An old acquaintance of mine, a shy man, once gave a large
garden-party and had a band to play. He did his best for a time and
times and half-a-time; but at last he began to feel that the strain
was becoming intolerable. With desperate ingenuity he sought out
the band-master, told him to leave out the rest of the programme,
and play "God Save the King,"--the result being a furious exodus of
his guests. Today no such device is needed. We melt away, leaving
our kind entertainers to the pleasant weariness that comes of
sustained geniality, and to the sense that three hundred and sixty-
four days have to elapse before the next similar festival.
And, for myself, I carry away with me a gracious memory of a day
thrilled by a variety of conflicting and profound emotions; and if
I feel that perhaps life would be both easier and simpler, if we
could throw off a little more of our conventional panoply of
thought, could face our problems with a little more candour and
directness, yet I have had a glimpse of a community living an
eager, full, vigorous life, guarded by sufficient discipline to
keep the members of it wholesomely and honourably obedient, and yet
conceding as much personal liberty of thought and action as the
general interest of the body can admit.
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