' DIPHTHERIA IN THE SCHOOL

In 1890 a considerable amount of extra keenness was infused into the races. Mr. Pollock presented a Challenge Shield to be held for the year by the house which gained the highest aggregate of marks—first, second, and third places in the trial and final heats of the various events having marks assigned to them according to their importance. In the autumn there was a " scare " which must have recalled to some of the older masters the events of twenty years before. Diphtheria (or " the dip ") made its appearance in the School. There were few cases, and they were all mild, but the parents were informed by circulars, telegrams of various import began to By about, and a number of the School took flight for a brief period. Diphtheria, to the unscientific mind, suggests defective drains and other horrors as its necessary cause. At all events, it was well that the state of the buildings should be tested from a sanitary point of view. The distinguished specialist who came down found the state of things generally satisfactory, but recommended some improvements, which were carried out. The source of the infection imported into Marlborough was at last " run to ground," and the mild plague came to an end, having caused a substantial addition to the postal and telegraph receipts, and some loss of work to the fugitives.

The year 1891 gives little to chronicle beyond the most unusual appearance of nightingales in the garden at the back of B House. They were welcomed at first (as an improvement on the peacocks that used to inhabit the garden), but many unsentimental minds soon got to think sleep better than music, In 1892 the steeple-chase was revived, nearly on the old course. The Orchestral Society (as is mentioned above) gave a successful concert in London. New buildings for the servants, between C House and the Hall, were taken in hand, to be completed early in the following year. Marlborough beat Rugby at Lord's by an innings and seventy-eight runs. The Jubilee of the College was foreshadowed by a meeting of "Old Fellows" in London, to decide how they could best commemorate it, and by the demolition of the fives courts inside the gates in order to make room for the new block of classrooms, as well as by the opening of foundations for the new Physical Laboratory. The beginning of the present year supplies nothing to record except the painting of the Hall, which makes its interior lighter and more pleasant. '