On this page
-
Text (2)
-
October 7, 1854 J THE LEADER. 951
-
SCHOOL. EXPERIENCES. School Experiences ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Oldham And His Poetry. The Poetical Work...
Thati Heaven- would bles 3 me with a small estate , Where I might find a close obscure retreat ; , There , free from noise and all ambitious ends , Enjoy a few choice books , and fewer friends , Lord of myself , accountable to none , But to my conscience and my God alone : There live unthoaght of , and unheard of die , And grudge mankind my very memory . But since the blessing is , I find , too great For me to wish for , or expect of fate ; Yet , maugre all tlie spite of destiny , My thoughts and actions are , and shall be ^ free . We cannot conclude without congratulating Mrs- Bell on the manner in which , he has performed his editorial duties . In this volume—as indeed in all the previously-published volumes of his English Poets—he shows himself to be thoroughly equal to the necessities of his honourable and arduous undertaking . His notes are simple , straightforward , and comprehensible . They are never unnecessarily introduced , and never distorted from tlieir fit purpose of serving purely and simply as explanations . Mr . Bell" thoroughly understands , what it is not given to every editor to understand , tbat It is his business to address himself to the public at large and riot to a select audience of antiquaries . With such qualifications for the performance of his task , the imdertaking in which he is now engaged , deserves success , andj we believe , will certainly obtain it .
October 7, 1854 J The Leader. 951
October 7 , 1854 J THE LEADER . 951
School. Experiences. School Experiences ...
SCHOOL . EXPERIENCES . School Experiences of a Fwg at a Private and a . Public School . By George Mellyr . Smith , Elder s / and Co . A circumstance occurred , not long ago , at ' Harrow * , wbich carried the whole system , of public school life Under discussion . A monitor bad ' * caned " one of the younger boys with such severity , for a very miiaor offence , that the case was brou ght before tlie head master , who very jroperly decided that the monitor should leave tbe school at the end of the half year . The facts were very clear . The monitor had exceeded the bounds of Ms authority , and he suffered the only punishment that the rules of tlie school allowed of . But did it follow from ; this , that the system .-was bad ? Had this one circumstance proved that it was dangerous , to entrust a pertain munbeir of boys in a school with supreme authority over the rest , —or ,. , even if monitors were found _ essential to the maintenance of order ,, was . it right to give the monitors the power of " fagging" the other boys ? With only one exception , so far as we recollect , the press was unanimous in ¦ -it ' s deck
sion that the whole system was thoroughly bad .. A . good deal was sail about the " tyranny" which a score or two of boys were allowed to exercise ^ and . the public , were- strongly urged to crush it for ever :. If this is really triKv how does it happen thatt the testimony of the most eminent schoolmasters ,. ancVof almost every boy who-has been at a . public school , is in favour o £ in > - vesting monitors with very extensive powers , and . that the complaints are made not against " fagging , " but against the abuse of it ? The truth is , that life at a public school can never be properly understood except by those who-have passed through it , and we are inclined } , therefore , to attach the greatest weight to the evidence of one < so competent tdfgivefan opinioia . as Dr . Arnold , and of those who , like Mr . Mbjllt , supply -us with a simple record , of their School Experiences . Every one knows . what Dr ; Arnoud ? s opinion , was on both these disputed points .- As . soom as he was established at Rugby , he Resolved " -tp us © j and to improve to the . utmost , the existing machinery of the-Sixth Form , andof fagging : understandinffhy . the Sixth Form
the thirty boys who compose the highest class—those who , having risen'to the highest form in the school , will probably be at once ^ the oldest , the strongest , and tlie cleverest ; and , if the school be well ordered ,, the . most respectable in application and in general character : and by fagging , the power given by the supreme authorities of the school to the Sixth Form , to be exexeised by them over the lower hoys , for the sake of securing a regular government among , the boys themselves , and avoiding the evils of anarchy , or , in other words ., of the lawless tyranny of physical strength . " The public opinion of the day was strongly against him ; the system was denounced aa cruel and absurd ; but he stood forth as its champion , persevered , and was successful . In his hands , the Sixth Form were more like colleagues than pupils . " When I have confidence m the Sixth , " was the end of one of his farewell addresses , " there is no post in England which I would , exchange for this ; but if they do not support me , I must go . " Indeed , without some auch machinery , no head master could maintain his own authority . The only alternative is the
appointment ot a stall of masters fdr the special office of " watering" the boys ; and as for " fagging , " wo do not hesitate to say that more nonsense has been written on the subject than on' any other that wo know of . It is not thus that the younger bovs , aa a general rulo , avo bullied out of their lives , " nor that , they feel humiliated b y being compelled to obey their " monir tor . " The state of the case is simply this : the . monitor is bound , to protect his " fag , " and tlio " fag"" repays his protection by services which he rarely fools to bo buvdenaome . Here is Mr . Melly ' s . Experiment om the point : —> The subject of fagging nt public schools Una lately elicited so > many rcjtmrlts , and occupied bo much of tlie public attention , that I cannot bo content with merely leaving the render to gather such incidental details aa may bo found in tlio preceding paces of my School Experience .
^ I am awuro that Englishmen nro indignant , and most rightly so , at nil . illegal violence and arbitrary exerciso of power . Not only does a mother's heart throb at the recital of a Ktory of schoolboy tyranny ; but ovory honest man ' s spirit is rousod * nion ho sees tho might of the strong prpvail over the right of the weak . All who nave the feelings of Englishmen , arc equnlly romly to enlist the columns ' of the morning papora in defence of tho oppressed fag , ns to rush to mrns to succour on oppressed nation . But as ono havhIIow clocn not mmfce n summer , neither should one well authenticated enso of atrocious nbiino of monitorial power suffice to brand tho Hystem with infamy . JJesidos , ns wo nil judge of lifo by our individual experience of it—by tlio trial * we ourselves have undergone — so each man judges of fagging by his recollections of hid « wn school-daysand Cho impressionof hi « own youthful troubles
, , . 9 a m » ™ nouH P ul ) 13 ° « n ( l privnto schools , wliich are tho pride of this country , each « cuirorcntly governed ; tho discipline of one would be considered tyrannical or flsrol-«» no uy another ; tho anmo tenna do not express tho sruuo ideas in nil . The favourite
game of one would be voted in & a dig . ia . the . o-ther ; , and , cricket ,, football ,. rackets , Hockey , or evea marbles , may : be , considered . " the thing , " atone , and regarded with contempt by others . Some schools , seem to be preserved front alii vice and irregularities by a score q £ masters ; others appear to be trampled . vundevfoot by the tyranny and severe lickings of half a . hundred monitors ; while a . few keep themselves . free fronx the attacks of " PatexfaJniliaa , " and " A Briton , " and escape unreviled andunlaudefl ; . heing neither field up to public admiration for their merits , nor to pulxlic odium fox then- faults . Yet it ia possible that high moral principle and manly self-reliance might not exist in the first , while moral energy , gentlenian 3 y spirit , good feeJing ,, might prevail in the second , and deplorable laxity and irregularity might characterise , the third .
I with difficulty restrain myself from replying to the abuse that has . lately been lavished on . the monitorial system , which hardly one of the . writers upon it seems , to understand . But ; this- , is intended , as a narrative ,, and I wish to avoid controversy Pamphlet after pamphlet has "been hurled at the devoted heads of the masters who have countenanced a system under which they were born and bred , and which , they found worked * well with . them . Nervous- mothers , who were happy in the firm belief that their sons were being educated , in , tlie best . schools , of the land ,, both as to intellectual attainments ,, discipline * and real moral worth , hav . e been , alarmed by appeals to their maternal anxiety ,, forwarded to them by post ; and . an isolated instance of the brutal exercise of monitorial power has . induced a fierce attack on the whole , internal government of time-honoured institutions , which have' educated , and are educating annually , thousands of young men , the < fliie of the . nation .
My aim . is not to defend . fagging , for trsuly I believe it to need no defence ; tut to show ., from my own experience as a , fag in one of our great , public ; schools , and not the least of them ,, the working-of the system ,: what we suffered ,, and : how we bore it ; the protection it afforded to our bodies -when young , and . to our minds , when older . I must premise , that if fagging is ever to be temperately discussed ,, or its trials , fairly described , it must be by those who , like myself , liave not their remembrance of being fagged dimmed by the recollection of the pleasure of fagging others—by those who have endured all the servitude , and have never enjoyed the rule . During tie ' five years I spent at Ilarhy I was a fag for three years , and a half , and remained one year and a half in an intermediate state—neither fag nor captain ^—leaving ' school just as I was * about to enter the monitorial claSfi .
What constitutes the difference betvrceh a ptiMic and a private scliool ? It is not the numbers , for . many of oui private schools containtwo or three hundred boys . It is selfrgovermnent . We admit and cherish the , principle in every other relation of life ? why refuse to admit it here ? The British , constitution is founded on the principle of local self-government , and the great -value of a public school is its close resemblance to the outer world around it . At ITarby we liad our monitors—a local council of forty ; our public meetings—the rest of the school being often summoned to deliberate together ; our laws , made by the majority and obeyed by all ; our taxes—and veryheavy we found them ; our periodical press , and very amusing it waa-The Sixth Form at Barby was composed of about forty of the most learned , and the oldest members-of the school ; many of them were almost men /—none of . theaa . were younger than , seventeen , and they were made fully to understand , when . , they entered into that
class , the grave responsibility of the duties intrusted , to-them . to . perform ; . They were to be in the capacity of gentiemen-Txshers , with power to punish certain oflfences with certain penalties ; and , in the majority of cases ,, without referring to the masters at all . Of course , in , a matter of any imgortaivce , it woxild be their , duty to > place tie whole affair immediately before the head-master of . the school . Tn many cases they had to break with friends wlio were too free : and easy in tlieir obscr ^ 'ance of school rules , and -who were in the habit of disregarding those which prohibited a quiet cigar by the river side ,-or a bottle of champagne in- the 'bedroom feast . In all cases they were in'honour bound to eschew all such practices themselves , and to lead lives of such regularity in their studies and respectability in their conduct , as to set . a- good example to the school and to their- houses ; that they-should be able' to punishi all offences against school discipline ^ without rendering themselves liable to the " et tu quoquc" retort , " " Why you doiust the some yonrselfi "
Their duties were numerous—they had ! to be constantly on . the watch to prevent bullying and illegal fagging- ; to b & in- , turn oh duty in the schools and out of ttoun & s ; to road ' prayers , and keep order in , their own houses ; andi— -hardest . task , of allr—to keep well with their scliool-iellows : to be neither too . lax and undigniuedias .-mastors * nor too severe and arrogant as friends . And *; in . most caaes , they succeeded admir rably : tho greatest favourites of tho sehool generally became monitors , ! and hardly a change was apparent in their deportmeat and manners . M they were treated with , a little more respect by tho little boys ; , they made up for it by increased protection , and greater kindness than > as big boys only , they had , been able to bestow . ' To ropay them for the hard duty thoyt undertook ,, and to recompense them fur these sacrifices they made , they were allowed to fag the younger boys : subject to cevfeain . fixed rules , and restrained by many well-known customs . Their breakfasts were made and laid out ready for them in the morning ; their studies wore kept clean and neat ; their fires were not allowed to go out for wtmt of fuel in winter ; their flowera and plants were not allowed to wither for want of water in summer ;• their hooka wore carried to and from school in lesson time ; their wickets wore pitched and fielded for in play hours ; their tea was made , nmd tlieir broad toasted or battered , in tho evon , - ing ; their suppers were- taken to their studies at night ; and their warm , water , candles , lexicons , or novels , carried up to their rooms at bed-time .
School-fagging consisted in " fickling out , " during practice hours , and scoring , or standing umpire at matches . The former was made much use of l > y amatoura in the monitorial claas , in order to form goocl cricketers to replace any of tlio school * eleven " who might leave ; in order that the groat public school matches to come should mainttain tlie Ilarbean reputation for cricket , unshorn of its laurels , and untarnished , in . ita fame . Many a boy with a buto eye , a strong wris t , nnd a manly form , would much have preferred passing his leisure in lying on the grassy slopes during the , ' summer , and enjoying such intellectual recreation an the prose of Alexandra Dumas or the poetry of Byron afforded ; but the head of tho school had determined that he should becomo « great cricketer , and he wns- dedicated to tho gamo . Bay after day he is faggod for hours . At first , he detests being compelled to stand up before , a "wicket nnd defend it ( us well as hit ) legs ) from the swiftly-deliverodl balls of the head of tno eleven , and tlio proferiftional bowlers ; Imfc n few nio-nths after , he tlcft a . blue oilk ribbon round his straw hot , and walkn the playground in the enviable ponition oC a membar of tho school elevenand in devoted to hit ) quondam-. enemy tho bat .
, Tho pouts of scorer and umpiro in tho groat matches wero much Houffht oftor ; for then you commanded a good view of the exciting game ., mixed with the k )» d < ir «" of tltc school for a fuw hours , nnd nftorwuwlH constituted yourself u great critic of nil that whs well or ill done 5 imposing by your superior knowledge on your lews f « ggo < l memla . But , with these uxcoptions , wo found cricket-fugging hard , jwluM vrork .. I ' or two coneocutivo hourH , day aftuv day , did tho now boy gu « nJ the wicJcot , in tho liot . luinmer nftornooiiH ? nnd if bia friondH ( for no enemy would mulw ho cruel a ronuirit . ; saia w him , " Why , you will noon get rid of fufwmfr - and w » U ''" « lwl lo , * A ° ; 1 iwl 1 about cricket , and how to piny wvH" —h « inifrlit w « II h « vo nii « wwwl , A blaak ( laso may euro you of an indigestion , nnd make you nrKcr afwrwnrdM , nnd tho tnirtu w ooon out of your month : Ji « t tlmt does wot m « J « o it l'ltwmintw to take ., H-owever , if yon in any way ( l » Hti « gi . i » h yimrHelf , you w « ro xnntnntly free , « ndcouW net bo fugged again the unmo-dny . indeed , few boys m thair second or tlucd ttalfr
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 7, 1854, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07101854/page/15/
-