97
BY THE SAME AUTHOR .
SHR EW SB U RY FAB LES .
Add resses giv en m
bu ry Sch ool Chape l . Crown
SCH O O LMA STER 'S APOLO GY .
LONOMANS,GR E EN AND CO .
LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY ,
FA ES
CYRIL ALINGTONHEAD MASTER OF ETON COLLEGE
lCHAPLAIN TO TE E KING
I
SOMETIME HEAD MASTER OF SHREWSBURY SCHOOL
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
39 P AT E R N O ST E R R OW , L OND ONFOURTH A ! ENUE AND 3OTH STREET, NEW Y ORK
BOMBAY,CALCUTTA , AND MADRAS
wr itten for Founder’f Day 192 1 , being
a nniversa ry of tbe bir tb of King Henry
!Tune, Darwall’
s 14 8 th.
Ye holy sain ts of yore ,Who wore an earthly crown ,
And now,God ’s throne before,
Have cast your glories down ,Teach us to singAs best we mayOn this his day,Our Founder King !
Ye humble m en of heart,
Who lived to praise your Lord,And bear to-day your partIn Heaven ’s all-bles t accord
,
His praise acclaim,
Whose deeds have brought,
By him un sought,
A deathle ss fame !
Ye mourn ers, who on highLift up your joyful head,
Your tears for eve r dry,Your sorrows comforted,
Praise him who trodThrough grief and painThat pathway plainThat leads to God !
But chiefest,Thou
,his Lord
,
His praise atten tive hear,Who strove to keep Thy wordAnd share Thy sufferings hereFor all he willedBe glory Thine,His great design
In Thee fulfilled
PREFACE
THE volume of Fable s to which thi s i s a companion con tained a serie s all de livered at o n e
School on two annual occa sion s thi s volume ha sn o t the same unity, or pe rhaps n o t quite th e samemonotony ! it may indeed be s aid with truth thatsome of these addresses are not Fable s at all inthe proper s en se of th e te rm . Th e fir st five we rewritten primarily for Shrewsbury School
,though
mo st of them have at different time s been al sodelivered at Eton ! the re st , with th e exceptionof two fragment s of sermon s
,have Eton a s the ir
place of origin . Most have been de live red inLowe r Chape l, and some to the more exactin gcongregation in College Chape l ; While th e twolast have only been submitted to the searchingcritici sm of my own Divi sion . I h0pe thatre ader s will make allowance s for the se differentcircumstan ce s of the ir production .
C . A . A .
CONTENTS
THE CEDARTHE MATCHTHE PEACE E ! HIBITIONTHE KNIGHT
THE LOST PROPERTY OFFICETHE THREE G IFTSSCHOOL YARDTHE TWO PALACESTHE AMPHITHEATRE
THE THREE SONSTHE TWO ISLANDSTHE FRU IT-TREESTHE MO ! ING STAIRCASE
OLD W INE IN NEW BOTTLES
ETON FA BLES
THE CEDAR
Summ er I 9I 7 .
I DO not think I have had any dreams worthrecalling since I le ft Shrewsbury, but I will te llyou of what may be called, perhap s, a
! waking! i sion ,
”and hope that you will not find it too
trivial . In orde r that you may under stand it,I
must explain that in the garden in front of myhou se in the Cloisters the re stand two tree s
,a
Cedar under which I sometime s take my Divi sionin th e hot we athe r
,and an old Mulberry . You
ought,perhap s
,al so to know that some of the
gra s s ha s lately been dug up to make room forvege table s . The other day I had been taking aDivin ity le s son out the re and had be en speakingabout th e value of humility, for our subj e ct wa sthe Epi stle to the Philippian s, in which we aretold that Chri st humbled Himse lf and becameobedient unto death .
” After the boys hadgon e away I sat on un der the tree and mu st, I
2 ETON FABLES
suppo se,have dropped in to a kind of doze , from
which I wa s arou sed by a voice spe aking to mefrom overhe ad, which apparently proceeded fromthe Cedar .
! Thank you so much,it said .
! I cannotte ll you how glad I wa s to he ar you say all thatit ha s wan ted saying in thi s garden for a very longtime . I have been here now for two or thre ehundred year s
,and you would never believe the
con stan t squabbling which goe s on among theFlower s . Poppie s and Peonie s of cour se youmight expect it from
,but th e very Dai sie s he re
se em to think a lot of themselve s ! there i s norepre s sing them ! Cut down and up again a sblithe a s eve r
,
’ a s th e poet says and the Ro se stoo
,you would think that they ought to know
better,but they are really the wor st of th e lot .
There i s a song they have got hold of,which
they simply sing to annoy th e other Flower s ; andwhen you Spe ak to them about it
,they make the
excu se that it wa s written by a Provo st of Eton,so that it mu st be all right . It begins
You ! iolets that first appear,’
there aren ’t really any Violet s in the Garden,
th e Cedar interrupted its e lf to explain, but thatmake s it all th e wor se
,for the other Flower s all
know what they mean .
THE CEDAR 3
You ! iolets that first appear,By your pure purple man tle s known ,Like the proud virgin s of the year,As if the spring we re all your own
,
What are you when the Rose is blown ? ’
You cannot expect th e other Flower s to likethat sort of thing, espe cially when it i s goingon all th e time .
”
! It mu st be very di stre s sing,said I
,trying
to soothe th e Cedar, but I suppo se it i s th earti stic temperamen t ! our arti st s and poe t s areall like that
,dre adfully critical of o n e an othe r’ s
work and when you a re your own work of art,
a s a Flowe r is,it mu st make things wor se than
eve r . I suppo se if they were re ally engaged onsome thing u se ful, they would be more in clin edto work toge the r happily .
”
! Not a bit of it,
” said the Cedar ;!th e
Vege table s are wor se if anything . S in ce youdug up the gra s s and put in that n ew patch ofthem, there ha s be en o n e con tin uou s wranglegoing o n from morn ing till n ight . The one sthat have flowe r s look down on th e on e s thathave root s
,or tuber s
,or whateve r you call them
and they quarre l about the ir differen t shade sof green ; and th e Cabbage s te ll th e Carrot sthat on ly a don key would eat them andth e Potatoe s ! we ll, I suppo se it
’s the ir Iri sh
blood,but they always seem to have a grievan ce
,
4 ETON FABLES
and always manage to prove that they are in
the right . No , n o , the re i s no doubt of it, allVege table s badly need preaching to . St . Fran ci spreached to th e Bird s, and S t . Anthony of Paduapre ached to the Fi she s, but no o n e eve r thin ksof pre aching to ibew
, and I can te ll you theywant it ; and the Special sermon they wan t i sju st o n e about humility.
”
Thi s all seemed ve ry re a sonable, but a que stionhad be en ri sing in my mind , and very apolo
ge t ically I ventured to put itI beg your pardon
,I said , but I suppo se
some people would say you were a Vege table ,wouldn ’t they I don ’t mean , of cour se, that Ishould
,
” I went on quickly,but you know that
old game o n e u sed to play,An imal
,Vege table
,
or Min eral— and I suppo se you have got to comein somewhe re ? ”
I wa s afraid th e Cedar would be annoyed,
but he only smiled in rathe r a pityingmanner .Oh
,I am all right
,
”he said ;
! I am afraidyou don ’t know your P salm s very we ll
,or you
would remembe r that the re i s a Special P salmall about m e I wil l repe at it to you if you haveforgotten
,an d you will see that I am in pre tty
good company
THE CEDAR 5
Praise the Lord upon earthfij y
e dragons, and all deepsFire and hail, snow and vapours . wind and storm, fulfillingHis word ;Moun tain s and all bills ! fruitful trees and all cedars ;Beasts and all cattle ! worms and feathered fowls ;Kings of the earth, and all people prinées and all judges ofthe world ;
Youn g m en and maidens, old m en and children , praise theName of the Lord ! for His Name on ly is e ! cellen t, andHis praise above heaven and earth.
’
I am rathe r sorry that h e put in that about theworm s ; but you se e
,
” said the Cedar,! I am
th e only tre e that ge t s mentioned by name,and
of cour se that doe s make one ’ s po sition rathe rdifferent .”
I he ard a sort of chuckling behind me,and
then I he ard the Mulbe rry tree say
Now then,all toge the r, give it to him
again ! ” And all the Flowe r s and Vegetable sStarted s inging a s if they knew the ir cu e
Though we with Mesech have to dwellAnd in the ten ts of Kedar,
And you alone on Leba non ,U n con scionable Cedar !
To o ne and all, bo th great and small,One rule the garden teaches !
The simple rule that wise or foolM ust practi se what he preaches .
They we re ju st beginn ing to sing th e wholething right through again when I in te rruptedthem, for I fe lt doubtful how the Cedar wouldtake it . The Mulberry tree rea s sured m e .
6 ETON FABLES
It’ s all right,said h e , h e often talk s like
that,and we have had to make that little song
to ke ep him in hi s place ; but we are all proudof him re ally, and h e kn ows we don
’t me an itunkindly
,and afte r all I ’m olde r than he is
,so h e
ha s to put up with it from m e .
”
And,in fact
, th e Cedar did take it l ike a m an .
Oh,all right,
” h e said,you can stop that
silly song . I dare say I did de serve it ; but iti s ve ry hard not to forge t one se lf a little nowand then . But le t ’ s Show the He ad Ma ster wecan sing something be tte r than that . Give hima few ve r se s of th e Garden song .
I ’m afraid you won’t like thi s
,h e wen t o n
,
turning to m e ;! it ’ s a song that we and the
Fi she s and th e Bird s made up to Show that it ’ sreally your fault and not our s if we aren ’t a sgood a s we might be . I dare say you ’ll remembe rthat St . Paul said some thing of th e kin d Thewhole cre ation groaneth and travaile th in paintoge the r until now .
’ Has it eve r occurred toyou to a sk your se lf why it groan s and travail sWe ll
,li sten an d you ’ll unde r stan d .
”
And then th e whole Garden j oined in a chan tin which e ach took its prope r part
Before Man took to Sin n ing,And hearts began to harden ,
W e read at the beginn ingThe Lord God made a garden .
THE MATCH
Septem éer 191 7 .
I WAS sitting in my study trying to thin k of asubj ect fo r an addre ss
,and had made up my
min d that th e thing to say to you , and e speciallyto th e younge r boys among you , was that youhave got a re al pie ce of work to do for th e School
,
and for your parents,and for God
,although at
the moment it may not se em a ve ry big o n e ;
and the re ran in my he ad some words of a RussianPain te r which I happen ed to have seen the othe rday
I can on ly light a little candle to the Glory of God . Per
haps it is no t even of the finest wa ! , but it is offe red from myinmost heart.”
While I was turning this over in my mind, I wasrathe r surprised to hear a voice which appearedto come from th e mante lpie ce , and in particularfrom a match which was lying there with someothe rs in an open box .
! Ra ther a good ide a,said the Match en
cou ragingly ;! I have always wonde red why
people don ’t pre ach se rmons about candl e s, or8
THE MATCH 9
rathe r about w,for eve ryon e knows a candle
wouldn’t amoun t to much without th e match .
”
Now of course I knew that matche s had goneup in price
, so that it was natural that they shouldbe rathe r above themse lve s, but th e sugge stionwas a bit startling ! still I was an xious to bepolite .
! We ll,
” I said,
! I can ’t say that theide a had occurred to m e and to be quite hon e stI don ’t se e what precise conn ection the re isbe twe en you and th e boys in a Public SchoolChape l .”
! We’ve a gre at deal more in common than
you think,
” said th e Match . To begin with,
we ’re both typically English . I suppose you ’dagre e that there ’s some thing in a good Englishmatch which n o othe r n ation ge ts ne ar ?Think of those horrible things o n e me e ts abroadFrench matche s are all sulphur and sme ll, andItalian matche s crumple in your fingers
,and
Swedish matche s why,th e very name i s enough
to frighten you ! ”
Oh,I se e
,
” I said,you want m e to pre ach
a patriotic se rmon and say that all English things,in cluding English boys
,are far be tter than those
of any other nation . That ’ s j ust a little toosimple even if it were quite true . We
’re ratherproud of not always wavin g th e flag and talkin gabout our own merits .”
10 ETON FABLES
No,I didn ’t me an that
,said the Match .
And of course it’ s absurd to lump all Englishthings toge the r like that . Why, the re are all sorts ofdifference s among us wax matches, for instance—who ’d think of putting them in the same classwith u s ? They’re us eful, no doubt, and che ap ,but that’ s not th e same as being th e be st of the irkin d ; and eve ryone kn ows you human beingshave classes some thing like ours .”
I was amused at his sugge sting that we hadle arnt class divisions from them . This is reallyge tting worse and worse
,
” I said . You can ’tseriously want m e to go and pre ach to a lot ofPublic School boys and te ll them they’re thefinest Specimens of the ir kin d Even if it weretrue it would be un commonly bad for them ; andthat spirit of thinking they’re th e only class thatcoun ts is just th e thing o n e wants to ge t out ofthe ir he ads . If that ’s all you ’ve got to sugge st
,
I think you ’d be tter le t me pre ach this sermonmy own way.
”
But I ba r! e a lot more to sugge st,
” said the
Match ; don ’t be in such a hurry ! I ’ll soonmake you see the paralle l . To begin with, he rewe are
,all lying in a box we look just alike and
you wouldn ’t know us apart perhaps,but we ’re
j ust as different really as those boys you ’re talkingabout . I daresay they look pre tty much the
THE MATCH 1 1
same to people who don ’t know them,but you
know they aren ’t . And it ’ s j ust the same withus ! we ’ve got our different characters j ust asthey have .
This seemed rather more promising,and I
decided to que stion him a little longe r . Whatdo you me an by diffe ren ce s of character inmatche s ? ” I asked .
! I Should have thoughtyou were all pre tty much of a kind .
Non sen se,
” said th e Match ; every matchhas two parts ! there ’ s th e wood which bre akso ff if it’ s badly made ! as a rare lot of matche s arenowadays! , and the re
’ s th e he ad which may goout at once
,or may give you all th e light you
want ! there ’ s room for any amount of characte r there .”
But what ’s that got to do with boys ?I said .
! Everything,said the Match ! They’ve
got two parts just as we have,and unle ss both
are sound you won ’t get the be st out of them .
First of all there ’ s the natural boy,with his strengthand his spirits and his brains, all three re ady tobe used . But that ’ s not all ; if it was, he
’d beno more u se than a match without a he ad ! hem ight ge t lit from some other match and he lpsomeon e ’s fire to burn up for a se cond, but h e
’s
not a man . And what make s him a man Why,
1 2 ETON FABLES
just the same thing that make s a match a match !It
’s th e re st of him that does itI don ’t se e what you me an
,
” said I . Whatis th e part of the boy which corre sponds to thehe ad of the match It can ’t be his brains
,for
you Spoke of them just now in th e other part ofhim .
”
My de ar sir,said th e Match very seriously
,
have you ever considered what the he ad of amatch is i It is a little bit of the on ly thing inth e world that matte rs ! it ’s a bit of th e su n
imprison ed ! it’s a fragment of th e fire thatPrometheus gave his life to fetch down to e arthit’s a bit of fire—the on ly thing in nature that
’sworth worshipping . And can’t you see whatthe re is in a boy that corre sponds to that ?They’ve all got a bit of th e divine fire waitingfor th e moment when it ’s wanted for u se ! andthen the ir chance come s
,and e ither they take
it and give some ligh t to the world, though theymay have to die in doing 1t
,or they may bre ak
unde r th e strain and th e light ’s wasted,or th e
light itse lf may just sputte r and go out . Can ’tyou te ll them that ? ” said the Match, dancingabout on the mante lpie ce in its excitemen t .Can ’t you te ll them that’ s th e o n e thing thatmatters— to have the ir brain s and body and therest of them fit when the gre at time come s
,so
THE MATCH 13
that they’ll do what they were made to do andnot fail in th e hour of ne ed
! I begin to se e,
” said I,for I con fess I was
rather excited by th e ide a .
! But what is itthey’re struck o n i
Struck on P shouted th e Match indignantly .
Can ’t you se e that for yourse lf Why,some
thing rough of course ! That ’ s what all therough things in th e world are for— to strikematche s on ; but for them, th e world might bea dark place ! a smooth place, m which men and
women lived smooth live s ; but a s it is there’ s
enough trouble and difficulty for eve ryone to
ge t his chance
Welcome each rebuffThat turns earth ’s smoothness rough
,
’
said old Browning,and h e knew what h e was
talking about . Te ll them not to be afraid ofth e difficultie s and temptations and trouble s ofSchool ! te ll them they’re just th e chance sthey’ve got of showing whe the r they’re th e rightstuff or not
,just as a brave man may we lcome
dange r . There ’s my sermon for you , said theMatch . And if you think it would be any u se
I ’ll te ll you the song we ’ve made up to chee r uswhen things se em to be going wrong ! of coursewe ’ve had to put it in human language
,because
14 ETON FABLES
it ’s th e on ly language the re is,but perhaps that
make s it all the be tte r for your purpose . It ’s notme ant to be fine poetry
,but just a good marching
song
Some lift the ir eyes to the hills for help,If then ce the ir help may be ,
And some look Eas t and some look West,
And some look ove r the sea
But we have a sure r faith,my friends
,
And when othe r hope is noneWe praise the Lord and grasp the swordAnd tu rn our face to the sun !
The su n that rises on evil and goodHe chee rs and b lesses them all,
With flowe rs for pleasure and corn for foodAnd fru it for both on the wall !
And cousin s of his are we , my friends,With a work like his to be done ,
So lift your heart and play your partAnd turn your face to the su n !
Though he like a gian t may ru n his course,And we but stumble along,Our share we ’ll take for the family’s sake ,And chee r the road wi th a song ;For the su n will be shin ing s till, my friends,Long afte r our j ourney
’s done ,So stiffen your back and lift your packAnd turn your face to the sun
That ’ s rathe r good,
” said I,for I wanted
to se em grate ful ; be side s, I really did think thatit was rather a good performan ce for a match .
! I ’ll try and tell them something of what you
THE PEACE E! HIB ITION
Summer 1919.
PERHAPS I was thin king of what I had to sayto-night, or of what I had been re ading in the
pape rs,but anyhow the fact remains that as I
lay in bed I fancied myse lf stan ding outside alarge building which had on it s front a largeposte r Gre at Pe ace Exhibition
,
” it saidEve ry possible kind of Pe ace o n view at once .
As admission appeared to be fre e,I went in and
found myse lf in an entrance h all from whichvarious doors opened ! the building itse lf wasrather like the Darwin Buildings at Shrewsbury
,
with a central hall with doors le ading in to itfrom th e smaller rooms all round . But this Ifound out late r ; at th e momen t I was almostdeafened by the noise
,for e ach various exhibitor
was loudly proclaiming the merits of his ownvarie ty of Pe ace ! they were a curious collection—a soldie r
,a busine ss man , and a Salvation Army
lass we re among th e n oisie st,and the whole thing
was so far from sugge sting pe ace of any kin d thatI was turn ing away in disgust, when I noticed aman standing by one door who was taking no
1 6
THE PEACE E! HIBITION 17
part in the hubbub . He caught my eye and
smiled sympathetically.
! Isn ’t it awful ? he
said,and all don e in th e name of Peace ! Come
in here and I ’ll show you the genuin e article .
”
He opened a doo r on th e right,and Shut it care
fully behind m e as I en te red . The scene was acomple te contrast to that outside ! it was abso
lu t e ly quiet, except for some soft music whichwas be ing gen tly played on some swe e t in strument ! the light was shaded, but I could makeout a few inscriptions on th e wall
,of which this
was the o n e I remember be st
Sleepe afte r toyle , po rt afte r storm ie seas,Ease afte r warre, death after life, does greatly please .
In th e middle of the room I saw a lot of peopleall sound asleep
,middle-aged people mostly
,
though there we re a few boys among them,and all
with a look of supreme happine ss on the ir face s .I turned roun d to my guide h e was gen tlybeating time and murmuring gen tly to himse lf
The re is swe e t mu sic he re that softe r fallsThan pe tals from blown roses on the grass.
But don’t they eve r wake up i I whispered to him—for it seemed wrong to raise one ’svo l ce 111 such a place .
! Wake up i.”h e said
reproachfully, why, that would spoil it all !”
and h e went on,pe rhaps realising that I knew
1 8 ETON FABLES
some thing about Shrewsbury, with some lines ofS ir Philip S idney
Come Sleep, 0 Sleep , the certain knot of peace,The baiting place of wit, the balm of woe ,The poor man ’s wealth, the prisone r’s release ,The indiffe ren t judge be tween the high and low.
But I was not convin ced I think I ’ ll go on,
I said . Can I get through that door i forthe re was one open ing out from the side of theroom . His feelings we re rathe r hurt . No
,
”h e
an swered almost sharply,
! you must go out th eway you came in
,if you re ally won ’t stay
,
” andas I left th e room I heard him beginning again
0 sleep, O gen tle sleep
Outside the door I fe ll in to th e arms of th esoldier . Not much doing in there
,is there i
said he with a grin ! it’s the most de ad-alive
place I eve r saw ! the othe r day we got in whilethey we re all asle ep and pinned up a big pictureof a cemete ry on one wall and a valley of drybon es on th e othe r ! that ’ s where that kind ofpeace leads to ! come in here, sir , and I
’ll showyou how Pe ace is to be won .
” He Opened hi sdoor as he Spoke and I found myself in a verydifferent scene . It was like the inside of a bigmunition factory ! wheels we re whirring andlathe s turning, and o n e could hardly he ar oneselfspe ak. My guide was rubbing his hands with
THE PEACE E ! HIBITION 19
enthusiasm,and There you are
,sir
,
”h e shout e d
in my e ar ! those old Romans knew what theywe re about . If you wan t pe ace prepare for warSi ti l; pa cem ,
pa ra bellum If we ’d had gun s andshe lls e n ough when this war began ButI wasn ’ t in th e mood to be quite fair to him .
I ’ll give you anothe r bit of Latin ,
” I shoutedback . They make a solitude an d call it pe ace
,
Solitudinem fa ciun t,pa rent appella n t ! that’s what
a Briton said of th e Roman s 2000 ye ars ago,and
that ’ s what you ’d have us do again to-day . Letm e ge t out of he re ! and I pointed to th e
side door . That ’s blocked up,
”h e answe red
angrily . I didn ’t know you were a pacifistor I ’d n ever have le t you in .
”
I Was too angry to argue , and went out quicklyinto th e hall, where I found the city man re adyto poun ce on m e . Dre adful n on sen se theytalk in the re
,don ’t they said h e waste of
money an d time , I call it come in he re and I’ll
Show you what Peace re ally me an s . In side hisroom the re was again plenty of activity
,but of a
more varied kin d all kinds of in dustry we regoin g on
,and
'
he looked at it with a complacen teye . Trade ’s th e thing, sir ! said h e . Peaceand Prospe rity
,that ’s our motto
,and t he se are
th e m en that give 1t us,
” and h e poin ted to th ewall
,where I saw many portraits of distinguished
20 ETON FABLES
state smen ! some of them I didn ’t kn ow,but I
saw John Mill and John Bright among theEnglishmen, and Prince Albert open ing th e Gre atExhibition
,and I re cogn ised old S ir Robe rt
Walpole from the picture in College Hall atEton . I couldn ’t he lp be ing impre ssed by th e
busine ss and activity all roun d m e .
! It looksSplendid
,
” I said,but can it last ? Where ’s
your guaran te e Even old Walpole had to fightat last
,and th e Gre at Exhibition didn ’t bring us
much pe ace,did it Trade doesn ’t make eve ry
o n e happy o r good by itse lf .” There came intomy he ad a quotation which many of you havehe ard from m e be fore
As I sat in the café I said to myself,They may talk as they please about what they call pe lfThey may sn ee r as they like about eating and drinking ;But he lp i t I cann ot
,I cannot he lp thinking,
How pleasan t it is to have money, he igh—ho ,How pleasan t it is to have money !
And I wen t o n,
! A hundred years ago, whenEngland made all that mon ey, we didn
’t solve theproblem of making people happy ! what aboutchild- labour and women in min es and slums ?Money doe sn ’t solve it all . Can I ge t throughinto that inn e r room I ’m afraid those bale sof cotton are in th e way
,
” said h e ; and you takemy word for it
, we don’t want sen timent what
we wan t is Trade .” I wasn ’t convinced,and th e
THE PEACE E! HIBITION 2 1
more I looked at him th e less I liked his prosperous
,se lf-sat isfied air and the hard line s round his
mouth—so I went out in to th e front hall again andfe ll an e asy prey to th e Salvation Army lass . She
took m e in to he r room,where a preache r was
holding forth with great e loquence to a mixedassembly. He was a powerful spe aker
,and as
h e talked of turn ing from the ir sins and findingPe ace in God his congregation was visibly moved .
At time s h e asked them if anyone fe lt h e was savedand had found Pe ace
,and people all over th e room
jumped up with stran ge crie s and te stified to the irhappin e ss . It was impre ssive in a way
,but when
my guide turn ed sudden ly to m e and a sked,
Have you found Peace ? I remembered theold s tory of th e fin e old clergyman who had thatquestion put to him and cried loudly N0
,War ! ”
and was not so re ady with my answer . Theyhad started singing a hymn by then, and th e
words did not ring quite true
Nothin g ha s been left for us,
Nothing, sinners, no !
j esus d id it all for usLong
,long ago ! ”
You haven ’t got the whole truth,
” I said tohe r ;
! I must go on,
” and I poin ted to th e Sidedoor which I saw open at last, and though she
Shook her head reproachfully I le ft h er and went in .
22 ETON FABLES
It was a big room and the light was dim,but I
could se e some figure s on their kne e s, and as myeye s got accustomed to th e gloom I could makeout th e in scriptions and paintings on the wallsone wall had on it a ve rse from S t . Augustin eand un de r it a line from Dante ! th e first wasth e famous words which you all know,
Thouhast made us for Thyse lf
,O Lord
,and our he art
kn ows no peace until it find Peace in The e , andDan te ’s words se emed, as it we re a furthe r defin it ion , In His will is our Pe ace . And on th e
other side wall was a picture of Christ partingwith His frighten ed disciple s and saying, Pe aceI leave with you ! My Pe ace I give unto you,
”
and as He Spoke they seemed to be asking whatHe me ant , and His hand was lifted and pointedtowards the East
,and the re
,j ust as in this
Chape l,was the figure of Christ on th e Cross
,as
though He said,! The road is hard and long
,but
I have travelled it be fore you,and when you
have le arnt that Pe ace has to be won by enduranceand courage
,that j oy come s from th e depths of
sorrow,and life from th e midst of death
,then
at last you will know what old ! acharias me an twhen h e said that I came to give light to themthat sit in darkne ss and in the shadow of de ath
,
and to guide your fe e t into th e way of Pe ace .
’
24 ETON FABLES
gloomily to himse lf. Nowadays there is noknightly enterprise to unde rtake and n o glory tobe won . My arm is n o we ake r and my courageno le ss
,but to-day the re is naught for m e to do
th e ne ighbours are beginn ing to forge t what Idid for them of old . They no longe r yie ld m e
thefirst place without que stion ’tis an u ngrat e
ful world ! nay, th e very pe asan ts murmur bene aththe ir bre ath and call m e tyrant—m e
,whom they
used to hail as the ir de livere r . Oh for thatold day when they came to we lcome m e withsongs and flowers and acclaimed m e as the irsaviour ! ” A se rvan t entered to put logs onth e fire
,but h e scowled at him so fierce ly that
th e m an withdrew in terror . His little son raninto th e room,
in tent on some childish game whichhe would have had his fathe r share
,but h e drove
him away with a curse . His faithful dog rubbedagainst his knee
,but h e kicked him aside
,and the
poor cre ature slunk away with his tail be tweenhis legs .There was no doubt that th e Knight was sore ly
vexed with dismal thoughts . ’Tis a dull world,
a dull,ungrate ful world
,
” he repe ated gloomily.
He strode across to the window and saw withouto n e who se emed to have ridden with haste . For amoment his hope s rose ! it might be that he wascalled to some n ew deed of daring ; but he had
THE KNIGHT 5
been disappointed be fore , and he turned gloomilyback to th e fire .
But now th e door was thrown open,and the
me ssenge r stood before him, bowing to th e
ground . What is thy e rrand h e askedimpatiently . S ir
,an it ple ase you
,said th e
me ssenge r, bowing again, my good lord,thy
ne ar ne ighbour, an d his frien ds have hidden m e
ride with Spe ed to summon the e to de stroy ate rrible mon ste r which hath wrought gre at de spiteon this countryside , an d they hold be fore Godthat the re is n o hand that may Slay him saveonly thine ; there fore am I come with Spe ed tobring the e the se tidings and to call the e to th efight .” ! Te ll m e whe re h e lie s cried the
Kn ight,his eye s kin dling with j oy . Even he re
withal,
” said th e me ssenge r, bowing ye t again,have they Sen t a packe t which shall make the efully ware how thou maye st meet with him
,and
they nothing doubt that for the e to me e t with himwill be to Slay him whe re h e stan ds .” And the
me ssenge r placed in th e Knight ’ s hands a parce l,
which done, h e made yet an othe r obe isance andretired .
Th e Knight’ s heart le apt with j oy. To becalled thus by his ne ighbours was indeed anhonour
,an d his ple asure was all the gre ate r
because of late h e had begun to doubt whe ther
26 ETON FABLES
they held him in du e respect . Ah,he said to
himself,when dange r comes they know to whom
they must turn ! I will even see where this beasthath his lair
,
” and with burning fingers he beganto undo the packe t . It seemed large and ofstrange shape for it s purpose he unfastened onewrapping after another and came at last to theend of them ! but 10 and behold there wasnothing there but a mirror
,and around it an
inscription quaintly carved This Shall be th eguide to him that would slay the Beast . Hecast one glance at it and saw in it his own faceso distorted with rage that at first he bare lyrecognised it , and as he turned the mirror ove rhe saw written on the back in Greek ch aractersth e words ! Know tbyselj .
” That was enough ;with a cry of fury he flung the mirror from himand it broke in countle ss fragments on the floor.And even as he did so his wife came into the
hall ; seeing her husband’ s evil case She hastened
to his side,crying out to him to te ll h e r all . In
a voice half broken with fury h e told h er of theinsult
,and sh e with loving words e ssayed to
soothe him . At last his ange r grew le ss, and as hefelt her gentle hands care ssing him, he said witha groan
,Ah
,my love
,whe re are they gon e
,those
great days of old ? When there was fight ingto be done I could prove myself a fit husband
THE KNIGHT 27
for thee, but now I am worthless, fit only tobe insulted by these neighbours of mine—use le ssalike to myself and to thee .” And She bent downand kissed him
,and he said again Oh for the
day when thou was t a captive and I came to thineaid Why are there no su ch deeds of glory forme now ? and sh e
,stroking his hair with her
hand the while, made answer ! O my dear love,
me thinks the re is yet full many a maiden incaptivity and needing thy strong arm to help
,
and fain would I that thou should’st aid them,
and these many days have I hoped to t ell the ethe reof
,but yet I dared not and he to h er
Where fore didst thou doubt and sh e madeanswe r ye t again Oh
,be not angry
,my lord,
and I will Speak ! For in deed it seemeth to m e
that in the heart of eve ry man,and not le ast in
thine, there are Shut up in foul durance the fairmaidens of Pity and Me ekne ss and Gentlen e ss,and there is but one hand that can release them ;and the bars behind which they lie imprisonedsome call Pride and others Honour and othe rsCrue lty—but in thy heart
,my dear lord
,it is
thine own Glory that hath fashioned th e prisonbars
,and this it is that maketh thee to be harsh
to those that love thee n o t,and to seem careless
at times of those that love the e .”
An d as h e listened he groaned aloud, and said
28 ETON FABLES
Is it then all true We ll was it written by thewise man of old, Be not as a lion in thy house,nor be frantic among thy se rvants for now I ambecome as it were a monster unto many and amno longer worthy to be thy husband . I will awayfrom he re
,that I may go to the war again an d
die there,having struck but one more blow for
th e Holy City ! I am good for naught save forth e rough life of the camp
,and even for that
perchance I am fit no longer .”
And, even as h e spoke , there rang through thehall the sound of a trumpet
,and behold o n e cried
aloud,
! A me ssenger,my lord
,a me ssenge r from
th e King ! an d as h e leapt up with j oy to gre e thim they saw a priest come forward
,and he said
S ir Kn ight,my lord the King has sent to bid
the e come to fight once more for the Holy City,which is sore be se t by the bands of th e infide lsand knowing we ll thy valiance of old he callsthe e first of all his kn ights to j oin th e battle ; andinde ed it is time for every good man to gird onhis armour to th e fight and here is his warrantplain ly written
,He that overcome th Shall
inherit . ’ And the Knight,all trembling and
aston ished,answe red him ! Nay
,fair s ir
,but am
I in truth a good man such as thou se ekest Icount not myse lf worthy to march in such anarray, for indeed I have looked of late into my
THE KNIGHT 29
heart and see there in many foul stains such as illb ecome a Christian soldie r .”
And the prie st smiled o n him an d answeredNay
,sir
,it is even such as thou that my lord th e
King would call,for in deed th e name of th e Holy
City isM an son l and th e foe s that be se t it areAn geran d Lust and Crue lty
,and they have marshalled
again st it the ir hosts of pe tty care s and pe ttyplague s an d pe tty pain s
,an d it is very sore be se t
ye t it n e ede th but a brave heart to overcomethem , and for that thou saye st thy he art is weak,hast thou neve r re ad this saying
,God is gre ater
than thy he art and knoweth all things Kneelthen o n thy kne e s and I will send thee forth withtwo words of comfort .” And as th e Kn ightkn e lt b e fore him h e lifted up his hands in ble ssingand said ! Remember who it is that hath said
,
Be of good che er ; for I have overcome ,’ and
again,in your patien ce ye Shall win your souls .
’
And there to he added the se words Now untoHim that is able to ke ep the e from falling, and topre sent the e faultle ss be fore th e pre sen ce of HisGlory with exce edin g j oy— to th e on ly wise Godour Saviour
,be glory and maj e sty, dominion and
power,both now and for ever . Amen .
”
THE LOST PROPERTY OFFICE
Summer 192 1 .
IT was certainly a Lost Property Office ! theboard ove r the door said as much
,and there was
also a large notice stating th at Applications forall sorts of Real Property which has been lost andwhich the owne rs are really desirous to recovershould be made within .
”
I was just looking at this, when the door Openedand a benevolent-looking old gentleman cameout and began to take down the shutters . Ah,I see you are looking at our notice
,
” he said, afte rwe had gree ted on e another . I had that put upto avoid confusion so many people wou ld ke epcoming for things they hadn ’t really lost or didn ’treally want back .
”
Yes,I wa s rather puzzled,
” I answered,and
I ’m not quite sure that I understand even nowI thought Real property meant things like landand houses and so on
,and people wouldn ’t come
to a Lost Property Office to look for them .
”
Ah,
” said h e,that ’s the lawyer’s definition ,
but lawyers don ’t go very deep into things30
32 ETON FABLES
ask any more,I don ’t think they’re quite
proper ty, are they You se e we me an by property some thing that re ally and truly is yours an dwouldn ’t be quite th e same if anyon e e lse had it
,
and your umbre lla,though no doubt you would
be very sorry to part with it,would b e j ust
,
asgood an umbrella whoeve r had it . We don ’tde al with that sort of loss here
,but on ly with
re ally person al property,such as time
,and temper
,
and opportun itie s, and so on .
”
I saw that I had an original old fe llow to de alwith
,and I decided to humour him .
But sure ly Time doe sn ’t be long to anyonein particular said I If I lose my time , thatdoe sn ’t prevent other people from having it .”
! That ’ s quite a mistake,my de ar Sir
,
” saidhe
,smiling and rubbing his hands ; othe r people
can have their time,but your time is lost all right .
”
But what do you do for people who ’ve lostthe ir time ? ” I asked . Can they ever get itbackOf course they can
,
” said he . Didn ’t I hearyou singing the othe r day
‘Time that’s lost may all re trieve ’?
and that would be humbug if th e thing couldn ’tbe don e . Not but what it ’s rather a pain fulproce ss ! I ’ve got a lot of them at it in the re ,
THE LOST PROPERTY OFFICE 33
he went on,poin ting to on e of th e doors
,hard
at work trying to make up for lost time .
”
I suppose they have to work like nigge rsI asked sympathetically . My friend seemedpain ed .
Oh n o,h e answered that ’s just what they
don ’t do,for n iggers work without thinking
,and
they’ve got to learn to thin k for themse lve s .You can he ar them if you like to go ne ar th e door .”
I crept up on tiptoe,an d in side I heard a lot
of voice s s inging together
Gathe r ye rosebuds while ye may,Old time is still a -flying,
And this same rose that blooms to-dayTo-morrow may be dying ! ”
They don ’t soun d very gloomy,I said .
Not at all,
” said h e . Of course that ’ s on lyth e first stage
,and we make them le arn that
be cause it ’s such a j olly tun e ; an d afte r all, thereare plen ty of worse things than rosebuds
,and
if you le arn to gathe r them at th e right time it ’sa gre at thing . Then you can go o n an d fin d thatthe re are othe r thin gs that have to be gatheredin at th e right time
,like wisdom
,an d knowledge
,
and love,an d so o n .
”
I ’m not sure th at I quite unde rstan d ye t ,”
s a id I .You ’ll unde rstand be tter if you watch a bit
,
”
34 ETON FABLES
he answered . Here are some people'
comin g inif you ’ll sit in the corner
,you can listen to what
goes on, and that’ll make things clearer .”
So I sat and watched th e people as they camein, and there was a ve ry queer mixture of applicants ! there was a man who had lost his train
,
and a lady who had lost her purse,and a boy who
had lost his situation,and it had to be explained
to each of them that nothing could be done forthem, because the things hadn
’t really everbe longed to them at all ! they took a good dealof convincing
,especially th e lady. An d after
them there was a stream of commonplace in
qu irers after sticks and books and umbre llas , mostof which had be en le ft in railway carriage s
,and
they all had to be sent away uncomforted .
I was beginning to get a little bored, when am an came in in a great state of excitement ! itwas quite unne cessary for him to say what h ehad lost
,for he had cle arly lost his temper . He
didn ’t know it himself,though ! he thought he
had lost his characte r,and was very angry with
a friend of his who,as he thought
,had taken it
away. I was much intere sted to see how thesuperin tendent would de al with him
,and couldn ’t
he lp admiring the way he did it . He began byexplaining that one ’ s characte r was one of thethings one couldn ’t possibly lose
,so there was
THE LOST PROPERTY OFFICE 35
no reason to be afraid about that ! in fact , as headded
,he had known people who would have
been very glad if someone wou ld take away the ircharacter and give them another—but th e thingsimply couldn’t be done! . And then he went onto explain to the man very gently that it was histempe r he had really lost, and as he was at bottoma good-hearted fe llow it wasn ’t long before hesaw it and b egan to laugh at himself .Well
,we ll
,
”he said , I daresay you ’re right
,
and I should like to ge t my temper back ! canyou manage that for me
! It’ s quite simple,” said the superintendent ;
you’ve only got to advertise .”
What do you me an asked the other .You’ve only got to le t it be kn own that
you’ve lost it , and that you know you’ve lost it
,
and you’ll find it’ll come back all right . Beside s,
lots of people are sure to know about it,and
they’ll be on ly too glad to he lp you . Everyonealways kn ows about that sort of loss—generallybefore the owner realise s it himself.”
We ll,I hope it will come back a bit be tte r
th an itwas when it went,” said the visitor.Oh yes,
” said my friend, I think theygenerally do—but don ’t forget to advertiseit
’
s far th e quickest way .
”
Afte r this there was another dull period of
36 ETON FABLES
ordin ary inquiries,the only exception be ing a
young m an who said he had lost his heart,but as
it proved on in quiry that h e ’d got anothe r inexchange h e was soon consoled
,and h e went
away,after a little talk with th e superintendent
,
humming happily to himself
My true love hath my heart, and I have hisBy just e ! change the o ne to the othe r given .
He was followed by a young man in greatdistre ss
,be cause h e said he had lost his faith but
afte r some in quiry th e superin tendent showedhim that it hadn ’t eve r be en his own
,but was
only his mothe r ’ s faith which h e had found lyingabout at home and had picked up and beenusing as his own .
It ’s a splendid thing for a pattern,said the
superintendent,and I hope you ’ll get one of
your own that will be as good . There ’ s anyamoun t of the same material to be had ! youmay not make on e quite the same shape
,but th e
thing that matte rs is what it ’ s made of and notth e pre cise cut ! only eve ryone must do someof th e work himse lf.Then there were Some people who had lostopportun itie s
,an d they were rathe r a sad sight ,
for they had be en told that opportun itie s on celost neve r come back o n e of them quoted a sadlittle bit of poetry
THE LOST PROPERTY OFFICE 37
For with the dream forgone , forgone ,The deed forborne for eve r ;
The worm Regre t will canker on
And time will turn him never.”
An d anothe r quoted a proverb about Opportunityhaving all his hair in front
, so that if you don ’ttake him by th e fore lock you can neve r catchhim by his bald back he ad . And so they camein gre at distre ss to ask if anything could be donefor them . Th e supe rin ten dent was very sym
pathe tic ! h e didn ’t try to persuade them thatthey’d eve r have qu l t e th e same chan ce s again ,
but h e told them that they would have others .And afte r all
,
”h e said
,
! if th e chan ce s aren ’tth e same , you won
’t be th e same e ithe r,for
anyone who knows h e has missed a chan ce and
is sorry he has missed it,is more like ly to take it
next time . No on e n eed make th e same mistaketwice
,and if he doe s ,
” he went on,turn ing to
th e one who had quoted th e gloomy prove rb,
! j ust remembe r anothe r proverb which says,
The re ’ s no failure except ceasing to try .
’ Andin stead of your gloomy poem,
”h e added to the
other, I re commend you to keep on sayingthis verse of Keble
‘The trivial round, the 'common task! fill furn ish all we need to ask
,
Room to deny ourselves—a roadTo bring us daily neare r God .
’
And what more opportunity can you want than
38 ETON FABLES
that ‘ I say unto you ,’ he went on
,half to
himse lf,that many prophets and kings de sired
to se e the things that you se e and saw themnot
,and to hear the things which you hear and
heard them not —yes, and to have the oppo r
tu n it ies for knowing and serving God whichyou have and had them not .”
And so th e day went on, with a continuousstring of inquiries—some serious
,some trivial
,
some pathetic,and some absurd . Later in the
day there came a lady in deep mourn ing, and fromthe few words I heard I gue ssed that she had losther son he must have died
,I think
,in the War.
I felt rather an intruder and didn ’t like to listentoo closely
,but I could see that the superintendent
was giving her some passages to read from one ortwo of the books on his table, and as I knew thebooks I could guess at what he was saying . Onewas the memoir of a very gallant Etonian who hadlost his best friend—he was to be killed himselfa month later—and I think the passage s heshowed her were something like this ! And so
one must j ust go on,never doubting that the
time will come when I Shall see him againand on ce more
,Iwonder why a wooden cross and
a little plot of e arth Should me an so much—whenh e is far away—and yet I don ’t suppose so veryfar .” And then I saw him take a book of poems,
40 ETON FABLES
And I have den ied Him whom at the bottom ofmy heart I love . Lost
,lost
,all lost between
Earth and He avenThe supe rintendent did not try to argue with
him,but the re came on his face a smile of gre at
ten derne ss and h e said Then ble ssed art thouindeed
,my son
, for 18 It not written that it wassuch as thou that th e Son of Man came to se ekand to save No man is lost beyon d God’spowe r to find . Come into His pre sence andle arn His will for the e .
” And he drew him withhim to th e third door, and what I he ard an d saw
a s th at‘
do o r Open ed I may not te ll,but I thin k I
know be tte r now why it is written in the Gospe lthat the re is j oy in th e pre sen ce of th e ange ls ofGod ove r o n e sinner that repenteth .
The door closed behin d them,but as I stood
outside I was able to re ad th e ve rse s written aboveit,un der a picture of Our Lord on the crossHere is the Faith that wise m en dimly groped for,The eviden ce of things as ye t un seen ,
The full assurance of the tidings hoped forThat what Christ is God has for ever been .
Here is the Hope that shone afar to gu ide them,
Prophe ts and kings —although the ir eyes were blindYe t they desired to see the light den ied themHere is fulfilled the Hope of all mankind.
He re is the Love that sain ts and sinne rs sighed forPaul in his prison
,David on his throne
The Love that will n o t fail the souls He d i ed forBut claims the ve ry outcast for His own .
”
THE THREE GIFTS
IN the fourth chapter of St . Luke you may re adhow Our Lord pre ached in His own village
,and
how He foun d it true that, in His own words, n oprophe t is accepte d in his own country . Youremembe r how after they had he ard His sermonthey we re filled with wrath
,and rose up and
thrust Him out of th e city,and led Him unto
th e brow of th e hill whereon the ir citywas built,that they might cast Him down he adlong . Ofwhat actually happened we are on ly told thatHe passing through the midst of them wentHis way.
”
But th e story goe s that He was still sitting onth e brow of th e hill to which they had brought !
Him,and as He thought of what had happened
that day His he art was heavy within Him . He
knew th e re ason of the ir anger ! it was becauseHe had told them that th e mercies of God we renot sen t to th e j ews alon e but to strange rs also,and it was of the se strange rs that He thoughtas He sat gazing Westwards ove r th e sea . He
remembered the story of the Wise Men from41
42 ETON FABLES
the East and their gifts . He remembered howS imeon had hailed Him as th e light that Shouldlighten th e Gentile s, and now that His own peoplehad refused Him He ponde red the more whatthose words might me an ; and in His prayer Hecried aloud to His Father and said
,O My
Father,if indeed I have come to Mine own and
they receive Me not,grant that I may Show forth
Thy me rcies to Thy children that are scatte redabroad ! Show Thou some token upon Me forgood
,that I who love Thee may see it and take
comfort and stretching out His arms towardsth e sea He cried
,
! O great and wide sea,if
indeed for Me thine isles are waiting,bring frOm
afar those who shall hear My word,so that the
name of the Fathe r may be praised from therising of the su n unto the going down thereof ! ”
Thus He prayed as the su n sunk into the sea,and afte r His praye r He laid Himself down to rest .And as He Slept He dreamed
,and it seemed to
Him in His dream that three ships came sailingin to the shore ; but though they came with thesame wind yet were they different to look upon ,for one was a ship of war with pennons stre amingfrom it s masts, and another a goodly merchantve ssel
,and the third but a poor fishing boat .
And from the se boats He sawmen de scend andclimb the hill towards the place whe re He lay .
THE THREE GIFTS 43
And lifting up His eyes He saw two men standbefore Him
,and they came forward as though
they would have speech with Him . And the firstwas clad as a warrior in coat of mail, and a redcross shone upon his breast
,and in his hand he
he ld a mighty sword . And , bowing low,he
came and stood be fore Je sus, and said to Him,
My Lord,in the We st I have seen Thy star,
and am come to bring Thee the be st gift I have,
my sword of stee l ’Tis a blade we ll tempered,
beside which the swords of Gre eks and Romansare but things of naught, and I bring it that therewith Thou mayest smite Thine enemies beneathThy fe et .”
And Jesus smiled on him and took the swordwith words of thanks
,but as He looked on it His
face grew sad, and He said ! O Sword of steel,
wilt thou indeed fight in My battle s A strongfriend art thou , and in ye ars to come full manya brave deed sh all be wrought by thy means
ye t may not I put My trust in thee , for thelegions of My Father’s ange ls wait still His word tofight . And yet I thank the e, friend , for thy gift .
”
And the second strange r took his place ; andhe was dressed like a clerkly m an
,and in his hand
he he ld a book, and h e bowed low and said toJesus
,
! My Lord,I too have seen Thy star
,and
I bring Thee from the West a book newly
44 ETON FABLES
imprin ted by th e art of man . It is inde ed the
be st that I have to offe r, and therewith as with atrue sword that proceedeth from Thy mouth shaltThou slay the powers of e rror, an d bring to naughtth e wile s of th e Devil and his lying words .”
And Je sus smiled on him and than ked him and
took th e book, and as He looked o n it He cried !Ah
,here in this printed book is in de ed a mighty
powe r,for gre at is th e Truth an d it shall pre
vail .” But even as He spoke,He sighed
,and
looking once more upon th e book He said,And
ye t th e words of man whe reof thou shalt be arrecord are but as the thought s of his heart
,
and from that fountain come s bitter water as we llas swee t . In the years that come th ere
’
sh all bemany that trust in books
,and through books shall
they come to sorrow and to Strife,and th e Sword
shall rage again st the Book and th e Book shall butsharpen th e Sword .
”
And the re was silence for a while,and Je sus
turning to them said,Saw I not three ships
And whe re is h e of the third And thesoldie r made answe r, My Lord
,I rebuked him
because he followe th not with u s, and indeed heseemed but a poor me an fellow and ill- clad
,and
though he voyaged with us from the West itseemed that h e had no gift to bring .
”
But Jesus beheld him where he stood behind
THE THREE GIFTS 45
the others,and called to him to come forward
,
and h e came with Speed and threw himse lf onhis knees and spoke an d said ! ! O my Lord
,
inde ed I have no gift to bring, and ye t I needsmust come when I had se en Thy star . An d
Je sus beholding him loved him and said,Hast
thou inde ed no offe ring ? And h e answered,
Nay,my Lord
,for I am poor and come of poor
folk,and can bring Thee but the love of my
he art ! and indeed the re are full many in mycase
,both m en and women ,
for they se e in The ethe ir hope in sorrow an d the ir strength in weakne ss
,and ye t have they naught to give .
And Je sus lifted him from his knee s and kissedhim
,an d Friend
,said He
,thou hast brought
M e more than they all . Th e gold, the fran kincense
,the myrrh
,th e sword of stee l, and th e
prin ted book,gladly do I take them all
,for they
are fre e ly given . But it is for th e Love of m en
and women that I come ! for therewith mustMy battles be fought, and on the ir h e art s '
m u st
My words be written .
” And He le t themdepart with His ble ssing, and as they departedHe awoke
,and behold it was a dre am .
And the day after He came down to Cape rnaum
,a city of Galilee, and taught them on the
Sabbath day,and they were astonished at His
doctrine,for His word was with power .”
SCHOOL YARD
End of Surnm er half, 192 1 .
I HOPE you will forgive me if I tell you something in the nature of a fable to-night
,and if the
moral is a trifle obvious—well,you must forgive
that too .
I was standing in School Yard the other nightand thinking
,as was not unnatural
,of people
leaving—and remembering how horrid a thingit is to leave school—and wondering how muchanyone who left was taking away, and how farit was our fault that they weren ’t taking awaymore
,when I heard a voice saying ! ! And ye t
it may happen perchance to be more than yoube lieve I know full we ll what it is to be downcast in heart ; yet in ve ry truth
’t is from the
devil that such gloomy thoughts proceed .
”
I looked about,but there was no one there
,
and somehow I wasn’t surprised to find it wasthe Founder talking, for, after all, no o n e has
a be tter right to talk in School Yard than heso I answered him without any question . Ihope you’re right
,sir but somehow one doesn ’t
46
4s ETON FABLES
And from behind him the re came a de ep tonewhich I seemed to re cogn ise
,though I had neve r
heard it before
My brick that glows with tin ts of rose,My vane s that catch the sun
And glitte r bright with golden lightAs each fair day is don e ;
The shadows, linge rin g o n the towerThat Lupton bu ilt for thee
,
Bid Eton ’s son s to learn the powe rThat come s to those who see .
For Beau ty open s blind men ’s eyesAnd bids the dumb m an Sing ;
Thus day and n ight,in sha de and light,
I do thy work, 0 King ! ”
Yes,said King Henry with a sigh of pleasure
,
he does my work as I fain would have it don ebut h e doe s not work alone ! my scholars mustle arn to care for Truth as well a s Be auty
,for
Truth it is that make s m en fre e . Le t UpperSchool spe ak,
”h e cried
,and te ll m e what is
done here for th e cause of Truth ! ”
An d from the othe r side of School Yard an
answe r came! A harde r task of u s you ask,For Tru th is hard to find,
And those who learn that Truth is SternM ay dream that she
’s unkind .
Ye t piece by piece , as years increase ,We do thy work , 0 King
,
And poin t the way to all the Truth! ”That wiser years may bring .
SCHOOL YARD 49
It is well,
” said th e Foun de r ; but Truth andBe auty are not
‘all, and it is Goodn e ss that I mostwould have them le arn . And for that I mustcall othe r witn e ss .Is it th e Chape l, sir I asked .
Not so,
” said h e , and again h e Spoke with asmile on his lips ;
!th e Chape l, my own great
building,is th e place where I de sign ed that
Truth an d Be auty an d Goodn e ss should mee ttoge the r and should kiss e ach other . But I haveothe r witne sse s ne are r at han d who can te ll ofthe ir live s of every day, and so shall I see mostcle arly what they have learn t of Love .
But what witn e sse s,
sir,
are the se Iasked
,
! for inde ed th e boys themse lve s will nottalk of th e things they care most for .”
Is it not written,
” said h e,that if the se
Shall hold the ir pe ace th e ve ry ston e s shall cryout Speak to m e then
,O little ston e s of min e
,
and te ll m e what ye know ! And a sound aroseas of many voices singing softly toge ther
,and th e
song they sang ran in this fashion
We’ve seen them all a thousand times—so like , but none thesame ,
Now loitering here for absen ce , now hurrying to a game ;We
’ve watched them here for many a year ! we know the irve ry tread ,
We gue ss the things they think abou t ! we hear the thingsthey’ve said .
50 ETON FABLES
And if they know no t what they owe for all that Eton madethem ,
Then ask the stones, the little stones, and they will all upbraidthem .
We’ve seen them all five years or more ! what wonder atour knowin g
The memories that fill the ir mind , now that it’s time forgoing
They’re thinking mostly of the friends they work or play ormess w ith,
And friends perhaps of early days they shared each smallsuccess with !
Those who forge t how great their debt to those they leavebehind them
Must ask the stones, the little stones, and su rely they’ll remind
Friends teach a m an he is no t made to live and die alone ,Till in the ir pains and pleasures he perhaps forge ts his own ;For eve ry friend is taught of God to love and se rve anothe r,And the re be friends ! saith Solomon! s tick closer than a
brothe r ;So if they coun t a little thing the friends that Eton gave them ,
From such a sin,thy stones
,0 King, thy little stones shall
save them .
”
Thank God,than k God ! ” said King Henry,
half to hims elf ; then are they in truth my ownchildren if they have love one to another, andhave grateful he arts .”
He was silent for a while, and at length Iplucked up courage to ask him ! But, sir
, i sthe re not yet one song that I may hear—th e songof the Chapel wherein
,as you said just now, all
these are blended
SCHOOL YARD 5 1
You have but to listen,sa id he
,and you
shall hear the song which my Chapel Sings to m e
every day ! the words indeed are old, and yet Inever grow weary of the he aring .
”
I stood still and listened with all my ears, andthere came from Chapel a song which you knowvery well
,and we will sing it once more to-night
before we go . I ne ed not quote it all to you,but
I will te ll you how it ended
O pray for the peace of ! e rusalem ! they shall prosper thatlove thee .
Peace be within thy walls, and plen teousness within thypalaces.
For my bre thren and companions’ sakes, I will wish theeprospe rity,
Yea, be cause of the house of the Lord ou r God , I will seekto do thee good .
”
THE TWO PALACES
THERE was in a certain country a gre at Kingwho would fain have two palace s built for himse lfin th e province s of his dominion . There foreh e summoned to himse lf two of his gre at noble sand gave them th e charge of th e building . He
bade marble an d wood and stone in abun danceto be prepared for them ,
and came himse lfmoreove r to lay th e foundation of the building
,
and the reafte r departed, laying upon them thiscomman d— that th e building should be exce eding magn ificent an d should be ready to rece ivehim when h e should come again .
Now when th e first of the se nobles saw the
gre atn e ss of th e task that was laid upon him h e
was dismayed in his he art,an d said
,How may
I hope to build a palace which shall be worthy ofmy King It will be bette r that I wait till I havemore ce rtain word of his de sires
,for pe rchance
his fancie s may change,and it were a pity that
I should build that where in he would take nople asure ; but, se e ing that I must have whe re tolive myse lf
,and that th e material be not wasted
,
I will build n e arby a house for myse lf,that I may
have at the least whe re I may dwe ll until the5 2
THE TWO PALACES 53
King shall come , and then , when I have morecertain n ews
,I will proceed furthe r in th e matter
of this building .
”
And it came to pass that after many yearsthe King came . Now th e time when he arrivedwas by n ight
,and h e was rece ived with all honour
in the n obleman’ s house . An d when he saw
th e house fairly arrayed,and th e floors paved
with marble,and th e ce iling adorned with costly
wood,h e said within himse lf
,How wise is this
nobleman of min e ! and how fair shall my ownpalace be
,se e ing that he has lodged himse lf so
we ll ! ” And the re afte r h e inquired of th e
nobleman concern ing his own palace,and th e
oth e r made an swer ! S ir,I have waited the se
many ye ars to kn ow with more ce rtain ty whatkind of a palace thou didst de sire
,an d that the
material might n o t be wasted,and that I might
be housed withal,I have made this small lodging
for myse lf ; but now that thou art truly come ,thou hast but to Spe ak the word an d we willbegin th e work inde ed .
” But th e Kin’
g wasangry and said to him
,Thou fool
,did I not
straitly charge the e to build a palace for m y
self ? Did I not lay th e foundation with myown Royal hands This n ight shall thy life berequired of the e .
”And h e bade them to hang
that lord from th e windows of his own house .
And he came on his way to the other nobleman,
54 ETON FABLES
that he might see whether he had fared anybette r with his building . And when he was yeta great way off that lord heard of his coming
,and
came running to meet him,and said
,S ir
,forgive
m e that I have done so little ! I have indeedplanned for thee a noble house
,and have laid the
marble floors of thy hall,but the pillars thereof
have but begun to rise,and thou canst but see
the de sign of the great door whereat thou art toenter in ; and moreover I have no house that isworthy to receive thy Maj e sty
,for I have lived
myself in this small wooden she lte r that I mightbe near the work . Forgive m e
, sir, that I havewrought so ill ! But the King was well ple ased
,
and said, Nay, sir , but thou hast wroughtfull we ll ! ” And even as he Spoke the stone scame into the ir place s be fore men ’s eye s andth e palace was wrought right nobly. And th e
King entered into his palace with all glory,and as
h e ente red in men sang the hundred and thirtysecond Psalm
,and the se were th e words where
with they began the ir singing
Lord,remember David and all his trouble
How he sware un to the Lord and vowed a vow un to theAlmighty God of ! acobI will no t come within the tabernacle of mine house nor
climb up in to my bed ;I will no t suffe r m ine eyes to sleep, no r mine eyelids to slumbe r
ne i the r the temples of my head to take any rest ;U n til I find out a place for the temple of the Lord an
habi tation for the mighty God of ! acob.”
56 ETON FABLES
form of a picture,n o r even
,perhaps
,into words
,
but still th e attempt must be made,and if it
tran scends th e powe r of language , or even ofimagin ation
,you must blame St . Paul as much
as m e .
You may then,pe rhaps
,put it somewhat in
this way ! imagine a vast amphithe atre—andvast in deed it must be
,for it is to con tain the
whole of cre ation— an d the re in its se ats th e wholecre ation is gathe red ! Moun tains and all hills ;fruitful tre e s and all cedars ; be asts an d all
cattle worms and fe athered fowls The re theyare all assembled ! all th e whole suffering cre ation,in cluding th e beggar Lazarus himse lf ; and as theywait for th e reve lation which they have come tose e
, we can imagin e this o n e anthem risin g fromthe ir midst ! ! Lord
,what is man ? What is
man that Thou art mindful of him or the so n ofman that Thou so regarde s t himAnd in to this amphithe atre
,be fore th e gaze
of this waiting cre ation,we human be ings have
to sen d forth our repre sentative to sen d someo n e whose appearan ce shall re con cile th e wholeworld to its woe s . Le t us suppose that first ofall we sen d in to th e are n a th e most pe rfectspecimen of manhood that we can imagin e ! anathlete with eve ry powe r of th e body deve lopedto it s highest point . IS th is, we ask, what the
THE AMPHITHEATRE 57
world awaits But even as we ask th e que stionit die s upon our lips ! a perfe ct athle te i s a fin esight in deed
,for all perfection is glorious but th e
ve ry tree s can claim an equal perfe ction for themse lve s ! even they know that this is not that forwhich th e whole cre at l o n Is waiting .
And then le t us suppose that we bring be forethem some man who has re ached to th e highe s tpinn acle of human glory . St . Paul
,perhap s
,
would have thought of Cae sar ; we thin k morenaturally of Napoleon
,and so we sen d him in to
th e aren a,followed by his train of con que red
kings—th e m an so gre at that h e has thrown adoubt o n all past glory
,an d has made all future
ren own impossible .
” And here,pe rhaps
, we
have re ached a gre atn e ss which th e tre e s cannotknow ; but th e lion can te ll some at le ast of it ssecre ts
,an d Lazarus will cry that it is but Dive s
in disguise . Th e reve lation of th e glory of theson s of man is not the an swer to th e problem ofthe world .
And then,last of all
,le t us suppose that the re
en ters th e aren a on e with no form or come lin e ssthat m en should de sire Him ; not followed bytroops of captive s or by applauding crowds
,but
be aring His cross an d on His way to die ; andthat as He en te rs th e an them is he ard
,Gre ate r
love hath no man than this,that a man lay down
58 ETON FABLES
his life for his friends . Can we not believethat at th e sight th e an imals cry ! Here is th evirtue which we dimly fe e l after
,when the mother
lays down h e r life for h er young can we n o t
be lieve that th e mountains and h ills break forthbe fore Him in to singing
,and all th e trees of th e
fie ld clap the ir han ds ; and that even Lazarushimse lf may fe e l his sufferings atoned
!The three Fahles which follow were deliver ed
on three consecu tive Su ndays in Lower Chapel byway of illustra tion to thr ee serm ons on the Fa ther
hood of God, Temp ta tion, a nd the Chr istia n Socie ty .
They should he regarded a s an a ttempt to illustra tepa r ticu lar a spects of their r espectiv e suhj ects, and
not in a ny sense a s pr oviding a fu ll trea tm en t ofthem .!
THE THREE SONS
Michaelm as him 192 1 .
ONCE upon a time,many ye ars ago
,a Domin ican
friar was pre aching in a he athen coun try . He
had told the people that God was the ir Fatherand that they need fear Him no longe r, n o r theidols which they worshipped .
Th e people he ard him gladly, but th e he athenprie sts hated him an d his te aching, and o n e dayas h e taught in the marke t-place of the ir city theylay in wait for him that they might trip him upin his talk.An d at first they made a show as though theytoo were glad of his tidings
,and they said
,
! Thisis in de ed good news that thou bringe st— andthou wilt show to us without doubt th e reasonof many a thing that W e understand not ; for if
59
60 ETON FABLES
God be indeed thy Fathe r,and the Father of us
all,He will n o t hide anything from the e
,n o r from
us His othe r children . Te ll us,then
,whence
come th e sorrows of th e world— th e stormsthat de stroy our crops
,the sickne sse s that
plague us,and when ce come the evil thoughts
and evil de eds of m en
And the pe ople crowde d round him, an d they
murmured ! That is true Show us n ow howthe se things can be
,if God be inde ed our Fathe r
as thou saye st .”
And th e friar looked upon them and said,
This is a hard thing that ye ask,an d I know
not if I can an swe r you aright ; but some littleportion of th e truth I can Show you perchan cein a parable .
”An d h e called to him thre e boys
who stood amon g those that listened ; and toth e first h e said , Te ll m e
,my so n
,if thy fathe r
love th the e in very truth .
”
An d th e boy laughed at the asking and sald,
I know right we ll that h e loveth m e . Myfathe r is th e King’ s garden e r, and I work eve ryday by his side
,an d all that h e doeth I see and
share .
! And dost thou unde rstan d all that thouse e st
Nay,sir
,I said n o t that
,for often time s th e
things that he doe th Se em hard to m e ! as when
THE THREE SONS 6 1
h e cutteth and bre aketh th e tende r shoots of thefruit- tre e s and I ask him whe re fore he mustn e eds hurt them so
,an d h e te lleth m e that it is
for the ir good,that they may bring forth more
fruit . And I kn ow not how that can be,but I
trust him,for h e is a wise gardener, an d I be lieve
that I shall se e th e re ason in a late r ye ar .And to th e se con d h e said
,An d thy fathe r ,
doth he de al with the e in this man n e r Dostthou share his work as this othe r dothAnd the boy smiled an d said
,Nay
,sir
,my
father is a gre at merchan t,an d h e hath ven ture s
in far coun trie s whereof I have n o kn owledge .
Ye t h e love th to te ll m e storie s of his gre at shipsand th e voyage s that they make— an d n ow an d
again when his captain s come home h e bringe ththem to his house
,an d they t e ll m e strange tale s
of th e won drous things they do an d see afar .Ye t why they trave l thus I cann ot rightly te ll ;but when I am full grown they promise m e thatI shall j ourn ey with them an d le arn the thingsthat I cann ot know to-day .
”
And h e called th e th ird child and said to him,
And what of thy fathe r, my so n ? Doth h ete ll the e of all his works and show thee cle arly thecoun se ls of his he artAnd th e boy laughed o n him and said
,Nay
,
sir, that might hardly be ! for my fathe r is the
62 ETON FABLES
King’s min ister,and it is not right that he should
Spe ak lightly of his maste r ’ s busin e ss . But suchthings as a father may spe ak of to his so n
,of
those h e spe aketh full readily,and the re is n o t in
all this re alm a more loving father than h e .
”
And the friar looked round upon th e prie st sand said
,
! I will now ask o n e thing of youwhich of the se thre e fathers loveth his son th e
mostAnd they could not answer him
,and they said,
We cannot te ll .”
And th e friar turned to the people and said,Se e ye , my people , it is even so as I have said .
Our Father in he aven de aleth with us even as ourfathers on e arth ! the re be things we may notknow, for that we are as little children an d ourunderstanding is but weak ; but such things as achild n eede th to know
,those thin gs He showe th
us right cle arly . He le ave th not Himse lf withoutwitn e ss, as one of His own Apostle s said , givingus rain from he aven and fruitful se ason s, fillingour he arts with food and gladn e ss .’
And the people cried,It is we ll spoken | n
64 ETON FABLES
whe the r all that h e said be true I kn ow not,but
he told m e that once h e came in his voyagin gto a ce rtain islan d . An d th e islan d was fair t olook upon
,with good green plain s an d pleasant
valleys,but h e saw no Sign of m en thereon .
And at first h e de emed that it was de solate,but
,
when h e lan ded the reupon,the re came to me et
him a forlorn man,me an ly clad
,who looke d on
him with fear . But,spe aking him fair
,h e bade
him le ad him to his house ! and h e took himstraightway to a dark cave where in h e dwe ltwith his w1fe and children . An d the re was seta gre at bar to th e mouth of th e cave that o n emight hardly en te r
,an d within the re was n aught
of comfort,but they dwe lt the re in in gre at fe ar,
making the ir living of roots and herbs .! And my frien d said un to them
,Where fore
l ive ye always in this dark cave , se e ing thatwithout are ple asan t fie lds and th e fre sh air, yea ,and good food to be had for th e ge tting
An d th e m an an swered him and said, Ah ,Sir
, ye little kn ow th e n ature of this island forhe re in dwe ll many ravenous be a sts, so that wemay hardly live safe even in th l S cave The rebe fie rce wolve s and tige rs , both gre at and small,and wild an imals that ru n exce eding fast
,and
gre at cattle to gore us with the ir horn s . Andeven in this cave
,as thou se e st
,the re be plague s
THE TWO ISLANDS 65
of rats and m ice that devour our small store offruits an d frighten our children .
’
And th e trave lle r looked on them and said ,This is in de ed a sad tale that ye tell z
!
! I willgo forth an d look on the se wild beasts . ’ And
h e wen t out with his crew,but of th e islan d folk
durst non e go with him,but they abode within,
quaking at he art .And when h e was come back again h e said to
that poor m an,
‘ If thou wilt come in my shipto my home I will rid thee of thy fe ar, an d
that spe edily,and there afte r thou can st come
again hither in pe ace .
’ And with many wordsh e hardly persuaded him
,but at th e last he
con sented the re to .
And when they were come to th e land whe reth e captain had his home
,straightway at his
landing there came bounding to me e t him agre at houn d of his that loved him we ll
,and for
j oy of his re turn h e le apt about him with loudbarking . And th e islan de r drew back in terror
,
and h e cried,It is th e wolf th e wolf
And th e othe r said to h im ,Nay
,friend
,this
is on e of my trusty comrade s,wh o live th at my
side and goe th with m e to th e chase,and though
perchan ce his fore fathers we re of th e savage kin d,
ye t have my fathe rs by courage and by carebrought him ove r to be our friend and he lpe r . ’
66 ETON FABLES
And as he saw th e horse s in the fie lds, and thecattle grazing
,h e asked him again with trembling
whe the r the se animals were not crue l enem ie sto mankind
,and the other made him th e same
answe r .Now it fortune d that they passed by a flock
of sheep that fed by th e roadside , and th e sailorasked him ,
And what saye st thou of the secre atures ? For I think that it is not possiblefor any to fear them .
’
! And th e other answered, Nay,them we
feared n o t , but they seemed to us fe eble anduse le ss cre atures, and we chased them away .
’
And when they we re come to th e house , theysaw a cat that sat by th e fire
,and th e strange r
was sore afraid ye t again , and clutched his armand said
,
‘ It is a little tige r | And h e made asthough he would have fled once more
,but th e
othe r laughed at h is fe ar and said,
‘That h e mayonce have be en
,but now h e is a frien d of th e
house,and ridde th us moreove r of those mice and
rats that plague the e in thy cave .
’
An d th e strange r looked on him with wonderand said
,Then are the re no an imals that are
your en emie s in truth and which ye needs mustfear
And th e othe r made answe r,Nay
,I said not
that ; for inde ed there are some whe reof a man
THE TWO ISLANDS 67
must beware,but against them too we make a
bold face,and hun t them down and slay them if
we may. But we should think shame to hideourse lve s away in fe ar of them
,for it is to man
that th e Lord God hath given to have domin ionover th e be asts of th e fie ld .
’
And th e friar tu rned to his disciple and said,
Hast thou un de rstood the tale,my so n
And h e made answe r,I know not
,fathe r
,if I
have unde rstood it aright,but me thinks thou
wouldst te ach m e the reby that a man shouldme e t th e trouble s of his life with courage
,and
not fe ar them ove rmuch .
”
Even so,my so n
,
” said th e friar ;! for some
pain s an d dangers the re be which,if a man
looke th on them with courage,h e will know for
a ble ssing and n o t for a curse ; and othe rs therebe which a brave man may turn to his own goodand to th e good of othe rs and though the re besome which h e must needs fe ar In ve ry truth
,
ye t even then h e may call to mind th e bravewords of St . Jame s
,how he said, Coun t it all
j oy,my bre thren
,when ye fall into divers
temptat ion s,
’ and le t patience have her perfectwork .
’
THE FRU IT—TREES
Michaelm as ha lf, 192 1 .
WHEN I was young I had a friend who was veryle arned in th e ways of an imals and birds ! hecould un de rstan d all the ir ways of Speech
,and
had many strange storie s to te ll of the ir de alingswith o n e anothe r . Th e storie s h e told re achedinto th e days of long ago
,and I would listen by
the hour whi le h e told me the re ason why th e
sea was made salt, to punish the fishe s for the irsin
,and why th e pe acock’ s voice was made harsh
,
to cure him of his foolish pride . But once,I
remembe r, h e spoke of a different subj ect, andthis was what h e told m e
You know,
”h e said
,that in the beginn ing
the Lord God made a garden , and you must n o tthink of it a s be ing a wild place full of strangetre e s and plants the re we re strange tre e s there ,of course
,and patche s of wild ground, but much
of th e garden was as tidy and we ll orde red as thebe st garden that you know,
and there grew the
plan ts and tre e s much as we se e them n ow.
But the re was o n e gre at differen ce . No doubtit has often struck you how quie t and pe ace ful
68
THE FRU IT-TREES 69
a garden is, particularly in th e even ing, when thebirds have gone to re st an d th e be e s have fin ishedthe ir busin e ss . But in those days it was ve rydiffe ren t , for all th e tre e s and plan ts could spe ak,and a rare lot of talking the re was Th e tre e s
,
that on ly whispe r now,talked very big then
,and
it was quite hard,un le ss you knew the ir diffe ren t
voice s,to be sure who was spe aking
,for the re
was chatte ring going on th e whole long day.
Now I don ’t profe ss to te ll you whe n or how th e
change came to them all,but on ly how ‘it hap
pen ed to th e fruit-tre e s,for that is a story all by
itse lf .It so happened that the Lord God was walkin g
in His fruit-garden in th e cool of th e day,an d He
thought that He would listen to the ir talk. He
had he ard m an spe aking all day lon g,and per
haps He was a little we ary,for we know that
though He is righteous and strong an d patien t,
ye t He is provoke d every day. And He thoughtthat in His garden He would he ar words of pe aceand happin e ss . But it so chanced that thateven in g the re was a bitte r dispute in th e gardenas to which fruit ple ased God th e be st
,and th e
quarre l was very fierce and angry . And youmust n o t blame them too much or be surprised
,
for you kn ow that even Christ ’ s own disciple soften disputed which of them was the gre ate st .
70 ETON FABLES
But, as I was saying, th e fruit- tree s were veryangry, an d th e pe ach and the grape and th e
ne ctarin e said; How can you doubt that we are
the be s t and find most favour in His sight Arewe not more cared for than others
,and is not our
flavour far fin er for His taste But th e appleand th e plum and the pe ar mocked at them ands aid , I s it n o t just for this re ason that ye areso cared for
,because ye are so n iggardly and will
not re adily give your fruit ? Ne eds must He
love us be st be cause we give without stin t and
ask no spe cial favour ! And then th e littlecurrant bushe s
,and the blackberrie s and the
gooseberrie s began to spe ak,and the Lord God
thought,
‘ Sure ly these at le ast will be humble,
and I shall ge t comfort from the ir spe ech .
’ Butthe ir voices we re a s loud as th e re st and moreshrill
,and they cried and said that because they
we re small, an d not gre at tre e s like the re s t, andbecause some of them had thorn s and were n o t
beautiful to b ehold, the re fore they were de spisedby th e others, but that they were as good asany and be tte r than most, and that they toowere ve ry sure that God loved them the best .And when th e Lord God heard this He was
ve ry sorry, and He spoke among them all and said,
How is it that ye are n o t content each of youto do your part
,without wrangling thus among
ETON FABLES
Up and work, and envy no t
Each his n e ighbour ’s happier lot !Chee rfully your task fulfil,Each con ten t to do His Will ;Be the bes t that you can be !
God hath n eed of eve ry tree !
Praised be God who n eede th each,
Grape and n ectarin e and peach,Neede th apricot and cherry,Neede th eve ry kind of be rry,Fig and apple , pear and plumPraise Him all the days to come ! ’
THE MO! ING STAIRCASE
MY un cle is a man who has the habit of findingmoral le sson s in un expe cted place s, but I con fe ssthat I was rather surprised th e other day, when ,afte r we had just le ft the Tube Station at Paddingt o n ,
h e clapped m e violen tly o n th e shoulde rand cr ied , There ! that ’ s what I call se lfishre ligionAs h e is my godfathe r, I fe e l bound to treathis e cce n tricitie s with re spect , so I looked in th e
directio n in which h e poin ted . I saw be fore m e
on ly th e two moving stairca se s revolving in the iropposite dire ction s with th e other staircase inth e middle . I turn ed aga in to my uncle for moreinformation
,and saw that his gaze was firmly
fixed o n a lady— by this time about half-way upwho had deposited a large bundle by her side , toth e eviden t disgust of a boy who was trying topass h e r .
What exactly do you me an,my de ar u ncle
I asked in a soothing ton e .
Why,that old woman ! h e sn orted ; sh e is
exactly th e type ofperson who makes her religion73
74 ETON FABLES
a nuisance to othe r people ! she ’s not contentwith going to he aven he rse lf
,but must carry with
h er a mass of fads and ce remon ie s which,
are
nothing but a stumbling-block to eve ryone e lse .I’ve n o patien ce with themI knew my un cle was a strong anti-ritualist
,
so that the latte r part of his outburst did n o t
surprise m e,but I was still in the dark as to his
gen eral me an ing .
But why doe s th e poor woman sugge stre ligion at all i‘ I asked patiently, followingh er with my eyes as sh e disappeared triumphantlyat the top .
! I r e ally be lieve you ’ve no eye at all for aparable
,
” said my uncle . Sure ly it ’s a s plainas a pikestaff that a moving staircase repre sentsjust the he lp a true re ligion give s you once layhold o n the truth and the re you are Of courseyou can go faste r if you like , and provided otherpeople , like that ritualistic woman, don
’t get inyour way ; but hold on to th e truth, and you
’rebound to arrive in t ime . But she ’s bre akingall the rule s it says clear ly don
’t sit on the stepsin case others want to pass
,and don ’t put parcel s
on them e i the r !! But isn ’t it just a little mechan ical ? ” Isugge sted .
! I se em to remembe r having be entold that ‘ you ’d got to have Works as we ll as
THE MO! ING STAIRCASE 75
Faith ! didn ’t St . Jame s fall foul of St . Paul forthin king Fa ith on ly was good enough ? Andwhat about giving up re ligion ? Sure ly somepeople do that
,and they won ’t fit your parable .
”
But my un cle doe sn ’t like having his parable scriticised . St . Jame s wasn ’t half as big a manas St . Paul,
”h e said ; Luther said his epistle
was an epistle of straw,and Luthe r knew a lot
more about it than you High Church parson s .”
! It is always a favourite trick of myUn cle Richardto assume that his critics
,and e spe cially his
nephews,are Je suits in disguise .!
But I wasn ’t prepared to surrender without astruggle .
! I don ’t se e why sh e mightn ’t be asturdy Evange lical lady
,
” said I,
th e sor t ofold lady who preven ts the parson from going asfast as he wants to go in th e paths of Catholicism .
”
Oh,you Je suits was all my un cle vouch
safed to reply,! you can always twist thin gs
round But as for giving up re ligion,
”h e went
on,warming to his subj e ct ,
! why, I saw someyoung idiots th e othe r day runn ing down th e
rising staircase ! runn ing down true re ligionjust what th e clever young fe llow thinks it funnyto do
,he ended
,beaming with de light at his
unexpe cted pun .
! And what about the othe r staircase ? ” Iasked
,leaving the disputed point of mechan ical
76 ETON FABLES
salvation,though not with entire conv1ct 10n .
How doe s that come inWhy
,that ’ s simple r still
,
” answered Un cleRichard ! th e people on that are th e poor brute swith a false re ligion—Mahommedan s
,infide ls
,
he re tics,an d all that lot . Mifid you
,I don ’t say
none of them are good m en,but I do say it ’ s in
Spite of the ir re ligion an d n o t be cause of it .”
You might say it take s them all th e runn ingthey can do to Stay in th e same place
,
” said I,an xious to propit iate him .
! uite so,quite so
,
” said h e ;! it
’s precious
hard work walking again st a moving staircaseand look thereHe clutched my arm triumphantly
,and poin ted
to a m an with two big bun dle s laboriouslyclimbing up th e middle s tation ary staircase .
The re ’s your free- thinke r for you N0 re ligionfor him ! He won ’t even try and se e if the re ’sanything in it . The re h e goe s
,too proud to ask
for he lp,or even take it when it ’s offered ! I
don ’t deny he ’ll ge t there in th e en d,but it ’ s
a slow busin e ss,an d thin k of all the labour he ’ll
waste ! Why can ’t h e take God at His wordinste ad of in sisting o n go ing his own waySure ly even yo u can se e th e poin t of that
! Oh we ll,
” said I,anxious to make out a
case for the poor fe llow,pe rhaps he ’s afraid of
THE MO! ING STAIRCASE 77
getting in the way of th e othe r people with allhis private be longings you remembe r h e mustn ’tblock the steps .”
Nonsense,
” said my un cle,
! it ’s all his sillypride . Half what calls itse lf con scien tiousn e ss ison ly se lf-con sciousn e ss . He ought to take what ’sgiven him and be thankful . We ll
,we ll
,you
thin k it ove r an d you ’ll se e the re ’ s a lot in it .Bu t I must be off n ow . Good-bye .
”
He moved towards th e staircase,but just as he
was going a que stion came into my head— h ewas alre ady some little way up .
What about steppin g off with th e right footfirst I called afte r him .
Oh that ’s all right,
”he shouted chee rily
down ; a happy de ath-bed,my boy
,that ’s what
it is l
An d h e disappe ared up th e stairs two steps ata time
,glaring fie rce ly at a lady as h e passed, who
showed a tenden cy to put h er parce l on the Step .
OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES
MY Uncle Richard was staying with me theothe r day
,and had picked up in my Study o n e of
the more re cent tre atise s of our advanced theologian s. As he glanced through it I noticed thathis countenance grew more and more gloomy,and he could not re frain at in te rval s from snortsof disappr oval .
! I ’m afraid you don ’t care for that kind oflite rature said I tentative ly ; of course it ’sve ry cleve r, butMy dear nephew
,said h e
,
! it ’s not the
cleverness of the man I mind,it ’ s his confounded
ConservatismI was a good deal startled
,for Un cle Richard
has th e reputation in his family circle of be ing anorthodox Churchman of the most Tory type .
Wh at do you me an ,Uncle Richard I
asked ; su re ly his views about miracle s are
rather far from be ing Con se rvative He’s gener
ally conside red quite a dange rous Radical .Oh
,it’s not his con clusion s I mind
,
” said myun cle ;
! they may be right or wrong ! it ’s hisold-fashioned type of mind .
”
78
80 ETON FABLES
as old as Homer in o n e case and at least as old a sArius in the othe r .”
But I still don ’t se e,
” I said patiently,why
you call this book old- fashion ed . I quite se e
that th e style may be che ap an d obj ection able,
but still th e ide as in it may be n ew and valuableall th e same .
”
My de ar boy,answe red Uncle Richard
,
there ’ s on ly o n e thing th e here tics have be ensaying sin ce t ime began
,and that is
,that nothing
can be true un le ss you can un de rstand it . They’ vebeen proved wrong any numbe r of time s, butthey always come up smiling in every gene ration . Poor old Athan asius !or whoever wrotethat Creed! thought h e
’
d settled the ir ha shon ce for all
,but h e didn ’t allow for human
nature .
”
But sure ly,
” I re j oin ed,
we know so muchmore about th e laws of n ature n owadays that weca n un derstan d more and we can say that somethings couldn ’t possibly have happen ed .
”
Do you ever re ad Donn e asked myuncle
,with apparent irre levan ce . No I
thought n o t I suppose you think him tooold- fa shioned . We ll
,if you did re ad him you ’d
find a good many sugge stion s as to th e limits ofour knowledge
Why grass is green and why the blood is redAre myste ries that none have reached unto.
’
OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES 8 1
No,don ’t talk to me about th e Spe ctroscope ,
he wen t on , fe aring an inte rruption ; I ’veno doubt you can ta lk a lot of le arn ed nonsenseabout it
,but how much do you really know
And anyhow,
”h e added
,
! you ’ll hardly disagre ewith him when h e says
Thou know’
st so little that thou knowest no tHow thou wilt die n o r how thou wast begot. ’
There are a good lot of mysterie s still remainingbe fore you can say you un derstan d th e laws ofnature ! ”
! I quite agre e we don ’t know everything,said I
,but sure ly it ’s right to u se what know
ledge we ’ve gotOf course it is
,an swered Uncle Richard
,
but don ’t u se it to bar out th e possibility ofmore kn owledge coming . I te ll you th e thingI ’m re ally afraid of is be in g made to look a foolat th e Day of Judgmen t .
‘Why didn ’t yoube lieve this they’ll say to m e
,an d I shall say
,
Oh,I didn ’t thin k it was po ssible .
’ And whatdo you kn ow about possibilitie s ? ’ they’ll say,and I shouldn ’t know what to an swe r . No
,you
can take it from m e that Samue l Butle r wasright when h e said
There live s more doubt in honest faith,Believe m e, than in half the creeds . ’
And h e wasn ’t exactly a Con servative,e ither .
82 ETON FABLES
I didn ’t fe e l quite equal to so large a topic,so
with th e view of bringing th e conve rsation downto e arth again I aske d What did you me an justnow when you said you’d
,
suffered so much fromthe Con se rvative type of min dWe ll
,
” said Uncle Richard,I ’ve lost a
fortune and a mothe r by it,and I suppose you ’ll
allow that amounts to som e thing ! ”
Do explain what you me an,Uncle Richard
,
said I .I suppose you don ’t remembe r your grand
fathe r h e replied no,of course you
couldn ’t . Well,h e was what ’ s called a hard
he aded m an,had no u se for new ide as or anything
of that kin d ; he be lieved in sticking to th e oldways
,and very well he did it . When h e was a
young man railways we re just coming in , but h ewouldn ’t he ar of them . Mind you, h e was fullof good arguments—h e didn ’t deny they coulddo something
,but said they neve r could ge t up
any speed, or climb a little hill , or draw a he avyload un le ss they’d go t
'
cogged rims to work on arack along th e rails . Oh, he proved it all rightto his own satisfaction So h e kept th e railwaysout of his district
,and they sen t them into
th e next valley in ste ad, and that ’s why all h isproperty fe tched so little when it had to be soldin the seventie s
,while th e railways deve loped a
OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES 83
thriving little town th e othe r side of th e hill .I ’m n o t sure that I approve of groun d lan dlords
,but I shouldn ’t have minded th e money, I
dare say !However, that
’s a small thing,but the other
loss I haven ’t eve r quite forgiven . My fatherwas a Con servative like him ,
wouldn ’t be lieve in athing till h e ’d re ally got to th e bottom of it, anddidn ’t se e that might take a longish time . Ve rywe ll
,when I was born in th e fiftie s
,my mother
was very ill and had to have an ope ration therewas this n ew inven tion of chloroform just comingin
,and h er doctor wanted it and sh e wan ted it
,
but my fathe r would have non e of it—said it wasflying In th e face of Providence if it was true
,and
use le ss if it wasn ’t . And so , a s sh e couldn’t face
th e pain of th e ope ration without it , it couldn’t be
don e,and sh e died— and that ’ s that
,
” said myuncle
,sn orting angrily an d blowing his nose ; and
now perhaps you se e why I do n ’t be lieve in limitingpos s ibilitie s too much in this world or in th e nexteithe r ! Your young friend may be right
,and
you may be right,but I ’m not going to throw
up my hat and say what wonderful people youare because you thin k you ’ve proved some thingcan ’t happen . Why
,thirty or forty
‘
ye ars agoyou ’d have proved th e te lephone absurd andwire le ss te legraphy insane . And then you have
84 ETON FABLES
th e impudence to talk about th e Victorian mindAnyhow we did make some inven tions and ge t ona bit . I can ’t se e why re ligion ’ s got to be th e
only thing that isn ’t allowed to benefit by the sen ew discove rie s .”
I thin k I se e,said I ! and so you me an that
Our Lord ’ s miracle s will be easy to explain whenwe kn ow a bit moreMy de ar fe llow
,h e said very se riously
,
! Idon ’t say that , at any rate not about them all.
I on ly say I don’t kn ow
,and I ’m not going to
pre tend I do . I only know that a lot of thosemiracle s of he aling
,which your young friend is kin d
enough to allow,se emed ju st as in credible as th e
re st to th e clever young fe llows of my generation .
And now I read the othe r day that a man inIn dia—Hickson
,wasn ’t it —had been he aling
crowds of people the re,and casting out evil
Spirits by the hundred . All I say is,don ’t slam
th e doorThen you ’d agre e with Walt Whitman ’ s
poem o n Miracle s,
” I said ;! I remember he
begins by saying
Why,who makes much of a miracle ?
As to m e I know of nothing e lse but miracle
We ll,I don ’t kn ow that I call it poe try,
said Un cle Richard,ris in g and going ove r to
the bookshe lves ,! I ’m too old- fashioned myse lf
OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES 85
for that,but it se ems to m e un common l ike
good pro se sen se . If you wan t it in poe try,I can give it you from a be tte r m an t han WaltWh itman
,that is if you ’ve got a Spen se r among
all the se fin e young poe ts of yours . Ye s, he re it
is ! He’s de fen ding himse lf to ! ue en Elizabe th
again st th e people who said all his storie s we reabsurd be cause the re was no such place as Fairyland
Right we ll I wote , most m ighty Soveraine,That all this famou s an tique historyOf some th
’ abundan ce of an idle brainWill j udged be , and pain ted forge ry,Rathe r than matte r of just memory ;S ith non e that breatheth livin g air doth knowWhe re is that happy land of Fae ry,Which I so much do vaun t
, ye t n o whe re Show ;But vouch an tiqu ities, which n o body can know.
But le t that m an with bette r sen se advize
That of the world least part to u s is red ;And daily how through hardy e n terprizeM any great region s are discoveréd
,
Which to late age were n eve r m en tion éd.
Who eve r heard of th ’ Indian Peru ?Or who in ven t’rous ve ssel measuredThe Amazon huge rive r, now found tw o ?
Of fru itfullest ! irgin ia who did ever ! iew ?
Ye t all these were,when no m an did them know
,
Ye t have from wise st ages hidden beenAnd late r times thin gs more unknown shall show.
Why then should witle ss m an so much misweenThat nothing is, but that which he hath seen ?
86 ETON FABLES
There,you can read the re st for yourself. I
don ’t know if it was goo d enough for ! ueenElizabe th
,but it ’s quite good enough for m e .
And now,if you ’ll allow m e
,I ’ll have a little
sleep,and I h0pe I shall dream of fairie s of th e
good old kind,and n o t of German theologians
dre ssed up as ange ls of light . You ’d be tte r readth e poe t s a little more
,young man
,and don ’t
try and ke ep your re ligion in a watertight com
partm en t
My uncle compo sed himse lf for slumbe rfollowin g hi s advice
,I took down a volume of
Fran ci s Thomp son from th e she lf ! it open edat h is la s t poem ,
In no strange l and .
” I re adit through again
! The angels keep the ir ancien t places,Turn but a stone , and start a wing !
’Tis ye ,’ tis your estranged faces,
That miss the many-splendou red thing .
And a s I gazed from th e book to hi s re cumbentand pe ace ful figure I wa s boun d to con fe s s thatthere might be more in h is view than I hadthought probable at fir st .
P ri n ted a t THE BALLANTYNE PRESSSPOTr rswo o o a . BALLANT YN I 8 Co LTD.
Co lch cs tcr . Lo n do n 6 Eto n . E ng la nd
