SAINTS' DAYS 



of the kindly forethought and consideration of the 

 Early Fathers or the Early Christians whichever 

 it was who instituted the observance of saints' 

 days, inasmuch as we had a whole holiday on 

 these occasions. I may say that at this time 

 I was trying the patience of certain pastors and 

 masters at the Cathedral School on Wolsey's 

 foundation at Christ Church. I will not go so 

 far as to assert that these respites from our classical 

 studies were originally designed to afford us an 

 opportunity of gratifying a taste for sport ; but 

 this I do know, that the hunting appointments 

 were eagerly scanned by some of us when saints' 

 days were imminent. It might possibly, though 

 it is a moot point, have been more to the good of 

 our spiritual health if we had devoted such oppor- 

 tunities, as, perhaps, it was intended we should, 

 to the quiet contemplation of saintly virtues in 

 strict seclusion ; but I am quite sure this would 

 not have been of the same physical benefit to us 

 as were those trudges over hill and dale which we 

 took amid the fresh air of the country. After a 

 good spin, with what cheerful appetites we dis- 

 posed of bread and cheese, washed down with 

 shandy-gaff, at the Bear at Cumner, the Royal 

 Oak at Stow-wood, or some other equally well- 

 known hunting house-of-call ! 



When on sport intent, three or four of us 

 usually kept together. In the company to which 

 I attached myself, one member in particular a 

 lean, lanky individual named Linwood stands out 

 distinct in memory from the rest. In school he was 

 a nobody, and nothing he ever said or did there 

 was considered to be of the slightest importance. 



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