"MINDAR" 75 



as the caterer, whose business it was to eke out home 

 supplies with dishes from Jacomb's or Hobley's. This was 

 all very well for those who had plenty of pocket-money, as I 

 always had, but it was bad business for those who had not. 

 Sometimes you would see derelict units of the house who 

 could not join any set, and could perhaps ill afford even 

 a pot of jam, which would have to last them a long 

 while. 



The Vlth fellows were at a table and in a set of their 

 own, and they generally came in rather late for breakfast, 

 so that any fags who had finished and were going away 

 could be hailed and given slices of bread to toast in the 

 butler's pantry. On that same fire I learned how to 

 make scrambled eggs with some success, but when I call 

 the place a butler's pantry I distinguish it too highly, 

 for the occupant of it, whose name was, I think, Manders, 

 but who was always addressed as " Mindar," was a general 

 factotum, and his duties included calling us in the morning. 



He would come into your bedroom punctually at 

 6.30 A.M., and say, as he entered : " Gentlemen, please ! " 

 He would then walk to the end of the room, where, in this 

 case, was Godley's bed, and reel off each name as he passed 

 each bed : " Mr Godley," " Mr Graham " and so on, to 

 " Mr Allison " I was nearest the door. Then, at the 

 moment of his exit, he would say : "If you please, 

 gentlemen ! " 



And yet how truly unpleasing it used to be to get up 

 on those cold mornings, when the chapel bell commenced 

 ringing at 6.45 A.M., and you were late if you did not 

 present yourself before seven ! 



Good old " Mindar " ! He would regularly unbend once 

 a term on the occasion of hall-singing, when all new fellows 

 had to stand on a table in the hall and sing, in accordance 

 with " Tom Brown " tradition. 



At these times " Mindar " used to be coerced into the 

 hall, and after much persuasion he would reel off his one 

 song, sitting back against one of the brass-bound oak 

 tables : 



