34 THE EARLY DAYS OF 



all he said, as he told me to go about my business, was — " I'll 

 be bound to say you have no more voice than a pig." 



The rustics in the neighbourhood had a fixed idea that our sole 

 object in coming to school was to acquire manners. But if they 

 had any cause to complain about our want of courtesy, they would 

 not have expected much had they seen the example set us by our 

 betters. If dispensing civility were a luxury which can only be 

 indulged in by the rich, there would have been some excuse for the 

 rudeness we received at school ; but considering that it costs nothing, 

 it might be surprising that we got so little, until we look outside the 

 iron railings, and see how prone mankind in general is to bully 

 those who cannot retaliate. 



Sweeps, who in the great seminary outside, may be said to have 

 taken their places in the Lower School, tell me that the world, at 

 least the well-dressed portion of it, fear their resentment far too 

 much to be otherwise than polite and courteous whilst addressing 

 them. But tramps, without a home or friends, have often told me 

 they come in for much more than their proper share of rudeness, 

 though as a rule they say it does not affect them much. They get 

 so accustomed to it. 



The " wilderness," where I was introduced to school, was soon 

 put out of bounds, but we could gaze into its dark recesses through 

 the railings which shut us out, and the tradition ran throughout the 

 Lower School, that fearful scenes were nightly enacted there, within 

 its gloomy caves and grottos. 



Who were the actors on this dreadful stage ? Where did they 

 hail from ? Or why they should choose such a damp unpleasant 

 place, close to a school containing a host of boys? were questions 

 never asked or thought of. But one lad, who lingered near the 

 railings after the evening school bell rang, had heard distinctly, so 

 he said, most awful groans, as though the Thugs of India had taken 

 up their quarters, and were strangling a victim there. Another had 

 seen a mysterious light flitting to and fro among the trees, and 

 watched it until a piercing shriek sent him flying into the lighted 



