page 27

Ex Libris.

It was brilliant moonlight, and Kirk's dog was howling dismally at intervals. As the clock on the stairs struck twelve, silence reigned throughout the whole College, except in that one place where it never reigns, however much the student pores over his book—we mean the Library.

" What do you think of it all?" asked the Greek Lexicon, in a tone of general inquiry. " Hand scio an—" began the Latin dictionary, but was cut short by the paper knife : "Don't you really think you could say all that just as well outside ? But, frankly," he went on. 'I consider all this fuss is just a lot of rot; why shouldn't a fellow way a few words to another fellow, or to a girl, if he feels inclined ? its absolutely absurd !"

" 'Ear, 'ear. Theme's my sentiments"—it was the slang dictionary speaking; "wot's the good er bein' the slave er yer own rules? 'Sides, they blokes don't make much row, any'ow; it's ther tar—er, er, girls—'ut cause all the trouble."

There was a general laugh at this. "Well, well, " spluttered an inkpot, "things are not so bad now. Why, haven't you noticed, even the Greek translation class seems to have given up?

"Meets in the corridor downstairs, " interjected an Aristophanes that had been borrowed. " Ask Von, he knows all about it."

"Don't be rude! As I was saying," the inkpot continued, "things are not so bad; the girls wait till he's out of the room now, then they, make the most of their opportunities, and sit tight when he comes back."

" Ah, " said the Encyclopaedia Britannica Index, " the girls are not the worst; there's somebody makes more noise are than any daughter of Eve I' m acquainted with. Isn't it Polybius who talks somewhere about 'great earthshaking beasts'?—but rubber heels were unknown in those days. There!"

The law-abiding door, which had been left ajar, closed with a thunderous clang in the draught of the rising northerly.

page 28

"Why, I could almost have sworn that was he, though we should have heard from the swing doors first, I suppose. Yes, after all, you can hardly blame the students—they have such splendid examples set them, but of course there are more points of view than one.'

A calm, deep, precise voice spoke up from the Librarian's table. "Perhaps I might be permitted to say a few words on this subject. I think I can claim to know something about it."

It was the blotting pad that spoke, and his words were full of absorbing interest. "to begin with," he said. "you must remember that this library is intended first and foremost, for the student. Now, the great majority of those who attend lectures here are not, and never will be, students in the proper sense of the term. To them the Library is a very convenient place for whiling away an odd half-hour of so (after tennis, for instance, of between tea and Latin); there they can meet their friends without the bother of hunting for them, and, well, a few minutes' conversation is neither here nor there, not, at least, as far as they are concerned. The remedy is plain; let those who don't want to read stop outside, and not interfere with those who do; let those already in the Library go outside if they want to start a conversation. Of course, where only half-a-dozen words are to pass, going outside would be the greater evil, for, goodness know, there's enough slamming of doors already, but even although the disturbance caused in a single instance is slight cases tend to multiply, the tone of the room becomes social rather than studious, and the mischief's done."

"Hm !" spoke up a "Spectator" from the English shelve, 'I can see that there's much to be said on both sides, but suppose we change the subject. How do you other people like your now quarters?"

Then arose such a storm that—well—the roof of the gym., ever so far away, began to make tracks for the open sea, and the consequent bill for repairs has well-nigh bankrupted the Stud. Ass.

Here Niki.