When IV e Old Fogeys ivere Boys. 209 



lasted them for life. Correspondents who know nothmg 

 about the value of school discipline write a lot of rubbish to 

 the papers about " the lads having ushers." Tf instead of 

 writing they would go down and address the boys on the 

 subject, and the river was handy, what then ? In every 

 place, and at all hours of the day and night some prefect 

 w^as answerable for what was going on, and if he neglected 

 his duty and countenanced things which he ought not, his 

 power would be taken away at once^ and he would prac- 

 tically be reduced to the ranks ; and great was the downfall 

 of that boy. In cases of this kind came out the real boy- 

 character, and if the deposed prefect was a bully all the 

 juniors would rejoice in his fall and not move a hand for 

 hiui, but if he was a good fellow every junior would antici- 

 pate his wishes and volunteer to do everything for him as 

 if he had the power to fag them. As regards discipline and 

 tunding — tunding by prefects' court-martial was a great 

 institution properly used — abused it was positively infernal. 

 Big fellows, tribunes of the people, were the victims gener- 

 ally ; and if they chose to be guilty of breaches of discipline 

 and loould play cards, or get in spirits, or go into the town 

 out of bounds, and a prefect who was answerable for dis- 

 cipline caught them, they had their choice of a dozen or so 

 with a ground ash across their shoulders before the school^ 

 or go before the authorities. In nineteen cases out of 

 twenty the culprits took the tunding. It was soon over ; 

 all the boys knew what it was for, and if the offence was 

 uncontaminated by anything low or sneaking or dishonour- 

 able, no one thought the worse of the prefect who did it or 

 the boy who suffered the punishment ; and you would some- 

 times see tunder and tundee playing in the same match at 

 football or cricket as if nothing had happened, just as I 

 once saw a second master who had flogged a boy in school at 

 12 o'clock, caught out by the culprit at 12.30 in a match 



