War Letters of a Public-School BoyJones, Henry Paul Mainwaring
History
War Letters of a Public-School Boy
Jones, Henry Paul Mainwaring
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, British
But, at least, the Tibetans can teach us something--simplicity in
ceremonies. For when Miss Kemp went to see the palace of the King
all the decoration she saw there was a simple table and chair. A
Tibetan kitchen was a very popular slide. In that country they
apparently use a golf-bag to brew tea in, and cast-off bicycle
wheels for plates. There prevails in Tibet some element of
democracy, for Miss Kemp's cook was also a J.P., a Civil Servant,
and held other such offices of fame. One of her assistants was a
positive marvel--a human carpet-sweeper. If the floor was to be
brushed he would simply roll over and over on it and clean it
with his clothes! The Tibetans have no motor-bikes and no S. F.
Edges, their fastest conveyance being a yak, a species of ox,
which moves at an average speed of two miles an hour (with the
high gear in), and can slow down to an infinite extent. However,
the nature of the country would make high speeds rather
dangerous, as constantly you find yourself in danger of falling
over precipices, down crevasses, or of being overwhelmed by
falling boulders, for the mountain lands are covered with great
glaciers. It was these mountain views that were especially
magnificent. They were, for the most part, taken with
tele-photographic lenses at a distance of fifty or sixty miles.
To the November _Alleynian_ he contributed a racy and rattling parody
of the modern sensational drama entitled _Red Blood: a Western Drama
in Two Acts_, in which the dramatis personae are an English cowboy
(heir to a million dollars without knowing it), an Indian chief (his
friend), a wicked uncle, a murderer, and a New York detective. His
historical tastes peep out in his report of a lecture delivered 7th
November, 1913, on the famous mediaeval doctor, Pareil (1510-1590).
From this report the following is extracted:
Much interest attaches to the historic associations of Pareil's
life. As a famous surgeon he was in constant attendance on
figures renowned in history, personages like Coligny (who was
murdered by the mob of Paris while recovering from an amputation
of Pareil's), Erasmus, Servetus, Leonardo da Vinci, and Catherine
de Medici. Like Chaucer's doctour of physik, Pareil knew well the
works of "Olde Ypocras," Galen, Avycen, etc., the famous
physicians whose names have come down from history, but he was no
pedantic scholar, preferring to do his own thinking. A stout
Protestant, his last act was to beseech the Catholic Archbishop
of Lyons, who was holding Paris against the assaults of Henry of
Navarre (with the result that the population of the city was
perishing by thousands), to open the gates and save the
inhabitants, but he beseeched in vain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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