H.E. Bates Companion

A humorous tale, in which a scuffle between two boys over an "ice-cornet" leads to a general melee involving their parents and neighbors. At the story's end, the boy's have come to a pleasant agreement, while the adults remain "at war." Set in "a communal courtyard, a playground and a gossiping place for a dozen families" (which Bates must have experienced or at least seen growing up in Rushden), the story reflects the dialect and spirit of a working-class neighborhood. In Charles Wain: a Miscellany of Short Stories (1933), New Clarion (1933, iv, 79, pp. 6, 12).