War Letters of a Public-School Boy Part 2

His serene and radiant air was witness to a soul at peace with itself.

Things coa.r.s.e and impure fled from his presence. It was the union in him of moral elevation with physical courage that explained the secret of his remarkable influence in school.

At Dulwich the school year is full and various. In addition to the acquisition of knowledge there is much else to engage a boy's interest--cricket, football, fives, swimming, the gymnasium, athletic compet.i.tions, the choir; and then those red-letter days--Founder's Day, with its Greek, French or German play, the Prize Distribution and the Concerts. Our son bore his share in every phase of this varied life. He had a warm corner in his heart for the College Mission, which maintains a home in Walworth for boys without friends or relatives and enables them to be trained as skilled artisans. The home has accommodation for twenty-one boys; a married couple look after the house work, and two old Alleynians are in residence. He never failed after he left the College to send an annual subscription anonymously to the Mission funds. An enthusiastic lover of music, he was for years in the College Choir, singing latterly with the ba.s.ses.

At the 1913 Founder's Day celebration Paul took a subsidiary part, that of Fitzwater, in a scene from Shakespeare's _Richard II_, on which occasion the King was brilliantly impersonated by E. F. Clarke (killed in action, April, 1917). On the same occasion Paul was one of the voyageurs in the scenes from _Le Voyage de Monsieur Perrichon_, his amusing by-play in that modest role sending the junior school into roars of laughter. At the 1914 celebration of Founder's Day he took the part of Fluellen in a scene from _Henry V_, and sustained a very different role, that of Karl der Sieberite, in a scene from Schiller's _Jungfrau von Orleans_. Reviewing the performances, _The Alleynian_ said of the former: "In this piece Jones was the comedian. He was clumsy and not quite at home on the boards, but his Welsh was delightful."

Of his performances as Charles VII in Schiller's play the critic wrote:

The scene chosen is one of the most powerful scenes in the play.

It is that in which the King, sceptical of the divine inspiration of the Maid, determines to test her by subst.i.tuting a courtier upon his throne.... When she is not only not deceived, but proceeds also to interpret many of the King's innermost thoughts, the surprise of the monarch, pa.s.sing into hushed reverence, calls for a studied piece of careful acting. H. P. M.

Jones sustained this part, and sustained it well. He gave it the dignity which it needed, and if his natural gift of physical stature helped him somewhat, so also did the smooth diction and easy repose which he had evidently been at pains to acquire.

Of the performance as a whole: "It says a very great deal for the German in the upper part of the school, that a scene can be enacted in which both accent and acting can reach so high a level."

The school year at Dulwich always closes with a concert at which the music, thanks to the competent leadership of Mr. H. V. Doulton, is of a high order. The solos of the two school songs on 19th December, 1914, were sung by H. P. M. Jones and H. Edkins, both of them Oxford scholars who have since been killed in action. Edkins, who had a rich baritone voice, sang the song in praise of Edward Alleyn, the pious founder. My son, as captain of football, sang the football song, the first and last verses of which are appended:

Rain and wind and hidden sun, Wild November weather, Muddy field and leafless tree Bare of fur or feather.

Sweeps there be who scorn the game, On them tons of soot fall!

All Alleynians here declare Nought like Rugby football.

Broken heads and bleeding shins!

What's the cause for sorrow?

Shut your mouth and grin the more, Plaster-time to-morrow.

Young or old this shall remain Still your favourite story: Fifteen fellows fighting-full, Out for death or glory.

After each stanza the choir and the whole school rolled in with the chorus, proclaiming in stentorian voices that "the Blue and Black"

(these being the Dulwich football colours) shall win the day. My wife and I were present at this concert, and there is a vivid image before us of our son, a tall, powerful figure in evening dress, standing on the platform in front of the choir, his eager face now following the conductor's baton, now glancing at the music-score, now looking in his forthright way at the audience. The reception that greeted him when he stepped on to the platform must have thrilled every fibre of his being; another rapturous outburst of cheers acclaimed him as he retired to his place in the choir. Those cheers, loud, shrill and clear, with that poignant note that there often is in boyish voices, still resound in our ears. We had heard that Paul was popular at Dulwich: we had ocular and audible testimony of it on this unforgettable night. Those had not exaggerated who told us that he was the hero of the school.

CHAPTER III

FOOTBALL

Play it long and play it hard Till the game is ended.

DULWICH FOOTBALL SONG.

The earliest reference to Paul as a footballer appears in _The Alleynian's_ report of a match, "Boarders v. School," played on September 25, 1912, when the School won by 32 points to 21. "Jones,"

says the reporter, "presented an awesome sight." His first appearance in the 1st XV was against London Hospitals "A" in October. Singling him out for honourable mention, the critic says: "Jones displayed any amount of go." He was awarded his 1st XV colours after the match against Bedford School at Bedford in November. In this hard-fought game Bedford led at half-time by 15 points to 5, and 25 minutes before the close of play the score was in Bedford's favour by 28 to 5. Then, by a wonderful rally, Dulwich scored 23 points in almost as many minutes, the match finally being drawn 28-28. In _The Alleynian_ for February, 1913, Paul is thus described in the article, "First XV Characters":

A young, heavy and extremely energetic forward. Puts all he knows into his play, and is a great worker in the scrum. In the loose, however, a lot of his energy is somewhat misdirected, and he has an alarming tendency for getting off-side.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dulwich College 1st XV, 1914-15, of which Paul Jones was Captain.

_From left to right, top Row_: H. C. Jensen, M. Z. Ariffin, E. A. F.

Hawke, R. L. Paton, J. Paget, J. F. G. Schlund, J. M. Cat, G. H.

Gilkes. _Middle Row_: A. H. H. Gilligan, L. W. Franklin, H. P. M.

Jones, L. Minot, R. S. h.e.l.lier. _On Ground_: C. A. R. Hoggan, S. H.

Killick.]

In the 1913-14 season, a daily newspaper, describing the hard-fought Sherborne _v._ Dulwich match, said: "H. P. M. Jones worked like a Trojan for the losers, his Pillmanesque hair being seen in the thick of everything." That season Paul had charge of the Junior games.

He had a way with small boys, and soon fired them with his own zeal.

In an article in _The Alleynian_ for December, 1913, giving counsel to the juniors, he wrote:

You must not gas so much on the field, but play the game as hard as it can be played. Except in rare circ.u.mstances, the only players who are to shout are the captain, the scrum-half, and the leader of the forwards. Forwards must learn to pack low and shove straight and hard. Three-quarters must remember not to run across too much, and never to pa.s.s the ball when standing still.

There are other useful hints. Looking upon the junior games as the seed-bed for future crops of 1st XV players, he devoted a great deal of time and patience to teaching the youngsters how to play. In addition to matches with other schools and clubs, a feature of the football season at Dulwich are the side-games. Paul played in three seasons for the Modern Sixth and Remove, and was captain of the victorious team in the side-contests, 1914-15. House matches of which he was only a spectator he often reported for _The Alleynian_.

It was at a meeting of the Field Sports Board on July 28, 1914, that Paul Jones was elected captain of the 1st XV, being proposed by A. W.

Fischer and seconded by A. E. R. Gilligan. At the same meeting R. B.

B. Jones was elected captain of the gymnasium. Fischer, Basil Jones and my son have been killed in the War. In a report of a meeting of the Field Sports Board held on September 29 appears the following: "H.

P. M. Jones then submitted a code of rules to regulate the management of the school games. These were unanimously approved." In a survey of the prospects of the 1914-15 football season which appeared in the October _Alleynian_, Paul paid tribute to the magnificent work done for football in Dulwich by one of the masters, Mr. W. D. Gibbon, an old International, who joined the Army shortly after the outbreak of war and is now Lieutenant-Colonel. Paul wrote:

The loss of Mr. Gibbon is a staggering-blow. He it is who, more than anyone, has given us the very high place we hold among Rugby-playing schools. To lose his services is disastrous. Still, it would be shameful to grouse over his departure considering that he goes to serve his country. Rather let us congratulate him on his captaincy in the Worcestershires.

A reformer by temperament, my son was determined to improve the forward play during his captaincy, as he believed that not enough attention had been given to the forwards for several seasons at Dulwich. It was inevitable that the War would derange the football programme, but though there would be few club matches, the new captain thought that the "school games" might benefit from this very lack.

Anyhow it was "a unique chance to build them up on a sound basis." He believed in doing everything to encourage in-school football, meaning by that the half-holiday games, the side-matches, cup matches, and such games as Prefects v. School, Boarders v. School, the House matches, etc. He realised that the first three XV's only include 45 boys, and that there were 600 others whose claims to consideration were equally great. Moreover, good in-school football would produce a succession of players for the first XV. Having all this in mind, in his article in _The Alleynian_ he exhorted the game captains to instil "a general keenness" and to do their duty unselfishly and enthusiastically. His survey then proceeds:

Now as to the teams. In the first place, let it be said at once that the outsides are going to be fine this year. Franklin and A.

H. H. Gilligan, the "star" wings of last year's team, and Minot, undoubtedly the best of the centres, remain to us. Franklin is faster than of yore, and still goes down the right touch-line like a miniature thunderbolt, brushing aside the opposition like so many flies. If he is the thunderbolt, Gilligan, on the other wing, is undoubtedly the "greased lightning"; we have not seen so fast a school wing for years, and his newly acquired swerve makes him all the more dangerous. Minot has quite mastered the art of pa.s.sing; we have rarely seen "transfers" made so accurately and so artistically. He can cut through when required, and altogether should make Gilligan a splendid partner. All these three defend stoutly. We are also fortunate in retaining the services of Paton (2nd XV) for the other centre position; he only wants a little more judgment to be quite first-cla.s.s.

At half, Evans and A. E. R. Gilligan have left a terrible gap.

But again fortune is on our side, as we have in Killick (2nd XV) a worthy successor to the latter--very quick off the mark, and an excellent giver and taker of pa.s.ses; while Jensen (2nd XV) shows promise of becoming a really "cla.s.s" scrum worker. At present his chief fault is inaccuracy of direction, but that will soon vanish. Both these halves are excellent in defence. Again, Hooker (3rd XV) is a very useful scrum half, but slow in attack. For the full-back position we have that wily old veteran Ariffin (2nd XV), whose kicking has distinctly improved since last year. He tackles as well as ever. Sellick (3rd XV) is a useful back, but weak in defence.

So, gentlemen, outside the scrum all is well. But what of the scrum itself? This, we don't deny, is going to be a difficult problem. It is not that there isn't plenty of good stuff. h.e.l.lier and Gilkes (2nd XV), Hoggan, Schlund, Cat and Fischer (all 3rd XV)--here is the nucleus of a fine pack, not to mention a host of hefty and keen fellows as yet without colours. But the difficulty lies in the traditions of the past. Since 1912, our forwards have steadily deteriorated as our backs have got better and better. It was always the way last year that, if we had a ground wet to any degree, we were as good as beaten--look at the Easter term, for example. Also, the helplessness of the forwards threw a lot too much work on the outsides. This has got to be stopped. You can't always get weather to suit your team's outsides. We must learn how to play a forward game when it's necessary. We must learn to screw, to wheel, to shove and to rush. We repeat, the individuals are there, but they have to be trained into a combination. The outsides are so brilliant that they can be trusted faithfully to fulfil the work of pa.s.sing and open-side attack.

Our chief efforts this year must be directed to the training of the forwards: (1) to play a truer forward game; (2) and not to forget how to attack and adopt open-side tactics when necessary.

Once the teams have re-learnt these lessons, the games will automatically do so. In the days of Jordan, Mackinnon and Green we won as many matches by our forwards as by our outsides. It is fatuous to develop one division at the expense of the other. The outsides are going this season to receive all possible attention, _but so are the forwards_.

Paul carried out thoroughly the policy here foreshadowed. As a consequence forward play at Dulwich was absolutely transformed, and the impulse he gave to it survives to this day. Under his captaincy the 1st XV had a brilliantly successful season, winning four out of five of the great school matches, viz.:

Dulwich v. Merchant Taylors; won 6 points to 5.

" v. Sherborne, won 39 points to 9.

" v. St. Paul's, lost 16 points to 28.

" v. Bedford, won 30 points to 16.

" v. Haileybury, won 36 points to 2.

With the exception of 1909-10, when Dulwich won all its school matches, this 1914-15 record during Paul's captaincy was the best for a dozen years. Of the football in the school generally the captain, writing in the December _Alleynian_, said: "Such a uniform standard of keenness has rarely been witnessed. For this I have to thank the Games Captains most sincerely. They have done their part most loyally and unselfishly. The next few years will prove the value of their work."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Dulwich Modern Side XV, 1914-15, Captained by Paul Jones.

_From left to right, Top Row_: C. F. N. Ambrose, W. B. Jellett, B. A.

J. Mills, G. Walker, C. R. Mountain. _Second Row_, J. C. Corrie, R. W.