"A boy's place on the general roll was no more a criterion of
his acquirements and his industry than would be the 'year' of a young
man at Oxford or Cambridge." The collegers, however, were required to
pass some kind of examination, in accordance with which their place on
the list for the King's college was fixed. But the evils regarding the
hours of study and the nature of the studies were as bad. "The regular
holidays and Saints' days, two whole holidays in a week, and two
half-holidays, were a matter of common occurrence."
Lord Morley, in his examination before the Commission on Public Schools,
was asked whether a boy would be looked down upon at Eton for being
industrious in his studies, replied, "Not if he could do something else
well." And this seems to be the spirit of the Eton boy with whom a lack
of scholarship is more than made up by skill in river or field sports.
This is true to-day; for a recent writer in the _Forum_, upon "The
Training of Boys at Eton," says: "Athletic prominence is in English
public schools almost synonymous with social prominence; many a boy
whose capacity and character commanded both respect and liking at the
universities and in after life, is almost a nobody at a public school,
because he has no special athletic gifts.
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