side. Had he been spared, I quite think he would have taken a
"Blue" at forward for Oxford. You must comfort yourselves with
the constant thought that you have given for England one whose
whole life was as perfect and true as it was full of promise of
great things; and also you must be very proud of having had so
much to give.

The Master of Balliol (Mr. Arthur L. Smith), writing on 21st August,
1917, said:

In sending you the official condolences of the college on the
death of your brilliant son, I should like also to express
personally my own feelings of the very successful career that was
open to him at Oxford, which, like so many of our best young
scholars, he gave up without a moment's hesitation to serve his
country and the world in this great crisis. Such a change is
surely not all loss if we could see things in their true
proportion and in their realities; but meantime the loss must
indeed be severe to you, because you must have been justly proud
of him on so many grounds. I remember how he struck me in the
scholarship examination by the excellent way in which he put some
very vigorous good sense, particularly on the subject of the
character of Oliver Cromwell; and I see that my notes refer to
him as "showing much vivacity of expression," "sound reading,"
"strong mental grasp and excellent arrangement and method." He
also made "a most pleasing and favourable impression in 'viva
voce.'" He would have been a very leading and, in the best sense,
popular man in the college. His last letter is one of the finest
even of the many fine letters that have been written under such
circumstances during the last few years.

A high official at the War Office wrote:

In this great and cruel crisis I have had before me many things
which have evoked the deepest sympathy of my heart; but I know of
nothing which has distressed me more than the sad blow which you
have received. Your son's whole life and his outlook on life
appealed to me in a remarkable way. There was nothing mean or
small in his physical form or his mental equipment; and his fine,
strong joy of life, and his love for the everlasting ideals made
an impression on my mind which will not readily be erased. It is
not so well known as it should be how manfully he overcame every
obstacle to