The
first item was a luncheon, at which I sate between two very
pleasant strangers and exchanged cautious views on education. We
agreed that the value of the classics as a staple of mental
training was perhaps a little overrated, and that possibly too much
attention was nowadays given to athletics; but that after all the
public-school system was the backbone of the country, and taught
boys how to behave like gentlemen, and how to govern subject races.
We agreed that they were ideal training-grounds for character, and
that our public-schools were the envy of the civilised world. In
such profound and suggestive interchange of ideas the time sped
rapidly away.
Then we were gathered into a big hall. It was pleasant to see proud
parents and charming sisters, wearing their best, clustered
excitedly round some sturdy and well-brushed young hero, the hope
of the race; pleasant to see frock-coated masters, beaming with
professional benevolence, elderly gentlemen smilingly recalling
tales of youthful prowess, which had grown quite epical in the
lapse of time; it was inspiriting to feel one of a big company of
people, all bent on being for once as good-humoured and cheerful as
possible, and all inspired by a vague desire to improve the
occasion.
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