school.
Ian Hay says somewhere that a senior boy at a public school is a
far more serious and responsible being than an undergraduate. As
there are no senior boys, it is more than ever incumbent upon the
masters to keep up the _esprit de corps_ of the school, and to
help maintain the old standards in work and games.

Talking of masters, I much liked that poem entitled the
"House-Master" in a recent number of _Punch_. It is just the case
of Kittermaster, Nightingale, or Scottie, isn't it? I pray and
trust that Dulwich in these difficult days will maintain its fine
traditions. The welfare of the school is a very precious thing to
me. I am inclined to think that my own six and a half years
(1908-15) at Dulwich were about the time of its Augustan era.
Among other things, this period included the year of the two
Balliol scholars, the year of the crack "footer" team that never
lost a match, and it was marked by a consistent average of
first-class XV's throughout. It produced five "blues" and
internationals, and would have produced many other "blues," and
perhaps internationals, had it not been for the War--Evans, for
example, as half-back, and Franklin or either of the Gilligans as
three-quarters. It was also the period of A. E. R. Gilligan,
unquestionably the finest all-round public-school athlete of the
past decade; the period of the gymnastic records; of the sports
records; with a consistent average of scholarships and other
educational distinctions, such as Reynolds's B.A., direct from
the school. Finally, this period was marked by a general spirit
of keenness and industry, both in work and games, throughout the
school. It was truly a glorious time. Oh, to have it all over
again!

_June 18th, 1917._

For over three weeks we have been working at exceptionally high
pressure. Chief interest now centres in Flanders. Our branch did
wonderfully well there, though the Boche apparently didn't offer
serious resistance anywhere. I was inexpressibly shocked to hear
of the death of that chivalrous Irishman, Willie Redmond. The
fact that he was carried off the battlefield in an Ulster
ambulance was a most touching episode, and should go far to
reconcile the mutually antagonistic Irish parties. Such an