Time-tables
SIR,—Reading C. H. Lewis's article on time-tables I feel that I can console him and others, for his experience in time-table construction could have been even worse. Until a year ago I was senior mistress in a girls' public school, and responsible for making a time-table that would work, having most of the difficulties mentioned by C. H. Lewis plus numerous others, such as visiting staff who had either to catch the 2.14 home or who could only arrive after a small daughter had been deposited at another school, some insisting on having all their lessons in consecutive periods and some demanding a rest in between. One wanted to teach all the English in the school on 21 days, and some staff were shared with a boys' prep. school and a junior school (both in the same building but with differently shaped time-tables). In fact, I seriously thought of becoming a visiting staff myself. As P.T. and meals had to compete for possession of the hall, and as water in the swimming-pool was too cold before 10.30 a.m., and as tennis-court space was limited, the whole time-table had to revolve around P.T. Not many terms passed before I gave up my dream of producing the ideal time-table, and I merely hoped that I could reasonably satisfy staff and girls (oh yes, they com- plained too) without causing too many emotional under-currents (to which boarding-schools are susceptible).
I am now trying to construct a time-table for grown-ups who would like to attend lessons in English. My previous work was child's play compared with the job of satisfying sixty adults at varying stages in their knowledge of English, from reading the Spectator to " This is a pen. What is this ? " How to divide them into appropriate groups, with due respect for their social susceptibilities, to choose an hour which is not " sauna " (bath) time, choir practice, P.T. class, too early after dinner, too late, the wife's evening " off," the husband's evening " off," the maid's half-day, or a dozen other unsuitable times ? I feel that my experience with time-tables in England has been my greatest encouragement, without which I would undoubtedly have taken the first 'plane homel—Yours, &c.,
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