"
By repeating it all together, over and over again, the very jangle
of it made it stick in my pupils' memory. Dates proved a great
difficulty, yet a few dates, such as that of the Norman Conquest
and of the Battle of Waterloo, were essential. "Clarke, can you
remember the date of the Norman Conquest?" "Very sorry, sir; clean
gone out of my 'ead." "Now, Daniels, how about the date of
Waterloo?" "You've got me this time, sir." Then I had an
inspiration. Feigning to take up a telephone-receiver, and to
speak down it, I begged for "Willconk, One, O, double-six,
please." Twenty blithesome wounded Tommies at once went through an
elaborate pantomime of unhooking receivers, and asked anxiously
for "Willconk--One, O, double-six, miss, please. No, miss, I
didn't say, 'City, six, eight, five, four'; I said 'Willconk, One,
O, double-six.' Thank you, miss; now I can let mother know I'm
coming to tea." This, accompanied by much playful badinage with
the imaginary operator, proved immensely popular, but "Willconk,
One, O, double-six" stuck in the brains of my blue-clothed flock.
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