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diff --git a/33777-8.txt b/33777-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c33950 --- /dev/null +++ b/33777-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14702 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tom Brown at Rugby, by Thomas Hughes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tom Brown at Rugby + +Author: Thomas Hughes + +Editor: Clara Weaver Robinson + +Release Date: September 20, 2010 [EBook #33777] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM BROWN AT RUGBY *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Classics for Children. + + TOM BROWN AT RUGBY + + BY AN OLD BOY + (THOMAS HUGHES). + + EDITED BY + CLARA WEAVER ROBINSON. + + BOSTON, U.S.A. + GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. + 1902 + + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by + GINN & COMPANY, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, + at Washington. + + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. + + TYPOGRAPHY BY J. S. CUSHING & CO., BOSTON, U.S.A. + + PRESSWORK BY GINN & CO., BOSTON, U.S.A. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +In these days of zealous reform in school methods, it is well to keep +in mind the true aim of all education,--the right development of +character. It is important that our children acquire extensive +knowledge, and sound habits of thought; it is imperative that they +become honest, steadfast, and manly. Dr. Arnold, as head-master of +Rugby School, was eminently successful in attaining this object. In +"Tom Brown's School Days," Mr. Hughes has caught, and immortalized, +the spirit of his old teacher's work. While the book emphasizes the +peculiar moral earnestness of Dr. Arnold's pupils, it is free from all +suspicion of cant. Those who enjoy its pages should read also Dean +Stanley's admirable life of the great schoolmaster. We trust that it +will be many years before we cease to read the life of Mr. Hughes in +his daily works of goodwill to his fellow-men. + +The notes have been prepared for children in the grammar school, as +explained in Mr. Ginn's preface to the "Lady of the Lake," in this +series. + +A few passages have been omitted from the original text, in the +belief that it will thus be better adapted for the use of American +schoolboys; and the typographical errors of former editions have +been corrected. + + N. L. R. + + CANTON, N.Y., + _October_ 20, 1888. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +PART I. + + CHAPTER I. + THE BROWN FAMILY 1 + + CHAPTER II. + THE "VEAST" 24 + + CHAPTER III. + SUNDRY WARS AND ALLIANCES 49 + + CHAPTER IV. + THE STAGE COACH 73 + + CHAPTER V. + RUGBY AND FOOT-BALL 92 + + CHAPTER VI. + AFTER THE MATCH 118 + + CHAPTER VII. + SETTLING TO THE COLLAR 139 + + CHAPTER VIII. + THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 163 + + CHAPTER IX. + A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS 189 + + +PART II. + + CHAPTER I. + HOW THE TIDE TURNED 215 + + CHAPTER II. + THE NEW BOY 230 + + CHAPTER III. + ARTHUR MAKES A FRIEND 246 + + CHAPTER IV. + THE BIRD-FANCIERS 264 + + CHAPTER V. + THE FIGHT 281 + + CHAPTER VI. + FEVER IN THE SCHOOL 303 + + CHAPTER VII. + HARRY EAST'S DILEMMAS AND DELIVERANCES 324 + + CHAPTER VIII. + TOM BROWN'S LAST MATCH 343 + + CHAPTER IX. + FINIS 370 + + +INDEX TO NOTES 381 + + + + +THOMAS HUGHES. + + +Thomas Hughes is a native of the royal county of Berkshire, England. +From the nursery windows of the old farmhouse in Uffington, where he +was born, in 1823, he delighted in looking out on that famous White +Horse Hill which he describes in the opening chapters of "Tom Brown's +School Days." + +His father was such an English squire as he represents Tom's father to +be, and his grandfather was vicar of the parish, and therefore a man +of a good deal of local influence. When a child, young Hughes must +have become familiar with the old parish church, which dates almost +from the time of William the Conqueror, and which has within it some +Roman brickwork which carries one back to the days when Agricola's +legions were building walled towns in Britain. + +Thus the lad's earliest recollections would naturally be of these two +landmarks--the ivy-grown church, with its twenty and more generations +buried round it, and the great chalk hill whose rudely carved White +Horse can be seen gleaming in the sunshine full ten miles away, just +as it did when Alfred the Great cut it to commemorate his victory over +the Northmen a thousand years ago. + +Thomas had a brother George, who was a little older than he, and who +was his opposite in many respects. From him he learned many lessons +which helped to shape his after life. George was quick to turn his +hand to anything, and a lover of all out-door sports; if they had a +spice of danger in them, so much the better. Thomas, on the other +hand, was naturally both awkward and timid; the sound of a gun +frightened him; and a pet pony soon found that, while George was his +master, he was Thomas's, and meant to keep so. Thomas was ashamed of +what he called his two left hands, with which he never seemed to get +the right hold of anything the first time. He was still more ashamed +of his timidity. That feeling of fear he could not prevent. +Eventually, however, he did better; he so mastered it that he could +bravely face what he feared, so making duty stand him in the stead of +that mere physical courage, which is often but another name for +insensibility to danger. + +When he reached the age of seven he went to Twyford to school. Here he +found how easy it is to get a nickname, and how hard it is to get rid +of it. One of his first lessons related to Greek literature and to the +history of Cadmus, who was said to have "first carried letters from +Asia to Greece." Instead of asking the question in the book, the +master demanded, "What was Cadmus?" This new way of questioning +disconcerted the class, who were prepared to tell who Cadmus was, but +not what he was. But young Hughes, remembering the letter-carrier at +Uffington, suddenly jumped up and shouted out, "I can tell! Cadmus was +a postman, sir!" From that day the boy was christened "Cadmus" by his +companions, a name which, for convenience' sake, was soon shortened to +"Cad,"--a particularly aggravating abbreviation, since in England a +"cad" is the exact opposite of a gentleman. Then all sorts of +ingenious and mischievous changes were rung on it until poor "Cadmus" +was in a fair way of being driven wild with torment. Wherever he went +the walls echoed with the jeering cry. But luckily for him his brother +George happened to hear a big fellow teasing the lad, and rushing up +with clenched fist and blazing eyes, thrashed the bully so soundly +that after that Thomas enjoyed entire immunity from the objectionable +title. + +After about three years at Twyford, the two brothers were sent to the +school at Rugby, then under the mastership of Doctor Arnold, who +proved himself to be the ablest teacher in England; not because he +taught his boys more than any other educator, but because more than +any other he awakened in them the true spirit of manhood. "Tom Brown's +School Days" is a record of the eight happy years that the lads spent +under the Doctor's influence. From Rugby they went to Oxford, where +Thomas Hughes graduated at Oriel College in 1845. The timid "Cadmus" +of Twyford not only passed through Rugby with credit to himself in +foot-ball, in Greek verses, and in the manly art of self-defence, but +he got a "Double First" at Oxford--that is, the highest honors in the +mathematics and the classics--and was elected captain of the 'Varsity +Crew and captain of the University Eleven at cricket as well. + +It was while young Hughes was at Oriel that the corn law agitation +reached its height. A heavy duty on all imported grain had made bread +so dear that thousands of English workmen, with their families, were +brought to the verge of starvation. John Bright earnestly espoused +their cause and urged Parliament to repeal a tax that enriched a few +at the expense of a suffering multitude. Elliott, the "Corn Law +Rhymer," stirred the feelings of the masses with his impassioned +appeals in verse, so that all over the country hollow-cheeked artisans +were repeating the lines,-- + + "England! what for mine and me, + What hath bread-tax done for thee? + + * * * * * + + Cursed thy harvest, cursed thy land, + Hunger-stung thy skill'd right hand." + +Thomas Hughes became a convert to the Liberal movement, which shortly +after succeeded in repealing a tariff that had been the cause of such +wide-spread misery. From that day his sympathies have always been with +those classes who are called to earn the least and endure the most; +and when in 1848 he was admitted to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, London, +he had got the name of being a radical and a reformer in politics--a +name, then, rather more dreadful to steady-going, conservative English +country gentlemen of the "Squire Brown" type than that of mad dog. + +But long before this the young man had got over his dread of +opprobrious names, and his fear of those who have nothing harder to +hurl. + +With a few other resolute spirits he set himself to work to organize +those joint-stock industries and business enterprises which have since +developed into the colossal co-operative stores of London and the +cotton mills of Oldham, representing many millions of capital, the +combined savings of thrifty artisans and other persons of small means. + +In all this, Mr. Hughes's avowed object has been "to make England the +best place for workingmen to live in that the sun ever shone upon." +Whether that can be done or not in this age of the world is certainly +open to question, but it is equally certain that there can be no +possible harm in making the attempt. That the workingmen have +appreciated the effort is evident from the fact that they elected Mr. +Hughes to Parliament in 1865. It is said that ordinarily the expense +of getting into the House of Commons--an unpaid body--averages about +$75,000, which the candidate or his friends must be prepared to spend. +But in Lambeth, a district of London, inhabited almost wholly by poor +men, two hundred of Mr. Hughes's admirers came forward and worked +night and day without receiving a single shilling of any man's money, +solely with the determination of seeing their candidate succeed. + +Since then, the writer of "Tom Brown's School Days" would certainly +have broken down from overwork if he had not been, as he says, an +"Angular Saxon" and a muscular Christian as well. During his nine +years' pull in the political harness he earned the double honor of +helping forward the cause of the people and at the same time he so won +the regard of the Crown that he received the appointment of Queen's +Counsel. While member of Parliament Mr. Hughes was likewise carrying +on a large and lucrative law practice, acting as president of the +Workingmen's College, which he was instrumental in founding; serving +as referee in disputes between manufacturers and their employees in +such a way as to get the respect and good-will of both; serving also +as director in co-operative banks, coal mines, cotton mills, machine +shops, grocery stores, land and building associations; besides being +chief manager of the Crystal Palace company, and colonel in a +volunteer rifle corps. + +Yet well known as Mr. Hughes is for his manifold political and +philanthropic services, he is still better known by his books. Though +with him literature has been rather a recreation than a vocation, yet +his fame seems destined to rest on it, and especially on his "Tom +Brown," which has been pronounced "the best description of public +school life that ever has been, or is ever likely to be, written." +This famous work, published in 1858, was followed the next year by +"The Scouring of the White Horse," a story of his favorite White Horse +Hill. Three years later came "Tom Brown at Oxford," then "The Life of +Alfred the Great," and lastly his "Memoirs of a Brother" and his +"Manliness of Christ," besides scores, if not hundreds, of magazine +and review articles and letters to London and American papers. + +In 1870 Mr. Hughes made the tour of this country, receiving such a +welcome from his many friends as "Tom Brown" was sure to get from both +old and young. Ten years afterward he undertook to establish an +English colony in the Cumberland Mountains of East Tennessee. It was +called Rugby, and it was founded in the hope that it might be useful +to many educated young men of good families who could find no opening +worthy of their powers at home. As he said, "Of the many sad sights in +England there is none sadder than this, of first-rate human material +going helplessly to waste, and in too many cases beginning to sour and +taint, instead of strengthening the national life." A hundred years +before, Franklin had expressed the same conviction in his pithy maxim, +"'Tis hard for an empty bag to stand upright." It was to fill these +vacant lives with honest work and its rewards that Thomas Hughes +started his emigration to the wilds of Tennessee. There, co-operation +was to be tried in farming, cattle-raising, lumbering, and trade, thus +saving the community of workers from that "infinite terror of not +making money," which Carlyle declared was the only thing that now +stirred deep fear in the souls of his countrymen. Many an ardent young +man fresh from the old Rugby of "Tom Brown" fame fondly hoped that the +new, western Rugby might enable him to say with Tennyson's "Northern +Farmer," as he listened to the music of his horse's hoofs on the road +home from market,-- + + "Proputty, proputty, proputty,--that's what I 'ears 'em saäy"; + +but, unfortunately, the "proputty" will not always come even at the +bidding of hard work and active brains. The Tennessee enterprise has +not commanded success, though doubtless, as Addison would say, it has +done better--it has deserved it. + +Since the inauguration of the movement Mr. Hughes has been appointed +county judge of Cheshire, and now makes his home in the quaint old +town of Chester, the county seat. He is verging on the limit of that +threescore and ten which the Psalmist allotted as the measure of +human life. Few men in our day can look back over a busier or more +fruitful career. The awkward and timid boy has shown the world what +rare force of self-conquest, of persevering growth, of grappling with +difficulties, and of successful achievement was to come out of that +unpromising beginning. Because of this, we are all debtors to the +author of "Tom Brown"; not only for his books, but still more because +we see that these books are the frank expression of a brave, earnest, +and untiring spirit. + + D. H. M. + + + + +TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS. + +_PART I._ + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BROWN FAMILY. + + "I'm the Poet of White Horse Vale, sir, + With liberal notions under my cap."--_Ballad._ + + +The Browns have become illustrious by the pen of Thackeray and the +pencil of Doyle,[1] within the memory of the young gentlemen who are +now matriculating[2] at the universities. Notwithstanding the +well-merited but late fame which has now fallen upon them, any one at +all acquainted with the family must feel that much has yet to be +written and said before the British nation will be properly sensible +of how much of its greatness it owes to the Browns. For centuries, in +their quiet, dogged, homespun way, they have been subduing the earth +in most English counties, and leaving their mark in American forests +and Australian uplands. Wherever the fleets and armies of England have +won renown, there stalwart sons of the Browns have done yeomen's[3] +work. With the yew bow and cloth-yard shaft[4] at Cressy and +Agincourt[5]--with the brown bill[6] and pike under the brave Lord +Willoughby--with culverin and demi-culverin[7] against Spaniards and +Dutchmen--with hand-grenade[8] and sabre, and musket and bayonet, +under Rodney[9] and St. Vincent, Wolfe and Moore, Nelson and +Wellington, they have carried their lives in their hands; getting hard +knocks and hard work in plenty, which was, on the whole, what they +looked for, and the best thing for them; and little praise or pudding, +which indeed they, and most of us, are better without. Talbots[10] +and Stanleys, St. Maurs, and such-like folk have led armies and made +laws time out of mind; but those noble families would be somewhat +astounded--if the accounts ever came to be fairly taken--to find how +small their work for England has been by the side of that of the +Browns. + + [1] #Doyle#: an English artist noted for his humorous and + satirical designs. + + [2] #Matriculating#: entering. + + [3] #Yeomen#: small independent farmers. They have generally + constituted the best part of the English army. + + [4] #Cloth-yard shaft#: an arrow a yard in length. + + [5] #Cressy and Agincourt#: English victories over the French + in 1346 and 1415. + + [6] #Bill#: a combined spear and battle-axe. + + [7] #Culverin and demi-culverin#: ancient forms of cannon. + + [8] #Hand-grenade#: a kind of bomb or shell thrown by hand. + + [9] #Rodney#, etc.: famous English naval and military + commanders. + + [10] #Talbots#, etc.: noted family names of the English + nobility. + +These latter, indeed, have until the present generation rarely been +sung by poet, or chronicled by sage. They have wanted their "sacer +vates,"[11] having been too solid to rise to the top by themselves, +and not having been largely gifted with the talent of catching hold +of, and holding on tight to, whatever good things happened to be +going--the foundation of the fortunes of so many noble families. But +the world goes on its way, and the wheel turns, and the wrongs of the +Browns, like other wrongs, seem in a fair way to get righted. And this +present writer, having for many years of his life been a devout +Brown-worshipper, and moreover having the honor of being nearly +connected with an eminently respectable branch of the great Brown +family, is anxious, so far as in him lies, to help the wheel over, +and throw his stone[12] on to the pile. + + [11] #"Sacer vates"#: inspired bard or poet. + + [12] #Throw his stone#, etc.: help to build their cairn or + monument. + + +THE BROWN CHARACTER. + +However, gentle reader, or simple reader, whichever you may be, lest +you should be led to waste your precious time upon these pages, I make +so bold as at once to tell you the sort of folk you'll have to meet +and put up with, if you and I are to jog on comfortably together. You +shall hear at once what sort of folk the Browns are, at least my +branch of them; and then if you don't like the sort, why cut the +concern at once, and let you and I cry quits before either of us can +grumble at the other. In the first place, the Browns are a fighting +family. One may question their wisdom, or wit, or beauty, but about +their fight there can be no question. Wherever hard knocks of any +kind, visible or invisible, are going, there the Brown who is nearest +must shove in his carcass. And these carcasses for the most part +answer very well to the characteristic propensity; they are a +square-headed and snake-necked generation, broad in the shoulder, deep +in the chest, and thin in the flank, carrying no lumber. Then for +clanship,[13] they are as bad as Highlanders; it is amazing the belief +they have in one another. With them there is nothing like the Browns, +to the third and fourth generation. "Blood is thicker than water," is +one of their pet sayings. They can't be happy unless they are always +meeting one another. Never was such people for family gatherings, +which, were you a stranger, or sensitive, you might think had better +not have been gathered together. For during the whole time of their +being together they luxuriate in telling one another their minds on +whatever subject turns up; and their minds are wonderfully +antagonistic, and all their opinions are downright beliefs. Till +you've been among them some time and understand them, you can't think +but that they are quarrelling. Not a bit of it; they love and respect +one another ten times the more after a good set family arguing +bout,[14] and go back, one to his curacy,[15] another to his +chambers,[16] and another to his regiment, freshened for work, and +more than ever convinced that the Browns are the height of company. + + [13] #Clanship#: here, the holding together of a class, tribe, + or family. + + [14] #Bout#: contest. + + [15] #Curacy#: parish. + + [16] #Chambers#: law offices. + +This family training, too, combined with their turn for combativeness, +makes them eminently quixotic.[17] They can't let anything alone which +they think going wrong. They must speak their mind about it, annoying +all easy-going folk; and spend their time and money in having a tinker +at it, however hopeless the job. It is an impossibility to a Brown to +leave the most disreputable lame dog on the other side of a stile. +Most other folk get tired of such work. The old Browns, with red +faces, white whiskers, and bald heads, go on believing and fighting to +a green old age. They have always a crotchet[18] going, till the old +man with a scythe[19] reaps and garners them away for troublesome old +boys as they are. + +And the most provoking thing is, that no failures knock them up, or +make them hold their hands, or think you, or me, or other sane people +in the right. Failures slide off them like July rain off a duck's back +feathers. Jem and his whole family turn out bad, and cheat them one +week, and the next they are doing the same thing for Jack; and when he +goes to the treadmill,[20] and his wife and children to the workhouse, +they will be on the look-out for Bill to take his place. + + [17] #Quixotic#: romantic or visionary + + [18] #Crotchet#: whim, notion, "hobby." + + [19] #Old man with a scythe#: Father Time. + + [20] #Treadmill#: a wheel on which prisoners were formerly + compelled to work. + + +TOM BROWN'S BIRTHPLACE. + +However, it is time for us to get from the general to the particular; +so, leaving the great army of Browns, who are scattered over the whole +empire on which the sun never sets, and whose general diffusion I take +to be the chief cause of that empire's stability, let us at once fix +our attention upon the small nest of Browns in which our hero was +hatched, and which dwelt in that portion of the Royal County of +Berks,[21] which is called the Vale of White Horse. + + [21] #Berks#: Berkshire, a county west of London. It is called + "Royal" because it is the seat of Windsor Castle. The Vale of + the White Horse gets its name from the gigantic image of a + horse cut through the turf in the side of a chalk hill. + Tradition says it was done over a thousand year ago, to + commemorate a great victory over the Danes by Alfred. + +Most of you have probably travelled down the Great Western Railway as +far as Swindon. Those of you who did so with your eyes open have been +aware, soon after leaving the Didcot Station, of a fine range of chalk +hills running parallel with the railway on the left-hand side as you +go down, and distant some two or three miles, more or less, from the +line. The highest point in the range is the White Horse Hill, which +you come in front of just before you stop at the Shrivenham Station. +If you love English scenery and have a few hours to spare, you can't +do better, the next time you pass, than stop at the Farringdon road or +Shrivenham Station, and make your way to that highest point. And those +who care for the vague old stories that haunt country-sides all about +England, will not, if they are wise, be content with only a few hours' +stay; for, glorious as the view is, the neighborhood is yet more +interesting for its relics of by-gone times. I only know two English +neighborhoods thoroughly, and in each, within a circle of five miles, +there is enough of interest and beauty to last any reasonable man his +life. I believe this to be the case almost throughout the country, but +each has a special attraction, and none can be richer than the one I +am speaking of and going to introduce you to very particularly; for on +this subject I must be prosy; so those that don't care for England in +detail may skip the chapter. + + +THE OLD BOY MOURNETH OVER YOUNG ENGLAND. + +O young England! young England! You who are born into these racing +railroad times, when there's a Great Exhibition, or some monster sight +every year, and you can get over a couple of thousand miles of ground +for three pound ten,[22] in a five weeks' holiday, why don't you know +more of your own birthplaces? You're all in the ends of the earth it +seems to me, as soon as you get your necks out of the educational collar +for midsummer holidays, long vacations, or what not. Going round +Ireland, with a return ticket, in a fortnight; dropping your copies of +Tennyson on the tops of Swiss mountains; or pulling down the Danube in +Oxford racing-boats. And when you get home for a quiet fortnight, you +turn the steam off, and lie on your backs in the paternal garden, +surrounded by the last batch of books from Mudie's Library, and half +bored to death. + + [22] #Three pound ten# (shillings): the English shilling is + about twenty five cents, and the pound may be called five + dollars. + +Well, well! I know it has its good side. You all patter French more or +less, and perhaps German; you have seen men and cities, no doubt, and +have your opinions, such as they are, about schools of painting, high +art, and all that; have seen the pictures at Dresden[23] and the +Louvre,[24] and know the taste of sauer-kraut.[25] All I say is, you +don't know your own lanes and woods and fields. Though you may be +chock-full of science, not one in twenty of you knows where to find +the wood-sorrel, or bee-orchis,[26] which grows in the next wood or on +the down[27] three miles off, or what the bog-bean and wood-sage are +good for. And as for the country legends, the stories of the old +gable-ended farm-houses, the place where the last skirmish was fought +in the civil wars,[28] where the parish butts[29] stood, where the +last highwayman turned to bay, where the last ghost was laid[30] by +the parson, they're gone out of date altogether. + + [23] #Dresden#: a city of Germany, noted for its treasures of + art. + + [24] #The Louvre#: an ancient palace in Paris, containing vast + collections of sculptures and paintings. + + [25] #Sauer-kraut#: a German dish, prepared from cabbage. + + [26] #Bee-orchis# (orkis): a wild-flower resembling a bee. + + [27] #Down#: a barren hill of chalk or sand. + + [28] #Civil wars#: those between Parliament and King Charles + I., in the seventeenth century. + + [29] #Butts#: targets for archery practice. Before the + invention of gunpowder they were set up by law in every + parish. + + [30] #Laid#: dispelled by religious ceremonies. + +Now, in my time, when we got home by the old coach, which put us down +at the cross-roads with our boxes, the first day of the holidays, and +had been driven off by the family coachman, singing "Dulce domum"[31] +at the top of our voices, there we were, fixtures, till black +Monday[32] came round. We had to cut out our own amusements within a +walk or a ride of home. And so we got to know all the country folk, +and their ways and songs and stories, by heart; and went over the +fields and woods and hills again and again, till we made friends of +them all. We were Berkshire, or Gloucestershire, or Yorkshire boys: +and you're young cosmopolites,[33] belonging to all counties and no +countries. No doubt it's all right; I dare say it is. This is the day +of large views and glorious humanity, and all that; but I wish +backsword play[34] hadn't gone out in the Vale of White Horse, and +that that confounded Great Western hadn't carried away Alfred's Hill +to make an embankment. + + [31] #Dulce domum#: sweet home. + + [32] #Black Monday#: the end of the holidays. + + +VALES IN GENERAL. + +But to return to the said Vale of White Horse, the country in which +the first scenes of this true and interesting story are laid. As I +said, the Great Western now runs right through it, and it is a land of +large rich pastures, bounded by ox-fences, and covered with fine +hedgerow timber, with here and there a nice little gorse[35] or +spinney,[36] where abideth poor Charley,[37] having no other cover[38] +to which to betake himself for miles and miles, when pushed out some +fine November morning by the Old Berkshire.[39] Those who have been +there, and well mounted, only know how he and the staunch little pack +who dash after him--heads high and sterns low, with a breast-high +scent--can consume the ground at such times. There being little +plow-land, and few woods, the Vale is only an average sporting +country, except for hunting. The villages are straggling, queer +old-fashioned places, the houses being dropped down without the least +regularity, in nooks and out-of-the-way corners, by the sides of +shadowy lanes and footpaths, each with its patch of garden. They are +built chiefly of good gray-stone and thatched;[40] though I see that +within the last year or two the red brick cottages are multiplying, +for the Vale is beginning to manufacture largely both bricks and +tiles. There are lots of waste ground by the side of the roads in +every village, amounting often to village greens, where feed the pigs +and ganders of the people; and these roads are old-fashioned, homely +roads very dirty and badly made, and hardly endurable in winter, but +pleasant jog-trot roads, running through the great pasture lands, +dotted here and there with little clumps of thorns, where the sleek +kine are feeding, with no fence on either side of them, and a gate at +the end of each field, which makes you get out of your gig (if you +keep one), and gives you a chance of looking about you every quarter +of a mile. + + [33] #Cosmopolites#: citizens of the world at large, familiar + with all countries. + + [34] #Backsword play#: the game of single-stick, or fencing + with cudgels. + + [35] #Gorse#: a thick, prickly, evergreen shrub, which grows + wild and bears beautiful yellow flowers. + + [36] #Spinney#: a small grove filled with undergrowth. + + [37] #Charley#: a fox. + + [38] #Cover#: a retreat, or hiding-place. + + [39] #Old Berkshire#: an association of hunters. + + [40] #Thatched#: roofed with straw or reeds. + +One of the moralists whom we sat under in our youth--was it the great +Richard Swiveller,[41] or Mr. Stiggins?[42] says, "We are born in a +vale, and must take the consequences of being found in such a +situation." These consequences, I for one am ready to encounter. I +pity people who wern't born in a vale. I don't mean a flat country, +but a vale; that is, a flat country bounded by hills. The having your +hill _always_ in view, if you choose to turn toward him, that's the +essence of a vale. There he is forever in the distance, your friend +and companion; you never lose him as you do in hilly districts. + + [41] #Richard Swiveller#: a jolly character who lives by his + wits. See Dickens's "Old Curiosity Shop." + + [42] #Mr. Stiggins#: a hypocritical parson. See Dickens's + "Pickwick Papers." + + +THE OLD ROMAN CAMP. + +And then what a hill is the White Horse Hill! There it stands right +above all the rest, nine hundred feet above the sea, and the boldest, +bravest shape for a chalk hill that you ever saw. Let us go up to the +top of him, and see what is to be found there. Ay, you may well +wonder, and think it odd you never heard of this before; but, wonder +or not as you please, there are hundreds of such things lying about +England, which wiser folk than you know nothing of, and care nothing +for. Yes, it's a magnificent Roman camp,[43] and no mistake, with +gates, and ditch, and mounds, all as complete as it was twenty years +after the strong old rogues left it. Here, right up on the highest +point, from which they say you can see eleven counties, they trenched +round all the table-land, some twelve or fourteen acres, as was their +custom, for they couldn't bear anybody to overlook them, and made +their eyrie.[44] The ground falls away rapidly on all sides. Was there +ever such turf in the whole world? You sink up to your ankles at every +step, and yet the spring of it is delicious. There is always a breeze +in the "camp," as it is called and here it lies just as the Romans +left it, except that cairn,[45] on the east side, left by her +majesty's corps of sappers and miners[46] the other day, when they and +the engineer officer had finished their sojourn there, and their +surveys for the Ordnance Map[47] of Berkshire. It is altogether a +place that you won't forget--a place to open a man's soul and make him +prophesy, as he looks down on that great vale spread out as the garden +of the Lord before him, and wave on wave of the mysterious downs +behind; and to the right and left the chalk hills running away into +the distance, along which he can trace for miles the old Roman road, +"the Ridgeway" ("the Rudge" as the country folk call it), keeping +straight along the highest back of the hills; such a place as +Balak[48] brought Balaam to, and told him to prophesy against the +people in the valley beneath. And he could not, neither shall you, for +they are a people of the Lord who abide there. + + [43] #Roman camp#: the Romans, when they conquered England, + about 78 A.D., built a stronghold here. + + [44] #Eyrie#: the nest of a bird of prey; here, a + gathering-place for Roman soldiers. + + [45] #Cairn#: a heap of stones set up to mark a spot. + + [46] #Sappers and miners#: usually, soldiers employed in + working on trenches and fortifications or in undermining those + of an enemy; here, engaged in surveying. + + [47] #Ordnance Map#: an official or government map. + + [48] #Balak#: see Numbers xxii. + + +BATTLE OF ASHDOWN. + +And now we leave the camp, and descend toward the west, and are on +the Ashdown. We are treading on heroes. It is sacred ground for +Englishmen, more sacred than all but one or two fields where their +bones lie whitening. For this is the actual place where our Alfred[49] +won his great battle, the battle of Ashdown "Ęscendum" in the +chroniclers), which broke the Danish power, and made England a +Christian land. The Danes held the camp and the slope where we are +standing--the whole crown of the hill, in fact. "The heathen had +beforehand seized the higher ground," as old Asser[50] says, having +wasted everything behind them from London, and being just ready to +burst down on the fair vale, Alfred's own birthplace and heritage. +And up the heights came the Saxons,[51] as they did at the Alma.[52] +"The Christians led up their line from the lower ground. There stood +also on that same spot a single thorn-tree, marvellous stumpy (which +we ourselves with our very own eyes have seen)." Bless the old +chronicler![53] does he think nobody ever saw the "single thorn-tree" +but himself? Why, there it stands to this very day, just on the edge +of the slope, and I saw it not three weeks since; an old single +thorn-tree, "marvellous stumpy." At least, if it isn't the same tree, +it ought to have been, for it's just in the place where the battle +must have been won or lost--"around which, as I was saying, the two +lines of foemen came together in battle with a huge shout. And in this +place one of the two kings of the heathen and five of his earls fell +down and died, and many thousands of the heathen side in the same +place." After which crowning mercy, the pious king, that there might +never be wanting a sign and a memorial to the country-side, carved out +on the northern side of the chalk hill under the camp, where it is +almost precipitous, the great Saxon white horse, which he who will may +see from the railway, and which gives its name to the vale over which +it has looked these thousand years and more. + + [49] #Alfred#: Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, 871. + He defeated the Danes, who had overrun most of England, at + Ashdown, and compelled them to make a treaty of peace. He is + justly considered one of the noblest and wisest of the English + sovereigns; and the thousandth anniversary of his birth was + celebrated in 1849, at Wantage, Berks. + + [50] #Asser#: a contemporary of Alfred; he wrote his life. + + [51] #Saxons#: a name given to certain German tribes who + conquered Britain, in the fifth century. The name England came + from the Angles, a people of the same stock, who settled in + the east and north of the island. From these Anglo-Saxons the + English have in great part descended. + + [52] #Alma#: a river in the Crimea where a desperate battle + was fought between the Russians and the allied English and + French in 1854. + + [53] #Chronicler#: Asser, from whom this is quoted. + +Right down below the White Horse is a curious deep and broad gully +called "the Manger," into one side of which the hills fall with a +series of the most lovely sweeping curves, known as the "Giant's +Stairs"; they are not a bit like stairs, but I never saw anything like +them anywhere else, with their short green turf, and tender bluebells, +and gossamer and thistle-down gleaming in the sun, and the sheep-paths +running along their sides like ruled lines. + +The other side of the Manger is formed by the Dragon's Hill, a curious +little round self-confident fellow, thrown forward from the range, and +utterly unlike everything round him. On this hill some deliverer of +mankind--St. George[54] the country folk used to tell me--killed a +dragon. Whether it were St. George, I cannot say; but surely a dragon +was killed there, for you may see the marks yet where his blood ran +down, and more by token[55] the place where it ran down is the easiest +way up the hill-side. + + [54] #St. George#: the patron saint of England. + + [55] #More by token#: as a sign or proof that this is so. + +Passing along the Ridgeway to the west for about a mile, we come +to a little clump of young beech and firs, with a growth of thorn +and privet[56] underwood. Here you may find nests of the strong +down-partridge and pewit, but take care that the keeper[57] isn't down +upon you; and in the middle of it is an old cromlech,[58] a huge flat +stone raised on seven or eight others, and led up to by a path, with +large single stones set up on each side. This is Wayland Smith's +cave,[59] a place of classic fame now; but as Sir Walter[60] has +touched it, I may as well let it alone, and refer you to Kenilworth +for the legend. + + [56] #Privet#: a shrub much used for hedges. + + [57] #Keeper#: the gamekeeper, a man kept on great estates to + look after the game. + + [58] #Cromlech#: a rude tomb built by the first inhabitants of + Britain. + + [59] #Wayland Smith's Cave#: a "supernatural smith" who shod + horses on payment of sixpence. + + [60] #Sir Walter#: Sir Walter Scott. + +The thick deep wood which you see in the hollow, about a mile off, +surrounds Ashdown Park, built by Inigo Jones.[61] Four broad alleys +are cut through the wood, from circumference to centre, and each leads +to one face of the house. The mystery of the downs hangs about house +and wood, as they stand there alone, so unlike all around, with +the green slopes, studded with great stones just about this part, +stretching away on all sides. It was a wise Lord Craven,[62] I think, +who pitched his tent there. + + [61] #Inigo Jones#: a celebrated architect of the 17th + century. + + [62] #Lord Craven#: the owner of the estate on which the + "White Horse" is located. + + +THE "SEVEN BARROWS" FARM. + +Passing along the Ridgeway to the east, we soon come to cultivated +land. The downs, strictly so called, are no more; Lincolnshire farmers +have been imported, and the long fresh slopes are sheep-walks[63] no +more, but grow famous turnips and barley. One of these improvers lives +over there at the "Seven Barrows"[64] farm, another mystery of the +great downs. There are the barrows still, solemn and silent, like +ships in the calm sea, the sepulchres of some sons of men. But of +whom? It is three miles from the White Horse, too far for the slain of +Ashdown to be buried there--who shall say what heroes are waiting +there? But we must get down into the Vale again, and so away by the +Great Western Railway to town, for time and the printer's devil press; +and it is a terrible long and slippery descent, and a shocking bad +road. At the bottom, however, there is a pleasant public,[65] whereat +we must really take a modest quencher, for the down air is provocative +of thirst. So we pull up under an old oak which stands before the +door. + + [63] #Sheep-walks#: sheep pastures, for which the "downs" are + much used. + + [64] #Barrows#: ancient burial mounds. + + [65] #Public#: a public house. + + +THE BLOWING STONE. + +"What is the name of your hill, landlord?" + +"Blawing STWUN Hill, sir, to be sure." + + [READER. "_Sturm?_" + + AUTHOR. "_Stone_, stupid; The Blowing _Stone_."] + +"And of your house? I can't make out the sign." + +"Blawing STWUN, sir," says the landlord, pouring out his old ale from +a Toby Philpot jug,[66] with a melodious crash, into the long-necked +glass. + +"What queer names!" say we, sighing at the end of our draught, and +holding out the glass to be replenished. + +"Bean't queer at all, as I can see, sir," says mine host, handing +back our glass, "seeing that this here is the Blawing Stwun itself"; +putting his hand on a square lump of stone, some three feet and a +half high, perforated with two or three queer holes, like petrified +antediluvian[67] rat-holes, which lies there close under the oak, +under our very nose. We are more than ever puzzled, and drink our +second glass of ale, wondering what will come next. "Like to hear +un,[68] sir?" says mine host, setting down Toby Philpot on the tray, +and resting both hands on the "Stwun." We are ready for anything; +and he, without waiting for a reply, applies his mouth to one of +the rat-holes. Something must come of it, if he doesn't burst. Good +heavens! I hope he has no apoplectic tendencies. Yes, here it comes, +sure enough, a grewsome[69] sound between a moan and a roar, and +spreads itself away over the valley, and up the hill-side, and into +the woods at the back of the house, a ghost-like awful voice. "Um[70] +do say, sir," says mine host, rising, purple-faced, while the moan is +still coming out of the Stwun, "as they used in old times to warn the +country-side, by blawing the Stwun when the enemy was a comin'--and as +how folks could make un heered then for seven mile round; leastways, +so I've heerd lawyer Smith say, and he knows a smart sight about them +old times." We can hardly swallow lawyer Smith's seven miles, but +could the blowing of the stone have been a summons, a sort of sending +the fiery cross[71] round the neighborhood in the old times? What old +times? Who knows? We pay for our beer, and are thankful. + +"And what's the name of the village just below, landlord?" + +"Kingstone Lisle, sir." + +"Fine plantations[72] you've got here." + +"Yes, sir, the Squire's[73] 'mazin' fond of trees and such like." + +"No wonder. He's got some real beauties to be fond of. Good-day, +landlord." + +"Good-day, sir, and a pleasant ride to 'e."[74] + + [66] #Toby Philpot jug#: a large brown pitcher, shaped like a + jolly old gentleman of the olden time. + + [67] #Antediluvian#: before the deluge. + + [68] #Un#: it; also him or her. + + [69] #Grewsome#: frightful. + + [70] #Um#: they. + + [71] #Fiery cross#: a cross, the ends of which had been fired + and then extinguished in blood. It was sent round by the + chiefs of clans in time of war, to summon their followers. + + [72] #Plantations#: groves of trees set out in regular order. + + [73] #Squire#: a country gentleman. + + [74] #'E#: thee or you. + + +FARRINGDON AND PUSEY. + +And now, my boys, you whom I want to get for readers, have you had +enough? Will you give in at once, and say you're convinced, and let me +begin my story or will you have some more of it? Remember, I've only +been over a little bit of the hill-side yet, what you could ride round +easily on your ponies in an hour. I'm only just come down into the +vale, by Blowing Stone Hill, and if I once begin about the vale, +what's to stop me? You'll have to hear all about Wantage, the +birthplace of Alfred, and Farringdon, which held out so long for +Charles I. (the vale was near Oxford, and dreadfully malignant;[75] +full of Throgmortons, Puseys, and Pyes, and such like, and their +brawny retainers). Did you ever read Thomas Ingoldsby's "Legend +of Hamilton Tighe"?[76] If you haven't, you ought to have. Well, +Farringdon is where he lived, before he went to sea; his real name was +Hampden Pye, and the Pyes were the great folk at Farringdon. Then +there's Pusey. You've heard of the Pusey horn,[77] which King Canute +gave to the Puseys of that day, and which the gallant old squire, +lately gone to his rest (whom Berkshire freeholders[78] turned out of +last Parliament, to their eternal disgrace, for voting according to +his conscience), used to bring out on high days, holidays, and bonfire +nights. And the splendid old Cross church at Uffington, the Uffingas +town; how the whole country-side teems with Saxon names and memories! +And the old moated grange[79] at Compton, nestled close under the +hill-side, where twenty Marianas[80] may have lived, with its bright +water-lilies in the moat, and its yew walk "the cloister walk," and +its peerless terraced gardens. There they all are, and twenty things +besides, for those who care about them, and have eyes. And these are +the sort of things you may find, I believe, every one of you, in any +common English country neighborhood. + + [75] #Malignant#: The Parliamentary or Puritan party during + the civil wars of Charles I. called those who adhered to the + king "malignants." + + [76] #Tighe#: this legend relates a conspiracy by which young + Tighe was led into the thick of a fight and killed. + + [77] #Pusey horn#: the Pusey family hold their estate not by + a title deed, but by a horn, given, it is said, to William + Pecote (perhaps an ancestor of the Puseys) by Canute, a Danish + king of England in the eleventh century. The horn bears the + following inscription: "I, King Canute, give William Pecote + this horn to hold by thy land." + + [78] #Freeholders#: landowners. + + [79] #Moated grange#: a farm or estate surrounded by a broad + deep ditch for defence in old times. + + [80] #Marianas#: Mariana, a beautiful woman, one of the most + lovable of Shakespeare's characters. See "Measure for + Measure." + +Will you look for them under your own noses, or will you not? Well, +well, I've done what I can to make you, and if you will go gadding +over half Europe now every holiday, I can't help it. I was born and +bred a west-countryman,[81] thank God! a Wessex man, a citizen of the +noblest Saxon kingdom of Wessex, a regular "Angular Saxon,"[82] the +very soul of me "adscriptus glebę."[83] There's nothing like the old +country-side for me, and no music like the twang of the real old Saxon +tongue, as one gets it fresh from the veritable chaw[84] in the White +Horse Vale; and I say with "Gaarge Ridler," the old west-country +yeoman, + + "Throo aall the waarld owld Gaarge would bwoast, + Commend me to merry owld England mwoast; + While vools[85] gwoes prating vur and nigh, + We stwops at whum,[86] my dog and I."[A] + + [A] For this old song see Hughes's "Scouring of the White + Horse." + + [81] #West-countryman#: a west of England man. + + [82] #Angular Saxon#: a play on the words _Anglo-Saxon_. + + [83] #Adscriptus glebę#: attached to the soil. + + [84] #Chaw#: "chaw bacon," a nickname for an English peasant. + + [85] #Vools#: fools. + + [86] #Whum#: home. + + +SQUIRE BROWN AND HIS HOUSEHOLD. + +Here at any rate lived and stopped at home Squire Brown, J. P.[87] for +the county of Berks, in a village near the foot of the White Horse +range. And here he dealt out justice and mercy in a rough way, and +brought up sons and daughters, and hunted the fox, and grumbled at the +badness of the roads and the times. And his wife dealt out stockings, +and calico[88] shirts, and smock frocks,[89] and comforting drinks to +the old folks with the "rheumatiz," and good counsel to all; and kept +the coal and clothes clubs going, for Yule-tide,[90] when the bands of +mummers[91] came round dressed out in ribbons and colored paper caps, +and stamped round the Squire's kitchen, repeating in true sing-song +vernacular[92] the legend of St. George and his fight, and the +ten-pound doctor,[93] who plays his part at healing the Saint--a +relic, I believe, of the old middle-age mysteries.[94] It was the +first dramatic representation which greeted the eyes of little Tom, +who was brought down into the kitchen by his nurse to witness it, at +the mature age of three years. Tom was the eldest child of his +parents, and from his earliest babyhood exhibited the family +characteristics in great strength. He was a hearty, strong boy from +the first, given to fighting with and escaping from his nurse, and +fraternizing with all the village boys, with whom he made expeditions +all round the neighborhood. And here in the quiet, old-fashioned +country village, under the shadow of the everlasting hills, Tom Brown +was reared, and never left it till he went first to school when nearly +eight years of age, for in those days change of air twice a year was +not thought absolutely necessary for the health of all her majesty's +lieges.[95] + + [87] #J. P.#: justice of the peace. + + [88] #Calico#: white cotton cloth called calico in England, + to distinguish it from print. + + [89] #Smock frocks#: coarse white frocks worn by farm + laborers. + + [90] #Yule-tide#: Christmas. Clubs are formed by the poor + several months in advance, to furnish coal, clothes, and + poultry for Christmas time,--each member contributing a few + pence weekly. + + [91] #Mummers#: maskers, merrymakers in fantastic costumes. + + [92] #Vernacular#: one's native tongue. + + [93] #Ten-pound doctor#: a quack doctor. + + [94] #Mysteries#: rude dramatic plays of a religious + character, once very popular. + + [95] #Lieges#: loyal subjects. + + +THE OLD BOY ABUSETH MOVING ON. + +I have been credibly informed, and am inclined to believe, that the +various Boards of Directors of Railway Companies, those gigantic +jobbers[96] and bribers, while quarrelling about everything else, +agreed together some ten years back to buy up the learned profession +of medicine, body and soul. To this end they set apart several +millions of money, which they continually distribute judiciously among +the doctors, stipulating only this one thing, that they shall +prescribe change of air to every patient who can pay, or borrow money +to pay, a railway fare, and see their prescription carried out. If it +be not for this, why is it that none of us can be well at home for a +year together? It wasn't so twenty years ago,--not a bit of it. The +Browns didn't go out of the county once in five years. A visit to +Reading or Abingdon twice a year, at Assizes or Quarter Sessions[97] +which the Squire made on his horse, with a pair of saddle-bags +containing his wardrobe--a stay of a day or two at some country +neighbor's--or an expedition to a county ball or the yeomanry +review--[98] made up the sum of the Brown locomotion in most years. A +stray Brown from some distant county dropped in every now and then; or +from Oxford, on grave nag, an old don[99] contemporary of the Squire; +and were looked upon by the Brown household and the villagers with the +same sort of feeling with which we now regard a man who has crossed +the Rocky Mountains, or launched a boat on the great lake in Central +Africa. The White Horse Vale, remember, was traversed by no great +road; nothing but country parish roads, and these very bad. Only one +coach ran there, and this one only from Wantage to London, so that the +western part of the vale was without regular means of moving on, and +certainly didn't seem to want them. There was the canal, by the way, +which supplied the country-side with coal, and up and down which +continually went the long barges with the big black men lounging by +the side of the horses along the towing-path, and the women in +bright-colored handkerchiefs standing in the sterns steering. +Standing, I say, but you could never see whether they were standing or +sitting, all but their heads and shoulders being out of sight in the +cozy little cabins which occupied some eight feet of the stern and +which Tom Brown pictured to himself as the most desirable of +residences. His nurse told him that those good-natured-looking women +were in the constant habit of enticing children into the barges and +taking them up to London and selling them, which Tom wouldn't believe, +and which made him resolve as soon as possible to accept the +oft-proffered invitation of these sirens[100] to "young master," to +come in and have a ride. But as yet the nurse was too much for Tom. + + [96] #Jobbers#: speculators or members of corrupt political + rings. + + [97] #Assizes or Quarter Sessions#: sessions of courts of + justice. + + [98] #Yeomanry review#: a review of the county militia. + + [99] #Don#: a nickname for a university professor. + + [100] #Sirens#: sea-nymphs who enticed sailors into their + power by their singing, and then devoured them. + + +THE OLD BOY APPROVETH MOVING ON. + +Yet why should I, after all, abuse the gadabout propensities of my +countrymen? We are a vagabond nation now, that's certain, for better, +for worse. I am a vagabond; I have been away from home no less +than five distinct times in the last year. The Queen sets us the +example--we are moving on from top to bottom. Little dirty Jack, +who abides in Clement's Inn[101] gateway, and blacks my boots for a +penny, takes his month's hop-picking[102] every year as a matter of +course. Why shouldn't he? I am delighted at it. I love vagabonds, +only I prefer poor to rich ones;-couriers[103] and ladies' maids, +imperials[104] and travelling carriages are an abomination unto me--I +cannot away with them. But for dirty Jack, and every good fellow who, +in the words of the capital French song, moves about, + + "Comme le limaēon, + Portant tout son bagage, + Ses meubles, sa maison,"[105] + +on his own back, why, good luck to them, and many a merry road-side +adventure, and steaming supper in the chimney-corners of road-side +inns, Swiss chālets,[106] Hottentot kraals,[107] or wherever else they +like to go. So having succeeded in contradicting myself in my first +chapter (which gives me great hopes that you will all go on, and think +me a good fellow, notwithstanding my crotchets), I shall here shut up +for the present, and consider my ways; having resolved to "sar' it +out,"[108] as we say in the Vale, "holus bolus,"[109] just as it +comes, and then you'll probably get the truth out of me. + + [101] #Clement's Inn#: formerly a college and residence for + law students in London. It is now given up to law offices. + + [102] #Hop-picking#: all the vagabonds of London go to Kent + and Surrey in the autumn to pick hops for the farmers, + regarding the work as a kind of vacation frolic. + + [103] #Courier#: a person hired by wealthy travellers to go in + advance and engage rooms at hotels, etc. + + [104] #Imperial#: the best seat on a French diligence or + stage-coach. + + [105] #Comme le limaēon#, etc.: like the snail, carrying all + his baggage, his furniture, and his house. + + [106] #Chalet# (shal-ay'): a Swiss herdsman's hut. + + [107] #Kraal#: a Hottentot hut or village. + + [108] #"Sar' it out"#: deal it out. + + [109] #"Holus bolus"#: all at once. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE "VEAST." + + "And the King commandeth and forbiddeth, that from henceforth + neither fairs nor markets be kept in church-yards, for the + honor of the church."--_Statutes_: 13 Edw. I. Stat. II. Chap. + VI. + + +As that venerable and learned poet[1] (whose voluminous works we +all think it the correct thing to admire and talk about, but don't +read often) most truly says, "The child is father to the man;" _a +fortiori_,[2] therefore he must be father to the boy." So, as we are +going at any rate to see Tom Brown through his boyhood, supposing we +never get any farther (which, if you show a proper sense of the value +of this history, there is no knowing but what we may), let us have a +look at the life and environments[3] of the child, in the quiet +country village to which we were introduced in the last chapter. + + [1] #Learned poet#: Wordsworth; the quotation, which follows, + is from "My heart leaps up." + + [2] #A fortiori#: for a stronger reason. + + [3] #Environments#: surroundings. + + +TOM BROWN'S NURSE. + +Tom, as has been already said, was a robust and combative urchin, and +at the age of four began to struggle against the yoke and authority +of his nurse. That functionary[4] was a good-hearted, tearful, +scatter-brain[5] girl, lately taken by Tom's mother, Madam Brown, as +she was called, from the village school to be trained as nursery-maid. +Madam Brown was a rare trainer of servants, and spent herself freely +in the profession; for profession it was, and gave her more trouble by +half than many people take to earn a good income. Her servants were +known and sought after for miles round. Almost all the girls who +attained a certain place in the village school were taken by her, one +or two at a time, as house-maids, laundry-maids, nursery-maids, or +kitchen-maids, and, after a year or two's drilling, were started in +life amongst the neighboring families, with good principles and +wardrobes. One of the results of this system was the perpetual despair +of Mrs. Brown's cook and own maid, who no sooner had a notable[6] girl +made to their hands, than missus was sure to find a good place for her +and send her off, taking in fresh importations from the school. +Another was, that the house was always full of young girls with clean, +shining faces; who broke plates and scorched linen, but made an +atmosphere of cheerful homely life about the place, good for every one +who came within its influence. Mrs. Brown loved young people, and in +fact human creatures in general, above plates and linen. They were +more like a lot of elder children than servants, and felt to her more +as a mother or aunt than as a mistress. + + [4] #Functionary#: one charged with the performance of a duty. + + [5] #Scatter-brain#: thoughtless. + + [6] #N[)o]table#: industrious, smart. + +Tom's nurse was one who took in her instruction very slowly,--she +seemed to have two left hands and no head; and so Mrs. Brown kept her +on longer than usual that she might expend her awkwardness and +forgetfulness upon those who would not judge and punish her too +strictly for them. + +Charity Lamb was her name. It had been the immemorial habit of the +village to christen children either by Bible names, or by those of the +cardinal[7] and other virtues; so that one was forever hearing in the +village street, or on the green, shrill sounds of "Prudence! Prudence! +thee cum' out o' the gutter"; or "Mercy! drat[8] the girl, what +bist[9] thee a doin' wi' little Faith?" and there were Ruths, Rachels, +Keziahs, in every corner. The same with the boys; they were Benjamins, +Jacobs, Noahs, Enochs. I suppose the custom has come down from +puritan[10] times--there it is, at any rate, very strong still in +the Vale. + + [7] #Cardinal#: chief. + + [8] #Drat#: plague take. + + [9] #Bist#: art. + + [10] #Puritan#: the Puritans were those who were dissatisfied + with the English Church and wished to _purify_ it, as they + said, from certain ceremonies. They quite generally gave their + children Bible names. + + +TOM BROWN'S FIRST REBELLION. + +Well, from early morn till dewy eve, when she had it out of him in +the cold tub before putting him to bed, Charity and Tom were pitted +against one another. Physical power was as yet on the side of Charity, +but she hadn't a chance with him wherever head-work was wanted. This +war of independence began every morning before breakfast, when Charity +escorted her charge to a neighboring farm-house which supplied the +Browns, and where by his mother's wish, Master Tom went to drink +whey,[11] before breakfast. Tom had no sort of objection to whey, +but he had a decided liking for curds, which were forbidden as +unwholesome, and there was seldom a morning that he did not manage +to secure a handful of hard curds, in defiance of Charity and the +farmer's wife. The latter good soul was a gaunt angular woman, who, +with an old black bonnet on the top of her head, the strings dangling +about her shoulders, and her gown tucked through her pocket holes, +went clattering about the dairy, cheese-room, and yard, in high +pattens.[12] Charity was some sort of niece of the old lady's, and was +consequently free of the farm-house and garden, into which she could +not resist going for the purposes of gossip and flirtation with the +heir-apparent,[13] who was a dawdling fellow, never out at work as he +ought to have been. The moment Charity had found her cousin, or any +other occupation, Tom would slip away; and in a minute shrill cries +would be heard from the dairy: "Charity, Charity, thee lazy huzzy, +where bist?" and Tom would break cover,[14] hands and mouth full of +curds, and take refuge on the shaky surface of the great muck +reservoir in the middle of the yard, disturbing the repose of the +great pigs. Here he was in safety, as no grown person could follow +without getting over his knees; and the luckless Charity, while her +aunt scolded her from the dairy-door, for being "allus hankering about +arter our Willum, instead of minding Master Tom," would descend from +threats to coaxing, to lure Tom out of the muck, which was rising over +his shoes and would soon tell a tale on his stockings for which she +would be sure to catch it from missus's maid. + + [11] #Whey#: in making cheese the milk separates, the thick + part forming curd, and the watery portion whey. + + [12] #Pattens#: wooden-soled shoes. + + [13] #Heir-apparent#: the legal heir. + + [14] #Break cover#: come out from his hiding-place. + + +TOM BROWN'S ABETTORS--NOAH. + +Tom had two abettors in the shape of a couple of old boys, Noah and +Benjamin by name, who defended him from Charity, and expended much +time upon his education. They were both of them retired servants of +former generations of the Browns. Noah Crooke was a keen, dry +old man of almost ninety, but still able to totter about. He talked to +Tom quite as if he were one of his own family, and indeed had long +completely identified the Browns with himself. In some remote age he +had been the attendant of a Miss Brown, and had conveyed her about the +country on a pillion.[15] He had a little round picture of the +identical gray horse caparisoned with the identical pillion, before +which he used to do a sort of fetish[16] worship and abuse turnpike +roads and carriages. He wore an old full-bottomed wig,[17] the gift of +some dandy old Brown whom he had valeted[18] in the middle of last +century, which habiliment Master Tom looked upon with considerable +respect, not to say fear; and indeed his whole feeling toward Noah was +strongly tainted with awe; and when the old gentleman was gathered to +his fathers, Tom's lamentation over him was not unaccompanied by a +certain joy at having seen the last of the wig: "Poor old Noah, dead +and gone," said he, "Tom Brown so sorry! Put him in the coffin, wig +and all!" + + [15] #Pillion#: a seat, for a woman, attached to the hinder + part of a saddle. + + [16] #Fetish#: an idol. + + [17] #Full-bottomed wig#: this was a large wig worn by all men + of fashion in the last century. + + [18] #Valeted#: served; (from _valet_, a gentleman's private + servant). + + +TOM BROWN'S ABETTORS--BENJY. + +But old Benjy was young master's real delight and refuge. He was a +youth by the side of Noah, scarce seventy years old. A cheery, +humorous, kind-hearted old man, full of sixty years of Vale gossip, +and of all sorts of helpful ways for young and old, but above all for +children. It was he who bent the first pin with which Tom extricated +his first stickleback[19] out of "Pebbly Brook," the little stream +which ran through the village. The first stickleback was a splendid +fellow, with fabulous red and blue gills. Tom kept him in a small +basin till the day of his death, and became a fisherman from that day. +Within a month from the taking of the first stickleback, Benjy had +carried off our hero to the canal, in defiance of Charity; and between +them, after a whole afternoon's pop-joying,[20] they had caught three +or four coarse fish and a perch, averaging perhaps two and a half +ounces each, which Tom bore home in rapture to his mother as a +precious gift, and which she received like a true mother with equal +rapture, instructing the cook nevertheless, in a private interview, +not to prepare the same for the squire's dinner. Charity had appealed +against old Benjy in the meantime, representing the dangers of the +canal banks; but Mrs. Brown, seeing the boy's inaptitude for female +guidance, had decided in Benjy's favor, and from thenceforth the old +man was Tom's dry nurse. And as they sat by the canal watching their +little green and white float,[21] Benjy would instruct him in the +doings of deceased Browns. How his grandfather, in the early days of +the great war, when there was much distress and crime in the Vale, and +the magistrates had been threatened by the mob, had ridden in with a +big stick in his hand, and held the Petty Sessions[22] by himself. How +his great uncle, the rector, had encountered and laid the last ghost, +who had frightened the old women, male and female, of the parish, out +of their senses, and who turned out to be the blacksmith's apprentice, +disguised in drink and a white sheet. It was Benjy too who saddled +Tom's first pony, and instructed him in the mysteries of horsemanship, +teaching him to throw his weight back and keep his hand low; and who +stood chuckling outside the door of the girls' school when Tom rode +his little Shetland into the cottage and round the table, where the +old dame and her pupils were seated at their work. + + [19] #Stickleback#: a small fish. + + [20] #Pop-joying#: nibbling by fish. + + [21] #Float#: a cork or bit of wood attached to a fish-line. + + [22] #Petty sessions#: a criminal court held by a justice of + the peace. + +Benjy himself was come of a family distinguished in the Vale for their +prowess in all athletic games. Some half-dozen of his brothers and +kinsmen had gone to the wars, of whom only one had survived to come +home, with a small pension, and three bullets in different parts of +his body; he had shared Benjy's cottage till his death, and had left +him his old dragoon's[23] sword and pistol, which hung over the +mantle-piece, flanked by a pair of heavy single-sticks, with which +Benjy himself had won renown long ago as an old gamester,[24] against +the picked men of Wiltshire, and Somersetshire,[25] in many a good +bout at the revels and pastimes of the country-side. For he had been a +famous back-sword man in his young days, and a good wrestler at elbow +and collar. + + +OUR VEAST. + +Back-swording and wrestling were the most serious holiday pursuits of +the Vale,--those by which men attained fame,--and each village had its +champion. I suppose that, on the whole, people were less worked then, +than they are now; at any rate, they seemed to have more time and +energy for the old pastimes. The great times for back-swording came +round once a year, in each village at the feast. The Vale "veasts" +were not the common statute feasts[26], but much more ancient +business. They are literally, so far as one can ascertain, feasts of +the dedication, _i.e._, they were first established in the church-yard +on the day on which the village church was opened for public worship, +which was on the wake or festival of the patron saint, and have been +held on the same day in every year since that time. + + [23] #Dragoons#: soldiers who serve on foot or on horseback, + as occasion requires. + + [24] #Old gamester#: a person skilled in the game of + single-stick or back sword. + + [25] #Wiltshire and Somersetshire#: counties west of + Berkshire. + + [26] #Statute feasts#: festivals established by law. + +There was no longer any remembrance of why the "veast" had been +instituted, but nevertheless it had a pleasant and almost sacred +character of its own. For it was then that all the children of the +village, wherever they were scattered, tried to get home for a holiday +to visit their fathers and mothers and friends, bringing with them +their wages or some little gift from up the country for the old folk. +Perhaps for a day or two before, but at any rate on "veast-day" and +the day after, in our village, you might see strapping, healthy young +men and women from all parts of the country going round from house to +house in their best clothes, and finishing up with a call on Madam +Brown, whom they would consult as to putting out their earnings to the +best advantage, or how best to expend the same for the benefit of the +old folk. Every household, however poor, managed to raise a +"feast-cake" and bottle of ginger or raisin wine, which stood on the +cottage table ready for all comers, and not unlikely to make them +remember feast-time,--for feast-cake is very solid and full of huge +raisins. Moreover feast-time was the day of reconciliation for the +parish. If Job Higgins and Noah Freeman hadn't spoken for the last six +months, their "old women" would be sure to get it patched up by that +day. And though there was a good deal of drinking and low vice in the +booths[27] of an evening, it was pretty well confined to those who +would have been doing the like "veast or no veast"; and, on the whole, +the effect was humanizing and Christian. In fact, the only reason why +this is not the case still, is that gentlefolk and farmers have taken +to other amusements, and have, as usual, forgotten the poor. They +don't attend the feasts themselves, and call them disreputable, +whereupon the steadiest of the poor leave them also, and they become +what they are called. Class amusements, be they for dukes or +plow-boys, always become nuisances and curses to a country. The true +charm of cricket[28] and hunting is, that they are still, more or less +sociable and universal; there's a place for every man who will come +and take his part. + + [27] #Booths#: temporary sheds, etc., for the sale of + refreshments, pedlers' goods, and the like. + + [28] #Cricket#: the English national game of ball. + + +APPROACH OF VEAST-DAY. + +No one in the village enjoyed the approach of "veast-day" more than +Tom, in the year in which he was taken under old Benjy's tutelage.[29] +The feast was held in a large green field at the lower end of the +village. The road to Farringdon ran along one side of it, and the +brook by the side of the road; and above the brook was another large +gentle-sloping pasture-land, with a foot-path running down it from the +church-yard; and the old church, the originator of all the mirth, +towered up with its gray walls and lancet windows[30] overlooking +and sanctioning the whole, though its own share therein had been +forgotten. At the point where the foot-path crossed the brook and +road, and entered on the field where the feast was held, was a long, +low, roadside inn, and on the opposite side of the field was a large, +white, thatched farm-house, where dwelt an old sporting farmer, a +great promoter of the revels. + + [29] #Tutelage#: guardianship. + + [30] #Lancet windows#: high, narrow windows of the earliest + Gothic architecture. + +Past the old church, and down the foot-path, pottered[31] the old man +and the child, hand in hand, early on the afternoon of the day before +the feast, and wandered all around the ground which was already being +occupied by the "cheap Jacks,"[32] with their green-covered carts and +marvellous assortment of wares, and the booths of more legitimate[33] +small traders with their tempting arrays of fairings[34] and eatables; +and penny peep-shows and other shows, containing pink-eyed ladies, and +dwarfs, and boa-constrictors, and wily Indians. But the object of most +interest to Benjy, and of course to his pupil, also, was the stage of +rough planks, some four feet high, which was being put up by the +village carpenter for the back-swording and wrestling; and after +surveying the whole tenderly, old Benjy led his charge away to the +roadside inn, where he ordered a glass of ale and a long pipe for +himself, and discussed these unwonted luxuries on the bench outside in +the soft autumn evening with mine host, another old servant of the +Browns, and speculated with him on the likelihood of a good show of +old gamesters to contend for the morrow's prizes, and told tales of +the gallant bouts forty years back, to which Tom listened with all his +ears and eyes. + + [31] #Pottered#: walked slowly, sauntered. + + [32] #"Cheap Jacks"#: pedlers. + + [33] #Legitimate#: lawful. + + [34] #Fairings#: ribbons, toys, and other small articles sold + for presents. + + +MORNING OF THE VEAST. + +But who shall tell the joy of the next morning, when the church bells +were ringing a merry peal and old Benjy appeared in the servants' +hall, resplendent in a long blue coat and brass buttons, and a pair of +old yellow buckskins[35] and top-boots,[36] which he had cleaned for +and inherited from Tom's grandfather; a stout thorn-stick in his hand, +and a nosegay of pinks and lavender in his button-hole, and led away +Tom in his best clothes, and two new shillings in his breeches +pockets? Those two, at any rate, look like enjoying the day's revel. + + [35] #Buckskins#: buckskin breeches. + + [36] #Top-boots#: high boots. + +They quicken their pace when they get into the church-yard, for +already they see the field thronged with country folk, the men in +clean white smocks or velveteen or fustian[37] coats, with rough plush +waistcoats of many colors, and the women in the beautiful scarlet +cloak, the usual outdoor dress of West-country women in those days, +and which often descended in families from mother to daughter, or in +new-fashioned stuff[38] shawls, which, if they would but believe it, +don't become them half so well. The air resounds with the pipe and +tabor,[39] and the drums and trumpets of the showmen shouting at the +doors of their caravans,[40] over which tremendous pictures of the +wonders to be seen within hang temptingly; while through all rises the +shrill "root-too-too-too" of Mr. Punch, and the unceasing pan-pipe[41] +of his satellite. + + [37] #Fustian#: coarse cloth. + + [38] #Stuff#: woollen. + + [39] #Pipe and tabor#: fife and drum. + + [40] #Caravans#: show wagons. + + [41] #Pan-pipe#: several pipes or fifes fastened together in + a row, and blown by an attendant or "satellite," in the Punch + and Judy show. + +"Lawk a' massey, Mr. Benjamin," cries a stout motherly woman in a red +cloak as they enter the field, "be that you? Well, I never! you do +look purely.[42] And how's the squire, and madam, and the family?" + + [42] #Purely#: nicely. + +Benjy graciously shakes hands with the speaker, who has left our +village for some years, but has come over for "veast-day" on a visit +to an old gossip--and gently indicates the heir apparent of the +Browns. + +"Bless his little heart! I must gi' un a kiss. Here, Susannah, +Susannah!" cries she, raising herself from the embrace, "come and +see Mr. Benjamin and young Master Tom. You minds[43] our Sukey, Mr. +Benjamin? she be growed a rare slip of a wench[44] since you seen her, +tho' her'll be sixteen come Martinmas[45]. I do aim[46] to take her to +see madam to get her a place." + + [43] #Minds#: remember. + + [44] #Wench#: a young peasant girl. + + [45] #Martinmas#: the feast of St. Martin, Nov. 11. + + [46] #Aim#: intend. + +And Sukey comes bouncing away from a knot of old school-fellows, and +drops a courtesy to Mr. Benjamin. And elders come up from all parts to +salute Benjy, and girls who have been madam's pupils to kiss Master +Tom. And they carry him off to load him with fairings; and he returns +to Benjy, his hat and coat covered with ribbons, and his pockets +crammed with wonderful boxes, which open upon ever new boxes and +boxes, and popguns and trumpets, and apples, and gilt gingerbread from +the stall of Angel Heavens, sole vender thereof, whose booth groans +with kings and queens, and elephants, and prancing steeds, all +gleaming with gold. There was more gold on Angel's cakes than there is +ginger in those of this degenerate age. Skilled diggers might yet make +a fortune in the church-yards of the Vale by carefully washing the +dust of the consumers of Angel's gingerbread. Alas! he is with his +namesakes, and his receipts have, I fear, died with him. + + +THE JINGLING MATCH. + +And then they inspect the penny peep-show, at least Tom does, while +old Benjy stands outside and gossips, and walks up the steps, and +enters the mysterious doors of the pink-eyed lady and the Irish Giant, +who do not by any means come up to their pictures; and the boa will +not swallow his rabbit, but there the rabbit is waiting to be +swallowed,--and what can you expect for tuppence?[47] We are easily +pleased in the Vale. Now there is a rush of the crowd, and a tinkling +bell is heard, and shouts of laughter; and Master Tom mounts on +Benjy's shoulders, and beholds a jingling match in all its glory. The +games are begun, and this is the opening of them. It is a quaint[48] +game, immensely amusing to look at; and as I don't know whether it is +used in your counties, I had better describe it. A large roped ring is +made, into which are introduced a dozen or so of big boys and young +men who mean to play; these are carefully blinded and turned loose +into the ring, and then a man is introduced not blind-folded, with a +bell hung round his neck, and his two hands tied behind him. Of +course, every time he moves, the bell must ring, as he has no hand to +hold it, and so the dozen blind-folded men have to catch him. This +they cannot always manage if he is a lively fellow, but half of them +always rush into the arms of the other half, or drive their heads +together, or tumble over; and then the crowd laughs vehemently, and +invents nicknames for them on the spur of the moment, and they, if +they be choleric, tear off the handkerchiefs which blind them, and not +unfrequently pitch into one another, each thinking that the other must +have run against him on purpose. It is great fun to look at a jingling +match certainly, and Tom shouts and jumps on old Benjy's shoulders at +the sight, until the old man feels weary, and shifts him to the strong +young shoulders of the groom, who has just got down to the fun. + + [47] #Tuppence#: two pence or four cents; the English penny, + being equal to two cents. + + [48] #Quaint#: odd, old-fashioned. + +And now, while they are climbing the pole in another part of the +field, and muzzling in a flour-tub[49] in another, the old farmer +whose house, as has been said, overlooks the field, and who is master +of the revels, gets up the steps on to the stage, and announces to all +whom it may concern that a half-sovereign[50] in money will be +forthcoming for the old gamester who breaks most heads; to which the +squire and he have added a new hat. + + [49] #Muzzling in a flour-tub#: running their heads into a tub + of flour to fish out prizes. + + [50] #Half-sovereign#: ten shillings ($2.50). + +The amount of the prize is sufficient to stimulate the men of the +immediate neighborhood, but not enough to bring any very high talent +from a distance; so, after a glance or two round, a tall fellow, who +is a down shepherd,[51] chucks his hat on to the stage and climbs up +the steps, looking rather sheepish. The crowd, of course, first cheer, +then chaff[52] as usual, as he picks up his hat and begins handling +the sticks to see which will suit him. + + [51] #Down shepherd#: a shepherd on the downs or chalk hills. + + [52] #Chaff#: make fun, ridicule. + + +THE BACK-SWORDING. + +"Wooy,[53] Willum Smith, thee canst plaay wi' he[54] arra[55] daay," +says his companion to the blacksmith's apprentice, a stout young +fellow of nineteen or twenty. Willum's sweetheart is in the "veast" +somewhere, and has strictly enjoined him not to get his head broke at +back-swording, on pain of her highest displeasure; but as she is not +to be seen (the women pretend not to like to see the back-sword play, +and keep away from the stage), and as his hat is decidedly getting +old, he chucks it on to the stage, and follows himself, hoping that he +will only have to break other people's heads, or that after all Rachel +won't really mind. + + [53] #Wooy#: why. + + [54] #He#: here, him. + + [55] #Arra#: any. + +Then follows the greasy cap, lined with fur, of a half-gipsy, +poaching,[56] loafing fellow who travels the Vale not for much +good, I fancy: + + "Full twenty times was Peter feared + For once that Peter was respected,"[B] + + [B] Wordsworth's "Peter Bell." + +in fact. And then three or four other hats, including the glossy +castor[57] of Joe Willis, the self-elected and would-be champion of +the neighborhood, a well-to-do young butcher of twenty-eight or +thereabouts, and a great strapping fellow, with his full allowance of +bluster. This is a capital show of gamesters, considering the amount +of the prize; so, while they are picking their sticks and drawing +their lots, I think I must tell you, as shortly as I can, how the +noble old game of back-sword is played; for it has sadly gone out of +late, even in the Vale, and maybe you have never seen it. + + [56] #Poaching#: game-stealing. + + [57] #Castor#: a tall silk hat. + +The weapon is a good stout ash-stick with a large basket-handle,[58] +heavier and some what shorter than a common single-stick. The players +are called "old gamesters"--why, I can't tell you--and their object is +simply to break one another's head: for the moment that blood runs an +inch anywhere above the eyebrow, the old gamester to whom it belongs +is beaten, and has to stop. A very slight blow with the sticks will +fetch blood, so that it is by no means a punishing pastime, if the men +don't play on purpose, and savagely, at the bodies and arms of their +adversaries. The old gamester going into action only takes off his hat +and coat, and arms himself with a stick; he then loops the fingers of +his left hand in a handkerchief or strap, which he fastens round his +left leg, measuring the length, so that when he draws it tight with +his left elbow in the air, that elbow shall just reach as high as his +crown. Thus you see, so long as he chooses to keep his left elbow up, +regardless of cuts, he has a perfect guard for the left side of his +head. Then he advances his right hand above and in front of his head, +holding his stick across, so that its point projects an inch or two +over his left elbow; and thus his whole head is completely guarded, +and he faces his man armed in like manner; and they stand some three +feet apart, often nearer, and feint,[59] and strike, and return at one +another's head, until one cries "hold," or blood flows. In the first +case they are allowed a minute's time, and go on again; in the latter, +another pair of gamesters are called on. If good men are playing, the +quickness of the return is marvellous; you hear the rattle like that a +boy makes drawing his stick along palings, only heavier; and the +closeness of the men in action to one another gives it a strange +interest, and makes a spell at back-swording a very noble sight. + + [58] #Basket-handle#: a handle protected by wicker-work. + + [59] #Feint#: to pretend to make a thrust or to give a blow. + + +JOE AND THE GIPSY. + +They are all suited now with sticks, and Joe Willis and the gipsy man +have drawn the first lot. So the rest lean against the rails of the +stage, and Joe and the dark man meet in the middle, the boards having +been strewed with sawdust; Joe's white shirt and spotless drab +breeches and boots contrasting with the gipsy's coarse blue shirt and +dirty green velveteen breeches and leather gaiters. Joe is evidently +turning up his nose at the other, and half insulted at having to break +his head. + +The gipsy is a tough, active fellow, but not very skilful with his +weapon, so that Joe's weight and strength tell in a minute; he is too +heavy metal for him; whack, whack, whack, come his blows, breaking +down the gipsy's guard, and threatening to reach his head every +moment. There it is at last--"Blood, blood!" shouted the spectators, +as a thin stream oozes out slowly from the roots of his hair, and the +umpire[60] calls to them to stop. The gipsy scowls at Joe under his +brows in no pleasant manner, while Master Joe swaggers about, and +makes attitudes, and thinks himself, and shows that he thinks himself, +the greatest man in the field. + + [60] #Umpire#: judge or referee. + +Then follow several stout sets-to between the other candidates for the +new hat, and at last come to the shepherd and Willum Smith. This is +the crack set-to of the day. They are both in famous wind, and there +is no crying "hold"; the shepherd is an old hand, and up to all the +dodges; he tries them one after another, and very nearly gets at +Willum's head by coming in near, and playing over his guard at the +half-stick, but somehow Willum blunders through, catching the stick on +his shoulders, neck, sides, every now and then, anywhere but on his +head, and his returns are heavy and straight, and he is the youngest +gamester and a favorite in the parish, and his gallant stand brings +down shouts and cheers, and the knowing ones think he'll win if he +keeps steady, and Tom, on the groom's shoulder, holds his hands +together, and can hardly breathe for excitement. + +Alas for Willum! his sweetheart, getting tired of female +companionship, has been hunting the booths to see where he can have +got to, and now catches sight of him on the stage in full combat. She +flushes and turns pale; her old aunt catches hold of her saying: +"Bless 'ee,[61] child, doan't 'ee go a'nigst[62] it;" but she breaks +away and runs toward the stage calling his name. Willum keeps up his +guard stoutly, but glances for a moment toward the voice. No guard +will do it, Willum, without the eye. The shepherd steps round and +strikes, and the point of his stick just grazes Willum's forehead, +fetching off the skin, and the blood flows, and the umpire cries +"Hold," and poor Willum's chance is up for the day. But he takes it +very well, and puts on his old hat and coat, and goes down to be +scolded by his sweetheart, and led away out of mischief. Tom hears him +say coaxingly as he walks off:-- + +"Now doan't ee, Rachel! I wouldn't ha' done it, only I wanted +summut[63] to buy ee a fairing wi', and I be as vlush[64] o' money as +a twod[65] o' veathers."[66] + + [61] #'ee#: thee, you. + + [62] #A'nigst#: near. + + [63] #Summut#: something or somewhat. + + [64] #Vlush#: flush. + + [65] #Twod#: a toad. + + [66] #Veathers#: feathers. + +"Thee minds what I tells ee," rejoins Rachel, saucily, "and doan't ee +keep blethering[67] about fairings." Tom resolves in his heart to give +Willum the remainder of his two shillings after the back-swording. + + [67] #Blethering#: talking nonsense. + +Joe Willis had all the luck to-day. His next bout ends in an easy +victory, while the shepherd has a tough job to break his second head; +and when Joe and the shepherd meet, and the whole circle expect and +hope to see him get a broken crown, the shepherd slips in the first +round, and falls against the rails, hurting himself so that the old +farmer will not let him go on, much as he wishes to try; and that +imposter, Joe (for he is certainly not the best man) struts and +swaggers about the stage the conquering gamester, though he hasn't had +five minutes' really trying play. + + +A NEW "OLD GAMESTER." + +Joe takes the new hat in his hand, and puts the money in it, and then, +as if a thought strikes him, and he doesn't think his victory quite +acknowledged down below, walks to each face of the stage, and looks +down, shaking the money, and chaffing, as how he'll stake hat and +money and another half sovereign, "agin any gamester as hasn't played +already." Cunning Joe! he thus gets rid of Willum and the shepherd who +is quite fresh again. + +No one seems to like the offer, and the umpire is just coming down, +when a queer old hat, something like a doctor of divinity's +shovel,[68] is chucked on the stage, and an elderly quiet man steps +out, who has been watching the play, saying he should like to cross a +stick "wi' the prodigalish young chap." + + [68] #Shovel#: a broad-brimmed hat turned up at the sides. It + was formerly much worn by clergymen of the Church of England. + +The crowd cheer and begin to chaff Joe, who turns up his nose and +swaggers across to the sticks. "Imp'dent old wos-bird!"[69] says he, +"I'll break the bald head on un to the truth." + + [69] #Wos-bird#: a bird that steals corn. + +The old boy is very bald, certainly, and the blood will show fast +enough if you touch him, Joe. + + +JOE OUT OF LUCK. + +He takes off his long-flapped coat, and stands up in a long-flapped +waistcoat, which Sir Roger de Coverley[70] might have worn when it was +new, picks out a stick, and is ready for Master Joe, who loses no +time, but begins his old game, whack, whack, whack, trying to break +down the old man's guard by sheer strength. But it won't do--he +catches every blow close by the basket: and though he is rather stiff +in his returns, after a minute walks Joe about the stage, and is +clearly a staunch old gamester. Joe now comes in, and making the most +of his height, tries to get over the old man's guard at half stick, by +which he takes a smart blow in the ribs and another on the elbow, and +nothing more. And now he loses wind and begins to puff, and the crowd +laugh: "Cry, 'hold,' Joe--thee's met thy match!" Instead of taking +good advice and getting his wind, Joe loses his temper and strikes at +the old man's body. + + [70] #Sir Roger de Coverley#: a typical old country gentleman + of delightful simplicity of character. See Addison's + "Spectator." + +"Blood, blood!" shout the crowd, "Joe's head's broke!" + +Who'd have thought it? How did it come? That body-blow left Joe's +head unguarded for a moment, and with one turn of the wrist the +old gentleman has picked a neat bit of skin off the middle of his +forehead; and though he won't believe it, and hammers on for three +more blows despite of the shouts, is then convinced by the blood +trickling into his eyes. Poor Joe is sadly crestfallen, and fumbles in +his pocket for the other half-sovereign, but the old gamester won't +have it. "Keep thy money, man, and gi's[71] thy hand," says he, and +they shake hands; but the old gamester gives the hat to the shepherd, +and, soon after, the half-sovereign to Willum, who thereout decorates +his sweetheart with ribbons to his heart's content. + + [71] #Gi's#: give us. + +"Who can a[72] be! Wur[73] do a cum from?" ask the crowd. And it soon +flies about that the west-country champion, who played a tie[74] with +Shaw, the life-guardsman[75] at "Vizes"[76] twenty years before, has +broken Joe Willis's crown for him. + + [72] #A#: he. + + [73] #Wur#: where. + + [74] #Tie#: a contest in which neither side gains the victory. + + [75] #Life-guardsman#: one of the Queen's body-guard. + + [76] #"Vizes"#: a contraction of Devizes, a town in Wiltshire. + + +THE REVELS ARE OVER. + +How my country fair is spinning out! I see I must skip the wrestling, +and the boys jumping in sacks, and rolling wheelbarrows blindfolded; +and the donkey-race, and the fight which arose thereout, marring the +otherwise peaceful "veast," and the frightened scurrying away of the +female feast-goers, and descent of Squire Brown, summoned by the wife +of one of the combatants to stop it, which he wouldn't start to do +till he had got on his top-boots. Tom is carried away by old Benjy, +dog-tired and surfeited with pleasure, as the evening comes on and the +dancing begins in the booths; and though Willum and Rachel in her new +ribbons, and many another good lad and lass, don't come away just yet, +but have a good step out and enjoy it, and get no harm thereby, yet +we, being sober folk, will just stroll away up through the +church-yard, and by the old yew-tree; and get a quiet dish of tea and +bit of talk with our gossips, as the steady ones of our village do, +and so to bed. + + +THE OLD BOY MORALIZETH ON VEASTS. + +That's a fair, true sketch, as far as it goes, of one of the larger +village feasts in the Vale of Berks, when I was a little boy. They +are much altered for the worse, I am told. I haven't been at one +these twenty years, but I have been at the statute fairs in some +west-country towns, where servants are hired, and greater abominations +cannot be found. What village feasts have come to, I fear, in many +cases, may be read in the pages of "Yeast,[77]" though I never saw one +so bad--thank God! + +Do you want to know why? It is because, as I said before, gentlefolk +and farmers have left off joining or taking any interest in them. They +don't either subscribe to the prizes, or go down and enjoy the fun. + + [77] #Yeast#: a novel by Charles Kingsley. + +Is this a good or a bad sign? I hardly know. Bad, sure enough, if it +only arises from the further separation of classes consequent on +twenty years of buying cheap and selling dear, and its accompanying +overwork; or because our sons and daughters have their hearts in +London club-life, or so-called society, instead of in the old English +home duties; because farmers' sons are aping fine gentlemen, and +farmers' daughters caring more to make bad foreign music than good +English cheeses. Good, perhaps, if it be that the time for the old +"veast" has gone by, that it is no longer the healthy, sound +expression of English country holiday-making; that, in fact, we as a +nation have got beyond it, and are in a transition state, feeling for +and soon likely to find some better substitute. + +Only I have just got this to say before I quit the text. Don't let +reformers of any sort think that they are going really to lay hold +of the working boys and young men of England by any educational +grapnel[78] whatever, which hasn't some _bona fide_[79] equivalent for +the games of the old country "veast" in it; something to put in the +place of the back-swording and wrestling and racing; something to +try the muscles of men's bodies, and the endurance of their hearts, +and to make them rejoice in their strength. In all the new-fangled +comprehensive plans which I see, this is all left out; and the +consequence is that your great Mechanics' Institutes end in +intellectual priggism;[80] and your Christian Young Men Societies +in religious Pharisaism. + + [78] #Grapnel#: a grappling hook. + + [79] #Bona fide#: real. + + [80] #Priggism#: affectation, conceit. + + +ADVICE TO YOUNG SWELLS. + +Well, well, we must bide our time. Life isn't all beer and +skittles,--but beer and skittles,[81] or something better of the same +sort, must form a good part of every Englishman's education. If I +could only drive this into the heads of you rising Parliamentary lords +and young swells who "have your ways made for you," as the saying +is,--you who frequent palaver houses[82] and West-End clubs,[83] +waiting, always ready to strap yourselves on to the back of poor dear +old John,[84] as soon as the present used-up lot (your fathers and +uncles), who sit there on the great Parliamentary-majorities' +pack-saddle, and make believe they are guiding him with their +red-tape[85] bridle, tumble, or have to be lifted off. + + [81] #Skittles#: the game of ninepins. + + [82] #Palaver houses#: talk houses--the Houses of Parliament. + + [83] #West-End Clubs#: clubs in the fashionable quarter of + London. + + [84] #Old John#: John Bull. + + [85] #Red-tape#: official routine and formalism. + +I don't think much of you yet--I wish I could; though you do go +talking and lecturing up and down the country to crowded audiences, +and are busy with all sorts of philanthropic intellectualism, and +circulating libraries and museums, and Heaven only knows what besides, +and try to make us think, through newspaper reports, that you are, +even as we, of the working classes. But, bless your hearts, we +"aren't so green," though lots of us of all sorts toady[86] you +enough certainly, and try to make you think so. + + [86] #Toady#: flatter. + +I'll tell you what to do now; instead of all this trumpeting and fuss, +which is only the old Parliamentary-majority dodge over again--just +you go each of you (you've plenty of time for it, if you'll only give, +up t'other line) and quietly make three or four friends, real friends +among us. You'll find a little trouble in getting at the right sort, +because such birds don't come lightly to your lure,--but found they +may be. Take, say, two out of the professions, lawyer, parson, +doctor--which you will; one out of trade, and three or four out of the +working-classes, tailors, engineers, carpenters, engravers--there's +plenty of choice. Let them be men of your own ages, mind, and ask them +to your homes; introduce them to your wives and sisters, and get +introduced to theirs, give them good dinners, and talk to them about +what is really at the bottom of your hearts; and box, and run, and row +with them, when you have a chance. Do all this honestly as man to man, +and by the time you come to ride old John, you'll be able to do +something more than sit on his back, and may feel his mouth with some +stronger bridle than a red-tape one. + +Ah, if you only would! But you have got too far out of the right rut, +I fear. Too much over civilization, and the deceitfulness of riches. +It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. More's the +pity. I never came across but two of you who could value a man wholly +and solely for what was in him; who thought themselves verily and +indeed of the same flesh and blood as John Jones, the attorney's +clerk, and Bill Smith, the costermonger,[87] and could act as if they +thought so. + + [87] #Costermonger#: a fruit and vegetable pedler. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SUNDRY WARS AND ALLIANCES. + + +"Poor old Benjy! the "rheumatiz" has much to answer for all through +English country-sides,[1] but it never played a scurvier trick than in +laying thee by the heels, when thou wast yet in a green old age. The +enemy, which had long been carrying on a sort of border warfare, and +trying his strength against Benjy's on the battlefield of his hands +and legs, now, mustering all his forces, began laying siege to the +citadel, and overrunning the whole country. Benjy was seized in the +back and loins; and though he made strong and brave fight, it was soon +clear enough that all which could be beaten of poor old Benjy would +have to give in before long. + + [1] #Country-sides#: country districts. + +It was as much as he could do now, with the help of his big stick and +frequent stops, to hobble down to the canal with Master Tom, and bait +his hook for him, and sit and watch his angling, telling him quaint +old country stories; and when Tom had no sport, and detecting a rat +some hundred yards or so off along the bank, would rush off with Toby, +the turnspit[2] terrier, his other faithful companion, in bootless +pursuit, he might have tumbled in and been drowned twenty times over +before Benjy could have got near him. + + [2] #Turnspit#: a kind of dog, formerly trained to turn a spit + for roasting meat. + +Cheery and unmindful of himself as Benjy was, this loss of locomotive +power bothered him greatly. He had got a new object in his old age, +and was just beginning to think himself useful again in the world. He +feared much, too, lest Master Tom should fall back again into the +hands of Charity and the women. So he tried everything he could think +of to get set up. He even went on an expedition to the dwelling of one +of those queer mortals, who--say what we will and reason how we +will--do cure simple people of diseases of one kind or another without +the aid of physic; and so get to themselves the reputation of using +charms, and inspire for themselves and their dwellings great respect, +not to say fear, amongst a simple folk such as the dwellers in the +Vale of White Horse. Where this power, or whatever else it may be, +descends upon the shoulders of a man whose ways are not straight, he +becomes a nuisance to the neighborhood; a receiver of stolen goods, +the avowed enemy of law and order. Sometimes, however, they are of +quite a different stamp, men who pretend to know nothing, and are with +difficulty persuaded to exercise their occult[3] arts in the simplest +cases. + + +BENJY RESORTS TO A "WISE MAN." + +Of this latter sort was old Farmer Ives, as he was called, the "wise +man" to whom Benjy resorted (taking Tom with him as usual), in the +early spring of the year next after the feast described in the last +chapter. Why he was called "farmer" I cannot say, unless it be that he +was the owner of a cow, a pig or two, and some poultry, which he +maintained on about an acre of land inclosed from the middle of a wild +common, on which probably his father had squatted before lords of +manors[4] looked as keenly after their rights as they do now. Here he +had lived no one knew how long, a solitary man. It was often rumored +that he was to be turned out and his cottage pulled down, but somehow +it never came to pass; and his pigs and cow went grazing on the +common, and his geese hissed at the passing children and at the heels +of the horse of my lord's steward, who often rode by with a covetous +eye on the inclosure, still unmolested. His dwelling was some miles +from our village; so Benjy, who was half ashamed of his errand, and +wholly unable to walk there, had to exercise much ingenuity to get the +means of transporting himself and Tom thither without exciting +suspicion. However, one fine May morning he managed to borrow the old +blind pony of our friend the publican,[5] and Tom persuaded Madam +Brown to give him a holiday to spend with old Benjy, and to lend them +the squire's light cart, stored with bread and cold meat and a bottle +of ale. And so the two in high glee started behind old Dobbin, and +jogged along the deep-rutted plashy roads, which had not been mended +after their winter's wear, toward the dwelling of the wizard. About +noon they passed the gate which opened on to the large common, and old +Dobbin toiled slowly up the hill, while Benjy pointed out a little +deep dingle on the left, out of which welled a tiny stream. As they +crept up the hill the tops of a few birch-trees came in sight, and +blue smoke curling up through their delicate light boughs; and then +the little white thatched home and inclosed ground of Farmer Ives, +lying cradled in the dingle,[6] with the gay gorse common rising +behind and on both sides; while in front, after traversing a gentle +slope, the eye might travel for miles and miles over the rich Vale. +They now left the main road and struck into a green track over the +common, marked lightly with wheel and horse-shoe, which led down into +the dingle and stopped at the rough gate of Farmer Ives. Here they +found the farmer, an iron-gray old man, with a bushy eyebrow and +strong aquiline nose busied in one of his vocations. He was a horse +and cow doctor, and was tending a sick beast which had been sent up to +be cured. Benjy hailed him as an old friend, and he returned the +greeting cordially enough, looking, however, hard for a moment both at +Benjy and Tom, to see whether there was more in their visit than +appeared at first sight. It was a work of some difficulty and danger +for Benjy to reach the ground, which, however, he managed to do +without mishap; and then he devoted himself to unharnessing Dobbin, +and turning him out for a graze ("a run" one could not say of that +virtuous steed) on the common. This done, he extricated the cold +provisions from the cart, and they entered the farmer's wicket;[7] and +he, shutting up the knife with which he was at work, accompanied them +toward the cottage. A big old lurcher[8] got up slowly from the +doorstone, stretching first one hind leg, and then the other, and +taking Tom's caresses and the presence of Toby, who kept, however, at +a respectful distance, with equal indifference. + + [3] #Occult#: secret or magical. + + [4] #Manor#: the estate of a lord. + + [5] #Publican#: an innkeeper. + + [6] #Dingle#: a narrow valley. + + [7] #Wicket#: gate. + + [8] #Lurcher#: a dog that lies in wait for game, more used by + poachers or men that steal game than by sportsmen. + +"Us be come to pay ee a visit. I've a been long minded to do't for old +sake's sake, only I vinds I dwont get about now as I'd used to't. I be +so plaguy bad wi' th' rhumatiz in my back." Benjy paused, in hopes of +drawing the farmer at once on the subject of his ailment without +further direct application. + +"Ah, I see as you bean't quite so lissom[9] as you was," replied the +farmer, with a grim smile, as he lifted the latch of his door. "We +bean't so young as we was, nother[10] on us, wuss luck." + + [9] #Lissom#: limber. + + [10] #Nother#: neither. + + +THE "WISE MAN'S" SURROUNDINGS. + +The farmer's cottage was very like those of the better class of +peasantry in general. A snug chimney-corner with two seats and a small +carpet on the hearth, an old flint gun and a pair of spurs over the +fire-place, a dresser[11] with shelves, on which some bright pewter +plates and crockery-ware were arranged, an old walnut table, a few +chairs and settles,[12] some framed samplers[13] and an old print or +two, and a book-case with some dozen volumes on the walls, a rack with +flitches[14] of bacon and other stores fastened to the ceiling, and +you have the best part of the furniture. No sign of occult art is to +be seen, unless the bundles of dried herbs hanging to the rack and in +the ingle,[15] and the row of labelled vials on one of the shelves +betoken it. + + [11] #Dresser#: a sideboard or cupboard. + + [12] #Settle#: a bench. + + [13] #Sampler#: a pattern for needlework. + + [14] #Flitch#: a side of bacon. + + [15] #Ingle#: chimney-corner. + +Tom played about with some kittens who occupied the hearth, and with a +goat who walked demurely in at the open door, while their host and +Benjy spread the table for dinner--and was soon engaged in conflict +with the cold meat, to which he did much honor. The two old men's talk +was of old comrades and their deeds, mute inglorious Miltons[16] of +the Vale, and of the doings thirty years back--which didn't interest +him much, except when they spoke of the making of the canal; and then, +indeed, he began to listen with all his ears, and learned, to his no +small wonder, that his dear and wonderful canal had not been there +always--was not, in fact, as old as Benjy or Farmer Ives, which caused +a strange commotion in his small brain. + + [16] #"Mute, inglorious Miltons"#: see Gray's "Elegy." + +After dinner Benjy called attention to a wart which Tom had on the +knuckles of his hand, and which the family doctor had been trying his +skill on without success, and begged the farmer to charm it away. +Farmer Ives looked at it, muttered something or another over it, and +cut some notches in a short stick, which he handed to Benjy, giving +him instructions for cutting it down on certain days, and cautioning +Tom not to meddle with the wart for a fortnight. And then they +strolled out and sat on a bench in the sun with their pipes, and the +pigs came up and grunted sociably and let Tom scratch them; and the +farmer, seeing how he liked animals, stood up and held his arms in the +air and gave a call, which brought a flock of pigeons wheeling and +dashing through the birch-trees. They settled down in clusters on the +farmer's arms and shoulders, making love to him and scrambling over +one another's back to get to his face; and then he threw them all off, +and they fluttered about close by, and lighted on him again and again +when he held up his arms. All the creatures about the place were clean +and fearless, quite unlike their relations elsewhere; and Tom begged +to be taught how to make all the pigs and cows and poultry in our +village tame, at which the farmer only gave one of his grim chuckles. + + +BENJY'S RHEUMATISM. + +It wasn't till they were just ready to go, and old Dobbin was +harnessed, that Benjy broached the subject of his rheumatism again, +detailing his symptoms one by one. Poor old boy! He hoped the farmer +could charm it away as easily as he could Tom's wart, and was ready +with equal faith to put another notched stick into his other pocket +for the cure of his ailments. The physician shook his head, but +nevertheless produced a bottle and handed it to Benjy with +instructions for use. "Not as t'll do ee much good--leastways I be +afeared not," shading his eyes with his hand and looking up at them in +the cart; "there's only one thing as I knows on, as'll cure old folks +like you and I o' th' rhumatiz." + +"Wot be that, then, farmer?" inquired Benjy. + +"Church-yard mold," said the old iron-gray man with another chuckle. +And so they said their good-byes and went their ways home. Tom's wart +was gone in a fortnight, but not so Benjy's rheumatism, which laid him +by the heels more and more. And though Tom still spent many an hour +with him, as he sat on a bench in the sunshine, or by the +chimney-corner when it was cold, he soon had to seek elsewhere for his +regular companions. + +Tom had been accustomed often to accompany his mother in her visits to +the cottages, and had thereby made acquaintances with many of the +village boys of his own age. There was Job Rudkin, son of widow +Rudkin, the most bustling woman in the parish. How she could ever have +had such a stolid[17] boy as Job for a child, must always remain a +mystery. The first time Tom went to their cottage with his mother, Job +was not indoors, but he entered soon after, and stood with both hands +in his pockets staring at Tom. Widow Rudkin, who would have had to +cross Madam to get at young Hopeful--a breach of good manners of which +she was wholly incapable--began a series of pantomime signs, which +only puzzled him, and at last, unable to contain herself longer, burst +out with, "Job! Job! where's thy cap?" + + [17] #Stolid#: dull. + +"What! beant ee on ma head, mother?" replied Job, slowly extricating +one hand from a pocket and feeling for the article in question; which +he found on his head sure enough, and left there, to his mother's +horror and Tom's great delight. + +Then there was poor Jacob Dodson, the half-witted boy, who ambled +about cheerfully, undertaking messages and little helpful odds and +ends, for every one, which, however, poor Jacob managed always +hopelessly to embrangle.[18] Everything came to pieces in his hands, +and nothing would stop in his head. They nicknamed him Jacob +Doodle-calf. + + [18] #Embrangle#: mix up. + +But above all there was Harry Winburn, the quickest and best boy in +the parish. He might be a year older than Tom, but was very little +bigger, and he was the Crichton[19] of our village boys. He could +wrestle and climb and run better than all the rest, and learned all +that the schoolmaster could teach him faster than that worthy at all +liked. He was a boy to be proud of, with his curly brown hair, keen +gray eye, straight active figure, and little ears and hands and +feet--"as fine as a lord's," as Charity remarked to Tom one day, +talking as usual great nonsense. Lords' hands and ears and feet are +just as ugly as other folks' when they are children, as any one may +convince himself if he likes to look. Tight boots and gloves, and +doing nothing with them, I allow make a difference by the time they +are twenty. + + [19] #Crichton#: a Scottish gentleman of the sixteenth + century, called for his learning and skill "The Admirable + Crichton." + + +TORYISM OF SQUIRE BROWN. + +Now that Benjy was laid on the shelf, and his young brothers were +still under petticoat government, Tom, in search of companions, began +to cultivate the village boys generally more and more. Squire Brown, +be it said, was a true blue[20] Tory[21] to the backbone, and believed +honestly that the powers which be were ordained of God, and that +loyalty and steadfast obedience were man's first duties. Whether it +were in consequence or in spite of his political creed, I do not mean +to give an opinion, though I have one; but certain it is, that he held +therewith divers social principles not generally supposed to be true +blue in color. Foremost of these, and the one which the Squire loved +to propound above all others, was the belief that a man is to be +valued wholly and solely for that which he is in himself, for that +which stands up in the four fleshy walls of him, apart from clothes, +rank, fortune, and all externals whatsoever. Which belief I take to be +a wholesome corrective of all political opinions, and, if held +sincerely, to make all opinions equally harmless, whether they be +blue, red or green. As a necessary corollary[22] to this belief, +Squire Brown held further that it didn't matter a straw whether his +son associated with lords' sons or plowmen's sons, provided they were +brave and honest. He himself had played foot-ball and gone +birds'-nesting with the farmers whom he met at vestry[23] and the +laborers who tilled their fields, and so had his father and +grandfather, with their progenitors.[24] So he encouraged Tom in his +intimacy with the boys of the village, and forwarded it by all means +in his power, and gave them the run of a close[25] for a playground, +and provided bats and balls and a foot-ball for their sports. + + [20] #True blue#: genuine. + + [21] #Tory#: a member of the conservative party in politics. + + [22] #Corollary#: an inference from something before stated. + + [23] #Vestry#: parish meeting. + + [24] #Progenitors#: forefathers. + + [25] #Close#: any inclosed place; here, probably a field. + + +TOM'S WATCH-TOWER BY THE SCHOOL. + +Our village was blessed, amongst other things, with a well-endowed +school. The building stood by itself, apart from the master's house, +on an angle of ground where three roads met; an old gray stone +building, with a steep roof and mullioned[26] windows. On one of the +opposite angles stood Squire Brown's stables and kennel, with their +backs to the road, over which towered a great elm-tree; on the third, +stood the village carpenter and wheelwright's large open shop, and his +house and the schoolmaster's, with long, low eaves under which the +swallows built by scores. + + [26] #Mullioned#: subdivided by slender, upright bars or + columns. + +The moment Tom's lessons were over, he would now get him down to this +corner by the stables, and watch till the boys came out of school. He +prevailed on the groom to cut notches for him in the bark of the elm, +so that he could climb into the lower branches, and there he would +sit watching the school-door, and speculating on the possibility of +turning the elm into a dwelling-place for himself and friends after +the manner of the Swiss Family Robinson.[27] But the school hours +were long and Tom's patience short; so that he soon began to descend +into the street, and go and peep in at the school-door and the +wheelwright's shop, and look out for something to while away the time. +Now the wheelwright was a choleric[28] man, and one fine afternoon, +returning from a short absence, found Tom occupied with one of his pet +adzes, the edge of which was fast vanishing under our hero's care. +A speedy flight saved Tom from all but one sound cuff on the ears, +but he resented this unjustifiable interruption of his first essays +at carpentering, and still more the further proceedings of the +wheelwright, who cut a switch and hung it over the door of his +workshop, threatening to use it upon Tom if he came within twenty +yards of his gate. So Tom, to retaliate, commenced a war upon the +swallows who dwelt under the wheelwright's eaves, whom he harassed +with sticks and stones, and being fleeter of foot than his enemy, +escaped all punishment, and kept him in perpetual anger. Moreover, his +presence about the school-door began to incense the master, as the +boys in that neighborhood neglected their lessons in consequence: and +more than once he issued into the porch, rod in hand, just as Tom beat +a hasty retreat. And he and the wheelwright, laying their heads +together, resolved to acquaint the squire with Tom's afternoon +occupations; but, in order to do it with effect, determined to take +him captive and lead him away to judgment fresh from his evil doings. +This they would have found some difficulty in doing, had Tom continued +the war single-handed, or rather single-footed, for he would have +taken to the deepest part of Pebbly Brook to escape them; but, like +other active powers, he was ruined by his alliances. Poor Jacob +Doodle-calf could not go to the school with the other boys, and one +fine afternoon, about three o'clock (the school broke up at four) +Tom found him ambling about the street, and pressed him into a visit +to the school-porch. Jacob, always ready to do what was asked, +consented, and the two stole down to the school together. Tom first +reconnoitered[29] the wheelwright's shop, and seeing no signs of +activity, thought all safe in that quarter, and ordered at once an +advance of all his troops upon the school-porch. The door of the +school was ajar, and the boys seated on the nearest bench at once +recognized and opened a correspondence with the invaders. Tom, waxing +bold, kept putting his head into the school and making faces at the +master when his back was turned. Poor Jacob, not in the least +comprehending the situation, and in high glee at finding himself so +near the school, which he had never been allowed to enter, suddenly, +in a fit of enthusiasm, pushed by Tom, and ambling three steps into +the school, stood there, looking round him and nodding with a +self-approving smile. The master who was stooping over a boy's slate, +with his back to the door, became aware of something unusual, and +turned quickly round. Tom rushed at Jacob, and began dragging him back +by his smock-frock, and the master made at them, scattering forms[30] +and boys in his career. Even now they might have escaped, but that in +the porch, barring retreat, appeared the crafty wheelwright, who had +been watching all their proceedings. So they were seized, the school +dismissed, and Tom and Jacob led away to Squire Brown as lawful +prizes, the boys following to the gate in groups, and speculating on +the result. + + [27] #Swiss Family Robinson#: a story of the adventures of a + shipwrecked family on a desert island. + + [28] #Choleric#: inclined to anger. + + [29] #Reconnoitered#: here, examined in a general way or at a + little distance. + + +DEFEAT, CAPTURE, PEACE. + +The Squire was very angry at first, but the interview, with Tom's +pleading, ended in a compromise. Tom was not to go near the school +till three o'clock, and only then if he had done his own lessons well, +in which case he was to be the bearer of a note to the master from +Squire Brown; and the master agreed in such case to release ten or +twelve of the best boys an hour before the time of breaking +up, to go off and play in the close. The wheelwright's adzes and +swallows were to be forever respected; and that hero and the master +withdrew to the servants' hall,[31] to drink the Squire's health, well +satisfied with their day's work. + + [30] #Forms#: benches. + + [31] #Servants' hall#: the servants' dining-room. + +The second act of Tom's life may now be said to have begun. The war of +independence had been over for some time; none of the women now, not +even his mother's maid, dared offer to help him in dressing or +washing. Between ourselves, he had often at first to run to Benjy in +an unfinished state of toilet. Charity and the rest of them seemed to +take a delight in putting impossible buttons and ties in the middle of +his back; but he would have gone without nether[32] integuments[33] +altogether, sooner than have had recourse to female valeting. He had a +room to himself, and his father gave him sixpence a week pocket-money. +All this he had achieved by Benjy's advice and assistance. But now he +had conquered another step in life, the step which all real boys so +long to make; he had got amongst his equals in age and strength, and +could measure himself with other boys; he lived with those whose +pursuits and wishes and ways were the same in kind as his own. + + [32] #Nether#: lower. + + [33] #Integuments#: garments. + + +PLAY AND WORK. + +The little governess, who had lately been installed in the house, +found her work grow wondrously easy, for Tom slaved at his lessons in +order to make sure of his note to the schoolmaster. So there were +very few days in the week in which Tom and the village boys were +not playing in their close by three o'clock. Prisoner's base,[34] +rounders, high-cock-a-lorum, cricket, foot-ball, he was soon initiated +into the delights of them all; and though most of the boys were older +than himself, he managed to hold his own very well. He was naturally +active and strong, and quick of eye and hand, and had the advantage of +light shoes and well-fitting dress, so that in a short time he could +run and jump and climb with any of them. + + [34] #Prisoner's base#, etc.: boys' games. + + +RIDING AND WRESTLING. + +They generally finished their regular games half an hour or so before +tea-time, and then began trials of skill and strength in many ways. +Some of them would catch the Shetland pony who was turned out in the +field, and get two or three together on his back, and the little +rogue, enjoying the fun, would gallop off for fifty yards and then +turn round, or stop short and shoot them on to the turf, and then gaze +quietly on till he felt another load; others played at peg-top or +marbles, while a few of the bigger ones stood up for a bout at +wrestling. Tom at first only looked on at this pastime, but it had +peculiar attractions for him, and he could not long keep out of it. +Elbow and collar wrestling, as practised in the western counties, was, +next to back-swording, the way to fame for the youth of the Vale; and +all the boys knew the rules of it, and were more or less expert. But +Job Rudkin and Harry Winburn were the stars, the former stiff and +sturdy, with legs like small towers, the latter pliant as india-rubber +and quick as lightning. Day after day they stood foot to foot, and +offered first one hand and then the other, and grappled, and closed, +and swayed, and strained, till a well-aimed crook of the heel or +thrust of the loin took effect, and a fair backfall ended the matter. +And Tom watched with all his eyes, and first challenged one of the +less scientific, and threw him; and so one by one wrestled his way up +to the leaders. + +Then indeed for months he had a poor time of it; it was not long +indeed before he could manage to keep his legs against Job, for that +hero was slow of offence, and gained his victories chiefly by allowing +others to throw themselves against his immovable legs and loins, but +Harry Winburn was undeniably his master; from the first clutch of +hands when they stood up, down to the last trip which sent him on his +back on the turf, he felt that Harry knew more and could do more than +he. Luckily Harry's bright unconsciousness, and Tom's natural good +temper, kept them from ever quarrelling; and so Tom worked on and on, +and trod more and more nearly on Harry's heels, and at last mastered +all the dodges and falls except one. This one was Harry's own +particular invention and pet; he scarcely ever used it except when +hard pressed, but then out it came, and, as sure as it did, over went +poor Tom. He thought about that fall at his meals, in his walks, when +he lay awake in bed, in his dreams,--but all to no purpose; until +Harry one day in his open way suggested to him how he thought it +should be met, and in a week from that time the boys were equal, save +only the slight difference of strength in Harry's favor, which some +extra ten months of age gave. Tom had often afterward reason to be +thankful for that early drilling, and above all for having mastered +Harry Winburn's fall. + +Besides their home games, on Saturdays the boys would wander all over +the neighborhood; sometimes to the downs or up to the camp, where they +cut their initials out in the springy turf, and watched the hawks +soaring, and the "peert" bird, as Harry Winburn called the gray +plover, gorgeous in his wedding feathers; and so home, racing down the +Manger with many a roll among the thistles, or through Uffington-wood +to watch the fox-cubs playing in the green rides;[35] sometimes to +Rosy Brook, to cut long whispering reeds which grew there, to make +pan-pipes of; sometimes to Moor Mills, where was a piece of old forest +land, with short browsed turf and tufted brambly thickets stretching +under the oaks, amongst which rumor declared that a raven,[36] last of +his race, still lingered; or to the sand hills, in vain quest of +rabbits; and birds'-nesting, in the season, anywhere and everywhere. + + [35] #Green rides#: roads cut through woods or pleasure + grounds. + + [36] #Raven#: a large black bird of the crow family. + + +EARLIEST PLAYMATES. + +The few neighbors of the Squire's own rank every now and then would +shrug their shoulders as they drove or rode by a party of boys with +Tom in the middle, carrying along bulrushes or whispering reeds, or +great bundles of cowslip and meadow-sweet, or young starlings or +magpies, or other spoil of wood, brook, or meadow, and Lawyer Redtape +might mutter to Squire Straightback at the Board, that no good would +come of the young Browns, if they were let run wild with all the dirty +village boys, whom the best farmers' sons even would not play with. +And the Squire might reply with a shake of his head, that _his_ sons +only mixed with their equals, and never went into the village without +a governess or a footman.[37] But, luckily, Squire Brown was full as +stiff-backed as his neighbors, and so went on his own way; and Tom +and his younger brothers, as they grew up, went on playing with the +village boys, without the idea of equality or inequality (except in +wrestling, running, and climbing) ever entering their heads, as it +doesn't till it's put there by over-nice people or fine ladies' maids. + + [37] #Footman#: a man-servant in livery. + +I don't mean to say it would be the case in all villages, but it +certainly was so in this one; the village boys were full as manly and +honest, and certainly purer than those in a higher rank; and Tom got +more harm from his equals in his first fortnight at a private school, +where he went when he was nine years old, than he had from his village +friends from the day he left Charity's apron-strings. + + +FIRST SCHOOL. + +Great was the grief amongst the village school-boys when Tom drove off +with the Squire, one August morning, to meet the coach on his way to +school. Each of them had given him some little present of the best +that he had, and his small private box was full of peg-tops, white +marbles (called "alley taws" in the Vale), screws, birds'-eggs, +whipcord, Jews-harps, and other miscellaneous boys' wealth. Poor Jacob +Doodle-calf, in floods of tears, had pressed upon him, in spluttering +earnestness, his lame pet hedgehog (he had always some poor +broken-down beast or bird by him); but this Tom had been obliged to +refuse by the Squire's order. He had given them all a great tea under +the big elm in their playground, for which Madam Brown had supplied +the biggest cake ever seen in our village; and Tom was really as sorry +to leave them as they to lose him, but his sorrow was not unmixed with +the pride and excitement of making a new step in life. + +And this feeling carried him through his first parting with his mother +better than could have been expected. Their love was as fair and whole +as human love can be, perfect self-sacrifice on the one side, meeting +a young and true heart on the other. It is not within the scope of my +book, however, to speak of family relations, or I should have much to +say on the subject of English mothers,--ay, and of English fathers, +and sisters, and brothers, too. + + +OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS. + +Neither have I room to speak of our private schools; what I +have to say is about public schools,[38] those much-abused and +much-belauded[39] institutions peculiar to England. So we must hurry +through Master Tom's year at a private school as fast as we can. + + [38] #Public schools#: a name given to certain large and + richly endowed schools in England which are chiefly patronized + by wealthy men. They are wholly unlike the public schools + of the United States. Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Rugby, and + Westminster are among the best known of this class of schools. + + [39] #Belauded#: praised. + +It was a fair average specimen, kept by a gentleman, with another +gentleman as second master; but it was little enough of the real work +they did,--merely coming into school when lessons were prepared and +already to be heard. The whole discipline of the school out of lesson +hours was in the hands of the two ushers,[40] one of whom was always +with the boys in their playground, in the school, at meals,--in fact, +at all times and everywhere, till they were fairly in bed at night. + + [40] #Usher#: an under-teacher. + +Now, the theory of private schools is (or was) constant supervision +out of school; therein differing fundamentally from that of public +schools. + +It may be right or wrong; but, if right, this supervision surely ought +to be the especial work of the head-master, the responsible person. +The object of all schools is not to cram Latin and Greek into boys, +but to make them good English boys, good future citizens; and by far +the most important part of that work must be done, or not done, out of +school hours. To leave it, therefore, in the hands of inferior men, is +just giving up the highest and hardest part of the work of education. +Were I a private schoolmaster, I should say, let who will hear the +boys their lessons, but let me live with them when they are at play +and rest. + +The two ushers in Tom's first school were not gentlemen, were very +poorly educated, and were only driving their poor trade of usher to +get such living as they could out of it. They were not bad men, but +had little heart for their work, and, of course, were bent on making +it as easy as possible. One of the methods by which they endeavored to +accomplish this was by encouraging tale-bearing, which had become a +frightfully common vice in the school in consequence, and had sapped +all the foundations of school morality. Another was, by grossly +favoring the biggest boys, who alone could have given them much +trouble; whereby those young gentlemen became most abominable tyrants, +oppressing the little boys in all the small mean ways which prevail in +private schools. + + +TOM'S FIRST LETTER HOME. + +Poor little Tom was made dreadfully unhappy in his first week, by a +catastrophe which happened to his first letter home. With huge labor +he had, on the very evening of his arrival, managed to fill two sides +of a sheet of letter-paper with the assurances of his love for dear +mamma, his happiness at school, and his resolves to do all she would +wish. This missive,[41] with the help of the boy who sat at the desk +next him, also a new arrival, he managed to fold successfully; but +this done they were sadly put to it for means of sealing. Envelopes +were then unknown, they had no wax, and dared not disturb the +stillness of the evening school-room by getting up and going to ask +the usher for some. At length, Tom's friend, being of an ingenious +turn of mind, suggested sealing with ink, and the letter was +accordingly stuck down with a blob of ink, and duly handed by Tom on +his way to bed, to the housekeeper to be posted. It was not till four +days afterward that the good dame sent for him, and produced the +precious letter and some wax saying, "Oh, Master Brown, I forgot to +tell you before, but your letter isn't sealed." Poor Tom took the wax +in silence and sealed his letter, with a huge lump rising in his +throat during the process, and then ran away to a quiet corner of the +playground, and burst into an agony of tears. The idea of his mother +waiting day after day for the letter he had promised her at once, +and perhaps thinking him forgetful of her, when he had done all +in his power to make good his promise, was as bitter a grief as any +which he had to undergo for many a long year. His wrath then was +proportionately violent when he was aware of two boys, who stopped +close by him, and one of whom, a fat gaby[42] of a fellow, pointed at +him and called him "Young mammy-sick!" Whereupon Tom arose, and giving +vent thus to his grief and shame and rage, smote his derider on the +nose, and made it bleed,--which sent that young worthy howling to +the usher, who reported Tom for violent and unprovoked assault and +battery. Hitting in the face was a felony[43] punishable with +flogging, other hitting only a misdemeanor,--a distinction not +altogether clear in principle. Tom, however, escaped the penalty by +pleading "primum tempus,"[44] and having written a second letter to +his mother, inclosing some forget-me-nots, which he picked on their +first half-holiday walk, felt quite happy again, and began to enjoy +vastly a good deal of his new life. + + [41] #Missive#: anything to be sent; hence, a letter. + + [42] #Gaby#: a dunce. + + [43] #Felony#: a serious offence or crime. + + [44] #Primum tempus#: first time. + +These half-holiday walks were the great events of the week. The whole +fifty boys started after dinner with one of the ushers for Hazeldown, +which was distant some mile or so from the school. Hazeldown measured +some three miles round, and in the neighborhood were several woods +full of all manner of birds and butterflies. The usher walked slowly +round the down with such boys as liked to accompany him; the rest +scattered in all directions, being only bound to appear again when the +usher had completed his round, and accompany him home. They were +forbidden, however, to go anywhere except on the down and into the +woods; the village had been especially prohibited, where huge +bulls'-eyes[45] and unctuous toffee[46] might be procured in exchange +for coin of the realm. + + [45] #Bulls'-eyes and toffee#: the former are hard balls of + sugar, the latter a kind of candy made of brown sugar and + butter. + + [46] #Bulls'-eyes and toffee#: the former are hard balls of + sugar, the latter a kind of candy made of brown sugar and + butter. + + +THE AMUSEMENTS. + +Various were the amusements to which the boys then betook themselves. +At the entrance of the down there was a steep hillock, like the +barrows of Tom's own downs. This mound was the weekly scene of +terrific combats, at a game called by the queer name of "mud-patties." +The boys who played divided into sides under different leaders, and +one side occupied the mound. Then all parties, having provided +themselves with many sods of turf, cut with their bread-and-cheese +knives, the side which remained at the bottom proceeded to assault the +mound, advancing upon all sides under cover of a heavy fire of turfs, +and then struggling for victory with the occupants, which was theirs +as soon as they could, even for a moment, clear the summit, when they +in turn became the besieged. It was a good, rough, dirty game, and of +great use in counteracting the sneaking tendencies of the school. Then +others of the boys spread over the downs, looking for the holes of +humble bees[47] and mice, which they dug up without mercy, often (I +regret to say) killing and skinning the unlucky mice, and (I do not +regret to say) getting well stung by the humble bees. Others went +after butterflies and birds'-eggs in their seasons; and Tom found on +Hazeldown, for the first time, the beautiful little blue butterfly +with golden spots on his wings, which he had never seen on his own +downs, and dug out his first sand-martin's nest. This latter +achievement resulted in a flogging, for the sand-martins build in a +high bank close to the village, consequently out of bounds;[48] but +one of the bolder spirits of the school, who never could be happy +unless he was doing something to which risk attached, easily persuaded +Tom to break bounds and visit the martin's bank. From whence, it being +only a step to the toffee shop, what could be more simple than to go +on there and fill their pockets? or what more certain than that on +their return, a distribution of treasure having been made, the usher +should shortly detect the forbidden smell of bulls'-eyes, and, a +search ensuing, discover the state of the breeches' pockets of Tom and +his ally? + + [47] #Humble bees#: "bumble-bees." + + [48] #Bounds#: the school limits, beyond which boys are not to + go without permission. + + +THE REPROBATE. + +This ally of Tom's was indeed a desperate hero in the sight of the +boys, and feared as one who dealt in magic, or something approaching +thereto. Which reputation came to him in this wise. The boys went to +bed at eight, and, of course, consequently lay awake in the dark for +an hour or two, telling ghost stories by turns. One night when it came +to his turn, and he had dried up their souls by his story, he suddenly +declared that he would make a fiery hand appear on the door; and, to +the astonishment and terror of the boys in his room, a hand, or +something like it, in pale light, did then and there appear. The +fame of this exploit having spread to the other rooms, and being +discredited there, the young necromancer[49] declared that the same +wonder would appear in all the rooms in turn, which it accordingly +did; and the whole circumstances having been privately reported to +one of the ushers as usual, that functionary, after listening about +the doors of the rooms, by a sudden descent caught the performer in +his nightshirt, with a box of phosphorus[50] in his guilty hand. +Lucifer-matches and all the present facilities for getting acquainted +with fire were then unknown: the very name of phosphorus had something +diabolic in it to the boy mind; so Tom's ally, at the cost of a sound +flogging, earned what many older folks covet much,--the very decided +fear of most of his companions. + + [49] #Necromancer#: (one who communes with the dead) a + conjurer. + + [50] #Phosphorus#: the yellowish, inflammable substance used + in making common matches--in a pure state it burns on exposure + to air. Matches--called "Lucifers" or "light-bringers"--were + invented in England about 1829. Previous to that time the only + way of striking a light was by flint and steel, the spark + being caught on a bit of tinder (half-burnt rag) which was + then blown into a blaze. + +He was a remarkable boy and by no means a bad one. Tom stuck to him +till he left, and got into many scrapes by so doing. But he was the +great opponent of the tale-bearing habits of the school; and the open +enemy of the ushers; and so worthy of all support. + +Tom imbibed a fair amount of Latin and Greek at the school, but +somehow on the whole it didn't suit him, or he it, and in the holidays +he was constantly working the Squire to send him at once to a public +school. Great was his joy, then, when in the middle of his third +half-year, in October, 183-, a fever broke out in the village; and the +master having himself slightly sickened of it, the whole of the boys +were sent off at a week's notice to their respective homes. + +The Squire was not quite so pleased as Master Tom to see that young +gentleman's brown, merry face appear at home, some two months before +the proper time, for the Christmas Holidays; and so, after putting on +his thinking-cap, he retired to his study and wrote several letters, +the result of which was, that one morning at the breakfast-table, +about a fortnight after Tom's return, he addressed his wife with: "My +dear, I have arranged that Tom shall go to Rugby[51] at once, for the +last six weeks of this half-year, instead of wasting them, riding and +loitering about home. It is very kind of the Doctor[52] to allow it. +Will you see that his things are all ready by Friday, when I shall +take him up to town, and send him down the next day by himself!" + + [51] #Rugby#: a small village in Warwickshire on the river + Avon, nearly in the centre of England. It is the seat of Rugby + School,--one of the great public schools,--and was founded by + Lawrence Sheriff, a native of the neighboring village of + Brownsover, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The school owes + its fame chiefly to Dr. Arnold, who became head master in + 1827, and held the position until his death in 1842. + + [52] #Doctor#: Dr. Arnold. + +Mrs. Brown was prepared for the announcement, and merely suggested a +doubt whether Tom were yet old enough to travel by himself. However, +finding both father and son against her on this point, she gave in, +like a wise woman, and proceeded to prepare Tom's kit[53] for his +launch into a public school. + + [53] #Kit#: here, clothes. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE STAGE COACH. + + "Let the steam-pot hiss till it's hot, + Give me the speed of the Tantivy trot." + + _Coaching song by R. E. E. Warburton, Esq._ + + +"Now, sir, time to get up, if you please. Tally-ho[1] coach for +Leicester'll be round in half an hour, and don't wait for nobody." So +spake the Boots[2] of the Peacock Inn, Islington,[3] at half-past two +o'clock on the morning of a day in the early part of November, 183-, +giving Tom at the same time a shake by the shoulder, and then putting +down a candle and carrying off his shoes to clean. + + [1] #Tally-ho#: the cry with which huntsmen urge on their + hounds; here, a name given to a fast coach. + + [2] #Boots#: a servant in an inn who blacks boots, etc. + + [3] #Islington#: a northern suburb of London. + + +TOM ARRIVES IN TOWN. + +Tom and his father arrived in town from Berkshire the day before, and +finding, on inquiry, that the Birmingham coaches which ran from the +city did not pass through Rugby, but deposited their passengers at +Dunchurch, a village three miles distant on the main road, where said +passengers had to wait for the Oxford and Leicester coach in the +evening, or to take a post-chaise,[4] had resolved that Tom should +travel down by the Tally-ho, which diverged from the main road and +passed through Rugby itself. And as the Tally-ho was an early coach, +they had driven out to the Peacock to be on the road. + + [4] #Post-chaise#: a hired carriage. + +Tom had never been in London, and would have liked to have stopped at +the Belle Sauvage,[5] where they had been put down by the Star,[6] +just at dusk, that he might have gone roving about those endless, +mysterious, gas-lit streets, which, with their glare and hum and +moving crowds, excited him so that he couldn't talk even. But as soon +as he found that the Peacock arrangement would get him to Rugby by +twelve o'clock in the day, whereas otherwise he wouldn't be there till +the evening, all other plans melted away; his one absorbing aim being +to become a public-school boy as fast as possible, and six hours +sooner or later seeming to him of the most alarming importance. + + [5] #Belle Sauvage#: a famous old inn, formerly in the centre + of London. + + [6] #Star#: the name of the coach which brought the Squire and + Tom to London. + +Tom and his father had alighted at the Peacock at about seven in the +evening; and having heard with unfeigned joy the paternal order at the +bar, of steaks and oyster-sauce for supper in half an hour, and seen +his father seated cosily by the bright fire in the coffee-room with +the paper in his hand, Tom had run out to see about him, had wondered +at all the vehicles passing and repassing, and had fraternized with +the boots and hostler, from whom he ascertained that the Tally-ho was +a tip-top goer, ten miles an hour including stoppages, and so punctual +that all the road set their clocks by her. + + +SQUIRE BROWN'S PARTING WORDS. + +Then being summoned to supper, he had regaled himself in one of the +bright little boxes[7] of the Peacock coffee-room, on the beefsteak +and unlimited oyster-sauce; had at first attended to the excellent +advice which his father was bestowing on him and then begun nodding, +from the united effects of the fire and the lecture. Till the Squire, +observing Tom's state, and remembering that it was nearly nine +o'clock, and that the Tally-ho left at three, sent the little fellow +off to the chambermaid, with a shake of the hand (Tom having +stipulated in the morning before starting, that kissing should now +cease between them) and a few parting words. + + [7] #Boxes#: inclosed places for eating. + +"And now, Tom, my boy," said the Squire, "remember you are going, at +your own earnest request, to be chucked into this great school, like a +young bear, with all your troubles before you,--earlier than we should +have sent you perhaps. If schools are what they were in my time, +you'll see a great many cruel blackguard things done, and hear a deal +of foul bad talk. But never fear. You tell the truth, keep a brave and +kind heart, and never listen to or say anything you wouldn't have your +mother and sister hear, and you'll never feel ashamed to come home, or +we to see you." + +The allusion to his mother made Tom feel rather choky, and he would +have liked to have hugged his father well, if it hadn't been for the +recent stipulation. + +As it was, he only squeezed his father's hand, and looked bravely up +and said: "I'll try, father." + +"I know you will, my boy. Is your money all safe?" + +"Yes," said Tom, diving into one pocket to make sure. + +"And your keys," said the Squire. + +"All right," said Tom, diving into the other pocket. + +"Well, then, good-night. God bless you! I'll tell Boots to call you, +and be up to see you off." + +Tom was carried off by the chambermaid in a brown study,[8] from which +he was roused in a clean little attic, by that buxom[9] person calling +him a little darling, and kissing him as she left the room; which +indignity he was too much surprised to resent. And still thinking of +his father's last words, and the look with which they were spoken, he +knelt down and prayed that, come what might, he might never bring +shame or sorrow on the dear folk at home. + + [8] #Brown study#: meditation without any particular object of + thought. + + [9] #Buxom#: rosy with health, merry. + + +THE SQUIRE'S MEDITATIONS. + +Indeed, the Squire's last words deserved to have their effect, for +they had been the result of much anxious thought. All the way up to +London he had pondered what he should say to Tom by way of parting +advice; something that the boy could keep in his head ready for use. +By way of assisting meditation, he had even gone the length of taking +out his flint and steel and tinder, and hammering away for a quarter +of an hour till he had manufactured a light for a long cheroot,[10] +which he silently puffed; to the no small wonder of Coachee, who was +an old friend, and an institution on the Bath road; and who always +expected a talk on the prospects and doings, agricultural and social, +of the whole country when he carried the Squire. + + [10] #Cheroot#: a kind of cigar. + +To condense the Squire's meditation, it was somewhat as follows: "I +won't tell him to read his Bible, and love and serve God; if he +doesn't do that for his mother's sake and teaching, he won't for mine. +Shall I go into the sort of temptations he'll meet with? No, I can't +do that. Never do for an old fellow to go into such things with a boy. +He won't understand me. Do him more harm than good, ten to one. +Shall I tell him to mind his work, and say he's sent to school to +make himself a good scholar? Well, but he isn't sent to school for +that,--at any rate not for that mainly. I don't care a straw for Greek +particles, or the digamma;[11] no more does his mother. What is he +sent to school for? Well, partly because he wanted so to go. If he'll +only turn out a brave, helpful, truth-telling Englishman, and a +gentleman, and a Christian, that's all I want," thought the Squire; +and upon this view of the case he framed the last words of advice to +Tom, which were well enough suited to his purpose. + + [11] #Digamma#: an ancient letter of the Greek alphabet. Greek + particles are prepositions and conjunctions--hence nice or + difficult points of Greek grammar. + + +THE TALLY-HO. + +For they were Tom's first thoughts as he tumbled out of bed at the +summons of Boots, and proceeded rapidly to wash and dress himself. At +ten minutes to three he was down in the coffee-room in his stockings, +carrying his hat-box, coat, and comforter in his hand, and there he +found his father nursing a bright fire, and a cup of hot coffee and a +hard biscuit[12] on the table. + + [12] #Hard biscuit#: cracker. + +"Now then, Tom, give us your things here, and drink this; there's +nothing like starting warm, old fellow." + +Tom addressed himself to the coffee, and prattled away while he worked +himself into his shoes and his great-coat, well warmed through,--a +Petersham coat with velvet collar, made tight after the abominable +fashion of those days. And just as he was swallowing his last +mouthful, winding his comforter round his throat, and tucking the ends +into the breast of his coat, the horn sounds, Boots looks in and says, +"Tally-ho, sir;" and they hear the ring and the rattle of the four +fast trotters and the town-made drag[13] as it dashes up to the +Peacock. + + [13] #Drag#: a four-horse coach. + +"Anything for us, Bob?" says the burly guard,[14] dropping down from +behind, and slapping himself across the chest. + + [14] #Guard#: a person having charge of a mail-coach, a + conductor. + +"Young genl'm'n, Rugby; three parcels, Leicester; hamper[15] o' game, +Rugby" answers Ostler. + + [15] #Hamper#: a large, strongly made packing basket. + +"Tell young gent to look alive," says guard, opening the hind-boot[16] +and shooting in the parcels after examining them by the lamps. "Here, +shove the portmanteau[17] up a-top,--I'll fasten him presently. Now +then, sir, jump up behind." + + [16] #Hind-boot#: a place at the end of a coach for luggage. + + [17] #Portmanteau#: travelling bag. + +"Good-by, father--my love at home." A last shake of the hand. Up goes +Tom, the guard catching his hat-box and holding on with one hand, +while with the other he claps the horn to his mouth. Toot, toot, toot! +the ostlers let go their heads, the four bays plunge at the collar, +and away goes the Tally-ho into the darkness, forty-five seconds from +the time they pulled up; Ostler, Boots, and the Squire stand looking +after them under the Peacock lamp. + +"Sharp work!" says the Squire, and goes in again to his bed, the coach +being well out of sight and hearing. + +Tom stands up on the coach and looks back at his father's figure as +long as he can see it, and then the guard, having disposed of his +luggage, comes to an anchor, and finishes his buttonings and other +preparations for facing the three hours before dawn; no joke for those +who minded cold, on a fast coach in November, in the reign of his late +majesty. + + +A NOVEMBER RIDE IN OLD TIMES. + +I sometimes think that you boys of this generation are a deal tenderer +fellows than we used to be. At any rate you are much more comfortable +travellers, for I see every one of you with his rug or plaid,[18] and +other dodges for preserving the caloric,[19] and most of you going in +those fuzzy, dusty, padded, first-class carriages.[20] It was another +affair altogether, a dark ride on the top of the Tally-ho, I can tell +you, in a tight Petersham coat, and your feet dangling six inches from +the floor. Then you knew what cold was, and what it was to be without +legs, for not a bit of feeling had you in them after the first +half hour. But it had its pleasures,--the cold, dark ride. First +there was the consciousness of silent endurance, so dear to every +Englishman,--of standing out against something, and not giving in. +Then there was the music of the rattling harness, and the ring of the +horses' feet on the hard road, and the glare of the two bright lamps +through the steaming hoar-frost,[21] over the leader's ears, into the +darkness; and the cheery toot of the guard's horn, to warn some drowsy +pikeman[22] or the ostler at the next change; and the looking forward +to daylight--and last, but not least, the delight of returning +sensation in your toes. + + [18] #Rug or plaid#: a thick shawl or other wrap. + + [19] #Caloric#: here, heat of the body. + + [20] #First-class carriages#: in England the railway cars + (called "carriages") are divided into first, second, and third + class. + + [21] #Hoar-frost#: frozen dew. + + [22] #Pikeman#: the man who takes toll on a turnpike. + +Then the break of dawn and the sunrise, where can they be ever seen in +perfection but from a coach roof? You want motion and change and music +to see them in their glory; not the music of singing men and singing +women, but good silent music, which sets itself in your own head, the +accompaniment of work and getting over the ground. + +The Tally-ho is past St. Albans,[23] and Tom is enjoying the ride, +though half frozen. The guard, who is alone with him on the back of +the coach, is silent, but has muffled Tom's feet up in straw, and put +the end of an oat-sack over his knees. The darkness has driven him +inward, and he has gone over his little past life, and thought of all +his doings and promises, and of his mother and sister, and his +father's last words; and has made fifty good resolutions, and means to +bear himself like a brave Brown as he is, though a young one. Then he +has been forward into the mysterious boy-future, speculating as to +what sort of a place Rugby is, and what they do there, and calling up +all the stories of public schools which he has heard from big boys in +the holidays. He is chock full of hope and life, notwithstanding the +cold, and kicks his heels against the backboard, and would like to +sing, only he doesn't know how his friend the silent guard might take +it. + + [23] #St. Albans#: about twenty miles north of London. + + +"PULLING UP." + +And now the dawn breaks at the end of the fourth stage,[24] and the +coach pulls up at a little road-side inn with huge stables behind. +There is a bright fire gleaming through the red curtains of the +bar-window, and the door is open. The coachman catches his whip into a +double thong, and throws it to the ostler; the steam of the horses +rises straight up into the air. He has put them along over the last +two miles, and is two minutes before his time. He rolls down from the +box and into the inn. The guard rolls off behind. "Now, sir," says he +to Tom, "you just jump down, and I'll give you a drop of something to +keep the cold out." + + [24] #Stage#: division of a journey. + +Tom finds a difficulty in jumping, or, indeed, in finding the top of +the wheel with his feet, which may be in the next world, for all he +feels; so the guard picks him off the coach-top, and sets him on his +legs, and they stump off into the bar, and join the coachman and the +other outside passengers. + +Here a fresh-looking barmaid serves them each with a glass of early +purl[25] as they stand before the fire, coachman and guard exchanging +business remarks. The purl warms Tom up and makes him cough. + + [25] #Purl#: a hot drink made of beer and other ingredients. + +"Rare tackle[26] that, sir, of a cold morning," says the coachman, +smiling. "Time's up." They are out again and up; coachee the last, +gathering the reins into his hands and talking to Jem, the ostler, +about the mare's shoulder, and then swinging himself up on to the +box,--the horses dashing off in a canter before he falls into his +seat. Toot-toot-tootle-too goes the horn, and away they are again, +five-and-thirty miles on their road (nearly half way to Rugby, thinks +Tom), and the prospect of breakfast at the end of the stage. + + [26] #Tackle#: stuff. + + +MORNING SIGHTS AND DOINGS. + +And now they begin to see, and the early life of the country-side +comes out: a market cart or two, men in smock-frocks going to their +work, pipe in mouth, a whiff of which is no bad smell this bright +morning. The sun gets up, and the mist shines like silver gauze. They +pass the hounds jogging along to a distant meet,[27] at the heels of +the huntsman's hack,[28] whose face is about the color of the tails +of his old pink,[29] as he exchanges greetings with the coachman +and guard. Now they pull up at a lodge,[30] and take on board a +well-muffled-up sportsman, with his gun-case and carpet-bag. An early +up-coach meets them and the coachmen gather up their horses, and pass +one another with the accustomed lift of the elbow, each team doing +eleven miles an hour, with a mile to spare behind, if necessary. And +here comes breakfast. + + [27] #Meet#: a gathering of huntsmen for a hunt. + + [28] #Hack#: here, nag or horse kept for rough riding. + + [29] #Old pink#: a red hunting-coat. + + [30] #Lodge#: a gentleman's house. + +"Twenty minutes here, gentlemen," says the coachman, as they pull up +at half-past seven at the inn-door. + + +BREAKFAST. + +Have we not endured nobly this morning, and is not this a worthy +reward for much endurance? There is the low dark wainscoted[31] room +hung with sporting prints; the hat-stand (with a whip or two standing +up in it belonging to bagmen,[32] who are still snug in bed) by +the door; the blazing fire, with the quaint old glass over the +mantel-piece, in which is stuck a large card with the lists of the +meets for the week of the county hounds. The table covered with the +whitest of cloths and of china, and bearing a pigeon pie, ham, round +of cold boiled beef cut from a mammoth ox, and the great loaf of +household bread on a wooden trencher.[33] And here comes in the stout +head waiter, puffing under a tray of hot viands; kidneys and a steak, +transparent rashers[34] and poached eggs, buttered toast and muffins, +coffee and tea all smoking hot. The table can never hold it all; the +cold meats are removed to the sideboard; they were only put on for +show and to give us an appetite. And now fall on, gentlemen all. It is +a well-known sporting house, and the breakfasts are famous. Two or +three men in pink, on their way to the meet, drop in, and are very +jovial and sharp-set, as indeed we all are. + + [31] #Wainscoted#: lined with boards or panels. + + [32] #Bagmen#: commercial travellers. + + [33] #Trencher#: a large wooden plate. + + [34] #Rashers#: thin slices of bacon. + +"Tea or coffee, sir?" says head waiter, coming round to Tom. + +"Coffee, please," says Tom with his mouth full of muffin and kidneys; +coffee is a treat to him, tea is not. + +Our coachman, I perceive, who breakfasts with us, is a cold-beef man. +He also eschews hot potations, and addicts himself to a tankard of +ale, which is brought him by the barmaid. Sportsman looks on +approvingly, and orders a ditto for himself. + +Tom has eaten kidney and pigeon pie, and imbibed coffee, till his +little skin is as tight as a drum; and then has the further pleasure +of paying head waiter out of his own purse, in a dignified manner, and +walks out before the inn-door to see the horses put to. This is done +leisurely and in a highly finished manner by the ostlers, as if +they enjoyed the not being hurried. Coachman comes out with his +way-bill,[35] and puffing a fat cigar which the sportsman has given +him. Guard emerges from the tap,[36] where he prefers breakfasting, +licking round a tough-looking doubtful cheroot, which you might tie +round your finger, and three whiffs of which would knock any one else +out of time. + + [35] #Way-bill#: a list of passengers in a public vehicle. + + [36] #Tap#: bar-room. + +The pinks[37] stand about the inn-door lighting cigars and waiting to +see us start, while their hacks are led up and down the market-place +on which the inn looks. They all know our sportsman, and we feel a +reflected credit when we see him chatting and laughing with them. + + [37] #Pinks#: huntsmen. + +"Now, sir, please," says the coachman; all the rest of the passengers +are up; the guard is locking up the hind-boot. + +"A good run to you," says the sportsman to the pinks, and is by the +coachman's side in no time. + +"Let 'em go, Dick!" The ostlers fly back, drawing off the cloths from +their glossy loins, and away we go through the market-place and down +the High Street,[38] looking in at the first-floor[39] windows, and +seeing several worthy burgesses[40] shaving thereat; while all the +shop-boys who are cleaning the windows, and the house-maids who are +doing the steps, stop and looked pleased as we rattle past, as if we +were a part of their legitimate morning's amusement. We clear the +town, and are well out between the hedgerows again as the town clock +strikes eight. + + [38] #High Street#: the main street. + + [39] #First-floor#: the floor above the ground-floor,--the + second story. + + [40] #Burgess#: a citizen or voter in a town. + + +GUARD DISCOURSES ON RUGBY. + +The sun shines almost warmly, and breakfast has oiled all springs and +loosened all tongues. Tom is encouraged by a remark or two of the +guard's between the puffs of his oily cheroot, and besides is getting +tired of not talking. He is too full of his destination to talk about +anything else; and so asks the guard if he knows Rugby. + +"Goes through it every day of my life. Twenty minutes before twelve +down--ten o'clock up." + +"What sort of a place is it, please?" says Tom. + +Guard looks at him with a comical expression. "Werry out-o'-the-way +place, sir, no paving to streets, nor no lighting. 'Mazin' big horse +and cattle fair in autumn--lasts a week--just over now. Takes town a +week to get clean after it. Fairish hunting country. But slow place, +sir, slow place; off the main road, you see--only three coaches a +day, 'an one on 'em a two-oss van,[41] more like a hearse nor[42] a +coach--Regulator[43]--comes from Oxford. Young genl'm'n at school +calls her Pig and Whistle, and goes up to college by her (six miles +an hour) when they goes to enter. Belong to school, sir?" + + [41] #Van#: a large light-covered wagon. + + [42] #Nor#: than. + + [43] #Regulator#: the name of the rival coach. + +"Yes," says Tom, not unwilling for a moment that the guard should +think him an old boy; but then having some qualms as to the truth of +the assertion, and seeing that if he were to assume the character of +an old boy he couldn't go on asking the questions he wanted, +added--"that is to say, I'm on my way there. I'm a new boy." + +The guard looked as if he knew this quite as well as Tom. + +"You're werry late, sir," says the guard; "only six weeks to-day to +the end of the half."[44] Tom assented. "We takes up fine loads this +day six weeks, and Monday and Tuesday arter.[45] Hopes we shall have +the pleasure of carrying you back." + + [44] #Half#: the half year. + + [45] #Arter#: after. + +Tom said he hoped they would; but he thought within himself that his +fate would probably be the Pig and Whistle.[46] + + [46] #Pig and Whistle#: as Oxford lies on the direct road + between Rugby and White Horse Vale, Tom would naturally return + by this coach. + + +PEA-SHOOTERS. + +"It pays uncommon cert'nly," continues the guard. + +"Werry free with their cash is the young genl'm'n. But, Lor' bless +you, we gets into such rows all 'long the road, what wi' their +pea-shooters,[47] and long whips and hollering, and upsetting every +one as comes by; I'd a sight sooner carry one or two on 'em, sir, as +I may be a carryin' of you now, than a coach-load." + + [47] #Pea-shooters#: tin tubes used by boys for blowing peas + at a mark. + +"What do they do with the pea-shooters?" inquires Tom. + +"Do wi' 'em! why, peppers every one's faces as we comes near, 'cept +the young gals, and breaks windows wi' them, too, some on 'em shoots +so hard. Now 'twas just here last June, as we was a driving up the +first-day boys,[48] they was mendin' a quarter-mile of road, and there +was a lot of Irish chaps, reg'lar roughs, a breaking stones. As we +comes up, 'Now boys,' says young gent on the box (smart young fellow, +and desper't reckless), 'here's fun! let the Pats have it about the +ears.' 'God's sake, sir,' says Bob (that's my mate the coachman), +'don't go for to shoot at 'em, they'll knock us off the coach.' +'Coachee,' says young my lord, 'you ain't afraid; hoora, boys! let 'em +have it.' 'Hoora!' sings out the others, and fill their mouths chuck +full of peas to last the whole line. Bob, seeing as 'twas to come, +knocks his hat over his eyes, hollers to his 'osses, and shakes 'em +up, and away we goes up to the line on 'em, twenty miles an hour. The +Pats begin to hoora, too, thinking it was a runaway, and first lot on +'em stands grinnin' and wavin' their old hats as we comes abreast on +'em; and then you'd ha' laughed to see how took aback and choking +savage they looked, when they gets the peas a stinging all over 'em. +But bless you, the laugh weren't all of our side, sir, by a long way. +We was going so fast, and they was so took aback, that they didn't +take what was up till we was half-way up the line. Then 'twas 'Look +out all,' surely. They howls all down the line fit to frighten you, +some on 'em runs arter us and tries to clamber up behind, only we hits +'em over the fingers and pulls their hands off; one as had had it very +sharp act'ly[49] runs right at the leaders, as though he'd ketch 'em +by the heads, only luck'ly for him he misses his tip[50] and comes +over a heap o' stones first. The rest picks up stones, and gives it us +right away till we gets out of shot, the young gents holding out werry +manful with the pea-shooters and such stones as lodged on us, and a +pretty many there was, too. Then Bob picks hisself up again, and looks +at young gent on box werry solemn. Bob'd had a rum un[51] in the ribs, +which'd like to ha' knocked him off the box, or made him drop the +reins. Young gent on box picks hisself up, and so does we all, and +looks round to count damage. Box's head[52] cut open and his hat +gone; 'nother young gent's hat gone; mine knocked in at the side, +and not one on us as wasn't black and blue somewheres or another, +most on 'em all over. Two pounds ten to pay for damage to paint, +which they subscribed for there and then, and give Bob and me a extra +half-sovereign each; but I wouldn't go down that line again not for +twenty half-sovereigns." And the guard shook his head slowly, and got +up and blew a clear brisk toot-toot. + + [48] #First-day boys#: probably those that went up at the + beginning of the term. + + [49] #Act'ly#: actually. + + [50] #Tip#: here, mark. + + [51] #Rum un#: here, a hard blow. + + [52] #Box's head#: that is, the head of the "young gent" + sitting on the seat ("box") with the driver. + +"What fun!" said Tom, who could scarcely contain his pride at this +exploit of his future schoolfellows. He longed already for the end of +the half that he might join them. + +"'Tain't such good fun, though, sir, for the folks as meets the coach, +nor for we who has to go back with it next day. Them Irishers last +summer had all got stones ready for us, and was all but letting drive, +and we'd got two reverend gents aboard, too. We pulled up at the +beginning of the line, and pacified them, and we're never going to +carry no more pea-shooters, unless they promises not to fire where +there is a line of Irish chaps a stone-breaking." The guard stopped +and pulled away at his cheroot, regarding Tom benignantly the while. + +"Oh, don't stop! tell us something more about the pea-shooting." + + +AN OLD YEOMAN. + +"Well, there'd like to have been a pretty piece of work over it at +Bicester, a while back. We was six mile from the town, when we meets +an old square-headed gray-haired yeoman chap, a jogging along quite +quiet. He looks up at the coach, and just then a pea hits him on the +nose, and some catches his cob[53] behind and makes him dance up on +his hind legs. I see'd the old boy's face flush and look plaguy +awkward, and I thought we was in for somethin' ugly. + + [53] #Cob#: a short, stout horse. + +"He turns his cob's head, and rides quietly after us, just out of +shot. How that ere cob did step! we never shook him off not a dozen +yards in the six miles. At first the young gents was werry lively on +him: but afore we got in, seeing how steady the old chap come on, they +was quite quiet, and laid their heads together what they should do. +Some was for fighting, some for axing his pardon. He rides into the +town close after us, comes up when we stops, and says the two as shot +at him must come before a magistrate; and a great crowd comes round, +and we couldn't get the 'osses to. But the young uns they all stand by +one another, and says all or none must go, and as how they'd fight it +out, and have to be carried. Just as 'twas gettin' serious, and the +old boy and the mob was going to pull 'em off the coach, one little +fellow jumps up and says: 'Here--I'll stay--I'm only going three miles +further. My father's name's Davis, he's known about here, and I'll go +before the magistrate with this gentleman.' 'What! be thee parson +Davis's son?' says the old boy. 'Yes,' says the young un. 'Well, I be +mortal sorry to meet thee in such company, but for thy father's sake +and thine (for thee bi'st[54] a brave young chap) I'll say no more +about it.' Didn't the boys cheer him, and the mob cheered the young +chap--and then one of the biggest gets down, and begs his pardon werry +gentlemanly for all the rest, saying as they all had been plaguy vexed +from the first, but didn't like to ax his pardon till then, 'cause +they felt they hadn't ought to shirk the consequences of their joke. +And then they all got down, and shook hands with the old boy, and +asked him to all parts of the country, to their homes, and we drives +off twenty minutes behind time with cheering and hollering as if we +was county members.[55] But, Lor' bless you, sir," says the guard +smacking his hand down on his knee and looking full into Tom's face, +"ten minutes arter they was all as bad as ever." + + [54] #Bi'st#: "beest," art. + + [55] #County members#: members of Parliament. + + +BLOW-HARD AND HIS YARNS. + +Tom showed such undisguised and open-mouthed interest in his +narrations, that the old guard rubbed up his memory, and launched out +into a graphic history of all the performances of the boys on the road +for the last twenty years. Off the road he couldn't go; the exploit +must have been connected with horses or vehicles to hang in the old +fellow's head. Tom tried him off his own ground once or twice, but +found he knew nothing beyond, and so let him have his head, and the +rest of the road bowled easily away; for old Blow-hard (as the boys +called him) was a dry old file,[56] with much kindness and humor, and +a capital spinner of a yarn when he had broken the neck of his day's +work, and got plenty of ale under his belt. + + [56] #File#: a shrewd person. + +What struck Tom's youthful imagination most, was the desperate and +lawless character of most of the stories. Was the guard hoaxing him? +He couldn't help hoping that they were true. It's very odd how almost +all English boys love danger; you can get ten to join a game, or climb +a tree, or swim a stream, when there's a chance of breaking their +limbs or getting drowned, for one who'll stay on level ground, or in +his depth, or play quoits or bowls.[57] + + [57] #Quoits or bowls#: quoits are iron rings pitched at short + stakes set in the ground. Bowls are tenpins. + + +THE RUNNERS. + +The guard had just finished an account of a desperate fight which had +happened at one of the fairs between the drovers and the farmers with +their whips, and the boys with cricket-bats and wickets,[58] which +arose out of a playful but objectionable practice of the boys going +round to the public houses and taking the linch-pins out of the wheels +of the gigs, and was moralizing upon the way in which the Doctor, +"a terrible stern man he'd heard tell," had come down upon several +of the performers, "sending three on 'em off next morning, each in a +po-chay[59] with a parish constable," when they turned a corner and +neared the milestone, the third from Rugby. By the stone two boys +stood, their jackets buttoned tight, waiting for the coach. + + [58] #Wickets#: stakes which are driven into the ground as a + mark for the ball in playing cricket. + + [59] #Po-chay#: a post-chaise; a hired chaise. + +"Look here, sir," says the guard, after giving a sharp toot-toot, +"there's two on 'em, out and out runners they be. They comes out about +twice or three times a week, and spurts a mile alongside of us." + +And as they came up, sure enough, away went two boys along the +footpath, keeping up with the horses; the first a light, clean-made +fellow going on springs, the other, stout and round shouldered, +laboring in his pace, but going as dogged as a bull-terrier. + +Old Blow-hard looked on admiringly. "See how beautiful that there un +holds hisself together, and goes from his hips, sir," said he; "he's a +'mazin' fine runner. Now many coachmen as drives a first-rate team'd +put it on and try and pass 'em. But Bob, sir, bless you, he's +tender-hearted; he'd sooner pull in a bit if he see'd 'em a gettin' +beat. I do b'lieve, too, as that there un'd sooner break his heart +than let us go by him afore next milestone." + +At the second milestone the boys pulled up short, and waved their +hats to the guard, who had his watch out and shouted "4.56," thereby +indicating that the mile had been done in four seconds under the five +minutes. They passed several more parties of boys, all of them objects +of the deepest interest to Tom, and came in sight of the town at ten +minutes before twelve. Tom fetched a long breath, and thought he had +never spent a pleasanter day. Before he went to bed he had quite +settled that it must be the greatest day he should ever spend, and +didn't alter his opinion for many a long year,--if he has yet. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +RUGBY AND FOOT-BALL. + + "--Foot and eye opposed + In dubious strife."--_Scott._ + + +ARRIVAL AT RUGBY. + +"And so here's Rugby, sir, at last, and you'll be in plenty of time +for dinner at the School-house, as I tell'd you," said the old guard, +pulling his horn out of its case, and tootle-tooing away; while the +coachman shook up his horses, and carried them along the side of the +school-close, round Dead-man's corner, past the school-gates, and down +the High Street to the Spread Eagle; the wheelers in a spanking trot, +and leaders cantering, in a style which would not have disgraced +"Cherry Bob," "ramping, stamping, tearing, swearing Billy Harwood," or +any other of the old coaching heroes. + +Tom's heart beat quick as he passed the great schoolfield or close, +with its noble elms, in which several games at foot-ball were going +on, and tried to take in at once the long line of gray buildings, +beginning with the chapel, and ending with the School-house, the +residence of the head-master, where the great flag was lazily waving +from the highest round tower. And he began already to be proud of +being a Rugby boy, as he passed the school-gates with the oriel +window[1] above, and saw the boys standing there, looking as if the +town belonged to them, and nodding in a familiar manner to the +coachman, as if any one of them would be quite equal to getting on the +box and working the team down the street as well as he. + + [1] #Oriel window#: a bay-window. The great window over the + arch is a striking feature of the Rugby gateway. + + +TOM FINDS A PATRON. + +One of the young heroes, however, ran out from the rest, and scrambled +up behind; where, having righted himself, and nodded to the guard, +with "How do, Jem?" he turned short round to Tom, and, after looking +him over for a minute, began: + +"I say, you fellow, is your name Brown?" + +"Yes," said Tom, in considerable astonishment; glad, however, to have +lighted on some one already who seemed to know him. + +"Ah, I thought so; you know my old aunt, Miss East; she lives +somewhere down your way in Berkshire. She wrote to me that you were +coming to-day, and asked me to give you a lift."[2] + + [2] #Lift#: assistance of any kind. + +Tom was somewhat inclined to resent the patronizing air of his new +friend, a boy of just about his own height and age, but gifted with +the most transcendent coolness and assurance, which Tom felt to be +aggravating and hard to bear, but couldn't for the life of him help +admiring and envying,--especially when young my lord begins hectoring +two or three long, loafing fellows, half porter, half stableman, with +a strong touch of the blackguard, and in the end arranges with one of +them, nicknamed Cooey, to carry Tom's luggage up to the School-house +for sixpence. + +"And heark'ee, Cooey, it must be up in ten minutes, or no more jobs +from me. Come along, Brown." And away swaggers the young potentate, +with his hands in his pockets, and Tom at his side. + +"All right, sir," says Cooey, touching his hat, with a leer and a wink +at his companions. + +"Hullo, though!" says East, pulling up, and taking another look at +Tom, "this'll never do. Haven't you got a hat? We never wear caps +here. Only the louts wear caps. Bless you, if you were to go into the +quadrangle[3] with that thing on, I--don't know what'd happen." The +very idea was quite beyond young Master East, and he looked +unutterable things. + + [3] #Quadrangle#: a square piece of ground inclosed by + buildings. English schools and colleges are quite generally + built round a quadrangle or "quod" as it is commonly called. + +Tom thought his cap a very knowing affair, but confessed that he had a +hat in his hat-box; which was accordingly at once extracted from the +hind-boot, and Tom equipped in his go-to-meeting roof, as his new +friend called it. But this didn't quite suit his fastidious taste in +another minute, being too shiny; so, as they walk up the town, they +dive into Nixon's, the hatter's, and Tom is arrayed, to his utter +astonishment, and without paying for it, in a regulation cat-skin[4] +at seven and sixpence; Nixon undertaking to send the best hat up to +the matron's room, School-house, in half an hour. + + [4] #Regulation cat-skin#: the hat prescribed by custom or + school law. + +"You can send in a note for a tile[5] on Monday, and make it +all right, you know," said the Mentor.[6] "We're allowed two +seven-and-sixers a half, besides what we bring from home." + + [5] #Tile#: a tall silk hat. + + [6] #Mentor#: a wise counsellor. See Homer's Odyssey. + +Tom by this time began to be conscious of his new social position and +dignities, and to luxuriate in the realized ambition of being a +public-school boy at last, with a vested right of spoiling two +seven-and-sixers in half a year.[7] + + [7] #Two seven-and-sixers#, etc.: _i.e._, two hats, for each + half year, costing seven shillings and sixpence ($1.80) each. + +"You see," said his friend, as they strolled up toward the +school-gates, in explanation of his conduct, "a great deal depends on +how a fellow cuts up at first. If he's got nothing odd about him, and +answers straightforward, and holds his head up, he gets on. Now you'll +do very well as to rig, all but that cap. You see I'm doing the +handsome thing by you, because my father knows yours; besides, I want +to please the old lady. She gave me half-a-sov.[8] this half, and +perhaps'll double it next, if I keep in her good books."[9] + + [8] #Half-a-sov.#: half a sovereign ($2.50). + + [9] #Keep in her good books#: keep on good terms with her. + +There's nothing for candor like a lower-school boy, and East was a +genuine specimen,--frank, hearty and good-natured, well satisfied with +himself and his position, and chock full of life and spirits, and all +the Rugby prejudices and traditions which he had been able to get +together in the long course of one-half year during which he had been +at the School-house. + +And Tom, notwithstanding his bumptiousness,[10] felt friends with him +at once, and began sucking in all his ways and prejudices, as fast as +he could understand them. + + [10] #Bumptiousness#: domineering manner. + + +INTRODUCTION TO THE MATRON. + +East was great in the character of cicerone;[11] he carried Tom +through the great gates, where were only two or three boys. These +satisfied themselves with the stock questions--"You fellow, what's +your name? Where do you come from? How old are you? Where do you +board? and, What form[12] are you in?"--and so they passed on through +the quadrangle and a small court-yard, upon which looked down a lot of +little windows (belonging, as his guide informed him, to some of the +School-house studies),[13] into the matron's room, where East +introduced Tom to that dignitary; made him give up the key of his +trunk, that the matron might unpack his linen, and told the story of +the hat and of his own presence of mind; upon the relation whereof the +matron laughingly scolded him, for the coolest new boy in the house; +and East, indignant at the accusation of newness, marched Tom off into +the quadrangle, and began showing him the schools, and examining him +as to his literary attainments; the result of which was a prophecy +that they would be in the same form, and could do their lessons +together. + + [11] #Cicerone#: guide. + + [12] #Form#: here, class. + + [13] #Studies#: small private rooms occupied by the Rugby + boys (two in a room) for study. They are distinct from the + bed-rooms. + + +EAST'S STUDY. + +"And now come in and see my study; we shall have just time before +dinner; and afterward, before calling-over,[14] we'll do the close." + + [14] #Calling-over#: roll-call. + +Tom followed his guide through the School-house hall, which opens into +the quadrangle. It is a great room, thirty feet long and eighteen +high, or thereabouts, with two great tables running the whole length, +and two large fire-places at the side, with blazing fires in them, at +one of which some dozen boys were standing and lounging, some of whom +shouted to East to stop; but he shot through with his convoy,[15] and +landed him in the long dark passages, with a large fire at the end of +each, upon which the studies opened. Into one of these, in the bottom +passage, East bolted with our hero, slamming and bolting the door +behind them, in case of pursuit from the hall, and Tom was for the +first time in a Rugby boy's citadel. + + [15] #Convoy#: literally, a merchant-vessel protected by a + ship-of-war; here, a person under the care of another. + +He hadn't been prepared for separate studies, and was not a little +astonished and delighted with the palace in question. + +It wasn't very large certainly, being about six feet long by four +broad. It couldn't be called light, as there were bars and a grating +to the window; which little precautions were necessary in the studies +on the ground-floor looking out into the close, to prevent the exit of +small boys after locking up, and the entrance of contraband articles. +But it was uncommonly comfortable to look at, Tom thought. The space +under the window at the further end was occupied by a square table +covered with a reasonably clean and whole red and blue check +table-cloth; a hard-seated sofa covered with red stuff occupied one +side, running up to the end and making a seat for one, or by sitting +close, for two at the table; and a good stout wooden chair afforded a +seat to another boy, so that three could sit and work together. The +walls were wainscoted half-way up, the wainscot being covered with +green baize, the remainder with a bright-patterned paper, on which +hung three or four prints, of dog's heads, Grimaldi[16] winning the +Aylesbury steeple-chase,[17] Amy Robsart,[18] the reigning Waverley +beauty of the day, and Tom Crib[19] in a posture of defence, which did +no credit to the science[20] of that hero, if truly represented. Over +the door was a row of hat-pegs, and on each side book-cases with +cupboards at the bottom; shelves and cupboards being filled +indiscriminately with school-books, a cup or two, a mouse-trap, and +candlesticks, leather straps, a fustian bag, and some curious-looking +articles which puzzled Tom not a little, until his friend explained +that they were climbing irons, and showed their use. A cricket-bat and +small fishing-rod stood up in one corner. + + [16] #Grimaldi#: the name of a race-horse. + + [17] #Steeple-chase#: a race between horsemen across country + to see which can first reach a certain distant object, as a + church steeple. + + [18] #Amy Robsart#: the heroine of Scott's Waverley novel, + "Kenilworth." + + [19] #Tom Crib#: a noted pugilist. + + [20] #Science#: boxing or pugilistic science. + + +"OUR OWN" AND THE USE THEREOF. + +This was the residence of East and another boy in the same form, and +had more interest for Tom than Windsor Castle,[21] or any other +residence in the British Isles. For was he not about to become the +joint owner of a similar home, the first place he could call his own? +One's own,--what a charm there is in the words! How long it takes boy +and man to find out their worth! how fast most of us hold on to them! +faster and more jealously, the nearer we are to that general home, +into which we can take nothing, but must go naked as we came into the +world. When shall we learn that he who multiplieth possessions +multiplieth troubles, and that the one single use of things which we +call our own is that they may be his who hath need of them? + + [21] #Windsor Castle#: the principal residence of the English + monarchs. It is on the Thames, about twenty miles west of + London. + +"And shall I have a study like this, too?" said Tom. + +"Yes, of course, you'll be chummed with some fellow on Monday, and you +can sit here till then." + +"What nice places!" + +"They're well enough," answered East, patronizingly, "only uncommon +cold at nights sometimes. Gower--that's my chum--and I make a fire +with paper on the floor after supper generally, only that makes it so +smoky." + +"But there's a big fire out in the passage," said Tom. + +"Precious little we get out of that though," said East; "Jones the +prępostor[22] has the study at the fire end, and he has rigged up an +iron rod and green baize curtains across the passage, which he draws +at night, and sits there with his door open, so he gets all the fire, +and hears if we come out of our studies after eight, or make a noise. +However, he's taken to sitting in the fifth-form room lately, so we do +get a bit of fire now sometimes; only keep a sharp look-out that he +don't catch you behind his curtain when he comes down,--that's all." + + [22] #Prępostors#: the members of the sixth form, the highest + class in the school. They were charged with the duty of + looking after the other boys. + + +TOM'S FIRST RUGBY DINNER. + +A quarter past one now struck, and the bell began tolling for dinner, +so they went into the hall and took their places, Tom at the very +bottom of the second table, next to the prępostor (who sat at the end +to keep order there), and East a few paces higher. And now Tom for the +first time saw his future school-fellows in a body. In they came, some +hot and ruddy from foot-ball or long walks, some pale and chilly from +hard reading[23] in their studies, some from loitering over the fire +at the pastry-cook's, dainty mortals, bringing with them pickles and +sauce-bottles to help them with their dinners. And a great big-bearded +man, whom Tom took for a master, began calling over the names, while +the great joints were being rapidly carved on the third table in the +corner by the old verger[24] and the housekeeper. Tom's turn came +last, and meanwhile he was all eyes, looking first with awe at the +great man who sat close to him, and was helped first, and who read a +hard-looking book all the time he was eating: and when he got up and +walked off to the fire, at the small boys round him, some of whom were +reading, and the rest talking in whispers to one another, or stealing +one another's bread, or shooting pellets,[25] or digging their forks +through the table-cloth. However, notwithstanding his curiosity, he +managed to make a capital dinner by the time the big man called "Stand +up!" and said grace. + + [23] #Reading#: studying. + + [24] #Verger#: here, the porter. + + [25] #Pellets#: wads of paper. + +As soon as dinner was over, and Tom had been questioned by such +neighbors as were curious as to his birth, parentage, education, and +other like matters, East, who evidently enjoyed his new dignity of +patron and Mentor, proposed having a look at the close,[26] which Tom, +athirst for knowledge, gladly assented to, and they went out through +the quadrangle and passed the fives' court,[27] into the great +play-ground. + + [26] #Close#: this close or play-ground contains something + over thirteen acres. + + [27] #Fives' court#: the space set apart for playing fives, a + game resembling tennis. + +"That's the chapel you see," said East, "and there just behind it is +the place for fights; you see it's most out of the way of the masters, +who all live on the other side and don't come by here after the first +lesson or callings-over. That's when the fights come off. And all this +part where we are is the little side-ground, right up to the trees, +and on the other side of the trees is the big side-ground, where the +great matches are played. And there's the island[28] in the farthest +corner; you'll know that well enough next half, when there's island +fagging.[29] I say, it's horrid cold! let's have a run across;" and +away went East, Tom close behind him. East was evidently putting his +best foot foremost, and Tom, who was mighty proud of his running, and +not a little anxious to show his friend that although a new boy he was +no milk-sop, laid himself down to the work in his very best style. +Right across the close they went, each doing all he knew, and there +wasn't a yard between them, when they pulled up at the island-moat. + + [28] #Island#: the island no longer exists. + + [29] #Fagging#: the power given the sixth form, by authority + and the custom of the school, to require the boys of the lower + forms or classes to do errands, and act as servants generally. + The system still has its defenders who regard it as a means of + discipline. + +"I say," said East, as soon as he got his wind, looking with much +increased respect at Tom, "you aren't a bad scud, not by no means. +Well, I'm warm as toast now." + + +WHITE TROUSERS IN NOVEMBER. + +"But why do you wear white trousers in November?" said Tom. He had +been struck by this peculiarity in the costume of almost all the +School-house boys. + +"Why, bless us, don't you know?--No, I forgot. Why, to-day's the +School-house match. Our house plays the whole of the School at +foot-ball.[30] And we all wear white trousers to show 'em we don't +care for hacks.[31] You're in luck to come to-day. You just will see a +match; and Brooke's going to let me play in quarters. That's more than +he'll do for any other lower-school boy, except James, and he is +fourteen." + + [30] #Foot-ball#: foot-ball is the great game at Rugby. It + first became popular in America under the Rugby rules, which, + though modified, are still the basis of the game as now + played. + + [31] #Hacks#: kicks on the shins. + +"Who is Brooke?" + +"Why, that big fellow who called over at dinner, to be sure. He's cock +of the school, and head of the School-house side, and the best kick +and charger in Rugby." + +"Oh, but do show me where they play. And tell me about it. I love +foot-ball so, and have played all my life. Won't Brooke let me play?" + +"Not he," said East, with some indignation; "why, you don't know the +rules,--you'll be a month learning them. And then it's no joke +playing-up, in a match, I can tell you. Quite another thing from your +private school games. Why, there's been two collar-bones broken this +half, and a dozen fellows lamed. And last year a fellow had his leg +broken." + +Tom listened with the profoundest respect to this chapter of +accidents, and followed East across the level ground till they came to +a sort of gigantic gallows of two poles eighteen feet high, fixed +upright in the ground some fourteen feet apart, with a cross-bar +running from one to the other at the height of ten feet or +thereabouts. + + +EAST DISCOURSETH ON FOOT-BALL. + +"This is one of the goals," said East, "and you see the other across +there, right opposite, under the Doctor's wall. Well, the match is for +the best of three goals; whichever side kicks two goals wins: and it +won't do, you see, just to kick the ball through these posts, it must +go over the cross-bar; any height'll do, so long as it's between the +posts. You'll have to stay in goal to touch the ball when it rolls +behind the posts, because if the other side touch it they have a try +at goal. Then we fellows in quarters, we play just about in front of +goal here, and have to turn the ball and kick it back before the big +fellows on the other side can follow it up. And in front of us all the +big fellows play, and that's where the scrummages are mostly." + +Tom's respect increased as he struggled to make out his friend's +technicalities,[32] and the other set to work to explain the mysteries +of "off your side," "drop-kicks," "punts," "places," and the other +intricacies of the great science of foot-ball. + + [32] #Technicalities#: here, phrases peculiar to foot-ball. + +"But how do you keep the ball between the goals?" said he; "I can't +see why it mightn't go right down to the chapel." + +"Why, that's out of play," answered East. "You see this gravel walk +running down all along this side of the playing-ground, and the line +of elms opposite on the other? Well, they're the bounds. As soon as +the ball gets past them, it's in touch, and out of play. And then +whoever first touches it, has to knock it straight out amongst the +players-up, who make two lines with a space between them, every fellow +going on his own side. Aren't there just fine scrummages then! and the +three trees you see there which come out into the play, that's a +tremendous place when the ball hangs there, for you get thrown against +the trees, and that's worse than any hack." + +Tom wondered within himself, as they strolled back again towards the +fives' court, whether the matches were really such break-neck affairs +as East represented, and whether, if they were, he should ever get to +like them and play-up well. + + +CALLING-OVER. + +He hadn't long to wonder, however, for the next minute East cried out: +"Hurra; here's the punt-about--come along and try your hand at a +kick." The punt-about is the practice-ball, which is just brought out +and kicked about anyhow from one boy to another before callings-over +and dinner, and at other odd times. They joined the boys who had +brought it out, all small School-house fellows, friends of East; and +Tom had the pleasure of trying his skill, and performed very +creditably, after first driving his foot three inches into the ground, +and then nearly kicking his leg into the air, in vigorous efforts to +accomplish a drop-kick after the manner of East. + +Presently more boys and bigger came out, and boys from other houses on +their way to callings-over, and more balls were sent for. The crowd +thickened as three o'clock approached; and when the hour struck, one +hundred and fifty boys were hard at work. Then the balls were held, +the master of the week came down in cap and gown[33] to calling-over, +and the whole school of three hundred boys swept into the Big +School[34] to answer to their names. + + [33] #Cap and gown#: It is customary in England for holders of + academic degrees to wear at times the appropriate cap and gown + indicating their grade and college. + + [34] #The Big School#: the name of one of the school buildings + at Rugby. + +"I may come in, mayn't I?" said Tom, catching East by the arm and +longing to feel one of them. + +"Yes, come along, nobody'll say anything. You won't be so eager to get +into calling-over after a month," replied his friend; and they marched +into the Big School together, and up to the further end, where that +illustrious form, the lower fourth, which had the honor of East's +patronage for the time-being, stood. + +The master mounted into the high desk by the door, and one of the +prępostors of the week stood by him on the steps, the other three +marching up and down the middle of the school with their canes,[35] +calling out "Silence, silence!" The sixth form stood close by the door +on the left, some thirty in number, mostly great, big, grown men, as +Tom thought, surveying them from a distance with awe. The fifth form +behind them, twice their number, and not quite so big. These on the +left; and on the right the lower fifth, shell,[36] and all the junior +forms in order; while up the middle marched the three prępostors. + + [35] #Canes#: light, limber rattans used as rods. + + [36] #Shell#: the lower fourth form or class. + +Then the prępostor who stands by the master calls out the names, +beginning with the sixth form; and as he calls, each boy answers +"here" to his name, and walks out. Some of the sixth stop at the door +to turn the whole string of boys into the close; it is a great match +day, and every boy in the school will-he, nill-he,[37] must be there. +The rest of the sixth go forward into the close, to see that no one +escapes by any of the side gates. + + [37] #Will-he, nill-he#: willing or not. + + +"THEY TRUST TO OUR HONOR." + +To-day, however, being the School-house match, none of the +School-house prępostors stay by the door to watch for truants of their +side; there is _carte blanche_[38] to the School-house fags to go +where they like: "They trust to our honor," as East proudly informs +Tom; "they know very well that no School-house boy would cut the +match.[39] If he did, we'd very soon cut him,[40] I can tell you." + + [38] #Carte blanche#: literally, a white card to be filled up + as one pleases; hence, unlimited power. + + [39] #Cut the match#: refuse to be present at the game. + + [40] #Cut him#: drop his society. + +The master of the week being short-sighted, and the prępostors of the +week small, and not well up to their work, the lower-school boys +employ the ten minutes which elapse before their names are called, in +pelting one another vigorously with acorns, which fly about in all +directions. The small prępostors dash in every now and then, and +generally chastise some quiet, timid boy, who is equally afraid of +acorns and canes, while the principal performers get dexterously out +of the way; and so calling-over rolls on somehow, much like the big +world, punishments lighting on wrong shoulders, and matters going +generally in a queer, cross-grained way, but the end coming somehow, +which is after all the great point. And now the master of the week has +finished, and locked up the Big School; and the prępostors of the week +come out, sweeping the last remnant of the School fags,--who had been +loafing about the corners, by the fives' court, in hopes of a chance +of bolting before them, into the close. + +"Hold the punt-about!" "To the goals!" are the cries, and all stray +balls are impounded[41] by the authorities; and the whole mass of boys +move up toward the two goals, dividing as they go into three bodies. +That little band on the left, consisting of from fifteen to twenty +boys, Tom amongst them, who are making for the goal under the +School-house wall, are the School-house boys who are not to play-up, +and have to stay in goal. The larger body moving to the island goal +are the School boys in a like predicament. The great mass in the +middle are the players-up, both sides mingled together; they are +hanging their jackets, and all who mean real work, their hats, +waistcoats, neck-handkerchiefs, and braces,[42] on the railings round +the small trees; and there they go by twos and threes up to their +respective grounds. There is none of the color and tastiness of get +up, you will perceive, which lends such a life to the present game at +Rugby, making the dullest and worst fought match a pretty sight. Now, +each house has its own uniform of cap and jersey, of some lively +color; but at the time we are speaking of, plush caps had not yet come +in, or uniforms of any sort, except the School-house white trousers, +which are abominably cold to-day; let us get to work, bare-headed and +girded with our plain leather strap,--but we mean business, gentlemen. + + [41] #Impounded#: locked up. + + [42] #Braces#: suspenders. + + +OLD BROOKE'S GENERALSHIP. + +And now that the two sides have fairly sundered, and each occupies its +own ground, and we get a good look at them, what absurdity is this? +You don't mean to say that those fifty or sixty boys, in white +trousers, many of them quite small, are going to play that huge mass +opposite? Indeed I do, gentlemen; they're going to try, at any rate, +and won't make such a bad fight of it either, mark my word: for hasn't +old Brooke won the toss, with his lucky half-penny, and got choice of +goals and kick-off? The new ball you may see lie there quite by +itself, in the middle, pointing toward the School or island goal; in +another minute it will be well on its way there. Use that minute in +remarking how the School-house side is drilled. You will see, in the +first place, that the sixth form boy who has charge of goal has spread +his force (the goal-keepers) so as to occupy the whole space behind +the goal-posts at distances of about five yards apart; a safe and +well-kept goal is the foundation of all good play. Old Brooke is +talking to the captain of quarters; and now he moves away. See how +that youngster spreads his men (the light brigade) carefully over the +ground, half-way between their own goal and the body of their own +players-up (the heavy brigade). These again play in several bodies; +there is young Brooke and the bull dogs--mark them well--they are the +"fighting brigade," the "die-hards," larking[43] about at leap-frog to +keep themselves warm, and playing tricks on one another. And on each +side of old Brooke, who is now standing in the middle of the ground +and just going to kick-off, you see a separate wing of players-up, +each with a boy of acknowledged prowess to look to--here Warner, and +there Hedge; but over all is old Brooke, absolute as he of Russia,[44] +but wisely and bravely ruling over willing and worshipping subjects, a +true foot-ball king. His face is earnest and careful as he glances a +last time over his array, but full of pluck and hope; the sort of look +I hope to see in my general when I go out to fight. + + [43] #Larking#: frolicking. + + [44] #He of Russia#: the Czar. + +The School side is not organized in the same way. The goal-keepers are +all in lumps, anyhow and nohow; you can't distinguish between the +players-up and the boys in quarters, and there is divided leadership; +but with such odds in strength and weight, it must take more than that +to hinder them from winning; and so their leaders seem to think, for +they let the players-up manage themselves. + + +A SCRUMMAGE. + +But now look; there is a slight move forward of the School-house +wings; a shout of "Are you ready?" and loud affirmative reply. Old +Brooke takes half a dozen quick steps, and away goes the ball spinning +toward the School goal; seventy yards before it touches ground, and at +no point above twelve or fifteen feet high, a model kick-off; and the +School-house cheer and rush on; the ball is returned, and they meet it +and drive it back amongst the masses of the School already in motion. +Then the two sides close, and you can see nothing for minutes but a +swaying crowd of boys, at one point violently agitated. That is where +the ball is, and there are the keen players to be met, and the glory +and the hard knocks to be got. You hear the dull thud of the ball, and +the shouts of "Off your side," "Down with him," "Put him over," +"Bravo." This is what we call "a scrummage," gentlemen, and the first +scrummage in a School-house match was no joke in the consulship of +Plancus.[45] + + [45] #In the consulship of Plancus#: meaning, perhaps, at the + time when "old Brooke" was leader. + +But see! it has broken; the ball is driven out on the School-house +side, and a rush of the School carries it past the School-house +players-up. "Look out in quarters," Brooke's and twenty other voices +ring out. No need to call, though; the School-house captain of +quarters has caught it on the bound, dodges the foremost School-boys +who are heading the rush, and sends it back with a good drop-kick well +into the enemy's country. And then follows rush upon rush, and +scrummage upon scrummage, the ball now driven through into the +School-house quarters, and now into the School goal; for the +School-house have not lost the advantage which the kick-off and a +slight wind gave them at the outset, and are slightly "penning" their +adversaries. You say you don't see much in it all; nothing but a +struggling mass of boys, and a leathern ball, which seems to excite +them all to great fury, as a red rag does a bull. My dear sir, a +battle would look much the same to you, except that the boys would be +men, and the balls iron; but a battle would be worth your looking at, +for all that, and so is a foot-ball match. You can't be expected to +appreciate the delicate strokes of play, the turns by which a game is +lost and won; it takes an old player to do that, but the broad +philosophy of foot-ball you can understand if you will. Come along +with me a little nearer, and let us consider it together. + + +HOW TO GO IN. + +The ball has just fallen again where the two sides are thickest, and +they close rapidly around it in a scrummage; it must be driven through +now by force or skill, till it flies out on one side or the other. +Look how differently the boys face it! Here come two of the bull-dogs, +bursting through the outsiders; in they go, straight to the heart of +the scrummage, bent on driving that ball out on the opposite side. +That is what they mean to do. My sons, my sons! you are too hot; you +have gone past the ball, and must struggle now right through the +scrummage, and get round and back again to your own side before you +can be of any further use. Here comes young Brooke; he goes in as +straight as you, but he keeps his head, and backs and bends, holding +himself still behind the ball, and driving it furiously when he gets +the chance. Take a leaf out of his book, you young chargers. Here +comes Speedicut and Flashman, the School-house bully, with shouts and +great action. Won't you two come up to young Brooke, after locking up, +by the School-house fire, with "Old fellow, wasn't that just a +splendid scrummage by the three trees!" But he knows you and so do we. +You don't really want to drive that ball through that scrummage, +chancing all hurt for the glory of the School-house--but to make us +think that's what you want--a vastly different thing; and fellows of +your sort will never go through more than the skirts of a scrummage, +where it's all push and no kicking. We respect boys who keep out of +it, and don't sham going in; but you--we had rather not say what we +think of you. + +Then the boys who are bending and watching on the outside, mark +them--they are most useful players, the dodgers; who seize on the ball +the moment it rolls out from amongst the chargers, and away with it +across to the opposite goal; they seldom go into the scrummage, but +must have more coolness than the chargers; as endless as are boys' +characters, so are their ways of facing or not facing a scrummage at +foot-ball. + + +YOUNG BROOKE'S RUSH. + +Three quarters of an hour are gone; first winds are failing, and +weight and numbers beginning to tell. Yard by yard the School-house +have been driven back, contesting every inch of ground. The bull-dogs +are the color of mother earth from shoulder to ankle, except young +Brooke, who has a marvellous knack of keeping his legs. The +School-house are being penned in their turn, and now the ball is +behind their goal, under the Doctor's wall. The Doctor and some of his +family are there looking on, and seem as anxious as any boy for the +success of the School-house. We get a minute's breathing time before +old Brooke kicks out, and he gives the word to play strongly for +touch, by the three trees. Away goes the ball, and the bull-dogs after +it, and in another minute there is a shout of "In touch," "Our ball." +Now's your time, old Brooke, while your men are still fresh. He stands +with the ball in his hand, while the two sides form in deep lines +opposite one another; he must strike it straight out between them. The +lines are thickest close to him, but young Brooke and two or three of +his men are shifting up further, where the opposite line is weak. Old +Brooke strikes it out straight and strong, and it falls opposite his +brother. Hurra! that rush has taken it right through the School line, +and away past the three trees, far into their quarters, and young +Brooke and the bull-dogs are close upon it. The School leaders rush +back, shouting "Look out in goal!" and strain every nerve to catch +him, but they are after the fleetest foot in Rugby. There they go +straight for the School goal-posts, quarters scattering before them. +One after another the bull-dogs go down, but young Brooke holds on. +"He is down," No! a long stagger, but the danger is past; that was the +shock of Crew, the most dangerous of dodgers. And now he is close to +the School goal, the ball not three yards before him. There is a +hurried rush of the School fags to the spot, but no one throws himself +on the ball, the only chance, and young Brooke has touched it right +under the School goal-post. + +The School leaders come up furious, and administer toco[46] to the +wretched fags nearest at hand; they may well be angry, for it is all +Lombard Street[47] to a China orange[48] that the School-house kick a +goal with the ball touched in such a good place. Old Brooke, of +course, will kick it out, but who shall catch and place it? Call Crab +Jones. Here he comes, sauntering along with a straw in his mouth, the +queerest, coolest fish in Rugby; if he were tumbled into the moon this +minute, he would just pick himself up without taking his hands out of +his pockets or turning a hair. But it is a moment when the boldest +charger's heart beats quick. Old Brooke stands with the ball under his +arm motioning the School back; he will not kick out till they are all +in goal, behind the posts; they are all edging forward, inch by inch, +to get nearer for the rush at Crab Jones, who stands there in front of +old Brooke to catch the ball. If they can reach and destroy him before +he catches, the danger is over; and with one and the same rush they +will carry it right away to the School-house goal. Fond[49] hope! it +is kicked out and caught beautifully. Crab strikes his heel into the +ground, to mark the spot where the ball was caught, beyond which the +School line may not advance; but there they stand, five deep, ready to +rush the moment the ball touches the ground. Take plenty of room! +don't give the rush a chance of reaching you! place it true and +steady! Trust Crab Jones--he has made a small hole with his heel for +the ball to lie on, by which he is resting on one knee, with his eye +on old Brooke. "Now!" Crab places the ball at the word, old Brooke +kicks, and it rises slowly and truly as the School rush forward. + + [46] #Toco#: probably kicks and cuffs. + + [47] #Lombard Street#: the centre of the banking business in + London. + + [48] #China orange#: a sweet orange. + + [49] Fond: here, foolish. + + +A GOAL. + +Then a moment's pause, while both sides look up at the spinning ball. +There it flies, straight between the two posts, some five feet above +the cross-bar, an unquestioned goal; and a shout of real genuine joy +rings out from the School-house players-up, and a faint echo of it +comes over the close from the goal-keepers under the Doctor's wall. +A goal in the first hour--such a thing hasn't been done in the +School-house match these five years. + +"Over!" is the cry; the two sides change goals, and the School-house +goal-keepers come threading their way across through the masses of the +School; the most openly triumphant of them, amongst whom is Tom, a +School-house boy of two hours' standing, getting their ears boxed in +the transit. Tom, indeed, is excited beyond measure, and it is all the +sixth-form boy, kindest and safest of goal-keepers, has been able to +do, to keep him from rushing out whenever the ball has been near their +goal. So he holds him by his side, and instructs him in the science of +touching. + +At this moment Griffith, the itinerant[50] vender of oranges from Hill +Morton, enters the close with his heavy baskets; there is a rush of +small boys upon the little pale-faced man, the two sides mingling +together, subdued by the great Goddess Thirst, like the English and +French by the streams in the Pyrenees.[51] The leaders are past +oranges and apples, but some of them visit their coats, and apply +innocent-looking ginger-beer bottles to their mouths. It is no +ginger-beer though, I fear, and will do you no good. One short, mad +rush, and then a stitch in the side, and no more honest play; that's +what comes of those bottles. + + [50] #Itinerant#: wandering. + + [51] #Pyrenees#: an allusion to the French and English wars in + Spain. + +But now Griffith's baskets are empty, the ball is placed again midway, +and the School are going to kick-off. Their leaders have sent their +lumber into goal, and rated the rest soundly, and one hundred and +twenty picked players-up are there, bent on retrieving the game. They +are to keep the ball in front of the School-house goal, and then to +drive it in by sheer strength and weight. They mean heavy play and no +mistake, and so old Brooke sees; and places Crab Jones in quarters +just before the goal, with four or five picked players, who are to +keep the ball away to the sides, where a try at goal, if obtained, +will be less dangerous than in front. He, himself, and Warner and +Hedge, who have saved themselves until now, will lead the charges. + + +"ARE YOU READY?" + +"Are you ready?" "Yes." And away comes the ball kicked high in the +air, to give the School time to rush on and catch it as it falls. And +here they are amongst us. Meet them like Englishmen, you School-house +boys, and charge them home. Now is the time to show what mettle is in +you--and there shall be a warm seat by the hall fire, and honor +to-night for him who does his duty in the next half-hour. And they are +well met. Again and again the cloud of their players-up gathers before +our goal, and comes threatening on, and Warner or Hedge, with young +Brooke and the relics of the bull-dogs, break through and carry the +ball back; and old Brooke ranges the field like Job's war-horse; the +thickest scrummage parts asunder before his rush, like the waves +before a clipper's bows; his cheery voice rings over the field, and +his eye is everywhere. And if these miss the ball, and it rolls +dangerously in front of our goal, Crab Jones and his men have seized +it, and sent it away towards the sides with the unerring drop-kick. +This is worth living for; the whole sum of school-boy existence +gathered up into one straining, struggling half-hour, a half-hour +worth a year of common life. + + +EAST'S CHARGE. + +The quarter to five has struck, and the play slackens for a minute +before goal; but there is Crew, the artful dodger, driving the ball in +behind our goal, on the island side, where our quarters are weakest. +Is there no one to meet him? Yes, look at little East! the ball is +just at equal distances between the two, and they rush together, the +young man of seventeen, and the boy of twelve, and kick it at the same +moment. Crew passes on without a stagger; East is hurled forward by +the shock, and plunges on his shoulder, as if he would bury himself in +the ground; but the ball rises straight into the air, and falls behind +Crew's back, while the "bravos" of the School-house attest the +pluckiest charge of all that hard-fought day. Warner picks East up +lame and half-stunned, and he hobbles back into goal, conscious of +having played the man. + +And now the last minutes are come, and the School gather for their +last rush, every boy of the hundred and twenty who has a run left in +him. Reckless of the defence of their own goal, on they come across +the level big-side ground, the ball well down amongst them, straight +for our goal, like the column of the Old Guard up the slope at +Waterloo.[52] All former charges have been child's play to this. +Warner and Hedge have met them, but still on they come. The bull-dogs +rush in for the last time; they are hurled over or carried back, +striving hand, foot, and eyelids. Old Brooke comes sweeping round the +skirts of the play, and, turning short round, picks out the very heart +of the scrummage, and plunges in. It wavers for a moment--he has the +ball! No, it has passed him, and his voice rings out clear over the +advancing tide: "Look out in the goal." Crab Jones catches it for a +moment; but before he can kick, the rush is upon him and passes over +him; and he picks himself up behind them with his straw in his mouth, +a little dirtier, but as cool as ever. + +The ball rolls slowly in behind the School-house goal, not three yards +in front of a dozen of the biggest School players-up. + + [52] #Waterloo#: (in Belgium) the scene of the crushing defeat + of the French in 1815, by the allied forces under the Duke of + Wellington, by which the power of Napoleon was finally broken. + The Old Guard was the emperor's favorite body of troops, and + was considered irresistible. + + +TOM'S FIRST EXPLOIT. + +There stands the School-house prępostor, safest of goal-keepers, and +Tom Brown by his side, who has learned his trade by this time. Now is +your time, Tom. The blood of all the Browns is up, and the two rush in +together, and throw themselves on the ball, under the very feet of the +advancing column; the prępostor on his hands and knees arching his +back, and Tom all along on his face. Over them topple the leaders of +the rush, shooting over the back of the prępostor, but falling flat on +Tom, and knocking all the wind out of his small carcass. "Our ball," +says the prępostor, rising with his prize, "but get up there, there's +a little fellow under you." They are hauled and roll off him, and Tom +is discovered a motionless body. + +Old Brooke picks him up. "Stand back, give him air," he says; and +then, feeling his limbs, adds, "No bones broken. How do you feel, +young un?" + +"Hah-hah!" gasps Tom, as his wind comes back, "pretty well, thank +you--all right." + +"Who is he?" says Brooke. + +"Oh, it's Brown, he's a new boy; I know him," says East, coming up. + +"Well, he is a plucky youngster, and will make a player," says Brooke. + +And five o'clock strikes. "No side"[53] is called, and the first day +of the School-house match is over. + + [53] #No side#: a drawn game. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AFTER THE MATCH. + + "----Some food we had."--_Shakespeare._ + + [Greek: "źs potos hadus."]--_Theocr., Id._ + + +CELEBRATING THE VICTORY. + +As the boys scattered away from the ground, and East, leaning on Tom's +arm and limping along, was beginning to consider what luxury they +should go and buy for tea to celebrate that glorious victory, the two +Brookes came striding by. Old Brooke caught sight of East and stopped, +put his hand kindly on his shoulder, and said, "Bravo, youngster! you +played famously. Not much the matter, I hope?" + +"No, nothing at all," said East; "only a little twist from that +charge." + +"Well, mind and get all right for next Saturday;" and the leader +passed on, leaving East better for those few words than all the +opodeldoc[1] in England would have made him, and Tom ready to give one +of his ears for as much notice. Ah! light words of those whom we love +and honor, what a power ye are, and how carelessly wielded by those +who can use them! Surely for these things, also, God will ask an +account. + + [1] #Opodeldoc#: a liniment. + +"Tea's directly after locking-up, you see," said East, hobbling along +as fast as he could, "so you come along down to Sally Harrowell's; +that's our School-house tuck-shop,[2]--she bakes such stunning +murphies, we'll have a penn'orth each for tea; come along, or they'll +all be gone." + + [2] #Tuck-shop#: cook or pastry shop. + +Tom's new purse and money burnt in his pocket; he wondered, as they +toddled through the quadrangle and along the street, whether East +would be insulted if he suggested further extravagance, as he had not +sufficient faith in a pennyworth of potatoes. At last he blurted +out,-- + +"I say, East, can't we get something else besides potatoes? I've got +lots of money, you know." + +"Bless us, yes, I forgot," said East, "you've only just come. You see +all my tin's been gone this twelve weeks; it hardly ever lasts beyond +the first fortnight; and our allowances were all stopped this morning +for broken windows, so I haven't got a penny. I've got a tick[3] at +Sally's of course; but then I hate running it high, you see, towards +the end of the half, 'cause one has to shell out for it all directly +one comes back, and that's a bore."[4] + + [3] #Tick#: credit. + + [4] #Bore#: an annoyance. + +Tom didn't understand much of this talk, but seized on the fact that +East had no money, and was denying himself some little pet luxury in +consequence. "Well, what shall I buy?" said he; "I'm uncommon hungry." + +"I say," said East, stopping to look at him and rest his leg, "you're +a trump, Brown. I'll do the same by you next half. Let's have a pound +of sausages, then; that's the best grub for tea I know of." + +"Very well," said Tom, as pleased as possible; "where do they sell +them?" + +"Oh, over here, just opposite;" and they crossed the street and walked +into the cleanest little front room of a small house, half parlor, +half shop, and bought a pound of most particular sausages; East +talking pleasantly to Mrs. Porter while she put them in paper, and Tom +doing the paying part. + + +HARROWELL'S. + +From Porter's they adjourned to Sally Harrowell's, where they found a +lot of School-house boys waiting for the roast potatoes, and relating +their own exploits in the day's match at the top of their voices. The +street opened at once into Sally's kitchen, a low bricked-floored +room, with large recess for fire, and chimney-corner seats. Poor +little Sally, the most good-natured and much enduring of woman-kind, +was bustling about with the napkin in her hand, from her own oven to +those of the neighbors' cottages, up the yard at the back of the +house. Stumps, her husband, a short easy-going shoemaker, with a +beery, humorous eye and ponderous calves, who lived mostly on his +wife's earnings, stood in a corner of the room, exchanging shots of +the roughest description of repartee with every boy in turn. "Stumps, +you lout, you've had too much beer again to-day." "'Twasn't of your +paying for, then." "Stumps's calves are running down into his ankles; +they want to get to grass." "Better be doing that, than gone +altogether like yours," etc., etc. Very poor stuff it was, but it +served to make time pass; and every now and then Sally arrived in the +middle with a smoking tin of potatoes, which was cleared off in a few +seconds, each boy as he seized his lot running off to the house with +"Put me down two-penn'orth, Sally;" "Put down three penn'orth between +me and Davis," etc. How she ever kept the accounts so straight as she +did, in her head and on her slate, was a perfect wonder. + +East and Tom got served at last, and started back for the School-house +just as the locking-up bell began to ring; East on the way recounting +the life and adventures of Stumps, who was a character. Amongst his +other small avocations, he was the hind carrier of a sedan-chair,[5] +the last of its race, in which the Rugby ladies still went out to tea, +and in which, when he was fairly harnessed and carrying a load, it was +the delight of small and mischievous boys to follow him and whip his +calves. This was too much for the temper even of Stumps, and he would +pursue his tormentors in a vindictive and apoplectic manner when +released, but was easily pacified by twopence to buy beer with. + + [5] #Sedan-chair#: a kind of covered chair for carrying a + single person, borne on poles by two men. + + +TEA AND ITS LUXURIES. + +The lower-school boys of the School-house, some fifteen in number, +had tea in the lower-fifth school, and were presided over by the old +verger or head-porter. Each boy had a quarter of a loaf of bread and +pat of butter, and as much tea as he pleased; and there was scarcely +one who didn't add to this some further luxury, such as baked +potatoes, a herring, sprats, or something of the sort; but few, at +this period of the half-year, could live up to a pound of Porter's +sausages, and East was in great magnificence upon the strength of +theirs. He had produced a toasting-fork from his study, and set Tom +to toast the sausages, while he mounted guard over their butter and +potatoes; "'cause," as he explained, "you're a new boy, and they'll +play you some trick and get our butter, but you can toast just as well +as I." So Tom, in the midst of three or four more urchins similarly +employed, toasted his face and the sausages at the same time before +the huge fire, till the latter cracked, when East from his watch-tower +shouted that they were done, and then the feast proceeded, and the +festive cups of tea were filled and emptied, and Tom imparted of the +sausages in small bits to many neighbors, and thought he had never +tasted such good potatoes or seen such jolly boys. They on their part +waived all ceremony, and pegged away at the sausages and potatoes, +and, remembering Tom's performance in goal, voted East's new crony a +brick. After tea, and while the things were being cleared away, they +gathered round the fire, and the talk on the match still went on; and +those who had them to show, pulled up their trousers and showed the +hacks they had received in the good cause. + +They were soon however all turned out of the School, and East +conducted Tom up to his bedroom, that he might get on clean things and +wash himself before singing. + +"What singing?" said Tom, taking his head out of his basin, where he +had been plunging it in cold water. + +"Well, you are jolly green," answered his friend from a neighboring +basin. "Why, the last six Saturdays of every half, we sing, of course, +and this is the first of them. No first lesson to do, you know, and +lie in bed to-morrow morning." + +"But who sings?" + +"Why, everybody, of course; you'll see soon enough. We begin directly +after supper, and sing till bed-time. It isn't such good fun now +though as in the summer half, 'cause then we sing in the little fives' +court, under the library you know, and we cut about the quadrangle +between the songs, and it looks like a lot of robbers in a cave. And +the louts[6] come and pound at the great gate, and we pound back +again, and shout at them. But this half we only sing in the hall. Come +along down to my study." + + [6] #Louts#: here, town men or boys, "outsiders." + +Their principal employment in the study was to clear out East's table, +removing the drawers and ornaments and table-cloth; for he lived in +the bottom passage, and his table was in requisition for the singing. + + +SUPPER. + +Supper came in due course at seven o'clock, consisting of bread and +cheese and beer, which was all saved for the singing; and directly +afterward the fags went to work to prepare the hall. The School-house +hall, as has been said, is a great long high room, with two large +fires on one side, and two large iron-bound tables, one running down +the middle, and the other along the wall opposite the fire-places. +Around the upper fire the fags placed the tables in the form of a +horse-shoe, and upon them the jugs[7] with the Saturday night's +allowance of beer. Then the big boys used to drop in and take their +seats, bringing their song-books with them; for although they all knew +the songs by heart, it was the thing to have an old manuscript book +descended from some departed hero, in which they were all carefully +written out. + + [7] #Jugs#: pitchers. + +The sixth-form boys had not yet appeared; so to fill up the gap, an +interesting and time-honored ceremony was gone through. Each new boy +was placed on the table in turn, and made to sing a solo, under the +penalty of drinking a large mug of salt and water, if he resisted or +broke down. However, the new boys all sing like nightingales to-night, +and the salt water is not in requisition; Tom, as his part, performing +the old west-country song of "The Leather Bottčl," with considerable +applause. And at the half-hour down come the sixth and fifth-form +boys, and take their places at the tables, which are filled up by the +next biggest boys; the rest, for whom there is no room at the table, +standing round outside. + + +BROOKE'S HONORS. + +The glasses and mugs are filled, and then the fugle-man[8] strikes up +the old sea song:-- + + "A wet sheet and a flowing sea, + And a wind that follows fast," etc., + +which is the invariable first song in the School-house, and all the +seventy voices join in, not mindful of harmony, but bent on noise, +which they attain decidedly, but the general effect isn't bad. And +then follow the "British Grenadiers," "Billie Taylor," "The Siege of +Seringapatam," "Three Jolly Post-boys," and other vociferous songs in +rapid succession, including the "Chesapeake and Shannon,"[9] a song +lately introduced in honor of old Brooke; and when they come to the +words:-- + + "Brave Broke he waved his sword, crying, Now, my lads, aboard, + And we'll stop their playing Yankee-doodle-dandy, oh," + +you expect the roof to come down. The sixth and fifth know that "brave +Broke" of the Shannon was no sort of relation to our old Brooke. The +fourth form are uncertain in their belief, but for the most part hold +that old Brooke _was_ a midshipman then on board his uncle's ship. And +the lower-school never doubt for a moment that it was our old Brooke +who led the boarders, in what capacity they care not a straw. + + [8] #Fugle-man#: leader. + + [9] #Chesapeake and Shannon#: a song on the famous naval duel + off Boston Harbor, in 1813, between the American frigate + Chesapeake, and the British ship Shannon. The English gained + the victory; but later, the Americans effectually beat them. + +Then Warner, the head of the house, gets up and wants to speak, but he +can't, for every boy knows what's coming; and the big boys who sit at +the tables pound them and cheer; and the small boys who stand behind +pound one another and cheer, and rush about the hall cheering. Then +silence being made, Warner reminds them of the old School-house custom +of drinking the healths, on the first night of singing, of those who +are going to leave at the end of the half. He sees that they know what +he is going to say already--(loud cheers)--and so won't keep them, but +only ask them to treat the toast as it deserves. + +"It is the head of the eleven, the head of big-side foot-ball, their +leader on this glorious day--Pater[10] Brooke!" + + [10] #Pater Brooke#: Father Brooke, because he was now an "old + boy" about to graduate. + + +BROOKE DISCOURSETH ON UNION. + +And away goes the pounding and cheering again, becoming deafening when +old Brooke gets on his legs; till, a table having broken down, and all +throats getting dry, silence ensues, and the hero speaks, leaning his +hands on the table, and bending a little forward. No action, no tricks +of oratory; plain, strong, and straight, like his play. + +"Gentlemen of the School-house! I am very proud of the way in which +you have received my name, and I wish I could say all I should like in +return. But I know I sha'n't. However, I'll do the best I can to say +what seems to me ought to be said by a fellow who's just going to +leave, and who has spent a good slice of his life here. Eight years, +it is, and eight such years as I can never hope to have again. So now +I hope you'll all listen to me--(loud cheers of "that we will")--for I +am going to talk seriously. You're bound to listen to me, for what's +the use of calling me 'pater,' and all that, if you don't mind what I +say? And I am going to talk seriously, because I feel so. It's a jolly +time, too, getting to the end of the half, and a goal kicked by us +first day--(tremendous applause)--after one of the hardest and +fiercest day's play I can remember in eight years--(frantic +shoutings). The School played splendidly, too, I will say, and kept it +up to the last. That last charge of theirs would have carried away a +house. I never thought to see anything again of old Crab there, except +little pieces, when I saw him tumbled over by it--(laughter and +shouting, and great slapping on the back of Jones by the boys nearest +him). Well, but we beat 'em--(cheers). Ay, but why did we beat 'em? +answer me that--(shouts of "your play"). Nonsense! 'Twasn't the wind +and kick-off either--that wouldn't do it. 'Twasn't because we've half +a dozen of the best players in the School, as we have. I wouldn't +change Warner, and Hedge, and Crab, and the young un, for any six on +their side--(violent cheers). But half a dozen fellows can't keep it +up for two hours against two hundred. Why is it, then? I'll tell you +what I think. Its because we've more reliance on one another, more of +a house feeling, more fellowship than the School can have. Each +of us knows and can depend on his next-hand man better--that's why +we beat 'em to-day. We've union, they've division--there's the +secret--(cheers). But how's this to be kept up? How's it to be +improved? That's the question. For I take it, we're all in earnest +about beating the School, whatever else we care about. I know I'd +sooner win two School-house matches running than get the Balliol +scholarship[11] any day--(frantic cheers). + + [11] #Balliol scholarship#: a scholarship in Balliol College, + one of the leading colleges of Oxford. Such scholarships are + frequently worth from $800 to $1000 a year. + +"Now, I'm as proud of the house as any one. I believe it's the best +house in the School, out-and-out--(cheers). But it's a long way from +what I want to see it. First, there's a deal of bullying going on. I +know it well. I don't pry about and interfere; that only makes it more +underhand, and encourages the small boys to come to us with their +fingers in their eyes telling tales, and so we should be worse off +than ever. It's very little kindness for the sixth to meddle +generally--you youngsters, mind that. You'll be all the better +foot-ball players for learning to stand it, and to take your own +parts, and fight it through. But depend on it, there's nothing breaks +up a house like bullying. Bullies are cowards, and one coward makes +many; so good-by to the School-house match if bullying gets ahead +here. (Loud applause from the small boys, who look meaningly at +Flashman and other boys at the tables.) Then there's fuddling about in +the public-houses, and drinking bad spirits, and punch, and such +wretched stuff. That won't make good drop-kicks or chargers of you, +take my word for it; and drinking isn't fine or manly, whatever some +of you may think of it. + +"One other thing I must have a word about. A lot of you think and say, +for I've heard you, 'there's this new Doctor[12] hasn't been here so +long as some of us, and he's changing all the old customs. Rugby, and +the School-house especially, are going to the dogs. Stand up for the +good old ways, and down with the Doctor!' Now, I'm as fond of old +Rugby customs and ways as any of you, and I've been here longer +than any of you, and I'll give you a word of advice in time, for +I shouldn't like to see any of you getting sacked. 'Down with the +Doctor,' is easier said than done. You'll find him pretty tight on his +perch, I take it, and an awkwardish customer to handle in that line. +Besides, now, what customs has he put down? There was the good old +custom of taking the linch-pins out of the farmers' and bagmen's gigs +at the fairs, and a cowardly blackguard custom it was. We all know +what came of it, and no wonder the Doctor objected to it. But, come +now, any of you, name a custom that he has put down." + + [12] #Doctor#: Doctor Arnold. He became head-master of Rugby + in 1828. He was a power for good in every direction. He + reconstructed the school system, and put the boys on their + honor, never in any way questioning their word, so that it + came to be a saying in the school, "that it was a shame to + tell Arnold a lie; he always believes one." Perhaps no teacher + in England was so beloved or had such influence. + +"The hounds," calls out a fifth-form boy, clad in a green cutaway with +brass buttons and cord trousers, the leader of the sporting interest, +and reputed a great rider and a keen hand generally. + +"Well, we had six or seven mangy harriers and beagles[13] belonging to +the house, I'll allow, and had had them for years, and the Doctor put +them down. But what good ever came of them? Only rows with all the +keepers[14] for ten miles round; and big-side Hare and Hounds[15] is +better fun ten times over. What else?" + + [13] #Harriers and beagles#: dogs used for hunting hares. + + [14] #Keepers#: game-keepers. + + [15] #Hare and Hounds#: next to foot-ball, this is the great + sport at Rugby. Several boys representing the hares, start to + run a certain course, and are shortly after followed by the + whole school as hounds. In some cases thirteen miles have been + run in less than an hour and a half. + +No answer. + + +STANDETH UP FOR "THE DOCTOR." + +"Well, I won't go on. Think it over for yourselves; you'll find, I +believe, that he doesn't meddle with any one that's worth keeping. And +mind now, I say again, look out for squalls, if you will go your own +way, and that way isn't the Doctor's, for it'll lead to grief. You all +know that I am not the fellow to back a master through thick and thin. +If I saw him stopping foot-ball, or cricket, or bathing, or +sparring,[16] I'd be as ready as any fellow to stand up about it. But +he doesn't--he encourages them. Didn't you see him put to-day for half +an hour watching us?--(loud cheers for the Doctor)--and he's a strong +true man, and a wise one too, and a public-school man too. (Cheers.) +And so let's stick to him, and talk no more stuff, and drink his +health as the head of the house. (Loud cheers.) And now I have done +blowing up, and very glad I am to have done. But it's a solemn thing +to be thinking of leaving a place which one has lived in and loved for +eight years; and if one can say a word for the good of the old house +at such a time, why, it should be said, whether bitter or sweet. If I +hadn't been proud of the house and you--ay, no one knows how proud--I +shouldn't be blowing you up. And now let's get to singing. But before +I sit down I must give you a toast, to be drunk with three-times-three +and all the honors. It's a toast which I hope every one of us, +wherever he may go hereafter, will never fail to drink when he thinks +of the brave bright days of his boyhood. It's a toast which should +bind us all together, and to those who've gone before, and who'll come +after us here. It is the dear old School-house--the best house of the +best School in England!" + + [16] #Sparring#: boxing. + + +SCHOOL IDOLATRIES. + +My dear boys, old and young, you who have belonged, or do belong, to +other schools and other houses, don't begin throwing my poor little +book about the room, and abusing me and it, and vowing you'll read no +more when you get to this point. I allow you've provocation for it. +But, come now--would you, any of you, give a fig for a fellow who +didn't believe in, and stand up for, his own house and his own school? +You know you wouldn't. Then don't object to my cracking up the old +School-house, Rugby. Haven't I a right to do it, when I'm taking all +the trouble of writing this true history for all of your benefits? If +you aren't satisfied, go and write the history of your own houses in +your own times, and say all you know for your own schools and houses, +provided it's true, and I'll read it without abusing you. + +The last few words hit the audience in their weakest place; they had +been not altogether enthusiastic at several parts of old Brooke's +speech; but "the best house of the best School of England," was too +much for them all, and carried even the sporting and drinking +interests off their legs into rapturous applause, and (it is to be +hoped) resolutions to lead a new life and remember old Brooke's words; +which, however, they didn't altogether do, as will appear hereafter. + +But it required all old Brooke's popularity to carry down parts of his +speech: especially that relating to the Doctor. For there are no such +bigoted holders by established forms and customs, be they never so +foolish or meaningless, as English schoolboys, at least the schoolboys +of our generation. We magnified into heroes every boy who had left, +and looked upon him with awe and reverence, when he revisited the +place a year or so afterwards, on his way to or from Oxford or +Cambridge; and happy was the boy who remembered him, and sure of an +audience as he expounded what he used to do and say, though it were +sad enough stuff to make angels, not to say head-masters, weep. + + +"THE DOCTOR" AND HIS WORKS. + +We looked upon every trumpery little custom and habit which had +obtained in the School as though it had been a law of the Medes and +Persians,[17] and regarded the infringement or variation of it a sort +of sacrilege. And the Doctor, than whom no man or boy had a stronger +liking for old school customs, which were good and sensible, had, as +has already been hinted, come into most decided collision with several +which were neither the one nor the other. And as old Brooke had said, +when he came into collision with boys or customs, there was nothing +for them but to give in or take themselves off; because what he said +had to be done, and no mistake about it. And this was beginning to be +pretty clearly understood; the boys felt that there was a strong man +over them, who would have things his own way; and hadn't yet learned +that he was a wise and loving man also. His personal character and +influence had not had time to make itself felt, except by a very few +of the bigger boys with whom he came more directly in contact; and he +was looked upon with great fear and dislike by the great majority even +of his own house. For he had found School and School-house in a state +of monstrous license and misrule, and was still employed in the +necessary but unpopular work of setting up order with a strong hand. + + [17] #Medes and Persians#: ancient nations of the east; noted + for their adherence to the laws of their forefathers. + +However, as has been said, old Brooke triumphed, and the boys cheered +him, and then the Doctor. And then more songs came, and the healths of +the other boys about to leave, who each made a speech, one flowery, +another maudlin,[18] a third prosy, and so on, which are not necessary +to be here recorded. + + [18] #Maudlin#: silly. + +Half-past nine struck in the middle of the performance of "Auld Lang +Syne," a most obstreperous proceeding; during which there was an +immense amount of standing with one foot on the table, knocking mugs +together and shaking hands, without which accompaniments it seems +impossible for the youth of Britain to take part in that famous old +song. The under-porter of the School-house entered during the +performance, bearing five or six long wooden candlesticks, with +lighted dips[19] in them, which he proceeded to stick into their holes +in such part of the great tables as he could get at; and then stood +outside the ring till the end of the song, when he was hailed with +shouts. + + [19] #Dips#: cheap tallow candles. + +"Bill, you old muff,[20] the half-hour hasn't struck." + + [20] #Muff#: usually a soft, useless kind of person; here, + codger. + +"Sing us a song, old boy." "Don't you wish you may get the table?" + +Bill remonstrated: "Now, gentlemen, there's only ten minutes to +prayers, and we must get the hall straight." + +Shouts of "No, no!" and a violent effort to strike up "Billie Taylor" +for the third time. Bill looked appealingly to old Brooke, who got up +and stopped the noise. "Now, then, lend a hand, you youngsters, and +get the tables back, clear away the jugs[21] and glasses. Bill's +right. Open the windows, Warner." The boy addressed, who sat by the +long ropes, proceeded to pull up the great windows, and let in a +clear fresh rush of night air, which made the candles flicker and +gutter and the fires roar. The circle broke up, each collaring his +own jug, glass, and song-book; Bill pounced on the big table, and +began to rattle it away to its place outside the buttery-door. The +lower-passage boys carried off their small tables, aided by their +friends, while above all, standing on the great hall table, a knot of +untiring sons of harmony made night doleful by a prolonged performance +of "God save the King." His Majesty King William IV.[22] then reigned +over us, a monarch deservedly popular amongst the boys addicted to +melody, to whom he was chiefly known from the beginning of that +excellent, if slightly vulgar song in which they much delighted:-- + + "Come, neighbors all, both great and small, + Perform your duties here, + And loudly sing 'live Billy our King,' + For bating[23] the tax upon beer." + + [21] #Jugs#: pitchers. + + [22] #William IV.#: 1830 to 1837. + + [23] #Bating#: lowering. + + +LAST LOYAL STRAINS. + +Others of the more learned in songs also celebrated his praises in a +sort of ballad, which I take to have been written by some Irish +loyalists. I have forgotten all but the chorus, which ran:-- + + "God save our good King William, be his name forever blest, + He's the father of all his people, and the guardian of all the rest." + +In truth we were loyal subjects in those days, in a rough way. I trust +that our successors make as much of her present majesty, and, having +regard to the greater refinement of the times, have adopted or written +other songs equally hearty, but more civilized, in her honor. + + +PRAYERS. + +Then the quarter to ten struck, and the prayer-bell rang. The sixth +and fifth form boys ranged themselves in their school order along the +wall, on either side of the great fires, the middle fifth and +upper-school boys around the long table in the middle of the hall, and +the lower-school boys round the upper part of the second long table, +which ran down the side of the hall furthest from the fires. Here Tom +found himself at the bottom of all, in a state of mind and body not at +all fit for prayers, as he thought; and so tried hard to make himself +serious, but couldn't for the life of him do anything but repeat in +his head the choruses of some of the songs, and stare at all the boys +opposite, wondering at the brilliancy of their waistcoats, and +speculating what sort of fellows they were. The steps of the +head-porter are heard on the stairs, and a light gleams at the door. +"Hush!" from the fifth-form boys who stand there, and then in strides +the Doctor, cap on head, book in one hand, and gathering up his gown +in the other. He walks up the middle, and takes his post by Warner, +who begins calling over the names. The Doctor takes no notice of +anything, but quietly turns over his book, and finds the place, and +then stands, cap in hand, and finger in book, looking straight before +his nose. He knows better than any one when to look, and when to see +nothing; to-night is singing-night, and there's been lots of noise and +no harm done. So the Doctor sees nothing, but fascinates Tom in a +horrible manner, as he stands there, and reads out the Psalm in that +deep, ringing, searching voice of his. Prayers are over, and Tom still +stares open-mouthed after the Doctor's retiring figure, when he feels +a pull at his sleeve, and turning round, sees East. + + +TOSSING. + +"I say, were you ever tossed in a blanket?" + +"No," said Tom; "why?" + +"'Cause there'll be tossing to-night, most likely, before the sixth +come up to bed. So if you funk,[24] you just come along and hide, or +else they'll catch you and toss you." + + [24] #Funk#: feel afraid. + +"Were you ever tossed? Does it hurt," inquired Tom. + +"Oh, yes, bless you, a dozen times," said East, as he hobbled along by +Tom's side up-stairs. "It doesn't hurt unless you fall on the floor. +But most fellows don't like it." + +They stopped at the fire-place in the top passage, where were a crowd +of small boys whispering together, and evidently unwilling to go up +into the bedrooms. In a minute, however, a study door opened, and a +sixth-form boy came out, and off they all scuttled up the stairs, and +then noiselessly dispersed to their different rooms. Tom's heart beat +rather quick as he and East reached their room, but he had made up his +mind. + +"I sha'n't hide, East," said he. + +"Very well, old fellow!" replied East, evidently pleased; "no more +shall I--they'll be here for us directly." + +The room was a great big one, with a dozen beds in it, but not a boy +that Tom could see, except East and himself. East pulled off his coat +and waistcoat, and then sat on the bottom of the bed, whistling, and +pulling off his boots. Tom followed his example. + +A noise and steps are heard in the passage, the door opens, and in +rush four or five great fifth-form boys, headed by Flashman in his +glory. + +Tom and East slept in the further corner of the room, and were not +seen at first. + +"Gone to ground, eh?" roared Flashman; "push 'em out then, boys! look +under the beds;" and he pulled up the little white curtain of the one +nearest him. "Who-o-op," he roared, pulling away at the leg of a small +boy, who held on tight to the leg of the bed, and sung out lustily for +mercy. + +"Here, lend a hand, one of you, and help me pull out this young +howling brute. Hold your tongue, sir, or I'll kill you!" + +"Oh, please, Flashman, please, Walker, don't toss me! I'll fag for +you, I'll do anything, only don't toss me." + +"You be hanged," said Flashman, lugging the wretched boy along, +"'twon't hurt you,----you! Come along! boys, here he is." + +"I say Flashey," sung out another one of the big boys, "drop that; you +heard what old Pater Brooke said to-night. I'll be hanged if we'll +toss any one against his will--no more bullying. Let him go, I say." + +Flashman, with an oath and a kick, released his prey, who rushed +headlong under his bed again, for fear they should change their minds, +and crept along underneath the other beds, till he got under that of +the sixth-form boy, which he knew they daren't disturb. + + +EAST AND TOM DEVOTE THEMSELVES. + +"There's plenty of youngsters don't care about it," said Walker. +"Here, here's Scud East--you'll be tossed, won't you, young un?" Scud +was East's nickname, or "black," as we called it, gained by his +fleetness of foot. + +"Yes," said East, "if you like, only mind my foot." + +"And here's another who didn't hide. Hullo! new boy; what's your name, +sir?" + +"Brown." + +"Well, Whitey Brown, you don't mind being tossed?" + +"No," said Tom, setting his teeth. + +"Come along, then, boys," sung out Walker, and away they all went, +carrying along Tom and East, to the intense relief of four or five +other small boys, who crept out from under the beds and behind them. + +"What a trump Scud is!" said one. "They won't come back here now." + +"And that new boy, too; he must be a good plucky one." + +"Ah, wait until he has been tossed on to the floor; see how he'll like +it then!" + +Meantime the procession went down the passage to No. 7, the largest +room, and the scene of the tossing, in the middle of which was a great +open space. Here they joined other parties of the bigger boys, each +with a captive or two, some willing to be tossed, some sullen, and +some frightened to death. At Walker's suggestion, all who were afraid +were let off, in honor of Pater Brooke's speech. + +Then a dozen big boys seized hold of a blanket, dragged from one of +the beds. "In with Scud, quick! there's no time to lose." East was +chucked into the blanket. "Once, twice, thrice, and away!" Up he went +like a shuttle-cock, but not quite up to the ceiling. + +"Now, boys, with a will!" cried Walker. "Once, twice, thrice, and +away!" This time he went clear up, and kept himself from touching the +ceiling with his hands; and so again a third time, when he was turned +out, and up went another boy. And then came Tom's turn. He lay quite +still, by East's advice, and didn't dislike the "once, twice, thrice," +but the "away" wasn't so pleasant. They were in good wind now, and +sent him slap up to the ceiling the first time, against which his +knees came rather sharply. But the moment's pause before descending +was the rub, the feeling of utter helplessness, and of leaving his +whole inside behind him sticking to the ceiling. Tom was very near +shouting to be set down, when he found himself back in the blanket, +but thought of East, and didn't; and so took his three tosses without +a kick or a cry, and was called a young trump for his pains. + + +A BULLY'S REFINEMENTS. + +He and East, having earned it, stood now looking on. No catastrophe +happened, as all the captives were cool hands, and didn't struggle. +This didn't suit Flashman. What your real bully likes in tossing, is +when the boys kick and struggle, or hold on to one side of the +blanket, and so get pitched bodily on to the floor; it's no fun to him +when no one is hurt or frightened. + +"Let's toss two of them together, Walker," suggested he. "What a +cursed bully you are, Flashey!" rejoined the other. "Up with another +one." + +And so after all, the two boys were not tossed together. The peculiar +hardship of which tossing, is that it's too much for human nature to +lie still then and share troubles; and so the wretched pair of small +boys struggle in the air which shall fall atop in the descent, to the +no small risk of both falling out of the blanket, and the huge delight +of brutes like Flashman. + +But now there's a cry that the prępostor of the room is coming; so the +tossing stops, and all scatter to their different rooms, and Tom is +left to turn in with the first day's experience of a public school to +meditate upon. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SETTLING TO THE COLLAR. + + "Says Giles, 'Tis mortal hard to go; + But if so be's I must. + I means to follow arter he + As goes hisself the fust."--_Ballad._ + + +Everybody, I suppose, knows the dreamy, delicious state in which one +lies, half asleep, half awake, while consciousness begins to return, +after a sound night's rest in a new place which we are glad to be in, +following upon a day of unwonted excitement and exertion. There are +few pleasanter pieces of life. The worst of it is that they last such +a short time; for, nurse them as you will, by lying perfectly passive +in mind and body, you can't make more than five minutes or so of them. +After which time the stupid, obtrusive, wakeful entity[1] which we +call "I," as impatient as he is stiff-necked, spite of our teeth will +force himself back again, and take possession of us down to our very +toes. + + +WAKING UP; MOVEMENTS OF BOGLE. + +It was in this state that Master Tom lay at half-past seven on the +morning following the day of his arrival, and from his clean little +white bed watched the movements of Bogle (the generic name[2] by which +the successive shoeblacks of the School-house were known), as he +marched round from bed to bed, collecting the dirty shoes and boots, +and depositing clean ones in their places.[3] + + [1] #Entity#: being. + + [2] #Generic name#: class name. + + [3] "No Englishman ever blacks his own shoes," said an English + visitor to Mr. Lincoln. "Well, whose shoes does he black + then?" was the President's reply. + +There he lay, half doubtful as to where exactly in the universe he +was, but conscious that he had made a step in life which he had been +anxious to make. It was only just light as he looked lazily out of the +wide windows, and saw the tops of the great elms, and the rooks +circling about, and cawing remonstrances to the lazy ones of their +commonwealth, before starting in a body for the neighboring plowed +fields. The noise of the room door closing behind Bogle, as he made +his exit with the shoe-basket under his arm, roused him thoroughly, +and he sat up in bed and looked round the room. What in the world +could be the matter with his shoulders and loins? He felt as if he had +been severely beaten all down his back, the natural results of his +performance at his first match. He drew up his knees and rested his +chin on them, and went over all the events of yesterday, rejoicing in +his new life, what he had seen of it, and all that was to come. + +Presently one or two of the other boys roused themselves, and began to +sit up and talk to one another in low tones. Then East, after a roll +or two, came to an anchor, also, and, nodding to Tom, began examining +his ankle. + +"What a pull,"[4] said he, "that it's lie-in-bed morning, for I shall +be as lame as a tree, I think." + + [4] #Pull#: lucky thing. + +It was Sunday morning, and Sunday lectures had not yet been +established; so that nothing but breakfast intervened between bed and +eleven o'clock chapel,--a gap by no means easy to fill up; in fact, +though received with the correct amount of grumbling, the first +lecture instituted by the Doctor shortly afterward was a great boon to +the school. It was lie-in-bed, and no one was in a hurry to get up, +especially in rooms where the sixth-form boy was a good-tempered +fellow, as was the case in Tom's room, and allowed the small boys to +talk and laugh, and do pretty much what they pleased, so long as they +didn't disturb him. His bed was a bigger one than the rest, standing +in the corner by the fire-place, with a washing-stand and large basin +by the side, where he lay in state, with his white curtains tucked in +so as to form a retiring place; an awful subject of contemplation to +Tom, who slept nearly opposite, and watched the great man rouse +himself and take a book from under his pillow, and begin reading, +leaning his head on his hand, and turning his back to the room. +Soon, however, a noise of striving urchins arose, and muttered +encouragements from the neighboring boys, of--"Go it, Tadpole!" "Now, +young Green!" "Haul away his blanket!" "Slipper him on the hands!" +Young Green and little Hall, commonly called Tadpole, from his great +black head and thin legs, slept side by side far away by the door, and +were forever playing one another tricks, which usually ended, as on +this morning, in open and violent collision: and now, unmindful of all +order and authority, there they were each hauling away at the other's +bed-clothes with one hand, and with the other, armed with a slipper, +belaboring whatever portion of the body of his adversary came within +reach. + + +GETTING UP. + +"Hold that noise, up in the corner!" called out the prępostor, sitting +up and looking round his curtains; and the Tadpole and young Green +sank down into their disordered beds, and then, looking at his watch, +added: "Hullo, past eight!--whose turn for hot water?" + +(Where the prępostor was particular in his ablutions, the fags in his +room had to descend in turn to the kitchen, and beg or steal hot water +for him; and often the custom extended further, and two boys went down +every morning to get a supply for the whole room.) + +"East's and Tadpole's," answered the senior fag, who kept the rota.[5] + + [5] #Rota#: list. + +"I can't go," said East; "I'm dead lame." + +"Well, be quick, some of you, that's all," said the great man, as he +turned out of bed, and putting on his slippers, went out into the +great passage which runs the whole length of the bedrooms, to get his +Sunday habiliments out of his portmanteau. + +"Let me go for you," said Tom to East. "I should like it." + +"Well, thank'ee, that's a good fellow. Just pull on your trousers, and +take your jug[6] and mine. Tadpole will show you the way." + + [6] #Jug#: here, a large water-pitcher. + +And so Tom and the Tadpole, in night-shirts and trousers, started off +down-stairs, and through "Thos's hole," as the little buttery, where +candles and beer and bread and cheese were served out at night, was +called; across the School-house court, down a long passage, and into +the kitchen; where, after some parley with the stalwart, handsome +cook, who declared that she had filled a dozen jugs already, they got +their hot water, and returned with all speed and great caution. As +it was, they narrowly escaped capture by some privateers[7] from the +fifth-form rooms, who were on the look-out for the hot-water convoys, +and pursued them up to the very door of their room, making them +spill half their load in the passage. "Better than going down again, +though," Tadpole remarked, "as we should have had to do, if those +beggars had caught us." + + [7] #Privateers#: literally, ships owned by private + individuals licensed to plunder an enemy in war. + + +THE "CLOSE" BEFORE CHAPEL. + +By the time that the calling-over bell rang, Tom and his new comrades +were all down, dressed in their best clothes, and he had the +satisfaction of answering "here" to his name for the first time, the +prępostor of the week having put it in at the bottom of his list. And +then came breakfast, and a saunter about the close and town with East, +whose lameness only became severe when any fagging had to be done. And +so they whiled away the time until morning chapel. + +It was a fine November morning, and the close soon became alive with +boys of all ages, who sauntered about on the grass, or walked round +the gravel-walk, in parties of two or three. East, still doing the +cicerone, pointed out all the remarkable characters to Tom as they +passed: Osbert, who could throw a cricket ball from the little side +ground over the rook-trees to the Doctor's wall; Gray, who had got the +Balliol scholarship, and, what East evidently thought of much more +importance, a half-holiday for the school by his success; Thorne, who +had run ten miles in two minutes over the hour; Black, who had held +his own against the cock of the town in the last row with the louts; +and many more heroes, who then and there walked about and were +worshipped, all trace of whom has long since vanished from the scene +of their fame; and the fourth-form boy who reads their names rudely +cut out on old hall tables, or painted upon the big side-cupboard +(if hall tables and big side-cupboards still exist), wonders what +manner of boys they were. It will be the same with you who wonder, +my sons, whatever your prowess may be, in cricket, or scholarship, +or foot-ball. Two or three years, more or less, and then the +steadily advancing, blessed wave will pass over your names as it +has passed over ours. Nevertheless, play your games and do your work +manfully--see only that that be done, and let the remembrance of it +take care of itself. + + +MORNING AND AFTERNOON CHAPEL. + +The chapel-bell began to ring at a quarter to eleven, and Tom got in +early, took his place in the lowest row, and watched all the other +boys come in and take their places, filling row after row; and tried +to construe[8] the Greek text which was inscribed over the door with +the slightest possible success, and wondering which of the masters, +who walked down the chapel and took their seats in the exalted boxes +at the end, would be his lord. And then came the closing of the doors, +and the Doctor, in his robes, and the service, which, however, didn't +impress him much, for his feeling of wonder and curiosity was too +strong. And the boy on one side of him was scratching his name on the +oak paneling in front, and he couldn't help watching to see what the +name was, and whether it was well scratched; and the boy on the other +side went to sleep and kept falling against him; and on the whole, +though many boys even in that part of the School, were serious and +attentive, the general atmosphere was by no means devotional; and when +he got out into the close again, he didn't feel at all comfortable, or +as if he had been to church. + + [8] #Construe#: translate. + +But at afternoon chapel it was quite another thing. He had spent the +time after dinner in writing home to his mother, and so was in a +better frame of mind: and his first curiosity was over, and he could +attend more to the service. As the hymn after the prayers was being +sung, and the chapel was getting a little dark, he was beginning to +feel that he had been really worshipping. And then came that great +event in his, as in every Rugby boy's life of that day,--the first +sermon from the Doctor. + + +THE SERMON. + +More worthy pens than mine have described that scene--the oak pulpit +standing out by itself above the School seats; the tall, gallant form, +the kindling eye, the voice, now soft as the low notes of a flute, now +clear and stirring as the call of the light infantry bugle, of him who +stood there Sunday after Sunday, witnessing and pleading for his Lord, +the King of righteousness and love and glory, with whose spirit he was +filled, and in whose power he spoke; the long lines of young faces, +rising tier above tier down the whole length of the chapel, from the +little boy's who had just left his mother to the young man's who was +going out next week into the great world rejoicing in his strength. It +was a great and solemn sight, and never more so than at this time of +the year, when the only lights in the chapel were in the pulpit and at +the seats of the prępostors of the week, and the soft twilight stole +over the rest of the chapel, deepening into darkness in the high +gallery behind the organ. + +But what was it, after all, which seized and held these three hundred +boys, dragging them out of themselves, willing or unwilling, for +twenty minutes, on Sunday afternoons? True, there always were boys +scattered up and down the School, who in heart and head were worthy to +hear and able to carry away the deepest and wisest words spoken. But +these were a minority always, generally a very small one, often so +small a one as to be countable on the fingers of your hand. What was +it that moved and held us, the rest of the three hundred reckless, +childish boys, who feared the Doctor with our hearts, and very little +besides in heaven or earth: who thought more of our sets[9] in the +School than of the Church of Christ, and put the traditions of Rugby +and the public opinion of boys in our daily life above the laws of +God? We couldn't enter into half that we heard; we hadn't the +knowledge of our own hearts or the knowledge of one another; and +little enough of the faith, hope, and love needed to that end. But we +listened, as all boys in their better moods will listen (ay, and men, +too, for the matter of that), to a man whom we felt to be, with all +his heart and soul and strength, striving against whatever was mean +and unmanly and unrighteous in our little world. It was not the cold +clear voice of one giving advice and warning from serene heights to +those who were struggling and sinning below, but the warm living voice +of one who was fighting for us and by our sides, and calling on us to +help him and ourselves and one another. And so, wearily and little by +little, but surely and steadily on the whole, was brought home to the +young boy, for the first time, the meaning of his life: that it was +no fool's or sluggard's paradise into which he had wandered by +chance, but a battle-field ordained from of old, where there are no +spectators, but the youngest must take his side, and the stakes are +life and death. And he who roused this consciousness in them showed +them at the same time, by every word he spoke in the pulpit, and by +his whole daily life, how that battle was to be fought; and stood +there before them their fellow-soldier and the captain of their band. +The true sort of captain, too, for a boy's army, one who had no +misgivings and gave no uncertain word of command, and, let who +would yield or make truce, would fight the fight out (so every boy +felt) to the last gasp and the last drop of blood. Other sides of his +character might take hold of and influence boys here and there, but it +was this thoroughness and undaunted courage which more than anything +else won his way to the hearts of the great mass of those on whom he +left his mark, and made them believe first in him, and then in his +Master. + + [9] #Sets#: classes, social groups or cliques. + + +THE DOCTOR'S FIRST HOLD. + +It was this quality, above all others, which moved such boys as our +hero, who had nothing whatever remarkable about him except excess of +boyishness; by which I mean animal life in its fullest measure, +good-nature and honest impulses, hatred of injustice and meanness, and +thoughtlessness enough to sink a three-decker.[10] And so, during the +next two years, in which it was more than doubtful whether he would +get good or evil from the school, and before any steady purpose or +principle grew up in him, whatever his week's sins or shortcomings +might have been, he hardly ever left the chapel on Sunday evenings +without a serious resolve to stand by and follow the Doctor, and a +feeling that it was only cowardice (the incarnation[11] of all other +sins in such a boy's mind) which hindered him from doing so with all +his heart. + + [10] #Three-decker#: an old-fashioned man-of-war of the + largest size. + + [11] #Incarnation#: embodiment. + +The next day Tom was duly placed in the third form, and began his +lessons in a corner of the Big School.[12] He found the work very +easy, as he had been well grounded and knew his grammar by heart; and, +as he had no intimate companion to make him idle (East and his other +School-house friends being in the lower fourth, the form above him), +soon gained golden opinions from his master, who said he was placed +too low, and should be put out at the end of the half-year. So all +went well with him in school, and he wrote the most flourishing +letters home to his mother, full of his own success, and the +unspeakable delights of a public school. + + [12] #Big School#: one of the school buildings. + +In the house too all went well. The end of the half-year was drawing +near, which kept everybody in a good humor, and the house was ruled +well and strongly by Warner and Brooke. True, the general system was +rough and hard, and there was bullying in nooks and corners, bad signs +for the future; but it never got further, or dared show itself openly, +stalking about the passages and hall and bedrooms, and making the life +of the small boys a continual fear. + + +HOUSE-FAGGING. + +Tom, as a new boy, was of right excused fagging for the first month, +but in his enthusiasm for his new life this privilege hardly pleased +him; and East and others of his young friends discovering this, kindly +allowed him to indulge his fancy, and take their turns at +night-fagging and cleaning studies. These were the principal duties of +the fags in the house. From supper until nine o'clock, three fags +taken in order stood in the passages, and answered any prępostor who +called fag, racing to the door, the last comer having to do the work. +This consisted generally of going to the buttery for beer and bread +and cheese (for the great men did not sup with the rest, but had each +his own allowance, in his study or the fifth-form room), cleaning +candlesticks and putting in new candles, toasting cheese, and carrying +messages about the house; and Tom, in the first blush of his +hero-worship, felt it a high privilege to receive orders from, and be +the bearer of the supper of old Brooke. And besides this night-work +each prępostor had three or four fags specially allotted to him, of +whom he was supposed to be the guide, philosopher, and friend, and who +in return for these good offices had to clean out his study every +morning by turns, directly after first lesson and before he returned +from breakfast. And the pleasure of seeing the great men's studies, +and looking at their pictures, and peeping into their books, made Tom +a ready substitute for any boy who was too lazy to do his own work. +And so he gained the character of a good-natured, willing fellow, who +was ready to do a turn for any one. + +In all the games, too, he joined with all his heart, and soon became +well versed in all the mysteries of foot-ball, by continual practice +at the School-house little-side, which played daily. + + +HARE AND HOUNDS. + +The only incident worth recording here, however, was his first run at +Hare and Hounds. On the last Tuesday but one of the half-year, he was +passing through the hall after dinner, when he was hailed with shouts +from Tadpole and several other fags seated at one of the long tables, +the chorus of which was "Come and help us tear up scent." + +Tom approached the table in obedience to the mysterious summons, +always ready to help, and found the party engaged in tearing up old +newspapers, copy-books, and magazines into small pieces, with which +they were filling four large canvas bags. + +"It's the turn of our house to find scent for big-side Hare and +Hounds," exclaimed Tadpole; "tear away, there's no time to lose before +calling-over." + +"I think it's a great shame," said another small boy, "to have such a +hard run for the last day." + +"Which run is it?" cried Tadpole. + +"Oh, the Barby run, I hear," answered the other; "nine miles at least, +and hard ground; no chance of getting in at the finish, unless you're +a first-rate scud." + +"Well, I'm going to have a try," said Tadpole; "it's the last run of +the half." + +"I should like to try, too," said Tom. + +"Well, then leave your waistcoat behind, and listen at the door, after +calling-over, and you'll hear where the meet is." + +After calling-over, sure enough, there were two boys at the door +calling out: "Big-side Hare and Hounds meet at White Hall"; and Tom, +having girded himself with a leather strap, and left all superfluous +clothing behind, set off for White Hall, an old gable-ended[13] house +some quarter of a mile from the town, and East, whom he had persuaded +to join, notwithstanding his prophecy that they could never get in, as +it was the hardest run of the year. + + [13] #Gable-ended#: having a triangular end from the eaves or + cornice to the top. + + +THE MEET AND THE FIRST BURST. + +At the meet they found some forty or fifty boys, and Tom felt sure, +from having seen many of them run at foot-ball, that he and East were +more likely to get in than they. + +After a few minutes' waiting, two well-known runners, chosen for the +hares, buckled on the four bags filled with scent, compared their +watches with those of young Brooke and Thorne, and started off at a +long, slinging trot across the fields in the direction of Barby. + +Then the hounds clustered round Thorne, who explained shortly, +"They're to have six minutes' law.[14] We run to the Cock,[15] and +every one who comes in within a quarter of an hour of the hares'll be +counted, if he has been round Barby Church." Then came a minute's +pause or so, and then the watches are pocketed, and the pack is led +through the gate-way into the field which the hares had first crossed. +Here they break into a trot, scattering over the field to find the +first traces of the scent which the hares throw out as they go along. +The old hounds make straight for the likely points, and in a minute a +cry of "Forward" comes from one of them, and the whole pack quickening +their pace make for the spot, while the boy who hit the scent first, +and the two or three nearest to him, are over the first fence, and +making play along the hedge-row in the long grass-field beyond. The +rest of the pack rush at the gap already made, and scramble through, +jostling one another. "Forward" again, before they are half through; +the pace quickens into a sharp run, the tail hounds all straining to +get up to the lucky leaders. They are gallant hares, and the scent +lies thick right across another meadow and into a plowed field, where +the pace begins to tell; then over a good wattle[16] with a ditch on +the other side, and down a large pasture studded with old thorns, +which slopes down to the first brook; the great Leicestershire[17] +sheep charge away across the field as the pack comes racing down the +slope. The brook is a small one, and the scent lies right ahead up the +opposite slope, and as thick as ever; not a turn or a check to favor +the tail hounds, who strain on, now trailing in a long line, many a +youngster beginning to drag his legs heavily, and feel his heart beat +like a hammer, and the bad plucked ones thinking that after all it +isn't worth while to keep it up. + + [14] #Six minutes' law#: six minutes' start. + + [15] #The Cock#: a noted inn. + + [16] #Wattle#: a gate or fence made of sticks woven together. + + [17] #Leicestershire#: a county joining Warwickshire. + +Tom, East, and the Tadpole had a good start, and are well up for such +young hands, and, after rising the slope and crossing the next field, +find themselves up with the leading hounds, who have overrun the +scent, and are trying back; they have come a mile and a half in about +eleven minutes, a pace which shows that it is the last day. About +twenty-five of the original starters only show here, the rest having +already given in; the leaders are busy making casts[18] into the +fields on the left and right, and the others get their second winds. + + [18] #Casts#: sallies or explorations in different directions. + +Then comes the cry of "Forward" again, from young Brooke, from the +extreme left, and the pack settle down to work again steadily and +doggedly, the whole keeping pretty well together. The scent, though +still good, is not so thick; there is no need of that, for in this +part of the run every one knows the line which must be taken, and so +there are no casts to be made, but good downright running and fencing +to be done. All who are now up mean coming in, and they come to the +foot of Barby Hill without losing more than two or three more of +the pack. This last straight two miles and a half is always a +vantage-ground[19] for the hounds, and the hares know it well; they +are generally viewed on the side of Barby Hill, and all eyes are on +the look-out for them to-day. But not a sign of them appears, so now +will be the hard work for the hounds, and there is nothing for it but +to cast about for the scent, for it is now the hares' turn, and they +may baffle the pack dreadfully in the next two miles. + + [19] #Vantage-ground#: a place of advantage. + +Ill fares it now with our youngsters that they are School-house boys, +and so follow young Brooke, for he takes the wide casts round to the +left, conscious of his own powers, and loving the hard work. For if +you would consider for a moment, you small boys, you would remember +that the Cock, where the run ends, lies far out to the right, on the +Dunchurch road, so that every cast you take to the left is so much +extra work. And at this stage of the run, when the evening is closing +in already, no one remarks whether you run a little cunning or not, so +you should stick to those crafty hounds who keep edging away to the +right, and not follow a prodigal like young Brooke, whose legs are +twice as long as yours and of cast-iron, wholly indifferent to one or +two miles, more or less. However, they struggle after him, panting and +plunging along, Tom and East pretty close, and Tadpole, whose big head +begins to pull him down, some thirty yards behind. + + +THE FIRST CHECK. + +Now comes a brook, with stiff clay banks, from which they can hardly +drag their legs, and they hear faint cries for help from the wretched +Tadpole, who has fairly stuck fast. But they have too little run left +in themselves to pull up for their own brothers. Three fields more, +and another check, and then "forward," called away to the extreme +right. + +The two boys' souls die within them; they can never do it. Young +Brooke thinks so, too, and says, kindly: "You'll cross a lane after +next field, keep down it, and you'll hit the Dunchurch road below the +Cock," and then, steams away for the run in, in which he's sure to be +first, as if he were just starting. They struggle on across the next +field, the "forwards" getting fainter and fainter, and then ceasing. +The whole hunt is out of earshot, and all hope of coming in is over. + + +NO GO. + +"Hang it all!" broke out East, as soon as he had got wind enough, +pulling off his hat and mopping at his face, all spattered with dirt, +and lined with sweat, from which went up a thick steam into the still, +cold air. "I told you how it would be. What a thick[20] I was to come! +Here we are dead beat, and yet I know we're close to the run in, if we +knew the country." + + [20] #Thick#: fool. + +"Well," said Tom, mopping away, and gulping down his disappointment, +"it can't be helped. We did our best, anyhow. Hadn't we better find +this lane, and go down it as young Brooke told us?" + +"I suppose so--nothing else for it," grunted East. "If ever I go out +last day again," growl--growl--growl. + +So they tried back slowly and sorrowfully, and found the lane, and +went limping down it, plashing in the cold, puddly ruts, and beginning +to feel how the run had taken it out of them. The evening closed in +fast, and clouded over, dark, cold, and dreary. + + +CONSEQUENCES. + +"I say, it must be locking-up, I should think," remarked East, +breaking the silence; "it's so dark." + +"What if we're late?" said Tom. + +"No tea, and sent up to the Doctor," answered East. + +The thought didn't add to their cheerfulness. Presently a faint halloo +was heard from an adjoining field. They answered it, and stopped, +hoping for some competent rustic to guide them, when over a gate some +twenty yards ahead crawled the wretched Tadpole, in a state of +collapse; he had lost a shoe in the brook, and had been groping in it +up to his elbows in the stiff, wet clay, and a more miserable creature +in the shape of a boy seldom has been seen. + +The sight of him, notwithstanding, cheered them, for he was some +degrees more wretched than they. They also cheered him, as he was no +longer under the dread of passing his night alone in the fields. And +so in better heart the three plashed painfully down the never-ending +lane. At last it widened, just as utter darkness set in, and they came +out on a turnpike road, and there paused bewildered, for they had lost +all bearings, and knew not whether to turn to the right or left. + +Luckily for them they had not to decide, for lumbering along the road, +with one lamp lighted, and two spavined horses in the shafts, came a +heavy coach, which after a moment's suspense, they recognized as the +Oxford coach, the redoubtable Pig and Whistle. + +It lumbered slowly up, and the boys mustering their last run, caught +it as it passed, and began clambering up behind, in which exploit East +missed his footing, and fell flat on his nose along the road. Then the +others hailed the old scarecrow of a coachman, who pulled up and +agreed to take them in for a shilling; so there they sat on the back +seat, drubbing with their heels, and their teeth chattering with cold, +and jogged into Rugby some forty minutes after locking-up. + + +THEIR RECEPTION. + +Five minutes afterward, three small, limping, shivering figures steal +along through the Doctor's garden, and into the house by the servants' +entrance (all the other gates have been closed long since), where the +first thing they light upon in the passage is old Thomas, ambling +along, candle in one hand and keys in the other. + +He stops and examines their condition with a grim smile. "Ah! East, +Hall, and Brown, late for locking-up. Must go up to the Doctor's study +at once." + +"Well, but Thomas, mayn't we go and wash first? You can put down the +time, you know." + +"Doctor's study d'rectly you come in--that's the orders," replied old +Thomas, motioning toward the stairs at the end of the passage which +led up into the Doctor's house; and the boys turned ruefully down it, +not cheered by the old verger's muttered remark, "What a pickle they +boys be in!" Thomas referred to their faces and habiliments, but they +construed it as indicating the Doctor's state of mind. Upon the short +flight of stairs they paused to hold counsel. + +"Who'll go in first?" inquires Tadpole. + +"You--you're the senior," answered East. + +"Catch me--look at the state I'm in," rejoined Hall, showing the arms +of his jacket. "I must get behind you two." + +"Well, but look at me," said East indicating the mass of clay behind +which he was standing; "I'm worse than you, two to one; you might grow +cabbages on my trousers." + +"That's all down below, and you can keep your legs behind the sofa," +said Hall. + +"Here, Brown, you're the show figure--you must lead." + +"But my face is all muddy," argued Tom. + +"Oh, we're all in one boat, for that matter; but, come on, we're only +making it worse, dawdling here." + +"Well, just give us a brush then," said Tom: and they began trying to +rub off the superfluous dirt from each other's jackets, but it was not +dry enough, and the rubbing made them worse; so in despair they pushed +through the swing door at the head of the stairs, and found themselves +in the Doctor's hall. + +"That's the library door," said East, in a whisper, pushing Tom +forward. The sound of merry voices and laughter came from within, and +his first hesitating knock was unanswered. But at the second, the +Doctor's voice said, "Come in," and Tom turned the handle, and he, +with the others behind him, sidled into the room. + +The Doctor looked up from his task; he was working away with a great +chisel at the bottom of a boy's sailing-boat, the lines of which he +was no doubt fashioning on the model of one of Nicias's galleys.[21] +Round him stood three or four children; the candles burnt brightly on +a large table at the further end, covered with books and papers, and a +great fire threw a ruddy glow over the rest of the room. All looked so +kindly and homely,[22] and comfortable, that the boys took heart in a +moment, and Tom advanced, from behind the shelter of the great sofa. +The Doctor nodded to the children, who went out, casting curious and +amused glances at the three young scarecrows. + + [21] #Nicias's galleys#: Grecian boats under the command of + Nicias, a famous general. + + [22] #Homely#: homelike. + + +THEIR EXPLANATION. + +"Well, my little fellows," began the Doctor, drawing himself up with +his back to the fire, the chisel in one hand and his coat-tails in the +other; and his eyes twinkling as he looked them over; "what makes you +so late?" + +"Please, sir, we've been out big-side Hare and Hounds, and lost our +way." + +"Hah! you couldn't keep up, I suppose?" + +"Well, sir," said East, stepping out, and not liking that the Doctor +should think lightly of his running powers, "we got round Barby all +right, but then--" + +"Why, what a state you're in, my boy!" interrupted the Doctor, as the +pitiful condition of East's garments was fully revealed to him. + +"That's the fall I got, sir, in the road," said East, looking down at +himself; "the Old Pig came by--" + +"The what?" said the Doctor. + +"Oxford coach, sir," explained Hall. + +"Hah! yes, the Regulator," said the Doctor. + +"And I tumbled on my face, trying to get up behind," went on East. + +"You're not hurt, I hope?" said the Doctor. + +"Oh, no, sir." + +"Well, now, run up-stairs, all three of you, and get clean things on, +and then tell the housekeeper to give you some tea. You're too young +to try such long runs. Let Warner know I've seen you. Good-night." + +"Good-night, sir." And away scuttled the three boys in high glee. + +"What a brick, not to give us even twenty lines to learn!" said the +Tadpole, as they reached their bedroom; and in half an hour afterward +they were sitting by the fire in the housekeeper's room at a sumptuous +tea, with cold meat, "twice as good a grub as we should have got in +the hall," as the Tadpole remarked with a grin, his mouth full of +buttered toast. All their grievances were forgotten, and they were +resolving to go out the first big-side next half, and thinking Hare +and Hounds the most delightful of games. + + +LAST DAYS. + +A day or two afterward the great passage outside the bedrooms was +cleared of the boxes and portmanteaus, which went down to be packed by +the matron, and great games of chariot-racing, and cock-fighting, and +bolstering[23] went on in the vacant space, the sure sign of a closing +half-year. + + [23] #Bolstering#: fights with pillows and bolsters. + +Then came the making up of parties for the journey home, and Tom +joined a party who were to hire a coach, and post with four horses to +Oxford. + +Then the last Saturday on which the Doctor came round to each form to +give out the prizes, and hear the masters' last report of how they and +their charges had been conducting themselves; and Tom, to his huge +delight, was praised, and got his remove into the lower fourth, in +which all his School-house friends were. + +On the next Tuesday morning, at four o'clock, hot coffee was going on +in the housekeeper's and matron's rooms: boys wrapped in great-coats +and mufflers were swallowing hasty mouthfuls, rushing about, tumbling +over luggage, and asking questions all at once of the matron; outside +the School-gates were drawn up several chaises and the four-horse +coach which Tom's party had chartered, the post-boys[24] in their best +jackets and breeches, and a cornopean[25] player, hired for the +occasion, blowing away, "A southerly wind and a cloudy day," waking +all peaceful inhabitants half-way down the High Street. + + [24] #Post-boys#: the boys that drove the coach and the + post-chaises. + + [25] #Cornopean#: a kind of trumpet. + +Every minute the bustle and hubbub increased; porters staggered about +with boxes and bags, the cornopean played louder. Old Thomas sat in +his den with a great yellow bag by his side, out of which he was +paying journey money to each boy, comparing by the light of a solitary +dip the dirty crabbed little list in his own handwriting, with the +Doctor's list, and the amount of his cash; his head was on one side, +his mouth screwed up, and his spectacles dim from early toil. He had +prudently locked the door, and carried on his operations through the +window, or he would have been driven wild and lost all his money. + +"Thomas, do be quick; we shall never catch the Highflyer[26] at +Dunchurch." + + [26] #Highflyer#: name of a coach. + +"That's your money, all right, Green." + +"Hullo, Thomas, the Doctor said I was to have two-pound-ten; you've +only given me two pound." I fear that Master Green is not confining +himself strictly to truth. Thomas turns his head more on one side than +ever, and spells away at the dirty list. Green is forced away from the +window. + +"Here, Thomas, never mind him, mine's thirty shillings." "And mine +too," "And mine," shouted others. + +One way or another, the party to which Tom belonged all got packed and +paid, and sallied out to the gates, the cornopean playing frantically, +"Drops of Brandy," in allusion, probably, to the slight potations in +which the musicians and post-boys had been already indulging. All +luggage was carefully stowed away inside the coach and in the front +and hind boots, so that not a hat-box was visible outside. Five or six +small boys, with pea-shooters, and the cornopean player, got up +behind; in front the big boys, mostly smoking, not for pleasure, but +because they are now gentlemen at large[27]--and this is the most +correct public method of notifying the fact. + + [27] #At large#: free from restraint. + + +OFF. + +"Robinson's coach will be down the road in a minute; it has gone up to +Bird's to pick up--we'll wait till they're close, and make a race of +it," says the leader. "Now, boys, half a sovereign apiece if you beat +'em into Dunchurch by one hundred yards." + +"All right, sir," shouted the grinning post-boys. Down comes +Robinson's coach in a minute or two with a rival cornopean, and away +go the two vehicles, horses galloping, boys cheering, horns playing +loud. There is a special Providence over schoolboys as well as +sailors, or they must have upset twenty times in the first five miles, +sometimes actually abreast of one another, and the boys on the roofs +exchanging volleys of peas, now nearly running over a post-chaise +which had started before them, now half-way up a bank, now with a +wheel-and-a-half over a yawning ditch; and all this in a dark morning, +with nothing but their own lamps to guide them. However, it is all +over at last, and they have run over nothing but an old pig in Southam +Street; the last peas are distributed in the Corn Market[28] at +Oxford, where they arrive between eleven and twelve, and sit down to +a sumptuous breakfast at the Angel, which they are made to pay for +accordingly. Here the party breaks up, all going now different ways: +and Tom orders out a chaise and pair as grand as a lord, though he has +scarcely five shillings left in his pocket, and more than twenty miles +to get home. + + [28] #Corn Market#: one of the principal streets of Oxford. + + +DULCE DOMUM. + +"Where to, sir?" + +"Red Lion, Farringdon," says Tom, giving ostler a shilling. + +"All right, sir. Red Lion, Jem," to the post-boy, and Tom rattles away +toward home. At Farringdon, being known to the innkeeper, he gets that +worthy to pay for the Oxford horses, and forward him in another chaise +at once; and so the gorgeous young gentleman arrives at the paternal +mansion, and Squire Brown looks rather blue at having to pay two +pounds ten shillings for the posting expenses from Oxford. But the +boy's intense joy at getting home, and the wonderful health he is in, +and the good character he brings, and the brave stories he tells of +Rugby, its doings and delights, soon mollify the Squire, and three +happier people didn't sit down to dinner that day in England (it +is the boy's first dinner at six o'clock at home, great promotion +already), than the Squire and his wife and Tom Brown, at the end of +his first half-year at Rugby. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. + + "They are slaves who will not choose + Hatred, scoffing, and abuse, + Rather than in silence shrink + From the truth they needs must think. + They are slaves who dare not be + In the right with two or three." + + _Lowell, "Stanzas on Freedom."_ + + +THE LOWER FOURTH. + +The lower-fourth form, in which Tom found himself at the beginning of +the next half-year, was the largest form in the lower school, and +numbered upward of forty boys. Young gentlemen of all ages, from nine +to fifteen, were to be found there, who expended such part of their +energies as was devoted to Latin and Greek, upon a book of Livy, the +Bucolics[1] of Virgil, and the Hecuba[2] of Euripides, which were +ground out in small daily portions. The driving of this unlucky lower +fourth must have been grievous work to the unfortunate master, for it +was the most unhappily constituted of any in the School. Here stuck +the great stupid boys, who for the life of them could never master the +accidence;[3] the objects alternately of mirth and terror to the +youngsters, who were daily taking them up, and laughing at them in +lesson, and getting kicked by them for so doing in play-hours. There +were no less than three unhappy fellows in tail coats, with incipient +down on their chins, whom the Doctor and the master of the form were +always endeavoring to hoist into the upper school, but whose parsing +and construing resisted the most well-meant shoves. Then came the mass +of the form, boys of eleven and twelve, the most mischievous and +reckless age of British youth, of whom East and Tom Brown were fair +specimens. As full of tricks as monkeys, and of excuses as Irish +women, making fun of their master, one another, and their lessons, +Argus[4] himself would have been puzzled to keep an eye on them; and +as for making them steady or serious for half an hour together, it was +simply hopeless. The remainder of the form consisted of young +prodigies of nine or ten, who were going up the school at the rate of +a form a half-year, all boys' hands and wits being against them in +their progress. It would have been one man's work to see that the +precocious youngsters had fair play; and as the master had a good deal +besides to do, they hadn't, and were forever being shoved down three +or four places, their verses stolen, their books inked, their jackets +whitened, and their lives otherwise made a burden to them. + + [1] #Bucolics#: short poems on country life. + + [2] #Hecuba#: the name of a play. + + [3] #Accidence#: the rudiments of grammar. + + [4] #Argus#: in mythology, a monster with a hundred eyes. + +The lower fourth, and all the forms below it, were heard in the Great +School, and were not trusted to prepare their lessons before coming +in, but were whipped into school three-quarters of an hour before the +lessons began by their respective masters, and there, scattered about +on the benches, with dictionary and grammar, hammered out their twenty +lines of Virgil and Euripides in the midst of Babel.[5] The masters of +the lower school walked up and down the Great School together during +this three-quarters of an hour, or sat in their desks reading or +looking over copies, and keeping such order as was possible. But the +lower fourth was just now an overgrown form, too large for any one man +to attend to properly, and consequently the elysium[6] or ideal form +of the young scapegraces who formed the staple[7] of it. + + [5] #Babel#: confusion. See Genesis, Chapter XI. + + [6] #Elysium#: in mythology, a dwelling-place for happy souls + after death; hence, any delightful place. + + [7] #Staple#: principal part. + +Tom, as has been said, had come up from the third with a good +character, but the temptations of the lower fourth soon proved too +strong for him, and he rapidly fell away, and became as unmanageable +as the rest. For some weeks, indeed, he succeeded in maintaining the +appearance of steadiness, and was looked upon favorably by his new +master, whose eyes were first opened by the following little incident. + +Besides the desk which the master himself occupied, there was another +large unoccupied desk in the corner of the Great School, which was +untenanted. To rush and seize upon this desk, which was ascended by +three steps, and held four boys, was the great object of ambition of +the lower-fourthers; and the contentions for the occupation of it bred +such disorder, that at last the master forbade its use altogether. +This of course was a challenge to the more adventurous spirits +to occupy it, and as it was capacious enough for two boys to +lie hid there completely, it was seldom that it remained empty, +notwithstanding the veto.[8] Small holes were cut in the front, +through which the occupants watched the masters as they walked up and +down, and as lesson-time approached, one boy at a time stole out and +down the steps, as the masters' backs were turned, and mingled with +the general crowd on the forms below. Tom and East had successfully +occupied the desk some half-dozen times, and were grown so reckless +that they were in the habit of playing small games with fives'-balls +inside, when the masters were at the other end of the Big School. One +day, as ill-luck would have it, the game became more exciting than +usual, and the ball slipped through East's fingers, and rolled slowly +down the steps, and out into the middle of the school, just as the +masters turned in their walk, and faced round upon the desk. The young +delinquents watched their master, through the look-out holes, marching +slowly down the school straight upon their retreat, while all the boys +in the neighborhood of course stopped their work to look on; and not +only were they ignominiously drawn out, and caned over the hand then +and there, but their characters for steadiness were gone from that +time. However, as they only shared the fate of some three-fourths of +the rest of the form, this did not weigh heavily upon them. + + [8] #Veto#: the act of forbidding; a prohibition. + + +MONTHLY EXAMINATIONS. + +In fact, the only occasions on which they cared about the matter were +the monthly examinations, when the Doctor came round to examine their +form, for one long awful hour, in the work which they had done in the +preceding month. The second monthly examination came round soon after +Tom's fall, and it was with anything but lively anticipations that he +and the other lower-fourth boys came in to prayers on the morning of +the examination day. + +Prayers and calling-over seemed twice as short as usual, and before +they could get construes of a tithe[9] of the hard passages marked in +the margin of their books, they were all seated round, and the Doctor +was standing in the middle, talking in whispers to the master. Tom +couldn't hear a word which passed, and never lifted his eyes from his +book; but he knew by a kind of magnetic instinct that the Doctor's +under lip was coming out, and his eye beginning to burn, and his +gown getting gathered up more and more tightly in his left hand. +The suspense was agonizing, and Tom knew that he was sure on such +occasions to make an example of the School-house boys. "If he would +only begin," thought Tom, "I shouldn't mind." + + [9] #Tithe#: a tenth. + +At last the whispering ceased, and the name which was called out was +not Brown. He looked up for a moment, but the Doctor's face was too +awful; Tom wouldn't have met his eye for all he was worth, and buried +himself in his book again. + + +TRISTE LUPUS. + +The boy who was called up first was a clever,[10] merry School-house +boy, one of their set; he was some connection of the Doctor's and a +great favorite, and ran in and out of his house as he liked, and so +was selected for the first victim. + + [10] #Clever#: bright, smart. + +"Triste lupus stabulis,"[11] began the luckless youngster, and +stammered through some eight or ten lines. + + [11] #"Triste lupus stabulis"#: "the wolf is fatal to the + flocks." + +"There, that will do," said the Doctor, "now construe." + +On common occasions, the boy could have construed the passage well +enough, probably, but now his head was gone. + +"Triste lupus, the sorrowful wolf," he began. A shudder ran through +the whole form, and the Doctor's wrath fairly boiled over; he made +three steps up to the construer, and gave him a good box on the ear. +The blow was not a hard one, but the boy was so taken by surprise that +he started back; the form[12] caught the back of his knees, and over +he went on to the floor behind. There was a dead silence over the +whole school; never before and never again while Tom was at school did +the Doctor strike a boy in lesson. The provocation must have been +great. However, the victim had saved his form[13] for that occasion, +for the Doctor turned to the top bench, and put on the best boys for +the rest of the hour; and though, at the end of the lesson, he gave +them all such a rating[14] as they did not forget, this terrible +field-day passed over without any severe visitations in the shape of +punishments or floggings. Forty young scapegraces expressed their +thanks to the "sorrowful wolf," in their different ways before second +lesson. + + [12] #Form#: here, bench. + + [13] #Form#: here, class. + + [14] #Rating#: scolding. + +But a character for steadiness once gone is not easily recovered, as +Tom found, and for years afterward he went up the school without it, +and the masters' hands were against him and his against them. And he +regarded them, as a matter of course, as his natural enemies. + + +MISRULE AND ITS CAUSES. + +Matters were not so comfortable either in the house as they had been, +for Old Brooke left at Christmas, and one or two others of the +sixth-form boys at the following Easter. Their rule had been rough, +but strong and just in the main, and a higher standard was beginning +to be set up; in fact, there had been a short foretaste of the good +time which followed some years later. Just now, however, all +threatened to return into darkness and chaos again. For the new +prępostors were either small young boys, whose cleverness had carried +them up to the top of the school while, in strength of body and +character, they were not yet fit for a share in the government; or +else big fellows of the wrong sort, boys whose friendships and tastes +had a downward tendency, who had not caught the meaning of their +position and work, and felt none of its responsibilities. So under +this no-government the School-house began to see bad times. The big +fifth-form boys, who were a sporting and drinking set, soon began to +usurp power, and to fag the little boys as if they were prępostors, +and to bully and oppress any one who showed signs of resistance. +The bigger sort of sixth-form boys just described soon made common +cause with the fifth, while the smaller sort, hampered by their +colleagues'[15] desertion to the enemy, could not make head against +them. So the fags were without their lawful masters and protectors, +and ridden over rough-shod by a set of boys whom they were not bound +to obey, and whose only right over them stood in their bodily powers; +and, as Old Brooke had prophesied, the house by degrees broke up into +small sets and parties, and lost the strong feeling of fellowship +which he set so much store by, and with it much of the prowess in +games, and the lead in all school matters, which he had done so much +to keep up. + + [15] #Colleagues#: associates. + + +THE OLD BOY MORALIZETH THEREON. + +In no place in the world has individual character more weight than at +a public school. Remember this, I beseech you, all you boys who are +getting into the upper forms. Now is the time, in all your lives, +probably, when you may have more wide influence, for good or evil, on +the society you live in, than you ever can have again. Quit[16] +yourselves like men, then; speak up, and strike out if necessary for +whatsoever is true, and manly, and lovely, and of good report; never +try to be popular, but only to do your duty and help others to do +theirs, and you may leave the tone of feeling in the school higher +than you found it, and so be doing good, which no living soul can +measure, to generations of your countrymen yet unborn. For boys follow +one another in herds like sheep, for good or evil; they hate thinking, +and have rarely any settled principles. Every school, indeed, has its +own traditionary standard of right and wrong, which cannot be +transgressed with impunity, marking certain things as low and +blackguard, and certain others as lawful and right. This standard is +ever varying, though it changes only slowly, and little by little; +and, subject only to such standard, it is the leading boys for the +time being who give the tone to all the rest, and make the school +either a noble institution for the training of Christian Englishmen, +or a place where a young boy will get more evil than he would if he +were turned out to make his way in London streets, or anything between +these two extremes. + + [16] #Quit#: acquit, behave. + +The change for the worse in the School-house, however, didn't press +very heavily on our youngsters for some time; they were in a good +bedroom, where slept the only prępostor left who was able to keep +thorough order, and their study was in his passage; so, though they +were fagged more or less, and occasionally kicked or cuffed by the +bullies, they were, on the whole, well off; and the fresh, brave +school-life, so full of games, adventures, and good fellowship, so +ready at forgetting, so capacious at enjoying, so bright at +forecasting, outweighed a thousandfold their troubles with the master +of their form, and the occasional ill-usage of the big boys in the +house. It wasn't till some year or so after the events recorded above, +that the prępostor of their room and passage left. None of the other +sixth-form boys would move into their passage, and, to the disgust and +indignation of Tom and East, one morning after breakfast they were +seized upon by Flashman, and made to carry down his books and +furniture into the unoccupied study which he had taken. From this time +they began to feel the weight of the tyranny of Flashman and his +friends, and, now that trouble had come home to their own doors, began +to look out for sympathizers and partners amongst the rest of the +fags; and meetings of the oppressed began to be held, and murmurs to +arise, and plots to be laid, as to how they should free themselves and +be avenged on their enemies. + + +THE SHOE BEGINS TO PINCH. + +While matters were in this state, East and Tom were one evening +sitting in their study. They had done their work for first lesson, and +Tom was in a brown study, brooding like a young William Tell, upon the +wrongs of fags in general, and his own in particular. + +"I say, Scud," said he, at last, rousing himself to snuff the candle, +"what right have the fifth-form boys to fag us as they do?" + +"No more right than you have to fag them," answered East, without +looking up from an early number of "Pickwick,"[17] which was just +coming out, and which he was luxuriously devouring, stretched on his +back on the sofa. + + [17] #"The Pickwick Papers"#: a humorous novel by Charles + Dickens. + +Tom relapsed into his brown study, and East went on reading and +chuckling. The contrast of the boys' faces would have given infinite +amusement to a looker-on, the one so solemn and big with mighty +purpose, the other radiant and bubbling over with fun. + +"Do you know, old fellow, I've been thinking it over a good deal," +began Tom, again. + +"Oh, yes, I know, fagging you are thinking of. Hang it all--but listen +here, Tom--here's fun. Mr. Winkle's horse--" + +"And I've made up my mind," broke in Tom, "that I won't fag except for +the sixth." + +"Quite right, too, my boy," cried East, putting his finger on the +place and looking up; "but a pretty peck of troubles you'll get into, +if you're going to play that game. However, I'm all for a strike +myself, if we can get others to join--it's getting too bad." + +"Can't we get some sixth-form fellow to take it up?" asked Tom. + +"Well, perhaps we might; Morgan would interfere, I think. Only," added +East, after a moment's pause, "you see we should have to tell him +about it, and that's against school principles. Don't you remember +what old Brooke said about learning to take our own parts?" + +"Ah, I wish old Brooke were back again--it was all right in his time." + +"Why, yes, you see then the strongest and best fellows were in the +sixth, and the fifth-form fellows were afraid of them, and they kept +good order; but now our sixth-form fellows are too small, and the +fifth don't care for them, and do what they like in the house." + +"And so we get a double set of masters," cried Tom, indignantly; "the +lawful ones, who are responsible to the Doctor at any rate, and the +unlawful--the tyrants, who are responsible to nobody." + +"Down with the tyrants!" cried East; "I'm all for law and order, and +hurra for a revolution!" + +"I shouldn't mind if it were only for young Brooke now," said Tom, +"he's such a good-hearted, gentlemanly fellow, and ought to be in the +sixth--I'd do anything for him. But that blackguard Flashman, who +never speaks to one without a kick or an oath--" + +"The cowardly brute," broke in East, "how I hate him! And he knows it +too--he knows that you and I think him a coward. What a bore that he's +got a study in this passage! Don't you hear them now at supper in his +den? Brandy punch going, I'll bet. I wish the Doctor would come out +and catch him. We must change our study as soon as we can." + +"Change or no change, I'll never fag for him again," said Tom, +thumping the table. + + +THE EXPLOSION. + +"Fa-a-a-ag!" sounded along the passage from Flashman's study. The two +boys looked at one another in silence. It had struck nine, so the +regular night fags had left duty, and they were the nearest to the +supper-party. East sat up, and began to look comical, as he always did +under difficulties. + +"Fa-a-a-ag!" again. No answer. + +"Here, Brown! East! you cursed young skulks," roared out Flashman, +coming to his open door, "I know you are in--no shirking." + +Tom stole to their door, and drew the bolts as noiselessly as he +could; East blew out the candle. "Barricade the first," whispered he. +"Now, Tom, mind, no surrender." + +"Trust me for that," said Tom, between his teeth. + + +THE SIEGE. + +In another minute they heard the supper-party turn out and come down +the passage to their door. They held their breath, and heard +whispering, of which they only made out Flashman's words, "I know the +young brutes are in." + +Then came summonses to open, which being unanswered, the assault +commenced; luckily the door was a good strong oak one, and resisted +the united weight of Flashman's party. A pause followed, and they +heard a besieger remark, "They are in safe enough--don't you see how +the door holds at top and bottom? so the bolts must be drawn. We +should have forced the lock long ago." East gave Tom a nudge, to call +attention to this scientific remark. + +Then came attacks on particular panels, one of which at last gave way +to the repeated kicks; but it broke inward, and the broken pieces got +jammed across, the door being lined with green baize, and couldn't +easily be removed from outside; and the besieged, scorning further +concealment, strengthened their defences by pressing the end of their +sofa against the door. So, after one or two more ineffectual efforts, +Flashman & Co. retired, vowing vengeance in no mild terms. + +The first danger over, it only remained for the besieged to effect a +safe retreat, as it was now near bed-time. They listened intently, and +heard the supper-party resettle themselves, and then gently drew back +first one bolt and then the other. Presently the convivial[18] noises +began again steadily. "Now, then, stand by for a run," said East, +throwing the door wide open, and rushing into the passage, closely +followed by Tom. They were too quick to be caught, but Flashman was on +the lookout, and sent an empty pickle-jar whizzing after them, which +narrowly missed Tom's head, and broke into twenty pieces at the end of +the passage. "He wouldn't mind killing one, if he wasn't caught," said +East, as they turned the corner. + + [18] #Convivial#: relating to a feast; festal. + + +THE REBELS IN COUNCIL. + +There was no pursuit, so the two turned into the hall, where they +found a knot of small boys around the fire. Their story was told--the +war of independence had broken out--who would join the revolutionary +forces? several others present bound themselves not to fag for the +fifth form at once. One or two only edged off, and left the rebels. +What else could they do? "I've a good mind to go to the Doctor +straight," said Tom. + +"That'll never do--don't you remember the levy[19] of the School last +half?" put in another. + + [19] #Levy#: a meeting of the pupils. + +In fact, the solemn assembly, a levy of the School, had been held, at +which the captain of the School had got up, and, after premising[20] +that several instances had occurred of matters having been reported +to the masters, that this was against public morality and school +tradition; that a levy of the sixth had been held on the subject, and +they had resolved that the practice must be stopped at once; and given +out that any boy, in whatever form, who should thenceforth appeal to a +master, without having first gone to some prępostor and laid the case +before him, should be thrashed publicly and sent to Coventry.[21] + + [20] #Premising#: saying to begin with + + [21] #Sent to Coventry#: excluded from their society. + + +A COUNSELLOR OF THE REBELS + +"Well, then, let's try the sixth. Try Morgan," suggested another. "No +use"--"Babbling won't do," was the general feeling. + +"I'll give you fellows a piece of advice," said a voice from the end +of the hall. They all turned with a start, and the speaker got up from +a bench on which he had been lying unobserved, and gave himself a +shake; he was a big, loose-made fellow, with huge limbs which had +grown too far through his jacket and trousers. "Don't you go to +anybody at all--you just stand out; say you won't fag--they'll soon +get tired of licking you. I've tried it on years ago with their +forerunners." + +"No! did you? tell us how it was," cried a chorus of voices, as they +clustered round him. + +"Well, just as it is with you. The fifth form would fag us, and I and +some more struck, and we beat 'em. The good fellows left off directly, +and the bullies who kept on soon got afraid." + +"Was Flashman here then?" + +"Yes! and a dirty little snivelling, sneaking fellow he was too. He +never dared join us, and used to toady[22] the bullies by offering to +fag for them, and peaching[23] against the rest of us." + + [22] #Toady#: seek favor in a mean way. + + [23] #Peaching#: telling. + +"Why wasn't he cut,[24] then?" said East. + + [24] #Cut#: the same as "Sent to Coventry." + +"Oh, toadies never get cut, they're too useful. Besides, he has no end +of great hampers from home, with wine and game in them; so he toadied +and fed himself into favor." + + +"THE MUCKER." + +The quarter-to-ten bell now rang, and the small boys went off +up-stairs, still consulting together, and praising their new +counsellor, who stretched himself out on the bench before the hall +fire again. There he lay, a very queer specimen of boyhood, by name +Diggs, and familiarly called "The Mucker."[25] He was young for his +size, and a very clever fellow, nearly at the top of the fifth. His +friends at home, having regard, I suppose, to his age, and not to his +size and place in the School, hadn't put him into tails;[26] and even +his jackets were always too small; and he had a talent for destroying +clothes, and making himself look shabby. He wasn't on terms with +Flashman's set, who sneered at his dress and ways behind his back, +which he knew, and revenged himself by asking Flashman the most +disagreeable questions, and treating him familiarly whenever a crowd +of boys were around him. Neither was he intimate with any of the other +bigger boys, who were warned off by his oddnesses, for he was a very +queer fellow; besides, amongst other failings, he had that of +impecuniosity[27] in a remarkable degree. He brought as much money as +other boys to school, but got rid of it in no time, no one knew how. +And then, being also reckless, borrowed from any one, and when his +debts accumulated and creditors pressed, would have an auction in the +Hall of everything he possessed in the world, selling even his +schoolbooks, candlestick, and study table. For weeks after one of +these auctions, having rendered his study uninhabitable, he would +live about in the fifth-form room and hall, doing his verses on old +letter-backs and odd scraps of paper, and learning his lessons no one +knew how. He never meddled with any little boy, and was popular with +them, though they all looked on him with a sort of compassion, and +called him "poor Diggs," not being able to resist appearances, or to +disregard wholly even the sneers of their enemy Flashman. However, he +seemed equally indifferent to the sneers of big boys and the pity of +small ones, and lived his own queer life with much apparent enjoyment +to himself. It is necessary to introduce Diggs thus particularly, as +he not only did Tom and East good service in their present warfare, as +is about to be told, but soon afterward, when he got into the sixth, +chose them for his fags, and excused them from study-fagging,[28] +thereby earning unto himself eternal gratitude from them, and all who +are interested in their history. + + [25] #The Mucker#: the sloven. + + [26] #Tails#: a tail coat. + + [27] #Impecuniosity#: want of money. + + [28] #Study-fagging#: clearing up his study-room. + + +THE WAR RAGES. + +And seldom had small boys more need of a friend, for the morning +after the siege the storm burst upon the rebels in all its violence. +Flashman laid wait, and caught Tom before second lesson, and receiving +a point blank "No" when told to fetch his hat, seized him and twisted +his arm, and went through the other methods of torture in use. "He +couldn't make me cry, tho'," as Tom said triumphantly to the rest of +the rebels, "and I kicked his shins well, I know." And soon it crept +out that a lot of the fags were in league, and Flashman excited his +associates to join him in bringing the young vagabonds to their +senses; and the house was filled with constant chasings, and sieges, +and lickings of all sorts; and in return, the bullies' beds were +pulled to pieces, and drenched with water, and their names written +upon the walls with every insulting epithet which the fag invention +could furnish. The war in short raged fiercely; but soon, as Diggs had +told them, all the better fellows in the fifth gave up trying to fag +them, and public feeling began to set against Flashman and his two or +three intimates, and they were obliged to keep their doings more +secret, but, being thorough bad fellows, missed no opportunity of +torturing in private. Flashman was an adept in all ways, but above all +in the power of saying cutting and cruel things, and could often bring +tears to the eyes of boys in this way, which all the thrashings in the +world wouldn't have wrung from them. + +And as his operations were being cut short in other directions, he now +devoted himself chiefly to Tom and East, who lived at his own door, +and would force himself into their study whenever he found a chance, +and sit there, sometimes alone, and sometimes with a companion, +interrupting all their work, and exulting in the evident pain which +every now and then he could see he was inflicting on one or the other. + +The storm had cleared the air for the rest of the house, and a better +state of things now began than there had been since old Brooke had +left; but an angry, dark spot of thunder-cloud still hung over the end +of the passage, where Flashman's study and that of East and Tom lay. + +He felt that they had been the first rebels, and that the rebellion +had been to a great extent successful; but what above all stirred the +hatred and bitterness of his heart against them was that, in the +frequent collisions which there had been of late, they had openly +called him coward and sneak,--the taunts were too true to be forgiven. +While he was in the act of thrashing them they would roar out +instances of his funking at foot-ball, or shirking some encounter with +a lout of half his own size. These things were all well enough known +in the house, but to have his own disgrace shouted out by small boys, +to feel that they despised him, to be unable to silence them by any +amount of torture, and to see the open laugh and sneer of his own +associates (who were looking on, and took no trouble to hide their +scorn from him, though they neither interfered with his bullying nor +lived a bit the less intimately with him) made him beside himself. +Come what might, he would make those boys' lives miserable. So the +strife settled down into a personal affair between Flashman and our +youngsters; a war to the knife, to be fought out in the little +cockpit[29] at the end of the bottom passage. + + [29] #Cockpit#: here, probably, a recess or small place. + + +THE WEAK TO THE WALL. + +Flashman, be it said, was about seventeen years old, and big and +strong of his age. He played well at all games where pluck wasn't +much wanted, and managed generally to keep up appearances where it +was; and having a bluff, off-hand manner, which passed for heartiness, +and considerable powers of being pleasant when he liked, went down +with the school in general for a good fellow enough. Even in the +School-house, by dint of his command of money, the constant supply of +good things which he kept up, and his adroit toadyism, he had managed +to make himself not only tolerated, but rather popular amongst his own +contemporaries; although young Brooke scarcely spoke to him, and one +or two others of the right sort showed their opinion of him whenever a +chance offered. But the wrong sort happened to be in the ascendant +just now, and so Flashman was a formidable enemy for small boys. This +soon became plain enough. Flashman left no slander unspoken, and no +deed undone which could in any way hurt his victims, or isolate them +from the rest of the house. One by one most of the other rebels fell +away from them, while Flashman's cause prospered, and several other +fifth-form boys began to look black at them and ill-treat them as they +passed about the house. By keeping out of bounds, or at all events out +of the house and quadrangle, all day, and carefully barring themselves +in at night, East and Tom managed to hold on without feeling very +miserable; but it was as much as they could do. Greatly were they +drawn then toward old Diggs, who, in an uncouth way, began to take a +good deal of notice of them, and once or twice came to their study +when Flashman was there, who immediately decamped in consequence. The +boys thought that Diggs must have been watching. + + +DIGGS'S BANKRUPTCY. + +When, therefore, about this time, an auction was one night announced +to take place in the Hall, at which, amongst the superfluities of +other boys, all Diggs's Penates[30] for the time being were going to +the hammer, East and Tom laid their heads together, and resolved to +devote their ready cash (some four shillings sterling[31]) to redeem +such articles as that sum would cover. Accordingly, they duly attended +to bid, and Tom became the owner of two lots of Diggs's things: Lot 1, +price one-and-threepence, consisting (as the auctioneer remarked) of a +"valuable assortment of old metals," in the shape of a mouse-trap, a +cheese-toaster without a handle, and a sauce-pan;[32] Lot 2, a +villanous dirty table-cloth and green-baize curtain: while East, for +one-and-sixpence purchased a leather paper-case, with a lock but no +key, once handsome, but now much the worse for wear. But they had +still the point to settle, of how to get Diggs to take the things +without hurting his feelings. This they solved by leaving them in his +study, which was never locked when he was out. Diggs, who had attended +the auction, remembered who had bought the lots and came to their +study soon after, and sat silent for some time, cracking his great red +finger-joints. Then he laid hold of their verses,[33] and began +looking over and altering them, and at last got up, and turning his +back to them, said: "You're uncommon good-hearted little beggars,[34] +you two--I value that paper-case; my sister gave it me last +holidays--I won't forget;" and so tumbled out into the passage, +leaving them somewhat embarrassed, but not sorry that he knew what +they had done. + + [30] #Penates#: Roman household gods; hence, most precious + things. + + [31] #Sterling#: English money. + + [32] #Sauce-pan#: a vessel for boiling and stewing. + + [33] #Verses#: Latin verses. + + [34] #Beggars#: here, fellows. + + +THE DERBY LOTTERY. + +The next morning was Saturday, the day on which the allowances of one +shilling a week were paid, an important event to spendthrift +youngsters; and great was the disgust amongst the small fry, to hear +that all the allowances had been impounded for the Derby[35] lottery. +That great event in the English year, the Derby, was celebrated at +Rugby in those days by many lotteries. It was not an improving custom, +I own, gentle reader, and led to making books[36] and betting, and +other objectionable results; but when our great Houses of Palaver[37] +think it right to stop the nation's business on that day, and many of +the members bet heavily themselves, can you blame us boys for +following the example of our betters?--at any rate we did follow it. +First, there was the Great School lottery, where the first prize was +six or seven pounds; then each house had one or more separate +lotteries. These were all nominally[38] voluntary, no boy being +compelled to put in his shilling who didn't choose to do so; but +besides Flashman, there were three or four other fast sporting young +gentlemen in the School-house, who considered subscription a matter of +duty and necessity, and so to make their duty come easy to the small +boys, quietly secured the allowances in a lump when given out for +distribution, and kept them. It was no use grumbling--so many fewer +tartlets and apples were eaten and fives'-balls bought on that +Saturday; and after locking-up, when the money would otherwise have +been spent, consolation was carried to many a small boy, by the sound +of the night-fags shouting along the passages, "Gentlemen sportsmen of +the School-house, the lottery's going to be drawn in the Hall." It was +pleasant to be called a gentleman sportsman--also to have a chance of +drawing a favorite horse.[39] + + [35] #Derby#: a famous English horse-race (pronounced Darby). + + [36] #Books#: an arrangement of bets on a race recorded in a + book, and so calculated that the book-maker generally wins + something, whatever the result. + + [37] #Houses of Palaver#: Parliament never sits on Derby Day. + + [38] #Nominally#: in name only. + + [39] #Drawing a favorite horse#: the names of the horses + running at the Derby were written on folded slips of paper, + and those who drew the winning names got the prizes. + +The Hall was full of boys, and at the head of one of the long tables +stood the sporting interest, with a hat before them in which were the +tickets folded up. One of them then began calling out a list of the +house; each boy as his name was called drew a ticket from the hat +and opened it; and most of the bigger boys, after drawing, left the +Hall directly to go back to their studies or the fifth-form room. +The sporting interest had all drawn blanks, and they were sulky +accordingly; neither of the favorites had yet been drawn, and it had +come down to the upper fourth. So now, as each small boy came up and +drew his ticket, it was seized and opened by Flashman, or some others +of the standers-by. But no great favorite is drawn until it comes to +the Tadpole's turn, and he shuffles up, and draws, and tries to make +off, but is caught, and his ticket is opened like the rest. + +"Here you are! Wanderer! third favorite," shouts the opener. + +"I say, just give me my ticket, please," remonstrates Tadpole. + +"Hullo, don't be in a hurry," breaks in Flashman, "what'll you sell +Wanderer for now?" + +"I don't want to sell," rejoins Tadpole. + +"Oh, don't you? Now listen, you young fool--you don't know anything +about it; the horse is no use to you. He won't win, but I want him as +a hedge.[40] Now I'll give you half-a-crown[41] for him." Tadpole +holds out, but between threats and cajoleries[42] at length sells half +for one-shilling-and-sixpence, about a fifth of its fair market value; +however, he is glad to realize anything, and as he wisely remarks: +"Wanderer mayn't win, and the tizzy[43] is safe anyhow." + + [40] #Hedge#: here, a guard against loss. + + [41] #Half-a-crown#: an English silver coin, two shillings and + sixpence, or sixty cents. + + [42] #Cajoleries#: coaxing by flatteries. + + [43] #Tizzy#: here, the one and sixpence. + + +TOM DRAWS THE FAVORITE. + +East presently comes up, and draws a blank. Soon after comes Tom's +turn; his ticket, like the others, is seized and opened. "Here you are +then," shouts the opener, holding it up: "Harkaway! By Jove, Flashy, +your young friend's in luck." + +"Give me the ticket," says Flashman with an oath, leaning across the +table with open hand, and his face black with rage. + +"Wouldn't you like it?" replies the opener, not a bad fellow at the +bottom, and no admirer of Flashman. "Here, Brown, catch hold," and he +hands the ticket to Tom, who pockets it; whereupon Flashman makes for +the door at once, that Tom and the ticket may not escape, and there +keeps watch until the drawing is over, and all the boys are gone, +except the sporting set of five or six, who stay to compare books, +make bets and so on; Tom, who doesn't choose to move while Flashman is +at the door, and East, who stays by his friend, anticipating trouble. + +The sporting set now gathered around Tom. Public opinion wouldn't +allow them actually to rob him of his ticket, but any humbug or +intimidation by which he could be driven to sell the whole or part at +an under value was lawful. + +"Now, young Brown, come, what'll you sell me Harkaway for? I hear he +isn't going to start. I'll give you five shillings for him," begins +the boy who had opened the ticket. Tom, remembering his good deed, and +moreover in his forlorn state wishing to make a friend, is about to +accept the offer, when another cries out, "I'll give you seven +shillings." Tom hesitated and looked from one to the other. + +"No, no!" said Flashman, pushing in, "leave me to deal with him; we'll +draw lots for it afterward. Now, sir, you know me--you'll sell +Harkaway to us for five shillings, or you'll repent it." + +"I won't sell a bit of him," answered Tom shortly. + +"You hear that now!" said Flashman, turning to the others. "He's the +coxiest[44] young blackguard in the house--I always told you so. We're +to have all the trouble and risk of getting up the lotteries for the +benefit of such fellows as he." + + [44] #Coxiest#: most conceited, impudent. + +Flashman forgets to explain what risks they ran, but he speaks to +willing ears. Gambling makes boys selfish and cruel as well as men. + +"That's true--we always draw blanks," cried one. "Now, sir, you shall +sell half, at any rate." + +"I won't," said Tom, flushing up to his hair, and lumping them all in +his mind with his sworn enemy. + + +ROASTING A FAG. + +"Very well, then, let's roast him," cried Flashman, and catches hold +of Tom by the collar; one or two of the boys hesitate, but the rest +join in. East seizes Tom's arm and tries to pull him away, but he is +knocked back by one of the boys, and Tom is dragged along struggling. +His shoulders are pushed against the mantle-piece, and he is held by +main force before the fire. Poor East, in more pain even than Tom, +suddenly thinks of Diggs, and darts off to find him. "Will you sell +now for ten shillings?" says one boy who is relenting. + +Tom only answers by groans and struggles. + +"I say, Flashey, he has had enough," says the same boy, dropping the +arm he holds. + +"No, no, another turn'll do it," answers Flashman. But poor Tom is +done already, turns deadly pale, and his head falls forward on his +breast, just as Diggs, in frantic excitement, rushes into the Hall +with East at his heels. + +"You cowardly brutes!" is all he can say as he catches Tom from them +and supports him to the Hall table. "Good God! he's dying. Here, get +some cold water--run for the housekeeper." + +Flashman and one or two others slink away; the rest, ashamed and +sorry, bend over Tom or run for water, while East darts off for the +housekeeper. Water comes, and they throw it on his hands and face, +and he begins to come to. "Mother!"--the words came feebly and +slowly--"it's very cold to-night." Poor old Diggs is blubbering like a +child. "Where am I?" goes on Tom, opening his eyes. "Ah! I remember +now," and he shut his eyes again and groaned. + +"I say," is whispered, "we can't do any more good, and the housekeeper +will be here in a minute," and all but one steal away; he stays with +Diggs, silent and sorrowful, and fans Tom's face. + +The housekeeper comes in with strong salts, and Tom soon recovers +enough to sit up. There is a smell of burning; she examines his +clothes, and looks up inquiringly. The boys are silent. + +"How did he come so?" No answer. + +"There's been some bad work here," she adds, looking very serious, +"and I shall speak to the Doctor about it." Still no answer. + +"Hadn't we better carry him to the sick-room?" suggests Diggs. + +"Oh, I can walk now," says Tom; and, supported by East and the +housekeeper, goes to the sick-room. The boy who held his ground is +soon amongst the rest, who are all in fear of their lives. "Did he +peach?" "Does she know about it?" + +"Not a word--he's a staunch little fellow." And pausing a moment, he +adds: "I'm sick of this work: what brutes we've been!" + +Meantime Tom is stretched on the sofa in the housekeeper's room, with +East by his side, while she gets wine and water and other +restoratives. + +"Are you much hurt, dear old boy?" whispered East. + +"Only the back of my legs," answered Tom. They are indeed badly +scorched, and part of his trousers burnt through. But soon he is +in bed with cold bandages. At first he feels broken, and thinks of +writing home and getting taken away; and the verse of a hymn he had +learned years ago sings through his head, and he goes to sleep, +murmuring:-- + + "Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at + rest."[45] + + +LAST DAYS OF THE WAR. + +But after a sound night's rest, the old boy-spirit comes back again. +East comes in reporting that the whole house is with him, and he +forgets everything except their old resolve, never to be beaten by +that bully Flashman. + + [45] Job iii. 17. + +Not a word could the housekeeper extract from either of them; and +though the Doctor knew all that she knew that morning, he never knew +any more. + +I trust and believe that such scenes are not possible now at school, +and that lotteries and betting-books have gone out; but I am writing +of schools as they were in our time, and must give the evil with the +good. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS. + + "Wherein I [speak] of most disastrous chances, + Of moving accidents by flood and field, + Of hairbreadth 'scapes."--_Shakespeare._ + + +TOM DISCLOSES NOTHING. + +When Tom came back into school after a couple of days in the +sick-room, he found matters much changed for the better, as East had +led him to expect. Flashman's brutality had disgusted most of his +intimate friends, even, and his cowardice had once more been made +plain to the house; for Diggs had encountered him on the morning after +the lottery, and after high words on both sides had struck him, and +the blow was not returned. However, Flashey was not unused to this +sort of thing, and had lived through as awkward affairs before, and, +as Diggs had said, fed and toadied himself back into favor again. Two +or three of the boys who had helped to roast Tom came up and begged +his pardon, and thanked him for not telling anything. Morgan sent for +him, and was inclined to take the matter up warmly, but Tom begged him +not to do it; to which he agreed, on Tom's promising to come to him at +once in the future,--a promise which I regret to say he didn't keep. +Tom kept Harkaway all to himself, and won the second prize in the +lottery, some thirty shillings, which he and East contrived to spend +in about three days, in the purchase of pictures for their study, two +new bats and a cricket-ball, all the best that could be got, and a +supper of sausages, kidneys, and beef-steak pies to all the rebels. +Light come, light go; they wouldn't have been comfortable with money +in their pockets in the middle of the half.[1] + + [1] #The half#: the half-year. + + +RULE BREAKING. + +The embers of Flashman's wrath, however, were still smouldering, and +burst out every now and then in sly blows and taunts, and they both +felt that they hadn't quite done with him yet. It wasn't long, +however, before the last act of that drama came, and with it the +end of bullying for Tom and East at Rugby. They now often stole +out into the Hall at nights, incited thereto, partly by the hope +of finding Diggs there and having a talk with him, partly by the +excitement of doing something which was against the rules; for, +sad to say, both of our youngsters, since their loss of character +for steadiness in their form, had got into the habit of doing +things which were forbidden, as a matter of adventure; just in +the same way, I should fancy, as men fall into smuggling, and for the +same sort of reasons,--thoughtlessness in the first place. It never +occurred to them to consider why such and such rules were laid down; +the reason was nothing to them, and they only looked upon rules as a +sort of challenge from the rule-makers, which it would be rather bad +pluck in them not to accept; and then again, in the lower parts of the +school they hadn't enough to do. The work of the form they could +manage to get through pretty easily, keeping a good enough place to +get their regular yearly remove; and not having much ambition beyond +this, their whole superfluous steam was available for games and +scrapes. Now, one rule of the house which it was a daily pleasure of +all such boys to break, was that after supper all fags, except the +three on duty in the passages, should remain in their own studies +until nine o'clock; and if caught about the passages or Hall, or in +one another's studies, they were liable to punishments or caning. The +rule was stricter than its observance; for most of the sixth spent +their evenings in the fifth-form room, where the library was, and the +lessons were learnt in common. Every now and then, however, a +prępostor would be seized with a fit of district visiting, and would +take a tour of the passages and Hall, and the fags' studies. Then, if +the owner were entertaining a friend or two, the first kick at the +door and ominous[2] "Open here" had the effect of the shadow of a hawk +over a chicken-yard; every one cut to cover[3]--one small boy diving +under the sofa, another under the table, while the owner would hastily +pull down a book or two and open them, and cry out in a meek voice: +"Hullo, who's there?" casting an anxious eye round, to see that no +protruding leg or elbow could betray the hidden boys. "Open, sir, +directly; it's Snooks." "Oh, I'm very sorry; I didn't know it was you, +Snooks;" and then with well-feigned zeal, the door would be opened, +young Hopeful praying that that beast Snooks mightn't have heard the +scuffle caused by his coming. If a study was empty, Snooks proceeded +to draw[4] the passages and Hall to find the truants. + + [2] #Ominous#: foretelling evil. + + [3] #Cut to cover#: ran to a hiding-place. + + [4] #Draw#: to force a creature to leave its hiding-place. + + +THE BRUISED WORM WILL TURN. + +Well, one evening, in forbidden hours, Tom and East were in the Hall. +They occupied the seats before the fire nearest the door, while Diggs +sprawled, as usual, before the further fire. He was busy with a copy +of verses, and East and Tom were chatting together in whispers, by the +light of the fire, and splicing a favorite old fives'-bat which had +sprung.[5] Presently a step came down the bottom passage; they +listened a moment, assured themselves that it wasn't a prępostor, and +then went on with their work, and the door swung open, and in walked +Flashman. He didn't see Diggs, and thought it a good chance to keep +his hand in; and as the boys didn't move for him, struck one of them, +to make them get out of his way. + + [5] #Sprung#: become strained or cracked. + +"What's that for?" growled the assaulted one. + +"Because I choose. You've no business here; go to your study." + +"You can't send us." + +"Can't I? Then I'll thrash you if you stay," said Flashman, savagely. + +"I say, you two," said Diggs, from the end of the Hall, rousing up and +resting himself on his elbow, "you'll never get rid of that fellow +till you lick him. Go in at him, both of you--I'll see fair play." + + +ACCOUNTS SQUARED WITH FLASHMAN. + +Flashman was taken aback, and retreated two steps. East looked at Tom. +"Shall we try?" said he. "Yes," said Tom, desperately. So the two +advanced on Flashman, with clenched fists and beating hearts. They +were about up to his shoulder, but tough boys of their age, and in +perfect training; while he, though strong and big, was in poor +condition from his monstrous habit of stuffing and want of exercise. +Coward as he was, however, Flashman couldn't swallow such an insult as +this; besides, he was confident of having easy work, and so faced the +boys, saying, "You impudent young blackguards!" Before he could finish +his abuse they rushed in on him, and began pummelling at all of him +which they could reach. He hit out wildly and savagely, but the full +force of his blows didn't tell; they were too near him. It was long +odds, though, in point of strength, and in another minute Tom went +plunging backward over the form, and Flashman turned to demolish East +with a savage grin. But now Diggs jumped down from the table on which +he had seated himself. "Stop there," shouted he, "the round's +over--half a minute time allowed." + +"What the----is it to you?" faltered Flashman, who began to lose +heart. + +"I'm going to see fair, I tell you," said Diggs, with a grin, and +snapping his great red fingers; "'tisn't fair for you to be fighting +one of them at a time. Are you ready, Brown? Time's up." + +The small boys rushed in again. Closing they saw was their best +chance, and Flashman was wilder and more flurried than ever; he caught +East by the throat, and tried to force him back on the iron-bound +table; Tom grasped his waist, and remembering the old throw he had +learned in the Vale from Harry Winburn, crooked his leg inside +Flashman's, and threw his weight forward. The three tottered for a +moment, then over they went on to the floor, Flashman striking his +head against a form in the Hall. + + +PENALTIES OF WAR. + +The two youngsters sprang to their legs, but he lay there still. They +began to be frightened. Tom stooped down, and then cried out, scared +out of his wits, "He's bleeding awfully; come here, East, Diggs--he's +dying!" + +"Not he," said Diggs, getting leisurely off the table; "it's all +sham--he's only afraid to fight it out." + +East was as frightened as Tom. Diggs lifted Flashman's head, and he +groaned. + +"What's the matter?" shouted Diggs. + +"My skull's fractured," sobbed Flashman. + +"Oh, let me run for the housekeeper," cried Tom. "What shall we do!" + +"Fiddlesticks! it's nothing but the skin broken," said the relentless +Diggs, feeling his head. "Cold water and a bit of rag's all he'll +want." + +"Let me go," said Flashman, surlily, sitting up; "I don't want your +help." + +"We're really very sorry," began East. + +"Hang your sorrow," answered Flashman, holding his handkerchief to the +place; "you shall pay for this, I can tell you, both of you." And he +walked out of the Hall. + +"He can't be very bad," said Tom, with a deep sigh, much relieved to +see his enemy march so well. + +"Not he," said Diggs, "and you'll see you won't be troubled with him +any more. But, I say, your head's broken too--your collar is covered +with blood." + +"Is it, though?" said Tom, putting up his hand; "I didn't know it." + +"Well, mop it up, or you'll have your jacket spoilt. And you have got +a bad eye, Scud; you'd better go and bathe it well in cold water." + +"Cheap enough, too, if we've done with our old friend Flashey," said +East, as they made up-stairs to bathe their wounds. + +They had done with Flashman in one sense, for he never laid finger on +either of them again; but whatever harm a spiteful heart and venomous +tongue could do them, he took care should be done. Only throw dirt +enough, and some of it is sure to stick; and so it was with the fifth +form and the bigger boys in general, with whom he associated more or +less, and they not at all. Flashman managed to get Tom and East into +disfavor, which did not wear off for some time after the author of it +had disappeared from the School world. This event, much prayed for by +the small fry in general, took place a few months after the above +encounter. One fine summer evening, Flashman had been regaling himself +on gin-punch, at Brownsover; and having exceeded his usual limits, +started home uproarious. He fell in with a friend or two coming back +from bathing, proposed a glass of beer, to which they assented, the +weather being hot, and they thirsty souls, and unaware of the quantity +of drink which Flashman had already on board. The short result was, +that Flashey became beastly drunk; they tried to get him along, but +couldn't; so they chartered[6] a hurdle[7] and two men to carry him. +One of the masters came upon them and they naturally enough fled. +The flight of the rest raised the master's suspicions, and the good +angel of the fags incited him to examine the freight, and, after +examination, to convoy the hurdle himself up to the School-house; and +the Doctor, who had long had his eye on Flashman, arranged for his +withdrawal next morning. + + [6] #Chartered#: hired. + + [7] #Hurdle#: a framework of twigs. + + +FATE OF LIBERATORS. + +The evil that men, and boys, too, do, lives after them. Flashman was +gone, but our boys, as hinted above, still felt the effects of his +hate. Besides, they had been the movers of the strike against unlawful +fagging. The cause was righteous,--the result had been triumphant to a +great extent; but the best of the fifth, even those who had never +fagged the small boys, or had given up the practice cheerfully, +couldn't help feeling a small grudge against the first rebels. After +all, their form had been defied--on just grounds, no doubt; so just +indeed, that they had at once acknowledged the wrong, and remained +passive in the strife; had they sided with Flashman and his set, the +rebels must have given way at once. They couldn't help, on the whole, +being glad that they had so acted, and that the resistance had been +successful against such of their own form as had shown fight; they +felt that law and order had gained thereby, but the ringleaders they +couldn't quite pardon at once. "Confoundedly coxy those young rascals +will get, if we don't mind," was the general feeling. + +So it is, and must be always, my dear boys. If the Angel Gabriel were +to come down from heaven, and head a successful rise against the most +abominable and unrighteous vested interest[8] which this poor old +world groans under, he would most certainly lose his character for +many years, probably for centuries, not only with the upholders of +said vested interest, but with the respectable mass of the people whom +he had delivered. They wouldn't ask him to dinner, or let their names +appear with his in the papers; they would be very careful how they +spoke of him in the Palaver[9] or at their clubs. What can we expect, +then, when we have only poor gallant blundering men like Kossuth, +Garibaldi, Mazzini[10] and righteous causes which do not triumph in +their hands,--men who have holes enough in their armor, God knows, +easy to be hit by respectabilities sitting in their lounging chairs, +and having large balances[11] at their bankers? But you are brave, +gallant boys, who hate easy chairs, and have no balances or bankers. +You only want to have your heads set straight, to take the right side; +so bear in mind that majorities, especially respectable ones, are +nine times out of ten in the wrong, and that if you see a man or +a boy striving earnestly on the weak side, however wrong-headed or +blundering he may be, you are not to go and join the cry against him. +If you can't join him and help him, and make him wiser, at any rate +remember that he has found something in the world which he will fight +and suffer for, which is just what you have got to do for yourselves; +and so think and speak of him tenderly. + + [8] #Vested interest#: a fixed estate; here, a deeply rooted + evil or abuse. + + [9] #The Palaver#: a nickname for Parliament. + + [10] #Kossuth#, etc.: patriots and reformers. + + [11] #Balances#: money deposited to one's credit. + + +THE ISHMAELITES. + +So East, and Tom, the Tadpole, and one or two more, became a sort of +young Ishmaelites,[12] their hands against every one, and every one's +hand against them. It has been already told how they got to war with +the masters and the fifth form, and with the sixth it was much the +same. They saw the prępostors cowed by or joining with the fifth, and +shirking their own duties; so they didn't respect them, and rendered +no willing obedience. It had been one thing to clean out studies for +sons of heroes like old Brooke, but was quite another to do the like +for Snooks and Green, who had never faced a good scrummage at +foot-ball, and couldn't keep the passages in order at night. So they +only slurred through their fagging just well enough to escape a +licking, and not always that, and got the character of sulky, +unwilling fags. In the fifth-form room, after supper, when such +matters were often discussed and arranged, their names were forever +coming up. + + [12] #Ishmaelites#: outcasts. + +"I say, Green," Snooks began one night, "isn't that new boy, Harrison, +your fag?" + +"Yes, why?" + +"Oh, I know something of him at home, and should like to excuse him; +will you swop?" + +"Who will you give me?" + +"Well, let's see; there's Willis, Johnson--No, that won't do. Yes, I +have it, there's young East; I'll give you him." + +"Don't you wish you may get it?" replied Green. "I'll give you two for +Willis, if you like?" + +"Who then?" asks Snooks. + +"Hall and Brown." + +"Wouldn't have 'em as a gift." + +"Better than East, though, for they aren't quite so sharp," said +Green, getting up and leaning his back against the mantel-piece; he +wasn't a bad fellow, and couldn't help not being able to put down the +unruly fifth form. His eye twinkled as he went on. "Did I ever tell +you how the young vagabond sold me[13] last half?" + + [13] #Sold me#: tricked or outwitted me. + +"No--how?" + +"Well, he never half cleaned my study out, only just stuck the +candlesticks in the cupboard, and swept the crumbs on to the floor. So +at last I was mortal angry, and had him up, and made him go through +the whole performance under my eyes: the dust the young scamp made +nearly choked me, and showed that he hadn't swept the carpet before. +Well, when it was all finished: 'Now, young gentleman,' says I, 'mind, +I expect this to be done every morning--floor swept, table-cloth taken +off and shaken, and everything dusted.' 'Very well,' grunts he. Not a +bit of it, though--I was quite sure in a day or two that he never took +the table-cloth off even. So I laid a trap for him; I tore up some +paper and put half a dozen bits on my table one night, and the cloth +over them as usual. Next morning, after breakfast, up I came, pulled +off the cloth, and sure enough there was the paper, which fluttered +down on to the floor. I was in a towering rage. 'I've got you now,' +thought I, and sent for him, while I got out my cane. Up he came, as +cool as you please, with his hands in his pockets. 'Didn't I tell you +to shake my table-cloth every morning?' roared I. 'Yes,' says he. 'Did +you do it this morning?' 'Yes.' 'You young liar! I put these pieces of +paper on the table last night, and if you'd taken the table-cloth off +you'd have seen them, so I'm going to give you a good licking.' Then +my youngster takes one hand out of his pocket, and just stoops down +and picks up two of the bits of paper, and holds them out to me. There +was written on each, in great round text: 'Harry East, his mark.' The +young rogue had found my trap out, taken away my paper, and put some +of his there, every bit ear-marked.[14] I'd a great mind to lick him +for his impudence, but, after all, one has no right to be laying +traps, so I didn't. Of course I was at his mercy till the end of the +half, and in his weeks my study was so frowzy[15] I couldn't sit in +it." + + [14] #Ear-marked#: marked with a private mark. + + [15] #Frowzy#: dirty, slovenly. + +"They spoil one's things so, too," chimed in a third boy. "Hall and +Brown were night-fags last week; I called fag, and gave them my +candlesticks to clean; away they went, and didn't appear again. When +they'd had time enough to clean them three times over I went out to +look after them. They weren't in the passages, so down I went into the +Hall where I heard music, and there I found them sitting on the table, +listening to Johnson, who was playing the flute, and my candlesticks +stuck between the bars well into the fire, red hot, clean spoiled; +they've never stood straight since, and I must get some more. However, +I gave them both a good licking; that's one comfort." + + +MISFORTUNE THICKENS. + +Such were the sort of scrapes they were always getting into; and so, +partly by their own faults, partly from circumstances, partly from the +faults of others, they found themselves outlaws,[16] ticket-of-leave +men,[17] or what you will in that line; in short, dangerous parties, +and lived the sort of hand-to-mouth, wild, reckless life, which such +parties have to put up with. Nevertheless, they never quite lost favor +with young Brooke, who was now the cock of the House,[18] and just +getting into the sixth; and Diggs stuck to them like a man, and gave +them store of good advice, by which they never in the least profited. + + [16] #Outlaws#: persons deprived of the protection of the law. + + [17] #Ticket-of-leave men#: convicts allowed to go at large + upon their good behavior. + + [18] #Cock of the House#: leader of the School. + +And even after the House mended, and law and order had been restored, +which soon happened after young Brooke and Diggs got into the sixth, +they couldn't easily or at once return into the paths of steadiness, +and many of the old wild out-of-bounds habits stuck to them as firmly +as ever. While they had been quite little boys, the scrapes they got +into in the School hadn't much mattered to any one; but now they were +in the upper school, all wrong-doers from which were sent up straight +to the Doctor at once; so they began to come under his notice; and +as they were a sort of leaders in a small way amongst their own +contemporaries, his eye, which was everywhere, was upon them. + +It was a toss-up[19] whether they turned out well or ill, and so they +were just the boys who caused the most anxiety to such a master. You +have been told of the first occasion on which they were sent up to the +Doctor, and the remembrance of it was so pleasant, that they had much +less fear of him than most boys of their standing had. "It's all his +looks," Tom used to say to East, "that frightens fellows; don't you +remember, he never said anything to us my first half-year, for being +an hour late for locking up?" + + [19] #A toss-up#: the merest chance; toss of a copper. + +The next time Tom came before him, however, the interview was of a +very different kind. It happened just about the time at which we have +now arrived, and was the first of a series of scrapes into which our +hero now managed to tumble. + + +THE AVON. + +The river Avon at Rugby is a slow and not a very clear stream, in +which chub, dace, roach, and other coarse fish are (or were) plentiful +enough, together with a fair sprinkling of small jack,[20] but no fish +worth sixpence either for sport or food. It is, however, a capital +river for bathing, as it has many nice small pools and several good +reaches[21] for swimming, all within about a mile of one another, and +at an easy twenty minutes' walk from the School. This mile of water is +rented, or used to be rented, for bathing purposes, by the Trustees of +the School, for the boys. The foot-path to Brownsover[22] crosses the +river by "the Planks," a curious old single-plank bridge, running for +fifty or sixty yards into the flat meadows on each side of the river, +for in the winter there are frequent floods. Above the Planks were +the bathing-places for the smaller boys,--Sleath's, the first +bathing-place where all new boys had to begin, until they had proved +to the bathing-men (three steady individuals who were paid to attend +daily through the summer to prevent accidents) that they could swim +pretty decently, when they were allowed to go on to Anstey's, about +one hundred and fifty yards below. Here there was a hole about six +feet deep and twelve feet across, over which the puffing urchins +struggled to the opposite side, and thought no small beer of +themselves for having been out of their depths. Below the Planks came +larger and deeper holes, the first of which was Wratislaw's, and the +last Swift's, a famous hole ten or twelve feet deep in parts, and +thirty yards across, from which there was a fine swimming reach right +down to the mill. Swift's was reserved for the sixth and fifth forms, +and had a spring-board[23] and two sets of steps; the others had one +set of steps each, and were used indifferently by all the lower boys, +though each House addicted itself more to one hole than to another. +The School-house at this time affected[24] Wratislaw's hole, and Tom +and East, who had learnt to swim like fishes, were to be found there +as regular as the clock through the summer always twice, and often +three times a day. + + [20] #Small jack#: young pike. + + [21] #Reaches#: straight pieces of water. + + [22] #Brownsover#: a neighboring village. + + [23] #Spring-board#: a long board projecting over the water, + used by divers. + + [24] #Affected#: preferred. + + +DISPUTED RIGHTS OF FISHING. + +Now the boys either had, or fancied they had, a right also to fish at +their pleasure over the whole of this part of the river, and would not +understand that the right (if any) only extended to the Rugby side. As +ill-luck would have it, the gentleman who owned the opposite bank, +after allowing it for some time without interference, had ordered his +keepers[25] not to let the boys fish on his side; the consequence of +which had been, that there had been first wranglings and then fights +between the keepers and boys; and so keen had the quarrel become, that +the landlord and his keepers, after a ducking had been inflicted on +one of the latter, and a fierce fight ensued thereon, had been up to +the Great School at calling-over to identify the delinquents, and it +was all the Doctor himself and five or six masters could do to keep +the peace. Not even his authority could prevent the hissing, and so +strong was the feeling, that the four prępostors of the week walked up +the school with their canes, shouting s-s-s-s-i-lenc-c-c-c-e at the +top of their voices. However, the chief offenders for the time were +flogged and kept in bounds, but the victorious party had brought a +nice hornet's nest about their ears. The landlord was hissed at the +School-gates as he rode past, and when he charged his horse at the mob +of boys, and tried to thrash them with his whip, was driven back by +cricket-bats and wickets, and pursued with pebbles and fives'-balls; +while the wretched keepers' lives were a burden to them, from having +to watch the water so closely. + + [25] #Keepers#: gamekeepers employed on all great estates to + protect the game and fish. In England, game and fish, except + in navigable waters, are the private property of the + land-owners. + +The School-house boys of Tom's standing, one and all as a protest +against this tyranny and cutting short of their lawful amusements, +took to fishing in all ways, and especially by means of night-lines. +The little tackle-maker[26] at the bottom of the town would soon have +made his fortune had the rage lasted, and several of the barbers began +to lay in fishing-tackle. The boys had this great advantage over their +enemies, that they spent a large portion of the day in nature's garb +by the river side, and so, when tired of swimming, would get out on +the other side and fish, or set night-lines, till the keepers hove +in sight, and then plunge in and swim back and mix with the other +bathers, and the keepers were too wise to follow across the stream. + + [26] #Tackle-maker#: one who makes fishing-tackle. + + +CHAFFING A KEEPER. + +While things were in this state, one day Tom and three or four others +were bathing at Wratislaw's, and had, as a matter of course, been +taking up and resetting night-lines. They had all left the water, and +were sitting or standing about at their toilets, in all costumes from +a shirt upward, when they were aware of a man in a velveteen +shooting-coat approaching from the other side. He was a new keeper, so +they didn't recognize or notice him, till he pulled up right opposite +and began:-- + +"I see'd some of you young gentlemen over this side a fishing just +now." + +"Hullo, who are you? what business is that of yours, old +Velveteens?"[27] + + [27] #Velveteens#: alluding to the keeper's velveteen suit. + +"I'm the new under-keeper, and master's told me to keep a sharp look +out on all o' you young chaps. And I tells 'ee I mean business, and +you'd better keep on your own side, or we shall fall out." + +"Well, that's right, Velveteens--speak out and let's know your mind at +once." + +"Look here, old boy," cried East, holding up a miserable coarse fish +or two and a small jack, "would you like to smell 'em, and see which +bank they lived under?" + +"I'll give you a bit of advice, keeper," shouted Tom, who was sitting +in his shirt paddling with his feet in the river; "you'd better go +down there to Swift's where the big boys are; they're beggars[28] at +setting lines, and'll put you up to a wrinkle or two for catching the +five-pounders." Tom was nearest to the keeper, and that officer, who +was getting angry at the chaff, fixed his eyes on our hero, as if to +take note of him for future use. Tom returned his gaze with a steady +stare, and then broke into a laugh, and struck into the middle of a +favorite School-house song:-- + + "As I and my companions + Were setting of a snare, + The gamekeeper was watching us, + For him we did not care: + For we can wrestle and fight, my boys, + And jump out anywhere, + For it's my delight of a likely[29] night + In the season of the year." + +The chorus was taken up by the other boys with shouts of laughter, and +the keeper turned away with a grunt, but evidently bent on mischief. +The boys thought no more of the matter. + + [28] #Beggars#: here, wonderful chaps. + + [29] #Likely#: suitable; convenient. + +But now came on the May-fly season; the soft, hazy summer weather lay +sleepily along the rich meadows by Avon side, and the green and gray +flies flickered with their graceful lazy up-and-down flight over the +reeds and the water and the meadows, in myriads upon myriads. The +May-flies must surely be the lotus-eaters[30] of the ephemerę;[31] the +happiest, laziest, carelessest fly that dances and dreams out his few +hours of sunshiny life by English rivers. + + [30] #Lotus-eaters#: the lotus was a plant fabled by the + ancients to make strangers who ate of it forget their native + land and lead a dreamy, happy, careless life. See Homer's + Odyssey, IX., and Tennyson's poem, "The Lotus-eaters." + + [31] #Ephemerę#: Insects which live a very short time; + literally, but a day. + +Every little pitiful coarse fish in the Avon was on the alert for the +flies, and gorging his wretched carcass with hundreds daily, the +gluttonous rogues! and every lover of the gentle craft was out to +avenge the poor May-flies. + + +THE RETURN MATCH WITH VELVETEENS. + +So one fine Thursday afternoon, Tom having borrowed East's new rod, +started by himself to the river. He fished for some time with small +success: not a fish would rise at him; but as he prowled along the +bank, he was presently aware of mighty ones feeding in a pool on the +opposite side, under the shade of a huge willow tree. The stream was +deep here, but some fifty yards below was a shallow, for which he made +off hot-foot:[32] and forgetting landlords, keepers, solemn +prohibitions of the Doctor, and everything else, pulled up his +trousers, plunged across, and in three minutes was creeping along on +all-fours toward the clump of willows. + + [32] #Hot-foot#: with all haste. + +It isn't often that great chub, or any other coarse fish, are in +earnest about anything, but just then they were thoroughly bent on +feeding, and in half an hour Master Tom had deposited three thumping +fellows at the foot of the giant willow. As he was baiting for a +fourth pounder, and just going to throw in again, he became aware of a +man coming up the bank not one hundred yards off. Another look told +him that it was the under-keeper. Could he reach the shallow before +him? No, not carrying his rod. Nothing for it but the tree, so Tom +laid his bones to it, shinning up as fast as he could, and dragging up +his rod after him. He had just time to reach and crouch along a huge +branch some ten feet up, which stretched out over the river, when the +keeper arrived at the clump. Tom's heart beat fast as he came under +the tree; two steps more and he would have passed, when, as ill-luck +would have it, the gleam on the scales of the dead fish caught his +eye, and he made a dead point at the foot of the tree. He picked up +the fish one by one; his eye and touch told him that they had been +alive and feeding within the hour. Tom crouched lower along the +branch, and heard the keeper beating the clump. "If I could only get +the rod hidden," thought he, and began gently shifting it to get it +alongside of him: "willow-trees don't throw out straight hickory +shoots twelve feet long, with no leaves, worse luck?" Alas! the keeper +catches the rustle, and then a sight of the rod, and then of Tom's +hand and arm. + +"Oh, be up ther' be ee?" says he, running under the tree. "Now you +come down this minute." + +"Treed at last," thinks Tom, making no answer, and keeping as close +as possible, but working away at the rod, which he takes to pieces: +"I'm in for it, unless I can starve him out." And then he begins to +meditate getting along the branch for a plunge, and scramble to the +other side; but the small branches are so thick, and the opposite bank +so difficult, that the keeper will have lots of time to get round by +the ford before he can get out, so he gives that up. And now he hears +the keeper beginning to scramble up the trunk. That will never do; so +he scrambles himself back to where his branch joins the trunk, and +stands with lifted rod. + +"Hullo, Velveteens! mind your fingers if you come any higher!" + +The keeper stops and looks, and then with a grin says: "Oh, be you, be +it, young measter? Well, here's luck. Now I tells ee to come down at +once, and 't'll be best for ee." + +"Thank'ee, Velveteens, I'm very comfortable," said Tom, shortening the +rod in his hand, and preparing for battle. + +"Werry well, please yourself," says the keeper, descending, however, +to the ground again, and taking his seat on the bank; "I bean't in no +hurry, so you may take your time. I'll learn ee to gee[33] honest +folks names afore I've done with ee." + + [33] #Gee#: give. + +"My luck as usual," thinks Tom; "what a fool I was to give him a +black.[34] If I'd called him 'keeper,' now, I might get off. The +return match[35] is all his way." + + [34] #Black#: a nickname. + + [35] #Return match#: the end of the affair. + + +VELVETEENS' REVENGE. + +The keeper quietly proceeded to take out his pipe, fill and light it, +keeping an eye on Tom, who now sat disconsolately across the branch, +looking at keeper,--a pitiful sight for men and fishes. The more he +thought of it, the less he liked it. "It must be getting near second +calling-over," thinks he. Keeper smokes on stolidly. "If he takes me +up, I shall be flogged safe enough. I can't sit here all night. Wonder +if he'll rise at silver."[36] + + [36] #Rise at silver#: let one off for money. + +"I say, keeper," said he meekly, "let me go for two bob?"[37] + + [37] #Bob#: a shilling. + +"Not for twenty neither," grunts his persecutor. + +And so they sat on till long past second calling-over, and the sun +came slanting in through the willow branches, and telling of +locking-up near at hand. + +"I'm coming down, keeper," said Tom at last, with a sigh, fairly tired +out. "Now, what are you going to do?" + +"Walk ee up to school, and give ee over to the Doctor; them's my +orders," says Velveteens, knocking the ashes out of his fourth pipe, +and standing up and shaking himself. + +"Very good," said Tom; "but hands off, you know. I'll go with you +quietly, so no collaring or that sort of thing." + +Keeper looked at him a minute--"Werry good," said he, at last; and so +Tom descended, and wended his way drearily by the side of the keeper +up to the School-house, where they arrived just at locking-up. As they +passed the School-gates, the Tadpole and several others who were +standing there caught the state of things, and rushed out, crying, +"Rescue!" but Tom shook his head, so they only followed to the +Doctor's gate, and went back sorely puzzled. + +How changed and stern the Doctor seemed from the last time that Tom +was up there, as the keeper told the story, not omitting to state how +Tom had called him blackguard names. "Indeed, sir," broke in the +culprit, "it was only Velveteens." The Doctor only asked one question. + +"You know the rule about the banks, Brown?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Then wait for me to-morrow, after the first lesson." + +"I thought so," muttered Tom. + +"And about the rod, sir?" went on the keeper. "Master's told we as we +might have all the rods--" + +"Oh, please, sir," broke in Tom, "the rod isn't mine." The Doctor +looked puzzled, but the keeper, who was a good-hearted fellow, and +melted at Tom's evident distress, gave up his claim. Tom was flogged +next morning, and a few days afterward met Velveteens, and presented +him with a half a crown for giving up the rod claim, and they became +sworn friends; and I regret to say that Tom had many more fish from +under the willow that May-fly season, and was never caught again by +Velveteens. + + +MORE SCRAPES. + +It wasn't three weeks before Tom, and now East by his side, were again +in the awful presence. This time, however, the Doctor was not so +terrible. A few days before, they had been fagged at fives to fetch +the balls that went off the Court. While standing watching the game, +they saw five or six nearly new balls hit on the top of the School. "I +say, Tom," said East, when they were dismissed, "couldn't we get those +balls somehow?" + +"Let's try, anyhow." + +So they reconnoitered the walls carefully, borrowed a coal-hammer from +old Stumps, bought some big nails, and after one or two attempts +scaled the School, and possessed themselves of huge quantities of +fives'-balls. The place pleased them so much that they spent all their +spare time there scratching and cutting their names on the top of +every tower; and at last, having exhausted all other places, finished +up with inscribing H. EAST, T. BROWN, on the minute-hand of the great +clock. In the doing of which, they held the minute-hand, and disturbed +the clock's economy. So next morning, when masters and boys came +trooping down to prayers, and entered the quadrangle, the injured +minute-hand was indicating three minutes to the hour. They all pulled +up, and took their time. When the hour struck, doors were closed, and +half the School late. Thomas being set to make inquiry, discovers +their names on the minute-hand, and reports accordingly; and they are +sent for, a knot of their friends making derisive and pantomimic +allusions to what their fate will be, as they walk off. + +But the Doctor, after hearing their story, doesn't make much of it, +and only gives them thirty lines of Homer to learn by heart, and a +lecture on the likelihood of such exploits ending in broken bones. + + +THE DOCTOR REIGNING. + +Alas! almost the next day was one of the great fairs in the town; and +as several rows and other disagreeable accidents had of late taken +place on these occasions, the Doctor gives out, after prayers in the +morning, that no boy is to go down into the town. Wherefore East and +Tom, for no earthly pleasure except that of doing what they are told +not to do, start away, after second lesson, and making a short circuit +through the fields, strike a back lane which leads into the town, go +down it, and run plump upon one of the masters as they emerge into the +High Street. The master in question, though a very clever, is not a +righteous man; he has already caught several of his own pupils, and +gives them lines to learn, while he sends East and Tom, who are not +his pupils, up to the Doctor; who, on learning that they had been at +prayers in the morning, flogs them soundly. + +The flogging did them no good at the time, for the injustice of their +captor was rankling in their minds; but it was just the end of the +half, and on the next evening but one Thomas knocks at their door, and +says the Doctor wants to see them. They look at one another in silent +dismay. What can it be now? Which of their countless wrong-doings can +he have heard of officially? However, it's no use delaying, so up they +go to the study. There they find the Doctor, not angry, but very +grave. "He has sent for them to speak to them very seriously before +they go home. They have each been flogged several times in the +half-year for direct and wilful breaches of rules. This cannot go on. +They are doing no good to themselves or others, and now they are +getting up in the School, and have influence. They seem to think that +rules are made capriciously, and for the pleasure of the masters; but +this is not so, they are made for the good of the whole School, and +must and shall be obeyed. Those who thoughtlessly or wilfully break +them, will not be allowed to stay at the School. He should be sorry if +they had to leave, as the School might do them both much good, and +wishes them to think very seriously in the holidays over what he has +said. Good-night." + +And so the two hurry off horribly scared; the idea of having to leave +has never crossed their minds and is quite unbearable. + +As they go out they meet at the door old Holmes, a sturdy, cheery +prępostor of another house, who goes in to the Doctor; and they hear +his genial, hearty greeting of the new-comer, so different to their +own reception, as the door closes, and return to their study with +heavy hearts, and tremendous resolves to break no more rules. + +Five minutes afterward the master of their form, a late arrival and a +model young master, knocks at the Doctor's study-door. "Come in!" and +as he enters the Doctor goes on to Holmes--"you see I do not know +anything of the case officially; and if I take any notice of it at +all, I must publicly expel the boy. I don't wish to do that, for I +think there is some good in him. There's nothing for it but a good +sound thrashing." He paused to shake hands with the master, which +Holmes does also, and then prepares to leave. + +"I understand. Good-night, sir." + +"Good-night, Holmes. And remember," added the Doctor, emphasizing the +words, "a good sound thrashing before the whole house." + +The door closed on Holmes; and the Doctor, in answer to the puzzled +look of his lieutenant, explained shortly. + +"A gross case of bullying. Wharton, the head of the house, is a very +good fellow, but slight and weak, and severe physical pain is the only +way to deal with such a case; so I have asked Holmes to take it up. He +is very careful and trustworthy, and has plenty of strength. I wish +all the sixth had as much. We must have it here, if we are to keep +order at all." + +Now, I don't want any wiseacres[38] to read this book; but if they +should, of course they will prick up their long ears, and howl, or +rather bray, at the above story. Very good, I don't object; but what +I have to add for you boys is this, that Holmes called a levy of his +house after breakfast next morning, made them a speech on the case +of bullying in question, and then gave the bully a "good sound +thrashing"; and that years afterward, that boy sought out Holmes and +thanked him, saying it had been the kindest act which had ever been +done to him, and the turning-point in his character; and a very good +fellow he became, and a credit to his School. + + [38] #Wiseacres#: those who make undue pretentions to wisdom. + +After some other talk between them, the Doctor said, "I want to speak +to you about two boys in your form, East and Brown; I have just been +speaking to them. What do you think of them?" + +"Well, they are not hard workers, and very thoughtless and full of +spirits--but I can't help liking them. I think they are sound good +fellows at the bottom." + +"I am glad of it. I think so, too. But they make me very uneasy. They +are taking the lead a good deal amongst the fags in my house, for they +are very active, bold fellows. I should be sorry to lose them, but I +sha'n't let them stay if I don't see them gaining character and +manliness. In another year they may do great harm to all the younger +boys." + +"Oh, I hope you won't send them away," pleaded their master. + +"Not if I can help it. But now I never feel sure, after any +half-holiday, that I sha'n't have to flog one of them next morning, +for some foolish, thoughtless scrape. I quite dread seeing either of +them." + +They were both silent for a minute. Presently the Doctor began +again:-- + +"They don't feel that they have any duty or work to do in the School, +and how is one to make them feel it?" + +"I think if either of them had some little boy to take care of, it +would steady him. Brown is the more reckless of the two, I should say; +East wouldn't get into so many scrapes without him." + +"Well," said the Doctor, with something like a sigh, "I'll think of +it." And they went on to talk of other subjects. + + + + +TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS. + +_PART II._ + + + "I hold it truth, with him who sings + To one clear harp in divers tones, + That men may rise on stepping stones + Of their dead selves to higher things." + + _Tennyson's_ "_In Memoriam._" + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HOW THE TIDE TURNED. + + "Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide. + In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil + side. + + * * * * * + + Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands + aside, + Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified." + + _Lowell._ + + +The turning-point in our hero's school career had now come, and the +manner of it was as follows: On the evening of the first day of the +next half-year, Tom, East, and another School-house boy, who had just +been dropped at the Spread Eagle by the old Regulator, rushed into the +matron's room in high spirits, such as all real boys are in when they +first get back, however fond they may be of home. + +"Well, Mrs. Wixie," shouted one, seizing on the methodical, active +little dark-eyed woman, who was busy stowing away the linen of the +boys who had already arrived into their several pigeon-holes, "here we +are again, you see, as jolly as ever. Let us help you put the things +away." + + +WHO'S COME BACK? + +"And, Mary," cried another (she was called indifferently by either +name), "who's come back? Has the Doctor made old Jones leave? How many +new boys are there?" + +"Am I and East to have Gray's study? You know you promised to get it +for us if you could," shouted Tom. + +"And am I to sleep in Number 4?" roared East. + +"How's old Sam, and Bogle, and Sally?" + +"Bless the boys!" cried Mary, at last getting in a word, "Why, you'll +shake me to death. There, now do go away up to the housekeeper's room +and get your suppers; you know I haven't time to talk--you'll find +plenty more in the house. Now, Master East, do let those things +alone--you're mixing up three new boys' things." And she rushed at +East, who escaped round the open trunks holding up a prize. + +"Hullo, look here, Tommy," shouted he, "here's fun!" and he brandished +above his head some pretty little nightcaps, beautifully made and +marked, the work of loving fingers in some distant country home. The +kind mother and sisters, who sewed that delicate stitching with aching +hearts, little thought of the trouble they might be bringing on the +young head for which they were meant. The little matron was wiser, and +snatched the caps from East before he could look at the name on them. + +"Now, Master East, I shall be very angry if you don't go," said she; +"there is some capital cold beef and pickles up stairs, and I won't +have you old boys in my room first night." + +"Hurrah for the pickles! Come along, Tommy; come along, Smith. We +shall find out who the young count is, I'll be bound; I hope he'll +sleep in my room. Mary's always vicious first week." + + +THE SADDLE IS PUT ON TOM. + +As the boys turned to leave the room, the matron touched Tom's arm, +and said, "Master Brown, please stop a minute, I want to speak to +you." + +"Very well, Mary. I'll come in a minute; East, don't finish the +pickles--" + +"Oh, Master Brown," went on the little matron, when the rest had gone, +"you're to have Gray's study, Mrs. Arnold says. And she wants you to +take in this young gentleman. He's a new boy, and thirteen years old, +though he doesn't look it. He's very delicate, and has never been from +home before. And I told Mrs. Arnold I thought you'd be kind to him, +and see that they don't bully him at first. He's put into your form, +and I've given him the bed next to yours in Number 4; so East can't +sleep there this half." + +Tom was rather put about by this speech. He had got the double study +which he coveted, but here were conditions attached which greatly +moderated his joy. He looked across the room, and in the far corner of +the sofa was aware of a slight pale boy, with large blue eyes and +light fair hair, who seemed ready to shrink through the floor. He saw +at a glance that the little stranger was just the boy whose first +half-year at a public school would be misery to himself if he were +left alone, or constant anxiety to any one who meant to see him +through his troubles. Tom was too honest to take in the youngster and +then let him shift for himself; and if he took him as his chum instead +of East, where were all his pet plans of making night-lines and +slings, and plotting expeditions to Brownsover Mills and Caldecott's +Spinney? East and he had made up their minds to get this study, and +then every night from locking-up till ten they would be together to +talk about fishing, read Marryat's novels,[1] and sort birds' eggs. +And this new boy would most likely never go out of the close, and +would be afraid of wet feet, and always getting laughed at, and called +Molly, or Jenny, or some derogatory[2] feminine nickname. + + [1] #Marryat's novels#: stories of the sea and of adventure, + by Captain Marryat. + + [2] #Derogatory#: here, contemptuous; belittling. + +The matron watched him for a moment, and saw what was passing in his +mind, and so, like a wise negotiator, threw in an appeal to his warm +heart. "Poor little fellow," said she, in almost a whisper, "his +father's dead, and he's got no brothers. And his mamma, such a kind, +sweet lady, almost broke her heart at leaving him this morning; and +she said one of his sisters was like to die of decline, and so--" + +"Well, well," burst in Tom, with something like a sigh at the effort. +"I suppose I must give up East. Come along, young un. What's your +name? We'll go and have some supper and then I'll show you our study." + +"His name's George Arthur," said the matron, walking up to him with +Tom, who grasped his little delicate hand as the proper preliminary to +making a chum of him, and felt as if he could have blown him away. +"I've had his books and things put into the study, which his mamma has +had new papered, and the sofa covered, and new green-baize curtains +over the door." (The diplomatic matron threw this in, to show that the +new boy was contributing largely to the partnership comforts.) "And +Mrs. Arnold told me to say," she added, "that she should like you both +to come up to tea with her. You know the way, Master Brown, and the +things are just gone up, I know." + + +TEA WITH THE DOCTOR. + +Here was an announcement for Master Tom! He was to go up to tea the +first night, just as if he were a sixth or fifth form boy, and of +importance in the school world, instead of the most reckless young +scapegrace amongst the fags. He felt himself lifted on to a higher +social and moral platform at once. Nevertheless, he couldn't give up +without a sigh the idea of the jolly supper in the housekeeper's room +with East and the rest, and a rush round to all the studies of his +friends afterward, to pour out the deeds and wonders of the holidays, +to plot fifty plans for the coming half-year, and to gather news of +who had left, and what new boys had come, who had got who's study, and +where the new prępostors slept. However, Tom consoled himself with +thinking that he couldn't have done all this with the new boy at his +heels, and so marched off along the passages to the Doctor's private +house with his young charge in tow, in monstrous good humor with +himself and all the world. + +It is needless, and would be impertinent, to tell how the two young +boys were received in that drawing-room. The lady who presided there +is still living, and has carried with her to her peaceful home in the +North the respect and love of all those who ever felt and shared that +gentle and high-bred hospitality. Ay, many is the brave heart now +doing its work and bearing its load in country curacies, London +chambers, under the Indian sun, and in Australian towns and clearings, +which looks back with fond and grateful memory to that School-house +drawing-room, and dates much of its highest and best training to the +lessons learnt there. + +Besides Mrs. Arnold and one or two of the elder children, there were +one of the young masters, young Brooke, who was now in the sixth, and +had succeeded to his brother's position and influence, and another +sixth-form boy, talking together before the fire. The master and young +Brooke, now a great strapping fellow six feet high, eighteen years +old, and powerful as a coal-heaver, nodded kindly to Tom, to his +intense glory, and then went on talking; the other did not notice +them. The hostess, after a few kind words, which led the boys at once +and insensibly to feel at their ease, and to begin talking to one +another, left them with her own children while she finished a letter. +The young ones got on fast and well, Tom holding forth about a +prodigious pony he had been riding out hunting, and hearing stories of +the winter glories of the lakes,[3] when tea came in, and immediately +after the Doctor himself. + + [3] #The lakes#: Dr. Arnold and family, during the vacations, + made their home in the lake district in the northwestern part + of England. + +How frank, and kind, and manly was his greeting to the party by the +fire! It did Tom's heart good to see him and young Brooke shake hands +and look one another in the face; and he didn't fail to remark that +Brooke was nearly as tall and quite as broad as the Doctor. And his +cup was full, when in another moment his master turned to him with +another warm shake of the hand, and, seemingly oblivious of all the +late scrapes which he had been getting into, said: "Ah, Brown, you +here! I hope you left your father and all well at home?" + +"Yes, sir, quite well." + +"And this is the little fellow who is to share your study. Well, he +doesn't look as we should like to see him. He wants some Rugby air, +and cricket. And you must take him some good long walks, to Bilton +Grange, and Caldecott's Spinney, and show him what a pretty little +country we have about here." + +Tom wondered if the Doctor knew that his visits to Bilton Grange were +for the purpose of taking rooks' nests (a proceeding strongly +discountenanced by the owner thereof), and those to Caldecott's +Spinney were prompted chiefly by the conveniences for setting +night-lines. What didn't the Doctor know? And what a noble use he +always made of it! He almost resolved to abjure rookpies and +night-lines forever. The tea went merrily off, the Doctor now talking +of holiday doings, and then of the prospects of the half-year, what +chance there was for the Balliol scholarship, whether the eleven[4] +would be a good one. Everybody was at his ease, and everybody felt +that he, young as he might be, was of some use in the little +school-world, and had a work to do there. + + [4] #The eleven#: the number of players selected by a club to + play a cricket match. + +Soon after tea the Doctor went off to his study, and the young boys a +few minutes afterward took their leave, and went out of the private +door which led from the Doctor's house into the middle passage. + + +ARTHUR'S DEBUT. + +At the fire, at the further end of the passage, was a crowd of boys in +loud talk and laughter. There was a sudden pause when the door opened, +and then a great shout of greeting as Tom was recognized marching down +the passage. + +"Hullo, Brown, where do you come from?" + +"Oh, I've been to tea with the Doctor," says Tom, with great dignity. + +"My eye!" cried East. "Oh, so that's why Mary called you back; and you +didn't come to supper. You lost something,--that beef and pickles was +no end good." + +"I say, young fellow," cried Hall, detecting Arthur, and catching him +by the collar, "what's your name? Where do you come from? How old are +you?" + +Tom saw Arthur shrink back, and look scared as all the group turned to +him, but thought it best to let him answer, just standing by his side +to support in case of need. + +"Arthur, sir. I come from Devonshire." + +"Don't call me 'sir,' you young muff. How old are you?" + +"Thirteen." + +"Can you sing?" + +The poor boy was trembling and hesitating. Tom struck in--"You be +hanged, Tadpole. He'll have to sing, whether he can or not, Saturday +twelve weeks, and that's long enough off yet." + +"Do you know him at home, Brown?" + +"No; but he's my chum in Gray's old study, and it's near prayer-time, +and I haven't had a look at it yet. Come along, Arthur." + +Away went the two, Tom longing to get his charge safe under cover, +where he might advise him on his deportment. + +"What a queer chum for Tom Brown," was the comment at the fire; and it +must be confessed so thought Tom himself, as he lighted his candle, +and surveyed the new green-baize curtains and the carpet and sofa with +much satisfaction. + +"I say, Arthur, what a brick your mother is to make us so cozy! But +look here now; you must answer straight up when the fellows speak to +you, and don't be afraid. If you're afraid, you'll get bullied. And +don't you say you can sing; and don't you ever talk about home, or +your mother and sisters." + +Poor little Arthur looked ready to cry. + +"But please," said he, "mayn't I talk about--about home to you?" + +"Oh, yes, I like it. But don't talk to boys you don't know, or they'll +call you home-sick, or mamma's darling, or some such stuff. What a +jolly desk! is that your's? And what stunning binding! why, your +school-books look like novels." + +And Tom was soon deep in Arthur's goods and chattels, all new and good +enough for a fifth-form boy, and hardly thought of his friends outside +till the prayer-bell rang. + +I have already described the School-house prayers; they were the same +on the first night as on the other nights, save for the gaps caused by +the absence of those boys who came late, and the line of new boys who +stood altogether at the further table,--of all sorts and sizes, like +young bears with all their trouble to come, as Tom's father had said +to him when he was in the same position. He thought of it as he looked +at the line, and poor little slight Arthur standing with them, and as +he was leading him up-stairs to Number 4, directly after prayers, and +showing him his bed. It was a huge, high, airy room, with two large +windows looking on to the School close. There were twelve beds in the +room; the one in the furthest corner by the fire-place occupied by the +sixth-form boy who was responsible for the discipline of the room, and +the rest by boys in the lower fifth and other junior forms, all fags +(for the fifth-form boys, as has been said, slept in rooms by +themselves). Being fags, the eldest of them was not more than about +sixteen years old, and were all bound to be up and in bed by ten; the +sixth-form boys came to bed from ten to a quarter-past (at which time +the old verger came round to put the candles out), except when they +sat up to read. + + +LESSON NO. 1. + +Within a few minutes, therefore, of their entry, all the other boys +who slept in Number 4 had come up. The little fellows went quietly to +their own beds, and began undressing and talking to each other in +whispers; while the elder, amongst whom was Tom, sat chatting about on +one another's beds, with their jackets and waistcoats off. Poor little +Arthur was overwhelmed with the novelty of his position. The idea of +sleeping in the room with strange boys had clearly never crossed his +mind before, and was as painful as it was strange to him. He could +hardly bear to take his jacket off; however, presently, with an +effort, off it came, and then he paused and looked at Tom, who was +sitting at the bottom of his bed talking and laughing. + +"Please, Brown," he whispered, "may I wash my face and hands?" + +"Of course, if you like," said Tom, staring; "that's your +washhand-stand under the window, second from your bed. You'll have to +go down for more water in the morning if you use it all." And on he +went with his talk, while Arthur stole timidly from between the beds +out to his washhand-stand, and began his ablutions, thereby drawing +for a moment on himself the attention of the room. + +On went the talk and laughter. Arthur finished his washing and +undressing, and put on his night-gown. He then looked round more +nervously than ever. Two or three of the little boys were already in +bed, sitting up with their chins on their knees. The light burned +clear, the noise went on. It was a trying moment for the poor little +lonely boy; however, this time he didn't ask Tom what he might or +might not do, but dropped on his knees by his bedside, as he had done +every day from his childhood, to open his heart to Him who heareth the +cry and beareth the sorrows of the tender child, and the strong man in +agony. + +Tom was sitting at the bottom of his bed unlacing his boots, so that +his back was toward Arthur, and he didn't see what had happened, and +looked up in wonder at the sudden silence. Then two or three boys +laughed and sneered, and a big brutal fellow, who was standing in the +middle of the room, picked up a slipper, and shied it at the kneeling +boy, calling him a snivelling young shaver. Then Tom saw the whole and +the next moment the boot he had just pulled off flew straight at the +head of the bully, who had just time to throw up his arm and catch it +on his elbow. + +"Confound you, Brown, what's that for?" roared he, stamping with pain. + +"Never mind what I mean," said Tom, stepping on to the floor, every +drop of blood in his body tingling; "if any fellow wants the other +boot, he knows how to get it." + +What would have been the result is doubtful, for at this moment the +sixth-form boy came in, and not another word could be said. Tom and +the rest rushed into bed and finished their unrobing there, and the +old verger, as punctual as the clock, had put out the candle in +another minute, and toddled on to the next room, shutting their door +with his usual "Goodnight, gen'lm'n." + +There were many boys in the room by whom that little scene was taken +to heart before they slept. But sleep seemed to have deserted the +pillow of poor Tom. For some time his excitement, and the flood of +memories which chased one another through his brain, kept him from +thinking or resolving. His head throbbed, his heart leaped, and he +could hardly keep himself from springing out of bed and rushing about +the room. Then the thought of his own mother came across him, and the +promise he had made at her knee, years ago, never to forget to kneel +by his bedside, and give himself up to his Father, before he laid his +head on the pillow, from which it might never rise; and he lay down +gently and cried as if his heart would break. He was only fourteen +years old. + +It was no light act of courage in those days, my dear boys, for a +little fellow to say his prayers publicly, even at Rugby. A few years +later, when Arnold's manly piety had begun to leaven the school, the +tables turned; before he died, in the School-house at least, and I +believe in the other house, the rule was the other way. But poor Tom +had come to school in other times. The first few nights after he came +he did not kneel down because of the noise, but sat up in bed till the +candle was out, and then stole out and said his prayers, in fear lest +some one should find him out. So did many another poor little fellow. +Then he began to think that he might just as well say his prayers in +bed, and then that it didn't matter whether he was kneeling, or +sitting, or lying down. And so it had come to pass with Tom, as with +all who will not confess their Lord before men; and for the last year +he had probably not said his prayers in earnest a dozen times. + +Poor Tom! the first and bitterest feeling which was like to break his +heart was the sense of his own cowardice. The vice of all others which +he loathed was brought in and burned in on his own soul. He had lied +to his mother, to his conscience, to his God. How could he bear it? +And then the poor little weak boy, whom he had pitied and almost +scorned for his weakness, had done that which he, braggart as he was, +dared not do. The first dawn of comfort came to him in swearing to +himself that he would stand by that boy through thick and thin, and +cheer him, and help him, and bear his burdens, for the good deed done +that night. Then he resolved to write home next day and tell his +mother all, and what a coward her son had been. And then peace came to +him as he resolved, lastly, to bear his testimony next morning. The +morning would be harder than the night to begin with, but he felt that +he could not afford to let one chance slip. Several times he faltered, +for the devil showed him first all his old friends calling him "Saint" +and "Square-toes," and a dozen hard names, and whispered to him that +his motives would be misunderstood, and he would only be left alone +with the new boy; whereas it was his duty to keep all means of +influence, that he might do good to the largest number. And then came +the more subtle temptation, "Shall I not be showing myself braver than +others by doing this? Have I any right to begin it now? Ought I not +rather to pray in my own study, letting other boys know that I do so, +and trying to lead them to do it, while in public at least I should go +on as I have done?" However, his good angel was too strong that night, +and he turned on his side and slept, tired of trying to reason, but +resolved to follow the impulse which had been so strong, and in which +he had found peace. + + +TOM LEARNS HIS LESSON. + +Next morning he was up and washed and dressed, all but his jacket and +waistcoat, just as the ten minutes' bell began to ring, and then in +the face of the whole room knelt down to pray. Not five words could he +say--the bell mocked him; he was listening for every whisper in the +room--what were they all thinking of him? He was ashamed to go on +kneeling, ashamed to rise from his knees. At last, as it were from his +inmost heart, a still small voice seemed to breathe forth the words of +the publican,[5] "God be merciful to me a sinner!" He repeated them +over and over, clinging to them as for his life, and rose from his +knees comforted and humbled, and ready to face the whole world. It was +not needed; two other boys besides Arthur had already followed his +example, and he went down to the Great School with a glimmering of +another lesson in his heart,--the lesson that he who has conquered his +own coward spirit has conquered the whole outward world; and that +other one which the old prophet learnt in the cave in Mount Horeb, +when he hid his face, and the still small voice asked: "What doest +thou here, Elijah?"[6] that however we may fancy ourselves alone on +the side of good, the King and Lord of men is nowhere without his +witnesses; for in every society, however seemingly corrupt and +godless, there are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal.[7] + + [5] #Publican#: here, a revenue or tax collector. See Luke + xviii. 13. + + [6] #Elijah#: see 1 Kings xix. 9. + + [7] #Baal#: an idol; hence any great wickedness. + +He found, too, how greatly he had exaggerated the effect to be +produced by his act. For a few nights there was a sneer or a laugh +when he knelt down, but this passed off soon, and one by one all the +other boys but three or four followed the lead. I fear that this was +in some measure due to the fact that Tom could probably have thrashed +any boy in the room except the prępostor; at any rate, every boy knew +that he would try upon very slight provocation, and didn't choose to +run the risk of a hard fight because Tom Brown had taken a fancy to +say his prayers. Some of the small boys of Number 4 communicated the +new state of things to their chums, and in several other rooms the +poor little fellows tried it on; in one instance or so, where the +prępostor heard of it and interfered very decidedly, with partial +success; but in the rest, after a short struggle, the confessors were +bullied or laughed down, and the old state of things went on for some +time longer. Before either Tom Brown or Arthur left the School-house, +there was no room in which it had not become the regular custom. I +trust it is so still, and that the old heathen state of things has +gone out forever. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE NEW BOY. + + "And Heaven's rich instincts in him grew, + As effortless as woodland nooks + Send violets up and paint them blue."--_Lowell._ + + +TOM'S RESPONSIBILITIES. + +I do not mean to recount all the little troubles and annoyances which +thronged upon Tom at the beginning of this half-year, in his new +character of bear-leader to a gentle little boy straight from home. +He seemed to himself to have become a new boy again, without any of +the long-suffering and meekness indispensable for supporting that +character with moderate success. From morning till night he had the +feeling of responsibility on his mind; and, even if he left Arthur in +their study or in the close for an hour, was never at ease till he had +him in sight again. He waited for him at the doors of the school after +every lesson and every calling-over; watched that no tricks were +played him and none but the regulation questions asked; kept his +eye on his plate at dinner and breakfast, to see that no unfair +depredations were made upon his viands; in short, as East remarked, +cackled after him like a hen with one chick. + +Arthur took a long time thawing, too, which made it all the harder +work; was sadly timid; scarcely ever spoke unless Tom spoke to him +first; and, worst of all, would agree with him in everything, the +hardest thing in the world for a Brown to bear. He got quite angry +sometimes, as they sat together of a night in their study, at this +provoking habit of agreement, and was on the point of breaking out a +dozen times with a lecture upon the propriety of a fellow having a +will of his own and speaking out, but managed to restrain himself by +the thought that he might only frighten Arthur, and the remembrance of +the lesson he had learnt from him on his first night at Number 4. Then +he would resolve to sit still, and not say a word till Arthur began; +but he was always beat at that game, and had presently to begin +talking in despair, fearing lest Arthur might think he was vexed at +something if he didn't, and dog-tired of sitting tongue-tied. + +It was hard work! But Tom had taken it up, and meant to stick to it, +and go through with it, so as to satisfy himself; in which resolution +he was much assisted by the chaffing of East and his other friends, +who began to call him "dry-nurse," and otherwise to break their small +wit on him. But when they took other ground, as they did every now and +then, Tom was sorely puzzled. + + +EAST'S ADVICE. + +"Tell you what, Tommy," East would say, "you'll spoil young Hopeful +with too much coddling. Why can't you let him go about by himself, and +find his own level? He'll never be worth a button, if you go on +keeping him under your skirts." + +"Well, but he isn't fit to fight his own way yet; I'm trying to get +him to do it every day--but he's very odd. Poor little beggar! I can't +make him out a bit. He isn't a bit like anything I've ever seen or +heard of--he seems all over nerves; anything you say seems to hurt him +like a cut or a blow." + +"That sort of boy's no use here," said East; "he'll only spoil. Now, +I'll tell you what to do, Tommy. Go and get a nice large band-box +made, and put him in with plenty of cotton-wool, and a pap-bottle,[1] +labelled 'with care--this side up,' and send him back to mamma." + + [1] #Pap-bottle#: a nursing-bottle. + +"I think I shall make a hand of him, though," said Tom, smiling, "say +what you will. There's something about him, every now and then, which +shows me he's got pluck somewhere in him. That's the only thing, after +all, that'll wash,[2] isn't it, old Scud? But how to get at it and +bring it out?" + + [2] #Wash#: stand; hold its colors. + +Tom took one hand out of his breeches' pocket and stuck it in his back +hair for a scratch, giving his hat a tilt over his nose, his one +method of invoking wisdom. He stared at the ground with a ludicrously +puzzled look, and presently looked up and met East's eyes. That young +gentleman slapped him on the back, and then put his arm around his +shoulders, as they strolled through the quadrangle together. "Tom," +said he, "blest if you aren't the best old fellow ever was--I do like +to see you go into a thing. Hang it, I wish I could take things as you +do, but I never can get higher than a joke. Everything's a joke. If I +was going to be flogged next minute, I should be in a blue funk,[3] +but I couldn't help laughing at it for the life of me." + + [3] #In a blue funk#: horribly frightened. + +"Brown and East, you go and fag for Jones on the great fives'-court." + +"Hullo, though, that's past a joke," broke out East, springing at the +young gentleman who addressed them, and catching him by the collar. +"Here, Tommy, catch hold of him t'other side before he can holla." + + +AN EPISODE. + +The youth was seized, and dragged struggling out of the quadrangle +into the School-house hall. He was one of the miserable little pretty, +white-handed, curly-headed boys, petted and pampered by some of the +big fellows, who wrote their verses for them, taught them to drink, +and use bad language, and did all they could to spoil them for +everything in this world and the next. One of the avocations in which +these young gentlemen took particular delight was in going about and +getting fags for their protectors, when those heroes were playing any +game. They carried about pencil and paper with them, putting down the +names of all the boys they sent, always sending five times as many as +were wanted, and getting all those thrashed who didn't go. The present +youth belonged to a house which was very jealous of the School-house, +and always picked out School-house fags when he could find them. +However, this time he'd got the wrong pig by the ear. His captors +slammed the great door of the hall, and East put his back against it, +while Tom gave the prisoner a shake-up, took away his list, and stood +him up on the floor, while he proceeded leisurely to examine that +document. + +"Let me out! let me go!" screamed the boy in a furious passion. "I'll +go and tell Jones this minute, and he'll give you both the biggest +thrashing you ever had." + +"Pretty little dear," said East, patting the top of his hat; "listen +to him, Tom. Nicely brought-up young man, isn't he, though?" + +"Let me alone----you," roared the boy, foaming with rage, and kicking +at East, who quietly tripped him up, and deposited him on the floor in +a place of safety. + +"Gently, young fellow," said he, "'tisn't improving for little +whippersnappers like you to be indulging in such language; so you stop +that, or you'll get something you won't like." + +"I'll have you both licked when I get out, that I will," rejoined the +boy, beginning to snivel. + +"Two can play at that game, mind you," said Tom, who had finished his +examination of the list. "Now you just listen here. We've just come +across the fives'-court, and Jones has four fags there already, two +more than he wants. If he'd wanted us to change, he'd have stopped us +himself. And here, you little blackguard, you've got seven names down +on your list besides ours, and five of them School-house." Tom walked +up to him and jerked him on to his legs; he was by this time whining +like a whipped puppy. + +"Now just listen to me. We aren't going to fag for Jones. If you tell +him you've sent us, we'll each of us give you such a thrashing as +you'll remember." And Tom tore up the list and threw the pieces into +the fire. + +"And mind you, too," said East, "don't let me catch you again sneaking +about the School-house, and picking up our fags. You haven't got the +sort of hide to take a sound licking kindly;" and he opened the door +and sent the young gentleman flying into the quadrangle, with a +parting kick. + +"Nice boy, Tommy," said East, shoving his hands into his pockets and +strolling to the fire. + +"Worst sort we breed," responded Tom, following his example. "Thank +goodness no big fellow ever took to petting me." + +"You'd never have been like that," said East. "I should like to have +put him in a museum: Christian young gentleman, nineteenth century, +highly educated. Stir him up with a long pole, Jack, and hear him +swear like a drunken sailor! He'd make a respectable public open its +eyes, I think." + +"Think he'll tell Jones?" said Tom. + +"No," said East. "Don't care if he does." + +"Nor I," said Tom; and they went back to talk about Arthur. + +The young gentleman had brains enough not to tell Jones, reasoning +that East and Brown, who were noted as some of the toughest fags in +the school, wouldn't care three straws for any licking Jones might +give them, and would be likely to keep their words as to passing it on +with interest. + + +LESSON NO. 2. + +After the above conversation, East came a good deal to their study, +and took notice of Arthur; and soon allowed to Tom that he was a +thorough little gentleman, and would get over his shyness all in good +time; which much comforted our hero. He felt every day, too, the value +of having an object in his life, something that drew him out of +himself; and, it being the dull time of the year, and no games going +about which he much cared, was happier than he had ever yet been at +school, which was saying a great deal. + +The time which Tom allowed himself away from his charge was from +locking-up till supper-time. During this hour or hour and a half he +used to take his fling, going round to the studies of all his +acquaintance, sparring or gossiping in the hall, now jumping the old +iron-bound tables, or carving a bit of his name on them, then joining +in some chorus of merry voices; in fact, blowing off his steam, as we +should now call it. + +This process was so congenial[4] to his temper, and Arthur showed +himself so pleased at the arrangement, that it was several weeks +before Tom was ever in their study before supper. One evening, +however, he rushed in to look for an old chisel, or some corks, or +other article essential to his pursuit for the time being, and, while +rummaging about in the cupboards, looked up for a moment, and was +caught at once by the figure of poor little Arthur. The boy was +sitting with his elbows on the table, and his head leaning on his +hands, and before him an open book, on which his tears were falling +fast. Tom shut the door at once, and sat down on the sofa by Arthur, +putting his arm round his neck. + + [4] #Congenial#: agreeable. + +"Why, young un! what's the matter?" said he, kindly. "You aren't +unhappy, are you?" + +"Oh, no, Brown," said the little boy, looking up with great tears in +his eyes; "you are so kind to me, I'm very happy." + +"Why don't you call me Tom? lots of boys do that I don't like half so +much as I do you. What are you reading, then? Hang it, you must come +about with me, and not mope yourself," and Tom cast down his eyes on +the book, and saw it was the Bible. He was silent for a minute, and +thought to himself, "Lesson Number 2, Tom Brown;" and said, gently:-- + +"I'm very glad to see this, Arthur, and ashamed that I don't read the +Bible more myself. Do you read it every night before supper, while I'm +out?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, I wish you'd wait till afterward, and then we'd read together. +But, Arthur, why does it make you cry?" + +"Oh, it isn't that I'm unhappy. But at home, while my father was +alive, we always read the lessons[5] after tea; and I love to read +them over now, and try to remember what he said about them. I can't +remember all, and I think I scarcely understand a great deal of what I +do remember. But it all comes back to me so fresh that I can't help +crying sometimes to think that I shall never read them again with +him." + + [5] #Lessons#: here, portions of Scripture. + + +ARTHUR'S HOME. + +Arthur had never spoken of his home before, and Tom hadn't encouraged +him to do so, as his blundering schoolboy reasoning made him think +that Arthur would be softened and less manly for thinking of home. But +now he was fairly interested, and forgot all about chisels and bottled +beer; while with very little encouragement Arthur launched into his +home history, and the prayer-bell put them both out sadly when it rang +to call them to the hall. + +From this time Arthur constantly spoke of his home, and, above all, of +his father, who had been dead about a year, and whose memory Tom soon +got to love and reverence almost as much as his own son did. + +Arthur's father had been the clergyman of a parish in the Midland +Counties,[6] which had risen into a large town during the war,[7] and +upon which the hard years which followed had fallen with fearful +weight. The trade had been half ruined; and then came the old sad +story of masters reducing their establishments, men turned off, and +wandering about, hungry and wan in body, and fierce in soul, from the +thought of wives and children starving at home, and the last sticks of +furniture going to the pawnshop: children taken from school, and +lounging about the dirty streets and courts,[8] too listless almost to +play, and squalid in rags and misery. And then the fearful struggle +between the employers and men; lowerings of wages, strikes, and the +long course of oft-repeated crime, ending every now and then with a +riot, a fire, and the county yeomanry.[9] There is no need here to +dwell upon such tales; the Englishman into whose soul they have not +sunk deep is not worthy the name; you English boys for whom this book +is meant (God bless your bright faces and kind hearts!) will learn it +all soon enough. + + [6] #Midland Counties#: the central counties. + + [7] #The war#: probably the war against Napoleon. + + [8] #Courts#: places; short streets closed at one end. + + [9] #County yeomanry#: that is, with the calling out of the + militia of the county to quell the riots. + +Into such a parish and state of society Arthur's father had been +thrown at the age of twenty-five, a young married parson, full of +faith, hope and love. He had battled with it like a man, and had +lots of fine Utopian[10] ideas about the perfectibility of mankind, +glorious humanity and such-like knocked out of his head: and a real +wholesome Christian love for the poor, struggling, sinning men, of +whom he felt himself one, and with and for whom he spent fortune, and +strength and life, driven into his heart. He had battled like a man, +and gotten a man's reward. No silver teapots or salvers,[11] with +flowery inscriptions, setting forth his virtues and the appreciation +of a genteel parish; no fat living or stall,[12] for which he never +looked, and didn't care; no sighs and praises of comfortable +dowagers[13] and well got-up young women who worked him slippers, +sugared his tea, and adored him as "a devoted man"; but a manly +respect, wrung from the unwilling souls of men who fancied his order +their natural enemies; the fear and hatred of every one who was false +or unjust in the district, were he master or man; and the blessed +sight of women and children daily becoming more human and more +homely,[14] a comfort to themselves and to their husbands and fathers. + + [10] #Utopian#: fanciful. + + [11] #Salver#: a tray. + + [12] #Fat living or stall#: a high-salaried parish; stall: an + office in the church. + + [13] #Dowager#: the widow of a person of wealth and rank. + + [14] #Homely#: fond of home; domestic. + +These things of course took time, and had to be fought for with toil +and sweat of brain and heart, and with the life-blood poured out. All +that, Arthur[15] had laid his account to give, and took as a matter of +course; neither pitying himself, nor looking on himself as a martyr, +when he felt the wear and tear making him feel old before his time, +and the stifling air of fever-dens telling on his health. His wife +seconded him in everything. She had been rather fond of society, and +much admired and run after before her marriage; and the London world +to which she had belonged pitied poor Fanny Evelyn when she married +the young clergyman, and went to settle in that smoky hole, Turley, a +very nest of Chartism[16] and Atheism, in a part of the country which +all the decent families had had to leave for years. However, somehow +or other she didn't seem to care. If her husband's living[17] had been +amongst green fields and near pleasant neighbors, she would have liked +it better,--that she never pretended to deny. But there they were; the +air wasn't bad, after all; the people were very good sort of +people,--civil to you if you were civil to them, after the first +brush; and they didn't expect to work miracles, and convert them all +off-hand into model Christians. So he and she went quietly among the +folk, talking to and treating them just as they would have done people +of their own rank. They didn't feel that they were doing anything out +of the common way, and so were perfectly natural and had none of that +condescension or consciousness of manner which so out-rages the +independent poor. And thus they gradually won respect and confidence; +and after sixteen years he was looked up to by the whole neighborhood +as _the_ just man, _the_ man to whom masters and men could go in their +strikes, and in all their quarrels and difficulties, and by whom the +right and true word would be said without fear or favor. And the women +had come round to take her advice, and go to her as a friend in all +their troubles, while all the children worshipped the ground she trod +on. + + [15] #Arthur#: here, young Arthur's father. + + [16] #Chartism#: the principles of a political party which + demanded universal suffrage and other radical reforms. The + chartists were regarded much as the anarchists are now. + + [17] #Living#: parish. + +They had three children, two daughters and a son, little Arthur, who +came between his sisters. He had been a very delicate boy from his +childhood; they thought he had a tendency to consumption, and so +he had been kept at home and taught by his father, who had made a +companion of him, and from whom he had gained good scholarship, and a +knowledge of, and an interest in, many subjects which boys in general +never come across till they are many years older. + +Just as he reached his thirteenth year, and his father had settled +that he was strong enough to go to school; and, after much debating +with himself, had resolved to send him there, a desperate fever broke +out in the town; most of the other clergy, and almost all the doctors, +ran away; the work fell with tenfold weight on those who stood to +their work. Arthur and his wife both caught the fever, of which he +died in a few days, and she recovered, having been able to nurse him +to the end, and store up his last words. He was sensible to the last, +and calm and happy, leaving his wife and children with fearless trust +for a few years in the hands of the Lord and Friend who had lived and +died for him, and for whom he, to the best of his power, had lived and +died. His widow's mourning was deep and gentle; she was more affected +by the request of the Committee of a Free-thinking club, established +in the town by some of the factory hands (which he had striven against +with might and main, and nearly suppressed), that some of their number +might be allowed to help bear the coffin, than by anything else. Two +of them were chosen, who with six laboring men, his own fellow-workmen +and friends, bore him to his grave,--a man who had fought the Lord's +fight even unto the death. The shops were closed and the factories +shut that day in the parish, yet no master stopped the day's wages; +but for many a year afterward the towns-folk felt the want of that +brave, hopeful, loving parson, and his wife, who had lived to teach +them mutual forbearance and helpfulness, and had _almost_ at last +given them a glimpse of what this old world would be, if people would +live for God and each other, instead of for themselves. + +What has all this to do with our story? Well, my dear boys, let a +fellow go on in his own way, or you won't get anything out of him +worth having. I must show you what sort of a man it was who had +brought up little Arthur, or else you won't believe in him, which +I am resolved you shall do; and you won't see how he, the timid, +weak boy, had points in him from which the bravest and strongest +recoiled, and made his presence and example felt from the first on +all sides, unconsciously to himself, and without the least attempt at +proselytizing.[18] The spirit of his father was in him, and the Friend +to which his father had left him did not neglect the trust. + + [18] #Proselytizing#: converting to one's particular opinions. + + +RESULTS OF LESSON NO. 2. + +After supper that night, and almost nightly for years afterwards, Tom +and Arthur, and by degrees East occasionally, and sometimes one, +sometimes another of their friends, read a chapter of the Bible +together, and talked it over afterwards. Tom was at first utterly +astonished, and almost shocked, at the sort of way in which Arthur +read the book, and talked about the men and women whose lives were +there told. The first night they happened to fall on the chapters +about the famine in Egypt,[19] and Arthur began talking about +Joseph[20] as if he were a living statesman; just as he might have +talked about Lord Grey and the Reform Bill;[21] only that they were +much more living realities to him. The book was to him, Tom saw, the +most vivid and delightful history of real people, who might do right +or wrong, just like any one who was walking about in Rugby,--the +Doctor, or the masters, or the sixth-form boys. But the astonishment +soon passed off, the scales seemed to drop from his eyes, and the book +became at once and forever to him the great human and divine book, and +the men and women, whom he had looked upon as something quite +different from himself, became his friends and counsellors. + + [19] See Genesis xli. + + [20] See Genesis xxxvii. + + [21] #Lord Grey#: he introduced a famous bill for + parliamentary reform which was passed in 1832. + + +TOM IS STIFF-NECKED. + +For our purposes, however, the history of one night's reading will be +sufficient, which must be told here, now we are on the subject, though +it didn't happen till a year afterwards, and long after the events +recorded in the next chapter of our story. + +Arthur, Tom, and East were together one night, and read the story of +Naaman coming to Elisha to be cured of his leprosy.[22] When the +chapter was finished, Tom shut his Bible with a slap. + + [22] See 2 Kings, Chapter V. + +"I can't stand that fellow Naaman," said he, "after what he'd seen and +felt, going back and bowing himself down in the house of Rimmon, +because his effeminate scoundrel of a master did it. I wonder Elisha +took the trouble to heal him. How he must have despised him!" + +"Yes, there you go off as usual; with a shell on your head," struck in +East, who always took the opposite side to Tom; half from love of +argument, half from conviction. "How do you know he didn't think +better of it? how do you know his master was a scoundrel? His letter +doesn't look like it, and the book doesn't say so." + +"I don't care," rejoined Tom; "why did Naaman talk about bowing down, +then, if he didn't mean to do it? He wasn't likely to get more in +earnest when he got back to court and away from the prophet." + +"Well, but Tom," said Arthur, "look what Elisha says to him: 'Go in +peace.' He wouldn't have said that if Naaman had been in the wrong." + +"I don't see that that means more than saying: 'You're not the man I +took you for.'" + +"No, no, that won't do at all," said East; "read the words fairly, and +take men as you find them. I like Naaman, and think he was a very fine +fellow." + +"I don't," said Tom, positively. + +"Well I think East is right," said Arthur; "I can't see but what it's +right to do the best you can, though it mayn't be the best absolutely. +Every man isn't born to be a martyr." + +"Of course, of course," said East; "but he's on one of his pet +hobbies. How often have I told you, Tom, that you must drive a nail +where it'll go." + +"And how often have I told you," rejoined Tom, "that it'll always go +where you want, if you only stick to it and hit hard enough. I hate +half measures and compromises." + +"Yes, he's a whole hog man, is Tom. Must have the whole animal, hair +and teeth, claws and tail," laughed East. "Sooner have no bread, any +day, than half the loaf." + +"I don't know," said Arthur; "it's rather puzzling; but aren't most +right things got by proper compromises? I mean where the principle +isn't given up." + + +THE BROWN COMPROMISE. + +"That's just the point," said Tom; "I don't object to a compromise +where you don't give up your principle." + +"Not you," said East, laughingly. "I know him of old, Arthur, and +you'll find him out some day. There isn't such a reasonable fellow in +the world, to hear him talk. He never wants anything but what's right +and fair; only when you come to settle what's right and fair, it's +everything that he wants, and nothing that you want. And that's his +idea of a compromise. Give me the Brown compromise when I'm on his +side." + +"Now, Harry," said Tom, "no more chaff--I'm serious. Look here--this +is what makes my blood tingle;" and he turned over the pages of his +Bible and read: "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to +the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,[23] we are not careful to answer thee in +this matter. If it _be_ so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver +us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine +hand, O king. But _if not_, be it known unto thee, O king, that we +will _not_ serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou +hast set up." He read the last verse twice, emphasizing the _nots_, +and dwelling on them as if they gave him actual pleasure, and were +hard to part with. + + [23] See Daniel iii. + +They were silent a minute, and then Arthur said: "Yes, that's a +glorious story, but it doesn't prove your point, Tom, I think. There +are times when there is only one way, and that the highest; and then +the men are found to stand in the breach." + +"There's always a highest way, and it's always the right one," said +Tom. "How many times has the Doctor told us that in his sermons in the +last year, I should like to know?" + +"Well, you aren't going to convince us, is he, Arthur? No Brown +compromise to-night," said East, looking at his watch. "But it's past +eight, and we must go to first lesson. What a bore!" + +So they took down their books and fell to work; but Arthur didn't +forget, and thought long and often over the conversation. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ARTHUR MAKES A FRIEND. + + "Let Nature be your teacher: + Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; + Our meddling intellect + Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things + We murder to dissect-- + Enough of Science and of Art; + Close up those barren leaves; + Come forth, and bring with you a heart + That watches and receives."--_Wordsworth._ + + +TROUBLES OF A BOY-PHILOSOPHER. + +About six weeks after the beginning of the half, as Tom and Arthur +were sitting one night before supper beginning their verses, Arthur +suddenly stopped, and looked up, and said: "Tom, do you know anything +of Martin?" + +"Yes," said Tom, taking his hand out of his back hair, and delighted +to throw his Gradus ad Parnassum[1] on to the sofa; "I know him pretty +well. He's a very good fellow, but as mad as a hatter. He's called +Madman, you know. And never was such a fellow for getting all sorts of +rum[2] things about him. He tamed two snakes last half, and used to +carry them about in his pocket, and I'll be bound he's got some +hedge-hogs and rats in his cupboard now, and no one knows what +besides." + + [1] #Gradus ad Parnassum#: a dictionary specially designed to + aid pupils in writing Greek and Latin verses. + + [2] #Rum#: queer. + +"I should like very much to know him," said Arthur; "he was next to me +in the form to-day, and he'd lost his book and looked over mine, and +he seemed so kind and gentle that I liked him very much." + +"Ah, poor old Madman, he's always losing his books," said Tom, "and +getting called up and floored because he hasn't got them." + +"I like him all the better," said Arthur. + +"Well, he's great fun, I can tell you," said Tom, throwing himself +back on the sofa, and chuckling at the remembrance. "We had such a +game with him one day last half. He had been trying chemical +experiments and kicking up horrid stenches for some time in his study, +till I suppose some fellow told Mary, and she told the Doctor. Anyhow, +one day, a little before dinner, when he came down from the library, +the Doctor, instead of going home, came striding into the Hall. East +and I and five or six other fellows were at the fire, and preciously +we stared, for he doesn't come in like that once a year, unless it is +a wet day and there's a fight in the Hall. 'East,' says he, 'just come +and show me Martin's study.' 'Oh, here's a game,' whispered the rest +of us, and we all cut up-stairs after the Doctor, East leading. As we +got into the New Row, which was hardly wide enough to hold the Doctor +and his gown, click, click, click, we heard in the old Madman's den. +Then that stopped all of a sudden, and the bolts went to like fun; the +Madman knew East's step, and thought there was going to be a siege. + +"'It's the Doctor, Martin. He's here, and wants to see you,' sings out +East. + +"Then the bolts went back slowly, and the door opened, and there was +the old Madman standing, looking precious scared; his jacket off, his +shirt-sleeves up to his elbows, and his long skinny arms all covered +with anchors, and arrows, and letters, tattooed in with gunpowder like +a sailor-boy's, and a stench fit to knock you down coming out. 'Twas +all the Doctor could do to stand his ground, and East and I, who were +looking in under his arms, held our noses tight. The old magpie was +standing on the window-sill, all his feathers drooping, and looking +disgusted and half-poisoned. + +"'What can you be about, Martin?' says the Doctor; 'you really musn't +go on in this way--you're a nuisance to the whole passage.' + +"'Please, sir, I was only mixing up this powder; there isn't any harm +in it;' and the Madman seized nervously on his pestle and mortar, +to show the Doctor the harmlessness of his pursuits, and went on +pounding; click, click, click. He hadn't given six clicks before, +puff! up went the whole into a great blaze, away went the pestle and +mortar across the study, and back we tumbled into the passage. The +magpie[3] fluttered down into the court, swearing, and the Madman +danced out, howling, with his fingers in his mouth. The Doctor caught +hold of him, and called to us to fetch some water. 'There, you silly +fellow,' said he, quite pleased, though, to find he wasn't much hurt, +'you see you don't know the least what you are doing with all these +things; and now, mind, you must give up practising chemistry by +yourself.' Then he took hold of his arm and looked at it, and I saw +he had to bite his lip, and his eyes twinkled; but he said, quite +gravely, 'Here, you see, you've been making all these foolish marks on +yourself, which you can never get out, and you'll be very sorry for it +in a year or two. Now come down into the housekeeper's room, and let +us see if you are hurt.' And away went the two, and we all stayed and +had a regular turn-out of the den, till Martin came back with his hand +bandaged and turned us out. However, I'll go and see what he's after, +and tell him to come in after prayers to supper." And away went Tom to +find the boy in question, who dwelt in a little study by himself in +New Row. + + [3] #Magpie#: a bird which can be taught to speak like the + parrot. + +The aforesaid Martin whom Arthur had taken such a fancy for was one of +those unfortunates who were at that time of day (and are, I fear, +still) quite out of their places at a public school. If we knew how to +use our boys, Martin would have been seized upon and educated as a +natural philosopher. He had a passion for birds, beasts, and insects, +and knew more of them and their habits than any one in Rugby, except +perhaps the Doctor, who knew everything. He was also an experimental +chemist on a small scale, and had made unto himself an electric +machine, from which it was his greatest pleasure and glory to +administer small shocks to any small boys who were rash enough to +venture into his study. And this was by no means an adventure free +from excitement; for, besides the probability of a snake dropping on +to your head, or twining lovingly up your leg, or a rat getting into +your breeches' pocket in search of food, there was the animal and +chemical odor to be faced, which always hung about the den, and the +chance of being blown up in some of the many experiments which Martin +was always trying, with the most wonderful results in the shape of +explosions and smells that mortal boy ever heard of. Of course, poor +Martin, in consequence of his pursuits, had become an Ishmaelite in +the house. In the first place, he half poisoned all his neighbors, and +they in turn were always on the look-out to pounce upon any of his +numerous live stock and drive him frantic by enticing his pet old +magpie out of his window into a neighboring study, and making the +disreputable old bird drunk on toast soaked in beer and sugar. Then +Martin, for his sins, inhabited a study looking into a small court +some ten feet across, the window of which was completely commanded by +those of the studies opposite in the sick-room row, these latter being +at a slightly higher elevation. East and another boy of an equally +tormenting and ingenious turn of mind, now lived exactly opposite, and +had expended huge pains and time in the preparation of instruments of +annoyance for the behoof of Martin and his live colony. One morning an +old basket made its appearance, suspended by a short cord, outside +Martin's window, in which were deposited an amateur nest[4] containing +four young, hungry jackdaws, the pride and glory of Martin's life for +the time being, and which he was currently asserted to have hatched +upon his own person. Early in the morning and late at night he was to +be seen half out of window, administering to the varied wants of his +callow[5] brood. After deep cogitation,[6] East and his chum had +spliced a knife on to the end of a fishing rod; and having watched +Martin out, had, after half an hour's severe sawing, cut the string by +which the basket was suspended, and tumbled it on to the pavement +below, with hideous remonstrance from the occupants. Poor Martin, +returning from his short absence, collected the fragments and replaced +his brood (except one whose neck had been broken in the descent) in +their old location, suspending them this time by string and wire +twisted together, defiant of any sharp instrument which his +persecutors could command. But, like the Russian engineers at +Sebastopol,[7] East and his chum had an answer for every move of the +adversary; and the next day had mounted a gun in the shape of a +pea-shooter upon the ledge of their window, trained so as to bear +exactly upon the spot which Martin had to occupy while tending his +nurslings. The moment he began to feed, they began to shoot; in vain +did the enemy himself invest in a pea-shooter, and endeavor to answer +the fire while he fed the young birds with his other hand; his +attention was divided, and his shots flew wild, while every one of +theirs told on his face and hands, and drove him into howlings and +imprecations. He had been driven to ensconce[8] the nest in a corner +of his already too well-filled den. + + [4] #Amateur nest#: here, a nest made by himself. + + [5] #Callow#: unfledged; without feathers. + + [6] #Cogitation#: thought. + + [7] #Sebastopol#: a fortified town in the Crimea; the scene of + a siege in the Crimean War. + + [8] #Ensconce#: to place in a protected place. + + +THE PHILOSOPHER'S DEN. + +The door was barricaded by a set of ingenious bolts of his own +invention, for the sieges were frequent by the neighbors when any +unusually ambrosial[9] odor spread itself from the den to the +neighboring studies. The door-panels were in a normal[10] state of +smash, but the frame of the door resisted all besiegers, and behind it +the owner carried on his varied pursuits; much in the same state of +mind, I should fancy, as a border-farmer[11] lived in, in the days of +the old moss-troopers,[12] when his hold might be summoned or his +cattle carried off at any minute of night or day. + + [9] #Ambrosial#: here, delicious, in an ironical sense. + + [10] #Normal#: usual; regular. + + [11] #Border-farmer#: one who lived on the border between + Scotland and England. + + [12] #Moss-troopers#: so called from the mosses or bogs on the + border; plunderers who infested the border. They sometimes + summoned the farmers to open the doors of their "holds" + (fortified houses), to them. + +"Open, Martin, old boy--it's only I, Tom Brown." + +"Oh, very well, stop a moment." One bolt went back. "You're sure East +isn't there?" + +"No, no, hang it, open." Tom gave a kick, the other bolt creaked, and +he entered the den. + +Den indeed it was, about five feet six inches long by five wide, and +seven feet high. About six tattered schoolbooks, and a few chemical +books, taxidermy,[13] Stanley on Birds, and an odd volume of +Bewick,[14] the latter in much better preservation, occupied the top +shelves. The other shelves, where they had not been cut away and used +by the owner for other purposes, were fitted up for the abiding-places +of birds, beasts and reptiles. There was no attempt at carpet or +curtain. The table was entirely occupied by the great work of Martin, +the electric machine, which was covered carefully with the remains of +his table-cloths. The jackdaw cage occupied one wall, and the other +was adorned by a small hatchet, a pair of climbing-irons, and his tin +candle-box, in which he was for the time being endeavoring to raise a +hopeful young family of field-mice. As nothing should be let to lie +useless, it was well that the candle-box was thus occupied, for +candles Martin never had. A pound was issued to him weekly as to +the other boys, but as candles were available capital, and easily +exchangeable for birds' eggs or young birds, Martin's pound invariably +found its way in a few hours to Howlett, the bird-fancier's,[15] in +the Bilton road, who could give a hawk's or nightingale's egg or young +linnet in exchange. Martin's ingenuity was therefore forever on the +rack to supply himself with a light; just now he had hit upon a grand +invention, and the den was lighted by a flaring cotton-wick issuing +from a ginger-beer bottle full of some doleful composition. When light +altogether failed him, Martin would loaf about by the fires in the +passages or Hall, after the manner of Diggs, and try to do his verses +or learn his lines by the fire-light. + + [13] #Taxidermy#: the art of stuffing the skins of animals. + + [14] #Bewick#: an English artist distinguished for wood + engraving. His most famous work was a "History of British + Birds." + + [15] #Bird-fancier#: one who keeps birds for sale. + + +THE INVITATION. + +"Well, old boy, you haven't got any sweeter in the den this half. How +that stuff in the bottle smells! Never mind, I'm not going to stop, +but you come up after prayers to our study; you know young Arthur; +we've got Gray's study. We'll have a good supper and talk about birds' +nesting." + +Martin was evidently highly pleased at the invitation, and promised to +be up without fail. + +As soon as prayers were over, and the sixth and fifth form boys had +withdrawn to the aristocratic seclusion of their own rooms, and the +rest, or democracy, had sat down to their supper in the Hall, Tom and +Arthur, having secured their allowances of bread and cheese, started +on their feet to catch the eye of the prępostor of the week, who +remained in charge during supper, walking up and down the Hall. He +happened to be an easy-going fellow, so they got a pleasant nod to +their "Please may I go out?" and away they scrambled to prepare for +Martin a sumptuous banquet. This, Tom had insisted on, for he was +in great delight on the occasion; the reason of which delight must +be expounded. The fact was that this was the first attempt at a +friendship of his own which Arthur had made, and Tom hailed it as a +grand step. The ease with which he himself became hail-fellow-well-met +with anybody, and blundered into and out of twenty friendships a +half-year, made him sometimes sorry and sometimes angry at Arthur's +reserve and loneliness. True, Arthur was always pleasant, and even +jolly, with any boys who came with Tom to their study; but Tom felt +that it was only through him, as it were, that his chum associated +with others, and that but for him Arthur would have been dwelling in a +wilderness. This increased his consciousness of responsibility; and +though he hadn't reasoned it out and made it clear to himself, yet +somehow he knew that this responsibility, this trust which he had +taken on him without thinking about it, head-over-heels in fact, was +the centre and turning-point of his school-life, that which was to +make him or mar him; his appointed work and trial for the time being. +And Tom was becoming a new boy, though with frequent tumbles in the +dirt and perpetual hard battle with himself, and was daily growing +in manfulness and thoughtfulness, as every high-couraged and +well-principled boy must, when he finds himself for the first time +consciously at grips with self and the devil. Already he could turn +almost without a sigh from the School-gates, from which had just +scampered off East and three or four others of his own particular set, +bound for some jolly lark not quite according to law, and involving +probably a row with louts, keepers, or farm-laborers, the skipping +dinner or calling-over, over some of Phoebe Jennings' beer and a very +possible flogging at the end of all as a relish. He had quite got over +the stage in which he would grumble to himself; "Well, hang it, it's +very hard of the Doctor to have saddled me with Arthur. Why couldn't +he have chummed him with Fogey, or Tompkin, or any of the fellows who +never do anything but walk round the close, and finish their copies +the first day they're set?" But although all this was past, he longed, +and felt that he was right in longing, for more time for the +legitimate pastimes of cricket, fives, bathing and fishing within +bounds, in which Arthur could not yet be his companion; and he felt +that when the young un (as he now generally called him) had found a +pursuit and some other friend for himself, he should be able to give +more time to the education of his own body with a clear conscience. + + +TOM'S WORK. + +And now what he so wished for had come to pass; he almost hailed it +as a special providence (as indeed it was, but not for the reasons he +gave for it--what providences are?) that Arthur should have singled +out Martin of all fellows for a friend. "The old Madman is the very +fellow," thought he; "he will take him scrambling over half the +country after birds' eggs and flowers, make him run and swim and climb +like an Indian, and not teach him a word of anything bad, or keep +him from his lessons. What luck!" And so, with more than his usual +heartiness, he dived into his cupboard and hauled out an old +knucklebone of ham, and two or three bottles of beer, together with +the solemn pewter[16] only used on state occasions; while Arthur, +equally elated at the easy accomplishment of his first act of +volition[17] in the joint establishment, produced from his side a +bottle of pickles and a pot of jam, and cleared the table. In a minute +or two the noise of the boys coining up from supper was heard, and +Martin knocked and was admitted, bearing his bread and cheese, and the +three fell to with hearty good-will upon the viands, talking faster +than they ate, for all shyness disappeared in a moment before Tom's +bottled beer and hospitable ways. "Here's Arthur a regular young +town-mouse, with a natural taste for the woods, Martin, longing to +break his neck climbing trees, and with a passion for young snakes." + + [16] #Pewter#: pewter mugs and plates. + + [17] #Volition#: will. + + +THE SUPPER. + +"Well, I say," spurted out Martin, eagerly, "will you come to-morrow, +both of you, to Caldecott's Spinney, then? for I know of a kestrel's +nest,[18] up a fir-tree--I can't get at it without help; and Brown, +you can climb against any one." + + [18] #Kestrel#: a bird of the hawk kind. + +"Oh, yes, do let us go," said Arthur; "I never saw a hawk's nest, nor +a hawk's egg." + +"You just come down to my study, then, and I'll show you five sorts," +said Martin. + +"Ay, the old Madman has got the best collection in the house, out and +out," said Tom; and then Martin, warming with unaccustomed good cheer +and the chance of a convert, launched out into a proposed +birds'-nesting campaign, betraying all manner of important secrets; a +golden-crested wren's nest near Butlins's Mound, a moor-hen that was +sitting on nine eggs in a pond down the Barby road, and a kingfisher's +nest in a corner of the old canal above Brownsover Mill. He had heard, +he said, that no one had ever got a kingfisher's nest out perfect, and +that the British Museum or the Government, or somebody had offered +£100 to any one who could bring them a nest and eggs not damaged. In +the middle of which astounding announcement, to which the others were +listening with open ears, and already considering the application of +the £100, a knock came at the door, and East's voice was heard craving +admittance. + +"There's Harry," said Tom; "we'll let him in--I'll keep him steady, +Martin. I thought the old boy would smell out the supper." + +The fact was that Tom's heart had already smitten him for not asking +his "fidus Achates"[19] to the feast, although only an extempore[20] +affair; and, though prudence and the desire to get Martin and Arthur +together alone at first had overcome his scruples, he was now heartily +glad to open the door, broach another bottle of beer, and hand over +the old ham-knuckle to the searching of his friend's pocket-knife. + + [19] #Fidus Achates#: faithful friend. + + [20] #Extempore#: off-hand. + +"Ah, you greedy vagabonds!" said East, with his mouth full, "I knew +there was something going on when I saw you cut off out of the Hall so +quick with your suppers." + +"Well, old Madman, and how goes the birds'-nesting campaign? How's +Howlett? I expect the young rooks'll be out in another fortnight, and +then my turn comes." + +"There'll be no young rooks fit for pies for a month yet; shows how +much you know about it," rejoined Martin, who, though very good +friends with East, regarded him with considerable suspicion for his +propensity to practical jokes. + +"Scud knows nothing and cares for nothing but grub and mischief," said +Tom; "but young rook-pie, specially when you've had to climb for the +rooks, is very pretty eating. However, I say, Scud, we're all going +after a hawk's nest to-morrow, in Caldecott's Spinney; and if you'll +come and behave yourself, we'll have a stunning climb." + +"And a bathe in Aganippe.[21] Hooray! I'm your man." + + [21] #Ag“a-nip“pe#: a famous Grecian fountain; here, the name + is applied to some stream or pool. + +"No; no bathing in Aganippe; that's where our betters go." + +"Well, well, never mind. I'm for the hawk's nest and anything that +turns up." + +And, his hunger appeased, East departed to his study; "that sneak +Jones," as he informed them, who had just got into the sixth, and +occupied the next study, having instituted a nightly visitation upon +East and his chum, to their no small discomfort. + +When he was gone, Martin rose to follow, but Tom stopped him. "No one +goes near New Row," said he, "so you may just as well stop here and do +your verses, and then we'll have some more talk. We'll be no end +quiet; besides, no prępostor comes here now--we havn't been visited +once this half." + +So the table was cleared, the cloth restored, and the three fell to +work with Gradus and dictionary upon the morning's Vulgus. + +They were three very fair examples of the way in which such tasks were +done at Rugby, "in the consulship of Plancus."[22] And doubtless the +method is little changed, for there is nothing new under the sun, +especially at schools. + + [22] #In the consulship of Plancus#: here, meaning in the time + of Dr. Arnold. + + +VULGUSES. + +Now be it known unto all you boys who are at schools which do not +rejoice in the time-honored institution of the Vulgus (commonly +supposed to have been established by William of Wykeham[23] at +Winchester, and imported to Rugby by Arnold, more for the sake of +the lines which were learnt by heart with it, than for its own +intrinsic[24] value, as I've always understood), that it is a short +exercise, in Greek or Latin verse, on a given subject, the minimum[25] +number of lines being fixed for each form. The master of the form +gave out at fourth lesson on the previous day the subject for next +morning's Vulgus, and at first lesson each boy had to bring his Vulgus +ready to be looked over; and with the Vulgus, a certain number of +lines from one of the Latin or Greek poets then being construed in the +form had to be got by heart. The master at first lesson called up each +boy in the form in order, and put him on in the lines. If he couldn't +say them, or seem to say them, by reading them off the master's or +some other boy's book who stood near, he was sent back, and went below +all the boys who did so say or seem to say them; but in either case +his Vulgus was looked over by the master, who gave and entered in his +book, to the credit or discredit of the boy, so many marks as the +composition merited. At Rugby, Vulgus and lines were the first lesson +every other day in the week, or Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; and +as there were thirty-eight weeks in the school year, it is obvious to +the meanest capacity that the master of each form had to set one +hundred and fourteen subjects every year, two hundred and twenty-eight +every two years, and so on. Now to persons of moderate invention this +was a considerable task, and human nature being prone to repeat +itself, it will not be wondered that the master gave the same subjects +sometimes over again after a certain lapse of time. To meet and rebuke +this bad habit of the masters, the schoolboy mind, with its accustomed +ingenuity, had invented an elaborate[26] system of tradition. Almost +every boy kept his own Vulgus, written out in a book, and these books +were duly handed down from boy to boy, till (if the tradition has gone +on till now) I suppose the popular boys, in whose hands bequeathed +Vulgus-books have accumulated, are prepared with three or four +Vulguses on any subject in heaven or earth, or in "more worlds than +one," which an unfortunate master can pitch upon. At any rate, such +lucky fellows had generally one for themselves and one for a friend +in my time. The only objection to the traditionary method of doing +your Vulguses was, the risk that the successions might have become +confused, and so that you and another follower of traditions should +show up the same identical Vulgus some fine morning; in which case, +when it happened, considerable grief was the result--but when did such +risk hinder boys or men from short cuts and pleasant paths? + + [23] #William of Wykeham#: the founder of Winchester College, + the oldest of the great public schools of England. Here Dr. + Arnold fitted for Oxford. + + [24] #Intrinsic#: inward, real, true. + + [25] #Minimum#: least. + + [26] #Elaborate#: prepared or thought out with great care. + + +THE SCIENCE OF VERSE-MAKING. + +Now in the study that night, Tom was the upholder of the traditionary +method of Vulgus doing. He carefully produced two large Vulgus books, +and began diving into them, and picking out a line here, and an ending +there (tags, as they were vulgarly called), till he had gotten all +that he thought he could make fit. He then proceeded to patch his tags +together with the help of his Gradus, producing an incongruous[27] and +feeble result of eight elegiac[28] lines, the minimum quantity for his +form, and finishing up with two highly moral lines extra, making ten +in all, which he cribbed[29] entire from one of his books, beginning, +"O genus humanum,"[30] and which he himself must have used a dozen +times before, whenever an unfortunate or wicked hero, of whatever +nation or language under the sun, was the subject. Indeed, he began to +have great doubts whether the master wouldn't remember them, and so +only threw them in as extra lines, because in any case they would call +off attention from the other tags, and if detected, being extra lines, +he wouldn't be sent back to do two more in their place, while if they +passed muster again he would get marks for them. + + [27] #Incongruous#: ill-fitting. + + [28] #Elegiac#: a kind of verse generally used in expressing + sorrow and lamentation. + + [29] #Cribbed#: stole, copied. + + [30] #O genus humanum#: O human race. + +The second method pursued by Martin may be called the dogged, or +prosaic, method. He, no more than Tom, took any pleasure in the task, +but having no old Vulgus books of his own, or any one's else, could +not follow the traditionary method, for which, too, as Tom remarked, +he hadn't the genius. Martin then proceeded to write down eight lines +in English, of the most matter-of-fact kind, the first that came into +his head; and to convert these, line by line, by main force of Gradus +and dictionary, into Latin that would scan.[31] This was all he +cared for, to produce eight lines with no false quantities[32] or +concords;[33] whether the words were apt, or what the sense was, +mattered nothing; and, as the article was all new, not a line beyond +the minimum did the followers of the dogged method ever produce. + + [31] #Scan#: contain the right number of syllables with the + accents in the proper places. + + [32] #False quantities#: long syllables placed where short + ones should be used or the reverse. + + [33] #Concord#: the agreement of words in construction, as + adjectives with nouns in gender, number, and case. + +The third, or artistic method, was Arthur's. He considered first what +point in the character or event which was the subject could most +neatly be brought out within the limits of a Vulgus; trying always to +get his idea into the eight lines, but not binding himself to ten or +even twelve lines if he couldn't do this. He then set to work, as much +as possible without Gradus or other help, to clothe his idea in +appropriate Latin or Greek, and would not be satisfied till he had +polished it well up with the aptest and most poetic words and phrases +he could get at. + +A fourth method indeed was used in the school, but of too simple a +kind to require comment. It may be called the vicarious[34] method, +obtained amongst big boys of lazy or bullying habits, and consisted +simply in making clever boys whom they could thrash do their whole +Vulgus for them, and construe it to them afterward; which latter is +a method not to be encouraged, and which I strongly advise you all +not to practise. Of the others, you will find the traditionary most +troublesome, unless you can steal the Vulguses whole (_experto +crede_),[35] and that the artistic method pays the best, both in marks +and other ways. + + [34] #Vicarious#: acting for another. Here it means, having it + done for em by another. + + [35] #Experto crede#: believe one who has had experience. + + +MARTIN'S DEN. + +The Vulguses being finished by nine o'clock, and Martin having +rejoiced above measure in the abundance of light, and of Gradus and +dictionary, and other conveniences almost unknown to him for getting +through the work, and having been pressed by Arthur to come and do his +verses there whenever he liked, the three boys went down to Martin's +den, and Arthur was initiated into the lore of birds' eggs, to his +great delight. The exquisite coloring and forms astonished and charmed +him who had scarcely even seen any but a hen's egg or an ostrich's, +and by the time he was lugged away to bed he had learned the names of +at least twenty sorts, and dreamed of the glorious perils of tree +climbing, and that he had found a roc's[36] egg in the island as big +as Sindbad's[37] and clouded like a titlark's, in blowing[38] which, +Martin and he had nearly been drowned in the yolk. + + [36] #Roc#: a monstrous, imaginary bird. + + [37] #Sindbad#: a sailor in the "Arabian Nights' Tales," who + had many wonderful adventures. + + [38] #Blowing#: two small holes are made at opposite ends of + an egg, and the contents are then blown out by the breath. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BIRD-FANCIERS. + + "I have found out a gift for my fair, + I have found where the wood-pigeons breed: + But let me the plunder forbear, + She would say 'twas a barbarous deed."--_Rowe._ + + "And now, my lad, take them five shilling, + And on my advice in future think; + So Billy pouched them all so willing, + And got that night disguised in drink."--_M S. Ballad._ + + +TOM PUT OUT. + +The next morning at first lesson Tom was turned back in his lines, and +so had to wait till the second round, while Martin and Arthur said +theirs all right and got out of school at once. When Tom got out and +ran down to breakfast at Harrowell's they were missing, and Stumps +informed him that they had swallowed down their breakfast and gone off +together,--where, he couldn't say. Tom hurried over his own breakfast, +and went first to Martin's study and then to his own, but no signs of +the missing boys were to be found. He felt half angry and jealous of +Martin,--where could they be gone? + +He learnt second lesson with East and the rest in no very good temper, +and then went out into the quadrangle. About ten minutes before school +Martin and Arthur arrived in the quadrangle breathless, and catching +sight of him, Arthur rushed up all excitement and with a bright glow +on his face. + +"Oh, Tom, look here," cried he, holding out three moor-hen's eggs; "we +have been down the Barby road to the pool Martin told us of last +night, and just see what we've got." + +Tom wouldn't be pleased, and only looked out for something to find +fault with. + +"Why, young un," said he, "what have you been after? You don't mean to +say you've been wading?" + +The tone of reproach made poor little Arthur shrink up in a moment and +look piteous, and Tom, with a shrug of his shoulders, turned his anger +on Martin. + +"Well, I didn't think, Madman, that you'd have been such a muff as to +let him be getting wet through at this time of day. You might have +done the wading yourself." + +"So I did, of course, only he would come in, too, to see the nest. We +left six eggs in; they'll be hatched in a day or two." + +"Hang the eggs!" said Tom; "a fellow can't turn his back for a moment, +but all his work's undone. He'll be laid up for a week for this +precious lark, I'll be bound." + +"Indeed, Tom, now," pleaded Arthur, "my feet aren't wet, for Martin +made me take off my shoes, stockings and trousers." + +"But they are wet and dirty, too--can't I see?" answered Tom, "and +you'll be called up and floored[1] when the master sees what a state +you're in. You haven't looked at second lesson, you know." Oh, Tom, +you old humbug! you to be upbraiding any one with not learning his +lessons. If you hadn't been floored yourself now at first lesson, do +you mean to say you wouldn't have been with them? and you've taken +away all poor little Arthur's joy and pride in his first birds' eggs, +and he goes and puts them down in the study, and takes down his books +with a sigh, thinking he has done something horribly wrong, whereas he +has learnt on in advance much more than will be done at second lesson. + + [1] #Floored#: silenced or put back in his lesson for not + having learned it properly. + +But the old Madman hasn't, and gets called up and makes some frightful +shots, losing about ten places, and all but getting floored. This +somewhat appeases Tom's wrath, and by the end of the lesson he has +regained his temper. And afterward in their study he begins to get +right again, as he watches Arthur's intense joy at seeing Martin +blowing the eggs and glueing them carefully on to bits of cardboard, +and notes the anxious, loving looks which the little fellow casts +sidelong at him. And then he thinks, "What an ill-tempered beast I am! +Here's just what I was wishing for last night come about, and I'm +spoiling it all," and in another five minutes has swallowed the last +mouthful of his bile,[2] and is repaid by seeing his little sensitive +plant expand again, and sun itself in his smiles. + + [2] #Bile#: here, anger. + +After dinner the Madman is busy with the preparations for their +expedition, fitting new straps on to his climbing-irons, filling large +pill-boxes with cotton-wool, and sharpening East's small axe. They +carry all their munitions[3] into calling-over, and directly +afterward, having dodged such prępostors as are on the look-out for +fags at cricket, the four set off at a smart trot down the Lawford +footpath straight for Caldecott's Spinney and the hawk's nest. + + [3] #Munitions#: supplies. + + +BIRDS'-NESTING. + +Martin leads the way in high feather.[4] It is quite a new sensation +to him getting companions, and he finds it very pleasant, and means to +show them all manner of proofs of his science and skill. "Brown and +East may be better at cricket and foot-ball and games," thinks he, +"but out in the fields and woods see if I can't teach them something." +He has taken the leadership already, and strides away in front, with +his climbing-irons strapped under one arm, his pecking-bag[5] under +the other, and his pockets and hat full of pill-boxes, cotton-wool, +and other et ceteras.[6] Each of the others carries a pecking-bag, and +East his hatchet. + + [4] #High feather#: high spirits. + + [5] #Pecking-bag#: a strong bag to carry pebbles in. + + [6] #Et ceteras#: things of a like kind. + +When they had crossed three or four fields without a check, Arthur +began to lag, and Tom seeing this shouted to Martin to pull up a bit: +"We aren't out Hare and Hounds--what's the good of grinding on at this +rate?" + +"There's the spinney," said Martin, pulling up on the brow of a slope, +at the bottom of which lay Lawford brook, and pointing to the top of +the opposite slope; "the nest is in one of those high fir-trees at +this end. And down by the brook there, I know of a sedge-bird's nest; +we'll go and look at it coming back." + +"Oh, come on, don't let us stop," said Arthur, who was getting excited +at the sight of the wood; so they broke into a trot again, and were +soon across the brook, up the slope, and into the spinney. Here they +advanced as noiselessly as possible, lest keepers or other enemies +should be about, and stopped at the foot of a tall fir, at the top of +which Martin pointed out with pride the kestrel's nest, the object of +their quest. + +"Oh, where! which is it?" asks Arthur, gaping up in the air, and +having the most vague idea of what it would be like. + +"There, don't you see!" said East, pointing to a lump of mistletoe[7] +in the next tree, which was a beech; he saw that Martin and Tom were +busy with the climbing-irons, and couldn't resist the temptation of +hoaxing. Arthur stared and wondered more than ever. + + [7] #Mistletoe#: an evergreen plant which grows on various + trees. + +"Well, how curious! it doesn't look a bit like I expected," said he. + +"Very odd birds, kestrels," said East, looking waggishly at his victim +who was still star-gazing. + +"But I thought it was in a fir-tree?" objected Arthur. + +"Ah, don't you know? that's a new sort of fir which old Caldecott +brought from the Himalayas." + +"Really," said Arthur; "I'm glad I know that--how unlike our firs they +are! They do very well, too, here, don't they? the spinney's full of +them." + +"What's that humbug he's telling you?" cried Tom, looking up, having +caught the word Himalayas, and suspecting what East was after. + +"Only about this fir," said Arthur, putting his hand on the stem of +the beech. + +"Fir!" shouted Tom; "why, you don't mean to say, young un, you don't +know a beech when you see one?" + +Poor little Arthur looked terribly ashamed, and East exploded in +laughter which made the wood ring. + +"I've hardly ever seen any trees," faltered Arthur. + +"What a shame to hoax him, Scud!" cried Martin. "Never mind, Arthur +you shall know more about trees than he does in a week or two." + +"And isn't that the kestrel's nest, then?" asked Arthur. + +"That! why that's a piece of mistletoe. There's the nest, that lump of +sticks up in this fir." + +"Don't believe him, Arthur," struck in the incorrigible East. "I just +saw an old magpie go out of it." + +Martin did not deign to reply to this sally, except by a grunt, as he +buckled the last buckle of his climbing-irons; and Arthur looked +reproachfully at East without speaking. + +But now came the tug of war. It was a very difficult tree to climb +until the branches were reached, the first of which was some fourteen +feet up, for the trunk was too large at the bottom to be swarmed;[8] +in fact, neither of the boys could reach more than half round it with +their arms. Martin and Tom, both of whom had irons on, tried it +without success at first; the fir bark broke away where they stuck the +irons in as soon as they leaned any weight on their feet, and the grip +of their arms wasn't enough to keep them up; so, after getting up +three or four feet, down they came slithering[9] to the ground, +barking their arms and faces. They were furious, and East sat by +laughing and shouting at each failure: "Two to one on the old magpie!" + + [8] #Swarmed#: climbed by embracing with arms and legs. + + [9] #Slithering#: sliding. + +"We must try a pyramid," said Tom at last. "Now, Scud, you lazy +rascal, stick yourself against the tree!" + +"I dare say! and have you standing on my shoulders with the irons on: +what do you think my skin's made of?" However, up he got, and leaned +against the tree, putting his head down and clasping it with his arms +as far as he could. "Now, then, Madman," said Tom, "you next." + +"No, I'm lighter than you, you go next." So Tom got on East's +shoulders, and grasped the tree above, and then Martin scrambled up on +to Tom's shoulders, amidst the totterings and the groanings of the +pyramid, and, with a spring which sent his supporters howling to the +ground, clasped the stem some ten feet up, and remained clinging; for +a moment or two they thought he couldn't get up, but then, holding on +with arms and teeth, he worked first one iron, then the other firmly +into the bark, got another grip with his arms, and in another minute +had hold of the lowest branch. + +"All up with old magpie now," said East; and, after a minute's rest, +up went Martin, hand over hand, watched by Arthur with fearful +eagerness. + +"Isn't it very dangerous?" said he. + +"Not a bit," answered Tom; "you can't hurt if you only get a good +hand-hold. Try every branch with a good pull before you trust it, and +then up you go." + +Martin was now amongst the small branches close to the nest, and away +dashed the old bird, and soared up above the trees, watching the +intruder. + +"All right--four eggs!" shouted he. + +"Take' em all!" shouted East; "that'll be one apiece." + +"No, no! leave one, and then she won't care," said Tom. + +We boys had an idea that birds couldn't count, and were quite content +as long as you left one egg. I hope it is so. + +Martin carefully put one egg into each of his boxes and the third into +his mouth, the only other place of safety, and came down like a +lamp-lighter. All went well till he was within ten feet of the ground, +when, as the trunk enlarged, his hold got less and less firm, and at +last down he came with a run, tumbling on to his back on the turf, +spluttering and spitting out the remains of the great egg, which had +broken by the jar of his fall. + +"Ugh, ugh! something to drink--ugh! it was addled,"[10] spluttered he, +while the wood rang again with the merry laughter of East and Tom. + + [10] #Addled#: rotten. + +Then they examined the prizes, gathered up their things, and went off +to the brook, where Martin swallowed huge draughts of water to get rid +of the taste; and they visited the sedge-bird's[11] nest, and from +thence struck across the country in high glee, beating[12] the hedges +and brakes as they went along; and Arthur at last, to his intense +delight, was allowed to climb a small hedge-row oak for a magpie's +nest with Tom, who kept all around him like a mother, and showed him +where to hold and how to throw his weight; and though he was in a +great fright, didn't show it; and was applauded by all for his +lissomeness. + + [11] #Sedge-bird#: a bird living in the sedge or water-grass + on the banks of streams. + + [12] #Beating#: rousing or driving out birds and game. + +They crossed a road soon afterward, and there close to them lay a heap +of charming pebbles. + + +PECKING. + +"Look here," shouted East, "here's luck! I've been longing for some +good honest pecking this half hour. Let's fill the bags, and have no +more of this foozling[13] birds'-nesting." + + [13] #Foozling#: dull, stupid. + +No one objected, so each boy filled the fustian bag he carried full of +stones; they crossed into the next field, Tom and East taking one side +of the hedges, and the other two the other side. Noise enough they +made certainly, but it was too early in the season for the young +birds, and the old birds were too strong on the wing for our young +marksmen, and flew out of shot after the first discharge. But it was +great fun, rushing along the hedgerows, and discharging stone after +stone at blackbirds and chaffinches,[14] though no result in the shape +of slaughtered birds was obtained; and Arthur soon entered into it, +and rushed to head back the birds, and shouted, and threw, and tumbled +into ditches and over and through hedges, as wild as the Madman +himself. + + [14] #Chaffinch#: a fine song-bird. + +Presently the party, in full cry after an old blackbird (who was +evidently used to the thing and enjoyed the fun, for he would wait +till they came close to him and then fly on for forty yards or so; and +with an impudent flicker of his tail, dart into the depths of the +quickset),[15] came beating down a high double hedge, two on each +side. + + [15] #Quickset#: a kind of hedge. + +"There he is again;" "Head him;" "Let drive;" "I had him there;" "Take +care where you're throwing, Madman;" the shouts might have been heard +a quarter of a mile off. They were heard some two hundred yards off by +a farmer and two of his shepherds, who were doctoring sheep in a fold +in the next field. + + +WHAT IS LARCENY? + +Now the farmer in question rented a house and yard situated at the end +of the field in which the young bird-fanciers had arrived, which house +and yard he didn't occupy or keep any one else in. Nevertheless, like +a brainless and unreasoning Briton, he persisted in maintaining on the +premises a large stock of cocks, hens, and other poultry. Of course +all sorts of depredators visited the place from time to time; foxes +and gipsies wrought havoc in the night; while in the day-time, I +regret to have to confess, that visits from the Rugby boys, and +consequent disappearances of ancient and respectable fowls, were not +unfrequent. Tom and East had during the period of their outlawry +visited the barn in question for felonious[16] purposes, and on one +occasion had conquered and slain a duck there and borne away the +carcass triumphantly, hidden in their handkerchiefs. However, they +were sickened of the practice by the trouble and anxiety which +the wretched duck's body caused them. They carried it to Sally +Harrowell's, in hopes of a good supper; but she, after examining it, +made a long face, and refused to dress or have anything to do with it. + + [16] #Felonious#: unlawful. + + +THE TROUBLESOME DUCK. + +Then they took it into their study, and began plucking it themselves; +but what to do with the feathers, where to hide them? + +"Good gracious, Tom, what a lot of feathers a duck has!" groaned East, +holding a bag full in his hand, and looking disconsolately at the +carcass, not yet half plucked. + +"And I do think he's getting high,[17] too, already," said Tom, +smelling at him cautiously, "so we must finish him up soon." + + [17] #High#: tainted; beginning to spoil. + +"Yes, all very well, but how are we to cook him? I'm sure I'm not +going to try it on in the hall or passages; we can't afford to be +roasting ducks about, our character's too bad." + +"I wish we were rid of the brute," said Tom, throwing him on the table +in disgust. And after a day or two more it became clear that got rid +of he must be; so they packed him and sealed him up in brown paper, +and put him in the cupboard of an unoccupied study, where he was found +in the holidays by the matron, a grewsome body. + +They had never been duck-hunting there since, but others had, and the +bold yeoman was very sore on the subject, and bent on making an +example of the first boys he could catch. So he and his shepherds +crouched behind the hurdles, and watched the party who were +approaching all unconscious. + +Why should that old guinea-fowl be lying out in the hedge just at this +particular moment of all the year? Who can say? Guinea-fowls always +are--so are all other things, animals, and persons--requisite for +getting one into scrapes, always ready when any mischief can come of +them. At any rate, just under East's nose popped out the old +guinea-hen, scuttling along and shrieking: "Come back, come back," at +the top of her voice. Either of the other three might perhaps have +withstood the temptation, but East first lets drive the stone he has +in his hand at her, then rushes to turn her into the hedge again. He +succeeds, and then they are all at it for dear life, up and down the +hedge in full cry, the "Come back, come back," getting shriller and +fainter every minute. + +Meantime, the farmer and his men steal over the hurdles and creep down +the hedge toward the scene of action. They are almost within a stone's +throw of Martin, who is pressing the unlucky chase hard, when Tom +catches sight of them, and sings out: "Louts, 'ware[18] louts, your +side! Madman, look ahead!" and then catching hold of Arthur, hurries +him away across the fields towards Rugby as hard as they can tear. Had +he been by himself, he would have stayed to see it out with the +others, but now his heart sinks, and all his pluck goes. The idea of +being led up to the Doctor with Arthur for bagging fowls, quite unmans +and takes half the run out of him. + + [18] #'Ware#: beware! look out! + + +RUNNING FOR A CONVOY. + +However, no boys are more able to take care of themselves than East +and Martin; they dodge the pursuers, slip through a gap, and come +pelting after Tom and Arthur, whom they catch up in no time; the +farmer and his men are making a good run about a field behind. Tom +wishes to himself that they had made off in any other direction, but +now they are all in for it together and must see it out. "You won't +leave the young un, will you?" says he, as they haul poor little +Arthur, already losing wind from the fright, through the next hedge. +"Not we," is the answer from both. The next hedge is a stiff one; the +pursuers gain horribly on them, and they only just pull Arthur +through, with two great rents in his trousers, as the foremost +shepherd comes up on the other side. As they start into the next +field, they are aware of two figures walking down the footpath +in the middle of it, and recognize Holmes and Diggs taking a +constitutional.[19] Those good-natured fellows immediately shout "On." +"Let's go to them and surrender," pants Tom. Agreed. And in another +minute the four boys, to the great astonishment of those worthies, +rush breathless up to Holmes and Diggs, who pull up to see what is the +matter; and then the whole is explained by the appearance of the +farmer and his men, who unite their forces and bear down on the knot +of boys. + + [19] #A constitutional#: a walk for the health. + +There is no time to explain, and Tom's heart beats frightfully quick, +as he ponders: "Will they stand by us?" + +The farmer makes a rush at East, and collars him; and that young +gentleman, with unusual discretion, instead of kicking his shins, +looks appealingly at Holmes, and stands still. + +"Hullo there, not so fast," says Holmes, who is bound to stand up for +them till they are proved in the wrong. "Now, what's all this about?" + +"I've got the young varmint at last, have I?" pants the farmer; "why, +they've been a-skulking about my yard and stealing my fowls, that's +where 'tis; and if I doan't have they flogged for it, every one on +'em, my name ain't Thompson." + + +A DEBATE. + +Holmes looks grave, and Diggs's face falls. They are quite ready to +fight, no boys in the school more so; but they are prępostors, and +understand their office; and can't uphold unrighteous causes. + +"I haven't been near his old barn this half," cries East. + +"Nor I," "Nor I," chime in Tom and Martin. + +"Now, Willum, didn't you see 'em there last week?" + +"Ees,"[20] seen 'em, sure enough," says Willum, grasping a prong he +carried, and preparing for action. + + [20] #Ees#: yes. + +The boys deny stoutly, and Willum is driven to admit that, "if it +worn't they, 'twas chaps as like 'em as two peas'n";[21] and +"leastway,[22] he'll swear he see'd them two in the yard last +Martinmas," indicating East and Tom. + + [21] #Peas'n#: peas. + + [22] #Leastway#: at any rate. + +Holmes has had time to meditate. "Now, sir," says he to Willum, "you +see you can't remember what you have seen, and I believe the boys." + +"I doan't care," blusters the farmer, "they was arter my fowls to-day; +that's enough for I. Willum, you catch hold o' t'other chap. They've +been a-sneaking about this two hours, I tells ee!" shouted he, as +Holmes stands between Martin and Willum, "and have druv a matter of a +dozen young pullets pretty nigh to death." + +"Oh, there's a whacker!" cried East; "we haven't been within a hundred +yards of his barn; we haven't been up here above ten minutes, and +we've seen nothing but a tough old guinea-hen, who ran like a +greyhound." + +"Indeed, that's all true, Holmes, upon my honor," added Tom; "we +weren't after his fowls; guinea-hen ran out of the hedge under our +feet, and we've seen nothing else." + +"Drat their talk! Thee catch hold o' t'other, Willum, and come along +wi' un." + +"Farmer Thompson," said Holmes, warning off Willum and the prong with +his stick, while Diggs faced the other shepherd, cracking his fingers +like pistol-shots, "now listen to reason. The boys haven't been after +your fowls, that's plain." + +"Tells ee I seed 'em. Who be you, I should like to know?" + +"Never you mind, farmer," answered Holmes. "And now I'll just tell you +what it is--you ought to be ashamed of yourself for leaving all that +poultry about, with no one to watch it, so near the School. You +deserve to have it all stolen. So if you choose to come up to the +Doctor with them, I shall go with you, and tell him what I think of +it." + +The farmer began to take Holmes for a master; besides, he wanted to +get back to his flock. Corporal punishment was out of the question, +the odds were too great; so he began to hint at paying for the damage. +Arthur jumped at this, offering to pay anything, and the farmer +immediately valued the guinea-hen at half a sovereign. + +"Half a sovereign!" cried East, now released from the farmer's grip; +"well, that is a good one! the old hen isn't hurt a bit, and she's +seven years old, I know, and as tough as whipcord; she couldn't lay +another egg to save her life." + +It was at last settled that they should pay the farmer two shillings +and his man one shilling, and so the matter ended, to the unspeakable +relief of Tom, who hadn't been able to say a word, being sick at heart +at the idea of what the Doctor would think of him; and now the whole +party of boys marched off down the woodpath toward Rugby. Holmes, who +was one of the best boys in the school, began to improve the occasion. +"Now, you youngsters," said he, as he marched along in the middle of +them, "mind this: you're very well out of this scrape. Don't you go +near Thompson's barn again, do you hear?" + +Profuse promises from all, especially East. + + +LECTURE ON SCHOOL LARCENY. + +"Mind, I don't ask questions," went on Mentor, "but I rather think +some of you have been there before this after his chickens. Now, +knocking over other people's chickens, and running off with them is +stealing. It's an ugly word, but that's the plain English of it. If +the chickens were dead and lying in a shop, you wouldn't take them, I +know that, any more than you would apples out of Griffith's basket: +but there's no real difference between chickens running about and +apples on a tree, and the same articles in a shop. I wish our morals +were sounder in such matters. There's nothing so mischievous as these +school distinctions, which jumble up right and wrong, and justify +things in us for which poor boys would be sent to prison." And good +old Holmes delivered his soul on the walk home of many wise sayings, +and, as the song says:-- + + "Gee'd 'em[23] a sight of good advice"; + +which same sermon sank into them all more or less, and very penitent +they were for several hours. But truth compels me to admit that East +at any rate forgot it all in a week, but remembered the insult which +had been put upon him by Farmer Thompson, and with the Tadpole and +other hare-brained youngsters, committed a raid on the barn soon +afterward, in which they were caught by the shepherds and severely +handled, besides having to pay eight shillings--all the money they had +in the world--to escape being brought up to the Doctor. + + [23] #Gee'd 'em#: gave them. + + +ARTHUR SEALS HIS FRIENDSHIP. + +Martin became a constant inmate in the joint study from this time, and +Arthur took to him so kindly that Tom couldn't resist slight fits of +jealousy, which, however, he managed to keep to himself. The kestrel's +eggs had not been broken, strange to say, and formed the nucleus of +Arthur's collection, at which Martin worked heart and soul; and +introduced Arthur to Hewlett the bird-fancier, and instructed him in +the rudiments of the art of stuffing. In token of his gratitude, +Arthur allowed Martin to tattoo a small anchor on one of his wrists, +which decoration, however, he carefully concealed from Tom. Before the +end of the half-year he had become a bold climber and good runner, +and, as Martin had foretold, knew twice as much about trees, birds, +flowers, and many other things, as our good-hearted and facetious +young friend Harry East. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE FIGHT. + + "Surgebat Macnevisius + Et mox jactabat ultro, + Pugnabo tuā gratiā + Feroci hoc Mactwoltro."--_Etonian._ + + +FIGHTING IN GENERAL. + +There is a certain sort of fellow--we who are used to studying boys +all know him well enough--of whom you can predicate[1] with almost +positive certainty, after he has been a month at school, that he is +sure to have a fight, and with almost equal certainty that he will +have but one. Tom Brown was one of these; and as it is our +well-weighed intention to give a full, true, and correct account of +Tom's only single combat with a schoolfellow in the manner of our old +friend _Bell's Life_,[2] let those young persons whose stomachs are +not strong, or who think a good set-to with the weapons which God has +given us all, an uncivilized, unchristian, or ungentlemanly affair, +just skip this chapter at once, for it won't be to their taste. + + [1] #Predicate#: say or assert. + + [2] #Bell's Life#: a London sporting journal. + +It was not at all usual in those days for two School-house boys to +have a fight. Of course there were exceptions, when some +cross-grained, hard-headed fellow came up who would never be happy +unless he was quarrelling with his nearest neighbors, or when there +was some class dispute between the fifth form and the fags, for +instance, which required blood-letting; and a champion was picked out +on each side tacitly,[3] who settled the matter by a good hearty +mill.[4] But, for the most part, the constant use of those surest +keepers of the peace, the boxing gloves, kept the School-house boys +from fighting one another. Two or three nights in every week the +gloves were brought out, either in the hall or fifth form room; and +every boy who was ever likely to fight at all knew all his neighbors' +prowess perfectly well, and could tell to a nicety what chance he +would have in a stand-up fight with any other boy in the house. But, +of course, no such experience could be gotten as regarded boys in +other houses; and as most of the other houses were more or less +jealous of the School-house, collisions were frequent. + + [3] #Tacitly#: without words, silently. + + [4] #Mill#: a set-to or fight. + +After all, what would life be without fighting, I should like to know? +From the cradle to the grave, fighting, rightly understood, is the +business, the real, highest, honestest business of every son of man. +Every one who is worth his salt has his enemies, who must be beaten, +be they evil thoughts and habits in himself or spiritual wickedness in +high places, or Russians, or Border-ruffians, or Bill, Tom, or Harry, +who will not let him live his life in quiet till he has thrashed them. + +It is no good for Quakers, or any other body of men, to uplift their +voices against fighting. Human nature is too strong for them, and they +don't follow their own precepts. Every soul of them is doing his own +piece of fighting, somehow and somewhere. The world might be a better +world without fighting, for anything I know, but it wouldn't be our +world; and therefore I am dead against crying peace when there is no +peace, and isn't meant to be. I am as sorry as any man to see folks +fighting the wrong people and the wrong things, but I'd a deal sooner +see them doing that, than that they should have no fight in them. So +having recorded, and being about to record, my hero's fights of all +sorts, with all sorts of enemies, I shall now proceed to give an +account of his passage-at-arms with the only one of his school-fellows +whom he ever had to encounter in this manner. + + +HOW THE FIGHT AROSE. + +It was drawing toward the close of Arthur's first half-year, and the +May evenings were lengthening out. Locking-up was not till eight +o'clock, and everybody was beginning to talk about what he would do in +the holidays. The shell, in which form all our _dramatis personę_[5] +now are, were reading amongst other things the last book of Homer's +"Iliad,"[6] and had worked through it as far as the speeches of the +women over Hector's[7] body. It is a whole school-day, and four or +five of the School-house boys (amongst whom are Arthur, Tom, and East) +are preparing third lesson together. They have finished the regulation +forty lines, and are for the most part getting very tired, +notwithstanding the exquisite pathos of Helen's[8] lamentation. And +now several long four-syllable words come together, and the boy with +the dictionary strikes work. + + [5] #Dramatis personę#: persons represented in a drama or in a + story. + + [6] #Homer's Iliad#: a Greek epic poem relating the siege of + Ilium or Troy. + + [7] #Hector#: a Trojan hero slain in the siege of Troy. + + [8] #Helen#: a beautiful Grecian princess whose abduction by + Paris of Troy caused the Trojan war. + +"I am not going to look out any more words," says he; "we've done the +quantity. Ten to one we sha'n't get so far. Let's go out into the +close." + +"Come along, boys," cries East, always ready to leave "the grind," as +he called it; "our old coach[9] is laid up, you know, and we shall +have one of the new masters, who's sure to go slow and let us down +easy." + + [9] #Coach#: teacher or tutor. + +So an adjournment to the close was carried _nem con._,[10] little +Arthur not daring to uplift his voice; but, being deeply interested in +what they were reading, stayed quietly behind, and learned on for his +own pleasure. + + [10] #Nem. con.#: no one objecting. + +As East had said, the regular master of the form was unwell, and they +were to be heard by one of the new masters, quite a young man, who had +only just left the university. Certainly it would be hard lines, if, +by dawdling as much as possible in coming in and taking their places, +entering into long-winded explanations of what was the usual course of +the regular master of the form, and others of the stock contrivances +of boys for wasting time in school, they could not spin out the lesson +so that he should not work them through more than the forty lines; as +to which quantity there was a perpetual fight going on between the +master and his form, the latter insisting, and enforcing by passive +resistance, that it was the prescribed quantity of Homer for a shell +lesson,[11] the former that there was no fixed quantity, but that they +must always be ready to go on to fifty or sixty lines if there were +time within the hour. However, notwithstanding all their efforts, the +new master got on horribly quick; he seemed to have the bad taste to +be really interested in the lesson, and to be trying to work them up +into something like appreciation of it, giving them good spirited +English words, instead of the wretched bald stuff into which they +rendered poor old Homer, and construing over each piece himself to +them, after each boy, to show them how it should be done. + + [11] #Shell lesson#: a lesson for the shell, or lower fourth + form or class. + +Now the clock strikes the three-quarters; there is only a quarter of +an hour more, but the forty lines are all but done. So the boys, one +after another, who are called up, stick more and more, and make balder +and even more bald work of it. The poor young master is pretty near +beat by this time, and feels ready to knock his head against the wall, +or his fingers against somebody else's head. So he gives up altogether +the lower and middle parts of the form, and looks around in despair at +the boys on the top bench, to see if there is one out of whom he can +strike a spark or two, and who will be too chivalrous[12] to murder +the most beautiful utterances of the most beautiful woman of the old +world. His eye rests on Arthur, and he calls him up to finish +construing Helen's speech. Whereupon all the other boys draw long +breaths, and begin to stare about and take it easy. They are all safe; +Arthur is at the head of the form, and sure to be able to construe, +and that will tide on safely till the hour strikes. + + [12] #Chivalrous#: here, gallant, polite. + +Arthur proceeds to read out the passage in Greek before construing it, +as the custom is. Tom, who isn't paying much attention, is suddenly +caught by the falter in his voice as he reads the two lines:-- + + [Greek: "alla su ton g' epeessi paraiphamenos katerukes, + sź t' aganophrosunź kai sois aganois epeessin."][13] + +He looks up at Arthur. "Why, bless us," thinks he, "what can be the +matter with the young un? He's never going to get floored! He's sure +to have learnt to the end!" Next moment he is reassured by the +spirited tone in which Arthur begins construing, and betakes himself +to drawing dogs' heads in his note-book, while the master, evidently +enjoying the change, turns his back on the middle bench, and stands +before Arthur, beating a sort of time with his hand and foot, and +saying: "Yes, yes," "Very well," as Arthur goes on. + + [13] "Thou didst take my part with kindly admonitions, + and restrain their tongues with soft address and gentle + words."--_Bryant's translation._ + +But as he nears the fatal two lines, Tom catches that falter, and +again looks up. He sees that there is something the matter: Arthur can +hardly get on at all. What can it be? + +Suddenly at this point Arthur breaks down altogether, and fairly +bursts out crying, and dashes the cuff of his jacket across his eyes, +blushing up to the roots of his hair, and feeling as if he should like +to go down suddenly through the floor. The whole form are taken aback; +most of them stare stupidly at him, while those who are gifted with +presence of mind find their places, and look steadily at their books, +in hopes of not catching the master's eye, and getting called up in +Arthur's place. + +The master looked puzzled for a moment, and then seeing, as the fact +is, that the boy is really affected to tears by the most touching +thing in Homer, perhaps in all profane[14] poetry put together, steps +up to him and lays his hand kindly on his shoulder, saying: "Never +mind, my little man, you've construed very well. Stop a minute, +there's no hurry." + + [14] #Profane#: here, not sacred. + +Now, as luck would have it, there sat next above Tom on that day, in +the middle bench of the form, a big boy, by name Williams, generally +supposed to be the cock of the shell, therefore of all the schools +below the fifths. The small boys, who are great speculators on the +prowess of their elders, used to hold forth to one another about +Williams's great strength, and to discuss whether East or Brown would +take a licking from him. He was called Slogger[15] Williams, from the +force with which it was supposed he could hit. In the main, he was a +rough, good-natured fellow enough, but very much alive to his own +dignity. He reckoned himself the king of the form, and kept up his +position with the strong hand, especially in the matter of forcing +boys not to construe more than the legitimate forty lines. He had +already grunted and grumbled to himself, when Arthur went on reading +beyond the forty lines. But now that he had broken down just in the +middle of all the long words, the Slogger's wrath was fairly aroused. + + [15] #Slogger#: a "slugger," a hard hitter. + +"Sneaking little brute," muttered he, regardless of prudence, +"clapping on the water-works just in the hardest place; see if I don't +punch his head after fourth lesson." + +"Whose?" said Tom, to whom the remark seemed addressed. + +"Why, that little sneak Arthur's," replied Williams. + +"No, you sha'n't," said Tom. + +"Hullo!" exclaimed Williams, looking at Tom with great surprise for a +moment, and then giving him a sudden dig in the ribs with his elbow, +which sent Tom's book flying on to the floor, and called the attention +of the master, who turned suddenly round, and seeing the state of +things, said:-- + +"Williams, go down three places, and then go on." + +The Slogger found his legs very slowly, and proceeded to go below Tom +and two other boys with great disgust, and then, turning round and +facing the master, said: "I haven't learnt any more, sir; our lesson +is only forty lines." + +"Is that so?" said the master, appealing generally to the top bench. +No answer. + +"Who is the head boy of the form?" said he, waxing wroth. + +"Arthur, sir," answered three or four boys, indicating our friend. + +"Oh, your name's Arthur. Well, now, what is the length of your regular +lesson?" + +Arthur hesitated a moment, and then said: "We call it only forty +lines, sir." + +"How do you mean, you call it?" + +"Well, sir, Mr. Graham says we aren't to stop there, when there's time +to construe more." + +"I understand," said the master. "Williams, go down three more places, +and write me out the lesson in Greek and English. And now, Arthur, +finish construing." + +"Oh, would I be in Arthur's shoes after fourth lesson?" said the +little boys to one another: but Arthur finished Helen's speech without +any further catastrophe, and the clock struck four, which ended third +lesson. + +Another hour was occupied in preparing and saying fourth lesson, +during which Williams was bottling up his wrath; and when five struck, +and the lessons for the day were over, he prepared to take summary[16] +vengeance on the innocent cause of his misfortune. + + [16] #Summary#: quick, short. + + +THE CHALLENGE. + +Tom was detained in school a few minutes after the rest, and on coming +out into the quadrangle, the first thing he saw was a small ring of +boys, applauding Williams, who was holding Arthur by the collar. + +"There, you young sneak," said he, giving Arthur a cuff on the head +with his other hand, "what made you say that--" + +"Hullo!" said Tom, shouldering into the crowd, "you drop that, +Williams; you sha'n't touch him." + +"Who'll stop me?" said the Slogger, raising his hand again. + +"I," said Tom; and suiting the action to the word, he struck the arm +which held Arthur's arm so sharply that the Slogger dropped it with a +start, and turned the full current of his wrath on Tom. + +"Will you fight?" + +"Yes, of course." + +"Huzzah! there is going to be a fight between Slogger Williams and Tom +Brown." + +The news ran like wildfire about, and many boys who were on their way +to tea at their several houses turned back, and sought the back of the +chapel, where the fights came off. + +"Just run and tell East to come and back me," said Tom, to a small +School-house boy, who was off like a rocket to Harrowell's, just +stopping for a moment to poke his head into the School-house hall, +where the lower boys were already at tea, and singing out: "Fight! Tom +Brown and Slogger Williams." + +Up start half the boys at once, leaving bread, eggs, butter, +sprats[17], and all the rest to take care of themselves. The greater +part of the remainder follow in a minute, after swallowing their tea, +carrying their food in their hands to consume as they go. Three or +four only remain, who steal the butter of the more impetuous, and make +to themselves an unctuous[18] feast. + + [17] #Sprats#: a kind of small fish. + + [18] #Unctuous#: fat, oily. + +In another minute East and Martin tear through the quadrangle, +carrying a sponge, and arrive at the scene of action just as the +combatants are beginning to strip. + +Tom felt he had got his work cut out[19] for him, as he stripped off +his jacket, waistcoat, and braces. East tied his handkerchief round +his waist, and rolled up his shirt-sleeves for him. "Now, old boy, +don't you open your mouth to say a word, or try to help yourself a +bit--we'll do all that; you keep all your breath and strength for the +Slogger." Martin meanwhile folded the clothes, and put them under the +chapel rails; and now Tom, with East to handle him, and Martin to give +him a knee,[20] steps out on the turf, and is ready for all that may +come; and here is the Slogger too, all stripped, and thirsting for the +fray. + + [19] #Cut out#: prepared, ready. + + [20] #To handle him and give him a knee#: to give him + assistance between the rounds of the fight. + + +EARLY ROUNDS. + +It doesn't look a fair match at first glance; Williams is nearly two +inches taller, and probably a long year older than his opponent, and +he is very strongly made about the arms and shoulders--"peels well," +as the little knot of big fifth-form boys, the amateurs,[21] say; who +stand outside the ring of little boys, looking complacently on, but +taking no active part in the proceedings. But down below he is not so +good by any means; no spring from the loins, and feeblish, not to say +shipwrecky about the knees. Tom, on the contrary, though not half so +strong in the arms, is good all over, straight, hard, and springy, +from neck to ankle, better perhaps in his legs than anywhere. Besides, +you can see by the clear white of his eye, and fresh bright look of +his skin, that he is in tip-top training, able to do all he knows; +while the Slogger looks rather sodden,[22] as if he didn't take much +exercise and ate too much tuck.[23] The time-keeper is chosen, a large +ring made, and the two stand up opposite one another for a moment, +giving us time just to make our little observations. + + [21] #Amateurs#: here, those who enjoy and understand the art + of pugilism, without being proficient in it. + + [22] #Sodden#: here, soft. + + [23] #Tuck#: sweet stuff. + +"If Tom'll only condescend to fight with his head and heels," as East +murmurs to Martin, "we shall do." + +But seemingly he won't, for there he goes in, making play[24] with +both hands. Hard all,[25] is the word; the two stand to one another +like men; rally follows rally in quick succession, each fighting as if +he thought to finish the whole thing out of hand. "Can't last at this +rate," say the knowing ones, while the partisans[26] of each make the +air ring with their shouts and counter-shouts of encouragement, +approval and defiance. + + [24] #Making play#: using. + + [25] #Hard all#: do your best. + + [26] #Partisans#: adherents, "backers." + +"Take it easy, take it easy--keep away, let him come after you," +implores East, as he wipes Tom's face after the first round with a wet +sponge, while he sits back on Martin's knee, supported by the Madman's +long arms, which tremble a little from excitement. + +"Time's up," calls the time-keeper. + +"There he goes again, hang it all!" growled East, as his man is at it +again as hard as ever. A very severe round follows, in which Tom gets +out and out the worst of it, and is at last hit clean off his legs, +and deposited on the grass by a right-hander from the Slogger. + +Loud shouts rise from the boys of Slogger's house and the School-house +are silent and vicious, ready to pick quarrels anywhere. + +"Two to one in half-crowns on the big un," says Rattle, one of the +amateurs, a tall fellow, in thunder-and-lightning[27] waistcoat, and +puffy, good-natured face. + + [27] #Thunder-and-lightning#: probably showy, flashy. + +"Done!" says Groove, another amateur of quieter look, taking out his +note-book to enter it, for our friend Rattle sometimes forgets these +little things. + + +HEAD FIGHTING. + +Meantime East is freshening up Tom with the sponges for next round, +and has set two other boys to rub his hands. + +"Tom, old boy," whispers he, "this may be fun for you, but it's death +to me. He'll hit all the fight out of you in another five minutes, and +then I shall go and drown myself in the Island ditch. Feint[28] +him--use your legs! draw him about! he'll lose his wind then in no +time, and you can go into him. Hit at his body too; take care of his +frontispiece[29] by and by." + + [28] #Feint#: make a pretended attack. + + [29] #Frontispiece#: face. + +Tom felt the wisdom of the counsel, and saw already that he couldn't +go in and finish the Slogger off at mere hammer and tongs, so changed +his tactics completely in the third round. He now fights cautiously, +getting away from and parrying[30] the Slogger's lunging hits,[31] +instead of trying to counter,[32] and leading his enemy a dance all +round the ring after him. "He's funking--go in, Williams;" "Catch him +up;" "Finish him off," screamed the small boys of the Slogger party. + + [30] #Parrying#: warding off. + + [31] #Lunging hits#: straight-out blows. + + [32] #Counter#: to give a return blow. + +"Just what we want," thinks East, chuckling to himself, as he sees +Williams, excited by these shouts and thinking the game in his own +hands, blowing himself in his exertions to get close quarters again, +while Tom is keeping away with perfect ease. + +They quarter[33] over the ground again and again, Tom always on the +defensive. + + [33] #Quarter#: to move about. + +The Slogger pulls up at last for a moment, fairly blown.[34] + + [34] #Blown#: out of breath. + +"Now, then, Tom," sings out East, dancing with delight. Tom goes in +in a twinkling, and hits two heavy body-blows, and gets away again +before the Slogger can catch his wind; which when he does he rushes +with blind fury at Tom, and being skilfully parried and avoided, +overreaches himself and falls on his face, amidst terrific cheers from +the School-house boys. + +"Double your two to one?" says Groove to Rattle, note-book in hand. + +"Stop a bit," says that hero, looking uncomfortably at Williams, who +is puffing away on his second's knee, winded[35] enough, but little +the worse in any other way. + + [35] #Winded#: out of breath. + + +STEADY ALL. + +After another round the Slogger too seems to see that he can't go in +and win right off, and has met his match or thereabouts. So he too +begins to use his head,[36] and tries to make Tom lose his patience, +and come in before his time. And so the fight sways on, now one, and +now the other getting a trifling pull.[37] + + [36] #Use his head#: be more careful. + + [37] #Pull#: advantage. + +Tom's face begins to look very one-sided,--there are little queer +bumps on his forehead, and his mouth is bleeding; but East keeps the +wet sponge going so scientifically that he comes up looking as fresh +and bright as ever. Williams is only slightly marked in the face, but +by the nervous movement of his elbows you can see that Tom's +body-blows are telling. In fact, half the vice of the Slogger's +hitting is neutralized, for he daren't lunge out freely for fear of +exposing his sides. It is too interesting by this time for much +shouting, and the whole ring is very quiet. + +"All right, Tommy," whispers East; "hold on's the horse that's to win. +We've got the last. Keep your head,[38] old boy." + + [38] #Keep your head#: keep cool. + +But where is Arthur all this time? Words cannot paint the poor little +fellow's distress. He couldn't muster courage to come up to the ring, +but wandered up and down from the great fives' court to the corner of +the chapel rails--now trying to make up his mind to throw himself +between them, and try to stop them; then thinking of running in and +telling his friend Mary, who he knew would instantly report to the +Doctor. The stories he had heard of men being killed in prize fights +rose up horribly before him. + +Once only, when the shouts of "Well done, Brown!" "Huzzah for the +School-house!" rose higher than ever, he ventured up to the ring, +thinking the victory was won. Catching sight of Tom's face in the +state I have described, all fear of consequences vanishing out of his +mind, he rushed straight off to the matron's room, beseeching her to +get the fight stopped, or he should die. + + +THE RING BROKEN. + +But it's time for us to get back to the close. What is this fierce +tumult and confusion? The ring is broken, and high and angry words are +being bandied about; "It's all fair"--"It isn't"--"No hugging;" the +fight is stopped. The combatants, however, sit there quietly, tended +by their seconds, while their adherents wrangle in the middle. East +can't help shouting challenges to two or three of the other side, +though he never leaves Tom for a moment, and plies the sponges as fast +as ever. + +The fact is, that at the end of the last round, Tom, seeing a good +opening, had closed with his opponent, and after a moment's struggle, +had thrown him heavily, by the help of the fall he had learned from +his village rival in the Vale of White Horse. Williams hadn't the +ghost of a chance with Tom at wrestling, and the conviction broke at +once on the Slogger faction that if this were allowed, their man must +be licked. There was a strong feeling in the School against catching +hold and throwing, though it was generally ruled all fair within +certain limits; so the ring was broken, and the fight stopped. + +The School-house are overruled--the fight is on again, but there is to +be no throwing; and East, in high wrath, threatens to take his man +away after next round (which he doesn't mean to do, by the way), when +suddenly young Brooke comes through the small gate at the end of the +chapel. The School-house faction rush to him. "Oh, hurrah! now we +shall get fair play." + +"Please, Brooke come up; they won't let Tom Brown throw him." + +"Throw whom?" says Brooke, coming up to the ring. "Oh, Williams! I +see. Nonsense! of course he may throw him, if he catches him fairly +above the waist." + +Now, young Brooke, you're in the sixth you know, and you ought to stop +all fights. He looks hard at both boys. "Anything wrong?" says he to +East, nodding at Tom. + +"Not a bit." + +"Not beat at all?" + +"Bless you, no! heaps of fight in him. Isn't there, Tom?" + +Tom looked at Brooke and grins. "How's he?" nodding at Williams. + +"So so; rather done, I think, since, his last fall. He won't stand +above two more." + + +THE LAST ROUND. + +"Time's up!" The boys rise again, and face one another. Brooke can't +find it in his heart to stop them just yet; so the round goes on, the +Slogger waiting for Tom, and reserving all his strength to hit him out +should he come in for the wrestling dodge again; for he feels that +that must be stopped, or his sponge[39] will soon go up in the air. + + [39] #Sponge#: in a pugilistic encounter the sponge is thrown + up as an acknowledgment of defeat. + +And now another new-comer appears on the field, to wit, the +under-porter, with his long brush and great wooden receptacle for dust +under his arm. He has been sweeping out the schools. + +"You'd better stop, gentlemen," he says; "the Doctor knows that +Brown's fighting--he'll be out in a minute." + +"You go to Bath,[40] Bill," is all that that excellent servitor +gets by his advice. And being a man of his hands,[41] and a staunch +upholder of the School-house, can't help stopping to look on for a +bit, and see Tom Brown, their pet craftsman, fight a round. + + [40] #Go to Bath#: shut up; mind your business. + + [41] #Of his hands#: of sturdy make; able to use his fists. + +It is grim earnest now, and no mistake. Both boys feel this, and +summon every power of head, hand, and eye to their aid. A piece of +luck on either side, a foot slipping, a blow getting well home, or +another fall may decide it. Tom works slowly round for an opening; he +has all the legs and can choose his own time; the Slogger waits for +the attack, and hopes to finish it by some heavy right-handed blow. As +they quarter slowly over the ground, the evening sun comes out from +behind a cloud, and falls full on Williams's face. Tom darts in, the +heavy right-hand is delivered, but only grazes his head. A short rally +at close quarters, and they close; in another moment the Slogger is +thrown again heavily for the third time. + +"I'll give you three to two on the little one in half-crowns," said +Groove to Rattle. + +"No, thankee," answers the other, diving his hands further into his +coat-tails. + + +THE DOCTOR ARRIVES. + +Just at this stage of the proceedings the door of the turret[42] which +leads to the Doctor's library suddenly opens, and he steps into the +close, and makes straight for the ring, in which Brown, and the +Slogger were both seated on their seconds' knees for the last time. + + [42] #Turret#: a small tower. + +"The Doctor! the Doctor!" shouts one small boy who catches sight of +him, and the ring melts away in a few seconds, the small boys tearing +off, Tom collaring his jacket and waistcoat, and slipping through the +little gate by the chapel, and round the corner to Harrowell's with +his backers, as lively as need be; Williams and his backers making off +not quite so fast across the close; Groove, Rattle, and the other +bigger fellows trying to combine dignity and prudence in a comical +manner, and walking off fast enough, they hope, not to be recognized, +and not fast enough to look like running away. + +Young Brooke alone remains on the ground by the time the Doctor gets +there, and touches his hat, not without a slight inward qualm. + +"Hah! Brooke. I am surprised to see you here. Don't you know that I +expect the sixth to stop fighting." + +Brooke felt much more uncomfortable than he had expected, but he was +rather a favorite with the Doctor for his openness and plainness of +speech; so blurted out as he walked by the Doctor's side, who had +already turned back:-- + +"Yes, sir, generally. But I thought you wished us to exercise a +discretion in the matter, too--not to interfere too soon." + +"But they have been fighting this half-hour and more," said the +Doctor. + +"Yes, sir; but neither was hurt. And they're the sort of boys who'll +be all the better friends now, which they wouldn't have been if they +had been stopped any earlier--before it was so equal." + +"Who was fighting with Brown?" said the Doctor. + +"Williams, sir, of Thompson's. He is bigger than Brown, and had the +best of it at first, but not when you came up, Sir. There's a good +deal of jealousy between our house and Thompson's, and there would +have been more fights if this hadn't been let go on, or if either of +them had had much the worst of it." + +"Well, but, Brooke," said the Doctor, "doesn't this look a little as +if you exercised your discretion by only stopping a fight when the +School-house boy is getting the worst of it." + +Brooke, it must be confessed, felt rather gravelled.[43] + + [43] #Gravelled#: embarrassed, confused. + +"Now remember," added the Doctor, as he stopped at the turret door, +"this fight is not to go on--you'll see to that. And I expect you to +stop all fights in future at once." + +"Very well, sir," said young Brooke, touching his hat, and not sorry +to see the turret-door close behind the Doctor's back. + + +EVENING AFTER THE FIGHT. + +Meantime Tom and the staunchest of his adherents had reached +Harrowell's, and Sally was bustling about to get them a late tea, +while Stumps had been sent off to Tew, the butcher, to get a piece of +raw beef for Tom's eye, which was to be healed off-hand, so that he +might show well in the morning. He was not a bit the worse except a +slight difficulty in his vision, a singing in his ears, and a sprained +thumb, which he kept in a cold water bandage, while he drank lots of +tea, and listened to the Babel of voices talking and speculating of +nothing but the fight, and how Williams would have given in after +another fall (which he didn't in the least believe), and how on earth +the Doctor could have got to know of it--such bad luck! He couldn't +help thinking to himself that he was glad he hadn't won; he liked it +better as it was, and felt very friendly to the Slogger. And then poor +little Arthur crept in and sat down quietly near him, looking at him +and the raw beef with such plaintive looks that Tom at last burst out +laughing. + +"Don't make such eyes, young un," said he, "there's nothing the +matter." + +"Oh, but, Tom, are you much hurt? I can't bear thinking it was all for +me." + +"Not a bit of it, don't flatter yourself. We were sure to have it out, +sooner or later." + +"Well, but you won't go on, will you? You'll promise me you won't go +on?" + +"Can't tell about that--all depends on the Houses. We're in the hands +of our countrymen, you know. Must fight for the School-house flag, if +so be." + +However, the lovers of the science[44] were doomed to disappointment +this time. Directly after locking-up, one of the night-fags knocked at +Tom's door. + + [44] #The science#: "the manly science of self-defence." + +"Brown, young Brooke wants you in the sixth-form room." + + +THE SHAKE-HANDS. + +Up went Tom to the summons, and found the magnates[45] sitting at +their supper. + + [45] #Magnates#: here, the upper class boys. + +"Well, Brown," said young Brooke, nodding to him, "how do you feel?" + +"Oh, very well, thank you; only I've sprained my thumb, I think." + +"Sure to do that in a fight. Well, you hadn't the worst of it, I could +see. Where did you learn that throw?" + +"Down in the country, when I was a boy." + +"Hullo! why, what are you now? Well, never mind, you're a plucky +fellow. Sit down and have some supper." + +Tom obeyed, by no means loath. He ate and drank, listening to the +pleasant talk, and wondering how soon he should be in the fifth, and +one of that much-envied society. + +As he got up to leave, Brooke said: "You must shake hands to-morrow +morning; I shall come and see that done after first lesson." + +And so he did. And Tom and the Slogger shook hands with great +satisfaction and mutual respect. And for the next year or two, +whenever fights were being talked of, the small boys who had been +present shook their heads wisely, saying: "Ah! but you should just +have seen the fight between Slogger Williams and Tom Brown!" + + +THE OLD BOY'S RULES. + +And now, boys all, three words before we quit the subject. I have put +in this chapter on fighting, of malice prepense,[46] partly because I +want to give you a true picture of what every-day school life was in +my time, and not a kid-glove and go-to-meeting-coat-picture; and +partly because of the cant[47] and twaddle that's talked of boxing and +fighting with fists nowadays. Even Thackeray has given in to it; and +only a few weeks ago there was some rampant stuff in the _Times_ on +the subject, in an article on field sports. + + [46] #Malice prepense#: with deliberate purpose. + + [47] #Cant#: hypocritical or meaningless talk. + +Boys will quarrel, and when they quarrel will sometimes fight. +Fighting with fists is the natural and English way for English boys to +settle their quarrels. What substitute for it is there, or ever was +there, amongst any nation under the sun? What would you like to see +take its place? + +Learn to box, then, as you learn to play cricket and foot-ball. Not +one of you will be the worse, but very much the better for learning to +box well. Should you never have to use it in earnest, there is no +exercise in the world so good for the temper, and for the muscles of +the back and legs. + +As to fighting, keep out of it if you can by all means. When the time +comes, if it ever should, that you have to say "Yes" or "No" to a +challenge to fight, say "No" if you can,--only take care you make it +clear to yourselves why you say "No." It's a proof of the highest +courage, if done from true Christian motives. It's quite right and +justifiable, if done from a simple aversion to physical pain and +danger. But don't say "No" because you fear a licking, and say or +think it's because you fear God, for that's neither Christian nor +honest. And if you do fight, fight it out; and don't give in while you +can stand and see. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +FEVER IN THE SCHOOL. + + "This is our hope for all that's mortal, + And we too shall burst the bond; + Death keeps watch beside the portal, + But 'tis life that dwells beyond."--_John Sterling._ + + +Two years have passed since the events recorded in the last chapter, +and the end of the summer half-year is again drawing on. Martin has +left and gone on a cruise in the South Pacific in one of his uncle's +ships; the old magpie, as disreputable as ever, his last bequest[1] to +Arthur, lives in the joint study. Arthur is nearly sixteen, and at the +head of the twenty, having gone up the school at the rate of a form a +half-year. East and Tom have been much more deliberate in their +progress, and are only a little way up the fifth form. Great strapping +boys they are, but still thorough boys, filling about the same place +in the house that young Brooke filled when they were new boys, and +much the same sort of fellows. Constant intercourse with Arthur has +done much for both of them, especially for Tom; but much remains yet +to be done, if they are to get all the good out of Rugby which is to +be got there in these times. Arthur is still frail and delicate, with +more spirit than body; but, thanks to his intimacy with them and +Martin, has learned to swim, run, and play cricket, and has never hurt +himself by too much reading. + + [1] #Bequest#: something given by will. + + +DEATH IN THE SCHOOL. + +One evening, as they were all sitting down to supper in the fifth-form +room, some one started a report that a fever had broken out at one of +the boarding-houses; "They say," he added, "that Thompson is very ill, +and that Dr. Robertson has been sent for from Northampton." + +"Then we shall all be sent home," cried another. "Hurrah! five weeks' +extra holidays, and no fifth-form examination." + +"I hope not," said Tom; " there'll be no Marylebone match[2] then at +the end of the half." + + [2] #Marylebone match# (merrybun): a match by the London + cricket club of that name. It is the leading cricket club of + the world. The celebrated Lord's grounds in London are its + property. + +Some thought one thing, some another; many didn't believe the report; +but the next day, Tuesday, Dr. Robertson arrived, and stayed all day, +and had long conferences with the Doctor. + +On Wednesday morning, after prayers, the Doctor addressed the whole +school. There were several cases of fever in different houses, he +said; but Dr. Robertson, after the most careful examination, had +assured him that it was not infectious, and that if proper care were +taken, there could be no reason for stopping the school work at +present. The examinations were just coming on, and it would be very +unadvisable to break up now. However, any boys who chose to do so were +at liberty to write home, and if their parents wished it, to leave at +once. He should send the whole school home if the fever spread. + +The next day Arthur sickened, but there was no other case. Before the +end of the week thirty or forty boys had gone, but the rest stayed on. +There was a general wish to please the Doctor, and a feeling that it +was cowardly to run away. + + +THE DOCTOR'S SERMON. + +On the Saturday Thompson died, in the bright afternoon, while the +cricket-match was going on as usual on the big-side ground: the Doctor +coming from his death-bed, passed along the gravel-walk at the side of +the close, but no one knew what had happened till the next day. At +morning lecture it began to be rumored, and by afternoon chapel was +known generally; and a feeling of seriousness and awe at the actual +presence of death among them came over the whole school. In the long +years of his ministry the Doctor perhaps never spoke words which sank +deeper than some of those in that day's sermon. "When I came yesterday +from visiting all but the very death-bed of him who has been taken +from us, and looked around upon all the familiar objects and scenes +within our own ground, where your common amusements were going on with +your common cheerfulness and activity, I felt there was nothing +painful in witnessing that; it did not seem in any way shocking or out +of tune with those feelings which the sight of a dying Christian must +be supposed to awaken. The unsuitableness in point of natural feeling +between scenes of mourning and scenes of liveliness did not at all +present itself. But I did feel that if at that moment any of those +faults had been brought before me which sometimes occur amongst us; +had I heard that any of you had been guilty of falsehood, or of +drunkenness, or of any other such sin; had I heard from any quarter +the language of profaneness, or of unkindness, or of indecency; had I +heard or seen any signs of that wretched folly which courts the laugh +of fools by affecting not to dread evil and not to care for good, then +the unsuitableness of any of these things with the scene I had just +quitted would indeed have been most intensely painful. And why? Not +because such things would really have been worse than at any other +time, but because at such a moment the eyes are opened really to know +good and evil, because we then feel what it is so to live that death +becomes an infinite blessing, and what it is so to live also, that it +were good for us if we had never been born." + +Tom had gone into chapel in sickening anxiety about Arthur, but he +came out cheered and strengthened by those grand words, and walked up +alone to their study. And when he sat down and looked round, and saw +Arthur's straw hat and cricket-jacket hanging on their pegs, and +marked all his neat little arrangements, not one of which had been +disturbed, the tears indeed rolled down his cheeks; but they were calm +and blessed tears, and he repeated to himself, "Yes, Geordie's[3] eyes +are opened--he knows what it is so to live that death becomes an +infinite blessing. But do I? O God, can I bear to lose him?" + + [3] #Geordie#: Georgie (his full name was George Arthur). + + +ARTHUR'S ILLNESS. + +The week passed mournfully away. No more boys sickened, but Arthur was +reported worse each day, and his mother arrived early in the week. Tom +made many appeals to be allowed to see him, and several times tried to +get up to the sick-room; but the housekeeper was always in the way, +and at last spoke to the Doctor, who kindly but peremptorily forbade +him. + +Thompson was buried on the Tuesday; and the burial service, so +soothing and grand always, but beyond all words solemn when read over +a boy's grave to his companions, brought Tom much comfort, and many +strange new thoughts and longings. He went back to his regular life, +and played cricket and bathed as usual; it seemed to him that this was +the right thing to do, and the new thoughts and longings became more +brave and healthy for the effort. The crisis came on Saturday, the day +week that Thompson had died; and during that long afternoon Tom sat +in his study reading his Bible, and going every half hour to the +housekeeper's room, expecting each time to hear that the gentle and +brave little spirit had gone home. But God had work for Arthur to do; +the crisis passed--on Sunday evening he was declared out of danger; on +Monday he sent a message to Tom that he was almost well, had changed +his room, and was to be allowed to see him the next day. + +It was evening when the housekeeper summoned him to the sick-room. +Arthur was lying on the sofa by the open window, through which the +rays of the western sun stole gently, lighting up his white face and +golden hair. Tom remembered a German picture of an angel which he +knew; often had he thought how transparent and golden and spirit-like +it was; and he shuddered to think how like it Arthur looked, and felt +a shock as if his blood had all stopped short, as he realized how near +the other world his friend must have been to look like that. Never +till that moment had he felt how his little chum had twined himself +round his heart-strings; and as he stole gently across the room and +knelt down, and put his arm round Arthur's head on the pillow, he felt +ashamed and half angry at his own red and brown face, and the bounding +sense of health and power which filled every fibre of his body, and +made every movement of mere living a joy to him. He needn't have +troubled himself; it was this very strength and power so different +from his own which drew Arthur so to him. + +Arthur laid his thin, white hand, on which the blue veins stood out so +plainly, on Tom's great brown fist, and smiled at him, and then looked +out of the window again, as if he couldn't bear to lose a moment of +the sunset, into the tops of the great feathery elms, round which the +rooks were circling and clanging, returning in flocks from their +evening's foraging-parties. The elms rustled, the sparrows in the ivy +just outside the window chirped and fluttered about, quarrelling, and +making it up again; the rooks, young and old, talked in chorus; and +the merry shouts of the boys, and the sweet click of cricket-bats, +came up cheerily from below. + + +CONVALESCENCE. + +"Dear George," said Tom, "I am so glad to be let up to see you at +last. I've tried hard to come so often, but they wouldn't let me +before." + +"Oh, I know, Tom; Mary has told me every day about you, and how she +was obliged to make the Doctor speak to you to keep you away. I'm very +glad you didn't get up, for you might have caught it, and you couldn't +stand being ill with all the matches going on. And you're in the +eleven, too, I hear--I'm so glad." + +"Yes, isn't it jolly?" said Tom, proudly; "I'm ninth, too. I made +forty at the last pie-match,[4] and caught three fellows out. So I was +put in above Jones and Tucker. Tucker's so savage, for he was head of +the twenty-two." + + [4] #Pie-Match#: a match for a supper. + +"Well, I think you ought to be higher yet," said Arthur, who was as +jealous for the renown of Tom in games, as Tom was for his as a +scholar. + +"Never mind, I don't care about cricket or anything now you are +getting well, Geordie; and I shouldn't have hurt, I know, if they'd +have let me come up,--nothing hurts me. But you'll get about now, +directly, won't you? You won't believe how clean I've kept the study. +All your things are just as you left them; and I feed the old magpie +just when you used, though I have to come in from big-side for him, +the old rip. He won't look pleased all I can do, and sticks his head +first on one side and then on the other, and blinks at me before he'll +begin to eat, till I'm half inclined to box his ears. And whenever +East comes in you should see him hop off to the window, dot and go +one,[5] though Harry wouldn't touch a feather of him now." + + [5] #Dot and go one#: with a skipping movement. + +Arthur laughed. "Old Gravey has a good memory; he can't forget the +sieges of poor Martin's den in old times." He paused a moment and then +went on. "You can't think how often I've been thinking of old Martin +since I've been ill; I suppose one's mind gets restless, and likes to +wander off to strange, unknown places. I wonder what queer new pets +the old boy has got; how he must be revelling in the thousand new +birds, beasts, and fishes." + +Tom felt a pang of jealousy, but kicked it out in a moment. "Fancy him +on a South-sea island, with the Cherokees or Patagonians, or some such +wild niggers" (Tom's ethnology[6] and geography were faulty, but +sufficient for his needs); "they'll make the old Madman cock +medicine-man[7] and tattoo him all over. Perhaps he's cutting about +now all blue, and has a squaw and a wigwam. He'll improve their +boomerangs,[8] and be able to throw them, too, without having old +Thomas sent after him by the Doctor to take them away." + + [6] #Ethnology#: that science which treats of races of men. + + [7] #Cock medicine-man#: chief doctor. + + [8] #Boomerang#: a throw-stick in use as a weapon among the + natives of Australia. It is so shaped that when thrown at any + object it returns to the thrower. + + +MEMORIES. + +Arthur laughed at the remembrance of the boomerang story, but then +looked grave again, and said: "He'll convert all the island, I know." + +"Yes, if he doesn't blow it up first." + +"Do you remember, Tom, how you and East used to laugh at him and chaff +him, because he said he was sure the rooks all had calling-over or +prayers, or something of that sort, when the locking-up bell rang? +Well, I declare," said Arthur, looking up seriously into Tom's +laughing eyes, "I do think he was right. Since I've been lying here, +I've watched them every night; and do you know, they really do come +and perch, all of them, just about locking-up time; and then first +there's a regular chorus of caws, and then they stop a bit, and one +old fellow, or perhaps two or three in different trees, caw solos, and +then off they all go again, fluttering about and cawing anyhow till +they roost." + +"I wonder if the old blackies[9] do talk," said Tom, looking up at +them. "How they must abuse me and East, and pray for the Doctor for +stopping the singing!" + + [9] #Blackies#: rooks. + +"There! look, look!" cried Arthur, "don't you see the old fellow +without a tail coming up? Martin used to call him the 'clerk.'[10] He +can't steer himself. You never saw such fun as he is in a high wind, +when he can't steer himself home, and gets carried right past the +trees, and has to bear up again and again before he can perch." + + [10] #Clerk#: a clergyman's assistant--he reads the responses + in the English Church service. + +The locking-up bell began to toll, and the two boys were silent, and +listened to it. The sound soon carried Tom off to the river and the +woods, and he began to go over in his mind the many occasions on which +he had heard that toll coming faintly down the breeze, and had to pack +his rod in a hurry, and make a run for it, to get in before the gates +were shut. He was aroused with a start from his memories by Arthur's +voice, gentle and weak from his late illness. + +"Tom, will you be angry if I talk to you very seriously?" + +"No, dear old boy, not I, but aren't you faint, Arthur, or ill? What +can I get you? Don't say anything to hurt yourself now--you are very +weak; let me come up again." + +"No, no, I sha'n't hurt myself; I'd sooner speak to you now, if you +don't mind. I've asked Mary to tell the Doctor that you are with me, +so you needn't go down to calling-over; and I mayn't have another +chance, for I shall most likely have to go home for change of air to +get well, and mayn't come back this half." + +"Oh, do you think you must go away before the end of the half? I'm so +sorry. It's more than five weeks yet to the holidays, and all the +fifth-form examinations, and half the cricket-matches to come yet. And +what shall I do all that time alone in our study? Why, Arthur, it will +be more than twelve weeks before I see you again. Oh, hang it, I can't +stand that! Besides, who's to keep me up to working at the +examination-books? I shall come out bottom of the form, as sure as +eggs is eggs." + + +MORE LESSONS. + +Tom was rattling on, half in joke, half in earnest, for he wanted to +get Arthur out of his serious vein, thinking it would do him harm; but +Arthur broke in:-- + +"Oh, please, Tom, stop, or you'll drive all I had to say out of my +head. And I'm already horribly afraid I'm going to make you angry." + +"Don't gammon,[11] young un," rejoined Tom (the use of the old name, +dear to him from old recollections, made Arthur start and smile, and +feel quite happy); "you know you aren't afraid, and you've never made +me angry since the first month we chummed together. Now I'm going to +be quite sober for a quarter of an hour, which is more than I am once +in a year; so make the most of it; heave ahead, and pitch into me +right and left." + + [11] #Gammon#: pretend. + +"Dear Tom, I'm not going to pitch into you," said Arthur, piteously; +"and it seems so cocky in me to be advising you, who've been my +back-bone ever since I've been at Rugby, and have made the school a +paradise to me. Ah, I see I shall never do it, unless I go +head-over-heels at once, as you said when you taught me to swim. Tom, +I want you to give up using Vulgus-books and cribs."[12] + + [12] #Cribs#: translations, "ponies." + +Arthur sank back on to his pillow with a sigh, as if the effort had +been great; but the worst was now over, and he looked straight at Tom, +who was evidently taken aback. He leant his elbows on his knees, and +stuck his hands into his hair, whistled a verse of "Billie Taylor," +and then was quite silent for another minute. Not a shade crossed his +face, but he was clearly puzzled. At last he looked up, and caught +Arthur's anxious look, took his hand, and said simply:-- + +"Why, young un?" + +"Because you're the honestest boy in Rugby, and that isn't honest." + +"I don't see that." + +"What were you sent to Rugby for?" + +"Well, I don't know exactly--nobody ever told me. I suppose because +all boys are sent to a public-school in England." + +"But what do you think yourself? What do you want to do here and to +carry away?" + +Tom thought a minute. "I want to be A 1 at cricket and foot-ball, and +all the other games, and to make my hands keep my head against any +fellow, lout or gentleman. I want to get into the sixth before I +leave, and to please the Doctor; and I want to carry away just as much +Latin and Greek as will take me through Oxford respectably. There now, +young un, I never thought of it before, but that's pretty much about +my figure. Isn't it all on the square? What have you got to say to +that?" + +"Why, that you are pretty sure to do all that you want, then." + +"Well, I hope so. But you've forgot one thing, what I want to leave +behind me. I want to leave behind me," said Tom, speaking slow, and +looking much moved, "the name of a fellow who never bullied a little +boy, or turned his back on a big one." + +Arthur pressed his hand, and after a moment's silence went on: "You +say, Tom, you want to please the Doctor. Now, do you want to please +him by what he thinks you do, or by what you really do?" + +"By what I really do, of course." + +"Does he think you use cribs and Vulgus-books?" + +Tom felt at once that his flank was turned,[13] but he couldn't give +in. "He was at Winchester himself," said he; "he knows all about it." + + [13] #His flank was turned#: he was taken at a disadvantage. + +"Yes, but does he think _you_ use them? Do you think he approves of +it?" + +"You young villain!" said Tom, shaking his fist at Arthur, half vexed +and half pleased. "I never think about it. Hang it--there, perhaps he +doesn't. Well, I suppose he doesn't." + + +TOM'S CONFESSIONS. + +Arthur saw that he had got his point; he knew his friend well, and was +wise in silence as in speech. He only said, "I would sooner have the +Doctor's good opinion of me as I really am than any man's in the +world." + +After another minute, Tom began again; "Look here, young un, how on +earth am I to get time to play the matches this half, if I give up +cribs? We're in the middle of that long crabbed chorus in the +Agamemnon;[14] I can only just make head or tail of it with the crib. +Then there's Pericles' speech coming on in Thucydides, and 'The Birds' +to get up for the examination, besides the Tacitus." Tom groaned at +the thought of his accumulated labors. "I say, young un, there's only +five weeks or so left to the holidays; mayn't I go on as usual for +this half? I'll tell the Doctor about it some day, or you may." + +Arthur looked out of the window; the twilight had come on, and all was +silent. He repeated, in a low voice, "In this thing the Lord pardon +thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon, to +worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow down myself in the +house of Rimmon, when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the +Lord pardon thy servant in this thing."[15] + + [14] #Agamemnon#, etc.: a Greek tragedy. Thucydides was a + Greek historian; "The Birds," a Greek comedy; Tacitus, a Latin + historian. + + [15] 2 Kings v. 18. + +Not a word more was said on the subject, and the boys were again +silent,--one of those blessed, short silences in which the resolves +which color a life are so often taken. + + +TOM OUT-GENERALLED. + +Tom was the first to break it. "You've been very ill indeed, haven't +you, Geordie?" said he, with a mixture of awe and curiosity, feeling +as if his friend had been in some strange place or scene, of which he +could form no idea, and full of the memory of his own thoughts during +the last week. + +"Yes, very. I'm sure the Doctor thought I was going to die. He gave me +the Sacrament last Sunday, and you can't think what he is when one is +ill. He said such brave, and tender, and gentle things to me, I felt +quite light and strong after it, and never had any more fear. My +mother brought our old medical man, who attended me when I was a poor +sickly child; he said my constitution was quite changed, and that I'm +fit for anything now. If it hadn't, I couldn't have stood three days +of this illness. That's all, thanks to you, and the games you've made +me fond of." + +"More thanks to old Martin," said Tom; "he's been your real friend." + +"Nonsense, Tom; he never could have done for me what you have." + +"Well, I don't know; I did little enough. Did they tell you--you won't +mind hearing it now, I know--that poor Thompson died last week? The +other three boys are getting quite round, like you." + +"Oh, yes, I heard of it." + +Then Tom, who was quite full of it, told Arthur of the burial service +in the chapel, and how it had impressed him and, he believed, all the +other boys. "And though the Doctor never said a word about it," said +he, "and it was a half-holiday and match day, there wasn't a game +played in the close all the afternoon, and the boys all went about as +if it were Sunday." + +"I'm very glad of it," said Arthur. "But, Tom, I've had such strange +thoughts about death lately. I've never told a soul of them, not even +my mother. Sometimes I think they're wrong, but, do you know, I don't +think in my heart I could be sorry at the death of any of my friends." + +Tom was taken quite aback. "What in the world is the young un after +now?" thought he; "I've swallowed a good many of his crotchets, but +this altogether beats me. He can't be quite right in his head." He +didn't want to say a word, and shifted about uneasily in the dark; +however, Arthur seemed to be waiting for an answer, so at last he +said: "I don't think I quite see what you mean, Geordie. One's told so +often to think about death, that I've tried it on sometimes, +especially this last week. But we won't talk of it now. I'd better +go--you're getting tired, and I shall do you harm." + +"No, no, indeed I'm not, Tom; you must stop till nine, there's only +twenty minutes. I've settled you shall stop till nine. And oh! do let +me talk to you--I must talk to you. I see it's just as I feared. You +think I'm half mad, don't you now?" + +"Well, I did think it odd what you said, Geordie, as you ask me." + + +ARTHUR'S FEVER. + +Arthur paused a moment, and then said quickly, "I'll tell you how it +all happened. At first, when I was sent to the sick-room, and found +that I had really got the fever, I was terribly frightened. I thought +I should die, and I could not face it for a moment. I don't think it +was sheer cowardice at first, but I thought how hard it was to be +taken away from my mother and sisters, and you all, just as I was +beginning to see my way to many things, and to feel that I might be a +man, and do a man's work. To die without having fought, and worked, +and given one's life away, was too hard to bear. I got terribly +impatient, and accused God of injustice, and strove to justify myself; +and the harder I strove the deeper I sank. Then the image of my dear +father often came across me, but I turned from it. Whenever it came, a +heavy numbing throb seemed to take hold of my heart, and say, +'Dead--dead--dead.' And I cried out, 'The living, the living shall +praise Thee O God; the dead cannot praise Thee.[16] There is no work +in the grave;[17] in the night no man can work. But I can work. I can +do great things. I _will_ do great things. Why wilt thou slay me?' And +so I struggled and plunged, deeper and deeper, and went down into a +living black tomb. I was alone there, with no power to stir or think; +alone with myself; beyond the reach of all human fellowship; beyond +Christ's reach, I thought, in my nightmare. You, who are brave and +bright and strong, can have no idea of that agony, pray to God you +never may. Pray as for your life." + + [16] Isa. xxxviii. 19. + + [17] Eccl. ix. 10. + +Arthur stopped--from exhaustion, Tom thought; but what between his +fear lest Arthur should hurt himself, his awe, and longing for him to +go on, he couldn't ask, or stir to help him. + + +ARTHUR'S VISION. + +Presently he went on, but quite calm and slow. "I don't know how long. +I was in that state. For more than a day, I know; for I was quite +conscious, and lived my outer life all the time, and took my +medicines, and spoke to my mother, and heard what they said. But I +didn't take much note of time; I thought time was over for me, and +that that tomb was what was beyond. Well, on last Sunday morning, as I +seemed to lie in that tomb, alone, as I thought, forever and ever, the +black dead wall was cleft in two, and I was caught up and borne into +the light by some great power, some living mighty spirit. Tom, do you +remember the living creatures and the wheels in Ezekiel?[18] It was +just like that: 'When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, +like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the +voice of speech, as the noise of an host; when they stood, they let +down their wings'--'and they went every one straight forward;--whither +the spirit was to go they went, and they turned not when they went.' +And we rushed through the bright air, which was full of myriads of +living creatures, and paused on the brink of a great river. And the +power held me up, and I knew that that great river was the grave, and +death dwelt there; but not the death I had met in the black +tomb,--that I felt was gone forever. For on the other bank of the +great river I saw men and women and children rising up pure and +bright, and the tears were wiped from their eyes, and they put on +glory and strength, and all weariness and pain fell away. And beyond +were a multitude which no man could number, and they worked at some +great work; and they who rose from the river went on and joined in the +work. They all worked, and each worked in a different way, but all at +the same work. And I saw there my father, and the men in the old town +whom I knew when I was a child; many a hard stern man, who never came +to church, and whom they called atheist and infidel. There they were, +side by side with my father, whom I had seen toil and die for them, +and women and little children, and the seal[19] was on the foreheads +of all. And I longed to see what the work was, and could not; so I +tried to plunge into the river, for I thought I would join them, but I +could not. Then I looked about to see how they got into the river. And +this I could not see, but I saw myriads on this side, and they too +worked, and I knew that it was the same work; and the same seal was on +their foreheads. And though I saw that there was toil and anguish in +the work of these, and that most that were working were blind and +feeble, yet I longed no more to plunge into the river, but more and +more to know what the work was. And as I looked I saw my mother and my +sisters, and I saw the Doctor, and you, Tom, and hundreds more whom I +knew. And at last I saw myself, too, and I was toiling and doing ever +so little a piece of the great work. Then it all melted away, and the +power left me, and as it left me I thought I heard a voice say: 'The +vision is for an appointed time; though it tarry, wait for it, for in +the end it shall speak and not lie, it shall surely come, it shall not +tarry.'[20] It was early morning I know then, it was so quiet and +cool, and my mother was fast asleep in the chair by my bedside; but it +wasn't only a dream of mine. I know it wasn't a dream. Then I fell +into a deep sleep, and only woke after afternoon chapel; and the +Doctor came and gave me the Sacrament as I told you. I told him and my +mother I should get well--I knew I should; but I couldn't tell them +why. Tom," said Arthur, gently, after another minute, "do you see why +I could not grieve now to see my dearest friend die? It can't be--it +isn't all fever or illness. God would never have let me see it so +clear if it wasn't true. I don't understand it all yet--it will take +me my life, and longer, to do that--to find out what the work is." + + [18] Ezek. i. 24. + + [19] #Seal#: here, mark of acceptance. + + [20] Hab. ii. 3. + + +ARTHUR'S MOTHER. + +When Arthur stopped, there was a long pause. Tom could not speak; he +was almost afraid to breathe, lest he should break the train of +Arthur's thoughts. He longed to hear more, and to ask questions. In +another minute nine o'clock struck, and a gentle tap at the door +called them both back into the world again. They did not answer, +however, for a moment, and so the door opened and a lady came in, +carrying a candle. + +She went straight to the sofa, and took hold of Arthur's hand, and +then stooped down and kissed him. + +"My dearest boy, you feel a little feverish again. Why didn't you have +lights? You've talked too much, and excited yourself in the dark." + +"Oh, no, mother, you can't think how well I feel. I shall start with +you to-morrow for Devonshire. But, mother, here's my friend, here's +Tom Brown--you know him?" + +"Yes indeed, I've known him for years," she said, and held out her +hand to Tom, who was now standing up behind the sofa. This was +Arthur's mother; tall, and slight, and fair, with masses of golden +hair drawn back from the broad white forehead, and the calm blue eye +meeting his so deep and open,--the eye that he knew so well, for it +was his friend's over again, and the lovely tender mouth that trembled +while he looked. She stood there a woman of thirty-eight, old enough +to be his mother, and one whose face showed the lines that must be +written on the faces of good men's wives and widows,--but he thought +he had never seen anything so beautiful. He couldn't help wondering if +Arthur's sisters were like her. + +Tom held her hand, and looked her straight in the face; he could +neither let it go nor speak. + +"Now, Tom," said Arthur, laughing, "where are your manners? You'll +stare my mother out of countenance." Tom dropped the little hand with +a sigh. "There, sit down, both of you. Here, dearest mother, there's +room here," and he made a place on the sofa for her. "Tom, you needn't +go; I'm sure you won't be called up at first lesson." Tom felt that he +would risk being floored at every lesson for the rest of his natural +school-life sooner than go; so sat down. "And now," said Arthur, "I +have realized one of the dearest wishes of my life,--to see you two +together." + + +TOM'S REWARDS. + +And then he led away the talk to their home in Devonshire, and the red +bright earth, and the deep green combes,[21] and the peat[22] streams +like cairngorm[23] pebbles, and the wild moor[24] with its high cloudy +Tors[25] for a giant background to the picture,--till Tom got jealous, +and stood up for the clear chalk streams, and the emerald water +meadows and great elms and willows of the dear old Royal county, as he +gloried to call it. And the mother sat on quiet and loving, rejoicing +in their life. The quarter-to-ten struck, and the bell rang for bed, +before they had well begun their talk as it seemed. + + [21] #Combes#: valleys. + + [22] #Peat#: a kind of turf used as fuel. + + [23] #Cairngorm#: a yellow or brown variety of crystallized + quartz found in Cairngorm, Scotland. + + [24] #Moor#: an extensive waste plain covered with heath. + + [25] #Tors#: high-pointed hills or rocks. + +Then Tom rose with a sigh to go. + +"Shall I see you in the morning, Geordie?" said he, as he shook his +friend's hand. "Never mind, though; you'll be back next half, and I +sha'n't forget the house of Rimmon." + +Arthur's mother got up and walked with him to the door, and there gave +him her hand again, and again his eyes met that deep loving look, +which was like a spell upon him. Her voice trembled slightly as she +said, "Good-night,--you are one who knows what our Father has promised +to the friend of the widow and the fatherless. May He deal with you as +you have dealt with me and mine!" + +Tom was quite upset; he mumbled something about owing everything good +in him to Geordie--looked in her face again, pressed her hand to his +lips, and rushed down stairs to his study, where he sat till old +Thomas came kicking at the door to tell him his allowance[26] would be +stopped if he didn't go off to bed. (It would have been stopped +anyhow, but that he was a great favorite with the old gentleman, who +loved to come out in the afternoon into the close to Tom's wicket, and +bowl slow twisters[27] to him, and talk of the glories of bygone +Surrey[28] heroes, with whom he had played in former generations.) + + [26] #Allowance#: spending-money. + + [27] #Twisters#: balls thrown with a twisting motion. + + [28] #Surrey#: a county in the south of England. + +So Tom roused himself, and took up his candle to go to bed; and then +for the first time was aware of a beautiful new fishing-rod, with old +Eton's[29] mark on it, and a splendidly bound Bible, which lay on his +table, on the title-page of which was written: "TOM BROWN, from his +affectionate and grateful friends, Frances Jane Arthur; George +Arthur." + + [29] #Eton#: a noted maker of fishing-rods, etc. + +I leave you all to guess how he slept, and what he dreamt of. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HARRY EAST'S DILEMMAS AND DELIVERANCES. + + "The Holy Supper is kept indeed, + In whatso we share with another's need-- + Not that which we give, but what we share, + For the gift without the giver is bare: + Who bestows himself with his alms feeds three, + Himself, his hungering neighbor, and Me." + + _Lowell_, "_The Vision of Sir Launfal._" + + +TOM SPRINGS HIS MINE. + +The next morning, after breakfast, Tom, East, and Gower met as usual +to learn their second lessons together. Tom had been considering how +to break his proposal of giving up the crib to the others, and having +found no better way (as indeed none better can ever be found by man or +boy), told them simply what had happened; how he had been to see +Arthur, who had talked to him upon the subject, and what he had said; +and for his part he had made up his mind, and wasn't going to use +cribs any more; and being quite sure of his ground, took the high and +pathetic tone, and was proceeding to say, "how, that, having learned +his lessons with them for so many years, it would grieve him much to +put an end to the arrangement, and he hoped at any rate that, if they +wouldn't go on with him, they should still be just as good friends, +and respect one another's motives--but----" + +Here the other boys, who had been listening with open eyes and ears, +burst in:-- + +"Stuff and nonsense!" cried Gower. " Here, East, get down the crib and +find the place." + +"Oh, Tommy, Tommy!" said East, proceeding to do as he was bidden, +"that it should ever have come to this. I knew Arthur'd be the ruin of +you some day, and you of me. And now the time's come"--and he made a +doleful face. + +"I don't know about ruin," answered Tom; "I know that you and I would +have had the sack[1] long ago, if it hadn't been for him. And you know +it as well as I." + + [1] #Had the sack#: got expelled. + +"Well, we were in a baddish way before he came, I own; but this new +crotchet of his is past a joke." + +"Let's give it a trial, Harry; come--you know how often he has been +right and we wrong." + +"Now, don't you two be jawing away about young Squaretoes,"[2] struck +in Gower. "He's no end of a sucking wiseacre,[3] I dare say, but we've +no time to lose, and I've got the fives'-court at half-past nine." + + [2] #Squaretoes#: an over-precise or "goody-good" sort of a + person. + + [3] #Sucking wiseacre#: a young Solomon. + +"I say, Gower," said Tom, appealingly, "be a good fellow, and let's +try if we can't get on without the crib." + +"What! in this chorus?[4] Why, we sha'n't get through ten lines." + + [4] #Chorus#: the chorus of a Greek play. + +"I say, Tom," cried East, having hit on a new idea, "don't you +remember, when we were in the upper fourth, and old Momus[5] caught me +construing off the leaf of a crib which I'd torn out and put in my +book, and which would float out on to the floor, he sent me up to be +flogged for it?" + + [5] #Momus#: the god of ridicule; here, a nickname for a + teacher. + +"Yes, I remember it very well." + +"Well, the Doctor, after he'd flogged me, told me himself that he +didn't flog me for using a translation, but for taking it into lesson, +and using it there, when I hadn't learnt a word before I came in. He +said there was no harm in using a translation to get a clew to hard +passages, if you tried all you could first to make them out without." + +"Did he, though?" said Tom, "then Arthur must be wrong." + +"Of course he is," said Gower, "the little prig! We'll only use the +crib when we can't construe without it. Go ahead, East." + + +RESULTS OF THE EXPLOSION. + +And on this agreement they started: Tom, satisfied with having made +this confession, and not sorry to have a _locus penitentię_,[6] and +not to be deprived altogether of the use of his old and faithful +friend. + + [6] #Locus penitentię#: a place or opportunity for repentance + or reformation. + +The boys went on as usual, each taking a sentence in turn, and the +crib being handed to the one whose turn it was to construe. Of course +Tom couldn't object to this, as was it not simply lying there to be +appealed to in case the sentence should prove too hard altogether for +the construer? But it must be owned that Gower and East did not make +very tremendous exertions to conquer their sentences before having +recourse to its help. Tom, however, with the most heroic virtue and +gallantry rushed into his sentence, searching in a high-minded manner +for nominative and verb, and turning over his dictionary frantically +for the first hard word that stopped him. But in the meantime Gower, +who was bent on getting to fives, would peep quietly into the crib, +and then suggest, "Don't you think this is the meaning?" "I think you +must take it this way, Brown;" and as Tom didn't see his way to not +profiting by these suggestions, the lesson went on about as quickly as +usual, and Gower was able to start for fives'-court within five +minutes of the half-hour. + +When Tom and East were left face to face, they looked at one another +for a minute, Tom puzzled and East chock-full of fun, and then burst +into a roar of laughter. + + +THE ENEMY'S DEFENCE. + +"Well, Tom," said East, recovering himself, "I don't see any objection +to the new way. It's about as good as the old one, I think; besides +the advantage it gives one of feeling virtuous, and looking down on +one's neighbors." + +Tom shoved his hand into his back hair. "I'm not so sure," said he; +"you two fellows carried me off my legs; I don't really think we tried +one sentence fairly. Are you sure you remember what the Doctor said to +you?" + +"Yes. And I'll swear I couldn't make out one of my sentences to-day. +No, nor ever could. I really don't remember," said East, speaking +slowly and impressively, "to have come across one Latin or Greek +sentence this half that I could go and construe by the light of +nature. Whereby I am sure Providence intended cribs to be used." + +"The thing to find out," said Tom, meditatively, "is how long one +ought to grind at a sentence without looking at the crib. Now, I +think, if one fairly looks out all the words one doesn't know, and +then can't hit it, that's enough." + +"To be sure, Tommy," said East, demurely, but with a merry twinkle in +his eye. "Your new doctrine, too, old fellow," added he, "when one +comes to think of it, is a cutting at the root of all school morality. +You'll take away mutual help, brotherly love, or, in the vulgar +tongue, 'giving construes,' which I hold to be one of our highest +virtues. For how can you distinguish between getting a construe from +another boy and using a crib? Hang it, Tom, if you're going to deprive +all our school-fellows of the chance of exercising Christian +benevolence and being good Samaritans, I shall cut the concern." + +"I wish you wouldn't joke about it, Harry. It's hard enough to see +one's way, a precious sight harder than I thought last night. But I +suppose there's a use and an abuse of both, and one'll get straight +enough somehow. But you can't make out anyhow that one has a right to +use old Vulgus-books and copy-books." + +"Hullo, more heresy! How fast a fellow goes down hill when once +he gets his head before his legs! Listen to me, Tom. Not use old +Vulgus-books! Why, you Goth,[7] aren't we to take the benefit of the +wisdom, and admire and use the work of past generations? Not use +old copy-books! Why, you might as well say we ought to pull down +Westminster Abbey, and put up a go-to-meeting-shop with churchwarden +windows;[8] or never read Shakespeare, but only Sheridan Knowles.[9] +Think of all the work and labor that our predecessors have bestowed on +these very books, and are we to make their work of no value?" + + [7] #Goth#: a barbarian. + + [8] #Churchwarden windows#: probably cheap, narrow windows. + + [9] #Sheridan Knowles#: a writer of popular plays. + +"I say, Harry, please don't chaff; I'm really serious." + +"And, then, is it not our duty to consult the pleasure of others +rather than our own; and, above all, that of our masters? Fancy, then, +the difference to them in looking over a Vulgus which has been +carefully touched and retouched by themselves and others, and which +must bring them a sort of dreamy pleasure, as if they'd met the +thought or expression of it somewhere or another,--before they were +born, perhaps,--and that of cutting up, and making picture-frames +round all your and my false quantities and other monstrosities. Why, +Tom, you wouldn't be so cruel as never to let old Momus hum over the +'O genus humanum' again, and then look up doubtingly through his +spectacles, and end by smiling and giving three extra marks for it; +just for old sake's sake, I suppose." + +"Well," said Tom, getting up in something as like a huff as he was +capable of, "it's deuced hard that when a fellow's really trying to do +what he ought, his best friends'll do nothing but chaff him and try to +put him down." And he stuck his books under his arm, and his hat on +his head, preparatory to rushing out into the quadrangle, to testify +with his own soul of the faithlessness of friendships. + +"Now don't be an ass, Tom," said East, catching hold of him; "you know +me well enough by this time; my bark's worse than my bite. You can't +expect to ride your new crotchet without anybody's trying to make him +kick you off: especially as we shall have to go on foot still. But now +sit down, and let's go over it again. I'll be as serious as a judge." + +Then Tom sat himself down on the table, and waxed eloquent about all +the righteousness and advantages of the new plan, as was his wont +whenever he took up anything; going into it as if his life depended +upon it, and sparing no abuse which he could think of, of the opposite +method, which he denounced as ungentlemanly, cowardly, mean, lying, +and no one knows what besides. "Very cool of Tom," as East thought, +but didn't say, "seeing as how he only came out of Egypt[10] himself +last night at bed-time." + + [10] #Came out of Egypt#: escaped from bondage, began a new + course of life. + +"Well, Tom," said he, at last, "you see, when you and I came to school +there were none of these sort of notions. You may be right--I dare say +you are. Only what one has always felt about the masters is that it's +a fair trial of skill and last[11] between us and them--like a match +at foot-ball, or a battle. We're natural enemies in school, that's the +fact. We've got to learn so much Latin and Greek and do so many +verses, and they've got to see that we do it. If we can slip the +collar, and do so much less without getting caught, that's one to us. +If they can get more out of us, or catch us shirking, that's one to +them. All's fair in war, but lying. If I run my luck against theirs, +and go into school without looking at my lessons, and don't get called +up, why am I a snob[12] or a sneak? I don't tell the master I've +learnt it. He's got to find out whether I have or not; what's he paid +for? If he calls me up, and I get floored, he makes me write it out in +Greek and English. Very good; he's caught me, and I don't grumble. I +grant you, if I go and snivel to him, and tell him I've really tried +to learn it, but found it so hard without a translation, or say I've +had a toothache, or any humbug of that kind, I'm a snob. That's my +school morality; it's served me, and you too, Tom, for the matter of +that, these five years. And it's all clear and fair, no mistake about +it. We understand it, and they understand it, and I don't know what +we're to come to with any other." + + [11] #Last#: endurance. + + [12] #Snob#: here, a mean-spirited fellow; one destitute of + manliness. + + +THE TRUCE. + +Tom looked at him pleased, and a little puzzled. He had never heard +East speak his mind seriously before, and couldn't help feeling how +completely he had hit his own theory and practice up to that time. + +"Thank you, old fellow," said he. "You're a good old brick to be +serious and not put out with me. I said more than I meant, I dare say, +only you see I know I'm right; whatever you and Gower and the rest do, +I shall hold on--I must. And as it's all new and an up-hill game, you +see, one must hit hard and hold on tight at first." + +"Very good," said East; "hold on and hit away, only don't hit under +the line."[13] + + [13] #Don't hit under the line#: don't take unfair advantage. + +"But I must bring you over, Harry, or I sha'n't be comfortable. Now, +I'll allow all you've said. We've always been honorable enemies with +the masters. We found a state of war when we came, and went into it of +course. Only don't you think things are altered a good deal? I don't +feel as I used to the masters. They seem to me to treat one quite +differently." + +"Yes, perhaps they do," said East; "there's a new set, you see, +mostly, who don't feel sure of themselves yet. They don't want to +fight till they know the ground." + +"I don't think it's only that," said Tom. "And then the Doctor, he +does treat one so openly, and like a gentleman, and as if one was +working with him." + +"Well, so he does," said East; "he's a splendid fellow, and when I get +into the sixth I shall act accordingly. Only you know he has nothing +to do with our lessons now, except examining us. I say, though, +"looking at his watch, "it's just the quarter. Come along." + + +ARTHUR GOES HOME. + +As they walked out they got a message, to say "that Arthur was just +starting and would like to say good-bye"; so they went down to the +private entrance of the School-house, and found an open carriage, with +Arthur propped up with pillows in it, looking already better, Tom +thought. + +They jumped up on to the steps to shake hands with him, and Tom +mumbled thanks for the presents he had found in his study, and looked +round anxiously for Arthur's mother. + +East, who had fallen back into his usual humor, looked quaintly at +Arthur, and said:-- + +"So you've been at it again, through that hot-headed convert of yours +there. He's been making our lives a burden to us all the morning about +using cribs. I shall get floored to a certainty at second lesson, if +I'm called up." + +Arthur blushed and looked down. Tom struck in:-- + +"Oh, it's all right. He's converted already; he always comes through +the mud, after us, grumbling and spluttering." + +The clock struck, and they had to go off to school, wishing Arthur a +pleasant holiday, Tom lingering behind a moment to send his thanks and +love to Arthur's mother. + + +THE SIEGE REOPENS. + +Tom renewed the discussion after second lesson, and succeeded so far +as to get East to promise to give the new plan a fair trial. + +Encouraged by his success, in the evening, when they were sitting +alone in the large study, where East lived now almost, "vice[14] +Arthur on leave," after examining the new fishing-rod, which both +pronounced to be the genuine article ("play[15] enough to throw a +midge[16] tied on a single hair against the wind, and strength enough +to hold a grampus[17]") they naturally began talking about Arthur. +Tom, who was still bubbling over with last night's scene and all the +thoughts of the last week, and wanting to clinch and fix the whole in +his own mind, which he could never do without first going through the +process of belaboring somebody else with it all, suddenly rushed into +the subject of Arthur's illness, and what he had said about death. + + [14] #Vice# (v[=i]-s[=e]): in place of. + + [15] #Play#: lightness, elasticity. + + [16] #Midge#: a gnat or small fly. + + [17] #Grampus#: a whale-like fish. + +East had given him the desired opening; after a seriocomic grumble, +"that life wasn't worth having now they were tied to a young beggar +who was always 'raising his standard';[18] and that he, East, was like +a prophet's donkey, who was obliged to struggle on after the +donkey-man who went after the prophet; that he had none of the +pleasure of starting the new crotchets, and didn't half understand +them, but had to take the kicks and carry the luggage as if he had all +the fun," he threw his legs up on to the sofa, and put his hands +behind his head, and said:-- + +"Well, after all, he's the most wonderful little fellow I ever came +across. There isn't such a meek, humble boy in the school. Hanged if I +don't think now really, Tom, that he believes himself a much worse +fellow than you or I, and that he doesn't think he has more influence +in the house than Dot Bowles, who came last quarter, and isn't ten +yet. But he turns you and me round his little finger, old boy--there's +no mistake about that." And East nodded at Tom sagaciously. + + [18] #Raising his standard#: advancing, improving. + +"Now or never!" thought Tom; so, shutting his eyes and hardening his +heart, he went straight at it, repeating all that Arthur had said, as +near as he could remember it, in the very words, and all he had +himself thought. The life seemed to ooze out of it as he went on, and +several times he felt inclined to stop, give it all up, and change the +subject. But somehow he was borne on, he had a necessity upon him to +speak it all out, and did so. At the end he looked at East with some +anxiety, and was delighted to see that that young gentleman was +thoughtful and attentive. The fact is, that in the stage of his inner +life at which Tom had lately arrived, his intimacy with and friendship +for East could not have lasted if he had not made him aware of, and a +sharer in, the thoughts that were beginning to exercise him. Nor +indeed could the friendship have lasted if East had shown no sympathy +with these thoughts; so that it was a great relief to have unbosomed +himself, and to have found that his friend could listen. + + +FRIENDSHIP. + +Tom had always had a sort of instinct that East's levity was only +skin-deep; and this instinct was a true one. East had no want of +reverence for anything that he felt to be real, but he was one of +those natures that burst into what is generally called recklessness +and impiety the moment they feel that anything is being poured upon +them for their good, which does not come home to their inborn sense of +right, or which appeals to anything like self-interest in them. Daring +and honest by nature, and outspoken to an extent which alarmed all +respectabilities, with a constant fund of animal health and spirits +which he did not feel bound to curb in any way, he had gained for +himself with the steady part of the school (including as well those +who wished to appear steady as those who really were so) the character +of a boy with whom it would be dangerous to be intimate; while his own +hatred of everything cruel, or underhand, or false, and his hearty +respect for what he could see to be good and true, kept off the rest. + +Tom, besides being very like East in many points of character, had +largely developed in his composition the capacity for taking the +weakest side. This is not putting it strongly enough; it was a +necessity with him; he couldn't help it any more than he could eating +or drinking. He could never play on the strongest side with any heart +at foot-ball or cricket, and was sure to make friends with any boy who +was unpopular, or down on his luck. + +Now, though East was not what is generally called unpopular, Tom felt +more and more every day, as their characters developed, that he stood +alone, and did not make friends among their contemporaries; and +therefore sought him out. Tom was himself much more popular, for his +power of detecting humbug was much less acute, and his instincts were +much more sociable. He was at this period of his life, too, largely +given to taking people for what they gave themselves out to be; but +his singleness of heart, fearlessness and honesty were just what East +appreciated, and thus the two had been drawn into great intimacy. + +This intimacy had been interrupted by Tom's guardianship of Arthur. + + +FRIENDSHIP TESTED. + +East had often, as has been said, joined them in reading the Bible, +but their discussion had almost always turned upon the characters of +the men and women of whom they read, and not become personal to +themselves. In fact, the two had shrunk from personal religious +discussion, not knowing how it might end; and fearful of risking a +friendship very dear to both, and which they felt somehow, without +quite knowing why, would never be the same, but either tenfold +stronger or sapped[19] at its foundation, after such communing +together. + + [19] #Sapped#: undermined. + +What a bother all this explaining is! I wish we could get on without +it. But we can't. However, you'll all find, if you haven't found it +out already, that a time comes in every human friendship when you must +go down into the depths of yourself, and lay bare what is there to +your friend, and wait in fear for his answer. A few moments may do it; +and it may be (most likely will be, as you are English boys) that you +will never do it but once. But done it must be, if the friendship is +to be worth the name. You must find what is there, at the very root +and bottom of one another's hearts; and if you are at one there, +nothing on earth can, or at least ought to, sunder you. + + +EAST'S CONFESSIONS. + +East had remained lying down until Tom finished speaking, as if +fearing to interrupt him; he now sat up at the table and leant his +head on one hand, taking up a pencil with the other, and working +little holes with it in the table cover. After a bit he looked up, +stopped the pencil, and said: "Thank you very much, old fellow; +there's no other boy in the house would have done it for me but you or +Arthur. I can see well enough," he went on, after a pause, "all the +best big fellows look on me with suspicion; they think I'm a +devil-may-care, reckless young scamp. So I am,--eleven hours out of +twelve,--but not the twelfth. Then all our contemporaries worth +knowing follow suit, of course; we're very good friends at games and +all that, but not a soul of them but you and Arthur ever tried to +break through the crust, and see whether there was anything at the +bottom of me: and then the bad ones I won't stand, and they know +that." + +"Don't you think that's half fancy, Harry?" + +"Not a bit of it," said East, bitterly, pegging away with his pencil. +"I see it all plain enough. Bless you, you think everybody's as +straightforward and kind-hearted as you are." + +"Well, but what's the reason of it? There must be a reason. You can +play all the games as well as any one, and sing the best songs, and +are the best company in the house. You fancy you're not liked, Harry. +It's all fancy." + +"I only wish it was, Tom. I know I could be popular enough with all +the bad ones, but that I won't have, and the good ones won't have me." + +"Why not?" persisted Tom; "you don't drink or swear, or get out at +night; you never bully, or cheat at lessons. If you only showed you +liked it, you'd have all the best fellows in the house running after +you." + +"Not I," said East. Then, with an effort, he went on: "I'll tell you +what it is. I never stop during the Sacrament. I can see, from the +Doctor downward, how that tells against me." + +"Yes, I've seen that," said Tom, "and I've been very sorry for it, and +Arthur and I have talked about it. I've often thought of speaking to +you, but it's so hard to begin on such subjects. I'm very glad you've +opened it. Now, why don't you!" + +"I've never been confirmed,"[20] said East. + + [20] #Confirmed#: admitted to church membership; here, to that + of the Church of England. + +"Not been confirmed!" said Tom, in astonishment. "I never thought of +that. Why weren't you confirmed with the rest of us nearly three years +ago? I always thought you'd been confirmed at home." + +"No," answered East, sorrowfully; "you see this was how it happened. +Last confirmation was soon after Arthur came, and you were so taken up +with him, I hardly saw either of you. Well, when the Doctor sent round +for us about it, I was living mostly with Green's set--you know the +sort. They all went in--I dare say it was all right, and they got good +by it; I don't want to judge them. Only all I could see of their +reasons drove me just the other way. 'Twas 'because the Doctor liked +it'; no boy got on who didn't stay the Sacrament; it was 'the correct +thing,' in fact, like having a good hat to wear on Sundays. I couldn't +stand it. I didn't feel that I wanted to lead a different life, I was +very well content as I was, and I wasn't going to sham religious to +curry favor[21] with the Doctor, or any one else." + + [21] #Curry favor#: seek favor by flattery and the like. + +East stopped speaking, and pegged away more diligently than ever with +his pencil. Tom was ready to cry. He felt half sorry at first that he +had been confirmed himself. He seemed to have deserted his earliest +friend, to have left him by himself at his worst need for those long +years. He got up and went and sat by East, and put his arm over his +shoulder. + +"Dear old boy," he said, "how careless and selfish I've been! But why +didn't you come and talk to Arthur and me?" + +"I wish to Heaven I had," said East, "but I was a fool. It's too late +talking of it now." + +"Why too late? You want to be confirmed now, don't you?" + +"I think so," said East. "I've thought about it a good deal; only +often I fancy I must be changing, because I see it's to do me good +here--just what stopped me last time. And then I go back again." + + +TOM'S PRESCRIPTION. + +"I'll tell you now how 'twas with me," said Tom, warmly. "If it hadn't +been for Arthur, I should have done just as you did. I hope I should. +I honor you for it. But then he made it out just as if it was taking +the weak side before all the world--going in once for all against +everything that's strong and rich and proud and respectable, a little +band of brothers against the whole world. And the Doctor seemed to say +so, too, only he said a great deal more." + +"Ah!" groaned East, "but there again, that's just another of my +difficulties whenever I think about the matter. I don't want to be one +of your saints, one of your elect,[22] whatever the right phrase is. +My sympathies are all the other way; with the many, the poor wretches +who run about the streets and don't go to church. Don't stare, Tom; +mind, I'm telling you all that's in my heart,--as far as I know +it,--but it's all a muddle. You must be gentle with me if you want to +land me.[23] Now I've seen a deal of this sort of religion: I was bred +up in it, and I can't stand it. If nineteen-twentieths of the world +are to be left to uncovenanted mercies,[24] and that sort of thing, +which means in plain English to go to destruction and the other +twentieth are to rejoice at it all, why--" + + [22] #Elect#: chosen to salvation; one of the favored few. + + [23] #Land me#: here, persuade me. + + [24] #Uncovenanted mercies#: that is, to such mercies as God + will grant to the heathen or those outside the church. + +"Oh I but, Harry, they're not, they don't," broke in Tom, really +shocked. "Oh! how I wish Arthur hadn't gone! I'm such a fool about +these things. But it's all you want, too, East; it is indeed. It cuts +both ways somehow--being confirmed and taking the Sacrament. It makes +you feel on the side of all the good and all the bad, too, of +everybody in the world. Only there's some great, dark, strong power, +which is crushing you and everybody else. That's what Christ +conquered, and we've got to fight. What a fool I am. I can't explain. +If Arthur were only here!" + +"I begin to get a glimmering of what you mean," said East. + +"I say, now," said Tom, eagerly, "do you remember how we both hated +Flashman?" + +"Of course I do," said East; "I hate him still. What then?" + +"Well, when I came to take the Sacrament, I had a great struggle about +that. I tried to put him out of my head; and when I couldn't do that, +I tried to think of him as evil, as something that the Lord who was +loving me hated, and which I might hate too. But it wouldn't do. I +broke down; I believe Christ himself broke me down; and when the +Doctor gave me the bread and wine, and leaned over me praying, I +prayed for poor Flashman, as if it had been you or Arthur." + +East buried his face in his hands on the table. Tom could feel the +table tremble. At last he looked up. "Thank you again, Tom," said he; +"you don't know what you may have done for me to-night. I think I see +now how the right sort of sympathy with poor wretches is got at." + +"And you'll stop for the Sacrament next time, won't you?" said Tom. + +"Can I, before I'm confirmed?" + +"Go and ask the Doctor." + +"I will." + +That very night, after prayers, East followed the Doctor and the old +verger bearing the candle, up stairs. Tom watched and saw the Doctor +turn round when he heard foot-steps following him closer than usual, +and say "Hah, East! Do you want to speak to me, my man?" + +"If you please, sir;" and the private door closed, and Tom went to his +study in a state of great trouble of mind. + + +THE EFFECT THEREOF. + +It was almost an hour before East came back; then he rushed in +breathless. + +"Well, it's all right," he shouted, seizing Tom by the hand. "I feel +as if a ton weight were off my mind." + +"Hurrah!" said Tom. "I knew it would be, but tell us all about it." + +"Well I just told him all about it. You can't think how kind and +gentle he was,--the great grim man, whom I've feared more than anybody +on earth. When I stuck, he lifted me, just as if I had been a little +child. And he seemed to know all I'd felt, and to have gone through it +all. And I burst out crying,--more than I have done this five +years,--and he sat down by me, and stroked my head; and I went +blundering on, and told him all; much worse things than I've told you. +And he wasn't shocked a bit, and didn't snub me, or tell me I was a +fool, and it was all nothing but pride or wickedness, though I dare +say it was. And he didn't tell me not to follow out my thoughts, and +he didn't give me any cut-and-dried explanation. But when I'd done he +just talked a bit,--I can hardly remember what he said, yet; but it +seemed to spread round me like healing, and strength, and light; and +to bear me up, and plant me on a rock, where I could hold my footing, +and fight for myself. I don't know what to do, I feel so happy. And +it's all owing to you, dear old boy!" and he seized Tom's hand again. + +"And you're to come to the Communion?" said Tom. + +"Yes, and to be confirmed in the holidays." + +Tom's delight was as great as his friend's. But he hadn't yet had out +all his own talk, and was bent on improving the occasion; so he +proceeded to propound Arthur's theory about not being sorry for his +friends' death, which he had hitherto kept in the background, and by +which he was much exercised;[25] for he didn't feel it honest to take +what pleased him and throw over the rest, and was trying vigorously to +persuade himself that he should like all his best friends to die +off-hand. + + [25] #Exercised#: made thoughtful or anxious. + +But East's powers of remaining serious were exhausted, and in five +minutes he was saying the most ridiculous things he could think of, +till Tom was almost getting angry again. + +Despite of himself, however, he couldn't help laughing and giving it +up, when East appealed to him with: "Well, Tom, you aren't going to +punch my head, I hope, because I insist on being sorry when you get to +earth?"[26] + + [26] #When you get to earth#: when you are buried. + +And so their talk finished for that time, and they tried to learn +first lesson, with very poor success, as appeared next morning, when +they were called up and narrowly escaped being floored, which +ill-luck, however, did not sit heavily on either of their souls. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +TOM BROWN'S LAST MATCH. + + "Heaven grant the manlier heart, that timely, ere + Youth fly, with life's real tempest would be coping; + The fruit of dreamy hoping + Is, waking, blank despair." + + _Clough_, "_Ambarvalia._" + + +The curtain now rises upon the last act of our little drama,--for +hard-hearted publishers warn me that a single volume must of necessity +have an end. Well, well! the pleasantest things must come to an end. I +little thought last long vacation, when I began these pages to help +while away some spare time at a watering-place, how vividly many an +old scene, which had lain hid away for years in some dusty old corner +of my brain, would come back again, and stand before me clear and +bright as if it had happened yesterday. The book has been a most +grateful task to me, and I only hope that all you, my dear young +friends, who read it (friends assuredly you must be if you get as far +as this), will be half as sorry to come to the last stage as I am. + +Not but what there has been a solemn and sad side to it. As the old +scenes became living, and the actors in them became living, too, many +a grave in the Crimea and distant India, as well as in the quiet +church-yards of our dear old country, seemed to open and send forth +their dead, and their voices, and looks, and ways were again in one's +ears and eyes, as in the old school-days. But this was not sad; how +should it be, if we believe as our Lord has taught us? How should it +be, when one more turn of the wheel, and we shall be by their sides +again, learning from them again, perhaps, as we did when we were new +boys? + +Then there were others of the old faces so dear to us once, who had +somehow or another just gone clean out of sight--are they dead or +living? We know not, but the thought of them brings no sadness with +it. Wherever they are, we can well believe they are doing God's work, +and getting His wages. + + +SCHOOL MEMORIES. + +But are there not some, whom we still see sometimes in the streets, +whose haunts and homes we know, whom we could probably find almost any +day in the week if we were set to do it, yet from whom we are really +further than we are from the dead, and from those who have gone out of +our ken?[1] Yes, there are and must be such; and therein lies the +sadness of old school memories. Yet of these our old comrades, from +whom more than time and space separate us, there are some by whose +sides we can feel sure that we shall stand again when time shall be no +more. We may think of one another now as dangerous fanatics or narrow +bigots, with whom no truce is possible, from whom we shall only sever +more and more to the end of our lives, whom it would be our respective +duties to imprison or hang, if we had the power. We must go our way, +and they theirs, as long as flesh and spirit hold together; but let +our own Rugby poet speak words of healing for this trial:-- + + "To veer how vain! on, onward strain, + Brave barks! in light, in darkness, too; + Through winds and tides one compass guides,-- + To that, and your own selves, be true. + + "But, O blithe breeze! and O great seas! + Though ne'er, that earliest parting past, + On your wide plain they join again, + Together lead them home at last. + + "One port, methought, alike they sought, + One purpose hold where'er they fare, + O bounding breeze! O rushing seas! + At last, at last, unite them there!"--_Clough._[2] + +This is not mere longing, it is prophecy. So over these two, our old +friends who are friends no more, we sorrow not as men without hope. It +is only for those who seem to us to have lost compass and purpose, and +to be driven helplessly on rocks and quicksands; whose lives are spent +in the service of the world, the flesh, and the devil; for self alone, +and not for their fellow-men, their country, or their God, that we +must mourn and pray without sure hope and without light; trusting only +that He, in whose hands they are as well as we are, who has died for +them as well as for us, who sees all His creatures-- + + "With larger, other eyes than ours, + To make allowance for us all,"[3]-- + +will, in His own way and at his own time, lead them also home. + + [1] #Ken#: knowledge. + + [2] #Clough#: poem of "Qua cursum ventus." + + [3] #Tennyson#: "In Memoriam." + + * * * * * + + +THE END OF THE HALF-YEAR. + +Another two years have passed, and it is again the end of the Summer +half-year at Rugby; in fact, the school has broken up. The fifth-form +examinations were over last week, and upon them have followed the +speeches, and the sixth-form examinations for exhibitions;[4] and +they, too, are over now. The boys have gone to all the winds of +heaven, except the town boys and the eleven, and the few enthusiasts +besides who have asked leave to stay in their houses to see the result +of the cricket-matches. For this year the Wellesburn return match and +the Marylebone match are played at Rugby, to the great delight of the +town and neighborhood, and the sorrow of those aspiring young +cricketers who have been reckoning for the last three months on +showing off at Lord's grounds.[5] + + [4] #Exhibitions#: allowances of money, etc., made to certain + scholars at Oxford and Cambridge. The boys of the sixth form, + who were preparing for the universities, were competing for + these. + + [5] #Lord's grounds#: see note on Marylebone, p. 304. + +The Doctor started off for the Lakes[6] yesterday morning, after an +interview with the captain of the eleven, in the presence of Thomas, +at which he arranged in what school the cricket dinners were to be, +and all other matters necessary for the satisfactory carrying out of +the festivities; and warned them as to keeping all spirituous liquors +out of the close, and having the gates closed by nine o'clock. + + [6] #Lakes#: Dr. Arnold spent his vacations at his country + place of Fox Howe in Westmoreland, in the beautiful lake + region of the northwest of England. + + +CRICKET-MATCHES. + +The Wellesburn match was played out with great success yesterday, the +School winning by three wickets;[7] and to-day the great event of the +cricketing year, the Marylebone match, is being played. What a match +it has been! The London eleven came down by an afternoon train +yesterday, in time to see the end of the Wellesburn match; and as soon +as it was over, their leading men and umpire inspected the ground, +criticising it rather unmercifully. The captain of the School eleven, +and one or two others, who had played the Lord's match before, and +knew old Mr. Aislabie and several of the Lord's men, accompanied them; +while the rest of the eleven looked on from under the Three Trees with +admiring eyes, and asked one another the names of the illustrious +strangers, and recounted how many runs each of them had made in the +late matches in _Bell's Life_. They looked such hard-bitten,[8] wiry, +whiskered fellows, that their young adversaries felt rather desponding +as to the result of the morrow's match. The ground was at last chosen, +and two men set to work to water and roll it; and then, there being +yet some half-hour of daylight, some one had suggested a dance on the +turf. The close was half full of citizens and their families, and the +idea was hailed with enthusiasm. The cornopean-player was still on the +ground; in five minutes the eleven, and half a dozen of the Wellesburn +and Marylebone men got partners somehow or another, and a merry +country dance was going on, to which every one flocked, and new +couples joined in every minute, till there were a hundred of them +going down the middle and up again--and the long line of +school-buildings looked gravely down on them, every window glowing +with the last rays of the western sun, and the rooks clanged about in +the tops of the old elms, greatly excited, and resolved on having +their country dance, too, and the great flag flapped lazily in the +gentle western breeze. Altogether it was a sight which would have made +glad the heart of our brave old founder, Lawrence Sheriff,[9] if he +were half as good a fellow as I take him to have been. It was a +cheerful sight to see, but what made it so valuable in the sight of +the captain of the School eleven was, that he saw there his young +hands shaking off their shyness and awe of the Lord's men, as they +crossed hands and capered about on the grass together; for the +strangers entered into it all, and threw away their cigars, and danced +and shouted like boys, while old Mr. Aislabie stood by looking on in +his white hat, leaning on a bat, in benevolent enjoyment. "This hop +will be worth thirty runs[10] to us to-morrow, and will be the making +of Raggles and Johnson," thinks the young leader, as he revolves many +things in his mind, standing by the side of Mr. Aislabie, whom he will +not leave for a minute, for he feels that the character of the School +for courtesy is resting on his shoulders. + + [7] #By three wickets#: three players yet to bat. + + [8] #Hard-bitten#: keen. + + [9] #Lawrence Sheriff#: See note on Rugby, p. 72. + + [10] #Runs#: the running from one wicket to the other by the + batsmen. The game depends on these runs. + +But when a quarter to nine struck, and he saw old Thomas beginning to +fidget about with the keys in his hand, he thought of the Doctor's +parting monition, and stopped the cornopean at once, notwithstanding +the loud-voiced remonstrances from all sides; and the crowd scattered +away from the close, the eleven all going into the School-house, where +supper and beds were provided by the Doctor's orders. + +Deep had been the consultations at supper as to the order of going in, +who should bowl the first over,[11] whether it would be best to play +steady or freely; and the youngest hands declared that they shouldn't +be a bit nervous, and praised their opponents as the jolliest fellows +in the world, except, perhaps, their old friends, the Wellesburn men. +How far a little good-nature from their elders will go with the right +sort of boys! + + [11] #Over#: a certain number of balls pitched in succession + from one side. + +The morning had dawned bright and warm, to the intense relief of many +an anxious youngster, up betimes to mark the signs of the weather. The +eleven went down in a body before breakfast for a plunge in the cold +bath in the corner of the close. The ground was in splendid order, and +soon after ten o'clock, before spectators had arrived, all was ready, +and two of the Lord's men took their places at the wicket; the School, +with the usual liberality of young hands, having put their adversaries +in first. Old Bailey stepped up to the wicket, and called play, and +the match has begun. + + * * * * * + + +THE MARYLEBONE MATCH. + +"Oh, well bowled! well bowled, Johnson!" cries the captain, catching +up the ball and sending it high above the rook-trees, while the third +Marylebone man walks away from the wicket, and old Bailey gravely sets +up the middle stump[12] again and puts the bails[13] on. + + [12] #Middle stump#: the middle stake of a wicket. + + [13] #Bails#: two small, round sticks laid across the top of a + wicket. + +"How many runs?" Away scamper three boys to the scoring-table,[14] and +are back again in a minute amongst the rest of the eleven, who are +collected together in a knot between wickets. + + [14] #Scoring-table#: a table where the reckoning of the game + is kept. + +"Only eighteen runs, and three wickets down!" + +"Huzzah for old Rugby!" sings out Jack Raggles, the long-stop,[15] +toughest and burliest of boys, commonly called "Swiper Jack";[16] and +forthwith stands on his head and brandishes his legs in the air in +triumph, till the next boy catches hold of his heels and throws him +over on his back. + + [15] #Long-stop#: a person who stands behind the wicket-keeper + to stop the balls that escape him. + + [16] #Swiper Jack#: hard-hitting Jack. + +"Steady there; don't be such an ass, Jack," says the captain; "we +haven't got the best wicket. Ah, look out now at cover-point,"[17] +adds he, as he sees a long-armed, bare-headed, slashing-looking player +coming to the wicket. "And, Jack, mind your hits; he steals more runs +than any man in England." + + [17] #Cover-point#: the person who stops a ball or the act of + stopping it. + +And they all find that they have got their work to do now; the +new-comer's off-hitting is tremendous, and his running like a flash of +lightning. He is never in his ground, except when his wicket is down. +Nothing in the whole game so trying to boys; he has stolen three +byes[18] in the first ten minutes, and Jack Raggles is furious, and +begins throwing over savagely to the further wicket, until he is +sternly stopped by the captain. It is all that young gentleman can do +to keep his team[19] steady, but he knows that everything depends on +it, and faces his work bravely. The score creeps up to fifty, the boys +begin to look blank, and the spectators, who are now mustering strong, +are very silent. The ball flies off his bat to all parts of the field, +and he gives no rest and no catches to any one. But cricket is full of +glorious chances, and the goddess who presides over it loves to bring +down the most skilful players. Johnson, the young bowler, is getting +wild; and bowls a ball almost wide to the off;[20] the batter steps +out and cuts it beautifully to where cover-point is standing very +deep; in fact, almost off the ground. The ball comes skimming and +twisting along about three feet from the ground; he rushes at it, and +it sticks somehow or other in the fingers of his left hand, to the +utter astonishment of himself and the whole field. + + [18] #Byes#: runs on balls that have passed the wicket-keeper. + + [19] #Team#: one of the parties or sides in a game. + + [20] #Off#: to the right of the batsman. + +Such a catch hasn't been made in the close for years, and the cheering +is maddening. "Pretty cricket," says the captain, throwing himself on +the ground by the deserted wicket, with a long breath; he feels that a +crisis has past. + +I wish I had space to describe the match; how the captain stumped the +next man off a leg-shooter,[21] and bowled small cobs[22] to old Mr. +Aislabie, who came in for the last wicket. How the Lord's men were out +by half-past twelve o'clock for ninety-eight runs. How the captain of +the School eleven went in first to give his men pluck, and scored +twenty-five in beautiful style; how Rugby was only four behind in the +first innings[23] What a glorious dinner they had in the fourth-form +School, and how the cover-point hitter sang the most topping[24] comic +songs, and old Mr. Aislabie made the best speeches that ever were +heard, afterward. But I haven't space, that's the fact, and so you +must fancy it all and carry yourselves on to half-past seven o'clock, +when the School are again in, with five wickets down, and only +thirty-two runs to make to win. The Marylebone men played carelessly +in their second innings, but they are working like horses now to save +the match. + + [21] #Stumped off a leg-shooter#: perhaps to put a man out of + play by knocking down his wicket. + + [22] #Cobs#: balls peculiarly bowled. + + [23] #Innings#: turns for using the bat. + + [24] #Topping#: wonderful. + + +SOME OLD FRIENDS. + +There is much healthy, hearty, happy life scattered up and down the +close; but the group to which I beg to call your special attention is +there on the slope of the island, which looks toward the +cricket-ground. It consists of three figures: two are seated on the +bench, and one on the ground at their feet. The first, a tall, slight, +and rather gaunt man, with a bushy eyebrow, and a dry, humorous smile, +is evidently a clergyman. He is carelessly dressed, and looks rather +used up, which isn't much to be wondered at, seeing that he has just +finished six weeks of examination work: but there he basks, and +spreads himself out in the evening sun, bent on enjoying life, though +he doesn't quite know what to do with his arms and legs. Surely it is +our friend the young master, whom we have had glimpses of before, but +his face has gained a great deal since we last came across him. + +And by his side, in white flannel shirt and trousers, straw hat, the +captain's belt, and the untanned yellow cricket-shoes which all the +eleven wear, sits a strapping figure, near six feet high, with ruddy +tanned face and whiskers, curly brown hair, and a laughing, dancing +eye. He is leaning forward, with his elbows resting on his knees, and +dandling his favorite bat, with which he has made thirty or forty runs +to-day, in his strong brown hands. It is Tom Brown, grown into a young +man nineteen years old, a prępostor and captain of the eleven, +spending his last day as a Rugby boy, and let us hope as much wiser as +he is bigger since we last had the pleasure of coming across him. + +And at their feet on the warm dry ground, similarly dressed, sits +Arthur, Turkish fashion, with his bat across his knees. He, too, is no +longer a boy, less of a boy in fact than Tom, if one may judge from +the thoughtfulness of his face, which is somewhat paler, too, than one +could wish; but his figure, though slight, is well knit and active, +and all his old timidity has disappeared, and is replaced by silent +quaint fun, with which his face twinkles all over, as he listens to +the broken talk between the other two, in which he joins now and then. + +All three are watching the game eagerly, and joining in the cheering +that follows every good hit. It is pleasing to see the easy friendly +footing which the pupils are on with their master, perfectly +respectful, yet with no reserve and nothing forced in their +intercourse. Tom has clearly abandoned the old theory of "natural +enemies" in this case at any rate. + + +THEIR TALK. + +But it is time to listen to what they are saying, and see what we can +gather out of it. + +"I don't object to your theory," says the master, "and I allow you +have made a fair case for yourself. But, now, in such books as +Aristophanes, for instance, you've been reading a play this half with +the Doctor, haven't you?" + +"Yes, 'The Knights,'"[25] answered Tom. + + [25] #"The Knights"#: a Greek comedy by Aristoph“anes. + +"Well, I'm sure you would have enjoyed the wonderful humor of it twice +as much if you had taken more pains with your scholarship." + +"Well, sir, I don't believe any boy in the form enjoyed the +set-tos[26] between Cleon and the sausage-seller more than I did--eh, +Arthur?" said Tom, giving him a stir with his foot. + + [26] #Set-tos#: fights or encounters of any kind. + +"Yes, I must say he did," said Arthur. "I think, sir, you've hit upon +the wrong book there." + +"Not a bit of it," said the master. "Why, in those very passages of +arms, how can you thoroughly appreciate them unless you are masters of +the weapons? and the weapons are the language, which you, Brown, have +never half worked at; and so, as I say, you must have lost all the +delicate shades of meaning which make the best part of the fun." + +"Oh! well played--bravo, Johnson!" shouted Arthur, dropping his hat +and clapping furiously, and Tom joined in with a "Bravo, Johnson!" +which might have been heard at the chapel. + +"Eh! what is it? I didn't see," inquired the master; "they only got +one run, I thought?" + +"No, but such a ball, three-quarters length, and coming straight for +his leg-bail.[27] Nothing but that turn of the wrist could have saved +him, and he drew it away to leg[28] for a safe one. Bravo, Johnson!" + + [27] #Leg-bail#: part of the wicket. + + [28] #To leg#: to the left and rear. + +"How well they are bowling, though," said Arthur; "they don't mean to +be beat, I can see." + +"There, now," struck in the master "you see that's just what I have +been preaching this half-hour. The delicate play is the true thing. I +don't understand cricket, so I don't enjoy those fine draws[29] which +you tell me are the best play, though when you or Raggles hit a ball +hard away for six,[30] I am as delighted as any one. Don't you see the +analogy?" + + [29] #Draws#: good play by the batsman. + + [30] #Hard away for six#: to the best advantage. + +"Yes, sir," answered Tom, looking up roguishly, "I see; only the +question remains whether I should have got most good by understanding +Greek particles or cricket thoroughly. I'm such a thick, I never +should have had time for both." + +"I see you are an incorrigible," said the master, with a chuckle; "but +I refute you by an example. Arthur there has taken in Greek and +cricket, too." + +"Yes, but no thanks to him; Greek came natural to him. Why, when he +first came I remember he used to read Herodotus[31] for pleasure, as +I did Don Quixote,[32] and couldn't have made a false concord if he +tried ever so hard--and then I looked after his cricket." + + [31] #Herodotus#: an early Greek writer, "the father of + history." + + [32] #Don Quixote#: a Spanish romance. + +"Out! Bailey has given him out--do you see, Tom?" cries Arthur. " How +foolish of them to run so hard!" + +"Well, it can't be helped, he has played very well. Whose turn is it +to go in?" + +"I don't know; they've got your list in the tent." + +"Let's go and see," said Tom, rising; but at this moment Jack Raggles +and two or three more came running to the island moat. + +"Oh, Brown, mayn't I go in next?" shouts the Swiper. + +"Whose name is next on the list?" says the captain. + +"Winter's, and then Arthur's," answers the boy who carries it; "but +there are only twenty-six runs to get, and no time to lose. I heard +Mr. Aislabie say that the stumps must be drawn at a quarter past eight +exactly." + +"Oh, do let the Swiper go in," chorus the boys; so Tom yields against +his better judgment. + +"I dare say now I've lost the match by this nonsense," he says, as he +sits down again; "they'll be sure to get Jack's wicket in three or +four minutes; however, you'll have the chance, sir, of seeing a hard +hit or two," adds he, smiling, and turning to the master. + +"Come, none of your irony, Brown," answers the master. "I'm beginning +to understand the game scientifically. What a noble game it is, too!" + +"Isn't it? But it's more than a game. It's an institution." + +"Yes," said Arthur, "the birth-right of British boys old and young, as +_habeas corpus_[33] and trial by jury are of British men." + + [33] #Habeas corpus#: a writ for bringing a prisoner before a + judge and inquiring into the cause of his detention, its + object being to prevent illegal imprisonment. + +"The discipline and reliance on one another which it teaches, is so +valuable, I think," went on the master; "it ought to be such an +unselfish game. It merges the individual in the eleven; he doesn't +play that he may win, but that his side may." + +"That's very true," said Tom, "and that's why foot-ball and cricket, +now one comes to think of it, are much better games than fives or +hare-and-hounds, or any others where the object is to come in first or +to win for one's self, and not that one's side may win." + +"And then the captain of the eleven!" said the master, "what a post is +his in our school-world! almost as hard as the Doctor's; requiring +skill and gentleness and firmness, and I know not what other rare +qualities." + +"Which doesn't he wish he may get!" said Tom, laughing; "at any rate +he hasn't got them yet, or he wouldn't have been such a flat[34] as to +let Jack Raggles go in, out of his turn." + + [34] #Flat#: fool. + +"Ah, the Doctor never would have done that," said Arthur, demurely. +"Tom, you've a great deal to learn yet in the art of ruling." + +"Well, I wish you'd tell the Doctor so, then, and get him to let me +stop till I'm twenty. I don't want to leave, I'm sure." + +"What a sight it is," broke in the master, "the Doctor as a ruler! +Perhaps ours is the only little corner in the British Empire which is +thoroughly, wisely, and strongly ruled just now. I'm more and more +thankful every day of my life that I came here to be under him." + +"So am I, I'm sure," said Tom; " and more and more sorry that I've got +to leave." + +"Every place and thing one sees here reminds one of some wise act of +his," went on the master. "This island now--you remember the time, +Brown, when it was first laid out in small gardens, and cultivated by +frost-bitten fags in February and March?" + +"Of course I do," said Tom; "didn't I hate spending two hours in the +afternoon grubbing in the tough dirt with the stump of a fives'-bat? +But turf-cart[35] was good fun enough." + + [35] #Turf-cart#: Tom, with the other boys, used to decorate + the "island" in the school-grounds with turf and flowers, + which they stole "out of all the gardens in Rugby for the + Easter show." They took the "turf-cart" for this purpose. The + "island," by the way, no longer exists. + +"I dare say it was, but it was always leading to fights with the +townspeople; and then the stealing flowers out of all the gardens in +Rugby for the Easter show was abominable." + +"Well, so it was," said Tom, looking down, "but we fags couldn't help +ourselves. But what has that to do with the Doctor's ruling?" + +"A great deal, I think," said the master; "what brought island-fagging +to an end?" + +"Why, the Easter speeches were put off till midsummer," said Tom, "and +the sixth had gymnastic poles put up here." + +"Well, and who changed the time of the speeches, and put the idea of +gymnastic poles into the heads of their worships,[36] the sixth form?" +said the master. + + [36] #Worships#: here, mock titles of honor. + +"The Doctor, I suppose," said Tom. " I never thought of that." + +"Of course you didn't," said the master, "or else, fag as you were, +you would have shouted with the whole school against putting down old +customs. And that's the way that all the Doctor's reforms have been +carried out when he has been left to himself,--quietly and naturally, +putting a good thing in the place of a bad, and letting the bad die +out; no wavering and no hurry,--the best thing that could be done for +the time-being, and patience for the rest." + +"Just Tom's own way," chimed in Arthur, nudging Tom with his elbow, +"driving a nail where it will go"; to which allusions Tom answered by +a sly kick. + +"Exactly so," said the master, innocent of the allusion and by-play. + + +JACK RAGGLES'S INNINGS. + +Meantime Jack Raggles, with his sleeves tucked up above his great +brown elbows, scorning pads and gloves, has presented himself at the +wicket; and, having run one for a forward drive off Johnson's, is +about to receive his first ball. There are only twenty-four runs to +make, and four wickets to go down, a winning match if they play +decently steady. The ball is a very swift one, and rises fast, +catching Jack on the outside of the thigh, and bounding away, as if +from india-rubber, while they run two for a leg-bye[37] amidst great +applause and shouts from Jack's many admirers. The next ball is a +beautifully pitched ball for the outer stump, which the reckless and +unfeeling Jack catches hold of, and hits right round to leg for five, +while the applause is deafening; only seventeen runs to get with four +wickets,--the game is all but ours! + + [37] #Leg-bye#: the ball glances from the batsman's leg. + +It is over now, and Jack walks swaggering about his wicket, with his +bat over his shoulder, while Mr. Aislabie holds a short parley with +his men. Then the cover-point hitter, that cunning man, goes on to +bowl slow twisters. Jack waves his hand triumphantly toward the tent, +as much as to say: "See if I don't finish it all off now in three +hits!" + +Alas, my son Jack! the enemy is too old for thee. The first ball of +the over, Jack steps out and meets, swiping[38] with all his force. If +he had only allowed for the twist! but he hasn't, and so the ball goes +spinning up straight in the air as if it would never come down again. +Away runs Jack, shouting and trusting to the chapter of accidents, but +the bowler runs steadily under it, judging every spin, and calling +out: "I have it," catches it, and playfully pitches it on to the back +of the stalwart Jack, who is departing with a rueful countenance. + + [38] #Swiping#: not a scientific hit. + +"I knew how it would be," says Tom, rising. "Come along; the game's +getting very serious." + +So they leave the island and go to the tent, and after deep +consultation Arthur is sent in, and goes off to the wicket with a last +exhortation from Tom to play steady and keep his bat straight. To the +suggestions that Winter is the best bat left Tom only replies: "Arthur +is the steadiest, and Johnson will make the runs if the wicket is only +kept up." + +"I am surprised to see Arthur in the eleven," said the master, as they +stood together in front of the dense crowd, which was now closing in +round the ground. + +"Well, I'm not quite sure that he ought to be in for his play,"[39] +said Tom, "but I couldn't help putting him in. It will do him so much +good, and you can't think what I owe him." + + [39] #His play#: his skill. + + +THE FINISH. + +The master smiled. The clock strikes eight, and the whole field +becomes fevered with excitement. Arthur, after two narrow escapes, +scores one; and Johnson gets the ball. The bowling and fielding are +superb, and Johnson's batting worthy the occasion. He makes here a two +and there a one, managing to keep the ball to himself, and Arthur +backs up and runs perfectly; only eleven runs to make now, and the +crowd scarcely breathe. At last Arthur gets the ball again, and +actually drives it forward for two, and feels prouder than when he got +the three best prizes, at hearing Tom's shout of joy, "Well played, +well played, young un!" + +But the next ball is too much for a young hand, and his bails fly +different ways. Nine runs to make, and two wickets to go down--it is +too much for human nerves. + +Before Winter can get in,[40] the omnibus which is to take the Lord's +men to the train pulls up at the side of the close, and Mr. Aislabie +and Tom consult, and give out that the stumps will be drawn after the +next over. And so ends the great match. Winter and Johnson carry out +their bats, and, it being a one day's match, the Lord's men are +declared the winners, they having scored the most in the first +innings. + + [40] #Winter can get in#: before Winter can get a chance to + play. + +But such a defeat is a victory; so think Tom and all the School +eleven, as they accompany their conquerors to the omnibus, and send +them off with three ringing cheers, after Mr. Aislabie had shaken +hands all round, saying to Tom, "I must compliment you, sir, on your +eleven, and I hope we shall have you for a member if you come up to +town."[41] + + [41] #Town#: London. + +As Tom and the rest of the eleven were turning back into the close, +and everybody was beginning to cry out for another country dance, +encouraged by the success of the night before, the young master, who +was just leaving the close, stopped him, and asked him to come up to +tea at half-past eight, adding, "I won't keep you more than half an +hour, and ask Arthur to come up, too." + +"I'll come up with you directly, if you'll let me," said Tom, "for I +feel rather melancholy, and not quite up to the country dance and +supper with the rest." + +"Do, by all means," said the master; "I'll wait for you." + +So Tom went off to get his boots and things from the tent, to tell +Arthur of the invitation, and to speak to his second in command about +stopping the dancing and shutting up the close as soon as it grew +dusk. Arthur promised to follow as soon as he had had a dance. So Tom +handed his things over to the man in charge of the tent, and walked +quietly away to the gate where the master was waiting, and the two +took their way together up the Hillmorton road. + + +SHUT OUT. + +Of course they found the master's house locked up, and all the +servants away in the close, about this time, no doubt, footing it away +on the grass with extreme delight to themselves, and in utter oblivion +of the unfortunate bachelor, their master, whose one enjoyment in the +shape of meals was his "dish of tea" (as our grandmothers called it) +in the evening; and the phrase was apt in his case, for he always +poured his out into the saucer before drinking. Great was the good +man's horror at finding himself shut out of his own house. Had he been +alone he would have treated it as a matter of course, and would have +strolled contentedly up and down his gravel-walk until some one came +home; but he was hurt at the stain on his character of host, +especially as the guest was a pupil. However, the guest seemed to +think it a great joke, and presently, as they poked about round the +house, mounted a wall, from which he could reach a passage window; the +window, as it turned out, was not bolted, so in another minute Tom was +in the house and down at the front door, which he opened from inside. +The master chuckled grimly at this burglarious entry, and insisted on +leaving the hall-door and two of the front windows open, to frighten +the truants on their return; and then the two set about foraging for +tea, in which operation the master was much at fault, having the +faintest possible idea of where to find anything, and being moreover +wondrously short-sighted; but Tom, by a sort of instinct, knew the +right cupboards in the kitchen and pantry, and soon managed to place +on the snuggery[42] table better materials for a meal than had +appeared there probably during the reign of his tutor, who was then +and there initiated, amongst other things, into the excellence of that +mysterious condiment, a dripping cake. The cake was newly baked, and +all rich and flaky; Tom had found it reposing in the cook's private +cupboard, awaiting her return; and, as a warning to her, they finished +it to the last crumb. The kettle sang away merrily on the hob[43] of +the snuggery, for, notwithstanding the time of year, they lighted a +fire, throwing both the windows wide open at the same time; the heaps +of books and papers were pushed away to the other end of the table, +and the great solitary engravings of King's College Chapel[44] over +the mantle-piece looked less stiff than usual, as they settled +themselves down in the twilight to the serious drinking of tea. + + [42] #Snuggery#: a small, cosy room. + + [43] #Hob#: that part of a grate on which things are placed to + be kept hot. + + [44] #King's College Chapel#: a chapel of King's College, + Cambridge. It is celebrated for its architectural beauty. + + +HARRY EAST. + +After some talk on the match, and other indifferent subjects, the +conversation came naturally back to Tom's approaching departure, over +which he began again to moan. + +"Well, we shall miss you quite as much as you will miss us," said the +master. "You are the Nestor[45] of the School now, are you not?" + + [45] #Nestor#: oldest member of the School. + +"Yes, ever since East left," answered Tom. + +"By the bye, have you heard from him?" + +"Yes; I had a letter in February, just before he started for India to +join his regiment." + +"He will make a capital officer." + +"Ay, won't he?" said Tom, brightening; "no fellow could handle boys +better, and I suppose soldiers are very like boys. And he'll never +tell them to go where he won't go himself. No mistake about that,--a +braver fellow never walked." + +"His year in the sixth will have taught him a good deal that will be +useful to him now." + +"So it will," said Tom, staring into the fire. "Poor dear Harry," +he went on, "how well I remember the day we were put out of the +twenty.[46] How he rose to the situation, and burnt his cigar-cases, +and gave away his pistols, and pondered on the constitutional +authority[47] of the sixth and his new duties to the Doctor, and the +fifth form, and the fags. Ay, and no fellow ever acted up to them +better, though he was always a people's man,--for the fags, and +against constituted authorities.[48] He couldn't help that, you know. +I'm sure the Doctor must have liked him?" said Tom, looking up +inquiringly. + + [46] #The twenty#: the fifth form. + + [47] #Constitutional authority#: here, the authority + established by school customs. + + [48] #Constituted authorities#: here, the upper-class boys. + +"The Doctor sees the good in every one, and appreciates it," said the +master, dogmatically;[49] "but I hope East will get a good colonel. He +won't do if he can't respect those above him. How long it took him, +even here, to learn the lesson of obeying." + + [49] #Dogmatically#: positively. + +"Well, I wish I were alongside of him," said Tom. "If I can't be at +Rugby, I want to be at work in the world, and not dawdling away three +years at Oxford." + + +WORK IN THE WORLD. + +"What do you mean by 'at work in the world'?" said the master, +pausing, with his lips close to the saucerful of tea, and peering at +Tom over it. + +"Well, I mean real work; one's profession; whatever one will have +really to do, and make one's living by. I want to be doing some real +good, feeling that I am not only at play in the world," answered Tom, +rather puzzled to find out himself what he really did mean. + +"You are mixing up two very different things in your head, I think, +Brown," said the master, putting down the empty saucer, "and you ought +to get clear about them. You talk of 'working to get your living,' and +'doing some real good in the world,' in the same breath. Now, you may +be getting a very good living in a profession, and yet doing no good +at all in the world, but quite the contrary at the same time. Keep the +latter before you as your one object, and you will be right, whether +you make a living or not; but if you dwell on the other, you'll very +likely drop into mere money-making, and let the world take care of +itself for good or evil. Don't be in a hurry about finding your work +in the world for yourself; you are not old enough to judge for +yourself yet, but just look about you in the place you find yourself +in, and try to make things a little better and honester there. You'll +find plenty to keep your hand in at Oxford, or wherever else you go. +And don't be led away to think this part of the world important, and +that unimportant. Every corner of the world is important. No man knows +whether this part or that is most so, but every man may do some honest +work in his own corner." And then the good man went on to talk wisely +to Tom of the sort of work which he might take up as an undergraduate, +and warned him of the prevalent University sins, and explained to him +the many and great differences between University and School life; +till the twilight changed into darkness, and they heard the truant +servants stealing in by the back entrance. + + +THE DOCTOR'S WORK. + +"I wonder where Arthur can be," said Tom, at last, looking at his +watch; "why, it's nearly half-past nine already." + +"Oh, he is comfortably at supper with the eleven, forgetful of his +oldest friends," said his master. "Nothing has given me greater +pleasure," he went on, "than your friendship for him; it has been the +making of you both." + +"Of me, at any rate," answered Tom; "I should never have been here now +but for him. 'Twas the luckiest chance in the world that sent him to +Rugby, and made him my chum." + +"Why do you talk of lucky chances?" said the master. "I don't know +that there are any such things in the world; at any rate there was +neither luck nor chance in that matter." + +Tom looked at him inquiringly, and he went on: "Do you remember when +the Doctor lectured you and East at the end of one half-year, when you +were in the shell, and had been getting into all sorts of scrapes?" + +"Yes, well enough," said Tom: "it was the half-year before Arthur +came." + +"Exactly so," answered the master. "Now I was with him a few minutes +afterward, and he was in great distress about you two. And, after some +talk, we both agreed that you in particular wanted some object in the +School beyond games and mischief; for it was quite clear that you +never would make the regular school-work your first object. And so the +Doctor, at the beginning of the next half-year, looked out the best of +the new boys, and separated you and East, and put the young boy into +your study, in the hope that when you had somebody to lean on you, you +would begin to stand a little steadier yourself, and get manliness and +thoughtfulness. And I can assure you he has watched the experiment +ever since with great satisfaction. Ah! not one of you boys will ever +know the anxiety you have given him, or the care with which he has +watched over every step in your school lives." + + +A NEW LIGHT. + +Up to this time, Tom had never wholly given in to or understood the +Doctor. At first he had thoroughly feared him. For some years, as I +have tried to show, he had learned to regard him with love and +respect, and to think him a very great, and wise, and good man. But as +regarded his own position in the School, of which he was no little +proud, Tom had no idea of giving any one credit for it but himself; +and the truth to tell, was a very self-conceited young gentleman on +the subject. He was wont to boast that he had fought his own way +fairly up the School, and had never made up to, or been taken up by +any big fellow or master, and that it was now quite a different place +from what it was when he first came. And, indeed, though he didn't +actually boast of it, yet in his secret soul he did to a great extent +believe that the great reform in the School had been owing quite as +much to himself as to any one else. Arthur, he acknowledged, had done +him good, and taught him a good deal, so had other boys in different +ways, but they had not had the same means of influence on the School +in general; and as for the Doctor, why he was a splendid master, but +every one knew that masters could do very little out of school hours. +In short, he felt on terms of equality with his chief, so far as the +social state of the School was concerned, and thought that the Doctor +would find it no easy matter to get on without him. Moreover, his +School Toryism[50] was still strong, and he looked still with some +jealousy on the Doctor, as somewhat of a fanatic in the matter of +change; and thought it very desirable for the School that he should +have some wise person (such as himself) to look sharply after +vested[51] School rights, and see that nothing was done to the injury +of the republic without due protest. + + [50] #Toryism#: here, adherence to the established customs of + the School. + + [51] #Vested#: long established; fixed. + +It was a new light to him to find that, besides teaching the sixth, +and governing and guiding the whole School, editing classics, and +writing histories, the great Headmaster had found time in those busy +years to watch over the career, even of him, Tom Brown, and his +particular friends--and, no doubt, of fifty other boys at the same +time; and all this without taking the least credit to himself, or +seeming to know, or let any one else know, he ever thought +particularly of any boy at all. + + +HERO-WORSHIP. + +However, the Doctor's victory was complete from that moment, over Tom +Brown, at any rate. He gave way, at all points, and the enemy marched +right over him,--cavalry, infantry, and artillery, and the land +transport corps, and the camp followers. It had taken eight long years +to do it, but now it was done thoroughly, and there wasn't a corner of +him left which didn't believe in the Doctor. Had he returned to school +again, and the Doctor began in the half-year by abolishing fagging, +and foot-ball, and the Saturday half-holiday, or all or any of the +most cherished School institutions, Tom would have supported him with +the blindest faith. And so, after a half confession of his previous +short-comings, and sorrowful adieus to his tutor, from whom he +received two beautifully bound volumes of the Doctor's sermons, +as a parting present, he marched down to the School-house, a +hero-worshipper who would have satisfied the soul of Thomas +Carlyle[52] himself. + + [52] #Thomas Carlyle#: a distinguished British author, died + 1881. One of his best-known books is "Heroes and Hero + Worship." + +There he found the eleven at high jinks after supper, Jack Raggles +shouting comic songs, and performing feats of strength; and was +greeted by a chorus of mingled remonstrances at his desertion and joy +at his reappearance. + +And falling in with the humor of the evening was soon as great a boy +as all the rest; and at ten o'clock was chaired[53] round the +quadrangle, on one of the hall benches, borne aloft by the eleven, +shouting in chorus, "For he's a jolly good fellow," while old Thomas, +in a melting mood, and the other School-house servants stood looking +on. + + [53] #Chaired#: here, carried. + +And the next morning after breakfast he squared up all the cricketing +accounts, went round to his tradesmen and other acquaintances, and +said his hearty good-byes; and by twelve o'clock was in the train, and +away for London, no longer a school-boy, and divided his thoughts +between hero-worship, honest regrets over the long stage of his life +which was now slipping out of sight behind him, and hopes and resolves +for the next stage, upon which he was entering, with all the +confidence of a young traveller. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +FINIS. + + "Strange friend, past, present, and to be; + Loved deeplier, darklier understood; + Behold, I dream a dream of good, + And mingle all the world with thee."--_Tennyson._ + + +In the summer of 1842, our hero stopped once again at the well-known +station; and, leaving his bag and fishing-rod with the porter, walked +slowly and sadly up towards the town. It was now July. He had rushed +away from Oxford the moment the term was over, for a fishing ramble in +Scotland with two college friends, and had been for three weeks living +on oat-cake and mutton-hams, in the wildest parts of Skye.[1] They had +descended one sultry evening on the little inn at Kyle Rhea ferry, +and, while Tom and another of the party put their tackle together and +began exploring the stream for a sea-trout for supper, the third +strolled into the house to arrange for their entertainment. Presently, +he came out in a loose blouse and slippers, a short pipe in his mouth, +and an old newspaper in his hand, and threw himself on the heathery +scrub[2] which met the shingle,[3] within easy hail of the fishermen. +There he lay, the picture of free-and-easy, loafing, hand-to-mouth +young England, "improving his mind," as he shouted to them, by the +perusal of the fortnight-old weekly paper, soiled with the marks of +toddy-glasses and tobacco-ashes, the legacy of the last traveller, +which he had hunted out from the kitchen of the little hostelry,[4] +and, being a youth of a communicative turn of mind, began imparting +the contents to the fishermen as he went on. + + [1] #Skye#: an island off the west coast of Scotland. + + [2] #Scrub#: stunted shrubs. + + [3] #Shingle#: a pebbly beach. + + [4] #Hostelry#: inn. + +"What a bother they are making about these wretched Corn-laws![5] +Here's three or four columns full of nothing but sliding-scales and +fixed duties.[6] Hang this tobacco, it's always going out! Ah, here's +something better,--a splendid match between Kent and England, Brown! +Kent winning by three wickets. Felix fifty-six runs without a chance, +and not out!" + + [5] #Corn-laws#: laws imposing a heavy tax on imported grain. + They made bread dear, and caused great distress among the + laboring classes in England. + + [6] #Sliding-scales and fixed duties#: different kinds of + revenue tax. + +Tom, intent on a fish which had risen at him twice, answered only with +a grunt. + +"Anything about the Goodwood?"[7] called out the third man. + + [7] #Goodwood#: a famous annual horse-race. + +"Rory O'More drawn. Butterfly colt amiss," shouted the student. + +"Just my luck," grumbled the inquirer, jerking his flies[8] off the +water, and throwing again with a heavy sullen splash, and frightening +Tom's fish. + + [8] #Flies#: artificial flies used as bait. + +"I say, can't you throw lighter over there? We aren't fishing for +grampuses," shouted Tom across the stream. + +"Hullo, Brown! here's something for you," called out the reading man +next moment; "why, your old master, Arnold[9] of Rugby, is dead." + + [9] #Arnold#: Dr. Arnold died suddenly at the School on Sunday + morning, June 12, 1842, the day before his forty-seventh + birthday. + +Tom's hand stopped half-way in his cast,[10] and his line and flies +went all tangling round and round his rod; you might have knocked him +over with a feather. Neither of his companions took any notice of him, +luckily; and with a violent effort he set to work mechanically to +disentangle his line. He felt completely carried off his moral and +intellectual legs, as if he had lost his standing-point in the +invisible world. Besides which, the deep loving loyalty which he had +felt for his old leader made the shock intensely painful. It was the +first great wrench of his life, the first gap which the angel Death +had made in his circle, and he felt numbed, and beaten down and +spiritless. Well, well! I believe it was good for him and for many +others in like case, who had to learn by that loss that the soul of +man cannot stand or lean upon any human prop, however strong, and +wise, and good; but that He upon whom alone it can stand and lean will +knock away all such props in His own wise and merciful way, until +there is no ground or stay left but Himself, the Rock of Ages, upon +whom alone a sure foundation for every soul of man is laid. + + [10] #Cast#: throw. + +As he wearily labored at his line, the thought struck him: "It may be +all false, a mere newspaper lie," and he strode up to the recumbent +smoker. + +"Let me look at the paper," said he. + +"Nothing else in it," answered the other, handing it up to him +listlessly.[11] "Hullo, Brown! what's the matter, old fellow--aren't +you well?" + + [11] #Listlessly#: carelessly. + +"Where is it?" said Tom, turning over the leaves, his hand trembling, +and his eyes swimming, so that he could not read. + +"What? What are you looking for?" said his friend, jumping up and +looking over his shoulder. + +"That--about Arnold," said Tom. + +"Oh, here," said the other, putting his finger on the paragraph. Tom +read it over and over again; there could be no mistake of identity, +though the account was short enough. + +"Thank you," said he at last, dropping the paper; "I shall go for a +walk; don't you and Herbert wait supper for me." And away he strode, +up over the moor at the back of the house, to be alone, and master his +grief if possible. + +His friend looked after him, sympathizing and wondering; and, knocking +the ashes out of his pipe, walked over to Herbert. After a short +parley,[12] they walked together up to the house. + + [12] #Parley#: conversation. + +"I'm afraid that confounded newspaper has spoiled Brown's fun for this +trip." + +"How odd that he should be so fond of his old master," said Herbert. +Yet they, also, were both public-school men. + +The two, however, notwithstanding Tom's prohibition, waited supper for +him, and had everything ready when he came back some half an hour +afterward. But he could not join in their cheerful talk, and the party +was soon silent, notwithstanding the efforts of all three. One thing +only had Tom resolved, and that was that he couldn't stay in Scotland +any longer; he felt an irresistible longing to get to Rugby, and then +home, and soon broke it to the others, who had too much tact to +oppose. + +So by daylight the next morning he was marching through Ross-shire, +and in the evening hit the Caledonian canal, took the next steamer, +and travelled as fast as boat and railway could carry him to the Rugby +station. + +As he walked up to the town, he felt shy and afraid of being seen, and +took the back streets; why, he didn't know; but he followed his +instinct. At the school-gates he made a dead pause; there was not a +soul in the quadrangle,--all was lonely, and silent, and sad. So with +another effort he strode through the quadrangle, and into the +School-house offices.[13] + + [13] #Offices#: servants' apartments. + +He found the little matron in her room in deep mourning, shook her +hand, tried to talk, and moved nervously about; she was evidently +thinking of the same subject as he, but he couldn't begin talking. + +"Where shall I find Thomas?" said he at last, getting desperate. + +"In the servants' hall, I think, sir. But won't you take anything?" +said the matron, looking rather disappointed. + +"No, thank you," said he, and strode off again to find the old verger, +who was sitting in his little den as of old, puzzling over +hieroglyphics.[14] + + [14] #Hieroglyphics#: here, writing not easily read. + +He looked up through his spectacles, as Tom seized his hand and wrung +it. + +"Ah! you heard all about it, sir, I see," said he. + +Tom nodded, and then sat down on the shoe-board, while the old man +told his tale, and wiped his spectacles, and fairly flowed over with +quaint, homely, honest sorrow. + +By the time he had done, Tom felt much better. + +"Where is he buried, Thomas?" said he at last. + +"Under the altar in the chapel,[15] sir," answered Thomas. "You'd like +to have the key, I dare say." + + [15] #Chapel#: the late Matthew Arnold wrote the following + lines on his father's tomb in the chapel:-- + + "O strong soul, by what shore + Tarriest thou now? For that force, + Surely, has not been left vain! + Somewhere, surely, afar, + In the sounding labor-house vast + Of being, is practised that strength, + Zealous, beneficent, firm! + + "Yes, in some far-shining sphere, + Conscious or not of the past, + Still thou performest the word + Of the Spirit in whom thou dost live,-- + Prompt, unwearied, as here! + + "Still thou upraisest with zeal + The humble good from the ground, + Sternly repressest the bad! + Still, like a trumpet, dost rouse + Those who with half-open eyes + Tread the border-land dim + 'Twixt vice and virtue; reviv'st, + Succorest!--this was thy work, + 'This was thy life upon earth.' + + "But thou would'st not _alone_ + Be saved, my father! _alone_ + Conquer and come to thy goal, + Leaving the rest in the wild. + Therefore to thee it was given + Many to save with thyself; + And at the end of thy days, + O faithful shepherd! to come, + Bringing thy sheep in thy hand." + + _Rugby Chapel, November, 1857._--_Matthew Arnold._ + +"Thank you, Thomas--yes, I should very much." And the old man fumbled +among his bunch, and then got up, as though he would go with him; but +after a few steps stopped short, and said: "Perhaps you'd like to go +by yourself, sir?" + +Tom nodded, and the bunch of keys were handed to him with an +injunction to be sure and lock the door after him, and bring them back +before eight o'clock. + +He walked quickly through the quadrangle and out into the close. The +longing which had been upon him and driven him thus far, like the +gad-fly[16] in the Greek legends, giving him no rest in mind or body, +seemed all of a sudden not to be satisfied, but to shrivel up, and +pall.[17] "Why should I go on? It's no use," he thought, and threw +himself at full length on the turf, and looked vaguely and listlessly +at all the well-known objects. There were a few of the town-boys +playing cricket, their wicket pitched on the best piece in the middle +of the big-side ground,--a sin about equal to sacrilege in the eyes of +a captain of the eleven. He was very nearly getting up to go and send +them off. "Pshaw! they won't remember me. They've more right there +than I," he muttered. And the thought that his sceptre had departed, +and his mark was wearing out, came home to him for the first time, and +bitterly enough. He was lying on the very spot where the fights came +off; where he himself had fought six years ago his first and last +battle. He conjured up the scene till he could almost hear the shouts +of the ring, and East's whisper in his ear; and looking across the +close to the Doctor's private door, half expected to see it open, and +the tall figure in cap and gown come striding under the elm-trees +toward him. + + [16] #Gad-fly#: a gad-fly sent by Juno to torment Io, a + beautiful maiden whom Jupiter had transformed into a heifer. + + [17] #Pall#: lose strength. + +No, no! that sight could never be seen again. There was no flag flying +on the round tower;[18] the School-house windows were all shuttered +up; and when the flag went up again, and the shutters came down, it +would be to welcome a stranger. All that was left on earth of him whom +he had honored, was lying cold and still under the chapel floor. He +would go in and see the place once more, and then leave it once for +all. New men and new methods might do for other people; let those who +would, worship the rising star; he at least would be faithful to the +sun which had set. And so he got up, and walked to the chapel door and +unlocked it, fancying himself the only mourner in all the broad land, +and feeding on his own selfish sorrow. + + [18] #Round tower#: the entrance to the head-master's + residence at Rugby is through this tower over which a flag + generally flies. + +He passed through the vestibule[19] and then paused for a moment to +glance over the empty benches. His heart was still proud and high, and +he walked up to the seat which he had last occupied as a sixth-form +boy, and sat himself down there to collect his thoughts. + + [19] #Vestibule#: entrance hall or anteroom. + +And, truth to tell, they needed collecting and setting in order not a +little. The memories of eight years were all dancing through his +brain, and carrying him about whither they would; while beneath them +all, his heart was throbbing with a dull sense of a loss that could +never be made up to him. The rays of the evening sun came solemnly +through the painted windows above his head, and fell in gorgeous +colors on the opposite wall, and the perfect stillness soothed his +spirit little by little. And he turned to the pulpit, and looked at +it, and then, leaning forward with his head on his hands, groaned +aloud, "If he could only have seen the Doctor again for one five +minutes, have told him all that was in his heart, what he owed to him, +how he loved and reverenced him, and would, by God's help, follow his +steps in life and death, he could have borne it all without a murmur. +But that he should have gone away forever without knowing it all, was +too much to bear. But am I sure that he does not know it all?"--the +thought made him start. "May he not even now be near me, in this very +chapel? If he be, am I sorrowing as he would have me sorrow--as I +should wish to have sorrowed when I shall meet him again?" + +He raised himself up and looked round; and after a minute rose and +walked humbly down to the lowest bench, and sat down on the very seat +which he had occupied on his first Sunday at Rugby. And then the old +memories rushed back again, but softened and subdued, and soothing him +as he felt himself carried away by them. And he looked up at the great +painted window above the altar, and remembered how when a little boy +he used to try not to look through it at the elm-trees and the rooks, +before the painted glass came--and the subscription for the painted +glass, and the letter he wrote home for money to give to it. And +there, down below, was the very name of the boy who sat on his right +hand on that first day, scratched rudely in the oak panelling. + +And then came the thought of all his old schoolfellows; and form after +form of boys, nobler and braver and purer than he, rose up and seemed +to rebuke him. Could he not think of them, and what they had felt and +were feeling, they who had honored and loved from the first the man +whom he had taken years to know and love? Could he not think of those +yet dearer to him who were gone, who bore his name and shared his +blood, and were now without a husband or a father? Then the grief +which he began to share with others became gentle and holy, and he +rose up once more, and walked up the steps to the altar, and, while +the tears flowed freely down his cheeks, knelt down humbly and +hopefully, to lay down there his share of a burden which had proved +itself too heavy for him to bear in his own strength. + +Here let us leave him--where better could we leave him than at the +altar, before which he had first caught a glimpse of the glory of his +birth-right,[20] and felt the dawning of the bond which links all +living souls together in one brotherhood--at the grave, beneath the +altar, of him who had opened his eyes to see that glory, and softened +his heart till it could feel that bond? + + [20] #Birth-right#: here, the highest manhood. (See Ephesians + iv. 13.) + +And let us not be hard on him, if at that moment his soul is fuller of +the tomb and him who lies there than of the altar and Him of whom it +speaks. Such stages have to be gone through, I believe, by all young +and brave souls who must win their way, through hero worship, to the +worship of Him who is the King and Lord of heroes. For it is only +through our mysterious human relationships, through the love, and +tenderness, and purity of mothers, and sisters, and wives, through the +strength, and courage, and wisdom of fathers, and brothers, and +teachers, that we can come to the knowledge of Him, in whom alone the +love, and the tenderness, and the purity, and the strength, and the +courage, and the wisdom of all these dwell for ever and ever in +perfect fulness. + + + + +INDEX TO NOTES. + +[D.H.M.] + + + A, 44 + Accidence, 163 + Achates, 257 + Act'ly, 87 + Addled, 271 + Adscriptus glebę, 18 + Affected, 202 + A fortiori, 24 + Agamemnon, 314 + Aganippe, 258 + Agincourt, 2 + Aim, 35 + Alfred, 11 + Allowance, 322 + Alma, 12 + Amateur nest, 250 + Amateurs, 290 + Ambrosial, 251 + Amy Robsart, 97 + Angular Saxon, 18 + A'nigst, 41 + Antediluvian, 15 + Argus, 164 + Arnold, Dr., 372 + Arra, 37 + Arter, 85 + Arthur, 239 + Asser, 12 + Assizes, 21 + At large, 160 + + Baal, 228 + Babel, 165 + Backsword, 8 + Bagmen, 82 + Bails, 349 + Balak, 11 + Balances, 197 + Balliol, 127 + Barrows, 14 + Basket handle, 38 + Bath, 296 + Bating, 133 + Beagles, 128 + Beating, 271 + Bee-orchis, 7 + Beggars, 182, 205 + Belauded, 66 + Belle Sauvage, 74 + Bell's Life, 281 + Bequest, 303 + Berks, 5 + Berkshire, 8 + Bewick, 252 + Big School, 147 + Bile, 266 + Bill, 2 + Bird-fancier, 253 + Birth-right, 379 + Biscuit, 77 + Bist, 26 + Bi'st, 89 + Black, 208 + Blackies, 310 + Black Monday, 7 + Blethering, 41 + Blowing, 263 + Blown, 293 + Bob, 208 + Bolstering, 158 + Bona fide, 45 + Books, 95, 182 + Boomerang, 310 + Booths, 32 + Boots, 73 + Border-farmer, 251 + Bore, 119 + Bounds, 70 + Bout, 4 + Bowls, 90 + Boxes, 74 + Box's head, 87 + Braces, 106 + Break cover, 27 + Brownsover, 201 + Brown study, 75 + Buckskins, 34 + Bucolics, 163 + Bulls'-eyes, 69 + Bumptiousness, 95 + Burgess, 84 + Butts, 7 + Buxom, 76 + Byes, 350 + + Cairn, 10 + Cairngorm, 321 + Cajoleries, 184 + Calico, 19 + Calling over, 96 + Callow, 250 + Caloric, 79 + Camp, 10 + Canes, 105 + Cant, 301 + Cap and gown, 104 + Caravans, 34 + Cardinal, 26 + Carlyle, 369 + Carte blanche, 105 + Cast, 372 + Castor, 38 + Casts, 152 + Catskin, 94 + Chaff, 37 + Chaffinch, 272 + Chaired, 369 + Chalet, 23 + Chambers, 4 + Chapel, 375 + Charley, 8 + Chartered, 195 + Chartism, 239 + Chaw, 19 + Cheap Jacks, 33 + Cheroot, 76 + Chesapeake and Shannon, 124 + China orange, 112 + Chivalrous, 285 + Choleric, 58 + Chorus, 325 + Chronicler, 12 + Churchwarden windows, 328 + Cicerone, 95 + Civil wars, 7 + Clanship, 3 + Clement's Inn, 22 + Clerk, 310 + Clever, 167 + Close, 57, 100 + Cloth-yard shaft, 2 + Coach, 284 + Cob, 88 + Cobs, 351 + Cock, The, 150 + Cock, 309 + Cock of the House, 200 + Cockpit, 180 + Cogitation, 250 + Colleagues, 169 + Combes, 321 + Comme, etc., 23 + Concord, 261 + Confirmed, 338 + Congenial, 236 + Constituted authorities, 364 + Constitutional, 275 + Constitutional authority, 364 + Construe, 144 + Convivial, 174 + Convoy, 97 + Corn-laws, 371 + Corn Market, 161 + Cornopean, 159 + Corollary, 57 + Cosmopolite, 8 + Costermonger, 48 + Counter, 292 + Country sides, 49 + County members, 89 + Courier, 22 + Courts, 238 + Coventry, 175 + Cover, 8, 191 + Coverley, 43 + Cover-point, 350 + Coxiest, 185 + Cressy, 2 + Cribbed, 261 + Cribs, 312 + Crichton, 56 + Cricket, 32 + Cromlech, 14 + Crotchet, 4 + Culverin, 2 + Curacy, 4 + Curry favor, 338 + Cut, 105, 176, 191 + Cut out, 290 + + Derby, 182 + Derogatory, 218 + Digamma, 77 + Dingle, 51 + Dips, 132 + Doctor, 127 + Dogmatically, 364 + Don, 21 + Don Quixote, 355 + Dot, 309 + Dowager, 238 + Down, 7 + Down shepherd, 37 + Doyle, 1 + Drag, 77 + Dragoons, 30 + Dramatis personę, 283 + Drat, 26 + Draw, 191 + Drawing, 183 + Draws, 354 + Dresden, 7 + Dresser, 53 + Dulce domum, 7 + + 'E, 17 + Ear-marked, 199 + Earth, 342 + Ee, 41 + Ees, 276 + Egypt, 330 + Elaborate, 260 + Elect, 339 + Elegiac, 260 + Eleven, 221 + Elijah, 228 + Elysium, 165 + Embrangle, 56 + Ensconce, 251 + Entity, 139 + Environments, 24 + Ephemerę, 206 + Et ceteras, 267 + Ethnology, 309 + Eton, 323 + Exercised, 342 + Exhibitions, 346 + Experto crede, 262 + Extempore, 257 + Eyrie, 10 + + Fagging, 101 + Fairings, 33 + Fat living, 238 + Feint, 39, 292 + Felonious, 273 + Felony, 68 + Fetish, 28 + Fiery cross, 16 + File, 90 + First-class carriages, 79 + First-day boys, 86 + First-floor, 84 + Fives' court, 100 + Flank, 314 + Flat, 356 + Flies, 371 + Flitch, 53 + Float, 29 + Floored, 265 + Fond, 113 + Foot-ball, 101 + Footman, 64 + Foozling, 271 + Form, 168 + Forms, 60 + Freeholders, 18 + Frontispiece, 292 + Frowzy, 199 + Fugle-man, 124 + Functionary, 24 + Funk, 135, 232 + Fustian, 34 + + Gable ended, 150 + Gaby, 68 + Gad-fly, 376 + Gamester, 30 + Gammon, 312 + Gee, 208 + Gee'd 'em, 279 + Generic, 139 + Genus, 261 + Geordie, 306 + Get in, 360 + Gi's, 43 + Goodwood, 371 + Gorse, 8 + Goth, 328 + Gradus, 246 + Grampus, 333 + Grapnel, 45 + Gravelled, 298 + Green rides, 64 + Grewsome, 16 + Grey, 242 + Grimaldi, 97 + Guard, 78 + + Habeas corpus, 356 + Hack, 81 + Hacks, 101 + Half, 190 + Half-a-crown, 184 + Half-a-sov., 95 + Half-sovereign, 37 + Hamper, 78 + Hand-grenade, 2 + Handle, 290 + Hands, 296 + Hard all, 291 + Hard away, 354 + Hard-bitten, 347 + Hare and hounds, 28 + Harriers, 128 + He, 37 + Head, 293, 294 + Hector, 283 + Hecuba, 163 + Hedge, 184 + Heir-apparent, 27 + Helen, 283 + Herodotus, 355 + Hieroglyphics, 374 + High, 273 + High feather, 266 + Highflyer, 160 + High Street, 84 + Hind-boot, 78 + Hoar-frost, 79 + Hob, 363 + Holus bolus, 23 + Homely, 157, 239 + Homer's Iliad, 283 + Hop-picking, 22 + Horn, 17 + Hostelry, 371 + Hot-foot, 206 + Houses of Palaver, 182 + Humble-bees, 70 + + Impecuniosity, 177 + Imperial, 22 + Impounded, 106 + Incarnation, 147 + Incongruous, 260 + Ingle, 53 + Inigo Jones, 14 + Innings, 351 + Integuments, 61 + Intrinsic, 259 + Ishmaelites, 197 + Island, 101 + Islington, 73 + Itinerant, 114 + + Jack, 201 + J. P., 19 + Jobbers, 20 + John, 46 + Jug, 15, 142 + Jugs, 132 + + Keeper, 13 + Keepers, 203 + Ken, 344 + Kestrel, 256 + King's College Chapel, 363 + Kit, 72 + Knee, 290 + Knights, 353 + Kossuth, 196 + Kraal, 23 + + Laid, 7 + Lakes, 346 + Lancet windows, 32 + Land me, 339 + Larking, 108 + Last, 330 + Law, 150 + Learned poet, 24 + Leastway, 276 + Leg, 354 + Leg-bail, 354 + Leg-bye, 359 + Legitimate, 33 + Leg-shooter, 351 + Leicestershire, 151 + Lessons, 237 + Levy, 175 + Lieges, 20 + Life-guardsman, 44 + Lift, 93 + Likely, 205 + Line, 331 + Lissom, 52 + Listlessly, 372 + Living, 239 + Locus penitentię, 326 + Lodge, 82 + Lombard Street, 112 + Long-stop, 349 + Lord Craven, 14 + Lord Grey, 242 + Lord's grounds, 346 + Lotus-eaters, 205 + Louts, 123 + Louvre, 7 + Lunging hits, 292 + Lupus, 167 + Lurcher, 52 + + Magnates, 300 + Magpie, 248 + Malice prepense, 301 + Malignant, 17 + Manor, 50 + Map, 11 + Marianas, 18 + Marryat, 218 + Marylebone, 304 + Martinmas, 35 + Match, 208 + Matriculating, 1 + Maudlin, 132 + Medes and Persians, 131 + Medicine-man, 309 + Meet, 81 + Mentor, 94 + Mercies, 339 + Midge, 333 + Midland, 237 + Mill, 282 + Miltons, 53 + Minds, 35 + Minimum, 259 + Missive, 67 + Mistletoe, 268 + Moated grange, 18 + Momus, 325 + Moor, 321 + More by token, 13 + Moss-troopers, 252 + Mucker, 177 + Muff, 132 + Mullioned, 58 + Mummers, 19 + Munitions, 266 + Muzzling, 37 + Mysteries, 20 + + Necromancer, 71 + Nem. con., 284 + Nestor, 363 + Nether, 61 + Nicias's galleys, 157 + Nominally, 182 + Nor, 85 + Normal, 251 + No side, 117 + N[)o]table, 25 + Nother, 53 + + Occult, 50 + Off, 350 + Offices, 374 + Old Berkshire, 8 + Old John, 46 + Old man with a scythe, 4 + Ominous, 191 + Opodeldoc, 118 + Ordnance map, 11 + Oriel window, 92 + Outlaws, 200 + Over, 348 + + Palaver, 182, 196 + Palaver houses, 46 + Pall, 376 + Pan-pipe, 34 + Pap-bottle, 232 + Parley, 373 + Parrying, 292 + Partisans, 291 + Pater Brooke, 125 + Pattens, 27 + Peaching, 176 + Peas'n, 276 + Pea-shooters, 85 + Peat, 321 + Pecking-bag, 267 + Pellets, 100 + Pence, 36 + Penates, 181 + Penny, 36 + Petty sessions, 29 + Pewter, 255 + Phosphorus, 71 + Pickwick Papers, 171 + Pie match, 308 + Pig and Whistle, 85 + Pikeman, 79 + Pillion, 28 + Pink, 81 + Pinks, 83 + Pipe, 34 + Plancus, 109, 258 + Plantations, 16 + Play, 291, 333, 360 + Poaching, 38 + Po-chay, 91 + Pop-joying, 29 + Portmanteau, 78 + Post-boys, 159 + Post-chaise, 73 + Pottered, 33 + Pound, 6 + Prępostors, 99 + Predicate, 281 + Premising, 175 + Priggism, 46 + Primum tempus, 68 + Prisoner's base, 61 + Privateers, 142 + Privet, 13 + Profane, 286 + Progenitors, 57 + Proselytizing, 242 + Public, 15 + Publican, 51, 228 + Public schools, 66 + Pull, 140, 293 + Purely, 35 + Puritan, 26 + Purl, 81 + Pusey horn, 17 + Pyrenees, 114 + + Quadrangle, 94 + Quaint, 36 + Quantities, 261 + Quarter, 293 + Quarter Sessions, 21 + Quickset, 272 + Quit, 170 + Quixotic, 4 + Quoits, 90 + + Rashers, 82 + Rating, 168 + Raven, 64 + Reaches, 201 + Reading, 99 + Reconnoitered, 59 + Red tape, 46 + Regulation catskin, 94 + Regulator, 85 + Richard Swiveller, 9 + Rodney, 2 + Roc, 263 + Roman camp, 10 + Rota, 142 + Round tower, 376 + Rug, 79 + Rugby, 72 + Rum, 246 + Rum un, 87 + Runs, 348 + Russia, 108 + + Sacer vates, 2 + Sack, 325 + Salver, 238 + Sampler, 53 + Sapped, 336 + Sappers and Miners, 11 + Sar' it out, 23 + Sauce-pan, 181 + Sauer-kraut, 7 + Saxon, 18 + Saxons, 12 + Scan, 261 + Scatter-brain, 24 + Science, 98 + Scoring-table, 349 + Scrub, 370 + Scythe, 4 + Seal, 319 + Sebastopol, 251 + Sedan-chair, 121 + Sedge-bird, 271 + Servants' hall, 61 + Sessions, 21 + Set-tos, 353 + Sets, 146 + Settle, 53 + Seven and sixers, 95 + Sheep-walks, 14 + Shell, 105 + Shell lesson, 284 + Sheridan Knowles, 328 + Sheriff, 348 + Shilling, 6 + Shingle, 370 + Shovel, 42 + Side, 117 + Silver, 208 + Sindbad, 263 + Sirens, 22 + Sir Roger de Coverley, 43 + Sir Walter, 14 + Six minutes' law, 150 + Skittles, 46 + Skye, 370 + Sliding-scales, 371 + Slithering, 269 + Slogger, 287 + Smock frocks, 19 + Snob, 330 + Snuggery, 362 + Sodden, 291 + Sold, 198 + Somersetshire, 30 + Sovereign, 37 + Sparring, 129 + Spinney, 8 + Sponge, 296 + Sprats, 289 + Spring-board, 202 + Sprung, 192 + Squaretoes, 325 + Squire, 17 + Stage, 80 + St. Albans, 80 + Stall, 238 + Standard, 333 + Staple, 165 + Star, 74 + Statute feasts, 31 + Steeple-chase, 97 + Sterling, 181 + St. George, 13 + Stickleback, 28 + Stiggins, Mr., 9 + Stolid, 55 + Stone, 3 + Studies, 96 + Study-fagging, 178 + Stuff, 34 + Stump, 349 + Stumped, 354 + Summary, 288 + Summut, 41 + Surrey, 322 + Swarmed, 269 + Swiper Jack, 350 + Swiping, 359 + Swiss Family Robinson, 58 + Swiveller, Richard, 9 + + Tabor, 34 + Tacitly, 282 + Tackle, 81 + Tackle-maker, 204 + Tails, 177 + Talbots, 2 + Tally-ho, 73 + Tap, 83 + Taxidermy, 252 + Team, 350 + Technicalities, 103 + Ten-pound doctor, 20 + Thatched, 9 + Thick, 154 + Three-decker, 147 + Three pound ten, 6 + Thunder-and-lightning, 292 + Tick, 119 + Ticket-of-leave-men, 200 + Tie, 44 + Tighe, 17 + Tile, 94 + Tip, 87 + Tithe, 167 + Tizzy, 184 + Toady, 47, 176 + Toby Philpot jug, 15 + Toco, 112 + Toffee, 69 + Tom Crib, 98 + Top-boots, 34 + Topping, 351 + Tors, 321 + Tory, 57 + Toryism, 368 + Toss-up, 201 + Town, 361 + Treadmill, 5 + Trencher, 82 + True blue, 57 + Tuck, 291 + Tuck-shop, 119 + Tuppence, 36 + Turf-cart, 357 + Turnspit, 49 + Turret, 297 + Tutelage, 32 + Twenty, The, 364 + Twisters, 322 + Twod, 41 + Two seven and sixers, 95 + + Um, 16 + Umpire, 40 + Un, 16 + Uncovenanted mercies, 339 + Unctuous, 290 + Usher, 66 + Utopian, 238 + + Valeted, 28 + Van, 85 + Vantage-ground, 152 + Veathers, 41 + Velveteens, 204 + Verger, 100 + Vernacular, 19 + Verses, 182 + Vested, 368 + Vested interest, 196 + Vestibule, 377 + Vestry, 57 + Veto, 165 + Vicarious, 262 + Vice, 332 + Vizes, 44 + Vlush, 41 + Volition, 256 + Vools, 19 + + Wainscoted, 82 + War, The, 237 + 'Ware, 274 + Wash, 232 + Waterloo, 116 + Wattle, 151 + Way-bill, 83 + Wayland Smith's cave, 14 + Wench, 35 + West-countryman, 18 + West End clubs, 46 + Whey, 26 + Whum, 19 + Wicket, 52 + Wickets, 90, 346 + Wig, 28 + Will-he, nill-he, 105 + William IV., 133 + Wiltshire, 30 + Winded, 293 + Windsor Castle, 98 + Wiseacre, 325 + Wiseacres, 213 + Wooy, 37 + Worships, 358 + Wos-bird, 42 + Wur, 44 + Wykeham, 259 + + Yeast, 45 + Yeomanry, 21, 238 + Yeomen, 1 + Yule-tide, 19 + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + + +1. 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