No. 28 Easter 1935

Editor PA Timberlake

SPEAKING EDITORIALLY

When one has just spent a fortnight speaking editorially by day and writing editorially by night, consuming large quantities of paper and wearing out pen-nibs editorially, employing all the methods of the Inquisition editorially in order to extort belated contributions from reluctant fellow-journalists, it is to say the least of it-somewhat. disconcerting to be confronted with the heading "Speaking Editorially" and compelled to start writing afresh. Nevertheless, there are a few remarks which can and should be made editorially in the present issue and which have not already been made elsewhere We have frequently had occasion to complain of apathy and indifference on the part of the boys towards the School Magazine. In the past we have lamented the evidence of widespread unwillingness to contribute to the Monovian. This term we feel confident that the days of complaining editorials are passing, if not already past. The last issue of the Monovian was sold out within twenty-four hours of publication. The first order received this term is for twenty-eight copies in a form of thirty boys. Surely these are indications that the "unstudied negligence" to which we attributed last year's lack of support is being overcome. A year ago we considered ourselves fortunate to obtain four literary contributions from people not themselves responsible for the Magazine. This term we print fourteen and are only with the greatest reluctance compelled to omit a further six. Who but the cynic will deny that this evidences the growth In the School of a true sense of responsibility, of a community consciousness which is positive instead of negative and rational instead of sentimental? The boys in the School are waking to a realisation of the value and the importance of the School Magazine. But this is not enough. The interest must be sustained, the enthusiasm must increase and continue to increase. While we are glad to be able to thank so many subscribers and so many contributors for their help, we cannot leave the matter there. We are going to leave the matter with the parents. The President of the Monoux Parents' Association1 addressing a meeting of the members, expressed the hope that the Association 'would inspire them to take a greater interest in their sons' education" We suggest to the parents that one of the must obvious and most direct ways of taking an interest in the education of their sons would be to encourage them not only to subscribe, but to contribute to the School Magazine.

P.A.T.

No. 29 Summer 1935

Editor: F.A.Timberlake

SPEAKING EDITORIALLY
"This magazine is indeed an achievement of which the School can be proud." (Walthamstow Post on the last issue of the Monovian) The function of a school magazine--as even the most pessimistic of our predecessors has admitted-is to preserve a record as nearly as possible complete of the life and the development of the school. What is too frequently overlooked is that "the life of the school " does not consist merely, or perhaps even mainly, in achievements of body and brain that can be summed up in tables of sports and examination results. It consists, to a degree unsuspected by some even of the most progressive of educationists, in the individual life of the mind and the body of every member of the school. And a school record that fails to reveal whether healthiness of body and healthiness of mind are resulting in a growing appreciation of the deeper beauties and the wider possibilities of life, a record that is silent as to the powers of observation, of understanding, of reasoning-the degree of culture, attained by the boys of the school-such a record is not only hopelessly inadequate, it is comparatively valueless in preserving a record of examination results, or in comparing the cricket averages of one generation with those of the next, indisputably a much greater advantage is derived from putting on record some indication of the level and the extent of the imaginative life, of the independent thinking and feeling of the individuals who comprise the school from generation to generation. When a school magazine has succeeded in doing this--even though its literary and imaginative essays represent the work of only one or two of the most developed minds-it has provided an invaluable touchstone for all future generations-it has left a historical high-water mark that must be reached again and passed. If the Monovian during the past two years can be said to have reflected in any degree the tone of the thought and the mental outlook of the School, if it has mirrored in any permanent fashion the imaginative and appreciative life of the boys, it has fulfilled its function, and the School can be proud of it. We believe that our two years of effort for this end have not been entirely unrewarded. Resignation is rarely a happy experience, even when it brings relief. As I pen these final paragraphs of my last Monovian editorial, and recall how great a happiness it has been to me to make through the pages of the magazine such small contribution as I could in the service of the School, there come rushing back to my mind several terms too late whole hosts of unfulfilled plans and undeveloped ideas and contemplated changes that cry out for recognition. But if I were to start describing them now, or even to begin to improvise an adequate apology for the shortcomings of my editing during the last two years, thin final termly effusion would become even more boring than its predecessors and be swollen to unwieldy and unhealthy proportions. There is another and more congenial task that I have to perform in the conclusion of this last editorial. Or rather, it is not a task, but a privilege and a pleasure to be able to record my gratitude to all those whose patient and devoted co-operation has rendered my toil less arduous. Without the assistance of Mr. Rothery, who has read and criticised the manuscripts of over sixty articles of my own, in addition to putting the finishing touches to my frequently inexplicable editing of articles by other people, the Magazine, I am convinced, would never have come out. Moreover, his careful and tireless proofreading, besides being an immense relief to me, has been mainly responsible for the extraordinary infrequency of errors in the Magazine. To the Headmaster and many members of the Staff who have made valuable criticisms and suggestions; to all the authors, poets, and artists who have provided material; to the luckless secretaries and house-captains who have had to tolerate me for so long, I can only offer my very best thanks. And last but not least I would pay tribute 'to the printers. Messrs "Dexterity," who for two years have patiently carried out my every instruction, even when it entailed considerable inconvenience for themselves, and have, as I know, on more than one occasion kept their men working all night in order that we should not be disappointed.

P.A.T.

P. A. TIMBERLAKE

No. 30 Christmas, 1935

Editor: G.H.W.Bramhall

SPEAKING EDITORIALLY
Readers of this issue of the Monovian will notice that there are no Debating Society Notes. Although we do not wish to detract in any way from their several values, we cannot but feel that the decrease in support given to this Society is to a degree attributable to the recent introduction of many other out of schooI activities. The root of the trouble does not lie so much in the fact that boys are over-estimating the importance of, sav, the Art Club, the Hobbies Club, or the Dramatic Society, but rather in the fact that they are underrating the value of the practice in public speaking obtained in the Debating Society. This fault would be remedied if only boys would realise that in the course of their lives as ordinary citizens they will be frequently called upon to express their views, and that they cannot do so to their own satisfaction unless they have had some practice whilst at school. This experience the Debating Society can supply, and for this reason alone it should be well supported. Moreover, the Debating Society has a. long and distinguished record. Such names as those of A. E. Holdsworth, who afterwards became President of the Cambridge Union, K. K Robinson, D. Thompson, S.O. Speakman. G. A. Barnard, and P. A. Timberlake, our predecessor, are still fresh in the memories of most of us. This record is not one built up by presidents or chairmen, as such, but one which all members have established over a long period of years. The torch has been set well and truly ablaze. Woe betide us, if we allow it to flicker and die out! The Monovian has also gained for itself no small reputation. To the achievement of the high standard it has reached the whole School has contributed in so far as it has realised at last the fact that the magazine exists for its benefit as well as its amusement. The School as a whole then must take upon itself the responsibility of maintaining the reputation it has helped to build.