| Show WAKEMANS wanderings my hosts boats guides and companions at rugby have leen been one of the marshals and a young english friend a lad in the I 1 lower lower middle foroi form modern side and some of the things learned about the famous school are worth telling all the boys a at r t rugby school must enter between the ages of 12 and 15 years and must leave the school at the end of the next term after they have reached the age of 19 years there are 96 boys who are schooled free or ar r trally so BO on behalf of the laurence sheriff fuu foundation fu fund nd these 96 boys boye form three classes known as uld old r foun oun daUo dation ners ers major and minor foundation ers 11 the old foundation era en number 60 50 and they must be the sons none of persons esons who have I 1 lived I 1 ved in or or within five miles of rugby since 1868 these receive instruction free of all charge the major foundations are twelve hoys boys selected on examination froni from the townsfolk awl people living within the five mile limit and qu qualified ali by attendance at the school who like the old receive their instruction free the 24 minor must have t the he same qualifications as to residence and preparation as aa the majors these secure their tuition for one half the usual fees the 96 foundation ers may compete with all other students for the many rugby prizes probably no other boys school in the world offers so many and such varied prizes to name them in the briefest manner would require more than a columns space in this paper aside from the queena gold medal prize for an english essay on some historical tor icil subject I 1 have had counted out to mu mo by my companions upwards of 75 prizes the value of the lowest of which is two guineas on the line of excellence in scholarship there are numberless gra gratings slugs and distinctions the great goal to be reached in rugby school life is the sixth form of the up per school and the life of a ostor in that there are fifteen rhese constitute the upper berich bench of the upper or highest school in rugby the rhe dignity and privileges obtaining are alone secured through splendid scholarship and all rugby traditions warrant the lad who has reached this eminence through intellectual pluck in th the e free and u exercise of his rights to fag those beneath him to the very limit of his inclination itis it is not c aried to the same fame extent it was in tom browns time but his experiences though somewhat exaggerate 1 i give the best description extant of the everyday e every very day workings of the system in rugby school the next and the high est eat i bestowed upon superior scho scholarship larsh L at rugby to is that of ex hibit ioner 1 I it is not only a great honor in english school life to be known as a rugby exhibitioner but it is by no do means an empty honor chore are two classes major and minor exhibit bione tione and three majors and four foai minors are awarded each year tn on election by external examiners appointed apted 1 ted by the rugby governing board every aery major exhibitioner receives 60 and every minor exhibitioner 30 per year each exhibition holding good for four years after election provided the holder bolder leaves rugby and pursues his bis studies 8 at any university of the united kingdom or at other approved place of preparation for a profession or occupation they are practically SW and per year scholarships good anywhere that proper use may be milde made of them for four years yearn their full value therefore being respectively 1200 and 6 10 oxford and cam bridge secure these splendidly trained youths in about equal numbers in investigating all a I 1 these more serious matters about rugby school the most delightful thing which everywhere impresses one new to its government and policies is the absence of what we americans term and aristocratic exclusiveness its trustees and governing board comprise great and titled the patronage of the and the actual practical regime and discipline which have been enforced from the days of the famous pr dr arnoll to the present time u under uder its equally wise and unswerving head master or dr percival have been grandly democratic to the core among A mong the thirteen trustees are three earls one marquis three lords two right two members of parliament one archdeacon one canon oan while the government board of twelve comprises equally as many from among the great and titled of england but rugby students are from english middle classes the backbone of the realm I 1 personally know many whose parents while not people of poverty are very humble folk falk indeed occasionally a lord or an earl may send a stripling down here to rugby for the very discipline afforded but these fin elings cannot form a set are in nowise toadied to have never yet cowed their inferiors in wealth and station and in every instance where they have not immedi abely adjusted themselves to the fairplay equal rights of the school I 1 they have had the over flue skin kicked from their laidly little shins and ami the superfine hauteur buffed out of their disdainful little faces in very short order with a genial and dreamful inattention on the part of the masters lu inexpressibly dear and delicious to t very rugby bugby boy of the right sort in what we would term the faculty of rugby school there are twenty seven resident mast profet sors an we would call them exclusive of the head elead master the rev J percival besides these there are seven resident tutors every school has its ogres agres eidge beings dreaded hated preyed upon the abe butt of all ail devilish ingenuity in boyish malevolence rhese foese are known at rugby as imar mar chals wyand and there are two of them mr blake our companion is all right that is tor for a marshal I 1 concedes oay my rugby boy friend in an explanatory whisper but old patey the ones a regular old grump he is he hates to have boys live he diebl these marshals are a sort of bailif fd fit or high constables who keep very sharp eyes on the gol goings and comings coming of these hundreds of lads ads they secretly report misconduct and are the dread bearers of the awful summons to the doctors chambers As was noticed in my preceding article on rugby dr arnold as long ago as 1828 removed all the irresponsible boardinghouse boarding house bouse vampires who fattened upon rugby scholars and put in their places m masters of the school this not only created direct responsibility but insured good treatment to the boys the more popular a master made his house the higher he stood socially in rugby with the stu dents with the governing board sit and d besides it increased his profits through an increase of boarders the system has been maintained and from time to time cOmmod lolis hl a have been built there are now neveu eat u of these exclusive of the IS 8 hol h i 01 ol housell house proper operand and the boys livit it each Er house ouse are distinguished by their colors coloro and each house take tile the name dame of the master in while the boys of each bo boarding ardinghe hall receive the house name as a s g appellative to illustrate white laws purple and white dobkins Don Do kina red and black collios collins light jig bt blue and white morice Mo rices Is green and white mr bowden smiths blue and black on bat mr scoffs yellow and black on hat haf mr Mich elPe contingent being fellow I 1 and the boys are individually pointed out in rugby streets as a conkins Do Don kins house P 11 a bowden maul smiths houseman house a scotts house man 11 etc I 1 give the everyday every day routine at rugby bugby j just as my you young ug I 1 I 1 lower middle friend rattled it off 0 to me 11 vell avell the morning bell wakes us but we dont want to get up then another bell rings at ten minutes of seven for five minutes weve got to got get in our places in chapel chape in that timeto be called over and if were too lazy too make it it means a licking thatis all after service we marched in order to our different form rooms and lessons tin till then we have fifteen minutes to buy any little luxuries like penny loaves the house breads pretty dry and then comes breakfast from to and dinners at we get a reat real spell from dinner until 3 anti and then lessons go on again until 6 except tuesdays thursdays and saturdays themes half holidays every boy hato join the games then unless hes he 09 got good excuse sometimes we get off by shamming a sore footland foo tand many other ways well known to us boys but whatever were doing at 6 games game sauntering or study every things dropped and we give a grand rush for tea after tea in winter and after in summer comes locking u up lve nobody likes that then we have t pitch in on C rep prep tr atlon that Is getti gatline ng our lessons for or the next forenoon until 9 when they give us aery a ery light su supper pe that dont make anybody any body dream then hen its go to bed and ap n fooling or it means another licking sure as fees and marshals all rugby school games are famous wherever the heart of boyhood throbs quicker or stronger in the enjoyment of all manful sports they comprise ra cricket att steeple aeple chasing and football for which rugby gives the rules the world over ever the supervision of all rugby games is wholly in the bands of the boys themselves this also includes the maua management gement of the great school close the unequaled playground of rugby the details of the management are delegated to a committee of five boys locally called the big school levee this board consists or of the head of the school the head of the school house the captains of football and cricket and one other chosen by these theme four this games board levies taxes to be paid by all for the su support aport of school amusements subject to ap 0 val by the head master it it IP a also from the boys standpoint the grand council or senate of the school to be called together at any time to consider any matter pertaining lug to the scholars 2 interests at the instigation of all or for ordering any action where it its is desirable the whole school shall share such as re bellieu against too dry bread or ancient prunes boycotts upon tuck luck chops for unsavory or auler jer weight penny leavec or for thrashing the insolent louta elouth non schoolman schoolmen of the village the head fellow of the houde arranges the games and as my youg you g friend apprises me by universal consent does the licking it if when called 90 a boy does not play but fun funka kes and goes botan butan izing swimming or fishing a note is sent to birn containing the dread word see me at my study at 12 the boy goes and ja is given lines to write a terrible to any lad but if he be haa committed the unpardonable crime of minching minch lug from cricket in the language of my young friend you are ordered to kneel on a stool bend over a chair while a sixth form fellow fetches out a sixpenny cane a yard and a half long ad aad gives you six rum cuts so of course you ain aint it in luve with the sixth form era nearly all rugby games have their own season hare and hounds and brook jumping come jul in with the easter auter F term towards the half term there is a big sidel aide run at bare and hounds then the house steeplechaser steeplechases steeple chases begin the next term brings cricket and the next that roughest bet and ami glucki est eat of all english gauges football never elsewhere played so roughly and as at rugby while racquets are at all times in season in the house steeple chases the boys of the different houses pitch tents on th the banks of the avon where a brook flows into that stream this little stream is remarkably winding and as the course is upwards of a mile over the general direction of the stream the racers are compelled to crops the brook from 12 to 15 times some grand sprinting and splashing are done here and the boys boy a at finish resemble those misguided creatures who emerge half blinded from the mud baths at santa barbara every boy at rugby bugby is compelled to play 8 at cricket on every half balf hol holbay da matches are made between the houses each house bouse has its eleven and second eleven and often a third eleven the latter two being respectively called the belo belows walI and the two belows the rhe first step of a rugby lad towards a place in the envied school eleven who play the college matches is to win his red 11 by nervy and excellent play this gives him the right to wear a necktie the same color BH as his bis hat ribbon then he must gain his bis 22 cap Y that is the privilege of wearing the regulation dark blue cat cap with a blue bou bound nd w white bite cricket j jacket achet rho fhe match eleven eleve nare are chosen from this privileged clasp and the rugby cricketing season closes with the areat great matches with marlborough at lords ordle in lo 10 london udon football is u under rider precisely the samo same system different houses I playing each other one side wearing blue and white strips the other white and both covering their doomed shins shine with the rugby gray stockings the best idea possible to be gained of a rugby ruby football match without seeing it may be had by reading the splendid description in tom browns school days ia provision against actual slaughter is made in one of the rugby rules which says cays though it is lawful to hold a player in a maul this holding dues does nt net include attempts to throttle or strangle which are totally opposed to the prin caples of the gamel brook jumping is simply an for superfluous harmless irrepressibility in rugby boys A whole house or the entire school goes out in charge of the champion jumper to the near brook flowing into the avon then c following their leader they begin and jump the stream where the banks arv are narrow each time increasing the space jumped until every lad is 4 ducked 12 if a boy refuses to jump he is deliberately thrown in and makes his way back to rugby with his whites dangling with water six inches below their proper length to receive only the sympathy of I 1 indignant housewives along the way who with motherly misconception odthe of the first prin plea fee of 0 boys real fun know and in ming fitting terms denounce the orrid corrid hou 11 there is something fine and manly about harband hare and hounds bounds The chase is a genuine test of pluck and endurance two vf f the best runners of the school are arc selected as the hares bares these are provided with finely cut paper bits bita slung over their shoulders in light bags these particles of paper now chopped like theatrical snow are flung out from time to time as aa scent the hares are given about a minute per mile the advantage at the start over tho the hounds usually two boys from each house the object is ou on the part of the hounds to overtake thia the hares who make the chase in every possible way difficult and for both hares and hounds to excel all previous records rhe phe long runs here are from ten to fifteen miles the big sidell side run towards the end of the half term goes the famous great crick run of 13 miles so winsomely described in tom brown 11 but no lad is permitted to enter for this run whose capacity and soundness have not previously been tested by a physician EDGAR L WAKEMAN RUGBY england march 13 1891 |
