6A Lit. Clamor ex bibliotheca
"Work, work, work, amidst the flower of youth
Spirit-destroying work "
"Pass the bottle "
Such then is the plight of the "sweet sixteen," once a happy innocent and carefree band, now burdened by the weight of genius and work. Many think we are mad, but that's not true for
"Great wits are sure to madness near allied
And thin partitions do their bounds divide."
Indeed, the boys are very generous
"For their bounty
There is no winter in it, an Autumn 'tis That grows the more by reaping."
(except that Sch_ _ never pays his Charity contribution)
The girls are extremely valiant.
"Tis chastity, my brother, chastity:
She that has that is clad in complete steel."
We have no commerce with the science mob,
"The blocks, the stones, the worse them senseless things."
With so much work to do we are absolutely worn out by Friday afternoon and the usual comment by the staff is
"How sweet 6A Lit sleeps upon this bank,"
i.e. a library table.
But on Monday morning after a carefree weekend - except that half of it is spent in doing homework - we are ready for another week's toil.
"Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more " -
by Tuesday that feeling has worn off, of course.
Being a sad lot we have our little dirge
"In liberal times 'ere rules were first brought in
Before to make a noise was called a sin
We noised and idled, everything we'd shirk
But now they make us do a heap of work"
Like every decent Society - for we are a friendly and consolidated group,
"Unity is Strength"
- we have our motto which we faithfully rehearse each day at 3.59 and 30 sees :
"List, List!" for the sound of the final bell.
"Then down the lawns we run with headlong haste."
Our immediate superior - though we are reluctant to think ourselves inferior -
is kind and gentle to us. He says,
"This is the English not the Turkish court!
Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds
But Harry, Harry."
We also owe our (reluctant) allegiance to
"the French lord, Monsieur le Bon " and to
"salt Cleopatra" and, of course, to "broad-fronted Caesar."
Our only hope under all this pressure is faithfully to follow and practise these famous words,
"Be bloody bold and resolute"
else "Birnam wood will come" to
Greenhill and that will be the end of us -
as this is the end of this.
"Farewell, farewell, parting is such sweet sorrow."
THE SWEET SIXTEEN.
P.S. - Our thanks to the great men of English literature who made all this possible.
Recipe for Blackpool Pickled Ghoulash
All good cooks have in store a defunganized baking dish, suitable for making their pickled ghoulash. The only trouble is that most cooks do not know the best method of making this nutritious Lancashire dish. Three pounds of dehydrated Bordovian carrots are boiled with some camel's milk (dromedary milk is just as good). This makes a suitable base for your ghoulash. Seventeen ounces of Mexican red pepper and Chile sauce are added to spice the mixture. Five 'Bob Martins' are stirred into the pan of food and three pints of navy rum give a nice flavour. Methylated Spirits is good for colouring the ghoulash but a good brand of ink will do as well. The next ingredient, ground grumbleweed, can be bought at most undertakers'. This should be added sparingly as its bitter taste would destroy the fine mellow flavour of the Ammonia dichromate. A sock (vintage 1899) stewed at 90 deg. for about 25 years and grated gorgonzola and danish blue are added with some gin. (Bootleg if preferred). The ghoulash is cooked at 250 deg. F. overnight and afterwards six gallons of vinegar are added. Allow to mature between ten and twenty years. Take out and top up with prussic acid and there it is, ready for your guests.
Hyam A. Cook.
(An excerpt from De Crumpit's Lancashire Recipe Book)