Otherwise, that the
school should make a railway journey _en masse_ to hold an evening
concert seemed, under our nomad conditions, to be only in the common
course of things.
One concert we held in the wooden school-room on the 22nd of May; on that
occasion (we quote the magazine's reporter) "All the members of the choir
might be seen flocking to the school-room, with candle and candlestick in
hand, to furnish light for the performance. The candles were arranged in
sevens on wooden shelves all down the sides of the room, and though the
whole spectacle had its laughable side, as most things have, the general
effect was far from bad. It was cheerful enough; in fact, only a
Christmas-tree and some more disorder was needed to turn the
entertainment into as good an imitation of a happy school-treat as you
would get at a day's notice." But the music sounded dully in the timber
walls, and the experiment was not repeated.
Meanwhile a new inroad of care had for the last fortnight, since the late
news from Uppingham, disquieted the colony. Major Tulloch, a Government
Inspector, who, on behalf of the Local Sanitary Board, had reported on
the state of the town of Uppingham, had expressed a strong opinion that
the school ought not to return thither before Christmas.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84