74 THE EARLY DAYS OF 



commemorated by a holiday. Then having gazed at the fair 

 occupant of the carriage and her parasol, which also did duty as a 

 whip, we strolled away to the space outside the pantry door, where 

 " Long Tom," the footman, was regailing the out-riders with 

 " College Ale," amid the chaff of some of the bolder spirits, who 

 enjoyed the grimaces which the ale produced. 



One day whilst rushing out of hall in a desperate hurry to go birds' 

 nesting, on turning a corner I got entangled in " Long Tom's " legs 

 and sent him flat upon his back, as he was bringing in the writing 

 master's breakfast on a tray. The tea, the milk, the toast, and eggs 

 came like an avalanche upon him, and as I fled I heard him shouting 

 out : " You've upset the whole concern." 



When I paid a visit to Marlborough, after my return from India, 

 I found the " King-Oak " in the forest with a railing round it, with 

 a view to save it from destruction, but in my time, we used to 

 cut off pieces and form them into small crosses, and what we 

 called " baccy stoppers." This latter name was soon passed on 

 to the prefects, who had strict orders to report any boy caught 

 smoking. 



Nelson risked an encounter with a polar bear, in order that he 

 might send the skin home to his father, and I "cut roll call" one 

 day in order to get as far as the " King-Oak " to purloin a piece of 

 wood, in order that I might send a small cross to my mother. How 

 I laboured at that work of art, and when I sent it home, I pictured 

 to myself the great delight with which it would be received. I 

 thought at least it would be put under a glass case, with a suitable 

 mscription. When however I got home myself, 1 found it stuffed 

 away with a lot of "rubbish," and a skein of worsted wound round 

 it. Ah I could exclaim was, " Oh, fancy! " And my mother seeing 

 how much aggrieved I was, acknowledged that she was wrong. 

 It is wonderful how children take such small things as this to 

 heart, and parents should always be on the qui vive about them. 

 l,The porous subsoil of chalk, which lies beneath the Marlborough 

 Downs, as every farmer knows, is favourable to sheep, and the great 



