(11/13) Celebrations at Thrush Green by Miss Read Page B

researches into the history of our two friends that I didn't want your efforts to be overshadowed by the school's celebration.'
    'I'll have a word with Lester if you like,' said Harold. 'What would be best, do you think?'
    'Late September seems the obvious choice, doesn't it? The new term will have begun, and the weather should be fine for outdoor affairs.'
    And so it was left.
    The next day Isobel invited Alan and his wife to have a drink and discuss the matter, but their two little girls were among Thrush Green's juvenile patients, and the invitation was reversed, so that the invalids need not be left alone.
    Margaret Lester greeted them affectionately. The little girls had left their beds and, clad in nightgowns, called their greetings over the landing handrail.
    'Now get back quickly,' ordered their mother, 'or those coughs will start again, and you don't want any more of Dr Lovell's cough mixture, do you?'
    'Is it as bad as that?' queried Harold, as the two children vanished.
    'I believe so. Ruth Lovell told me that John never dreams of taking his own cough mixture. But to give him his due, the stuff does seem to work.'
    It was very snug in the schoolhouse sitting-room. The log fire crackled, the red-shaded lamps gave a warm glow, and the drinks gave an inner one.
    The matter of a date for a joint celebration was soon under discussion, both men being very careful to respect the other's wishes.
    'The only rough plan I've made so far,' said Alan, 'is to have the minimum of activities outside. I've had too many occasions washed out during my teaching days, and now I settle for something indoors.'
    'Very wise,' said Harold. 'I'm sure our own ideas will match that. In any case, I think a celebratory memorial service in the church is in the rector's mind, and I'm sure that will be the chief part. After all, both men were churchmen first and foremost.'
    'Miss Robinson had the bright idea of a day in the school as it might have been a hundred years ago. We've a pretty good idea of the timetable, and the children will enjoy dressing up. We could even have the cane in evidence!'
    'I wonder if it was used much,' mused Isobel.
    'According to the first log book,' Alan told her, 'it was kept pretty busy on one or two of the older boys who would far rather have been out in the fields.'
    'No doubt the farmers could do with them,' commented Harold. 'And a few extra coppers would be welcome in any farm labourer's home, from all I can gather. Octavius's diary gives a glimpse of rural hard times. Some of those fellows must literally have been worked to an early death, as one or two records show.'
    Alan began to turn over the leaves of a calendar. 'Now, I think you said that the mission station was opened on 1 October. That's a Thursday. It would fit in with school affairs very well.'
    Harold felt greatly pleased. He had secretly hoped that the exact date of Nathaniel's mission-opening would be kept, but having agreed to co-operate with the school's centenary he had been quite prepared to give way.
    'It would give me great pleasure,' he told Alan, and despite the formality of the words, it was apparent to all present that he felt enormously grateful.
    'We'll be present at the service, of course, as a school, I mean,' went on Alan, 'and I shall make a point of telling the children all I can about the lives of the two men. I just wonder, though, if we could have a real Thrush Green beano at that time, on the green itself.'
    'We'll think about it,' said Harold. 'As you say, the chief part of the celebrations will be under cover, but we ought to be able to risk at least an hour or two for a general jollification outside.'
    The date having been provisionally fixed, the talk grew more general.
    'I must say there seems to be a lot of interest in these affairs,' said Alan. 'Our Parent-Teacher Association wants to take part. They'll be very useful in the dressing-up side of my project.'
    'And someone said that they thought we ought to try to raise