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 172

��NOTES BY THE WAY.

��Hospital :

the last of the

"Blues."

��CHRIST'S HOSPITAL: THE LAST OF THE "BLUES." (See ante, pp. 157, 168.)

1902, April 26. The Standard of April 21st, 1902, contains the following inter-

Christ's esting account of the closing of the old school :

" Only a few boys had remained within the gates during Friday night, a portion of which was spent in the observance of a custom which will, no doubt, appeal to the sympathies of ' Old Blues ' all over the world. The ' Grecians ' formed a long single file, each youth carrying a candle, and as they beat the boundaries of the hospital they kicked at walls of well-known spots bearing such mystic geographical expressions as ' Gymmer Door,' ' Sixes Tubby' s Hole,' ' The Rid's Staircase,' ' The Z Minor,' and ' Haggery Stairs.' The perambulation having been completed to the intense satisfaction of all concerned, the boys stretched hands across the playground, and, marching up and down three times, sang ' Auld Lang Syne.' The quaint ceremony concluded with lusty cheers for the pious founder and benefactors."

��1902, May 3. Mallet used

by

Christopher Wren.

��1902, May 3.

Jewish May meetings.

��First

Religious

Union.

��MALLET USED BY CHRISTOPHER WREN.

The Standard of the 23rd of April, 1902, states that at the laying of the foundation stone of the new mission church of the Good Shepherd, Small Heath, Birmingham, which took place on the previous day with full Masonic ritual, Lord Leigh, the Provincial Grand Master of Warwickshire, made use of the mallet known as the Wren gavel, which was employed by Sir Christopher Wren at the laying of the foundation stone of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1675.

JEWISH MAY MEETINGS.

On the llth of May, 1902, the Jewish community will for the first time associate itself with the May meetings customs. The Daily News of April 21st states that " the conference will be unique in the annals of English Jews .... All the synagogues in the United Kingdom have been invited to the first of these forgatherings, which will be held in London on the llth of May next." Sir Samuel Montagu is to preside. The object of the conference is to unite London and provincial Jews in the common work of the community. One of the very first tasks to which the conference will address itself will be the dispersion (so far as practicable) of the seething Ghettoes in the East-End of London and several provincial towns. It is proposed to hold the conference every year in a different town, and it will be known as the " Jewish Congregational League."

There is also a new reform movement now going on (1908) among a portion of the Jewish community. The Jewish Religious Union consists of men and women belonging to the different sections of the Jews, who have come together to try to combat by various methods religious apathy and indifference. It is a lay movement, the sermons always being preached by prominent laymen ; and in order to bring the services more in touch with the present day,

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