For both aspiring and experienced education leaders in school budgeting, finance, and resource management courses, Money and Schools explains and demonstrates the relationship between money and equality of educational opportunity Grounded in research and best practices, this book provides a broad overview of school finance, budgeting, and resource allocation, as well as a detailed examination of day-to-day funding operations Full of rich pedagogical features such as chapter-by-chapter case studies, point/counterpoint discussions,andportfolioexercises thisaccessibleandengagingbookoffersstrongconnectionstoreal-world experiencesanddetailedinformationonpre-K–12fundinghistory,concepts,andcurrentoperations
Newtothisedition:
Cutting edge research on the relationship of money and student learning outcomes, alterations to state aid distribution formulas, new federal education initiatives, and a changing landscape in school finance litigation.
New concepts that have gained traction since the last edition of the book, including school choice and privatization,CommonCoreStateStandards,value-addedteacherevaluation,andgrowthofonlineoptions attheK–12level
Faith E Crampton is President and CEO of Crampton & Associates, an education consulting firm, who retiredasAssociateProfessorofEducationFinanceandPolicyattheUniversityofWisconsin-Milwaukee
R.CraigWood is Professor of Educational Administration and Policy at the University of Florida and Chair oftheNationalEducationFinanceConference
David C Thompson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at Kansas State UniversitywhereheholdstheElvonG.SkeenEndowedChairforEducation.
Dr FaithE Crampton’ s professional career has spanned public education, senior administrative positions in state government, senior research and policy positions in national education and legislative organizations, and graduatefacultypositionsinpublicandprivateresearchuniversities SheispastPresidentoftheFiscalIssues, Policy,andEducationFinanceSpecialInterestGroupoftheAmericanEducationalResearchAssociationand a past member of the Board of Directors of the American Education Finance Association and the Board of Directors for the University Council for Educational Administration’s Center for the Study of Education Finance ShecurrentlyservesontheBoardofAdvisorsfortheNationalEducationFinanceConferencewhere she is a Distinguished Fellow of Research and Practice She has published widely in leading academic as well as practitioner-oriented journals, such as the Journal of Education Finance, West’s Education Law Reporter, Journal of Educational Administration, Educational Considerations, National Association of Secondary School Principals Journal, NASSP Bulletin, Journal of School Business Management, Journal of the Council of Education FacilitiesPlannersInternational,MulticulturalLearningandTeaching, and SchoolBusinessAffairs, in addition to authoring numerous monographs, reports, book chapters, and policy briefs She is Executive Editor of Educational Considerations and a Legislative Editor for the Journal of Education Finance. She coauthored the groundbreaking book, Saving America’s School Infrastructure, with a foreword by the Honorable Senator Edward M Kennedy Dr Crampton has presented scholarly papers and given invited presentations to national and international research and policy organizations, such as the American Education Finance Association, American Educational Research Association, British Educational Management and Administration Society, Center for Budget Policy and Priorities, Council of Education Facilities Planners International, Council of State Governments, Education Commission of the States, Education Writers Association, NAACP, National Conference of Professors of Educational Administration, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Education Association, University Council for Educational Administration, and US Department of Education Currently, Dr Crampton is an education consultant serving as President and CEO of Crampton & Associates, a firm specializing in rigorous, results-oriented education finance research and policy analysis. She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Leadership from TheOhioStateUniversityandanM.B.A.fromMarquetteUniversity.Shebeganhercareerasapublicschool teacher
Dr R CraigWoodisoneoftheleadingscholarsinthefieldoffinancingpubliceducationinAmerica Heis currently Professor of Educational Administration and Policy at the University of Florida. His career has spanned public school classroom teacher, school district business manager, and assistant superintendent for finance for school districts across the nation Prior to his present position he was a professor of educational administration at Purdue University He is one of the most prolific authors in America regarding the funding of public education. His publications record includes more than 250 book chapters, monographs, and scholarly journal articles including the American Education Finance Association’s Annual Yearbooks and the Education Law Association’s HandbookofSchoolLaw series His books include EducationFinanceLaw,Fiscal Leadership for Schools, and Principles of School Business Management He serves on the editorial boards of Education Law Reporter, Journal of Education Finance, Education Law and Policy Review, and Educational Considerations HehaspublishedhisresearchinsuchjournalsastheJournalofEducationFinance, the Kentucky Law Review, the Saint Louis University Public Law Review, the University of Arkansas Law Review, the Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal, and Education Law and Policy Review He has conducted education finance litigation workshops for the National Conference on State Legislatures and the National Association of Attorneys General He has served as the lead expert involving state constitutional challenges to financing public education in many states over the years He has consulted with over two dozen state legislatures regarding the financing of public education. He is a past President of the American Education Finance Association as well as its Executive Director. He is currently the Vice President of the EducationLawAssociationhousedatClevelandMarshallCollegeofLaw,Cleveland,Ohio Heservesasthe Chair of the National Education Finance Conference He holds an EdD and MA Ed in Educational Administration from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a B.S. cum laude from CampbellUniversityinNorthCarolina.
Dr.DavidC.Thompson’ s 40-year professional career has spanned school teacher, principal, superintendent, and the professoriate. His chapters and journal articles appear in prestigious venues including the Journal of Education Finance, West’s Education Law Reporter, and more He has authored fifteen books including six editions of Money and Schools, along with coauthoring Saving America’s School Infrastructure (2003) with the forewordbythelateHonorableSenatorEdwardM.Kennedy.Dr.Thompson’sscholarlyreputationhasledto service as advisor or expert witness for various state departments of education, state legislatures, attorneys general, and attorneys and litigants in school finance totaling thousands of school districts in more than 26 states His research in public school finance and litigation has been presented by him to many national organizationsincludingtheAmericanEducationFinanceAssociation,EducationLawAssociation,American Educational Research Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Center for Education Statistics, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, and more His work has also been presented to groups such as the National Association of Attorneys General He is cited in nearly 500 instances in national law journals, including such influential locations as the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems, Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Stanford Law Review, and Yale Law and Policy Review, and he was footnoted in the United States Supreme Court ruling in BOE of Oklahoma City Public Schools He has received numerous national awards, including the University Council for Educational Administration’s Award of Appreciation for Sustained and Meritorious Service, the Outstanding Education Research Award at Kansas State University, the Distinguished Fellow of Research and Practice award from the National Education Finance Conference, and the Lifetime Achievement Award also from NEFC Dr Thompson holds an EdD in educational administration from Oklahoma State University and postdoctoral work in education law from Harvard. He has been at Kansas State University since 1987, serving from 1989 to 2006 as Founding Co-Director of the UCEA Center for Education Finance,andservingcontinuouslyasProfessorandChairoftheDepartmentofEducationalLeadershipsince 1993,forwhichhewasnamedtheUniversityPresidentialOutstandingDepartmentHead(2012) In2013,he was appointed to the Kansas State University Academy of Fellows. He also holds the Elvon G. Skeen EndowedChairforEducation.
Preface
Welcome to the sixth edition of Moneyand Schools! To those who used the earlier editions, we welcome you back. To new users, we offer a special welcome and hope you will be able to satisfy your interest in school finance and resource management through this book As was true with each of the previous five editions, we have again attempted to shed new light on the critical needs of the field in a way that is clear, precise, and engaging Our reasoning for this approach is simple we believe that how schools are funded is of critical importance in today’s world of high stakes accountability, and we believe that effective educational leaders must understand the relationship between money and the aims of education and be responsive to public perceptions about how fiscal resources are utilized In our view, the topic is vibrant, and the need for clarity andprecisioncannotbeoverstated
Ourapproachinthisbookisdueinmeaningfulparttowhoweareasauthors.Ourprofessionalhistoriesas practitioners and university professors permeate the book by reflecting on how we believe new generations of school leaders should be prepared Who we are therefore says a great deal about what readers should expect from this sixth edition of Moneyand Schools Plainly put, we are experienced scholars, researchers, and public school practitioners, and we believe the impact of our collective history is important to readers’ willingness to accept what we say in this book We are scholars because we work in major research universities, carrying out scholarly agendas and teaching courses in educational leadership, specifically in school finance-related issues We are researchers, within and outside our university affiliations, engaging in the search for new knowledge and best practices in educational leadership and school finance. It is equally important that we have deep and extensive practitioner roots Collectively, we have served as superintendents, assistant superintendents, school business managers, grant managers, principals, and classroom teachers in public school systems across the United States. We have also provided extensive consulting work on behalf of school districts, and for more than two decades we have been involved in court cases in numerous states as expert witnesses on behalf of plaintiffs or defendants seeking objective analysis of funding for schools The especially critical aspect of our professional histories is that we have not written this book solely from a theory base, nor have we used the book as a bully pulpit to advance any political views. Instead, who we are relates to this book by virtue of the fact that we are practitioners who have done what readers are most interested in built budgets, cut budgets, raised taxes, faced angry constituents, hired and fired staff, and experienced the accountability of high stakes student testing As a result, we believe readers’ experience with this book will be enhanced by knowing us for whoweare weareschoolpeoplelikemostofourreaders.
THECURRENTCONTEXT
The context of schooling and its funding remains in a state of flux Although the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law was enacted in 2001 with high hopes for raising academic achievement, particularly among students historically considered at risk, forty-two states have now received waivers for more flexibility in meeting its goals. While the reauthorization of NCLB languishes in the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Department of Education introduced a competitive grant program for states in 2009, called Race to the Top (RTTT), whose major goal is also to improve student achievement RTTT differs substantially from NCLB in that it is voluntary and provides funding for approximately half of states. However, of late, much more attention has been given to the Common Core Standards (CCS) initiative, a joint effort of the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association In 2007, they introduced this initiative to encourage states to apply consistent, high standards for student achievement Although the standards have been adopted by many states, their implementation remains rocky. At the same time, there has developed a broaderbacklashagainstwhatisviewedasexcessivestudenttestingandtheaccompanyinguseofinstructional timefortestpreparationattheexpenseofotherlearningactivities Still,manystatesarepressingforwardwith mandates for greater school and district accountability, including tying teacher evaluation to student test scores. School leaders face additional challenges as many states continue to reduce education funding or provide minimal increases in response to a slow economic recovery from the 2007–2009 economic recession Together, these conditions require schools and districts to do more with fewer resources Although our
profession has always believed that education is a high stakes enterprise in which all children deserve equal educational opportunity, the result of new demands and uncertain funding drives home the need for school leaderstounderstandhowcriticaleffectiveleadershipistostudentsuccess
The current context demands that school leaders must be highly effective, and, to that end, a critically important skill is understanding the relationship between not only opportunity and money but also outcomes and money. The widely adopted Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium’s (ISLLC) standards for schoolleadershippreparation,authoredbytheCouncilofChiefStateSchoolOfficers(CCSSO),statethatall leadersshouldbecompetentinsixstandards,whereinfiscalresourcesplayacriticalroleintheachievementof acceptable student outcomes. Although CCSSO is in the process of reviewing and refreshing the standards, manystatesstillworkfromtheoriginalversion,asfollows:
Standard 1: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is sharedandsupportedbytheschoolcommunity.
Standard 2: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learningandstaffprofessionalgrowth
Standard 3: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by ensuring management of the organization, operations, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learningenvironment
Standard 4: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by collaboratingwithfamiliesandcommunitymembers,respondingtodiversecommunityinterestsandneeds, andmobilizingcommunityresources
Standard 5: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by actingwithintegrity,fairness,andinanethicalmanner
Standard 6: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context
Effective school leaders, then, are key to meeting state and federal mandates for the academic success of all students. The ISLLC standards clearly support the same end, and in equally clear fashion the standards call for school leaders to understand the current economic and fiscal context of schools and its connection to the outcomes of teaching and learning As a result, the context of this sixth edition of Moneyand Schools is that federal law demands equality of educational opportunity and outcomes for all students; that school performance accountability expectations at the state level continue to increase even while fiscal resources may not;andthattheeducationprofessionmustembracerigorousperformanceaccountability
FEATURESOFTHENEWEDITION
Based upon feedback from reviewers and textbook adopters, the content of sixth edition is organized via the sameoverarchingstructureasthepreviousedition Thevolumeisdividedintothreeparts:
Together, these three major sections resemble an inverted pyramid, starting with the broad social context of schools and continuing into specialized examinations of various elements of school budgeting in individual chapters
At the broadest level, it is important for school leaders to understand that money and student achievement are related (Chapter 1) It is also critical to know that education’s current condition is a product of a long history that involves the interplay of complex aspects of our cultural and governmental heritage (Chapter 2) Thenextlogicalstepistoreviewsourcesofrevenueandexpenditure(Chapter3),inthatfrustrationswithand misunderstandingofschoolbudgetsoftencanbetracedbacktotheseareas.
Afterthisbroadoverview,PartIIoffersadetailedviewofdailyfundingoperations Chapter4 explains how accountability, ethical behavior, and professionalism are essential qualities of effective school leaders, and that understanding the flow of money into schools and its proper handling is the basis for all sound decision making. School budget planning (Chapter5) is next addressed from the perspective of how budgets are built, with subsequent chapters exploring in greater detail the major elements of budget construction Specifically, issues of budgeting for personnel (Chapter 6), budgeting for instruction (Chapter 7), and budgeting for student activities (Chapter 8) are elements that cut across sound budgeting behaviors at both district and school levels. The same can be said about budgeting for school infrastructure (Chapter 9), budgeting for transportation and food service (Chapter 10), and the need to budget for liability and risk management (Chapter11)
The third section looks to the future Clearly, site-based leadership will continue to offer schools districts an effective structure to meet the continuing and increasing demands surrounding accountability and student outcomes,bothofwhichhavestrongbudgetimplications(Chapter12) Finally, a look to the future of school fundingisessential(Chapter13)becauseschoolsandsocietycontinuetofaceradicalchange
Each chapter opens with a challenge and chapter drivers. The challenge is a provocative quote on the subject of the chapter that is designed to pique student interest and curiosity. The chapter drivers consist of a series of questions related to the content of the chapter Students are asked to reflect upon these as they read the chapter Chapters end with a point/counterpoint discussion, a case study, portfolio exercises, web resources,andarecommendedreadinglisttofurtherengagestudents:
• Chapter7.BudgetingforInstruction
The challenge, chapter drivers, and content of the chapter prepare students for the Point–Counterpoint exercise This exercise represents a debate on a major issue in the chapter As such, it is a stimulating studentactivitythatcanbeconductedinaface-to-faceclassorinanonlinesetting
Each case study presents a situation that school leaders actually experience in their day-to-day work, and it is centered on one or more resource-related issues presented in the chapter Students are asked to answer a series of questions about the case that offer opportunities for reflection, analysis, and critical thinking
These can be answered individually or in groups Like the Point–Counterpoint exercise, discussion of the casestudy,guidedbythequestions,canbeconductedinaface-to-facesettingoronlinecourse.
Anumberofschoolleadershippreparationprogramsaskstudents toassembleaportfoliooftheirworkasa capstone project The portfolio exercises were developed with that requirement in mind In addition, individual instructors will find that the portfolio exercises lend themselves to course projects that can be engagedinindividuallyorinsmallgroups.
Webresourcesandtherecommendedreadinglistprovidestudentswithoptionstoadvanceandbroadenthe knowledgebasetheyhavegainedthroughthechapter Theseresourcescanalsobeusefultostudentsasthey prepareforPoint–Counterpointdebates,answercasestudyquestions,andcompleteportfolioexercises The recommendedreadinglistalsoprovidesinstructorswithsuggestionsforadditionalassignedreadingsonone ormoretopicsinthechapter
WHAT’SNEWINTHISEDITION?
Changes to this new sixth edition center on critically reviewing and revising all content on the basis of absolute currency, analyzing continuing and emerging trends, and explicating the nearly unprecedented uncertainty of schools’ political, economic, and social environment More specifically, the sixth edition contains:
Eliminationofsometext,tables,andfiguresthateithernolongerfitcurrenteconomictrendsorwhichtend to become dated too quickly notwithstanding, the text is still heavily data-driven since a deep grasp of schoolfundingrequiresfamiliarityandcomfortwithfiscaldata
Addition of new comprehensive tables, along with expanded and updated tables carried forward from the previousedition Whereappropriate,50-statetablesareprovidedforeasycross-statecomparisons
Addition of new, visually appealing graphs and charts that distill complex information into an easy-tounderstandformat.
From its title, it is clear that this book is intended for both broad and specialized audiences Choosing this book indicates that readers have a connection to schools that causes them to demonstrate a high level of interest in education’s costs. Specifically, this book reaches out to school administrators, classroom teachers, school boards, and laypersons in the broader public. Although that sounds like everyone, each of these audiences has a different value for the book Administrators will find that the material confirms their existing knowledge, reminds them of things not considered recently, and extends their knowledge by engaging recent federal and state education reform movements. We have long advocated that the first group of people who should know more about school funding is classroom teachers. We also believe school board members will benefit from this book Finally, laypeople can benefit from this book, in that we are all taxpayers So, in the end, this book represents a practical resource anyone for who wants a better understanding of school finance, budgeting,andresourcemanagement.
HOWCANYOULEARNMORE?
If you find your interest piqued by issues in this new sixth edition, there are many ways to learn more about money and schools Obvious ways are reading other books and taking classes relating to school funding Several excellent textbooks are available that go more deeply into the issues introduced here we ’ ve authored several such books Higher education courses can be helpful in refreshing your knowledge or extending your grasp of these issues Depending on your current employment and career goals, internships with practicing administrators can be a great learning aid Other ways to learn more include attending state department of educationbudgetworkshops,aswellasseminarsconductedbystateprofessionalgroupssuchasadministrator organizations and school boards associations A number of such seminars are offered online as “webinars” Valuable resource people also exist right at home, such as your school district’s chief financial officer or businessmanager,whoisrequiredtocarryoutbudgetingasadailyactivity.Finally,youcancontactus.
Acknowledgments
As with previous editions, the authors acknowledge that no book is ever written without the valuable assistance of others. Much credit for all that is good about this sixth edition goes not only to each of us as coauthors,butalsotomanuscriptreviewersandresourcepeoplewhoseabilitytodiscernandclarifyavarietyof issuesprovedinvaluable
The authors wish to thank the following people who contributed to the sixth edition of Moneyand Schools in important ways. To begin, the authors are grateful to reviewers of the previous five editions: William Andrekopoulos, Cardinal Stritch University; Eric Bartleson, Mankato State University; Michael Boone, Southwest Texas State University; Dennis Brennan, University of the Pacific; Kathleen Brown, University of Missouri–St Louis; William E Camp, University of North Texas; Carlos Cruz, Texas A&M University–Kingsville; Leonard Etlinger, Chicago State University; Joe Flora, University of South Carolina; Gerald Fowler, Shippensburg University; John Freeman, University of Alabama; Frank Gallant, University of Idaho; Catherine Glascock, Ohio University; W B Haselton, University of Louisville; Jack Herlihy, Eastern Kentucky University; Seth Hirshorn, University of Michigan; Albert Jurenas, Florida Atlantic University; Larry K. Kelly, Arizona School Administrators Association; Dennis Lauro, Assistant Superintendent, Pelham, NY; T C Mattocks, Idaho State University; Joseph Natale, Superintendent, Warwick Valley, NY; Doug Nelson, Washington State University; William Owings, Old Dominion University; Ray Proulx, University of Vermont; Augustina Reyes, University of Houston; R Anthony Rolle, University of South Florida; Ross Rubenstein, Georgia State University; William Salwaechter, Oklahoma State University; Catherine Sielke, University of Georgia; Carlee Escue Simon, University of Cincinnati; David Steele, Seattle Pacific University; Ed Stehno, Fort Hays State University; Donald Tetreault, University of South Carolina; Bill Thornton, University of Nevada, Reno; Herb Torres, Las Cruces Public Schools, New Mexico; Gary C. Wenzel, State University of West Georgia; P. Allen Whitlatch, South Dakota State University; and Richard Wiggall,IllinoisStateUniversity
Theauthorsarealsogratefulforthoughtfulbookreviewsandotherextendedcommentaryonprioreditions from Carla Edlefson, Professor of Educational Administration at Ashland University, Richard King, Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of South Florida, Jeffrey Maiden, Professor of Educational Administration at University of Oklahoma, and Randall Vesely, Assistant Professor of EducationalLeadershipatUniversityofToledo
Gratitude is especially expressed to the reviewers of this sixth edition: Jeffrey Maiden, University of Oklahoma; Maureen McClure, University of Pittsburgh; Lenford C. Sutton, Illinois State University; and RandallVesely,UniversityofToledo
Finally, we continue to be humbly grateful for the longstanding acceptance of our work by the field, whose opinionswevaluemostofall.
Inpreviouseditionsofthistextbookwehavebegunwiththestatementthatthecontextofpubliceducationis undergoing dramatic change. We have argued that education indeed all of global society is being relentlessly restructured on a massive scale equal to many events from our past that history books now record ashavingreshapedthefateofentirenations Thatstatementcontinuestobetrue,andthepaceofchangehas not only failed to slow, but instead gives every appearance of accelerating As a result of such a seemingly eternal truth, we should consider the context of such change as we begin our study of money and schools i.e., schools are not immune to today’s economic, political, and social upheaval, and many observers would assertthatourpubliceducationsystemisatrisk
The assertion that public schools might be endangered is rooted in issues that have been raised at all levels of society over the past several decades. Although the past is often subject to a romanticism that fails to objectively ask whether the world was ever rational and gentle, the past few decades have fomented a new tendencytowardhostilechallengesoverawiderangeofrealandimaginaryinjustices anadversarialapproach thathasledtoanationalculturethatnolongerseemstovaluecivility,tolerance,socialjustice,orthecommon good. Recent national and state elections provide evidence of these “culture wars ” where extremist candidates and commentators from both the political left and right accuse one another of being guilty of singlehandedly destroying the America they know and love The breakdown of civility is evident in election results so tightly drawn as to divide the nation along bitter ideological lines such that challenging the outcomes of national, state andevenlocal electionsthroughthecourtshasbecomethenorm.Atitsmostfundamentallevel,this
School leaders are not spared this turmoil As an integral part of modern society, public schools transmit culture and win approval (or scorn) for their perceived success in preparing future generations for living and workinginaglobalcontext.Becausethesplinteringsinsocietyareincreasinglyirreconcilable,educationtoday iscaughtmorethaneveramongcompetingdemandsthatpropoundthemissionofschoolsfromoppositeends of the political and social continuum The questions arising from such a context are profound For example, what are public schools becoming? For that matter, where did schools come from, and what does that say aboutwhatschoolsaretoday?Ofprofoundimportancearethecontentiousquestions:Whatshouldschoolsbe doing? What are schools capable of doing? These questions do not exist in a vacuum; often, the answers are the subject of partisan debates that encompass both conservative and liberal political agendas Far too often, these debates end in gridlock rather than compromise, much less consensus, and it is the children who attend ourpublicschoolsanddedicatededucatorswhoarethelosers.
The struggle is grandly illustrated in contemporary terms by recent federal initiatives, such as the sweeping No Child Left Behind Act of 20012 (NCLB) and the selective, competitive Race to the Top (RTTT) grant program of 2009,3 both of which have asserted confident answers to critical education policy questions like: Whatistheimpactofmoneyonschools?Doschoolsneedmoremoney?Whatactuallyhappenswhenschools get more money? Yet, in the current dissonant social and political context, NCLB has come under attack, with 42 states now receiving waivers from its rigorous (or some might say burdensome and unreasonable) student achievement benchmarks,4 while RTTT has been criticized, in part, because school children in fewer than half of the states have received funding.5 More recently, a new set of academic standards, national in scopeandreferredtoasthe“CommonCore,”6 hasemergedtoequalpartsofpraiseandcriticismbyeducation and legislative/political constituencies as well as the popular media All of these challenges raise the ultimate question:Whereispubliceducationheaded?
Theseareworrisomeissuesaswefaceanunpredictablefuture issuesthatschoolleadersmustbeprepared to address. As a result, the rest of this chapter, along with Chapter 13, sets the stage for the critical importance of schools and money in challenging times As we launch that discussion, it is important to acknowledge that adequate and equitable support of public schools is essential to the future of our nation, if for no other reason than the individual and collective wellbeing of the nation and world depend on preparing eachnewgenerationtotaketheeconomic,political,andsocialreinsofleadershipinademocraticsociety.Asa result, this book sets forth a view of schools and money grounded in research and best practices With that said, our journey begins with the context of public education because it is within that setting where school moneysareobtainedandspent.
WHATARESCHOOLSBECOMING?
A burning question on the minds of many people across the political spectrum is: What is the emerging nature of schools? Although the question is too complex to fully answer here, it is useful to raise the issue because speculating about the answer is fundamental to understanding schools and money as far into the futureaswecansee
WhereDidSchoolsComeFrom?
Thebattleforcontrolofeducationisbynomeansnew,althoughithasshownrecentsignsofescalationasthe stakes for winners and losers have shifted over time in an increasingly knowledge-based society But it is important to recognize at the outset that part of the current struggle for control of schools stems from our national history in that people as a rule are resistant to change, particularly when change is perceived as threateningtotheirwayoflife Itisthereforeanimportantinsighttoknowthatnothing,includingresistance to change, exists without historical roots, and the past gives many clues into a vast array of otherwise loosely connectedrealities 7
The unique history of the United States has contributed much to current struggles over schools in that the structure of education today is the product of a long and tense evolutionary process The history of American education began with the establishment of schools in the original colonies nearly 400 years ago The first law formally requiring schools came into existence in 1642 with adoption of a law in Massachusetts requiring the
town fathers to determine if children were being given adequate religious and occupational training Similar action followed in several other colonies so that by 1720 laws mandating some amount of schooling were in place in Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.8 These laws were destined to be broadened as the idea of enlightened self-government was added to the defense for requiring public education, giving birth to the now familiar democratic principles as argued by Thomas Jefferson, William Penn, and others who wieldedgreatinfluenceontheemergingnatureofschoolinginthenewnation.
In addition to the practical reasons for encouraging public education, the intense isolation of the colonies and the later westward expansion were powerful contributors to the evolving structure of public schools The original colonies were fiercely independent, even to the point of deciding separately whether they each would give financial support to the American Revolution. In the post-war era, the early Congress struggled with its lack of funds to pay war debts, much of which stemmed from intense resistance to any centralized government, and it was a harbinger of a politically mistrustful future that the early nation witnessed a bitter war of contrasting ideologies such as those of Hamilton and Jefferson regarding establishment of a strong federal government. Westward expansion, with its geographic isolationism, only exacerbated the independent streak of early Americans, leading to strong local views on how schools should be organized Yet at the same timethenation’smake-upwasshiftingdramaticallyinotherwayswithsoaringimmigration,establishmentof great cities, and growing sentiment against child-labor abuse. Through a long series of complex events, the Common Schools Movement arose under early advocates like Horace Mann, so that public education somewhatresemblingthestructureofschoolstodaybegantoemergeby1840
Probably the most striking features of public schools in the growing nation were the frequency with which theywereestablishedandthelocalismwhichcharacterizedthem. Theemptyvastnessofthenationledtothe creation of thousands of tiny “ one-room ” schools. Although no one knows how many schools existed across the nation before a trend toward consolidation began, the number had to be at least equal to the number of towns in the states and territories at any given time The only meaningful way to understand the staggering proliferationofschoolsistolooktothefirstformalattemptstotallypublicschools,withU.S.Departmentof Education data showing that in 1929 there were 238,306 elementary schools, of which 148,712 were oneteacher schools; and 23,930 secondary schools a total of 248,117 schools compared to 98,817 schools in 2010! These statistics go far in explaining the fiercely local nature of schooling, and speak loudly to why we stilltodayfindschoolsonlytwoorthreeblocksapartwithlowenrollmentsacrosstheUnitedStates.Afterall, if there were almost 250,000 schools, it stands to reason that there was a multitude of preferences for how schooling should be carried out, especially because states did not seek to regulate schools until well into the 20thcentury
The evolution of public schools in the United States is, of course, far more complex than is presented here, but historic roots illustrate current realities Just as children predictably internalize some of the same values taught to them during their own upbringing, the customs and culture of local communities are deeply held values that affect the nature of schools, and the stubborn pride of Americans in creating and preserving local traditions for schools is legendary. The desire for local control is well expressed by the continual fear of many modern rural school districts, as citizens hasten to charge, “ as the school goes, so goes the town” Indeed, we have served as senior administrators in communities where countless school district patrons repeatedly told us with great anxiety, “If the school goes, the post office and the churches will follow close behind” in other words,schoolsaretheheartofthecommunityinmanypeople’sminds,somuchsothatthestrongestpillarof acommunityisperceivedlostifschoolsclose Consequently,astrongsenseoflocaltraditionproducesafierce struggle at any cost to save schools, and the entirety of the struggle over education be it racial integration, local taxes, curriculum, or school budgets is rooted in the American tradition of local control and resistance tooutsideinterference.
WhatShouldSchoolsBeDoing?
Where schools came from is part of the answer to what schools are becoming, but another aspect of the questionaboutwhatschoolsarebecomingiswrappedupinthesub-question:Whatshouldschoolsbedoing?
Although we have come a long way from the political and social isolation of the past, the insular nature of schools in the United States continues to stand as a reminder of the great difficulty of trying to reach consensusonwhatschoolsshouldbeabout.Almostanynewsreporttodaychroniclessomenewdisputeabout schools, ranging from threats to withdraw fiscal support to impassioned calls for reforms because of some perceived breakdown in schools’ effectiveness Almost daily, administrators lose their jobs due to arguments over what schools should be doing. Teacher unions and professional negotiations become deeply mired in either restricting educational activities or in promoting programs of special interest. School board candidates
often run on platforms of educational reform, and legislators are subjected to tremendous pressures from groups specifically organized to force (or prevent) changes in what schools are doing. No one is immune to such pressure, in large part because people believe that schools are critical to the nation’s future so much so thatcontrolofschoolsistantamounttocontrolofthefuture
Historic opinions on what schools should do have centered mostly on issues relating to morality, democracy,andequality.Intenseinterestamongtheearlycoloniesinpreparingchildrenforamorallyupright life through religious teachings was noted previously Leaders like Thomas Jefferson, Horace Mann, and many others weighed in, broadening the scope of education and arguing that an enlightened citizenry is the mosteffectivecurbagainsttyranny.Morerecently,concernsforequalityofeducationalopportunityandsocial justice have been added to the aims of schooling. The landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954,9 overturning the race-based doctrine of “separate but equal,” was clear evidence of expanded concern about equality in education and all other aspects of the human condition The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the expansive civil rights laws that followed have had enormous educational implications, giving rise to a massive body of federal and state case law and statutes controlling expansive and far-reaching concepts, including gender equity, rights of students with disabilities, and rights of citizens under equal access provisions
The ever-increasing likelihood for ideological conflict provides a window on current views regarding what schools should be doing, especially in context of the nature of equality of educational opportunity and social justice Little disagreement exists about education as an engine for economic productivity, although ensuring equal access to educational opportunity provides fertile ground for disputes relating to equity Critics charge that many students do not have access to economic-enhancing opportunities such as technology or higher education,whichisthenpositedtoensuretheperpetuationofdisadvantagedpopulationsfarintothefuture apositionimmediatelyattackedbyphilosophicalandpoliticalopponentswhoforcefullyinvokelocalchoiceto exceed or offer only a minimally adequate educational program Even greater disagreement exists today about theroleofeducationwithregardtomorality,particularlywhenissuesinfringeonparents’personalorreligious beliefs related to topics such as human sexuality, or evolution vs. creationism and intelligent design. But it is stillthebroaderissueofattemptstoforceuniformityonschoolsinsocialandacademicequalitythatproduces the greatest conflict regarding what schools should be about Is it the role of schools to provide only a “minimum” level of educational opportunity, or is it education’s role to provide exactly the same educational opportunities to all students? Or, is it the role of education to provide equal educational outcomes? There are no simple answers because the long-held tradition of local control of schools bumps up against more modern, expansive, and nuanced conceptions of social justice Those who argue for full enforcement of equal opportunity often assert that localism led to racially and economically segregated schools in the first place. This debate is carried out on multiple levels courts struggle with lawsuits over school funding; legislatures receive intense pressure from political advocates of all stripes; and taxpayers revolt, while school boards, teachers, administrators, and children are caught in a tug-of-war ultimately resulting in diminished resources due to expensive litigation and lack of cooperation. In the end, there is no one voice speaking for what educationshouldbedoingbecausethemanyvoicesseekdifferentandoftenconflictingends
WhatAreSchoolsCapableofDoing?
A critical, although oft overlooked, component of the current debate is consideration of what schools are actually capable of doing Depending upon whom one asks, answers range from “nothing” to “everything” Those whose views fall to the extreme right on the political continuum see public schools as a failed social experiment, a wasteful government monopoly that should be dismantled through vouchers and privatization. Attheoppositeendofthecontinuumarethosewhosefaithinthevirtuesofexpandingsocialjusticemeasures and equality of educational opportunity is just as unshakable Others, somewhere between the two extremes, look back with nostalgia (and perhaps through rose-tinted glasses) to a time when schools reflected their own “traditional” values, however those might be defined. Still others, who felt excluded or even bullied as students, recall those times less fondly and hope their children will have a better educational experience in a more inclusive school environment With such a diversity of voices, it is difficult to find common ground, exceptthatallferventlybelieveschoolsarethemajorvehicletosomeessentialoutcome.Yetthequestionmust be asked as to what schools are actually capable of doing; that is, can school achieve the aims of all, and, importantly,atwhatprice?Thisgeneratessubquestions,towhichdataoffersomeinsight Forexample:What istheeffectofmoneyonschools?Whathappenswhenschoolsgetmoremoney?Doschoolsreallyneedmore money? What will happen if schools receive less money? These questions envelop the larger question of what schools should be doing by raising the stakes as partisan factions simultaneously compete to increase or
decrease spending on schools Although the questions are painfully clear, the answers are unsatisfying, especiallyrelatingtowhatschoolsarecapableofdoing.
WhatIstheEffectofMoneyonSchools?
An ongoing and often heated debate centers on whether money has a measurable effect on student achievement Becausepubliceducationisincreasinglydrivenbytheresultsofhighstakestesting,thequestion of the relationship between expenditures and educational outcomes has become central in funding debates at thelocal,state,andnationallevels.However,afternearlyhalfacenturyofresearch,adefinitiveanswertothis question remains elusive. Because teaching and learning are complex human endeavors affected by many factors within and outside the classroom, it is not surprising that it is difficult to isolate the effect of a single variable, ie, spending levels, on student achievement Nonetheless, researchers in the US (and, more recently, internationally)10 have grappled with this question for decades, and, given the intensity of current policydebatesaboutraisingstudentachievementwhileholdingdowncosts,itislikelythatthislineofinquiry will endure As such, it is helpful to chronicle the history of this line of research and the accompanying controversyarounditsapplicationtoschools
The history of this type of research, referred to as “production-function studies,” constitutes a fascinating journey. To begin, the methodology itself is controversial. The production-function methodology is based upon the application of a private sector manufacturing model that equates education to a factory assembly line, whereby the components of education are reduced to three: inputs; throughputs or process; and a single output.11 (see Figure 1.1.) However, because of the difficulty of quantifying educational processes, e.g., pedagogy,production-functionstudieshavefocusedoninputs,manyofwhicharedirectlyorindirectlyrelated to money, and the outcome of a single student achievement test score on a standardized instrument 12 Therefore, from its earliest applications in the 1960s, the production function has been attacked for not only the inappropriateness of the application of a manufacturing model to education, but also for its failure to includevariablesthatreflectwhateducatorswouldconsideranessentialcomponent theeducationalprocess.
Production-function studies are often traced back to the Coleman Report,13 a study which was funded by the federal government as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 The research focused on questions of racial inequality in schools, using indicators of quality such as curriculum, teacher qualifications, resources, and standardized test scores. The central findings affirmed that, a decade after the Brown decision, there still existed significant racial segregation of schools and race-based disparities in educational offerings and opportunities However, it was a more general set of findings that engendered the controversy that still surrounds this research approach today; that is, the impact of a child’s home environment, e.g., parental education and parental attitudes toward education, dwarfed the effects of school-related factors and resource levels
FIGURE1.1
ModeloftheProductionFunction
ResponsetotheColemanReportintheresearchcommunitywasswiftanddramatic Manycritiquesofthe study’smethodsandinterpretationofresultsensuedandhaveendureduptothepresent 14 AspateofcounterstudiessprangupaftertheColemanReport,typifiedbytheSummersandWolfstudy,15 whichexamined627 sixth-grade students in the Philadelphia schools, finding that certain variables such as better teacher preparation, presence of high achievers, and smaller class size did have a positive effect on achievement
Another approach is found in research emanating from the Effective Schools Movement, which has been characterized by some as an ideological protest against the Coleman Report This body of research sought to identify traits of effective schools that could be emulated to boost student achievement; however, it relied moreuponqualitativeresearchmethodswhicharedifficulttoreplicateandgeneralize
Of greatest importance to this discussion, is that a narrower application of the production function ensued that focused more sharply upon the relationship of money (either direct expenditure or indirect expenditure, e.g., through teacher salaries), to student achievement. For better or worse, this approach has endured from the 1970s up to the present and continues to yield results that are inconsistent, conflicting, and counterintuitive Thisislargelyduetomethodologicalproblems,poorlyconductedstudies,researcherbias,andfailure
to include or quantify “ process variables” that are essential if one claims to be using a production-function approach 16 Even overarching studies of production-function research results referred to as meta-analyses, conductedmainlyfromthelate1980sintothe1990s,haveyieldedsimilarconflictingresults.17
Morerecentresearchhasemergedthatisradicalinitscritiqueoftheproduction-functionmodelitselfasan appropriate and practical application for measuring the impact of fiscal-related resources on educational outcomes.Althoughstudentachievementscoresremainthefocus,thisnewapproachaddressesoneofthekey shortcomings of the statistical technique, referred to as multiple regression, commonly used for productionfunctionresearch;thatis,multipleregressionanalysisallowsforonlyoneeducationaloutput,eg,atestscore, to be analyzed at a time. This, of course, is unrealistic. In the real world of educational testing, students are generally tested at a minimum in two subjects, reading and mathematics, and more frequently in a range of subjects,including,forexample,scienceandsocialstudies Asmallnumberofresearchershavebeguntousea more sophisticated statistical technique, referred to as canonical analysis, which allows for the inclusion of multiple education outcomes in the research.18 In addition, to open the “black box,” other researchers are engaging in theory building that provides a foundation for evaluating the impact of investments in education 19 These represent emergent bodies of research, but the results have generally been promising, and, as such, they may prove more useful approaches to answering not only the question as to whether or not moneymatters,butalsowhenandhowdoesitmatter?
WhatHappensWhenSchoolsGetMore(orLess)Money?
Unfortunately, no longitudinal, systematic studies of these two questions have been conducted. Furthermore, it is generally considered unethical to conduct experimental studies whereby resources are intentionally withheld from one school in order to compare it to another school As a result, we are left in large part with anecdotal information and case studies; although these are informative, they cannot be generalized to all schools. A third and related question is also of great importance to school leaders: What should schools do whentheyreceivemore,orless,money?
Turning to the first question, it is important to note that rarely in the history of taxpayer funding have schools received windfalls of new money The more common scenario is incremental funding of a few percentagepoints.Althougheverynewdollarisimportant,itisdifficultforschoolstomakedramaticchanges or undertake significant reforms without substantial new funds. As such, school boards often decide in the process of approving an annual budget where to allocate the new funds using their best judgment Budget hearingsareopentothepublicinmoststates,sohypotheticallyanyonecanprovideinput Somedistrictsmay engagestaffandcommunityinmoreformalmechanisms,suchaslisteningsessionsorfocusgroups.However, most districts do not have formal plans for how to allocate new funding; and so they risk allocating these moneys haphazardly, often in response to internal and external political pressures Ideally, such decisions should flow from district and school strategic plans which have prioritized how new funds will be allocated should they become available. In addition, as we will see in Chapter 5 on budget planning, districts can prepare themselves for this scenario by using an approach like PPBES (Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Evaluation Systems), a comprehensive approach that prioritizes the district’s educational goals and objectives and accompanying expenditures Thus, when new funds become available, the school board has a blueprinttofollow.
Anequallyinterestingquestionisraisedbyaskingwhatwouldhappenifschoolsweretoreceivelessmoney Although here too there is not a body of research literature upon which to draw, there tend to be more case studies that can be instructive In a recent five-state study of school districts that suffered significant reductionsinstateaid,researchersfoundthatschooldistrictstendedtoreducefundinginfourareas:20
Elective courses, such as art, music, physical education, science, technology, foreign languages, and advancedcourses
Extracurricularactivities,likeathleticsanddrama
In some cases, courses and programs were eliminated entirely Or, in the case of extracurricular activities, schools charged hefty fees for student participation. In many states, schools have limited or no ability to chargefeesfortherequiredacademicprogramortransportation 21 Also,underfederallaw,theycannotreduce
oreliminateservicestostudentswithdisabilities However,facedwithreductionsinaid,districtsinstatesthat are more permissive face the temptation to increase revenues by adding fees to even core academics, e.g., chargingfor“consumables,”likeworkbooks
School districts face difficult and unpleasant decisions when they receive less money No matter what they cut or eliminate, someone in the community will be angered. Nonetheless, districts should consider the same approach to receiving less money as they would with the opposite scenario; that is, the use of strategic education and fiscal planning found in approaches like PPBES to guide them in setting priorities for budget reductions Granted, nothing will make budget cuts less wrenching for schools and communities, but a rational,thoughtfulapproachmayminimizethepain.
On balance, few schools are faced with excess funds, and most schools are not faced with financial ruin, although money has become more difficult to secure and its distribution increasingly more contentious In addition, it is a stark reality that accountability, both achievement-based and fiscal efficiency-driven, has becomeapowerfulweaponinthehandsofstatelegislaturesandgovernors,asstateshavedemandedsweeping reforms while courts have ruled on a wide array of issues under the aegis of equality of educational opportunity All these events serve to underscore fierce competition for fiscal resources and an increasingly fragmented society that is unwilling to support increased funding for education without evidence of greater cost-effectivenessandhigherstudentachievement.
WHEREPUBLICSCHOOLSMAYBEHEADED
Inlargepart,thischapterhassetthecontextfortopicstobediscussedintheremainingchaptersbyproviding a history of public education in this country along with an assessment of the current and complex social, economic, and political environment in which pre K–12 education finds itself today. A free, common public school system has been part of the fabric of this nation for more than 150 years as an essential building block of the foundation for a democratic society To remain a vibrant part of that democracy, it is essential to adequatelyandequitablyfundpublicschoolssothattheycancontinuetodeliveruponthepromiseofequality of educational opportunity and upward mobility which serve as centerpieces of the American dream. The chapters that follow delve into the many facets of schools and money, from budgeting for their central function of instruction to the supporting role of student activities, infrastructure, and auxiliary services, to namejustafew
As we prepare to look more specifically at the operational elements of schools and money in upcoming chapters, we are convinced that schools through their leaders must communicate strategic plans and clear budget goals and processes to stakeholders or risk losing their support In other words, schools must promote their virtues, take the lead in performance accountability, and engage their constituents If educational leaders failtodoso,thenitisclearwhereeducationisheaded intoaworldthatincludesever-expandingalternatives topublicschools,andaconcomitantlossinsupportforpubliceducation
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“H W v G C .—T
S. M. Trentham, not out, 205.”
“We have it from a reliable source,” says the Athletic News, “that the authorities at Old Trafford are making strenuous efforts to induce Mr. T. S. M. Trentham, this year’s captain at Harrow, and the youngest member of the famous brotherhood whose name he bears, to qualify for Lancashire. As doubtless our readers are aware, the authorities at Old Trafford have always been justly celebrated for their generous appreciation and encouragement of the cricketing talent of other counties, and in the case of young Mr. Trentham there is something peculiarly appropriate in the benevolence of their present attitude, as it is rumoured that Mr. Trentham once had an aunt who lived near Bootle.”
I could read no more. The Sportsman dropped from my unheeding hands, and I had just begun to whistle the opening bars of the “Dead March,” when two brown boots and the lower parts of a pair of grey flannel trousers wriggled from the lawn through the open window. They were surmounted two seconds later by a straw hat, a strawcoloured moustache, and an aquiline nose, which I identified as belonging to the General Nuisance. He had an exquisitely neat brown paper parcel under his arm, and a smile of fifty candle-power illuminating his classic features. I was horrified to see it.
“You’re early this morning,” I said resignedly. “It wants a quarter to eight yet. Have some breakfast?”
“Tha-anks,” he drawled, “but I’ve had my milk. I’ve called round to bring you yours.”
As he spoke he removed the string from the parcel in the most leisurely manner and disclosed a pile of carefully folded newspapers with names pencilled on the corners. Having discovered mine, he handed it to me with that air of benevolent condescension that head masters wear on speech day.
“How nice of you!” I said. However, I’m afraid this irony was so delicate that he didn’t feel it.
“My dear fellow, not at all,” he said. “There’s one for everybody I’m delivering ’em to the whole team, don’t you know.”
Needless to say, he had presented me with an immaculate copy of the Sportsman. I picked up my own discarded sheet from under the table.
“Awf’ly obliged, old chap, but I’ve got one, thank you,” I said, pleasantly.
“That’s lucky,” said he, “you can give one to your friends. Rather pretty reading, isn’t it? Awf’ly decent set, Trenthams, Elphinstone, etcetera.”
“Git!” I said, gazing round for a boot-jack or a poker, or something equally likely to debase his physical beauty.
“Ta-ta then, see you later!”
To my infinite joy he appeared to be taking the hint. But he had only just conducted his infernal smile to the right side of the window, when he jerked it back again, and said:—
“Oh, I forgot! I say, Dimsdale, I ought to tell you this. I rather think Billy was drunk last night. His eyes are as red as a ferret’s this morning, and his housekeeper told me in confidence that when she got up this morning and went to call him she found master’s umbrella in bed and master sleeping in the umbrella-stand.”
“No, don’t say that,” I gasped, with a sinking at the heart. Alas! we’d only got two bowlers, and Billy was the one on whom we depended most.
“Fact!” said the General Nuisance cheerfully; “wouldn’t trouble you with it if I thought it wasn’t true. Lawson drove up with the Doctor as I came away. I implored our gentle secretary not to mourn, since a few Seidlitzs and a stomach-pump can do a lot in a very little time. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but it is generally slow bowlers who resort to intemperance, because as they’ve only got to lose their perfect length to embitter the lives of others, their possibilities become quite
unbearable on a big occasion. At the M.C.C. match Lawson sat beside him at lunch both days counting his liqueurs. Poor old Lawson! I felt it my duty to assure him just now that it really took very little to make Billy lose his length. I also took the liberty of reminding him of what happened when he lost it once before, against Emeriti,— 5 overs. 0 maidens. 51 runs. 0 wickets. and Emeriti had got quite an ordinary side.”
Just as the muffineer arrived at the head of the General Nuisance, the General Nuisance was mean enough to duck. This act enabled the muffineer to crash through the plate-glass window.
“Timed that to a ‘T,’” said he. “Can see absolutely anything this morning. Certain to book fifty if I once get in, which I take to be a strong enough reason why an inscrutable Providence will cause us to lose the toss and keep me in the field all day.”
“Hope you will be there,” said I savagely, “and I’d like to see you taking long-field on both ends. And I hope you’ll drop a catch in front of the ladies’ tent. And I hope when you come racing round the corner to make that magnificent one-hand dive to save the four, the bally thing’ll jump and hit you in the teeth. And if you do go in to bat I hope you’ll be bowled neck and heels first ball.”
Ignoring this peroration he again appeared to be at the point of withdrawing his hateful presence. But too well did I know the General Nuisance to anticipate such a consummation. He merely seated himself on the sill in an attitude that would enable him to cope with sudden emergencies, and then said:—
“Oh, by the way, the youngest Gunter girl; you know, the little one with the green eyes and the freckles—just got engaged they say.”
“Who to?” I said fiercely. The General Nuisance certainly plumbed the depths of human fiendishness, but in conversation he had a command of topics that were irresistible.
“Who to?” I said.
“One of the Trenthams,” he smiled. “Ta-ta! See you ten-thirty.”
He was gone at last, and I had barely time to praise Heaven’s clemency that this was even so, when William entered with the face of an undertaker out of work.
“Clean gone, sir,” he said. “Abso-blooming-lutely! Looked high and low, and Mrs. Jennings ain’t no notion.”
“Looked in the lining of the bag?”
“Everywhere,” said the miserable William.
“Well,” said I, “unless it’s found I don’t get a run to-day.”
“I can tell you, sir,” said William, “that I’d rather lose my perquisites than that this should have ’appened at Little Clumpton v. Hickory. But there’s the Winchester, and the Magdalen, and the M.C.C. Couldn’t you get some in one of them, sir?”
“Daren’t risk it,” I said, “not at Little Clumpton v. Hickory. Yet, let me see, hasn’t Mr. Thornhill one of the Authentics?”
“Why, Lor’ bless me, that he ’ave, sir!”
“Well, get your bike at once, give my compliments and kind regards to Mr. Thornhill and tell him I’ve lost my Authentics and will he lend me his. Explain that it’s Little Clumpton v. Hickory, and that I can only get runs in the Authentics. It’s now eight-twenty, and it’s eighteen miles to Mr. Thornhill’s place. Can you bring it to me by eleven?”
“Well, sir, if I don’t, you’ll know I’ve burst a tyre.”
Within five minutes William was riding to Thornhill’s as if his life depended on it, with the stable-boy to pace him.
CHAPTER III LITTLE CLUMPTON v. HICKORY
I CAME down to the ground at a little after ten. The match was to begin at eleven, sharp. The only sights of interest on my arrival were the ground-man marking out the crease, and the Worry at the nets in a brand-new outfit. The “pro” and three small boys were striving to knock a shilling off his middle.
“You’re touching ’em pretty this morning, Daunton,” said I, out of pure excellence of heart. I wished him to keep up his pecker.
“Think so?” he said nervously. “I’ve had an awful bad night, and I believe there’s something the matter with my wrist. I wish I wasn’t playing.”
The Worry’s life was a burden to him on match days. When he went in to bat he issued from the pavilion with a wild eye and a haggard mien, and a rooted idea that he was bound to be bowled first ball. This he invariably played forward to, as the strain on his nervous system was so severe that it was a physical impossibility for him to wait and receive it in his crease. He counted every run he got, and, if there was the faintest doubt about a snick, he would say, “I hope you noticed that I touched that, umpire.”
The crowd was already beginning to assemble. Vehicles and pedestrians were flocking in from twenty miles around. Hickory was a neighbouring village, only seven miles distant, but the rivalry was so keen that the local public-houses did no trade while the great match was in progress. It always had been so, and always would be. Even in the early forties Little Clumpton v. Hickory had become historical. Alfred Mynn and Fuller Pilch had actually graced the annual encounter in the Park. There was only one match a season; two would have been more than human endurance could have borne; and the Park, which generations of its noble owners had been
very proud to lend for this nation-shaking function, was the only cricket-ground in the vicinity that could hope to accommodate the rival partisans. It might have been that once on a time the ’Varsity match had been played on other turf than Lord’s; but the Park was the only spot in England that had ever had the privilege of witnessing Little Clumpton v. Hickory on its velvet sward. Let kings depart and empires perish, but this always had been so and always would be!
To appear at Little Clumpton v. Hickory was not the lot of common men. Only the elect could hope to do so. To take wickets or make a score at this encounter was to become a classic in one’s lifetime. There were hoary veterans round about, whom the uninitiated might take to be mouldering mediocrities, but no—“see t’ owd gaffer theer? well, ’e wor a ’56 man; and t’ littlin theer across the rowad ’e wor ’59”—which being interpreted means that 1856 and 1859 were the dates of their distinction. Therefore do not let the young think, as unhappily they do just now, that they must write a book to become immortal. Why will not a few thousands of these seekers after fame, these budding novelists and early poets, take to cricket? For is it not more honourable, and certainly more glorious, to make a century at Little Clumpton v. Hickory, and make half a shire shout your praise, than to translate Omar Kháyyám and become a nuisance to posterity?
Presently I beheld a sight that nearly brought the tears into my eyes. The Optimist and the Pessimist were coming arm-in-arm across the grass. The lion lay down with the lamb at Little Clumpton v. Hickory. The Secretary walked alone with looks and words for none. He was so positively dangerous that the General Nuisance forbore to ask him what bowling we had got.
Having changed, I was sallying forth from the pavilion in the possession of bat and ball for the purpose of “having a knock” when a sudden palpitation made the crowd vibrate.
“’Ere’s Hickory! Good owd Hickory!”
A solid English-throated cheer announced that the enemy were in sight. A thrill ran through me as I gazed in the direction of their coming, for certainly the appearance of such a celebrated side was
something to be seen. It was. A four-in-hand came bumping along the stretch of uneven meadow at a clipping pace. And to my indignant horror and bewilderment I saw that the reins were commanded by a person that wore nice white cuffs and a brown holland blouse. Conceive the cream of English cricket with their legs tucked up on the top of that rocking, creaking, jumping, jolting coach at the mercy of a person in a brown holland blouse! It was a thing that required to be very clearly seen before it could be accepted. In agony of mind I rubbed my eyes and looked more intently at the furiously on-coming vehicle. Never a doubt its pace was reckless, criminally reckless, considering the priceless freight it bore.
“What do you think of that?” I cried, turning in my distress to the man beside me. He happened to be the Ancient, so-called, because of his thoughtful air and his supernatural wisdom. “Just look at the confounded thing, I’m certain that girl’ll have it over. Gad! did you see her dodge that ditch by about three inches? Those men must be perfect fools! Why doesn’t that idiot beside her lend a hand? But some of these women are steep enough for anything. That girl ought to be talked to.”
“Well, suppose you do the talking,” said the Ancient, with his most reflective air. Then, as the drag lurched into our midst, wheels and harness grunting, the glossy animals in a lather; and they were drawn up with a sure hand in front of the pavilion while a cheering and gaping throng pressed about the wheels to impede the great men in their descent, the Ancient pensively continued, “Tell you what, my boy, I should rather like the chance of talking to that young person.”
To do her justice, she was certainly a source of comfort to the eye. When she yielded the reins and stood up on the footboard she had that air of simple resolution that is the source of England’s pride.
She was so tall and trim and strong, there was such a decision in her curves that her brown holland with white cuffs and collar, her Zingari tie, and hat-band of the same red and yellow brilliance round a straw, with heavy coils of hair of a proper country fawn-colour beneath, lent her that look of candid capability that nature generally reserves for
cricketers of the highest order I never gave the cracks from Hickory a second thought. Everything about her was so clean, so cool, so absolute, that before she had left the box I had quite convinced myself that whoever she might be she was a young person whose habit was to do things.
“Catch!” she cried, and threw down the Hickory score-book.
She then superintended the unlading of the coach roof of its pile of brown and battered cricket bags, whilst the crowd pressed nearer to the wheels and evinced the liveliest concern as to “which is A. H.? And who’s the tall chap? And who’s the Parson? And don’t he look a funny little cuss? And who’s the very tall chap? ’Im wi’ the big ’ead? H. C. o’ course. And who’s the lamp-post? And that theer fleshy bloke who’d got three boys to carry his bag, a fourth to carry his hat, and a fifth his newspaper, must be Carteret, because it said in the Daily Chronicle that he was the fattest short-slip in England and took life easily.” Of such are fame’s penalties!
The young person in brown holland having made it her business to see that the bags were bundled down with the necessary degree of violence, said: “I think you men had better go and change immediately. I’ll have a look at the wicket.”
She swung down from the step before any of the men below could lend a hand, and, while the whole eleven moved towards the pavilion with their luggage, the young person in brown holland made her way through the throng with the confidence of a duchess at a charity bazaar, and strode across the grass without the least suspicion of the Meredithian “swim.” And it was quite a coincidence that the Ancient and myself should choose a spot as near the wicket as the unwritten laws allowed, for the purpose of having a little practice.
The ground-man was lingering over the last touches to his masterpiece when the young person in brown holland actually set foot on the sacred earth that the general public is not even permitted to approach. The face of the ground-man was well worth looking at. When the feelings of a great artist are outraged it is a very painful sight. Alas, poor Wiggles! the agony of his countenance no pen could depict. He lifted up his head and emitted a slow-drawn growl.
This had no effect whatever Indeed, an instant later, this most audacious individual had the incredible effrontery to bring down a pretty solid brown boot, by no means of the “little mice” type either, twice upon the pitch itself. It was more than a merely human groundman could endure.
“Begging pardon, miss,” said he, “but are you aware, miss, that this here is a—a wicket?”
“Well, my dear man,” said the person thus addressed, “do you suppose I thought it was a bunker?”
The Ancient and I agreed that this was an achievement. For a member of the general public to retort effectually on a real live ground-man was as great a feat as to look at the Chinese Emperor. The face of Wiggles was a study. Meanwhile, the lady having sufficiently tried the adamantine surface with her boot, bent down and pressed on it with her thumb. A feather would have slain the miserable Wiggles at that moment. Was it possible that any human creature, let alone the sex, could presume to test, and criticise, and doubt his masterpiece in this way! But worse was coming. Apparently the young person in brown holland was determined to satisfy herself in regard to every detail.
“Ground-man,” she said, “has this turf any tendency to crumble?”
“No, it ain’t,” said the ground-man savagely.
Having laid her doubts in this direction, she proceeded to view the wicket lengthwise. Setting her alert tanned face in a precise line with the stumps, she said:—
“Ground-man, are you sure that these sticks are quite plumb!”
“If they ain’t it’s the fust time i’ thirty yeer.”
“But surely the leg peg your end wants pulling out a bit. That’ll do. It’s all right now.”
When the utterly demoralised Wiggles discovered that he had unconsciously obeyed the behests of the young person in brown holland, I never saw a man who more regretted his own inability to kick himself.
“Well, ground-man,” she said slowly and reflectively, “I think this wicket is good enough for a Test Match. Here’s a shilling for you.”
The hesitation of Wiggles was really painful. A shilling is a shilling always, but how could a self-respecting ground-man accept one in these humiliating circumstances? His views on political economy, however, reconciled his outraged feelings to this added insult. He took the shilling with a defiant air.
“And, ground-man,” she said, “mind that I tip you for every individual century that is got for Hickory to-day.”
“Thank you kindly, miss,” said Wiggles, with a groan. He was Little Clumpton to the marrow. The poor wretch cast a despairing glance at the Ancient and myself, while we practised in the most assiduous manner.
Suddenly a peal of laughter came from the young person in brown holland. It seemed that the sight-board in front of a dark fringe of trees behind the bowler’s arm had attracted her polite attention.
“Charlie’s arm’ll be over that,” she cried delightedly. “We’ll put him on that end.”
“Ancient,” said I, “do you hear what that—that girl’s saying? Why doesn’t that idiot Wiggles order her off the field? If she stops there much longer we’re a beaten team.”
Just then she turned her attention to us engaged in practice. Now the sight of this—this person who was so busily occupied in laying traps and pitfalls for Little Clumpton’s overthrow enraged me to that degree that I determined to get rid of her by uncompromising methods. She stood in the exact line of my crack to cover.
“Ancient,” I said, “just chuck up a nice half-volley on the off, and I’ll make this place a bit too hot for that young person in brown holland.”
The Ancient lost no time in becoming accessory before the fact, and, throwing my leg across, I put in every ounce I’d got.
“Oh, goo—od stroke! goo—od stroke!” cried our intended victim in a very joyful voice. And we had the privilege of witnessing the young person we were conspiring to remove calmly place her feet and
hands together, as per Steel and Lyttelton, and field and return that red-hot drive in the neatest, cleanest, county style.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” said I.
“If she’s fielding cover for them,” said the Ancient grimly, “somebody’ll be run out. We’d better advise Lennox and Jack Comfort not to try to steal ’em. I shan’t go for short ’uns, I can tell you.”
The Ancient owed his eminence to the fact that no detail was too mean for his capacious mind. Besides, he was as strenuous, serious, and self-centred as a novelist with a circulation of a hundred thousand copies.
Much to the relief of Wiggles and ourselves, the sight of a perfect broad-shouldered giant of a fellow issuing from the pavilion at this moment, clad in flannels, bat in hand, lured the young person in brown holland from her very inconvenient and highly dangerous station at the wicket.
“Hi, Archie, got a ball?” she cried at the pitch of a splendid pair of lungs.
“Hullo, Grace!” replied the giant in a voice by no means the inferior of her own. “You’re just the very chap. I want half a dozen down. Let’s cut across there to the nets. Here you are. Look out!”
Thereon the giant hurled a ball a terrific height into the eye of the sun. It seemed so perilously like descending on our heads that poor Wiggles put up his hands and began to run for his life. Not so the young person in brown holland. She stepped two or three yards backward, moved a little to one side, shaded her eyes a moment from the glare to sight the catch, and next instant had the leather tucked beautifully under her chin in a manner worthy of a G. J. Mordaunt.
“Wiggles,” said I, “do you happen to know who that lady is?”
“Wish I did, sir,” said Wiggles feebly. “She’s a terror, ain’t she? But I hope she don’t come here too often. I reckon she’s a Trentham, she
is. That wor A. H. what just come out. Lord, and just look at that theer gal a bowlin’ at ’un. She sets ’un back on his sticks an’ all.”
We turned our attention to the nets, and beheld her bowling slow hanging length balls to A. H. Trentham, almost a facsimile of Alfred Shaw.
“I tell you, Dimsdale,” said the Ancient, “if this is what lovely woman’s coming to, it’s high time some of us crocks took to golf. I wonder if Miss Grace plays for M.C.C. I notice she’s got their colours on. I’ve always contended that they never look so well as when worn by W. G., but I’m hanged if this new Grace don’t give the Old Man points.”
CHAPTER IV
An Impossible Incident
THE great men were now coming out in twos and threes to have a knock.
“Hullo!” said I, “that’s Elphinstone. Remember him at ‘the House.’ There’s not much of him, but what there is is all-sufficing. And just look at those great big bounding Trenthams. Anyone of ’em could put the little parson in his pocket. And I say, Ancient, do you notice that the young one, about the build of Townsend—I mean the one clapping his hands for the ball—do you notice that he’s an enlarged copy of the young person in brown holland? Same hair, and eyes, and nose, and everything; same cheerful enterprising look. It’s a million to a hay-seed she’s a Trentham, too.”
But the Optimist approached, an encyclopædia of the scientific and the useful.
“Brightside,” said the Ancient, “we want to know who that girl is who’s sticking up A. H. like Alfred Shaw.”
“Better go and ask Lawson,” said the Optimist. “I’ve just suggested that he puts a placard up in the refreshment tent to the effect that the singularly interesting being in brown holland is Miss Laura Mary Trentham, yet another member of the world-famous cricket family of that name. Lawson’s being simply besieged with questions.”
“But A. H. called her Grace just now?”
“Her baptismal name is Laura Mary, but they call her Grace because she keeps five portraits of that hero on her bedroom mantelpiece. Rumour also says that she keeps strands of his beard stowed away in secret drawers. This she indignantly denies, however, as she swears that if she’d got them she’d wear them in a brooch.”
“H’m! And what an extraordinary resemblance there is between her and T. S. M.”
“They’re twins She’s about an hour the older of the two, and I believe she bullies him outrageously. And I rather think she gives her honourable and reverend papa, and the remainder of the family, a pretty lively time. Why, here’s the old gentleman himself.”
The Captain and the Humourist were accompanying a fine old clergyman in an inspection of the wicket. He was gigantically built. His perfectly white hair lent him a venerable expression that was hardly borne out by his massive shoulders and athletic figure, for they had not the faintest suspicion of age.
“By Jove!” said the Optimist in enthusiastic tones, “that old boy’s been a player in his day. In the fifties he practically beat the Players single-handed more than once. In fact, the old buffers say at Lord’s that for three years he was the best amateur bowler that there’s ever been. Of course wickets have altered since his time, but up at Lord’s they swear that Spofforth at his best was never in it with ‘the Reverent.’”
“’Don’t wonder then,” said I, “that this Clerk in Holy Orders has got such a devil of a family. Look out, mind your heads!”
Captain George, of the Artillery, had chosen that moment to open his shoulders to the youthful T. S. M. with the result that a lovely skimming drive dropped twenty yards in front of the pavilion and bounced with a rattle on to the corrugated iron roof. We had barely time to observe this when a buzz of amazement went round the crowded ring. It seemed that at last A. H., of Middlesex, had “had a go” at one of the insidious deliveries of Miss Grace, his sister, with the result that he lifted her from the far net clean over the ladies’ tent.
“Yes,” said the Ancient, “they appear to be a thoroughly amiable, courteous, carefully brought-up, gentle-mannered family. There they go. It’s H. C.’s turn now. He’s very nearly killed a little boy. They seem to bowl like hell, and hit like kicking horses!”
This brought misfortune to us in hard reality. The General Nuisance strolled up with his permanent simper
“Oldknow,” said he, “unwillingly I heard the profane utterance of your pagan mind. It is grievous for a man of your parts and understanding to give way to language of that character. But you will be glad to hear that our esteemed Secretary, Lawson, is suffering at this moment from an attack of incipient paralysis. It appears that that blackguard of a Billy is confined to bed.”
“The brute!”
“The beast!”
“The pig!”
“What I we are actually left to face a team like this with one bowler?” said I, the first to recover from the shock.
“Don’t be in such a hurry,” said the General Nuisance, with his geniality rising almost to the point of hysteria. “We aren’t even left with one. As a matter of fact we haven’t a bowler of any sort. It’s true that we’ve any amount of the usual small change. I can bowl three long hops and two full tosses in an over, so can you; so can all of us; and that, dear friends, is what we’ve got to do.”
“But you are forgetting Charlie,” said the Optimist of the lion heart.
“Oh dear, no,” said the General Nuisance, “’wouldn’t forget him for the world. If you would only wait and let me break the news with my usual delicacy. Charlie’s just wired to say that his mother-in-law has been taken seriously ill, and that he and Mrs. Charlie have been obliged to go to town.”
Straightway the Ancient wheeled about, and fled—fled with a curse into the recesses of the pavilion, far from the madding crowd, the pitiless sun, the perfect wicket, and those dreadful men from Hickory loosening their arms.
“Tha-ank you! Tha-ank you!” called the bowler, as a pretty little leg hit from J. P Carteret struck the inoffensive Optimist between the shoulder-blades.
“Comfort,” said I, addressing myself to the General Nuisance, “if there had been the least sense of propriety in that rotten played-out thing called Providence, that ball had hit you on the head.”
“Dear friends,” said the General Nuisance, “don’t you think that Charlie’s mother-in-law well maintains the traditions of her tribe?”
“The abandoned old woman!” cried I.
“Never mind, I think it’s our turn to win the toss,” said the Optimist, unconquered still.
They ought to grant the Victoria Cross to men of this heroic mould, who remain wholly invincible to circumstance. Some credit was due to me as well, for I had the presence of mind to behave as custom, nay, etiquette, demands, when things are going wrong. I broke out into loud and prolonged abuse of the harmless necessary Secretary.
“Lawson is an utter and consummate ass!” said I. “A man with the intelligence of an owl would surely know that his bowlers were bound to let him down at the eleventh hour. They always do. They always consult their own book before they think about their side. I shall suggest at the next meeting of committee that Lawson be asked to resign. Nature never designed a fool to be a secretary; besides, one looks for foresight in a secretary. Here he’s actually not made the least provision for a case of this sort, which a man with the penetration of the common hedgehog would have anticipated at the beginning of the season. And, Comfort, what’s he doing now? Surely he knows that Middlesex aren’t playing, and of course he’s had the sense to wire for Hearne and Albert Trott.”
“No, I believe not,” drawled the General Nuisance; “but we must give credit, my dear Dimsdale, where credit’s due, for even that submerged Secretary of ours has, impossible as it may appear, gone one better than even your intelligence suggests. He’s just cabled to Australia for Jones and Trumble. They’re not so well known to the Hickory cracks as Jack Hearne and Trott; besides, they’ve been resting all the winter, don’t you know.”
Here the pavilion bell pealed lustily as a signal for the ground to clear immediately, it being now within a few minutes of eleven o’clock. It was a real relief that our conversation with the General Nuisance had at length been interrupted, since I for one could feel a quantity of awful consequences fairly itching in my finger-tips. If nature had not
a habit of going out of its way to encourage original sin in all its phases, the General Nuisance must have died with a jerk at a comparatively early period of his development.
The summons was promptly obeyed. The players came trooping in from the remote corners of the playing-piece; and it was observed that while Hickory walked confident, lusty, and obtrusively cheerful, Little Clumpton were in that state of nerves when strong men pluck at their moustaches and their ties. When we entered the dressingroom we found the Captain and the Secretary conferring together in tragic whispers. This in itself was sufficient to strike a chill into the boldest heart; and we stood apart out of pure respect and appreciation for the solemn sight. Presently the Captain rose, and a shudder went through us all, for we saw by his intense expression that he was going out to toss. And we remembered that the Captain was the unluckiest man in England with the spin; that he had won the toss against Hickory last year; that our so-called bowling was absolutely unworthy of the name; that the wicket was perfection; and that the finest batting side that had ever appeared for Hickory was drinking stone-ginger beer and cracking rude jokes in their dressingroom across the way.
Alas, no jokes and ginger beer for Little Clumpton! Even the Humourist forbore to make a pun; the Optimist was silent as the tomb; and two large-hearted persons sat on the face of the General Nuisance, partly in the public interest, and partly that manslaughter might be averted for a time. When the Captain, pale but stern, went forth to toss, the Worry tottered from his seat and softly closed the door. We had no desire for publicity. As for the preliminaries and suspense of the sacred rite itself, in that direction madness lay The Pessimist alone dared to interrupt the holy peace that pervaded this dull and miserable dressing-room; but he was a man without any of life’s little delicacies, and utterly devoid of the higher instincts and the finer feelings.
“I say, you men,” said he, “we might be a set of Hooligans riding to the assizes in Black Maria to make the acquaintance of Mr. Justice Day. Why doesn’t somebody smile? Suppose you try, Brightside, as you’re always such a jolly cheerful sort o’ Johnny.”
“Shut up,” said the Secretary, “if you desire to avoid what’s happened to that blasted Comfort!”
This pointed reference appeared to touch the General Nuisance in his amour propre, for after a violent struggle he was able to sufficiently disengage his mouth from the vertebral columns of his guardians to painfully suggest:—
“S’pose I give—compliments—club—to—Grace Trentham and ask her to come and—bowl a bit—for Lil Clumpton. She can—give such —a long start—to—the refuse we’ve——”
Here, however, his custodians, by half garrotting him, and the judicious application of Merryweather’s “barn door,” were able to get their refractory charge in hand again.
And now the door opened softly, and the Captain stalked in, saying nothing. The fell deed was accomplished. Yet who was going in, not one of us knew, and not one of us had the courage to inquire. Those inscrutable eyes and that high expansive brow were as impassive as the Sphinx. Not a muscle twitched, not a line relented in the Captain’s face, and not a man of us dared frame the ingenuously simple question:—
“Halliday, have you won the toss?”
We noted the Captain’s smallest movements now with wild-eyed anxiety. We saw him wash his hands, we saw him part his hair, and when he said: “Chuck me that towel, Lennox,” in sepulchral tones, his voice startled us like an eighty-one ton gun. Then he proceeded to divest himself of his blazer. “We are fielding!” flashed through our inner consciousness; but—but he might be going in first. He rolled his sleeves up with horrible deliberation. Oh, why had not that wretched Lawson, miserable Secretary as he was, the pluck to say: “Halliday, have you won the toss?” Surely it was the Secretary’s place to do this, else what was the good of having a Secretary if he couldn’t ask the Captain who was going in, and simple things of that sort?
The Captain hung his blazer up reflectively on one of the pegs of his locker; he foraged in his cricket bag; he drew forth a pair of pads.
“He’s taking wicket!” was the thought that made our flesh creep, since he had been known to undertake these thankless duties on very great occasions. But—but he might be going in first. And at least he might have had the common humanity to put us out of our misery. He had buckled on one pad, and was carefully folding his trousers round his ankle prior to adjusting the second, when he looked up sadly and addressed me familiarly by name.
“Dimsdale,” he said slowly and meekly, “have you any very rooted disinclination to going in first with me?”
The Secretary jumped up and literally fell upon the Captain’s neck. The General Nuisance was immediately released. The Optimist and the Pessimist were as brothers, identified in joy. The Worry amused himself in a quiet way by turning cart-wheels across the floor. Indeed, it was a moment when life was very good.
Now the honour was so stupendous that had been conferred upon me, that it was more than a young and ambitious man with his name to make could realize at first. It was beyond my most highly-tinted dreams that I should be singled out to go in first with the Captain in my first Little Clumpton v. Hickory. Why should I, of all the talented men our team possessed, be chosen for this distinction? Was there not the Humourist, with his dauntless “never-saw-such-bowling-inmy-life air”; the Pessimist, who had played for the county twice this season; the Ancient, with all the weight of his accumulated wisdom, his guile, and his experience; the Worry, who if allowed to stay ten minutes, neither men nor angels could remove; the General Nuisance, too, who must have been an almost superhuman bat to be allowed to play at all? It was a moment of my life when I said with all becoming modesty: “Thanks, old chap,” and proceeded to put on my pads with hands that trembled.
“First wicket, Ancient,” said the Captain, writing down the order. It was wonderful how merry the room had suddenly become: the buzz of tongues, the whistling of the music of the music hall, the Humourist working at his pun, the General Nuisance veiling his satisfaction in gin and ginger beer, all testified that cricket was a noble sport, and that life was really excellent.
“I say, you men,” said the Captain, “remember that our game’s to keep in. No risks, mind; no hurry for runs, you know. We haven’t got a bit of bowling, and somebody’s told ’em so.”
I was in the act of testing the handle of my bat, when I recollected with a pang that I was minus my Authentics. What should I do? William had not appeared with its substitute, yet in a couple of minutes I should be going in to bat on perhaps the biggest occasion of my career. Heaven knew I was horribly nervous as it was, so nervous, that when I thought of marching out to that wicket, before that crowd, to face that bowling, I began to desire a gentle death and a quiet funeral. It was now five minutes past eleven, and still that confounded William had not come! What should I do? The more I thought of the Magdalen, the Winchester, and the M.C.C., the more impossible they became.
“Ready?” said the Captain.
“Ye—es,” said I; “q—quite ready.”
“Hickory aren’t out yet,” said the kind-hearted Optimist, looking through the window.
“’Wonder why they don’t hurry,” said the General Nuisance; “I can see that Dimsdale’s positively trembling to get at ’em. Besides, the umpires have been out quite five minutes.”
“They’re funking us,” said the Humourist.
Ah, these humourists, what lion hearts they’ve got!
“Perhaps they are being photographed,” some enlightened mind suggested.
The Worry opened the door, although I vainly assured him that there really was no hurry, to have a look at what Hickory were up to.
“Why,” said he breathlessly, “they’re playing two wicket-keepers.”
Sure enough, two men with pads on stood conversing in the doorway of their dressing-room, and looking across at us.
“’Never heard of such a thing before,” said the Secretary, with a puzzled air, “as a side having two wicket-keepers. H.C. must be a
