72 " MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE ! " 



first night at the school I began to feel more or less at 

 home. Godley was a really brilliant scholar, and he 

 was also a cricketer of considerable merit. He had his 

 Cap, and was, in fact, good all round. He used to be 

 called " Little Boy," 1 but the origin of that title is lost in 

 obscurity so far as I am concerned. It was through him 

 that I was made Library fag for the House, the duties 

 being to issue library books once a week to those who 

 wanted them, and keep a record of all such transactions. 

 He was really only four years older than myself, but 

 four years make a world of difference at that time of life 

 when the big fellows at your school seem to be infinitely 

 bigger and more powerful than any other men that you 

 ever see later on. At Rugby the VI th form was responsible 

 for the discipline of the houses, the house-master only 

 coming in to read prayers in the evening. Whether the 

 regime is the same now I do not know, but it used to work 

 very well then, and to an extent which no master could 

 possibly have controlled. Thus in our bedroom there 

 were nine of us a fellow named Barker was given to snor- 

 ing so badly that his presence was almost intolerable. He 

 would awaken us all by sudden trumpet-like snorts, apart 

 from methodical snoring, and Godley at last ordained 

 that a string should be tied to one of his toes and passed 

 along all the beds, the instruction being that anyone who 

 heard him beginning to snore should pull hard at the 

 string. The result was that he was absolutely cured of 

 the habit within a fortnight, and if, as I hope, he is still 

 alive and flourishing, he will certainly acknowledge the 

 benefit he derived from this rough and ready treatment. 



New fellows at Rugby in my time had to wear top hats, 

 and were also obliged to answer anyone who had been 



1 Lord Kilbracken explains : " The origin of my nickname was a 

 very simple one. When I went to Rugby I was in a bedroom with 

 four other boys, all a good deal bigger than I was ; they got into the 

 way of addressing me, appropriately enough, as ' Little Boy,' and the 

 name spread and stuck.to me." Lord Kilbracken (J. A. Godley) was 

 anything but a " little boy " when the author went to Rugby four years 

 later. 



