In freedom o f grumbling consists its friendliness,
and Old Rugbeian criticism forms no
exception to tbis rule. And we are informed
that at present Old Rugbeians have found a
grievance, and that they are showing their
friendship by grumbling freely. What is
more, the grievance is undeniable, and so far
we can have no reply. But when our critics
go on to found on this fact a further complaint,
we must take issue with them. The grievance
then is this, that Rugby does not win as
many honours at the two Universities as
heretofore. The way in which we heard a
distinguished tutor o f a college at Oxford put
it was thus :— “ The order o f merit o f the
Schools o f England is this, 1, Winchester;
2, Marlborough; 3, Harrow; 4, all the smaller
Schools taken together; 5, Rugby.” How
with this classification we have nothing to
do, else we might point out that the word
“ merit ” is used in a somewhat limited sense,
and that even then the criticism is obviously
one-sided, both from its excessive laudation of
Winchester and Marlborough, schools which
hardly show at all in the Cambridge senatehouse,
and from its absurd depreciation of
what it is pleased to call the small Schools.
Added to which, Eton is distinctly in advance
o f Rugby in the race for University honours.
But, as we said before, we do not want to
deny the grievance; what we do wish to
impugn is the complaint as founded thereon.
It is said that the introduction o f Natural
Science into the Sehool must either injure the
Classics, or be taught so superficially as to
make its introduction merely a sacrifice to
a popular cry, and a blind to parents’ affectionate
and uncritical eyes. A brief statement
o f what is doing and its results so far
may furnish facts for the discussion o f this
complaint. And here Old Rugbeians will
kindly assist us by recalling to mind the old
set divisions, which were necessary owing to
the paucity o f masters and the poorness of
accommodation in the School buildings. To
begin then from the bottom; there is a tithe
o f our body hitherto unphisicked by the
baneful draught o f science, whose minds are
left open to the -unalloyed influences of Ellis’s
Exercises. Such is the happy condition of
the Lower School; but let our Old Rugbeian
picture to himself Big School as the last
stronghold o f conservatism. They have been
driven to a more genial atmosphere in the
kitchen of that house which used to be
Stanley’s, and stood next to Sally’s pastryboard,
now, alas, turned into a laboratory.
So then it is not till the Middle School that
Natural Science and mechanical pumps are
brought to play on the Rugbeian mind.
This, containing, as it does, more than half
the School, is divided into eight sets, four in
the Upper Middles, four in the Lower : these
have to do two hours a week in School, and
as many theoretically out, these latter spent in
the elaboration o f note-books, which are returned
and corrected about once a fortnight.
And in the Middle School such work is compulsory.
On the other hand in the Upper
School it is alternative with German, where
consequently two sets are found sufficient.
In the Sixth there is only one set, and it is
entirely optional. Finally, the subjects as
at present arranged to be read are, in the
Lower Middle, Mechanics and Botany; in
the Upper Middles the same, only that for
the very elementary Botany or Geology is
substituted; in the Upper School, Geology and
Chemistry ; in the Sixth, Chemistry alone.
Botany is found most useful to form the
habit o f thought in the most chaotic minds..
The lecturers are, in Botany, Mr. Kitchener;
in Geology, Mr. Wilson; in Mechanics and
Chemistry, Mr. Hutchinson. Such is the
system: what are its results ? There are
few symptoms o f over-work in the School, no
cases in which Natural Science interferes
with good Scholarship : and at the same time a
greater field is secured for School studies te
those who have hitherto, pined in hope less attempts at versification. The unfortunate
member o f the Fifth who sent up once
this line as a hexameter on a diving bell,—
Imo descendamus in hac secura machina ;
or the perpetrator in a School-house study
o f this pentameter,—
Omnibus et icetis infortunatus fui,
might have found a field for his talents in
these days instead o f being chaffed into the
yellow jaundice, which the mother o f the
former explained to the Headmaster had been
the fate o f her son. The art o f expression
surely was denied to them; why should they
not have been taught the art o f thinking ?
We believe that if Bigside were polled
to-morrow it would cordially vote in favour
of the present system, and that, if it were
polled again the next day, it would, unlike
itself, not reverse its decision. And we
believe, besides, that not one o f the Classical
Masters would wish to recur to the old
system. No, if Rugby classics are failing,
a point which we may hope at some future
time to discuss, if Rugby University Honours
are fewer, the fault does not lie with the
introduction o f Natural Science.
As the month o f March approaches, the
season in which it delights certain individuals
to take part in that most delightful of Rugby
games—House-washing, and to catch the
accompanying cold, it may not be out of
place to offer a few remarks on our so-called
Steeple-chases. When we look at the Steeplechases,
are they not a ludicrous sight ? We
behold ten or fifteen fellows standing at just
a sufficient distance from the brook to get
a run ; they then rush madly forward ; we
see an enormous splash, and a climbling up
the opposite bank ; the same operation is
gone through again and again, only the competitors
are a little more separated, until one
by one, as the brook is crossed and re-crossed,
they are obliged to succumb; indeed only
two or three, whom King Mud has allowed
to get out o f his dominions before the rest,
arrive at the wished-for goal. This is not
steeple-chasing ; “ washing ” it certainly is
not. It is simply a game at catching cold,
and spoiling valuable boots. The year before
last, one or two of the Masters kindly gave
prizes for a Steeple-chase, and as they had the
management o f it, they gave us a proper
Steeple-chase, with a moderate amount of
brook jumps, and a good run across country.
Why did not the School take a hint from
what proved, if we remember rightly, an
excellent contest; and why may we not have
a proper Steeple-chase course, instead o f one
in which the victor is the one who can carry
best a quantity of water and mud the
requisite distance ? or if the old one is to be
continued, why should it not take place in June
or July, months far better suited to such
sport than February or March, when, we
have no doubt, it would be very pleasant, and
we should only spoil our boots, and not be so
liable to catch cold. We do not find so much
fault with the School Steeple-chases, as in
these there are one or two hedge and fence
jumps, though a decided preference is given
to water jumps; or sometimes there is a hedge
with the brook on the other side, which is
merely an apology for a brook jump. Such
ought not to be the case; if preference be
given to either it surely ought to be given to
the hedge jumps ; but it is the House Steeplechases
that are so ridiculous. We hope
therefore that the Houses will take the matter
into consideration before they come on, or
let us invent some more appropriate name
for them than “ Steeple-chases.”
P aper-chases having been practically put a
stop to for this year, would it not be well
now to furnish the stable door with a lock
and key ? Practically put a stop to, we say ;
for without jumps a Paper-ehase is converted
into much the same thing as a House-run,
and jumping in a Paper-chase has been stopped
by the justly-excited wrath o f the
farmers. We think justly excited, for though
to us a hedge at this time of the year may
not appear a very ornamental object, still a
farmer takes great pride in his fences, quite
as much for their appearance as for their use.
Now the real reason that our horse has been
stolen is that we have patronised almost exclusively
one third o f a very limited circle
round the town; and the consequence o f this
is that the fences in this third are disgracefully
perforated; for almost every Paper-chase
that has started this Term, say, seven or eight
a week, immediately after passing the last
house in the town on the Barby or Hillmorton
road, has probably jumped over into the
first field, or if there are gardens, into the
first garden. Now all the gardens and fields
within the first mile on the Hillmorton and
Barby roads belong to men who live in or
close to the town, and it is o f course very
little trouble to them to relieve their indignation,
at perhaps the twentieth repetition of
this, by calling on the Headmaster, Next year it ought to be understood that there is
no chance of Paper-chases surviving, unless
we make a point of going along the road for
a mile or a mile and a half, before turning
into the fields, and not always along the same
road. There are very many reasons for
doing this : in the first place the land is not
so valuable outside the mile circle round the
town ; in the second, the outer circle being
larger than the inner one, the same hedges will
have to be mended much less frequently; in
the third, the smaller schools and the marbleplayers
o f the place will not take the trouble
to go so far out of the town to complete the
gaps by following the same course ; and in
the fourth (a low-morality reason), the farmers
will not take the trouble to walk so far
into the town to make their complaints to the
Headmaster.