OMAR KHAYYAM AT MORGINS.

Morgins for many years has replaced Grindelwald as the headquarters of the Bear Skating Club, which devotes itself to figure skating in the English style.

AWAKE! for Morgins from the bowl of Night
Pours for the waking World the wine of Light;
Drink, as the mountains drink it and the snows,
And with their ether let your souls be bright.

Some for the magic of the ice, and some

For the large splendour of the mountains come;

Oh! cut a dash and let decorum go,'

Shriek some to Mrs. Grundy; 'make things hum!'

They say the spider and the gadfly hold
The halls where Grindel feasted Bears of old,
And Inter, the gay National, stars the ice,
Waves the loose leg and spins in loops untold.

But here, as there, the snowy fields invite,
Young blood goes hot-foot to the alluring height,
Armed with a thousand gadgets: yet who knows
What cadence ends the song of his delight?

Man, changeful man, has one unchanging care:
His ready hand here props the tottering fair,
There sorts from out inverted ecstasies
The tangled limbs of luckless Ski-in-air.

A book of curses, elegant and new,
A lump of wax, a broken flask, and you
Beside him hurtling down a frozen slope-
Ah! paradox, should happiness ensue !

The mountain-runner's high philosophy

Scorns the cramped outlook of the rink-bound eye; 'The living wine,' he cries, ' for us outpoured, Who drinks not, is a fellow pinched and dry.

'I often wonder what the skaters find
One half so dear as all they leave behind;
They spill the wine of Life and drink the lees,
And turn like squirrels in a cage confined.'

Nay, but the strength still free to roam at will
In these scant bounds exhales a boundless skill,
And pulses inly touched by Time's slow hand
Their gentler destinies with joy fulfil.

Vainly the Wise to square the circle try,
Putting gross fingers in the infinite π;

Skaters with more than geometric skill
Here keep the perfect square while circling by.

The sages talk about it and about,

And start from dogma where they end with doubt; So toilers at the gyratory art

Attain at last the point whence they set out.

Myself when old did eagerly frequent
Teacher and taught, with harsh experiment
Unlearning ancient practice; but I learnt
Humility, a Way most excellent.

Virtue I learnt uprightness ever pays—
Turns without twist and honour without bays;

And like the British workman, learned to 'strike,'

Source of all power, end of unsteady ways.

I learnt Reality :-how Time and Place
Merge in the Relativity of Pace;

Error's correction through the constant eye,
And Judgment waiting for each lapse from grace.

The Moving Circle wheels, and having wheeled
Moves on, nor all your fudgings in the field

Shall cancel aught of what the Judge hath writ, Nor conscious Hope blot out one fault revealed.

Ambition's prize, the wine-cup large and deep,
Fills day with toil and robs the night of sleep;
But know, the contest over, 'tis a prize
Though all may sip from, only one may keep.

The Ice has its Republic; there you see
Liberty-schooled, and brisk Equality—
Bowing to worth, and chief, the open heart,
Fraternity, with generous help and free.

Expert and tyro, where the curlers roar,
Meet even justice on its level floor;

Skill and unskill reap each its own reward,
Winning or losing, learn-nor ask for more.

True notes in music from just number flow;
True shots in curling speed nor swift nor slow;
Perfection poised between the less and more
The Soul of Art, the Art of Living show.

Sea-dogs of old, the Spaniard at the gate,

Played out their game-a game of bowls with Fate; Shrewd players bide their time, for hurried cast And senseless power on Victory never wait.

They knew how strength deceives, how bias draws;
Nor raised nor dashed by Luck, they kept the Laws,
And trained to prudent hazard in a game,
Staked their lives, smiling, in a greater cause.

Change but their outward habit-that alone :-
Give ice for turf, for bowls the sliding stone,
And they are with us, playing at our game,
Living our life; our spirit is their own.

Time ripens all; here old friends, year by year,
Meet in unageing friendships, still keep dear,
Heart-deep in memory, one too early lost,
Wise teacher, genial sportsman, friend sincere.1

I sent my thought through the immeasurable
Some message past our mortal bar to spell :

There was no answer from the void but this,
Dumb echo of the silent hope-' All's well.'

Life, like a figure that we skate unseen,
Obeys the Caller; what his will has been

The Pattern shows when the last call, 'Dismiss ! '
Scatters the moving players from the scene.

1 A. R. F. H. ob. 1926.

LEONARD HUXLEY.

LABOUR COLLEGES.

BY W. F. WATSON.

FOLLOWING the refusal of the Bournemouth Trades Union Congress to impose a levy on affiliated unions for the purpose of financing Easton Lodge the gift of the Countess of Warwick to the Labour movement as an additional seat of learning for Labour, the Margate Labour Party Conference rejected a proposal pledging the Conference to support the National Council of Labour Colleges in every possible way, and urging the constituent organisations to get into touch with the N.C.L.C. movement and to arrange educational classes and lectures in conjunction with that body. Such surprising decisions raise the whole question of Labour Colleges, their history, aims and objects, uses and influences, and the types of men they produce.

It is an interesting subject: but then the question of education was ever a fascinating one, especially to those denied the advantages of what is usually termed—often wrongly-' a proper education.' It would indeed be very difficult to define a 'proper education '; after all, it is largely a matter of degree, depending upon one's interpretation of education. Not always is he most learned who has passed through public school and university, and it is a grave mistake to regard all men as uneducated because they have not enjoyed those facilities.

The pages of history contain many stories of the efforts of philanthropists, institutes, religious bodies, and committees to establish evening classes, schools, discussion circles, etc., where working people could acquire knowledge apart from and in addition to that gained at the elementary day schools. It was a stern fight. On the one hand there was the prejudice of people who considered it a mistake to teach the common people anything at all, and on the other hand the suspicion and disinclination to learn on the part of the workpeople themselves had to be overcome. The great strides in education made in recent years are, however, undoubtedly due to the untiring, unselfish work of those pioneers of education. All these educational agencies were essentially non-partisan in character, and few, if any, could be termed 'colleges' in the strict sense of the word.