SCHOOL AND EARLY DAYS 



he is coming home he has his eye, or perhaps his 

 thoughts, on the stable and seldom bothers much 

 about you. Well, these two years' schooling at 

 Overton brought to an end the family's migration 

 into Hampshire. 



On getting back into Wiltshire the family finances 

 would seem to have been swallowed up in a hungry 

 farm. In any case there would appear to be very 

 little to spend on education and therefore no 

 alternative was forthcoming but the village school 

 at Chiseldon. There is nothing very derogatory in 

 this. One does at least get a good grounding in 

 the three " R's." Mr. Stanier, the schoolmaster, 

 was a fine old chap, and I look back to those years 

 in the 'eighties with pride and think that some of 

 us were fortunate to have a good foundation laid by 

 a man of such high character and good reputation. 



Well, the time came when I must wind up 

 schooldays by finishing off with a couple of years at 

 Swindon High School in the days of Samuel Snell. 

 Sammy had the reputation of pushing on the smart 

 and forward boys, and for this I can very well 

 vouch. On reflection I can seem to see such boys 

 as Tom Horder, Williamson (later a pillar of the 

 Church), and then Potter major and Potter minor, 

 all destined for good posts in later life. 



There were quite a few of us farmer boys, sons 

 of the soil, but as far as I can remember we were all 

 in the back row. When the old man took on a class 

 during a morning, I can see him now, putting a 

 question on the blackboard. " Here, Wiseman," 

 (it may very well have been Whatley), " what's the 



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