A Boyhood in Scotland 



panion to take his choice, we stood up close 

 together and thrashed each other on the legs 

 until one succumbed to the intolerable pain 

 and thus lost the game. Nearly all of our play- 

 ground games were strenuous, shin-battering 

 shinny, wrestling, prisoners' base, and dogs 

 and hares, all augmenting in no slight degree 

 our lessons in fortitude. Moreover, we regarded 

 our punishments and pains of every sort as 

 training for war, since we were all going to be 

 soldiers. Besides single combats we sometimes 

 assembled on Saturdays to meet the scholars 

 of another school, and very little was required 

 for the growth of strained relations, and war. 

 The immediate cause might be nothing more 

 than a saucy stare. Perhaps the scholar stared 

 at would insolently inquire, "What are ye 

 glowerin' at, Bob?" Bob would reply, "I'll 

 look where I hae a mind and hinder me if ye 

 daur." "Weel, Bob," the outraged stared-at 

 scholar would reply, " I '11 soon let ye see whether 

 I daur or no!" and give Bob a blow on the face. 

 This opened the battle, and every good scholar 

 I 35 1 



