No boy is defeated before he starts in life just because he is born poor.
Success is not a matter of inherited wealth, a powerful family, influential friends. It is the reward of grit and character.
2
This story of the rise of one of the outstanding lawyers of our
generation is fascinating record of how one boy in spite of dire
lifted himself poverty the head of the profession he chose.
HE troopship was curry- ing me home from the South African War. I was twenty-one. There were so many things I wanted. First money, and a great deal of money; I had already known enough experience of having
попо..
I had tried many things and
hated them, but I could not change my mind indefinitely. I fully realised that my next choice must be the last.
and
to
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER. 27, 1948.
warm, human
In this
this warm,
story of his life
Sir
Fabriel, Hastings
The announcement that I proposed to be a barrister was greeted with no more interest than It I had sall I was going to be a pawnbroker ur a stevedore.
of the lack of in spite But
I joined the enthusiasm
Middle Temple.
There is a theory that private means of some kind are essential to Such a theory budding barrister:
is utter rubbish.
MY goal-to
1
earn £100
and I had no had no home,
By that I do not mean money. instiletent money, but none at all, In fact, upon the somewhat belated receipt of my War Medal my first reaction was to take it to a pawn- shop for the necessary purpose
had been obtaining food, which singularly lacking.
of
shows how the
poorest boy can
climb to the top of
the ladder
I became a temporary So
Job. hunter of the worst possible sort. I thought of nothing else but that £100. Just as a small boy licks off the days that stretch between him and his holidays, so I ticked off the
the pennies shillings and even my honrd.
The dramatic critic of the Ladies Field fell ill or died. His seat it the offer was hardly cold before 1 was on the doorstep.
When I had accumulated £5 1 became disturbed by the necessity of carrying such a huge sum upon my person. I opened a bank ac- not at that would count, Lord Rothschild.
From eight to 11, the theatre: aways something to be there was
Fleet- 11 to one, reviewed; from street, where I poured forth those brilliant re views for which no doubt the London public were passionately expectant.
Then, three, h dreary
I can back to Putney,
the remember almost number of flagstones in the pavement.
from
one to walk
A 40-hour week! When I heard myself
It WAB necessary thut decision should be mude, I reached it just as we entered the port of Teneriffe.
It WOR
somewhat in auspicious moment. I had been arrested by the sergeant-major remember that the token of my for my final military offence. wal service was valued at half-a-
A large portion of the duties crown.
As I had no money. I started of this estimuble warrior had with all the necessary incentive to mament have changed places with advocating that reason- consisted in marching me unler ret
About the get some. an appropriate guard into the future I had no great concern; presence of the appropriate man of 21 with ordinary intelligence tribunal, where he endeavoured and no tien who cannot keep himself must be singularly locking in deler- somewhat incoherently
mination. describe my varied crimes. If he is unable to keep himself
more
to
Bul
In the case
Immediate
a
Upon this occasion, being he is in all probability not very pardonably and indeed justin- well worth keeping.
of a barrister ably annoyed by one of my there is one somewhat substantini
he defences, eloquent
obstacle In his way, and one which revenged himself on leaving the i confess filled me with considerable court by remarking, "Astings, apprehension.
I was informed that when, after to be 拉 you ought
the expiration of three years, lawyer."
presented myself to the authorities
bloody
I was overcome with grati- for permission to be called to the Bur I should be compelled to right, tude. "You are quite
a cheque them with present "I said, Sergeant-major." I
£100.
shall."
When I arrived in London 1 I get a job in
Fleet Street
for
found there was no home, and,
of course,
dis- no money. I
I had never seen such a sum In covered that any effort I might make to earn a living I should my life. I could hardly believe that
have to make alone.
it existed.
barrier For
days that u tew pre. loomed so large as to appear almost There is an idea
but of course it valent amongst parents that it insurmountable,
very
is their duty to select fession for their sons. You must work for
what you want
wasn't. advantages of saving money.
1 hated the three years during I hated which I was a miser, saving that £100; however, it hurt to be done. I first of all launched Into journalism.
'pro- I am not greatly impressed by the
My job was to collect theatre news,
At first my weekly pound was earned with blood and tears; the work was new and competent.
I Was 1
I became political secretary to a gentleman, who desired 10 become a Liberal Member of Parliament. It was another £2 a week.
Walking on in
Julius Caesar'
dallied with the
able limit, I felt sick.
The great worry of my life con- sisted in the fact that I was never able to bring myself to
expense
face the And in
of a dress suit. those days theatres expected the stalls to be dressed.
1 solved the problem by wearing a strent-coat, both summer and winter, over a white shirt and a white lie.
Once in a moment of abstraction I removed the great-coat; it was n I lived it horrible experience, but down.
1 stage. persuaded Sir Herbert Tree to offer me a walking-on part for which ! was to receive yet another £2 H week.
the Unfortunately
play was
"Julius Caesar," and I had to ap-
pear as a Roman soldier, clad only in a little tunic and a brass helmet. I came to the conclusion that my legs were not suited to the parl.
bank balance
in- slowly The creased and at the end of the first year it was
was £20. It was worth I could not eclebration, but as afford to be hospitable I dinert alone. It was a great festivity; the dinner cost half-a-crown, and it was worth every penny of it.
1
n3"
Saved £60, but
no celebration
By the end of the second year I had saved CGD. This time there was no celebration: I had malaria
additional half and I saved un crown.
At the end of those two years 1 as I a'n restless, and, became ashamed to remember, a shade des- pondent.
I had walked the streets of London Labour for so long that even my last pair I once described to u audience
my day's work at this of shoes were beginning to look at period; I am bound to say it was me reproachfully
the shabbi- not
I was ashamed and with
great received
ness of my existence was beginning enthusiasm.
I lived in Putney where living to eat into my soul.
I began to wonder whether I had was cheap, and had a large break-
So much right in using fast at eight o'clock; I then walked been
endeavour to resch' a to the West End, which saved four- time in an pence.
from which saving I derived Dal that, after all, might end in
disappointment. intense moral satisfaction.
The third year was the hardest of all. Thera- were appalling
From then until one o'clock 1 acquired by devious routes the them journalism, and saved a consider not afford-to-buy-a singlo law book.. necessary Information for my stock examinations to be passed. 1. could
sum of money during the so I able luncheon-hour by the sinipic ex- my send my law in the library of pedient of deciding that lunch as a
meal was entirely unnecessary.
From Gue until seven 1 was an But as the time passed I became enthusiastic but spurious poiliciu. acclimatised.
A long experience of men
I became a member of the staff and things-has-satisfied_me_ beyond any question that there of great London paper-at-the munificent salary of £1 a week. is no reasonable objective which any man of ordinary intelligence cannot achieve, provided that he really wants it and really means to achieve it.
of the At least 90
per cent.
up of failures in life are made people who either don't want any thing very much or, if they do, don't really try very hard to get it
But how
in the world is it pos- sible for man to try very hard at a profession that he never chose and probably never particularly wanted? If only a father would realise that Itis son's life belongs to his son and it might be very not to himself much better for both of them.
I discovered that members of the theatrical profession are not only extremely kind but also naturall; not averse to seeing their names mentioned in the public press.
It was obvious to me from a very early stage that £1 a week was not. going a very long way to build up my coveted £100, and that other more remunerative methods and would have to be employed.
Dine for 1/6,
then walk home
I
Inn.
I had to read when I could find moment of spare time and I regret to say I often fell asleep over my reading; but that has happened to many better men than me.
The last £1
in the bank
Seven was my happy hour.
With great difficulty I managed dined alone-a miser must always be alone Le Petit Riche at the back to scrape through, how, I
another solltary celebration.
never
K.C.
* Money is mercly another name for independence
I saw the African_veldi; I anw the dreary road to Putney! I saw I'm afrald so many wasted years. I saw my vanished hundred pounds.
of the Palace Theatre. I wonder if knew.. but remember I enjoyed Then the Treasurer was holding
it still exists?
Riche.
The dinner cost Is. 6d. and might There still remained three months out his hand. "Mr. Patrick Hastings, In the name of the Bench, I call when I was you to the degree of the utter have been the envy of kings;. I owe to run before the day many pleasant memories to Le Pit entitled to be called, and I was still Bar."
£15 short.
had passed the were being stone. engagements
onc by one: those I learned a great deal in those ons had taken so much three years. Put at its lowest I
MOTHERS WANT THE
PRINCESS'S
LONDON.
EVERY expectant mother
should soon
were
DRUGS
My
time.
I
effective 021
first mile-
though temporary
The money came in very slowly discovered that brown paper makes Sull, there are always 24 hours in substitute for leather in the soles of every day and at a pinch they cun be turned into 25.
defective boots,
I also learned a great deal about the value of money, a topic which has called forth more platitudinous observations than any other.
Solitude of
being poor
moro
Put perhaps at its highest I A fortnight before Call Day the
more de. last £1 went into my bank. I took learned how to acquire
also gree of self-respect. I was By Eilcon Ascroft
it there myself
prepared to agree with Napoleon Assuming an Indifference which that there is no such word as im- The other form of relief the mid-I was far from feeling asked the possible. Ft case benefit by when
is being conducted
wife acting alone is permitted to give the two pain-killing drugs single-handed by the midwife.
British manufacturers are is inclure of eplum, provided she state of my account, well knowing its that in such large amounts oven a instruction In available for constantly experimenting. As soon has received
bank can make mistakes. as a suitable machine is invented, administration.
A clerk tossed a piece of paper This method is considered to be
to me across the counter. He did not today and there the National Birthday Trust Fund
Many modern-appear to realise the importance of have promised to bear the cost of old-fashioned thorough tects among midwives. much against it.
One hundred pounds not tremble. They have already made a grant to trained midwives are not trained to his action. I only hope my hand did
I should like to add one the Royal College of Obstetricians use it at all,
of my own. Money is merely an- Most competent authorities agree fifteen shillings! Trust and Gynaecologists for research into
The whole Act
face of the world other name for independence. Drugs that the Dangerous
My chief memory of these three the irilene drug.
should now be amended to permit seemed to have changed.
called I years is one of almost unendurable Finally, the Government will be the use of pethidine, which can be The day before I was
in favour of the solitude. asked to amend the
Dangerous casily administered by the midwife drew a cheque
Middle Temple for £100.
Many faces come back to me of who Drugs Act to permit midwives to by injection or by the mouth.
It came out so easily, and I acquaintances and strangers use the new trilene machine,
hated drawing it. It seemed like seem to make that memory unjust; who without cause or reason did their utmost to be kind are permitted by law to be used DECENTLY, a deputation headed parting with someone I had known of people
Queen for years. by midwives. One is the Minnett by the chairman of
The 168. seemed so little to bo and even generous. But they were so gas and air machine, which is fairly Charlotte's Maternity Hospital went left behind. Now I had to begin all to use to me,
could effective
To a would-be friend I in the final stages of to the Home Ofice,
even of They demanded that pethidine (over again”.
not afford the hospitality labour. It is a large and cumber- some
a drink; to a would-be fellow- machine, and the two should be made available for every
I am called
traveller I could not afford the fare cylinders have to be carried in addi- mother-to-be in the country.
A Ministry official promised close tion to the apparatus Itself. It is
.upon an omnibus, almost impossible for a inidwife to consideration of their proposals.
At present, of all cases of child-
which Princess Elizabeth.
They are pethidine-for the early stages of labour-and trilene, administered before the birth.
The National Birthday. Fund-an organisation working for safer and happier motherhood-is urging that every midwife in the country should be allowed to use both drugs when attending cases on her own. At present they may only doctor 18 be administered if u present..
Both drugs have been proved harmless to mother and baby, and are pain-killers without Inducing unconsciousness. They do not pre vent the mother from co-operating with the midwife.
At present only two kinds of reller
to the Bar
To save 100 I found it neces- In May 1004 I was called to sary to live alone.
MANY doctors today are using carry it on a bicycle, and few mid- birth only 40 percent are receiving the Bar. I stood in my place in one In all probability my real trouble
BO- IBE:
these two drugs for their wives have cara.
A midwife may not use this any form of relief. The other 00
myself too patients; and they are used in 75
unless she has
received percent are still suffering as women of the most beautiful bulidings in in those three years lay in the fact machine
the world. In front of me stood a that I began to take
consolation percent of hospital cases.
hundred years ago, in ita
lawyers; on seriously, but it is my uze, but many did
row of distinguished three-quarters of the Instruction
Pethidine should be mado both sides of me were beginners to remember that I was only 24. nation's births are conducted by trained midwives still have no
available to every expectant mother like myself. midwives, d00,000 mothers yearly machines.
Trilene would be cheaper in use to gase the early birth pangs.
The Roader began to speak the ara.denied the relief offered by these
and for more convenient to carry, As soon as an efficient general time-honoured ritual "Mr. Treasurer, two drugs.
is invented, Chief obstacle in
and I have the honour to present to you the way
largest machine in trileno machine of na over the trilene being generally used is that vented so far is little bigger than approved by the experts, this drug Mr. Patrick Hastings.
I don't think I heard him. I thero is at present no suitable a tib. honey jar, and would at easily should also be made. available
every mother-to-be.
seemed to see so many other things. machine for administering the drug into the midwife's - bag.
to
This is the first Instalment of Bir Patrick Hanlings' Illo story. Succeeding instalments will ap- pear on this pago each Saturday. Next work: the odd eans of the man who always carried dolla.'
M
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