A REJOINDER 121 



guffawed, and indulged in horse play^ so that it was 

 impossible for the class to proceed. But they even 

 proceeded to worse acts of hooliganism than that. 

 They opened the windows and threw in mud, snow, 

 and stones. 



Very much the same treatment awaited the altruistic 

 efforts of one of the assistant schoolmistresses. On 

 two evenings a week this lady endeavoured to hold a 

 Sewing and Conversational Class for all the girls in the 

 island, who were over fourteen years of age. At first she 

 tried the schoolroom. But that was rendered intolerable 

 by the Glasgow hooligans outside. The teacher had 

 to break up the class, night after night, because 

 these roughs threw things in at the window. When 

 she went home in despair they jeered and laughed 

 at her. Not willing to give up without a further 

 struggle, she endeavoured to hold the class at her 

 own rooms. It was of no avail. The roughs invaded 

 her home and indulged in the same annoyance as 

 before. The result is, as I am informed, there is 

 neither Bible Class nor Sewing and Conversational 

 Class in the island. In other words, utter lawlessness 

 prevails. Yet here are the very circumstances 

 which, if Dr. Cobbett's contention be true, should 

 yield us the fruit he has led us to expect. Everything 

 in the native environment of the island calls for 

 good order. They who are there, be they native or 

 visitor or boarded-out youths and girls, find nothing 

 to incite them to such acts as I have described. 

 Yet we do find precisely what biological considera- 

 tions indicate we must inevitably find, namely, that 



