ARNOLD LUNN I have often heard since much of the immoralities of a public-school life, but I can truly say that when I was there,
Arnold Lunn’s (The Knoll 19023) novel The Harrovians is one of the first critical accounts of public-school rules and
I saw nothing of them. A very few boys, however, can change the whole character of a school, especially in a wrong
traditions. Based on the diary Lunn kept during his time at Harrow in the early 1900s, the novel helped to spark the
direction. “A little worm-wood can pollute a hive of honey,” was one of the wise sayings of Pius II. I do not think that
necessary reform to the public-school system.
my morals were a bit the worse for Harrow, but from what I have heard since of all that went on there even in my time, I can only conclude it was because – at that time certainly – “je n’avais pas le goût du peché,” as I once read in a French novel. At Easter, 1848, I left Harrow for the holidays, little imagining that I should never return there. I should have been very sorry had I known it. On the whole, the pleasurable “adventures” of a public-school life had always outweighed its disagreeables; though I was never in strong enough health for any real benefit or enjoyment.
FROM THE HARROVIANS CHAPTER IV: ONE MORE LESSONS IN BUSHIDO “I suppose,” said Manson, in an hour when work was technically prepared, “that they paid the blighter who wrote this tosh.” “What tosh?” asked Peter. “Oh, an article in this mag – ‘The Public School Spirit.’ It’s by a chap called Handleby.” “Usual bilge?” asked Kendal, without much interest. “Oh yes; stale old tosh. I’ll give you the snappier extracts.” Manson proceeded to deliver Mr Handleby’s sounding periods with affected eloquence. “‘Critics complain that education and the more serious efforts of life are neglected; that a boy is discussing averages while his German brother is interested in Shakespeare. We reply that the Public Schools aim at something higher than culture. They build up character and turn out manly, clean-living men that are the rock of the empire.’” “Such as Caysley, I suppose,” put in Kendal from the floor. “Well, so long as they turn out clean-livers let ‘em rip.” Manson proceeded undisturbed. “‘They teach boys something which is more important than the classics. They teach them to play the game.’” Kendal shouted with wrath, “Chuck it away! A man who uses a tag which one’s aunts are beginning to understand should be shot.” “Oh, give him a chance, said Parry testily. Parry was touched by the article. “‘It does not so much matter what a man knows. It is what he is that signifies.’” “Precisely,” interjected the irrepressible Kendal; “don’t matter him taking five years to reach the upper school if he’s a clean-living manly Empire-builder like Cadby.”
MORE LESSONS IN BUSHIDO (PART III) A House match between two teams, either of which may ultimately be the Cock House, is a stirring spectacle. The emotions stirred in the spectators are simple and primitive, for the love of watching a close fight is as old and enduring as man. There you see the passion for House as its finest. A boy may hate his House, and long to leave it, yet in the heat of a close contest he will forget everything save that he is a unit in a society represented by eleven good men and true, and that a rival House must be humbled in the dust. It is the triumph of the social as against the individual spirit. It was tolerably obvious that either Lee’s or Jones’ must be Cock House, and it was unfortunate that they should meet in the first round. Jones’ had five flannels, Lee’s only one, Cayley. Jones’ were the heavier man by man, yet in the scratch matches “Seconders” Lee’s had been undefeated, and had drawn with Jones’. Lee’s always played with desperate vigour, for Cayley had put the fear of God in every member of the team. Their power as an eleven was not a little due to one vigorous personality. There is no code which gives such little opportunity for finesse and tactics as the Harrow game. The complicated system of passing at Soccer is unknown. The centre, assisted by the wings, follow up in a solid body, and try to capture the ball when the leader loses it. When near the opponents’ base the leader tries to turn it round and gently kick the
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HARROW SCHOOL 450 ANTHOLOGY
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