The Henson Journals

[163]

Tuesday, March 9th, 1926.

I finished reading a clever & unpleasing book, "The Shadow of the Chapel" by Kenneth Potter. It professes to describe the English public school from the point of view of the Masters, & may stand beside "The Loom of Youth" which professed to do as much from the point of view of the boys. Both give an impression of intense and enervating hypocrisy: & both emphasize the irresistible power of "the System", to which, however recalcitrant, good boys & sincere masters, have finally to surrender their goodness & their sincerity. These books appear to be a virile reaction against the series of books, magnifying the Public School, as the only mould of manly virtue, which have flowed from the Press for many years past, & done so much to create the notion of the Public school, now established in the public mind. Probably they have the exaggeration and unfairness which commonly mark all reactions, but, as probably, they enshrine the element of truth which gives to all reactions their vigour. The true indictment of Public Schools is that they are class institutions which murder individuality.

[164] [symbol]

I took occasion to ask Storr to invite Ernest to preach in the Abbey, & he very obligingly said that he would do so next September. I wrote to Ernest, & told him as much.

Then I went to 133 Harley Street, & was thoroughly overhauled by Dr Price, the heart specialist. He questioned me closely as to my habits & health–record. I answered as truthfully as I could: but, even so, how can one convey a just impression of one's self to another man. He subjected me to a variety of tests, & finally pronounced a favourable verdict. "I might, and ought, to live to 90". But my heart was "tired": there was not enough rest in my life: & it was imperative that I should go slower, & have an immediate holiday – the old story!

In the afternoon I went to an X–Ray performer in Weymouth Street, & had my teeth photographed – a sickening process for which I paid four guineas: then I returned to Dean's Yard, collected my bags, & (accompanied by Storr) went to King's Cross. I drove from Darlington to Auckland in a mighty blizzard.

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