A School Eisteddfod
After the founding of the United Alliance, the six schools composing the
league had been allowed a certain amount of time in which to organize
their separate departments, but now that the various societies were
going concerns it was judged expedient to hold a central meeting of
delegates, so that arrangements might be made for the contests and
competitions which were to form the principal feature of the movement.
The conference was to take place at the High School on a Wednesday
afternoon, and due notice of the event had been sent to the branch
secretaries. The ten delegates from St. Cyprian's were naturally much
elated at the prospect, and anxious to do their best on behalf of their
College. They were armed with full authority from Miss Cartwright, and
prepared with a list of vacant dates when matches could be played.
Wearing their school hats, ties, and badges, they started off together,
under the leadership of Phillis Garnett, the head girl, and presented
themselves at the High School at the time named on the general
secretary's post card.
Wednesday was a half-holiday at the High School, so the delegates had
the place to themselves. Ten smiling hostesses were waiting to receive
the representatives of the other schools, and gave them a hearty
welcome. When the first introductions were over, Ethel Edwards, the head
girl of the High School, was voted to the chair, and, having made a few
general remarks upon the object of the Alliance, proposed that each
branch should withdraw to a separate classroom to discuss details for
half an hour, after which they would all meet again in the lecture hall.
So the schools split up their forces, and marched away in groups of
twelve, representing the Musical, Literary, Dramatic, Arts, and
Athletics subdivisions of the league. The delegates had all come
prepared to be courteous, businesslike, and accommodating, so the thirty
minutes passed in good-tempered discussion, and by the time they took
their places once more in the big hall they seemed on excellent terms
with one another. The results of their consultations, with probable
dates, were handed to Ethel Edwards, who rapidly compared them, and drew
up a final table which she put to the general vote.
"I am glad we have been able to make our arrangements fit in so well,"
she said, "and I hope we shall have many competitions and matches as the
result of this afternoon's work. I am sure we all agree that the
Alliance is an excellent movement, and that a spirit of co-operation
among the principal Kirkton schools is highly desirable. Though each
delegate represents her own school, all are united in representing the
city, and some time in the future we may, as a body, enter into
competition with similar Alliances in other towns. It certainly opens up
a vista of very interesting work on our part, and should prevent those
evils of narrowness and cliquishness which a too-exclusive policy is apt
to develop in a school. Let us determine that our _entente cordiale_ is
for the general good, and each try our utmost to make the Alliance a
huge success. I need hardly say with what pleasure the High School has
to-day welcomed the other delegates, and am glad to note that our first
Eisteddfod of the season is to be held here shortly. Our general
secretary will forward copies of the programme to each branch secretary
as speedily as possible, and due notice will of course be given of the
next committee meeting."
The delegates dispersed, feeling that they had had a very satisfactory
conference. Each department was pledged to something definite. The
"Games" had arranged a list of cricket matches and tennis tournaments,
and had even discussed plans for next autumn's hockey; the "Dramatic"
had undertaken to produce a united performance in aid of the Kirkton
Children's Hospital; the "Literary" was to publish a joint magazine
three times a year, under the title of _The Alliance Journal_; the "Arts
and Handicrafts" was to hold a grand exhibition in the forthcoming
November, charging a small admission so as to be able to send a donation
to the "Guild of Play", an organization for the children of the slums;
while the "Musical", to test its capabilities, was to have an immediate
general festival. In addition, the schools had promised to form a Guild
of Needlework, to make garments for charities; a Christmas Santa Claus
Club, to distribute toys among various Ragged Schools in the city; and a
Scrap Book League, the results of which were to be sent to the
Children's Ward at the Royal Infirmary.
It was part of the scheme of the Alliance that the mistresses, while
reviewing and sanctioning the arrangements, should keep in the
background and allow affairs to be managed as far as possible by the
girls themselves. Miss Cartwright, therefore, after hearing the report
of the St. Cyprian's delegates, gave full permission to the Musical
Society to prepare its own programme for the forthcoming concert, which
was to be in no way a public affair, but merely a friendly trial of
skill amongst the six schools. Thirty members from each were to meet and
compete at the High School, which possessed the largest hall. Owing to
limited space it was impossible to accommodate a very big audience, but
fifty guests were to be invited from each school, so as to make a fairly
representative body of listeners.
The St. Cyprian's Musical Committee assembled at once under the
leadership of its delegates to arrange for the important event.
"Please tell us, first of all, why the thing's to be called an
Eisteddfod," begged Nora Whitehead.
Ella Martin laughed.
"You've evidently not been in Wales. Have you never heard of the great
Welsh Eisteddfods, where all the famous choirs go and sing against each
other for prizes?"
"Oh, a choral festival!"
"No, not quite that, because there are solos besides. In a real genuine
big national Eisteddfod there are departments for painting and for
poetry. They make bards, you know, and give them Bardic chairs. Well,
we can't do all that in one afternoon; we have to take each branch
separately, so the music's to come first. We decided that each school is
to learn the part song, 'Now Cheerful Spring Returns', and to sing it
one after another. Mr. Jordan, from the Freiburg College of Music, is to
be asked to judge; he will give so many marks to each choir, for
correctness, tone, general expression, &c. Then each school is to give a
ten-minutes' concert, consisting of a few pieces by its brightest stars.
These will also be judged and marked, so much for each performer. The
totals will be added to the choir scores, and then we shall have the
excitement of seeing which school comes out top."
"St. Cyprian's will! It must!"
"We'd better not make too sure. There are some clever girls at the
Anglo-German, I hear, and the Templeton 'Choral' is good."
"What we've got to do," said Lottie Lowman, "is to learn our part song,
and practise it for all we're worth. Hadn't we better decide first who's
to be choir-mistress? Shall we put it to the vote?"
There was little hesitation amongst the girls. They voted almost solidly
for Lottie. Since her election as delegate for the Alliance she had
taken such a principal part in the musical society that everybody was
ready to follow her lead. There were a few dissenting voices, who
ventured to suggest that her style was not of the best, nor truly
representative of the musical standard of St. Cyprian's, but these were
completely overwhelmed by the majority. Lottie, who had already on her
own initiative organized a choir, was surely the most fitted to look
after the laurels of the school, and might be trusted to undertake the
teaching of the part song. There now remained the programme of the
ten-minutes' concert to be discussed.
"It's such a fearfully short time!" growled Elizabeth Chalmers.
"Of course it is," returned Lottie, "but you see six schools with ten
minutes each make an hour. The part songs will take half an hour, and
allowing another half-hour for judging and intervals between pieces, we
get two hours, and that's the limit. No, each school has promised on its
honour not to exceed the ten minutes. Indeed, we arranged that to do so
would mean to be disqualified from the competition. It seemed the only
fair way."
"Then we must cram all the best talent of the school into those precious
ten minutes."
"That's the real state of affairs," said Ella Martin, "and we've got to
make up our minds which is the best talent. I myself propose a violin
solo from Mildred Lancaster."
"And I beg to object strongly!" returned Lottie Lowman. "Mildred may be
a good player--I don't say she isn't--but everyone at the Coll. knows
she's not to be depended upon. If she gets a nervous fit, ten to one
she'll break down altogether, like she did last speech day, and then St.
Cyprian's would look silly! Unless she's exactly in the right mood she
doesn't do herself justice, and is the honour of the Coll. to depend on
her whim of the moment? No, most emphatically, I beg you to choose a
steadier, more reliable player. Who could be more suitable than Ella,
who is already your musical delegate, and ought surely to represent
you?"
Lottie's arguments swayed the committee so entirely that Ella was
immediately chosen for the violin solo, and her name placed first on the
programme.
"I shall only play a very short Prelude," she announced, "so we ought to
have a piano solo and a song to make up our ten minutes. That would give
a good all-round idea of the musical work at St. Cyprian's, quite as
all-round as the other schools will have the opportunity for, at any
rate."
After a short discussion upon the relative merits of several names which
were submitted, the committee decided upon Elizabeth Chalmers for the
piano solo and Lottie Lowman for the song. There was not much time to be
lost, as the Eisteddfod had been fixed for a date only ten days ahead.
The choir must be carefully selected and trained, and special practices
arranged for. Miss Cartwright had promised to allow a short time daily
during school hours for this purpose, and extra work could be done
during the midday interval by those girls who stayed for dinner at the
College.
"Who are your soloists?" asked Kitty Fletcher as, the meeting over, the
committee sought the playground.
"Ella, Elizabeth, and your humble servant," replied Lottie.
"Do you mean to tell me Mildred Lancaster's not to play for St.
Cyprian's?"
"No, Mildred's out of it altogether."
"Then all I can say is, I'm heartily sorry for the credit of the old
Coll. I think you're a set of duffers!"
"Thanks! Perhaps you'll allow us to arrange your teams in the Games
department, as you're so anxious to meddle in ours? We'll choose your
captains and champions if you choose our soloists. It would be an
admirably suitable division of labour."
Kitty turned away, for there was justice in Lottie's sarcasm. She would
not have been prepared to admit any interference in the cricket or
tennis programme, and she knew that she had no right to criticize the
decisions of the other committees. And yet her whole sense of justice
rebelled against Mildred's exclusion.
"It's monstrous!" she confided to Bess Harrison. "Here they're actually
discarding their trump card! And it's nothing but Lottie's jealousy!
She's green with envy because Mildred's to play at Herr Hoffmann's
Students' Concert. I thought we were urged to put aside all petty
feelings and spites in the interests of the Coll., and just aim to bring
St. Cyprian's out top!"
"That was rubbed into us as our motto."
"We keep to it in Games, thank goodness! For some reasons I wish Miss
Cartwright hadn't left the Alliance so entirely in our own hands."
"It's the same as the other schools. Neither principals nor mistresses
are to regulate matters. Remember, it's a self-governing institution."
"Well, this branch of it hasn't the wit to know its own best asset,"
grumbled Kitty.
Mildred felt decidedly hurt to be so entirely left out of the
Eisteddfod. She was not even asked to join in the part song, for Lottie,
as choir-mistress, had the selection of the chorus. There was perhaps
reason in this, for Mildred, though she always sang in tune, did not
possess a very strong voice. All the same, it was a marked omission, and
an intentional slight.
Lottie, as grand vizier of the proceedings, was now in her element. She
assumed such complete direction of everything that she even took
precedence of Ella Martin. Ella, though a monitress, never pushed her
authority, and indeed was sometimes hardly self-assertive enough for her
post. On the present occasion she allowed Lottie to seize the reins
rather too easily. The matter was discussed by her fellow monitresses.
"A Fifth Form girl ought not to be allowed to run the whole show," said
Hilda Smith. "Ella ought to put her foot down!"
"Lottie's getting swollen head!" agreed Gertie Raeburn.
If Lottie's motives were mixed, to do her justice she certainly worked
very hard in her new capacity as choir-mistress. She was as zealous as a
Parliamentary whip in making her chorus attend practices, and drilling
them while they were there. Most of the girls found her a harder
taskmaster than Mr. Hiller, the singing teacher, and she indulged in a
running fire of comments on their performance completely at variance
with his suave suggestions.
"Now then, heads up!" she would say. "You all stand with your noses in
your books like a set of dolls that have lost their saw-dust! We'll take
that verse again, and put a little more spirit into it. Can't you sing
louder? I suppose you've learnt that _cres._ stands for crescendo? Then
please remember that the signs mean something, and don't drone away
like a set of Buddhist lamas intoning a chant!"
And the girls would laugh, for they rather enjoyed her racy remarks,
even though they were delivered at their expense. Lottie, in the flush
of her popularity, could not resist pressing her triumph over Mildred.
She invited her to a practice one day, and enjoyed showing her authority
over her pupils before her rival. Having exhibited their docility to her
utmost satisfaction, she dismissed them, and turned carelessly to
Mildred.
"Not such a bad little business for a beginning!" she remarked. "The
Coll. will take its right place at the Eisteddfod, I fancy."
"I hope so, I'm sure," returned Mildred, without enthusiasm.
"Oh, you'll see it'll come out top side! Now tell me candidly what you
think of this part song."
"Do you really want my candid opinion?"
"Of course I do!"
"Then I think everything's wrong with it. In the first place, the second
sopranos are out of tune continually. You hurry the time too much in the
middle, and drag it towards the end, and when you urge the girls to sing
crescendo, you let them shout in the most atrocious fashion--like
street-singers! There's nothing artistic about it at all."
"I might have known you'd be sure to find fault!" sneered Lottie. "It's
very easy to pick holes in other folk's work. No doubt the high and
mighty Mildred Lancaster would have made a most superior business of it!
People always think if they'd had the reins they could have driven the
kicking horse!"
"You asked for my candid opinion!" retorted Mildred.
"I didn't say I'd follow it, though. Fortunately I'm the choir-mistress,
and not you."
It happened that Ella Martin and a few more Sixth Form girls had come
into the room during this colloquy, and Ella now put in her oar.
"There's a good deal in what Mildred says, Lottie," she observed. "I
noticed yesterday that the second sopranos were out of tune; and you
certainly let them shout too loud. They're not using their voices
properly. It's dreadfully second-rate style. I was going to speak to you
about it. It doesn't do credit to the Coll."
"We've all noticed it," urged Dorrie Barlow.
"The quality of the voices will be a point before the judge," said
Kathleen Hodson. "Mr. Hiller is so particular on that score."
"Well, if this is all the thanks I get for my trouble, I wish I'd kept
out of the musical society," responded Lottie, with a red patch in each
cheek and a gleam of temper in her hazel eyes. "No doubt you'd all have
done it better yourselves."
"No, don't say that," replied Ella. "You must allow that I, at any rate,
have the right to criticize. We all appreciate your hard work, only we
want it to be in the right direction, and not thrown away. St. Cyprian's
has a big reputation to keep up. Suppose you just think over what we've
suggested."
Lottie turned away rather huffily. She could not help acknowledging
Ella's right to interfere, but she was annoyed that the rebuke should be
given in Mildred's presence. She was at first inclined to stick to her
guns, then apparently she thought better of it, took her chorus in
hand, and remedied their very palpable shortcomings. Ella, realizing her
responsibilities, made opportunity to drop in during rehearsals, so as
to keep a check upon things, and thanks to her influence the part song
soon began to show marked improvement, and to be more worthy of St.
Cyprian's musical reputation.
Though Mildred was not included among the performers, she at least
received an invitation to the Eisteddfod. The guests were to start all
together from the College, and they looked forward to the event with
considerable keenness. On the day of the festival those who stayed to
dinner at school spent the interval discussing the occasion. Olwen and
Megan Roberts, who boasted Welsh ancestry, and had been present at a
real Eisteddfod in the Principality, scored by their superior knowledge.
"Of course it can't be anything like what we had at
Llanfairdisiliogoch!" they bragged.
"Oh, no! Nothing's right out of Welsh Wales!" laughed Maggie Orton.
"You've often told us that!"
"I know a lovely song about an Eisteddfod," chirruped Bess Harrison, and
to the tune of "The Ash Grove" she began:
"I wass go to Pwlleli,
Where I mingled in the dreadful melee,
And was very nearly squashed to a jelly
With the peoples treading on my toes:
The Welshies they wass there by millions,
All sitting in the big pavilions
To listen to the sweet cantilions
As you wass suppose!"
At that point she wisely dodged away; and Olwen and Megan, giving chase,
pursued her round the playground, where she ran, still chanting
tauntingly:
"There wass Owenses and Hugheses,
And Robertses and Joneses,
All singing in their native toneses
All over the ground!"
till the twins at length caught her up, and administered summary justice
in revenge for the slight on their nationality.
Punctually at two o'clock those who had been chosen to attend the
Eisteddfod set out for the High School. The performers were ushered into
special rooms reserved for them, and the others were given seats with
the rest of the audience in the large hall. Miss Stewart, the
Head-mistress, took her place on the platform, together with the
Principals of the other five schools and Mr. Jordan, from the Freiburg
College of Music, who was to act as judge. No time was to be lost if the
whole of the programme was to be carried through, so the choral
competition began at once. Lots had to be drawn as to the order in which
the schools should sing, and the Anglo-German had secured the first
innings. Their chorus accordingly took its place on the platform and
commenced the test piece. They did well, and as they retired to make
room for Newington Green, the second on the list, the St. Cyprian's
contingent acknowledged to themselves that the Alliance contained
formidable rivals. To anybody unaccustomed to festival singing it was
extremely confusing to hear one choir after another render the same part
song, but Mr. Jordan was no novice at his task, and well knew how to
appraise their merits. He sat with paper and pencil, jotting down their
respective points as to time, tune, tone and quality of voice,
expression and general spirit, so many marks to each, and appeared as
calm and collected and unmoved as if he were valuing goods for an
auction.
"He doesn't show the least enthusiasm," whispered Mildred to Kitty, who
sat next to her. "If it had been the Professor who was judging, he'd
have been hopping about the platform."
"I suppose it's Mr. Jordan's role to look quite disinterested and
impartial," returned Kitty.
St. Cyprian's was last on the list, and perhaps even Lottie
congratulated herself that she had taken Ella's advice and improved the
standard of her chorus, for the other schools had sung so well that the
College would have to look to its laurels. She hastily whispered a few
last directions as they took their places, and perhaps for the first
time in her life felt a tremor of nervousness as they broke into the
opening bars of "Now Cheerful Spring Returns". Fortunately the girls had
remembered their instructions; the second sopranos kept well up to
pitch, the time did not drag, and the crescendo passage was rendered
with due regard to tone. Lottie breathed more freely when it was over.
She cast an enquiring look at Mr. Jordan, but his expression was
inscrutable. He merely jotted down some figures, and gave the signal of
dismissal.
After this followed the series of ten-minutes' concerts, in which each
school exhibited its best stars. It was of course an extremely short
limit, but it was wonderful how much was accomplished in the time. The
Anglo-German had concentrated all its energies on two brilliant
pianoforte pieces, Marston Grove High School boasted a girl with a
remarkably rich and strong contralto voice, Templeton had quite a fair
violin solo, the High School scored at a piano duet, and Newington Green
School had for champion a girl of about fourteen who played the
violoncello. St. Cyprian's, with its piano, violin, and vocal solos, was
felt to have given a very all-sided performance. Ella played
brilliantly, if coldly; Elizabeth Chalmers's nocturne was correct to a
note; and Lottie sang the rather sentimental ballad she had chosen with
much expression and display of feeling. Her confidence stood her in good
stead, for the Marston Grove contralto had been palpably nervous, and
had almost broken down at one point.
Mr. Jordan rapidly added up the marks gained by each school, putting
chorus and concert scores both together. Then, rising, he announced the
results:
Out of a maximum of 280 marks:
St. Cyprian's College, 230 marks
The Anglo-German School, 220 "
The Templeton School, 195 "
The Kirkton High School, 195 "
The Newington Green School, 180 "
The Marston Grove High School, 165 "
The St. Cyprian's girls felt just a little crest-fallen. They had won,
to be sure, but it was by a very narrow majority. They had not scored
quite the signal success which, considering the amount of time that the
College devoted to music study, might reasonably have been anticipated.
There were no prizes given for the competition, so as it was now long
past four o'clock, the Eisteddfod broke up, and the audience was
dismissed. As the girls filed from the hall, the various schools mingled
in the corridor. Kitty Fletcher and Bess Harrison happened to be walking
behind two Newington Green girls, and overheard an interesting scrap of
conversation.
"Well, what did you think of the famous St. Cyprian's?"
"Nothing up to what I'd expected. I'd heard they were so A1."
"So had I, but after all they weren't much better than the rest of us.
That fair girl played the piano like a pianola! She put no expression
into it."
"And the one who sang was vibrato all the time. I thought her rather
claptrap!"
"As for the violin, it was brilliant, and good bowing, but it didn't
appeal to me like Althea's 'cello."
"I thought they were supposed to have such a crack violin player at St.
Cyprian's--Herr Hoffmann's pet pupil at present, so they say."
"Well, if this was the girl, I don't admire her. I should say she's very
much overrated."
Kitty clutched Bess Harrison's arm close in her indignation. As soon as
they were outside the school she exploded.
"Oh, to think they never heard Mildred! And they actually imagine Ella
Martin's our crack player! It's wicked! It was suicidal for St.
Cyprian's not to put Mildred on. I can't imagine what the committee was
doing."
"The committee was swayed by Lottie," returned Bess, "and I don't think
it has altogether good reason to congratulate itself on the results.
Undoubtedly St. Cyprian's ought to have done better, and it will have to
look hard after its reputation in future."
"I shall play up at the cricket match, or I'll never touch a bat again!"
vowed Kitty. "Nulli secundus--second to none! We've got to live up to
our school motto."