Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-31
CONTINUED From Yesterdays stars

Stanhope realized that, in a round
about way, "Pimples" was paying him
great compliment by discussing these
difficulties with him. But Jimmy had
told him that from the summit of Hang
| mans Hill one could hear the rumble
of the guns in France. To hear this
old man talk you would think the war
was at the other end of the earth.
Barford had become a great factory of
combatants; each term so many boys
exchanged their Barford blazers or foot
ball jerseys for khaki tunics; each term
all the others were trained and drilled.
and told how much more bravely the
British fought than the Germans, and
how much lighter their casualties were;
the school magazine gave, in each issue,
longer list of killed and wounded And
this stupid old man fused about his
beastly little problems OF Elton jackets
and cigarette smoking! "Pimples" had,
rather unexpectedly, produced whisky
and soda, and Stanhope asked bluntly
II he might have another drop. This
bushes of coming back to Barford had
been complete failure. The other men,
bers of the Old Boys team were
crooks on light duty, or fellows who
had mysterious jobs in England which
made them-So they declared-indis-
pensable. Jimmy Raleigh had made
much the biggest score of the day, thus
enabling the Present" easily to beat
the Past" and his friends success
htneSs, and enthusiasm made Stanhope
little envious and unhappy There
was no real point of contact between
those who wanted to see war and those
who had seen it. And the more
Pimples" looked distressed at the way
in which he helped himself to whisky
the more Stanhope drank. He would
somehow compel the old fool to realize
that the war had made difference.
He could almost see the old boys brain
working: he had always liked Stanhope
as being keen and efficient boy who
had brought credit to his house. and
he was clearly puzzled by the change
In him. But equally clearly, it never
occurred to him that at any rate part
OF the blame was due to the war-to
this holy crusade of Right against
Wrong, to this campaign to bring Ger
many to her knees, to overthrow the
Kaiser, to destroy everything German,
and to starve every German child.
When Stanhope went up to the guest
room, he leant for a long time out of
the window. The dormitories, away to
the right, were in darkness, but the
moon shone on the walls, and he could
see the little ledge on the second floor
along which, out of sheer bravado, he
A.~N OAASS SACPb 4AOll TdTTSTS dorm, 10
ms own. Beyond that wing of the
house was the cricket field, with the
pavilion standing clear above a light
ground-miSt. God How important #
mad seemed to get his First Eleven can.
Straight ahead loomed the main tower.
with the high vaulted roof of the Great
school where, as new monitor. he had
faced the ordeal of reciting the Latin
Prayer 10 MIN, waiting with the other
monitors. until all the boys were in
their places, that he could never be
called upon Tor a greater display of
courage. To the right was the iunior
footer field where the o. T. C. paraded,
ana ne could recall his pride as he had
nrsG marched on to the parade ground
with lance-corporaIs stripe on his
arm. Beyond the junior field was the
avon valley, and, beyond that again,
the great shoulder of Hangman's Hill,
from the summit of which. Jimmy had
SAID, you could hear the low rumble
OF the guns.
Dennis Stanhope went over to the
dressing table, and began to undress
He caught sight Of his own reflection
in the mirror
Don't wonder poor old 'Pimples' look
ed so upset." he said to himself. as he
tumbled into bed. do him good. the
self-righteous old fool!"
Ihen, since Madge looked so much
like her brother whom he had seen
again after such an eternity at the
Front, he fell asleep and dreamed that
she cried because he drank glass after
glass of whisky, and would not stop to
please her.