72 Wood side. 



luminous rings and many moons, which Tennyson compares 

 with the lonely, studious man when he writes 



" And while the world runs round and round, I said, 



Reign thou apart, a quiet king, 

 Still as, while Saturn whirls, his steadfast shade 

 Sleeps on his luminous ring." 



All these bright bodies, moving in their elliptical orbits, 

 in company with our own earth, around the central sun, 

 derive their heat, their life from him. 



With such-like thoughts our minds are filled as we walk 

 over the fields in the balmy air, skirting a narrow copse, 

 until at last we are on the borders of Strood once more. A 

 stile at the end of a narrow path offers facilities for a final 

 reverie. There is the old school, buried in slumber, and 

 behind it the vicarage with its extensive gardens. How 

 strange it seems that these old-fashioned schools are always 

 in immediate contact with the parson's orchard, separated 

 from it only by a five-foot wall ! Is it to give the parson a 

 chance of showing off his learning by everlasting discourses 

 on the inherent wickedness of boy nature, or of obtaining 

 satisfactory proof of the deep seated character of original sin 

 in boy mind? It must be something of this kind, and if 

 so, one's feelings rise in rebellion when the boy is flogged for 

 delinquencies over which he has so little control ; and still 

 more erroneous does it appear that those who ought to lead 

 our youth aright, should put temptation where it is so little 

 likely to be resisted. 



What amusing recollections does that old school bring 

 back ! It appears to have been the aim of a long series of 

 well-meaning clergymen to bring up the youth of what was, 

 some quarter of a century ago, a very sleepy village, in the 



