HOW BULLYING MAY BE SUPpressed. 75 pull my hair in school, and daily rack his ingenuity to vex me by cruel and filthy tricks." Where bullying is rampant in a school, the fault generally lies with the boys themselves. As a rule, it takes good care to avoid the eyes of the masters, and succeeds in doing so mainly because boys do not like to tell tales. Tale-telling is neither a pleasant nor a profitable occupation; but we do not see that a just and legitimate complaint of the doings of a bully comes within this category. On the contrary, it is the interest of every boy to preserve peace, order, and happiness in the little community of which he is a member, and when he finds persons offending against these conditions, he is bound to denounce them to the supreme authority, if their punishment be neither within his province nor his power. But nowhere is public opinion more influential than in a school; and if boys would only join in the condemnation and reprobation of bullying, it would soon be put down. A bully may afford to ignore the misery of his victim, but he cannot afford to despise the goodwill of all his comrades. Let it be thoroughly well understood that bullies will be "sent to Coventry," or that their misconduct will be summarily and righteously chastised, and it is certain that they will rapidly disappear. "Lessons are over, work is done; Out, out, my boys, and we'll have some fun :- 'English and French,' or a 'hare-and-hound' race! Tempered by gentle courtesy !" -POETA IGNOTUS. Boys in the playground-Their true character shows itself quickly-Friendships are there formed-Something said about prudence in the choice of a friend-The benefit, moral and intellectual, of a happy friendship -Henry Martyn-About recreation—A fallacy exploded-Boys who "play" well often "work" well-A protest against the abuse of gymnastics - In praise of cricket - Its moral excellences - Cricketmatches-The famous match between the R. Cricket Club and the men of B.-Football-Football at Rugby in the days of Tom Brown. HEN the boy first goes to school, he necessarily feels all the discomfort and isolation of a stranger who has penetrated into a new country, of whose habits and customs he is ignorant. He looks around him, and every face on which his glance rests seems to wear a forbidding frown. He fears to ask a question, lest he should receive an unpleasant reply; and the questions put to himself he answers with hesitation, for he does not know that some chance word may not give bitter offence. He feels that he is undergoing a severe if not a hostile scrutiny, and he is unable to guess its probable result. So he keeps as silent as may be, and thus assumes an attitude of reserve, which, in its turn, baffles and discourages his new companions. As soon, however, as he gets out into the play 78 ground, he and they begin to know each other, and it is his own fault if, in ten or fifteen minutes, he has not made almost as many acquaintances. But, as a veracious authority says:"A great deal depends on how a fellow cuts up at first. If he's got nothing odd about him, and answers straightforward and holds his head up, he gets on." Boys are very quizzical and censorious, but they are also very sociable; and the " "new fellow," if he be of the right sort, is at once admitted into the sacred circle of school traditions and customs, and before the day is over he feels as if he had known the place and its people all his life. In a week his shyness and timidity have worn off; in a month, he is as great a stickler for the "old ways' as the most conservative of the school's patriarchs. And then he finds, sooner or later, that "other half" of himself who becomes his "chum," his confident, his counsellor, his friend. There are no friendships so unselfish as school friendships, and none, I think, more beautiful. They are not based upon interest or association, but spring up spontaneously, from some instinctive conviction that each partner in the comradeship supplies the other's need. Though hastily made, they are seldom lightly broken, and their moral and intellectual influence is often profound. How can it be otherwise when Damon and Pythias live for each other-share each other's joys and sorrows, thoughts and aspirations-seem to have no separate or individual existence? In the world, however close and sincere may be Damon's friendship for Pythias, or that of Pythias for Damon, there are duties, responsibilities, labours that tend to keep them apart. Or Damon marries, or goes abroad, and though the old liking survives, the old confidential intercourse necessarily decays. But at school no partition wall can come between the two; they pursue their studies together; together they take their pleasures; they have no hopes or fears in which both do not participate. Hence the importance of a little deliberation before a boy gives up his heart and mind to his friend's keeping. I have said that most school friendships are hastily made, but I do not mean to say that this haste is desirable. "More haste, less speed," is a maxim generally applicable in the concerns of everyday life; and experience has shown that it is sometimes true in reference to the alliances and attachments of schoolboys. On the principle, I suppose, of "like to BOY FRIENDSHIPS. 79 like," their alliances and attachments generally turn out favourably; but they do not always do so, and very often the good ones might have been replaced by something better. The boy is, therefore, advised to be sure that his new chum is worthy of his friendship; that he is brave, manly, honest, and truthful, before he takes him to his heart of hearts. Let him not be caught by a flashy exterior or a gay and fascinating manner. Let him not be won by prowess in the cricket-field or skill in the gymnasium. Let him be sure that in his faithful Achates he has found one who will help him in right doing and right thinking; one who never sullies his lips with oaths or unclean words; one who is always truthful and honourable; one who is distinguished by his true manliness, frank honesty, and moral courage. Strengthened by such a friendship, he will be able to assist in keeping up the standard of thought and action in his school, in defending and advocating whatsoever is true and pure, whatsoever is just and lovely and of good report. Between him and his friend may subsist that entire sympathy, that communion of tastes and feeling, that unfailing confidence, which illustrated and sanctified the friendship of Sir Philip Sidney and Lord Brooke, Izaak Walton and Charles Cotton, Niebuhr and Frederick Perthes, Tennyson and Arthur Hallam. The good that may spring from the friendship we are endeavouring to describe was experienced by Henry Martyn, the Indian missionary and linguist. When a boy at Truro Grammar-School, he suffered much at the hands of his schoolfellows, for, being deficient in physical energy and high spirits, he shrank from their amusements, and being of an irritable temper, he showed an unwise resentment when "chaffed." One of the bigger boys, however, recognising the good in his character, conceived a strong liking for him, assumed the office of his protector, interposed to save him from persecution, and helped him in his lessons. At the age of seventeen, Martyn was entered at St. John's College, Cambridge, where, to his surprise and delight, he again met with his old Truro champion. Their friendship was renewed, and the elder student thenceforth acted as Martyn's guide, philosopher, and friend, directing him in his studies, keeping him up to his work, shaping his character, and bringing him under religious influences. But for this wise and devoted guardianship, Martyn |