52 MY LIFE 



The three assistant masters, then called ushers, were very- 

 distinct characters. The English and writing master, who 

 also taught French, was a handsome, fair young man named 

 Fitzjohn. He was something of a dandy, wearing white duck 

 trousers in the summer, and always having a bright-coloured 

 stiff stock, which was the fashionable necktie of the day. 

 Those being ante-steel-pen days he had to make and mend 

 our quill pens, and always had a sharp penknife. He was 

 consequently the authority among the boys on the different 

 knife-makers and the best kind of hones for keeping them 

 sharp ; and when he declared, as I once heard him, that some 

 knives required oil and others water on the stone to bring 

 them to the proper edge, we marvelled at his knowledge. What 

 raised him still higher in our estimation was that he was a 

 fairly good cricketer, and, even more exciting, he was one of 

 the County Yeomanry, and upon the days appointed for drill 

 or inspection, when from his bedroom over the schoolroom he 

 came down in his uniform with sword and spurs, and marched 

 across the room, our admiration reached its height. Though 

 rather contemptuous to the younger boys, he was, I think, a 

 pretty fair teacher. I learnt French from him for about two 

 or three years, and though he taught us nothing colloquially, 

 and could not, I think, speak the language himself, yet I 

 learned enough to read any easy French book, whereas my six 

 years' grinding at Latin only resulted in a scanty knowledge 

 of the vocabulary and grammar, leaving me quite unable to 

 construe a page from a Latin author with any approach to 

 accuracy. Of course this was partly due to the fact that one 

 language is much more difficult than the other, but more to 

 the method of instruction. Had half the time been devoted 

 to teaching us simple colloquial Latin thoroughly, I feel sure 

 it would have been far more useful to those who left school 

 early, and who had no special talent for languages. The 

 only use Latin has been to me has been the enabling me to 

 understand the specific descriptions of birds and insects in 

 that tongue, and also to appreciate the derivation from Latin 

 of many of our common English words. If the remaining 

 time had been spent in learning German, the result would 



