James-A-Day: After Dark in the Playing Fields

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"Eton College from Playing Fields"
Old folklore says that animals talk on Midsummer Eve, and in this little story MRJ imagines talking with an owl.  The conversation is interrupted several times, though, by the Little People, who torment the owl unmercifully.  The narrator decides to stick around to see what happens...and will only say that he no longer hangs around the playing fields at midnight, nor does he "like a crowd after dark."  The Little People did something that disturbed him greatly, but we never find out what.

The story takes place on the playing fields at Eton.  Tomorrow's story is also set at Eton, where James presided as provost from 1918 until his death in 1936.  At Eton, the provost is the head of the college--like the president or headmaster--and is appointed by the Crown, so it's quite a prestigious position.

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