His
judgment was submitted to the attention of the Trustees at their meeting,
on December 22nd, when it was resolved that, "In the face of Dr. Acland's
report, the Trustees deeply regret they cannot at present recall the
school to Uppingham." So we went back to the sea.
Our numbers this term just missed by one the normal total of three
hundred. In the two preceding terms they had been smaller by some five
or six. The camp at Borth, therefore, had not suffered from want of
recruits. Indeed, it was now foreseen that the return to Uppingham would
be for about one-third of the school a first arrival there.
The beginning of the end of our exile seemed to be marked by the reduced
number of masters' families in camp. Some had gone into winter quarters
at Aberystwith; some had already resettled at Uppingham. Our connection
with home began to be retightened also by parochial and other common
transactions, in which we took our share from a distance. Not, indeed,
that the connection had ever been discontinued. We had left too precious
pledges behind us. The deserted gardens did not waste all their
sweetness on the air which we had exchanged for a "fresher clime.
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