1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,000
Speaker 1: The Night's School by James Hopper. Having laid my last

2
00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:06,719
hope beneath heavy flowers, I had drifted back to the

3
00:00:06,759 --> 00:00:09,480
village of my youth. The little village was now a

4
00:00:09,599 --> 00:00:12,439
large city, a clamorous city. And on the first day

5
00:00:12,839 --> 00:00:16,000
I met Dorman. It was on a stone sidewalk beneath

6
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,839
a pale, faint sun. How he recognized me, God only knows.

7
00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:22,480
We both had grown very old, and at first I

8
00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:24,559
could see nothing in him of the boy with whom

9
00:00:24,559 --> 00:00:28,440
I had gone to school. He stopped and fixed me silently.

10
00:00:28,879 --> 00:00:31,399
Then from the folds of his cloak, his arms stretched

11
00:00:31,399 --> 00:00:34,479
out and gripped me as with a claw. You are Halton,

12
00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,039
he said, Jack Halton, whose desk was next to mine

13
00:00:37,079 --> 00:00:40,200
at school. I am, I said, I am Jack Halton.

14
00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:44,359
He stood there, looking at me with eyes gray and round,

15
00:00:44,399 --> 00:00:47,640
beneath the bristles of his heavy brows. I am Dorman,

16
00:00:47,759 --> 00:00:50,520
he said, Not Dorman, who sat next to you at school.

17
00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:53,479
Of late age has been in wrapping me with its

18
00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,320
frigid haze, and I have taken to the resource of

19
00:00:56,359 --> 00:00:59,560
the old. I stare persistently at the golden days that

20
00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,079
are gone, and so I remembered I remember, I said.

21
00:01:03,679 --> 00:01:06,000
His hand was still on my arm. His eyes were

22
00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,400
on my eyes. You have a wife, children, he asked,

23
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,959
I have had a wife. I have no wife. I answered,

24
00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,920
I've had children. I have no children. I have never

25
00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,439
had either wife or children, he said. We stood there

26
00:01:20,439 --> 00:01:24,079
on the stone sidewalk beneath the cheerless sun. Wife nor children.

27
00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,680
He nodded, wife nor children. But it was on my answer.

28
00:01:27,719 --> 00:01:31,040
He pondered for Finally he said, come with me to

29
00:01:31,079 --> 00:01:34,920
my house to night. A vast indifference held me. I said,

30
00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:37,400
very well, I will go with you to your house

31
00:01:37,439 --> 00:01:40,400
for to night. He raised his stick, and a carriage,

32
00:01:40,439 --> 00:01:43,079
which had been wheeling slowly back and forth, rushed in

33
00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,560
sudden animation to the curb. We sank upon the dark

34
00:01:46,599 --> 00:01:50,519
cushions within. The door shut upon us. As we rolled

35
00:01:50,519 --> 00:01:53,040
along the streets I had known. Now unknown to me,

36
00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,680
I noticed that his hands folded beneath his chin. On

37
00:01:56,760 --> 00:02:00,879
the top of his cane trembled incessantly. How old he is?

38
00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:04,599
I thought it was a palace, his house of stone,

39
00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:08,159
thick wall, the interior full of fine somber things, and

40
00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:11,520
muffled with elastic carpets. We dined in a high sealed

41
00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,560
oaken hall before a blazing grate. We held up our

42
00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:16,919
glasses to the flame and looked at the golden sun

43
00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,039
of our youth, the ruby blood of our youth. We

44
00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:22,599
drank the sun, We drank the blood, but our veins

45
00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:26,719
remained cold. We went upstairs to his room. Two beds

46
00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,400
heavily curtained, were in it, against opposite walls. There are

47
00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:32,879
two beds. He said, you will sleep here with me

48
00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:35,960
in my room. I did not care. I answered, yes,

49
00:02:36,599 --> 00:02:38,960
I will sleep here in your room with you. I

50
00:02:39,039 --> 00:02:42,319
slept badly. The bed was heaped with blankets, but they

51
00:02:42,319 --> 00:02:44,919
were as heavy as a lid. And between the sheets

52
00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,000
I was as cold as in the tomb. I dreamed.

53
00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,360
A bell was ringing somewhere in someone's hand. It had

54
00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,919
a brazen, persistent sound. When it had ceased with the

55
00:02:56,039 --> 00:02:59,719
last rattle of clapper, a drum began to beat. Feet

56
00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,840
march to the beat, many of them light feet, marching

57
00:03:02,879 --> 00:03:06,639
a little shufflingly. I could hear their passing from crunched

58
00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,159
gravel to a resonance of hollow wood. They united in

59
00:03:10,199 --> 00:03:14,280
a rhythmic murmur, above which, like gulls eddying over the sea,

60
00:03:14,719 --> 00:03:19,400
sharp cries of command hovered female cries of women. A

61
00:03:19,479 --> 00:03:22,280
door slam too, with a clack as of a whip.

62
00:03:22,479 --> 00:03:25,319
The drum died abruptly. There was a silence. Then a

63
00:03:25,439 --> 00:03:29,520
charse of fresh, young voices rose in song, a song

64
00:03:29,599 --> 00:03:34,039
which my bearded critical self judged harshly, but which was

65
00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,759
soft to the heart of my youth. Though I thought

66
00:03:36,759 --> 00:03:39,080
that I must be asleep, thought that my eyes must

67
00:03:39,159 --> 00:03:41,960
be closed, I was aware of my host in white,

68
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,319
standing at one of the three southern windows. He too,

69
00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:48,400
seemed to listen to the song. I heard him sigh,

70
00:03:48,439 --> 00:03:51,719
a long, dolorous sigh. Then he must have returned to

71
00:03:51,759 --> 00:03:55,000
his bed. The song trailed away in a last, long,

72
00:03:55,159 --> 00:03:59,800
gentle note. And now I slept undisturbed, a tenderness tugging

73
00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,360
at my soul. I awoke after the long night. The

74
00:04:03,439 --> 00:04:05,879
room was still dark, but when to my gesture a

75
00:04:05,919 --> 00:04:09,159
curtained word opened with a noise as of wings, the

76
00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,159
day came in, warm with sun. I stood at the

77
00:04:12,159 --> 00:04:15,159
window and looked out. I was looking deep into a

78
00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,879
large bare yard. Children were playing there, many children, brown

79
00:04:18,959 --> 00:04:22,600
headed and yellow haired boys and girls. Above them, the

80
00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,959
layers of air, striated with suns, seemed liquid. They were

81
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,000
like goldfish in an aquarium. They zigzagged like butterflies in

82
00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:34,560
their bright garments. Their cries, muffled to me, came as

83
00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,759
the little cries of birds. The front of the yard,

84
00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,519
to my right was a big brick building, pierced with

85
00:04:40,639 --> 00:04:44,839
many windows. Do you recognize the place, Dorman asked. I

86
00:04:44,959 --> 00:04:47,720
turned and saw him standing at the casement next to mine.

87
00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,000
He seemed speaking to the glass, not to me. It

88
00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:53,600
is a school, is it? Not? I fenced? It is

89
00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,800
our school, he said. I looked back far into my

90
00:04:56,879 --> 00:04:59,279
memory and saw that it indeed must be the school

91
00:04:59,319 --> 00:05:02,480
to which we had when young. But it had changed.

92
00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:05,839
The yard had been much wider than without bonds, to

93
00:05:05,879 --> 00:05:08,639
the south, where now rose a forest of chimneys and roofs.

94
00:05:09,399 --> 00:05:11,439
Then it had stretched away to the south in a

95
00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,839
grassy meadow that sloped away gently to a brook, And

96
00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:17,600
the schoolhouse had not been the big brick pile it

97
00:05:17,639 --> 00:05:20,959
now stood. I shut my eyes and saw again the

98
00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:25,240
schoolhouse that had been. I saw clearly the little wooden house,

99
00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:29,680
its overlapping board softly gray, its peaked roof as green

100
00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,560
as moss, the red veins of the carpeting vine, and

101
00:05:33,639 --> 00:05:37,639
the long outside stairway slanting upward to the gallery, along

102
00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:40,600
which we marched up to our classroom under the twittering eaves.

103
00:05:41,399 --> 00:05:45,199
They have changed it our school, I exclaimed, absurdly resentful

104
00:05:45,879 --> 00:05:48,480
when I returned to this city, he said, I built

105
00:05:48,639 --> 00:05:51,560
here next to the school. I don't know why I

106
00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,360
built here next to the school. A bell began to

107
00:05:54,439 --> 00:05:57,560
ring in the yard beneath me. The children's criss crossing

108
00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:01,399
play halted abruptly and petrified, and longed to chorus lines.

109
00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,000
A drum began to beat, and the little ones marched

110
00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:08,480
into school. The many little feet stamped the ground together.

111
00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:13,079
The lines flowed forward, They coiled, straightened rows, and slid

112
00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:16,920
like ribbons into the yawning portals. The drum beat, the

113
00:06:16,959 --> 00:06:21,040
little feet tramped, tramp tramped along halls, up flights of stairs.

114
00:06:21,079 --> 00:06:24,759
The whole building trembled to the tremendous union of their light,

115
00:06:24,879 --> 00:06:28,519
firm tread. And above this basic rumor, the commands of

116
00:06:28,519 --> 00:06:32,879
the women teachers eddied like the gull's nostalgic cry. The

117
00:06:32,959 --> 00:06:37,000
drum stopped, the outer doors clang shut. A silence followed.

118
00:06:37,399 --> 00:06:40,879
Then fresh young voices rose, and choral song. Why it

119
00:06:40,959 --> 00:06:43,439
must be what I heard last night, I cried, but

120
00:06:43,519 --> 00:06:47,439
Dorman said it was not they, you heard the others.

121
00:06:48,319 --> 00:06:52,279
I did not understand him. I stayed again at Dorman's house,

122
00:06:52,319 --> 00:06:55,399
for he insisted, and I did not care. My sleep

123
00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,759
was troubled again that night. The covers lay upon me

124
00:06:58,959 --> 00:07:02,199
like a stone, and I was tomb cold. A bell

125
00:07:02,399 --> 00:07:07,079
began to ring. It rang persistently. Its clangs winged off

126
00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,519
in brazen waves, struck and rebounded to mingle with new clangs,

127
00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,879
till my brain pained. I rose at length to its

128
00:07:14,879 --> 00:07:18,079
continued attack, and, groping through the velvet darkness, reached one

129
00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,720
of the windows. I parted the ponderous curtains, looked and

130
00:07:21,759 --> 00:07:25,040
saw nothing. I was looking into the night and saw

131
00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:29,480
only night. Little by little, through the fixity of my stare,

132
00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,000
the blackness seemed to recede, and at last I saw,

133
00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:37,600
in a brown obscurity, I saw a yard and a schoolhouse.

134
00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,839
It was a small school house of wood. The roof

135
00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,399
was peaked, vines veined one wall, stairs along another wall

136
00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:50,480
slanted upward to a gallery beneath the eaves below me.

137
00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,879
The distinct floor of the yard was dimly striated with lines.

138
00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,920
These were animated with a fluid pulsation. After a time

139
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,600
when I understood them. Children were lying there, grave, little children,

140
00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,240
many of them with books under their arms, or swinging

141
00:08:07,279 --> 00:08:10,560
at the end of straps. I tried to count the children,

142
00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,480
but there were too many. I tried to count the lines,

143
00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:17,959
but they fluctuated like tide water. There were many. They

144
00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:20,680
ran east and west from the little school house to

145
00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,759
the fence at the back, then turned flexibly and streamed

146
00:08:23,759 --> 00:08:26,279
off to the south, where in my youth the land

147
00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:29,120
lay open. I could not see them end over there.

148
00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:32,679
My eyes followed them till they merged in the darkness.

149
00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,399
But even there, and beyond the void, held an undulation

150
00:08:36,519 --> 00:08:41,200
of fluid multitudes. Multitudes of children waited in line. Over there,

151
00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:43,720
in the vague region, beyond the reading of my sight.

152
00:08:44,759 --> 00:08:47,879
The bell came to a stop with a last wicked rattle,

153
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,399
and a drum began to beat. A shiver passed along

154
00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,200
the lines like a breeze, and the small forms bent

155
00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:57,799
slightly forward. The lines began to flow, and the night

156
00:08:57,879 --> 00:09:01,799
became filled with a measured, soft and tender tramping sound,

157
00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,559
which was as the muffled heartbeat of the night. The

158
00:09:05,639 --> 00:09:09,240
lions passed by. They came glidingly from the void in

159
00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:12,440
the south, swung into the yard with a lithe torsion

160
00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:16,000
of a fish that turns crushed across the gravel, stamped

161
00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,360
up the planking of the stairs, flowed into the yawn

162
00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:24,080
of the doors. They passed the children by hundreds, by thousands.

163
00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:29,080
The stairs shook, the frail building trembled. The night was

164
00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:32,360
rhythmic with the soft beat of their feet, the drum

165
00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:35,879
beat they passed. And still the vastness to the south

166
00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:41,120
palpitated obscurely, with unnumbered reserves above the basic rumor. The

167
00:09:41,159 --> 00:09:44,519
cries of women were sharp. It's our class coming now,

168
00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:47,480
our own class, said a voice within the room. I

169
00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,759
turned toward it. Dorman was at the window next to mine,

170
00:09:50,799 --> 00:09:54,399
seated in his rich red armchair. He was looking as

171
00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:58,840
I looked, his brow against the pane. How are class?

172
00:09:59,399 --> 00:10:03,120
How are our class? I said, peevishly. It is our class,

173
00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,080
you see if it is not our class? And then

174
00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:10,559
it was truly our class that passed the little companions

175
00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:13,200
of our childhood. They came in line from the dim

176
00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:17,159
reservoir to the south, turned into the yard, crunched upon

177
00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,320
its gravel, and rose along the stairway to the small room.

178
00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:24,279
Beneath the eaves. Their familiar little feet hissed gently against

179
00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:28,399
the wooden steps, and we stood there, the two old men,

180
00:10:28,799 --> 00:10:34,320
each at his window, watching with cold brows upon the panes. Dorman,

181
00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,000
as they passed, told them off to me one by one,

182
00:10:37,399 --> 00:10:40,559
their names and their fate. I saw Jack Bennett, the

183
00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,000
butcher's son, and I remembered that I still owed him

184
00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,960
a marble. I saw red headed Jack Sterns, with his pale,

185
00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:49,919
up tilted nose, and the glass eye which had been

186
00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,600
our marvel and our pride. And ruscolle Miller, who had

187
00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:56,799
become a banker and star who had ended in the gutter.

188
00:10:56,879 --> 00:11:00,120
And Perry, who had wrecked himself against the things it

189
00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,080
will not move. Up the other stairs, which we could

190
00:11:03,159 --> 00:11:06,000
not see, I guess the girls were passing, and I

191
00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:10,279
knew that among them was a frail, blue eyed girl. Ah,

192
00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:14,000
how well I remembered her. But I said, all those

193
00:11:14,039 --> 00:11:17,759
you tell me of have died. From his window, Dorman said,

194
00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:22,440
I have noticed that all those that pass here have died.

195
00:11:23,159 --> 00:11:26,159
He added, after a moment, and all those with whom

196
00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:31,159
we went to school pass here. The class is almost complete.

197
00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,600
And still they passed, and still Dorman told them off.

198
00:11:35,159 --> 00:11:38,000
Some had been poor, some had been rich, some had

199
00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:42,320
been comic, and some tragic, but all had died. Ralph

200
00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:45,320
Dorn passed by. He had been my best chalm at school.

201
00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:48,759
Ralph Ralph went my lips, but made no sound, and

202
00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:51,720
he did not hear. But I knew now that all

203
00:11:51,799 --> 00:11:54,879
my life I had missed him, him and the frail

204
00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,320
blue eyed girl. I knew now what had been ailing

205
00:11:58,399 --> 00:12:02,559
my life. He said, Dorman, watch him. He's always funny.

206
00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:06,279
To the stairs came a hunchback boy. He toiled up

207
00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:09,159
with much labor, but did not know that he toiled,

208
00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:13,919
for his eyes were ahead, far amid vapory visions. Beneath

209
00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:16,279
his cap, his hair was like a wreath of gold.

210
00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:19,879
He wrote verse, and he starved, said Dorman. I have

211
00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,759
his book in the library. It is funny. The poet

212
00:12:22,799 --> 00:12:26,679
boy toiled up uncertainly. He zigzagged a bit from side

213
00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,519
to side. The cries of the women teachers eddied over him.

214
00:12:30,879 --> 00:12:34,039
He slowed up the line and disordered the march. His

215
00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:38,320
eyes were far. The boy behind him mischievously wiped his

216
00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:41,399
feet upon his stockings, but he was unaware of it.

217
00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,320
The same boy reached within his pocket and took his

218
00:12:44,399 --> 00:12:47,440
pencil and his knife, But still he did not notice.

219
00:12:47,919 --> 00:12:50,200
He let a book slip from beneath his elbow, and

220
00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:54,000
the boy behind trampled upon it. Finally, the boy behind

221
00:12:54,039 --> 00:12:57,399
gave him a push. The poet boy fell, his cap

222
00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:00,240
jerked off his head, his books scattered down the step.

223
00:13:00,919 --> 00:13:03,679
A woman teacher picked him up and shook him ragefully,

224
00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:07,440
while the boy behind looked grave and reproachful. If I

225
00:13:07,519 --> 00:13:10,159
were there, I would protect him, I thought, If I

226
00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:14,000
were there, I would understand him. Who is the boy behind,

227
00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:17,919
I asked Dorman. It's Spike Martin. He answered he has

228
00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:20,440
been the most successful of us. All his sons are

229
00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:23,960
multi millionaires. I notice now that this was the end

230
00:13:24,039 --> 00:13:27,759
of all the marching. This was the last line. A

231
00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:29,840
length of it was still on the stairs, but the

232
00:13:29,919 --> 00:13:34,120
yard behind was already empty. It is the end, I said, Yes,

233
00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:37,559
he answered, they have all passed now. Our class is

234
00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:41,759
always the last. But wait, I said, here comes another boy.

235
00:13:41,840 --> 00:13:45,679
I think, Are you sure, said Dorman, I have not

236
00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:50,759
missed anyone. Yes, yes, I am sure. From the vague

237
00:13:50,799 --> 00:13:54,080
somberness to the south, a dim form was flitting towards us.

238
00:13:54,799 --> 00:13:58,279
It neared it was a boy running very fast, his

239
00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:02,200
books under his arm, his cap in hand. Who is

240
00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:06,279
that boy? Who is that boy? Dorman murmured. The boy

241
00:14:06,399 --> 00:14:09,320
was still in the twilight, not quite distinct, but he

242
00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,360
was nearing very fast. He seemed to pant for his

243
00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:16,240
school despite his fast running. His hair was orderly and

244
00:14:16,279 --> 00:14:19,000
a little damp, with late combing, as though to the

245
00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:21,360
ring of the bell. He had broken away from a

246
00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:26,559
mother's lingering touch. Who is that boy? Who is that boy?

247
00:14:26,679 --> 00:14:30,600
Mumbled Dorman. The boy was near, and something about his

248
00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:34,840
square shoulders, his sturdy legs, the way he swayed slightly

249
00:14:34,919 --> 00:14:38,000
from right to left as he ran gave my memory

250
00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:42,919
unrest Who is that boy? Who is that boy? Dorman cried.

251
00:14:44,279 --> 00:14:47,000
It seems to me. I know, it seems to me,

252
00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,279
I know, I said, my memory more and more restless.

253
00:14:50,879 --> 00:14:54,799
Who is that boy? Halton? Who is that boy? And

254
00:14:54,919 --> 00:14:58,600
suddenly I knew it is you, Dorman, It is you,

255
00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,919
I cried, No, no, Halton, don't say that. Who is

256
00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:07,320
that boy? It is you? It is you, I cried.

257
00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:11,399
The boy came swiftly across the yard, leaped up the steps.

258
00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,399
He came to the poet boy drew him aside, eagerly

259
00:15:14,519 --> 00:15:18,399
took his place. Then, with incredible quickness, he pulled aside

260
00:15:18,559 --> 00:15:21,559
boy after boy till he was first, and at the

261
00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:26,080
door he vanished within. The boys behind, one after the other,

262
00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:30,039
vanished within. The poet boy, last of the line, vanished

263
00:15:30,039 --> 00:15:34,480
within the door. Slap shut, the drums stopped beating. There

264
00:15:34,559 --> 00:15:38,120
was a silence. I left my window, and going up

265
00:15:38,159 --> 00:15:41,559
to Dorman, placed a friendly hand upon his shoulder, and

266
00:15:41,639 --> 00:15:45,600
he was dead, dead there in his rich red armchair,

267
00:15:45,799 --> 00:15:49,679
his brow still upon the cold pane. I think I

268
00:15:49,759 --> 00:15:52,879
shall stay here always, and stand at the window at

269
00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,679
night till out of the vague region to the south

270
00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,840
I see a boy come running, A last late boy

271
00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:04,399
come running to join his dear comrades. End of the

272
00:16:04,519 --> 00:16:05,159
night school