A SCHOOLMASTER'S DIARY "_The man who looks at this view, for the first time, with the naked eye, sees far more of it than the man who looks at it for the hundredth time through smoked glasses. Experience is the smoke on the glasses; it's the curse of our profession. We are all much more efficient when we're young than we ever are afterwards. Give me the young and inexperienced man._"--"The Lanchester Tradition." A SCHOOLMASTER'S DIARY BEING EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNAL OF PATRICK TRAHERNE, M.A., SOMETIME ASSISTANT MASTER AT RADCHESTER AND MARLTON SELECTED AND EDITED BY S. P. B. MAIS LONDON GRANT RICHARDS LTD ST. MARTIN'S STREET MCMXVIII PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT THE COMPLETE PRESS WEST NORWOOD LONDON TO ELSPETH TRAHERNE WITHOUT WHOSE VALUABLE HELP I SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOTALLY AT A LOSS WHAT TO INCLUDE AND WHAT TO OMIT IN MEMORY OF PATRICK CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 9 THE DIARY: I. SEPTEMBER 20 TO DECEMBER 31, 1909 21 II. JANUARY 20 TO APRIL 3, 1910 37 III. MARCH 4 TO JULY 31, 1910 54 IV. AUGUST 10 TO SEPTEMBER 15, 1910 72 V. OCTOBER 1, 1910, TO JANUARY 15, 1911 92 VI. MARCH 3 TO MAY 4, 1911 107 VII. JUNE 4 TO AUGUST 1, 1911 124 VIII. AUGUST 10 TO SEPTEMBER 26, 1911 145 IX. OCTOBER 13, 1911, TO JANUARY 19, 1912 151 X. FEBRUARY 23 TO JULY 29, 1912 163 XI. AUGUST 12 TO DECEMBER 20, 1912 180 XII. DECEMBER 31, 1912, TO JUNE 11, 1913 196 XIII. JULY 9 TO SEPTEMBER 19, 1913 211 XIV. OCTOBER 4 TO DECEMBER 16, 1913 218 XV. JANUARY 13 TO JULY 24, 1914 232 XVI. SEPTEMBER 17, 1914, TO MAY 4, 1915 244 XVII. JULY 31, 1915, TO APRIL 3, 1916 256 XVIII. MAY 4, 1916, TO APRIL 3, 1917 270 APPENDIX 289 PROLOGUE--MODERN SHELL: TO-DAY 291 EPILOGUE--MODERN SHELL: TO-MORROW 307 INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR Patrick Traherne, only son of the Rev. Thomas Traherne of North Darley Vicarage, Derbyshire, was born on July 14, 1885. He was educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford, and immediately upon leaving the University he became a Public School master. I well remember my first meeting with him. It was during my first term at Oxford. I had been reading "Centuries of Meditations" and in particular this passage, which I cannot refrain from quoting, because to it I owe my friendship with Patrick: