SCHOOL LIFE AT RUGBY. 5 



" Although athletics — with the exception of 

 cricket, football, and ' Bigside- leaping' — were not 

 so extensively practised, nor held in the same 

 esteem, as they are at the present day, Hodson was 

 one of the committee for converting the island into 

 a sort of gymnasium, with swings, parallel bars, 

 and other mechanical contrivances ; and he won 

 great renown by winning a single wager which 

 depended on three distinct events : — 



1. He was to run eight miles in the hour. 



2. To run a mile in five minutes. 



3. To pick up 100 stones, placed one yard apart, 



within the hour. 

 If he failed in any one of these feats he was to 

 forfeit his stake. He accomplished them on the 

 Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, half-holidays, in 

 one week. 



" I witnessed the performance on two occasions. 

 The eight miles were run on the Barby Road, and 

 part of the way against a cold head wind. He had 

 some minutes to spare, and did the eight miles 

 with hardly a pause. 



" I was not present when he ran the mile, but 

 I understood that he was ten or fifteen seconds 

 within time. On the third occasion the stones 

 were laid in the Close, along the path which leads 

 from the head-master's garden to what was then 

 the Rev. C. A. Anstey's. The event came off" after 

 3 P.M. ' calling over,' before a crowd of boys, and 

 I distinctly remember our tutor, Bonamy Price, 

 looking on with wonder and approval. Hodson 

 began by picking up all the distant stones first ; 

 and occasionally took a few between twenty and 

 thirty yards from the starting-point. He kept 



