GOVERNMENT BY OLD ETONIANS
SIR,—May I please comment on the letter' of Messrs. Hartland and Harvey which appeared in the Specta- tor last week? These gentlemen suggest that my pride was deeply hurt on receiving abusive letters written on toilet paper. Not so. 1 was merely disgusted as any normal person would be. Messrs. Hartland and Harvey assert that there are times when such disgust- ing abuse 'deserves the profoundest sympathy.' Well, I suppose this is all a matter of opinion, and they are entitled to the opinion they hold. Personally I believe that there is a limit beyond which no gentleman would go in attacking an adversary. However, it might interest Messrs. Hartland and Harvey to know that the writers of those offending letters apologised immediately after publication of my last letter.
Messrs. Hartland and Harvey grandly say ; 'We do not intend to reply to the provocative argument set out in Mr. Wood's earlier letter. . . . No, we will not waste time in argument.' But are not abuse and bluster poor substitutes for logical argument? Messrs. Hartland and Harvey may not agree. They trust that I may learn from this experience to write letters more balanced, more moderate, more courte- ous!
Messrs. Hartland and Harvey are delighted (so they say) at my modest achievements as a painter, an author and a poet. It is most kind of them to ex- press their delight. It leaves me wondering what suc- cess they might have had in similar fields. They assure me that any poems of mine would be read with great interest at Marlborough. I can promise them that they will have the opportunity to read some of my verses in the near future.—Yours faithfully,
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