with its archives explained to them by Professor Luc Lacourcie3re and his colleagues . 
Hospitality was generous throughout the period of the Conference , culminating in a Canadian supper in the old part of the University in the heart of the City of Quebec . 
The daily sessions were held in a building in the new University some four or five miles out of the city , where new buildings are springing up on an extensive campus which only a short time ago was virgin forest . 
The Conference had all the modern facilities at its disposal and as there was little else to distract the attention the sessions were very well attended . 
From the musical point of view the contemporary work of Dr. Charles Seeger and Mr. Alan Lomax , each making use of modern technical equipment , posed the most challenging questions . 
Dr. Seeger 's Melograph , capable of analysing melodic structure in great detail , opened a good many eyes to the fluidity of folk music and revealed how incomplete was the conventional picture of folk music depending on a few modes derived from the pentatonic scale . 
Alan Lomax , using another type of scientific instrument , provided graphs of vocal technique from which he deduced a number of factors each affecting singing " style " which he described as a " self-perpetuating culture trait " . 
He argued that there were three or four main styles which had coalesced in America shaping singing habits and influencing the preservation of traditional pieces and the choice of new material . 
THE POMERANIAN BREAM 
This fish is not , as its scientific name ( { Abramis buggenhagii ) implies , and as was once believed , a separate bream species . 
It can not even claim the distinction of being a bream "variety " or " breed " . 
It is simply a hybrid between the common bream and the roach . 
It is occasioned by the similarities in habits and spawning of both species . 
Both bream and roach spawn communally at about the same time of year , and both seek similar weedy shallows . 
Occasionally it happens that a shoal of one kind is spawning simultaneously alongside a shoal of the other . 
Eggs deposited on the fringes of each group where the two species would tend to intermingle are obviously fertilised by milt from fishes of the other group . 
In this way the hybrid " pomeranian bream " , as it is popularly known , is produced . 
The hybrid is itself infertile , but it is still a very common fish in waters where roach and bream occur together in large numbers and it is not merely confined to lakes and ponds but is commonly found in rivers also . 
The fish is silvery in colour , with perhaps a bluish tint . 
Not quite plump enough to be a bream , yet deep enough in the belly to look like a really splendid grandfather roach , its typically forked , bream-like tail should indicate its parentage , as also should its obvious sliminess . 
But this fish often attains a weight of over two pounds and it is probably more easily mistaken for a roach than anything else . 
Often it is hailed by the excited angler as an exceptionally good specimen roach , and entered for a club contest or prize . 
For similar reasons to those already given the bream also hybridises with the rudd in waters where these two species are common . 
The resulting progeny are easily mistaken for very fine rudd and , less often , for stunted bream . 
It is perfectly natural that an angler should prefer to believe he has taken a fine rudd rather than a poor bream , and like the roach x bream hybrid , this fish is probably responsible for innumerable false record or " specimen fish " claims . 
Whilst this kind of wishful thinking is understandable , it is nevertheless easily avoidable . 
Both hybrids may be quite definitely identified as imposters by fin ray and scale counts .... 
Furthermore , only one check is likely to be necessary . 
The anal fin ray count is almost always decisive in distinguishing such hybrids from both parents , and if only anglers would bother to undertake this , there would be far fewer false record claims , and fewer disappointed anglers as a result , for these imposters are always recognised by any club steward of any experience who cares to undertake the count needed . 
Roach possess 9-12 branched rays in the anal fin . 
Bream possess 23-29 , and rudd 10-13 . 
The roach x bream hybrid has 15-19 , which establishes quite clearly that it can be neither roach nor bream ! 
The rudd x bream hybrid has 15-18 which again establishes that it can not be bream or rudd . 
Table 3 gives fuller details of the differences between these fish and their parents , and should suffice to identify any bream hybrid likely to be found . 
Records indicate that rarely the smaller silver bream hybridises with roach and rudd . 
Such hybrids are most uncommon and unlikely to be met . 
Both are small fishes seldom exceeding ten inches , and therefore unlikely to be the cause of false record claims . 
Both may be distinguished by the anal fin , and details of these unusual and even rare hybrids may be found in Table 3 . 
Strangely enough there are no records in Britain of hybridisation between the two bream species . 
This seems curious when we consider the close relationship between the silver and bronzed breams . 
Possibly such hybrids occur , but have not been recognised . 
Owing to the degree of overlapping which occurs in scale and fin ray counts between the two species , it would be almost impossible to detect such a hybrid by external means although examination of the pharyngeal teeth and gill rakers would certainly identify this fish if it were found . 
THE BLEAK . 
{ Alburnus alburnus . 
( Linnaeus . ) 
{ Alburnus lucidus . 
( Day . ) 
DESCRIPTION 
The back is blue-green , or grey-green , and in bright sunshine it appears predominantly green . 
The flanks are pale green with iridescent tints , fading to a silvery white on the underside . 
The iridescence of the scales gives the flanks a golden green colour in sunny weather when the fish is ashore , and in duller weather the white or silver aspects predominate . 
The belly is compressed to a ridge between the ventral fins and as far as the anal fin ; the anal fin is long , and grey . 
The other fins are sometimes tinted with pink . 
The body is spindle-shaped and lightly compressed laterally . 
The head is small , with the mouth superior , and strongly oblique . 
The upper body surface is lightly curved and the abdomen more so . 
The scales are very lightly attached to the body , coming off at any careless handling . 
The ventral fins are set in front of the level of the dorsal fin , and the pectoral fins are situated close to the gill covers , about half-way between the lateral line and the abdomen . 
These cheerful sparkling little fish swim in the same category as the bream by virtue of their long anal fin , but they rarely share the same " swim " , being utterly different in habit . 
They are common fish in many rivers and the strolling observer can hardly fail to notice them , especially as they prefer to live amongst the surface layers of water . 
They are often to be seen within inches of the bank , too , darting after floating crusts which are soon broken in smaller pieces by the attentions of the shoal . 
Often the bleak are seen leaping and scattering across the surface , alarming other fishes as they flash silver when the pike or prowling perch leaps amongst them in search of a meal . 
More often than not the bleak causes the dainty rises and splashes which continually dimple the surface , yet despite their timidity , bleak will swim nosing the feet of the small boy paddling in the shallows provided he avoids undue noise and violent movement . 
In almost any weather bleak are to be found close to the surface , ever ready to amuse the passing walker , or sample the angler 's bait . 
Yet bleak are not much sought after by anglers because they are small and take a bait too readily . 
In match fishing , however , they are popular , putting a premium on speed and skill at striking the swift tiny bites rather than on water-lore and angling craft . 
Many a match champion owes his laurels to his ability to strike the swift bites at a faster rate than his companions . 
Other anglers regard the bleak as a bait for pike or perch , but most often when the pike are on feed ; striking terror amongst the shallows , the bleak , showing considerable discretion for so small a fish , are nowhere to be found . 
Only the small boy , angling perhaps with a string and stick amongst the brooks off the main stream , knows where they have gone . 
Like the minnow , bleak are very important food fish for other river creatures . 
These most useful members of the river community provide meals for predatory fish and river birds . 
Not only the regular river-haunting birds , but even the seagulls seeking inland during bad weather know where to look for a feed . 
The angler 's wife , too , knows that a dish of bleak is not to be despised . 
Well cooked they are tastier than sprats , which they somewhat resemble in appearance . 
Bleak were once very much sought after for the iridescent colouring of their scales . 
The artificial pearl industry thrived on the colours of the otherwise insignificant bleak . 
Like so many other creatures they were slaughtered in large numbers to satisfy the vanities of the human female . 
In some waters such as the Thames bleak are so abundant as to be considered a nuisance by various angling bodies . 
Efforts to check the bleak population have been made from time to time by several such groups . 
Possibly it is as well that these efforts have met with little success . 
Although abundant , bleak are delicate fish , and so long as they are capable of surviving in the Thames , so long does this indicate a fair standard of purity in the water . 
Bleak are not found in Scotland , West Wales , Ireland or the Lake District . 
Elsewhere in the British Isles they are very common . 
As aquarium fishes they would probably be welcomed for their attractive colours ; unfortunately they are extremely difficult to keep alive under artificial conditions , and indeed they seldom survive the journey home in a bait can . 
Bleak are recorded as having hybridised naturally with chub and roach . 
These hybrids are recognised by their long anal fins , and also by a compressed ridge along the abdomen between the ventral fins and the anal fin ( Tate-Regan ) . 
They are not at all common , and are well worth reporting when taken . 
Please send such fishes where they may be properly examined . 
Only when a large number have been handled by competent authorities will a full knowledge of them become available . 
Details of what is at present known are given in Table 4 . 
THE ALLIS SHAD . 
{ Alosa alosa . 
( Linnaeus ) { Clupea alosa . 
( Day . ) 
DESCRIPTION 
The back is blue-green , green-brown , or intermediate , with golden flashes on the head , and tints of yellow . 
The flanks are of a pale olive colour which shades to silver or bluish-white on the underside . 
A single oval dark spot lies on the upper flank close to the gill cover . 
In younger fish there may be several such spots , and in older specimens these may disappear entirely . 
The scales are iridescent and flash golden or yellow in sunlight . 
The body is strongly compressed laterally and the abdomen is keeled , with the edges of the scales giving a serrated edge to the keel . 
The lateral line is not visible externally . 
The mouth is large , slightly oblique , sometimes with fine bristle-like teeth . 
The snout is blunt and the lower jaw projects slightly giving the fish a pugnacious appearance . 
The eyes are quite distinctive in being hooded at the front and trailing edges by a semi-transparent membrane . 
To see this powerful fish leaping over the netsman 's obstructions you could hardly confuse it with the dull and lethargic bream described earlier , despite the suggestion of similarity in body shape . 
There is in fact no relationship and the shads are typical members of the herring family and , like the herring , they are really marine in habit , entering the province of the freshwater angler and observer only when they migrate upstream to spawn in the river . 
Although the Allis shad is rapidly becoming less common in Britain , it was once plentiful in innumerable large rivers and estuaries such as the Thames which , like so many others , is now denied to the incoming fish by industrial pollution . 
On the Wye and Severn , however , there are still flourishing commercial shad fisheries , and nets take many thousands of the clean fish each season . 
The " run " commences between March and June and then the estuarial reaches are crowded by the professional netsmen . 
The actual approach of the first shads is still mysteriously heralded by the arrival of sandpipers which are in fact locally called " shad birds " . 
A primitive kind of shrimping net is used by many fishermen and great skill is required to capture these swift leaping fish which average about three pounds apiece . 
Fortunately for those who depend upon the shads for a living , the fish follow similar routes year after year , and experienced fishermen know just where to set their obstacles to direct the oncoming fish towards their nets . 
Those which escape ( and many thousands do ) continue their journey upstream undaunted until they arrive amongst the shallower less-frequented streams where they spawn with considerable fuss and splashing . 
The eggs are simply left unburied and the spent fish commence their return journey . 
The newly hatched fish remain in fresh water only until four or five inches long , and then they too enter the sea where growth to maturity is rapid . 
DUMMY BOARD FIGURES By MICHAEL CONWAY 
DUMMY boards shaped as life-size figures were decorative and amusing accessories in the Georgian house and in the garden too . 
Cut from wood and painted , they vividly , even startlingly , resembled richly attired men and women , colourful birds and domestic animals . 
Good-looking housemaids gave life to dreary passages ( Plate 172A ) ; the entrance hall might shelter a shepherd and shepherdess , sometimes with sheep ; romping children might hide an empty fireplace ( Plate 171D . ) 
Dummy board figures appeared in England during the 1660s as fire screens : a silhouette of a man or woman might be cut from thick , heavy wood and painted so that he appeared in a naturalistic attitude before the fireplace . 
The artists were usually second-rate portrait painters . 
The earliest record of such a painted figure is engraved in the frontispiece to the Compleat Gamester ( 1674 ) , where a dummy board fashionably stands erect before the fire , feet wide apart , with a drinking glass held in his hand , screening a company of card players from the heat of the blaze . 
The Georgian dummy board figure was designed for ornament only and was made from much thinner wood . 
A projecting ledge extending from shoulder to shoulder at the back kept it 6 inches from the wall and was attached to it by means of a pair of wrought-iron hooks and staples . 
This position and the figure 's feather edges caused a life-like shadow to be thrown against the wall and secured a three-dimensional effect . 
Careful placement was essential , for the figure might be painted full face or three-quarter face — rarely in profile . 
In an alcove , such as at a stair bend , the dummy board was secured into an erect position by means of a pair of wooden supports cut in the shape of shoes projecting four or five inches to the front , and with heels projecting to the rear . 
Holes in existing examples show them to have been screwed down from the heels . 
These colourful figures added interest to early Georgian homes , and in the days of George 3 stocks of those painted by sign-board artists were displayed by the innumerable Mayfair furnishing stores . 
Regency dummy boards lacked the colourful elegance of earlier work , but Victorians reverted to Georgian styles , in greater brilliance and with some carving in relief . 
GLOSSARY 
Animals and birds : rooms might be decorated with dummy board figures of tabby cats . 
An early Victorian series of cats was covered with black velvet instead of paint , and large amber beads were used for eyes . 
Friendly dogs were popular for the parlour , and fierce-looking animals for the entrance hall , apparently ready to fly at any unauthorized intruder . 
Brightly painted parrots and macaws perched high in the room appeared very realistic to the visitor below . 
Deer , sheep and pigs might stand in well-selected outdoor positions . 
Artists : until the 1760s professional portrait painters decorated the majority of dummy board pictures . 
Their work is recognized by life-like poses and vivacious expressions . 
Many specimens appear to have been portraits . 
Then came a statute making it illegal to suspend sign-boards over the highway , and the great trade in sign-board painting was ended . 
Dummy board pictures were thereupon painted by shop sign decorators who for the most part worked in Harp Alley , Shoe Lane , London . 
The existence of identical dummy board figures cut from a master template and painted with similar figures illustrates the change to a style of work approaching mass production . 
Boards : the wooden boards upon which images were painted were at first in oak or pitch pine . 
In the eighteenth century beech , pearwood and mahogany were alternatives . 
Those intended for outdoor use were cut from 1-inch teak which neither warped nor shrank under the stress of changing weather conditions . 
Outlines for dummy board figures were cut from single boards measuring about 2 feet wide . 
From the 1770s thickness was halved . 
For comparison it may be noted that late eighteenth-century tables ( q.v. ) measuring 3 to 4 feet in height were between 1/4-inch and 3/8-inch in thickness . 
The planks on most seventeenth- and eighteenth-century dummy boards have shrunk a little , revealing vertical tongue-and-groove joints . 
Canvas covered : because the built-up boards tended to open with shrinkage of the wood some dummy boards were covered with painter 's canvas , the fabric glued to the feather-edged board . 
The back might be covered with canvas also and painted brown . 
Elizabeth 1 costume : dummy boards painted in elaborate Elizabethan attire were popular with early Georgians and again in the mid-nineteenth century . 
The early series was almost invariably painted by portraitists , possibly adapted from engravings as minor accessories were correctly depicted . 
The face might be that of the purchaser or a member of his family . 
Feather edges : the wide , sharply cut bevelling surrounding the rear edge of the profile at an acute angle . 
This gave a clear and life-like effect to the shadow thrown upon the wall . 
Fireboards : these date between the 1750s and the 1790s . 
They measure 3 to 4 feet in height and enlivened hearth interiors during summer months when the burnished steel portable grate , fender and fire-irons were oiled and laid away until autumn . 
The chimney was closed and the hearth recess cleaned of its soot and made colourful with massive ornaments , such as lidded urns in porcelain , huge jars displaying flowers and foliage , or terrestrial globes . 
Dummy board representations of these might be used , particularly vases of flowers . 
Alternatively the entire fireplace opening might be masked by a fireboard painted with an urn overflowing with flowers . 
As yet another alternative small figures might be used , such as matching pairs of costumed boys and girls , the boys often riding stick hobby-horses . 
A board of this kind might stand upon a plinth of mahogany or gilded beech , plain or elaborately carved , but usually the lower edge was set into a heavy block of oak about 5 inches thick which might be carved or japanned in red . 
Fire screens : dummy board pictures were originally designed for this purpose : stout , heavy articles measuring up to 6 feet in height and cut from 1 1/2 inch oak or pitch pine , feather edged , set in weighty blocks enabling them to stand upright without assistance . 
The heat of the fire must have warped the woods , the table joints opened , and the oil paint flaked away . 
Highlanders : kilted Scotsmen were produced in large numbers to stand as trade signs outside the doors of tobacco and snuff shops . 
Lady at her toilet : this series appears to be the work of a single Georgian artist . 
They wear early seventeenth-century dress , including the period 's enveloping white apron bordered with lace , and hold hand mirror and brush to dress their waist-long hair . 
( Plate 171A . ) 
Outdoor figures : life-size figures so painted and arranged that visitors unexpectedly confronted with them were startled into believing that they were living realities . 
Red-coated soldiers stood on guard in mansion porches , on hotel stairs , in tea gardens and pleasure grounds and at tavern doorways ; sailors standing , or dancing the horn pipe , were favourites in the gardens of waterside taverns . 
Country innkeepers favoured dummies of jugs and glasses , or dishes of onions , radishes , bread and cheese . 
Pedlars and women hawkers were favourite outdoor figures early in the nineteenth century . 
Painting : the artists drew his outline upon a smooth-surfaced board of seasoned wood . 
At first each was individually designed , but from the 1760s templates might be used . 
The table was then sawn to shape and the edges sharply bevelled . 
Two or three washes of boiling linseed oil were then applied , followed by a rubbing down with distemper or powdered white lead mixed with parchment paste . 
The colours were painted over this , the distemper soaking up excess oil and thus increasing the brilliance of the paint . 
This radiance when new was enhanced on fine work by burnishing , particularly of the gold and reds . 
The final result was protected with varnish . 
Unless it can be seen that this process was used , a board should be looked upon with suspicion . 
Regency : by the nineteenth century dummy board figures had become less showy , typical examples including women hawkers , ballad singers , pedlars , organ grinders with monkeys and , later , knights in armour . 
( Plate 172B . ) 
Reproductions : these were made in the mid-Victorian period and again in the 1920s and 1930s , the latter often costume portraits copied from well-known paintings and standing with the aid of hinged brackets as on an easel . 
These modern dummies have a so-called " antique finish " to simulate age . 
Soldiers : these were depicted in the uniform worn by Grenadiers of the Second Regiment of Foot during the reign of George 1 . 
An eighteenth-century engraving of the interior of the Old Chelsea Bun House illustrates a pair of Grenadiers and an equestrian dummy board , displayed on brackets above the doorway , each throwing a shadow on the wall . 
Pairs consisting of a Grenadier and a housemaid have been recorded . 
These soldiers are about 7 feet high with mitre-shaped hats about 18 inches high . 
They are always found with their feet 18 inches apart , then the attitude of attention : the "heels together " position dates from the time of the Prussian influence on the English army in the 1750s . 
A variety of red-coated soldiers of the late eighteenth century have been recorded , many of them in the " stand at ease " position . 
Tables : the contemporaneous name given to the boards constructed from tongued-and-grooved units joined and prepared ready for painting . 
Trade card : an example of the 1760s is in the Banks Collection , British Museum . 
This was issued by John Potts , the Black Spread Eagle , King Street , Covent Garden , London , and illustrates a dummy board figure of Elizabeth 1 , describing such figures as " Ornaments for Halls , Stair-cases and Chimney Boards . 
At lowest prices " . 
Victorian : in addition to reproductions of Georgian types , a series was made with the surface carved in relief and painted . 
These were mounted on four-wheeled square pedestals 12 inches high . 
Women with brooms : this was a stock pattern . 
Many still remain , identical in size , shape and pose , always wearing white or baize aprons , but with varying faces and dress details . 
They are shown holding soft brooms , the long bristles bound to a round stock with three ornamental turned knops above . 
They represent ladies of the house laudably domesticated rather than housemaids . 
Because of their dress such dummy boards have been attributed to the 1630s . 
A more reasonable attribution is to the second half of the eighteenth century , dress having been copied from early Stuart sources ( Plate 171B . ) 
JELLY MOULDS By JULIET SANFORD 
FOR centuries jellies have figured importantly among English desserts , particularly upon festive occasions . 
At the feast following George Neville 's installation as Archbishop of York in 1466 , the huge dessert included " 3,000 Parted [ particoloured ] dishes of jelly and 4,000 Plain dishes of Jelly " . 
Each jelly was tabled individually in an earthen jelly pot except on the high table where silver was used . 
Immediately after the invention of flint-glass in 1676 , readers of The Accomplisht Cook , by Robert May , 1678 , were directed to " serve jelly run into little round glasses four or five to the dish " . 
These were plain footless bowls with folded lips and were sold at 1s 6d a dozen under the name of jelly mortars . 
Georgian jellies were served in deep , cone-shaped glasses and eaten with long small-bowled spoons . 
The mid-morning snack of jelly was known as " long spoon and jelly " . 
Early in the Georgian period individual moulds were made in white salt-glazed stoneware . 
Large jelly moulds were unknown to Mrs. Hannah Glasse whose Complete Confectioner , 1753 , instructed her readers to pour jelly " into what thing you please to shape it in and when cold turn it out . 
If it sticks dip your basin in hot water " . 
Moulds to turn out jellies large enough to serve several individual helpings appear to have been introduced by Josiah Wedgwood in his celebrated queen 's ware . 
In the nineteenth century these were accompanied by moulds in Britannia metal , copper , Bristol stoneware , and flint enamel ware . 
GLOSSARY 
Bristol stoneware : jelly moulds were not made in brown salt-glazed stoneware as its granulated " orange peel " surface made it impossible to turn out the jelly . 
THE WORLD OF SCIENCE . 
ANIMALS ' DEAF EARS . 
By MAURICE BURTON , D.Sc . 
IT is some years ago since I first became interested in the possible effect of modern noises on animals . 
I started with the assumption that if animals had more sensitive ears than mine , or were as allergic , as I am , to the sounds of traffic on the roads , there should be a noticeable tendency for them to shun the borders of roads . 
It soon became apparent that this was not so , and this conclusion is reinforced by the abundance of hares on London Airport . 
There , people put their hands over their ears as the jet-planes go out , but the hares are to all appearances unmoved , which is contrary to what might have been expected . 
During the course of my study of this problem several striking points emerged . 
The first is that although the ears of animals are often more acute than ours , and their powers of discrimination seem to be higher , they also appear to be less bothered than we are by a cacophony . 
There is constantly passing through the human brain a stream of impulses we call thoughts . 
These are closely linked to everyday life , are built upon experience , and our experiences are based largely on sensations received through the senses , one of which is hearing . 
These experiences are continually being added to because everything that impinges on our senses is meaningful . 
For example , while writing these last three sentences I have heard a number of sounds , each of which has set up a train of thought in my mind . 
The church clock striking the hour reminds me that I must hurry if this is to be ready on time for the printer . 
It reminds me also , once again , that yet another hour has gone on the inexorable road to eternity . 
These are two ideas that could never enter an animal 's head on hearing the sound of a clock . 
Within the space of these few seconds , also , there has been the sound of a telephone bell , of a distant motor-bicycle and of a dog barking . 
Each has been a minor distraction . 
The telephone made me wonder whether I need drop this task to answer the call and with it came a tangle of thoughts that at 11.30 I must not fail to telephone so-and-so , that the telephone is a nuisance but what could we do without it , and others of like nature . 
The distant motor-cycle caused me to give a momentary reflection on the calamity of road accidents . 
The barking dog made me pause to find out if it was one of my own dogs barking , and if so for what reason . 
By contrast with our continual alertness to noises and their meaning it is possible at times so to lose oneself in preoccupation as to be oblivious to outside sounds . 
Then , a sudden noise may recall us with a mild or even a violent shock . 
So throughout our waking hours we tend to alternate between an awareness of every small sound and the danger of shock , mild or otherwise , through not having been aware of them . 
Whatever views we may hold about how far the higher animals are able to think or to reason , there can hardly be any doubt that they are not affected by sounds in the same way as we are . 
They are not distracted by trivial sounds and are unlikely to be off-guard as a result of being lost in their thoughts . 
The best way to test this is by direct observation . 
In this we can employ indicators such as the way the ears are used as well as the animal 's moments of alertness , usually with a tensing of the muscles . 
It then soon becomes apparent that an animal normally pays little attention to sounds that are not a cause for alarm , an indication of a source of food or made by a member of its own species . 
Where the air is free of sounds made by machinery it may be filled with those made by birds , insects , rustling leaves and other natural sounds . 
It can be alive with them , yet so far as we can tell an animal ignores them all unless one or other of them has a special significance . 
It will , however , immediately react to any alarm note or a note of aggression . 
To put it another way round , it seems to be able to shut its ears to noise in general yet remain on the alert for particular sounds which by tradition or experience compel its reaction . 
We also possess this faculty , although some have it more than others , but it seems likely that animals can , and habitually do , exploit it more than men , largely because their world of experience makes fewer demands on their senses . 
Some animals have a pronounced ability to turn a deaf ear . 
This is difficult to test in a wild animal because the mere presence of the human observer , however well hidden , tends to threaten its security and put it on the alert . 
Domesticated animals , whose security is assured , often provide outstanding examples of it . 
Dogs and donkeys can appear to be stone-deaf , ignoring all words of command or entreaty , all persuasive or cajoling sounds , but responding instantly to even a slight noise suggestive of something pleasurable . 
A dog may lie as if in a trance , apparently unhearing , yet spring to action at the slight metallic sound of its lead being taken from a hook or the faintly whispered word " walk . " 
There is a category of sounds , however , to which all the higher animals at least react violently . 
These are the explosive sounds . 
A car backfiring will send the city pigeons flying . 
One theory has it that because they are descended from rock doves there is a survival value in this innate reaction because it would have made them fly up at the sound of a fall of cliff that might otherwise engulf them . 
The theory has many weaknesses . 
One is that many kinds of birds will react in the same way . 
In fact , it seems reasonable to say that the explosive sound creates alarm among most animals with ears . 
There may be exceptions , as among fishes or frogs , but it seems to be a rule among birds and mammals . 
It probably created alarm among human beings also before ever gunpowder or TNT were invented — the word "explode , " in fact , antedates their invention , and in modern but pre-nuclear warfare the wear on the nerves from explosives was probably more telling than the casualties inflicted by the exploding missiles . 
It is not possible to deal in more than the broadest generalities about animals ' reactions to sounds because hearing varies widely from one species to another , as does the structure of the ear . 
So far as the explosive sound is concerned there are some animals that use it themselves . 
A dog may use a particularly explosive bark to another dog under certain circumstances , and the effect of this can be almost as devastating as the bursting of a modern projectile on the human ear or the report of a rifle on a flock of pigeons . 
It is necessary , to avoid confusing the issue , to ignore some of the extreme examples of deleterious sounds , those that make telephone operators faint or the jingling of a bunch of keys that sends a mouse into something approaching hysterics . 
What is at least as interesting is the way inventors seem to have chosen , probably intuitively , a combination of explosive and aggressive sounds as warning signals to be used on automobiles . 
Apart from the purely explosive sounds , those that stir most animals to rapid action are the snarls , growls , barks or long drawn-out roars of predators or rivals . 
A representative series of sounds made by motor-horns would approximate fairly closely to the aggressive or warning sounds made by wild beasts . 
One important factor in the toleration of noise is familiarity . 
Our Victorian ancestors probably found the noises from horse traffic insufferable at times and at an earlier age it may be that the cry of the night-watchman was held to be a necessary but excruciating nuisance . 
Each generation seems to be able to bear the noises it grows up with and to abominate the additional noises that appear later . 
Generations of hares succeed each other with far greater rapidity than generations of humans , and the hares of London Airport have probably by now accepted the noise of jet-planes as part of their environment . 
They have , moreover , one great advantage over us , and this is probably one of the reasons why mammals in general can put up with the noise of traffic on the roads . 
Those that have movable ears can not only turn them in the right direction to pick up slight or distant sounds , they can also turn them away from disagreeable sounds — and I have seen them do so . 
THE WORLD OF SCIENCE . 
COYPU AND PEST-CONTROL . 
By MAURICE BURTON , D.Sc . 
THE coypu is one of the animals introduced into this country whose residence here we are beginning to regret . 
It is a large South American rodent , rat-like although its nearest relatives are the porcupines , measuring over a yard long to the tip of the tail and weighing up to 20 lb . 
Originally brought here about 1930 to be farmed for their fur , which is known as nutria , the coypu began to escape and are now well established in the countryside , notably in East Anglia and especially on the Norfolk Broads . 
At first it was believed they did not constitute a nuisance but opinion has now turned against them . 
Last week it was reported that the suggestion had been put forward to use the coypu to combat another nuisance . 
The Kariba Lake , formed when the Kariba dam was completed , has become infested with a water plant , one that grows at an alarming rate and threatens to damage the special intakes at the dam . 
The menace from the plant is serious enough to merit almost any suggestion aimed at controlling it , and this one , put forward by Mr. George Atkinson of Lowestoft , is brilliant in its simplicity . 
It is that some of the coypu in East Anglia , estimated at a quarter of a million , should be trapped and exported to Kariba Lake to feed on the menacing weed . 
Were such a plan to be shown to be successful it would contain the perfect form of biological control , using one nuisance to combat another . 
Throughout the world animals and plants have been transported , either accidentally or deliberately , from one continent to another . 
In some the results have been beneficial , in a few they have been harmless but in far too many they have been disastrous , so that to-day one looks at any further plan to introduce animals into an alien environment with caution if not deep suspicion . 
The first question one needs to ask is whether the coypu would eat this particular weed and in sufficient quantity to counterbalance its own remarkable powers of multiplication . 
The most obvious comment to make is that there are remarkably few animals , outside the insects , that feed exclusively on one item of diet . 
The koala feeds on nothing but eucalyptus leaves and is always quoted as a striking and exceptional example of an animal with a restricted diet . 
Most animals like variety in their food , and this is especially true of rodents . 
It is highly important , therefore to know something of the diet of the coypu . 
There are , on my shelves , a score of authoritative works on mammals , and it is noteworthy that although they all contain at least one reference to the coypu most of them make no mention at all of its diet . 
A few state that its food is green vegetation , or just " vegetation , " or say that it feeds on water plants . 
For our present purpose none of these is satisfactory . 
Water plants range from the wholly aquatic , like water lilies , and such plants are usually soft , to waterside plants which are usually tough and fibrous . 
Thus it is clear that the predominant organization , particularly in the distribution of manufactured goods , is the wholesale merchant who carries stocks . 
In some trades — e.g. , hardware — he is known as a factor . 
Besides owning and warehousing the goods , the wholesaler may process them in some way . 
This is chiefly the case with agricultural products . 
A tea merchant blends and packets tea ; a seeds merchant cleans and sorts seeds obtained from growers . 
Not all intermediaries ( whether merchants or agents ) actually handle the merchandise in which they deal ; they may merely provide a link between a source of supply and the demand for it . 
The performance of the wholesale merchant 's true functions ( which may include such services to retailers as communications , selection , stockholding , credit facilities , and transportation ) requires a heavy capital outlay . 
Only by operating on a large scale can the large overhead costs be absorbed in the turnover , so as to produce a reasonable net profit . 
Consequently it is not surprising that the 1950 Census showed that over four-fifths of the trade of merchants was handled by wholesalers each with an annual turnover of over £100,000 . 
Though in discussing wholesalers we generally assume that the function will be carried out by a single firm , this need not be so . 
The task may be split up between two or even more intermediaries . 
In some trades , particularly horticultural products and fish , a system of primary and secondary wholesalers often exists . 
The former is essentially a collecting organization , though he may also process , grade , or pack before reselling in bulk to the secondary wholesaler , who performs all the other services normally associated with wholesaling . 
It is convenient to classify wholesale merchants , according to the extent of the sales territory covered by the business . 
Thus many of the larger firms are national wholesalers , distributing goods to every part of the country . 
They carry large stocks , and often have their own brands , and operate a comprehensive delivery service over a wide area . 
A second class covers only specific parts or regions of the country — perhaps Northern England or Scotland . 
The local wholesaler confines his custom to a much smaller area — often a radius of a few miles from his warehouse . 
The local and regional wholesalers usually offer a more restricted service as compared with the national wholesaler . 
Some wholesalers have a number of branches or stock-rooms up and down the country . 
General and Specialist Wholesalers 
Wholesalers may also be classified according to the range of stock carried . 
Though generally they specialize in one group of commodities , there is considerable variation in the extent of this specialization . 
Perhaps the most important section of the wholesale trade , both in terms of numbers of firms and turnover , is that of the general wholesalers . 
They are analogous to department stores , as there are a number of departments ( frequently twenty to twenty-five ) selling a wide range of rather unrelated commodities , with an extensive choice within each commodity group . 
Such firms may employ five hundred or more " inside staff " and up to one hundred travellers . 
Most general wholesalers occupy large buildings in the central areas of cities , and also normally have branches or stock-rooms strategically situated in other large towns . 
The main attraction of the general wholesaler is , of course , the ability to bring together for the convenience of the retailer a wide range of merchandise under one roof . 
For a number of years the general house has tended to concentrate attention on a related group of commodities . 
When this specialization is carried a stage farther the wholesaler becomes a specialist house . 
The term , in fact , may imply anything from a wholesaler carrying one commodity group to one with several hundred , the emphasis being on the similarity of commodities rather than on their number . 
The specialist house is usually of moderate size — in the textile trade , for example , having five or six departments . 
Millinery , piece-goods , lace , and children 's wear seem particularly suited for this treatment , and in extreme cases specialists deal in only a few articles , particularly if they become sole distributing agents . 
The development of the specialist is partly the result of manufacturer pressure for more concentrated selling , and partly through his ability to become an authority on quality and value in his particular line of business . 
Cash-and-carry Wholesalers 
This form eliminates a number of operations traditionally associated with wholesaling in return for lower prices . 
There are no credit facilities or delivery services available , and there is rarely any outside selling . 
Such wholesalers are chiefly found in sections of the food trade , household goods , toys , and " market lines " ( very cheap merchandise for street markets ) — wherever a commodity has a high rate of stock-turn potential . 
Cash-and-carry wholesalers are likely to increase in number . 
Agents , Brokers , and Other Small Wholesalers 
There are many small firms , trading under various titles , which , though they may acquire title to the goods they sell , either never actually hold them or , if they do so , only transfer them without further processing or servicing . 
In the building trade such a trader is picturesquely described as a " brass plate " merchant , and a similar type of intermediary appears in the clothing trade , where he sometimes acts as a speculator entering and leaving the trade according to the market . 
The commission merchant , as he is sometimes called , operates without stock ( and frequently on credit ) , selling entirely from manufacturers ' samples and placing orders only sufficient to cover his sales . 
On the other hand , the manufacturer 's agent carries out functions similar to those of the wholesaler 's representative , but , unlike the latter , he is self-employed , and is remunerated by a service fee , or , more usually , by a percentage commission on all sales made . 
The agent is usually given the sole rights in his particular area . 
Agents are primarily used in selling to wholesalers or to central offices of chains of shops . 
They enable a manufacturer to be permanently represented in these areas by people familiar with business conditions there , and they save him the expense of establishing branches . 
Co-operative Wholesaling 
By far the largest units in the wholesale trade are the Co-operative wholesalers . 
There are two main Societies , for England and Scotland respectively , and they exist to serve the many retail Co-operatives , which provide nearly all the capital and exercise control . 
In return the local Societies receive dividends on their purchases . 
The Co-operative Wholesale Society , with headquarters in Manchester and four big branch depots , has been in existence for nearly a century . 
The Scottish "Wholesale " was formed shortly after . 
These two Societies have established their own factories , producing goods in 1957 worth just over £160 m. , chiefly for producing foodstuffs and household goods . 
The C.W.S. owns ships , farms , and plantations , transacts considerable banking business , and shares with its Scottish counterpart the control of the Co-operative Insurance Society . 
The two Societies also own and control the English and Scottish Joint C.W.S .. , which performs the special services of tea- and coffee-blending and cocoa and chocolate production for them . 
In 1938 one-tenth of all Britain 's imports of food reached housewives by way of the C.W.S. , and more than half of the goods was purchased direct from the overseas markets by the buying organization of the Society , which has depots in many countries . 
The C.W.S. is controlled by an elected Board of Directors of twenty-eight , seven of whom retire annually . 
All are full-time salaried officials . 
The Board meets weekly in Manchester , London , or Newcastle . 
It is one of Britain 's biggest businesses , since over three-fifths of the goods sold by retail Societies are obtained through the C.W.S. , and its turnover in 1957 amounted to about £454 m . 
Wholesaling and Integration 
One of the most important trends in distribution in the twentieth century has been the increasing desire of manufacturers to control the wholesaling functions themselves . 
This they have usually achieved by establishing their own wholesale department and depots where necessary , though occasionally they have acquired existing wholesale organizations . 
Some wholesalers seeking to maintain their traditional position have adopted the defensive policy of integrating with certain manufacturers . 
Such vertical expansion has been made chiefly to direct and maintain the supply of the most profitable lines within the framework of the organization . 
On the other hand , the large retailer , particularly if he has many outlets , may decide to engage in wholesaling ; in fact , many of the present large wholesale houses had their beginnings as retailers . 
The wholesale warehouse is then often operated as an ancillary concern ( generally a subsidiary company ) , perhaps under a different name . 
An existing wholesaler may be taken over . 
Some large groups , such as Debenhams , and the Great Universal Stores , have several wholesale subsidiaries . 
In a few trades , such as fruit and tobacco , firms buy merchandise in bulk for their own shops and resell what they do not need to smaller shops in the district . 
In such circumstances they are primarily retailers , and a few use the terms " wholesale " or " warehouse " as a customer-catching device . 
While wholesalers are generally prepared to make direct sales to certain classes of final customer — e.g. , schools and large industrial firms — some have established a special department to sell direct to the public on certain conditions , such as after a proper introduction by a retailer . 
Other wholesalers have expanded forward into retailing by the requisition of shops to meet the threats of a changed pattern of distribution and perhaps to make a double profit on each transaction . 
This policy has aroused considerable rancour , even when the shop takes only part of its merchandise from the parent , and has weakened wholesale-retail co-operation . 
Location of Warehouses 
The distinctive premises of the wholesaler are , of course , the warehouse , since normally large stocks must be carried . 
The premises are generally utilized in a strictly practical manner , since the wholesaler 's appeal is to the businessman . 
A wholesale merchant 's business can not be set up anywhere ; his warehouse is of most service to his customers if they can reach it easily and quickly . 
Consequently it is usually established in a city which is the commercial centre for the surrounding district . 
London is the biggest centre of wholesale textile distribution , with Manchester not far behind . 
In a large city it is usual to find those of one trade located in a particular quarter or street , particularly if there is a market or exchange near by . 
Thus in London , Mark Lane is the centre for corn merchants , while in Manchester all the big textile houses are found in the environs of Piccadilly . 
This concentration of trades of each class is convenient both to customers and to manufacturers ' salesmen . 
Organization 
Though a few small businesses , particularly those specializing in certain kinds of business — e.g. , millinery , trimmings — are run by single traders , and the partnership is still fairly frequently met with , the most general form of proprietorship is that of a limited company . 
This is mainly on account of the heavy capital requirements of the trade . 
Wholesale directors are almost invariably executive or working directors , with full responsibility for a particular function . 
The scope of the wholesaling task is indicated by a few facts about wholesale textile distribution . 
Large wholesalers carry an average stock of £1,000,000 ; they dispatch approximately 2000 parcels a day to various parts of the country for their 10,000-15,000 retail accounts , and receive supplies from anything up to a thousand suppliers from time to time . 
Moreover , the documentation and handling of each customer 's order may involve thirty-two separate operations , many of which must be repeated in reverse if the goods do not comply with the retailer 's requirements . 
Whatever the merchandise carried , the organization broadly resembles that of a big department store , each department forming a separate unit under a departmental manager . 
Frequently there are four main departments : buying , warehousing , selling , and administration . 
There are usually separate buyers responsible for the requirements of each section , but their activities are co-ordinated by the purchasing department , which also deals with the paper-work . 
Warehousing is a specialized job , and may include assembling , grading , breaking bulk , and packing . 
The wholesaler provides a selling organization for the manufacturer , and most of this selling is done by trained travellers . 
But the wholesaler 's showrooms may also be very important : the retailer is offered a huge stock and variety of merchandise which no other system could bring to him under one roof . 
D. ENGLAND FOCUS ON ENGLISH FARE 
AT an old-established hotel in an East Coast resort there is an unusual notice on the bottom of the menu card : " Epicures agree that English food well cooked is the best in the world . 
For this reason , this hotel specializes in the finest English cooking , and nothing canned or twice cooked is ever served . " 
An admirable and unexpected statement which is to be backed by a twelve-month campaign to promote British Food , launched by the British Farm Produce Council . 
It includes staging four large-scale exhibitions at major urban centres throughout the United Kingdom , twelve displays in stores in regional towns and joint ventures with such organizations as the Townswomen 's Guilds , the Gas Council , Electricity Boards and the Scottish , Welsh and Northern Ireland Development Boards . 
The first large-scale show is to be held in London from 11-16 September . 
The Council 's chairman , Mr. W. R. Trehane , commenting on the campaign , said : " British shoppers should certainly be well aware of the quality food that comes from their own farmers and growers by the end of the year . " 
And the farming community should be especially pleased that its products are to get such a tremendous boost just where it would be most effective — on the customer 's doorstep , he added . 
The British Farm Produce Council was launched in the autumn of 1960 . 
Its basic aims are to tell the buying public more about British food , how to choose and how to cook it , and to let farmers and growers know that the shopper thinks about their products . 
The Council has plenty to go upon for the range of English foods is amazingly wide . 
A restaurant in the West End offered its customers a choice of no fewer than 500 recipes of Old English fare , and these were selected from as many as fifteen hundred recipes . 
The first menu included a milk soup from Sussex , a star gazy pie from Cornwall , herrings , beef olives from Cheshire with dumplings and green peas , and a Welbeck pudding from Nottinghamshire . 
These merely touch the fringe of the possibilities , as was evident when a Folk Cookery exhibition was staged , for there were to be seen eatables with the most delightful names . 
They included Yule cakes eaten in Yorkshire between Christmas Day and New Year 's Day ; Sedgmoor Easter cakes ; " Tyneside Yule Doos , " childish figures supposed to represent the Infant Jesus , and made by Tyneside mothers for their children on baking day ; "Checky pigs " from Leicestershire ; Lardy cakes and wafers for Mothering Sunday , from Devizes ; Devonshire applecake ; Bakewell tart from Derbyshire ; Deddington pudding pies ; Cornish " black cake " ; Burying cake , from an old English recipe ; Yorkshire oatcake , made in strips ; Melton Mowbray pork pie ; gilt gingerbread from Bute ; parkin from Yorkshire ; Grasmere gingerbread , which looks like shortbread ; Congleton gingerbread with rice-paper underneath ; and Coventry " God Cake " , which dates back to the fourteenth or fifteenth century , given when a godchild was christened or made its first communion . 
It is a pastry cake after the style of a Banbury cake and in the shape of an isosceles triangle . 
It is slashed across the middle and ornamented with sugar . 
One of the most delightful exhibits ever put on was seen in the Gothic Hall of Lacock Abbey , four miles from Chippenham . 
Local dishes from all over the British Isles were displayed in rich profusion , and some of the most interesting were seen in the making . 
Dainties still made today , like Welsh bakestone loaf , Selkirk bannocks , and Dublin barm brack , were shown in company with more strictly period exhibits such as Queen Henrietta Maria 's morning broth — for in Charles 1 's day they took chicken broth for breakfast — and salmagundi , a favourite supper dish in the eighteenth century and obviously the ancestor of { 6hors d'oeuvre . 
Dishes similar to those displayed must have been cooked and eaten centuries ago at Lacock Abbey . 
Some ancient kitchen implements belonging to the abbey were also on show . 
A great pestle and mortar seen were said to have been there since the time of Sir William Sharington , the first lay owner of Lacock Abbey after the Dissolution . 
A venerable mould , in the form of an elephant , was used to make a cake exhibited . 
Among loans from elsewhere were a set of fine moulds for gingerbread from the Pump Room at Bath . 
Gingerbread figures properly gilded , proved that the moulds are as good today as ever they were . 
River crayfish , boiled as scarlet as any lobster , came from the river in the grounds of Lacock Abbey . 
The late Miss F. White , who founded the English Folk Cookery Association prepared a unique gastronomic map . 
She used to go about the country collecting information concerning food much as Cecil Sharp used to go about in his work of research for folk-songs and dances , and she plotted her discoveries on a Gastronomic Map . 
Looking over this one noticed such names as Coventry Godcake mentioned above , and Stuffed Chine at Clee in Lincolnshire ; and found that Melton Mowbray is as famous for curd cheese-cakes as for its pork pies . 
Stuffed Chine , by the way , is a famous old dish at Clee for Trinity Sunday , the custom being for a chine of bacon stuffed with herbs to form part of the dinner . 
The curd cheese-cakes of Melton Mowbray are a great dish for Whit-Sunday . 
It is said that there are enough of these cakes made for the festival to pave the whole town . 
Every county is , rightly , jealous of its folk-cookery tradition , and there is no doubt that the north of England is strong in this respect . 
A list of inns , hotels , and restaurants where good local dishes could be enjoyed mentioned for Yorkshire alone : Barnsley chops , curd cheese-cakes , oven cakes , sly cakes , Doncaster butterscotch , oatmeal fritters , bilberry pies , Yorkshire batter pudding , brandy snap , spiced bread , Sheffield polony , potted shrimps , frumenty , Wensleydale cheese , apple cheese-cakes , primrose vinegar , fish pie , turf cakes , bakestone cakes , parkin , and gingerbread . 
References were made to the Yorkshire practice of eating cheese with cake , and there was a consensus of opinion that ham and eggs as served in the county is a succulent dish . 
Scotland is too often neglected or overlooked , and so it is good that a little book of Scottish recipes has been compiled " primarily for visitors to Scotland , " lost " Scots and others " . 
The recipes range from soups , puddings and pies , cakes and shortbreads , to many other intriguing items such as Parlies or Scottish Parliament Cake , Athol Brose , Cranachan or Cream-Crowdie , and Tatties an' Herrin' . 
It has been asked : what are the predominant characteristics of Scottish cookery ? 
The answer : simplicity , good sense and an instinct for dietetic values , and what more could one ask ? 
One of the most historic of country dishes is dumplings . 
One recalls that celebrated farmhouse dinner described in Cranford , which Miss Matty only half-enjoyed because the delicate young peas would drop between the prongs of the old-fashioned two-pronged forks , and gentility forbade her to imitate her host and shovel them up on the blade of her knife . 
Mr. Holbrook , her old suitor , was right to be unceremonious with his peas , and he was right also , in his blunt way , about the use of dumplings to stay the appetite . 
" When I was a young man , we used to keep strictly to my father 's rule , " No broth , no ball : no ball , no beef , " and always began dinner with broth . 
Then we had suet puddings , boiled in the broth with the beef ; and then the meat itself . 
If we did not sup our broth , we had no ball , which we liked a deal better ; and the beef came last of all , and only those had it who had done justice to the broth and the ball . " 
Being a Cheshire man , Mr. Holbrook was probably unacquainted with the Norfolk dumpling , which goes one step further in the direction of economy by dispensing with the suet . 
This recalls that brave and manly eighteenth-century Norfolk incumbent , the Rev. James Woodforde , whose diary has only one rival , that of Pepys . 
On one occasion , after a good dinner and a bad night , he noted : " Mince pye rose oft . " 
If this is not literary style — the expression of meaning with a minimum of words and a maximum of effect — one would be interested to learn of a better example . 
Woodforde 's life was humdrum in some respects , but it had its difficulties . 
Of these , along with the smooth , he made the best , taking life as it came , without repining or vain hopes , and contriving to get a good deal of satisfaction for himself and others out of it , not least from his food . 
His meals were like himself , good and honest , and one quotes this typical meal : " st . 
Course : boiled Tench , Pea Soup , a Couple of boiled Chicken and pigs Face , hashed Calf 's Head , Beans , and roasted Rump of Beef with New Potatoes etc. 2nd . 
Course : roasted Duck and green Peas , a very fine Leveret roasted , Strawberry Cream , Jelly , Puddings etc . 
Dessert — Strawberries , Cherries and last Year 's nonpareils . " 
English cooking at its best . 
ANNE MORRIS MUSHROOMS — WILD AND TAME 
"THE steak is excellent , but the mushrooms do n't taste like mushrooms ! " 
This was the comment , heard during dinner in a restaurant , which sent me off in search of { Psalliota Campestris — the common white field mushroom — and the reason why " mushrooms do n't taste like mushrooms . " 
The first thing I discovered was that the common white field mushroom is common no longer . 
In fact , it is in danger of disappearing completely . 
Present-day farming methods are to blame — or so I was told by a local farmer , who explained that all the mushrooms had disappeared from his " home " field since he had treated the grass with a chemical fertilizer . 
A botanist at our local museum agreed with the farmer . 
He said , however , that this was not the only reason why there were so few mushrooms in our fields today . 
Mushrooms , it seems , like old pastures , where the soil has lain undisturbed for decades . 
Such pastures are becoming increasingly rare . 
The preference is for " ley " farming in which grasslands are ploughed and re-seeded every few years . 
This process breaks up a complex underground rooting system , which takes many years to re-establish . 
Yet another contributory factor is the disappearance of the horse from our farms . 
Indeed , if it were not for the numerous riding schools and racing stables throughout the country , mushrooms would be an ever greater luxury than they already are . 
For , even in these enlightened days , mushroom growers have not found a perfect substitute for stable manure on which to base their hot-beds . 
Even so , cultivated mushrooms are booming . 
Their popularity has increased enormously during the last ten years or so . 
For instance , in one small part of Nottinghamshire alone there are eight flourishing mushroom farms , and , according to a grower I talked to , they have no difficulty in disposing of their crops . 
From that , it would appear that mushroom-growing is an attractive proposition . 
Alas , there are snags . 
The first is that it is expensive . 
The cardboard baskets , for instance , in which the grower packs his mushrooms for the wholesalers , cost him sixpence each ! 
In the " off " season — the summer months — he may only receive two shillings a pound which , when the costs of spawn , manure , etc. , heat , labour , and depreciation of buildings , etc. , are taken into account , does n't leave a very great margin of profit ! 
Moreover mushrooms are a very risky crop . 
They may appear in abundance — or they may not appear at all . 
Or they may become diseased . 
If that should happen the entire crop is lost and the beds must be rested for some months to clear the infection . 
" But why do n't they taste like mushrooms ? " 
I asked the grower . 
He laughed . 
" I suppose you mean , why do n't they taste like field mushrooms , " he said . 
" And the answer to that is , they are a different variety . 
You do n't expect a Cox 's Orange Pippin to taste like a Grannie Smith , do you ? 
It 's the same with mushrooms . 
Even in the wild varieties there are at least two well-marked kinds . " 
This could be followed by a year 's course of training in a Horticultural Institute where he will gain experience in fruit and vegetable cultivation . 
When he leaves the Horticultural Institute he should find employment in another Parks Department . 
Then two years in a Botanic Garden , following this he should be capable of taking a foreman 's job which gives him experience in dealing with staff . 
( It is most encouraging to learn that the National Joint Council of Local Authorities ' Services are contemplating a scheme for Training in Foremanship for the public park service . 
I welcome this scheme for it is badly needed . ) 
When about 25 or 26 the young man would be eligible for the course of training arranged by the institute of Park Administration . 
After that he may have to do a spell of practical work or as a technical assistant . 
By the time he reaches 30 years of age he should be capable of taking over the Parks Department of a small town or as a Deputy in a larger town . 
Then the Chief Officer of the Parks Department of the future will be an administrator with an all round knowledge of all activities under the control of the Parks Committee . 
There is perhaps one disappointing feature in public park administration , particularly in the London area and the South-west , and that is there are still many Authorities where the Parks Department is under the control of another Officer . 
Very often that Officer has not the interest of the public gardens and parks at heart . 
In such cases the man in charge of the Parks loses his enthusiasm and the Local Authority never gets the best from the senior employee in charge of the Parks Department simply because he can not plan and plant according to his taste . 
Gardeners are a peculiar race of people , they like to do the job their own way and can be very frustrated when a person with no horticultural training controls the business of the public parks and gardens and has the last word with the Parks Committee , whereas the Parks Committee should have the right to deal direct with the appropriate officer of the Parks Department . 
The Third Conference Paper " Historic Houses and Estates as Public Parks " by Mr. F. Hallowes , F.Inst.P.A. , M.Inst.B.C.A. , Director of Parks , Nottingham , follows . 
HISTORIC HOUSES AND ESTATES AS PUBLIC PARKS 
PRIOR to the 1914-18 war the majority of historic houses and estates in the United Kingdom were occupied by their owners , and in numerous cases the landed people owned these properties in various parts of the country , usually one in Scotland , and two or so in England , in addition to their London residence . 
This pleasant state of affairs had continued peacefully and uninterruptedly for many years but the advent of the war saw great changes in the ownership , control , and maintenance of these properties , largely due to heavy taxation , cost of upkeep , and the dispersal of staff during the war years . 
In many cases speculators bought up these historic houses and estates , stripped the mansions of their treasures , took the lead from the roofs and the timber from the estates , and sold the land for building plots and the buildings for hotels , private schools , etc . 
This trend has never been completely arrested and though many houses and estates are still in private ownership many others have continued to be used for a variety of purposes . 
OWNERSHIP 
A broad estimate of ownership of some 478 houses in the United Kingdom which are open to the public indicates that 56 per cent . 
are still in private ownership , 26 per cent . 
under the control of the National Trust , 10 per cent . 
owned and used by Local Authorities , 7 per cent . 
occupied by Government Departments , and 1 per cent . 
used as schools . 
From time to time figures published of the numbers admitted and the fees paid show that the public are anxious and enthusiastic to visit these places and enjoy the beauty of the grounds and study the history of their country 's heritage . 
There is also the important factor , a very important factor these days , of the tourist industry . 
Many millions of pounds are attracted to this country by tourists from various parts of the world who are interested in studying the centuries old houses and gardens , particularly those people from countries who have little history themselves . 
The percentage of houses and estates owned by local authorities for the admission of the public to the house and grounds appears to be a rather low figure and one would imagine that local authorities might with profit and prestige to themselves regard with more enthusiasm the acquisition of some of these magnificent places which from time to time become available so that their history and very existence may be preserved for the people . 
It is , I think , appropriate that local authorities should be active and responsible in the preservation of this country 's heritage and it is regretted that opportunities appear to have been missed as ownership of such estates has enormous prestige value for a local authority . 
POWERS TO ACQUIRE 
There may be some hesitancy in the minds of local authorities in connection with their powers to acquire estates as public parks and the economics involved . 
With reference to such powers , the Public Health Act of 1875 appears to give the necessary powers to acquire lands for public parks , etc. , amended by Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1890 and 1907 . 
The National Trust Act of 1907 deals with arrangements with Local Authorities and there is also the Physical Training and Recreation Act of 1937 dealing with the acquisition of playing fields , which may not be absolutely the reason for which an authority would wish to acquire property , unless the lands were extensive and recreation facilities might be provided without interfering with the character of the estate . 
Some years ago the Ministry of Works set up three Buildings Councils to advise the Minister on the exercise of his powers in making grants towards maintenance and repair of historic buildings . 
The Minister also has powers to purchase , or to assist local Councils and the National Trust to acquire , as the case may be . 
A quarter of a million pounds was provided for preserving historic properties and a like amount for purchasing . 
For the year 1959-60 the sum of £425,000 was provided for preserving this type of building . 
The most recent report of the Historic Buildings Council for England indicates that £500,000 a year is now provided for the preservation of buildings of historic interest and importance . 
It would appear , therefore , that a local authority keen to acquire an estate and property in their area would receive considerable support both by virtue of their own powers and by the readiness of the Government to encourage such an acquisition . 
ECONOMICS 
With regards to the economics involved , some local authorities have purchased estates and have not only carried out a very good business deal for themselves but also acquired a beauty spot for their people . 
I find , however , it is rather surprising that ten per cent . 
only of those estates that have become available during the last forty years are used as public parks . 
It is of paramount importance to the smaller but expanding town that its Council , whenever the opportunity arises , acquires for itself an estate . 
It is an investment of the highest value which will appreciate as the years pass and will pay regular dividends not only in money but in the health and happiness of its people and the enhanced prestige that such a possession brings to any town or city . 
The question of capital outlay and maintenance may be a reason why some smaller authorities have allowed opportunities , no doubt reluctantly to go begging and have afterwards regretted their lack of enterprise . 
A local authority or combination of authorities should not hesitate too long if they contemplate acquiring an estate in their area . 
They should make their decision quickly , as delay causes deterioration of buildings and estate which ultimately lead to unnecessarily high costs in maintenance later . 
Having acquired the estate , time should not be lost in laying down definite principles for the best use of the buildings , the advantages and disadvantages of various methods , car parking , catering , advertising and publicity , liaison with public transport , freedom from unnecessary restrictions for the public , provision and sale of publications , need for planting and bedding schemes . 
Park administrators are , with their wide experience , ideal people to undertake the management of historic houses and estates . 
They clearly understand the needs of the public and in addition to the multitude of administrative matters which need expert attention they are sympathetic to the retention of the historic characteristics of estates which should at all costs be preserved . 
One unfortunately sees historic features carelessly lost when estates fall into unsympathetic hands . 
Buildings are "converted " , handsome trees removed , novelties introduced which to the thinking person are gauche and repellant . 
Many will have , I am sure , visited at various times historic estates hoping to enjoy their carefully preserved glories only to find numerous and varied " catchpenny attractions " which completely destroy the character and atmosphere of the place and cause the visitor pain instead of pleasure . 
I have always found Parks people conscious of the necessity to preserve the character and atmosphere of any historic estate in their care and are capable of making the requisite provision for accommodating large numbers of the public and at the same time retaining its charm and grandeur . 
NOTTINGHAM 'S ESTATES 
Three historic places are controlled by the Parks Committee of the City of Nottingham . 
Wollaton Hall , originally 774 acres , was acquired by the Nottingham Corporation in 1925 for £200,000 ( a fair sum at that time ! ) . 
Selective development by the Corporation and private builders took place on the fringe of the estate and houses , schools , places of worship , and licensed premises , were built and part of a most valuable ring road was laid out . 
The buildings were designed in a style to blend with the existing character of the environs of the district and this area is now regarded as a fashionable residential suburb of the City , and the ring road with its mature planting and grass verges has proved to be a main traffic artery and has blended perfectly into the natural beauty of the existing estate . 
The financial return from this development , defrayed the actual cost of the purchase , and over 600 acres of beautiful park land , laid out after the style of " Capability " Brown still remains for the benefit of the public . 
It is estimated that over one million people avail themselves of this Park each year . 
Development within the park has not detracted from its original style — one can be excused such necessary requirements of the modern age as car parks and refreshment kiosks . 
A golf course covering 136 acres was laid out and although still under municipal control and available to any member of the public is leased to the Wollaton Park Golf Club for £1,500 { 6per annum , plus rates , the Club maintaining the course and the Club House . 
Two herds of deer abound the park . 
A 35 acre lake is fished by fee and brings in some £300 . 
The building , Elizabethan ( 1580-85 ) , is used as a natural history museum and attracts 200,000 visitors a year . 
This is valuable for students from the neighbouring University and the City schools . 
The park still retains its collection of trees and the gardens are bedded out attractively . 
The 9 acre walled-in Kitchen Garden is now a most valuable nursery and makes a great contribution to the plant requirements of the Department . 
The Park has also housed over thirty major promotions , including the Royal Show , the Bath and West and Southern Counties Show , and the Royal Command Military Tattoo , all of these events being accommodated ( inclusive of car parks ) without causing damage or disruption and without completely closing the whole of the park . 
The fact that a local authority can accommodate such functions as these not only attracts first-class publicity to the authority but also has a considerable economic and prestige value . 
FRANKIE VAUGHAN writes about " The people I meet " Elvis , Sammy Davis , Billy Eckstine , Gogi Grant , Pat Boone , Vic Damone 
EVERY time I visit America I seem to meet many interesting people . 
My last was no exception . 
The most surprising , though , was Elvis Presley — I almost literally bumped into him ! 
I was leaving the restaurant at the 20th Century-Fox studios a few days before I flew home from Hollywood . 
I noticed a football flying over a wall between two lots . 
Not the sort of bloke to miss a chance , I went to trap it with my foot . 
Another fellow was running after it , too , and we collided with what , for me at any rate , was an almighty bump . 
Some others came over from their game and helped me to my feet . 
One of them said : " You 're Frankie Vaughan , are n't you ? " 
" Yes , I am , " I replied , " and you must be Elvis . " 
With some friends he had been playing a version of American football during his lunch break . 
As we chatted a car went by , with the driver shouting at Elvis , telling him off for being in the roadway . 
You should have seen his eyes goggle when he realised who he had been telling off ! 
I found Elvis a very likeable young man . 
He seems to have lots of energy and a great enthusiasm for life . 
Juliet Prowse , my co-star in " The Right Approach , " the film that had taken me to Hollywood , had worked with Elvis in " GI Blues , " as you know . 
She told me how nice he had been to her when they were making that picture together . 
My last visit was very much a working trip . 
There was n't much time for fun . 
We made "The Right Approach " very quickly , and it was hard work . 
I was on the go seven days a week . 
Even when there was no actual filming at weekends , I was busy learning my lines , having costume fittings , rehearsing or meeting the publicity people . 
NO PLACE IN THE SUN 
I missed getting into the sun — there just was n't the time . 
" The Right Approach " gives me my toughest part so far . 
I play a real rat . 
When Gary Crosby is auditioning for a cabaret engagement I have to show off in front of a girl and I mess up his routine . 
After interrupting his song I take it over completely halfway through , much to his annoyance ! 
Apart from this , I have three other songs which I filmed by myself . 
But do n't think the picture is a musical . 
It is a drama , but the songs are fitted into it naturally without affecting the action . 
I made time to meet several old friends during my time in Hollywood . 
Stella and I went to Billy Eckstine 's opening at the Crescendo , and had dinner with him afterwards . 
We also dined with Gogi Grant and her lawyer-husband . 
Wilfred Hyde White , who was in " Let's Make Love " with me , was also back in Hollywood — making a film with Danny Kaye — and we saw quite a lot of him and his wife , Ethel , who is shortly expecting her second baby . 
Pat Boone was at the 20th Century-Fox studios making " Warm Bodies . " 
I have known him for some time and looked him up again . 
He is a really nice person . 
So is Buddy Hackett , the comedian , who was in the same film . 
Dana Andrews was also at the 20th Century-Fox studios making " Madison Avenue . " 
Before I began the film , I played my second season at the Dunes Hotel , Las Vegas . 
While there I spent a lot of time with Sammy Davis . 
He was appearing there , at the Sands , but he managed to come in to my late show — the third of the night . 
I frequently joined him at his hotel later . 
He used to organise film shows in his suite . 
Often there were a lot of friends there and they were always great fun . 
The shows lasted about two hours , after which I had some breakfast and then went to bed ! 
It meant keeping crazy hours , as it was often past noon when I got up again . 
But then , that 's Las Vegas ! 
Basil Tait , who is now my accompanist and musical director , was making his first trip to Vegas , and I had to show him the sights . 
I soon had him familiar with all the ropes . 
We went into the mountains taking private movies and went out into the desert for some fishing from a lake . 
Vic Damone was another singer I met during my stay . 
Betty Grable and her husband , bandleader Harry James , were both appearing in Vegas , but at different venues — Betty at the Sahara and Harry at the Flamingo . 
A future in films for RUSS CONWAY Britain 's Keyboard King 
RUSS CONWAY 'S injured hand has given him time to think — and the result may well be that a new field of entertainment will open up for him in 1961 . 
It was towards the end of November you may recall , that Russ had to withdraw from the London Palladium revue " Stars In Your Eyes . " 
A fall in which he had suffered a severely bruised hand and wrist was the cause . 
No one was more disappointed than Russ , even though it meant he could have a holiday a little sooner than he anticipated . 
For about a month he was out of action , but put that time to good use — for he has now decided that he would like to make a name in films ! 
At about the same time as Russ withdrew from the Palladium show , he filmed his contribution to a British comedy film , " Weekend With Lulu . " 
This was his second exploit with the celluloid screen — he previously appeared in " Climb Up The Wall . " 
Now Russ is quite open about his hopes for the future — he has taken such a liking to film work that he wants to branch out in this side of show business , and he is already discussing a project to make a movie during the summer . 
He admitted : " I suppose I have really got a bug about film making . 
I enjoy it very much — particularly as the method and medium are so different from television . " 
Do n't think , though , that the versatile Mr. Conway is going to desert variety , TV and discs . 
A taped ATV series , with a scheduled start of January 5 , has been keeping him busy for some time , as well as talks and policy-making meetings for his future . 
He excited a lot of curiosity by announcing his intention of taking a holiday in Australia this month , particularly when he stressed that he was determined not to let it develop into a working trip ! 
The truth is , of course , that the Australians are great followers of Russ , and Conway realised that overtures might be made to him to make at least a token appearance on a big TV show . 
His plan , however , is to consider any offers that come his way from Australian promoters and agents — but with a view to working there some time in the future . 
The reason he is so serious about making this a holiday-only trip ? 
" This could be the last vacation I shall have for several years , " he explained . 
What can we expect from Russ in 1961 ? 
Well , on his return from " down under " at the end of next month , he will begin to prepare for his starring appearance in Coventry Theatre 's colourful ( not to mention star-studded ) " Spring Show , " which opens on Easter Monday . 
As previously stated , a film could follow this , taking Russ into the middle of the summer . 
What will happen after that , even Russ does n't know ! 
One thing is certain . 
Many artists would be terrified of a sudden month-long break in their career — it could spell disaster and eventual ruin . 
But Russ Conway is the sort of person with whom that indefinable creature Success , and her elusive companion Luck , always stay . 
Why , his " Even More Party Pops " disc moved into the charts during his absence from the public eye , and sold in a large enough quantity to ensure that there will be thousands spinning his discs this Christmas . 
Perhaps the nicest thing said about Russ was by a hardened music publisher as he paused to talk to a friend in Tin Pan Alley — London 's Denmark Street . 
" What a shame about Russ Conway leaving the Palladium show , " he said . 
" Still , even if he 's got a swollen hand there 's no danger of it spreading to his head ! " 
The Shadows ' private lives 
WHAT do the Shadows do when they are away from the hustle and bustle of theatres and showbusiness ? 
What are their hobbies ? 
To find out the answers to these questions ( incidentally , favourite queries from fans ) , HIT PARADE asked each of the chart-topping group to reveal a little of their private lives . 
Jet Harris , bass guitarist and leader of the group is a keen racing driver . 
He has an ambition to race in the Monte Carlo rally , though he is not set upon winning it . 
" I would enter just for the thrill , " he says . 
He has other part-time occupations , in addition to his race driving . 
For instance , he is a keen archer and snooker player . 
He is not often taken seriously when he says that he would like to emulate William Tell 's famous feat , but he is practising hard for an achievement in this direction . 
In snooker , he has another aim — to play former world champion Joe Davis ! 
Of course , it 's natural that Jet should have composing as an additional hobby , for no matter how hard you try , it 's no simple matter to break away from showbusiness entirely . 
Writing , too , takes up his time . 
Once he wrote a book with poet Royston Ellis — titled " Driftin' , " it sold some 300,000 copies — and no wonder , for it was about Cliff Richard ! 
Bruce Welch , perhaps the best-known of the group in the composing line , spends a great deal of time with his music . 
He has written two of Cliff 's hits — " Please Do n't Tease " and " I Love You , " and he worked on many of the numbers for the " Me And My Shadows " LP . 
He has n't always been successful in this direction , though , and he has some stories to tell about his early days in showbusiness that are hard to believe , compared with his present-day success . 
Does it surprise you to know that Bruce and Hank Marvin when they first moved to London from Newcastle sometimes were on the verge of starving ? 
In fact , according to Bruce " At times we were so hungry we stayed in bed to conserve our energy and to save ourselves the frustration of seeing shops full of eatables that we just did n't have the money to buy . " 
Hank Marvin , who was voted into third place in the NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS 1960 Poll for the " Instrumental Personality Of The Year " section , has similar interests to Jet , although he prefers Go-Kart driving to rally driving . 
But he has one unusual hobby — he collects swords , guns and other curios that interest him . 
Like the others he is a keen archer , but really prefers plucking the guitar string to the bow-string . 
" I practise four hours a day whenever I am able , " he says , "but I find that the mad rush of showbusiness does n't always allow this . 
It is true to say that I practise as much as I can , though . " 
Drummer Tony Meehan , youngest of the group , is a serious musical student , and is responsible for most of the Shadows arranging , as well as a little composition . 
He has yet to have a composition published . 
He loves reading and is a bookworm in the true sense of the word . 
His reading matter encompasses Freud , historical novels and text books on music . 
Now that the Shadows have formed their own publishing company — Shadows Music — in association with Aberbach , it is probable that some of Tony 's compositions will be used . 
In addition to all the spare time interests they have outlined , the boys like nothing better than to get together for talks covering all sorts of subjects — ranging round religion , politics , Elvis Presley and the charts !