CH. II.] Hints to Schoolmasters. 31 



cannot help thinking a proper provision is 

 seldom made in their establishments for 

 acquiring a real working knowledge of the 

 profession of a rat-catcher; and I wish to 

 suggest that it would be as well to insist on 

 all those students who wish to take up this 

 subject keeping at school at least one good 

 dog and a ferret, and that two afternoons a 

 week should be set apart entirely for field 

 practice, and that the cost of this should be 

 jotted down at the end of each term in the 

 little school account that is sent home to the 

 students' parents. I know most high-spirited 

 boys will object to this and call it a fresh 

 tyranny, and ever after hate me for proposing 

 it ; but I do it under a deep sense of duty, 

 being convinced that it is far better they 

 should perfectly master the rudimentary 

 knowledge of such an honest profession as 

 that of rat-catcher, than that they should drift 

 on through their school life with no definite 



