A Sportsman at Large 88 



or human child. As regards the last-named, it is a point of 

 honour in a public school that a boy should not funk " a 

 swiping," but rather enjoy it, and boast of it so cui bono ? 



If a temperamental lad does allow fear to obsess him, 

 more harm than good is sure to accrue ; for thus his nervous 

 system may be dangerously affected. But there is worse 

 behind. Every physiologist knows that, in some cases, the 

 birch acts as an aphrodisiac and a stimulant to sexual 

 disturbance. Such reaction is likely to occur, not only in 

 the case of the patient, but also in that of the agent. Many 

 cases of sexual degeneracy have been traced to flagellation. 



Putting this very real danger aside Is it not highly degrading 

 for a Doctor of Divinity to constitute himself sworn torturer 

 and inflicter of lesion on the " head's antipodes " of an ado- 

 lescent schoolboy ? If corporal punishment really is necessary, 

 which (except in the case of deliberate brutality to child or 

 animal) I very much doubt; should not the operation be 

 performed by the school porter, or " custos ? " 



The High Sheriff is expected to hang a felon convicted of 

 wilful murder, only when the common hangman is not avail- 

 able. I have yet to hear of a governor of a gaol who insists 

 on wielding the cat-o' -nine-tails himself, and who glories in the 

 deed, as do our most revered and reverend head masters ! 



I am afraid that the Rev. Thompson Podmore was not 

 making much of a success of Elstree during the final year of 

 his tenure. For this, or some other reason, he arranged to 

 turn the school over to the Rev. Launcelot Sanderson, a 

 Harrow master. At the time, I was nearly head of the school, 

 and a member of the cricket eleven, with a decimal average. 

 I thought myself fairly primed with scholastic knowledge ; 

 but when the Rev. Launcelot came to have a look around, he 

 evidently thought otherwise, for he informed me that unless 

 I bucked up, I might well be " spun " for the Harrow entrance 

 examination. 



This " put the wind up " me as the saying goes, and I grew 

 uneasy. When the day of trial and tribulation arose, I was 

 in a neurasthenic state, which was rendered the more acute 

 since I was suffering from one of those devastating headaches 

 which were prone to overcome me periodically during the time 



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