Exeter Hall

“ WENT this Morning to Exeter Hall, where one of the May Meetings that do regularly take Place at this Time of the Season, and serve in lieu of Concerts and Shows to a Sort of People that call themselves serious. ”

“ She was not offended now by Elizabeth’s words, but was surprised. She appeared shocked that Elizabeth should be crude enough to show vehemence.
“What a little spitfire you are, Elizabeth! When you’re a few years older you’ll learn not to express yourself so strongly. As to your knowing who the girl is to whom I object, there is no reason for my keeping silent. I have not mentioned her name because I was considering her feelings and reputation. But since you insist, I’ll tell you. I must emphatically object to having my name published over Exeter Hall with Nora O’Day’s.” ”

“ It’s wonderful to think how certain saints and patriots get lean and fat as sudden as rabbits! Wonderful to think, when the whole world, according to their declaration, has gone to bits, how well and contentedly they still continue to live upon the pieces! But, dear grandmother, what a blessing is Exeter Hall! What a safety-valve it is for the patriotism, and indignation, and scorn, and hatred—and all other sorts of public virtues—that but for it, or some such place, would fairly burst so many excellent folks, if they couldn’t go [Pg 274] and relieve their swelling souls in a bit of talk! ”

“ We waited in the gym, all togged out in reception gowns, but the caterer came not. Suddenly it came to us that there must be some mistake. We set out to hunt for the banquet. We found its remains up in the laboratory where the Seniors had been feasting at our expense. No, indeed, Elizabeth,” Mary shook her head slowly, “no Middlers hold banquets at Exeter Hall. It isn’t countenanced.” ”

“ Yet at times they stooped to Drollery in the Height of their Passion, and one of them did make such Sport of the Roman Catholique Religion as would not have been suffered in the Adelphi Theatre. But I do find that some who would not be seen in a Play-House can enjoy their Laugh at Exeter Hall. ”

“ Of course, the Senior class will not return, and there will be many new students. Those I hope to meet.”
“I’ve never had any girl companions,” said Elizabeth. “I expect to like all the girls.”
Again the smile. She shook her head decidedly in negation at Elizabeth’s remark.
“No; you will not like them all,” she replied. “Exeter Hall is like a little world. We have some fine girls there, but we have, too, some that are petty and selfish. Exeter 47 Hall has sent forth some of the noblest women I have ever known, and it has also sent forth some that simply cumber the earth with their presence.” ”

“ Each new recruit will be put to work to get other signers.”
Anna Cresswell continued her writing. At last she spoke. “We will have this run 207 off on the typewriter. Listen. Is this just what you intend, Elizabeth?” She read:
“We, the undersigned students of Exeter Hall, not being contented with the present method of conducting examinations, believing that it casts reflections upon the honor of each student, do hereby suggest a means of reformation. We pledge ourselves individually to receive no assistance at such times. ”

“ In England anger at the continued silence of the French government was rising to a dangerous pitch. On August 14, at a meeting at Exeter Hall, at which Mr. Pritchard himself was present, men, who in most international disputes would have advocated peace at any price, gave utterance to the most warlike sentiments. Two days later came the news that the answer of the Emperor of Morocco to the French ultimatum having been considered unsatisfactory, Tangier had been bombarded. “War,” wrote M. de Jarnac, “is now generally regarded as inevitable.” ”

“ The time is coming when our conflicts will be to others what the conflicts of our forefathers are to us; when the preachers who now disturb the State, and the politicians who now make a stalking horse of the Church, will be no more than Sacheverel and Harley. Then will be told, in language very different from that which now calls forth applause from the mob of Exeter Hall, the true story of these troubled years. ”

“ He was brimming over with joy at the prospect of her delight.
“It is a catalog of Exeter Hall, Elizabeth. That is the school Miss Hale attended. I’ve looked over dozens of catalogs and this pleases your mother and me best. We want you to go in the fall.”
“Oh!” was all she said then, but it was expressive enough to satisfy her parents. She had read stories of schoolgirl life which seemed more like fairy stories than experiences of real girls. 17
“Look it all over, Elizabeth. The course of study is mapped out. We think the classical course suited to you. ”

“ Her father laughed, “Impossible! The girls at Exeter will teach you more in one term than I can in a year. I do not expect you to be a Senior. I shall be more than satisfied with your entering as a ‘Middler.’ You’ll need plenty of time for extras.”
“Extras? What extras must I take?”
“Chafing-dish cooking and fudge making,” 19 replied Miss Hale, promptly. “It will take a full term for you to find your place among young people, and learn all they will teach you.”
“But they will know no more than I do,” said Elizabeth. ”

“ The May meetings at Exeter Hall, however, form the most splendid harvests for the pickpocket. If the members of the various religious denominations who flock thither escape the hustle on the hall stairs, they are waited upon with due attention in the omnibus. ”

“ He continued to repeat the message he would carry to her father.
“Grow so tall likes nothing. He will be so glad like the tivil. I tells him so. Yes, he will, b’gosh.” These were his parting words as the door closed upon him.
The greater number of the girls in the 232 dormitory hall had packed or were packing their trunks. The hallway was obstructed with baggage of all descriptions, awaiting the coming of Jimmy Jordan and his train of helpers.
Mary Wilson was to leave Exeter immediately after lunch. She had begun her preparations before breakfast. ”

“ I have seen a Prince Consort presiding at a public meeting in Exeter Hall; on its platform I have heard our greatest orators and statesmen declaim. In England who can over estimate the influence of woman? and in Exeter Hall, in the season, nine benches out of ten are filled with women. The oratory of Exeter Hall is not parliamentary. A man may shine before a legal tribunal—may shine on the floor of the House of Commons—may be great among the Lords—and yet utterly fail in Exeter Hall. He may even be a popular preacher, and yet not move the masses that crowd the Strand, when a public p. ”

“ Inspired by the example of Merton and a similar dislike of{125} monks and friars, Walter de Stapeldon, the great Bishop of Exeter, ordained that the twelve scholars whom he originally endowed (1314) should not study theology or be in orders. The society, afterwards known as Exeter College, was housed at first in Hart Hall and Arthur Hall, in the parish of S. Peter in the East, and was intended by the founder to be called Stapeldon Hall. ”

“ I do not wish my hearers to believe I would countenance news-carrying or tattling. That, of course, is beneath any right-minded person. But we must—I say we must,” Landis raised her finger impressively, and repeated the words as though she intended at that moment to root out the evil with tooth and nail, “We must get rid of this deceptive tendency. It will have an evil effect on Exeter. Perhaps, in time, destroy the school altogether.”
“Umph! Exeter has stood a hundred years and will stand a hundred more in spite of anything Landis may do,” said Miss O’Day, in a low tone to Elizabeth. ”

“ Kitchell.
“The girls are all through,” she exclaimed, a thrill of pleasureable excitement showing in her voice. “There was not a word spoken, nor communication of any sort.”
“It is truly the only way to conduct an examination,” he answered, turning to walk with her down the hall to the dormitory. “The credit should be given to you, Miss Hobart. This police-duty, which so insulted you last fall, was not pleasant work for a teacher; but custom makes slaves of us all. Nothing will please us better than knowing that Exeter can have honest examinations without faculty supervision. ”

“ Now we have, indeed, swept into a younger day, and society makes lions of men of whom our fathers would have taken no heed. We have become more tolerant—even Exeter Hall has moved with the times. Perhaps one of the boldest things connected with it was the attempt to utilise it for public religious worship on the Sunday. Originally some of the Evangelical clergy had agreed to take part in these services, but the rector of the parish in which Exeter Hall was situated disapproved, and consequently they were unable to appear. ”

“ We have passed through the fifty-three miles that separate Exeter from Plymouth. It would be hard to find in any part of the world, in equal space, a road so lavishly endowed with gifts of the fertile and the beautiful. ”

“ A cup of cocoa will set you up all right.”
Together they quitted the hall. As they crossed the campus, Mary continued: “I was afraid you were going to get personal, and hurt someone with your words; but you stopped just in time. One does not mind if the whole set gets a slap in the face; but 188 one does not like to be the only one. It is just this way about the girls you meet at Exeter. We are like a little town. There will be a few whom you will like well enough to be genuine friends with ”

“ Even so late as the sixteenth century there would appear to have been lepers in Exeter, for we find that in 1580 no one was to be admitted to the Magdalen Hospital except "sick persons in the disease of the leprosy".
In South Street is College Hall, or the Hall of the College of Priest-Vicars or Vicars Choral, a fine oak-panelled apartment. The original hall was built by Bishop Brantyngham about 1388, and access was then gained to it from the Close; the houses of the [Pg 33] priest-vicars being arranged on each side of a green. ”

“ Things are improving here. The manifestation made at Exeter Hall last night is reported as one of the most extraordinary ever made in London, and proves, pretty conclusively the spirit of the middle classes here as elsewhere. It will not change the temper of the higher classes but it will do something to moderate the manifestation of it.” Speaking of a large and respectable delegation of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, he wrote: “They left me with hearty shakes of the hand that marked the existence of active feeling at bottom. ”

“ You will find Exeter rigid in many ways, Miss Hobart. Miss Morgan is what I call a crank on development of character. She keeps track of the thousand little things that a girl is supposed not to do. In her lectures to us, which she gives twice a semester, she declares that these seeming trifles are neither sins nor crimes in themselves, but getting into the habit of yielding to trifles is detrimental to the development of strong character. ”

“ It isn’t hard, but the runs need practice.” She turned back to her music.
Elizabeth went on to find Miss O’Day. Their acquaintance had not gone beyond that of class-room meetings and hall chats. She had never visited the girl’s rooms. She was surprised at their beauty and elegance. All the Exeter girls had comfortable 135 apartments, but this surpassed anything else at the Hall. The draperies between the doors were of imported India material ”

“ I do not like the idea of your being here alone. Exeter is dull with the girls gone. It’s really unbearable. But I have arranged to go home with Min until the day before Christmas. We always have a big family party for that day, and our home is filled. I suppose we could tuck you in somewhere—if you do not object to the third floor.”
“Oh, do not think of it, I beg you,” began Elizabeth hurriedly. Somehow Exeter without company seemed better to her than The Beeches with Landis. “I would not for the world cause you any inconvenience. Besides, the matter is in the hands of Dr. Morgan. ”

“ Every morning Elizabeth on her way down-stairs to breakfast slipped into the sewing room to view the new dresses. She had never so much as thought, not to say expected, to own a rain coat and bath robe, and a soft eider-down sacque. But there they lay before her. Their existence could not be questioned.
“Do you think the other girls at Exeter will have so much?” she asked of Miss Hale. “I don’t want to look as though I was trying to out-dress anyone.”
“If you find they have less than you, keep some of your good things in your trunk. 21 You do not need to wear them all,” was Miss Hale’s advice. ”

“ Here Landis’ self-confidence 296 forsook her. She could not believe it possible that any girl would be generous enough to keep to herself such a matter as that of the essay-copying. Should Elizabeth tell but one or two, the affair would soon become public property. Her name would be mentioned with scorn throughout Exeter. Already she saw herself ostracized as she had helped to ostracize Nora O’Day. But if such a condition would result from her dishonesty, she would leave The Hall at once. She was much too proud, too ambitious, to allow anyone to ignore her. ”

“ The western College was founded in 1314 by Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter, who twelve years later met his death as a supporter of Edward II., when that king was overthrown and murdered. A later and liberal patron was Sir William Petre, father of Dorothy Wadham, a statesman of the Tudor period. Of the ancient buildings of Exeter hardly anything remains. The Hall dates from the seventeenth century, the fronts to the Turl and Broad Streets from the nineteenth. The present Chapel is the third in which Exeter men have worshipped. ”