Evening star., 1915-02-07

war, however, its ranks have been join
ed by thousands of educated young
business men who were eager to devote
themselves to the dcfenSe of their
country, and in the casc OF these lat
ter the system has been one of cram
ming, such new members OF the 20. T.
C" getting what is ordinarily two
year training in a few months and
then being ready to take commissions
in the army
They drill a couple of times day,
go on route marches and attend lee
lures on tactics and during week ends
go to camp and are initiated into the
mysteries of trench digging, tent peg
ging and all the rest Of II, including
how the business of billeting is best
carried out. The writer knows several
young men, most of them already in
the government service. who recently
have become members of the 80. T. C.,
and the hours that they have to them
selves are few and far between. on
the other hand, they have one and all
become 'ft fiddles.
At oxford the 20. r. c." always has
been especially strong, and in the first
month of the war more than 1000 of
the Undergraduates were recommends
ed Tor com mi ssions. What is more.
the classes that the reformer always
wants to reform away, the Well-to-do,
the athletic and the sporting. were the
first to go, straining at the leash,
streaming up in the vacation begging
and praying for commissions. longing
10 get to the French shore. \ thousand
more oxford undergraduates were also
recommended and withdrawn before
the vacation ended, and the result, 50
far as the university is conceaned, Is
comparative solitude and silence. The
more SO, by the bye, as between twenty
and thirty of the American Rhodes
scholars having obtained extensions
of their Christmas holidays. are in Bel
gium, practically administering the
distribution of the food which is pour
,f,h tf.1 n tT-N- fro m
the United states at the rate now of
four or five shiploads week.
At present the numbers of the 80. T.
c. at oxford stand at about 100, the
undergraduates whohave not joined
numbering less than 900. Yet the ar
rangements are severe and cXacting.
Those enrolled divided into class
A. who are pledged to be ready to take
commissions at the end of or during
the present term, and class B, who arc
unwilling to take commissions until
later date. Every cadet has to attend
all compulsory parades and AL the lee
lures arranged for his class. Besides
the undergraduates. moreover, many of
the younger dons may be seen drilling
in the park, and they, too, will ere long
ing is the overwhelmingly predomi-
nant athletic exercise, and khaki is the
only wear
At the big public schools. particularly
at Eton and Harrow. the identical spir-
il prevails. and as the students at
these academies are drawn from the
so-called leisure classes and are, III
many cases. of noble birth. it is being
remarked that owing to the war we
shall have to reconsider our views on
the connection between luxury and
that greater danger, slackness, just as,
owing to the war. the British work
ingman, as the dean of Manchester told
Eton the other day, has reconsidered
his view of the upper classes
Harrow School, in fact. has knOWl-
edge of ,643 "Old Harrovians' who are
serving with or have served with the
coIors Fifty-four have been killed
twcnty-cight are missing prisoners.
and l03 are wounded. Fifty-four have
been mentioned in dispatches, three
have received the d. 5. .. and fourteen