The Crofton Boys, by Harriet Martineau.
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Crofton is the name of a boarding school which takes in boys aged from
eight to perhaps thirteen. Such a school is known in the UK as a Prep
School, and it is normal for well-bred boys to attend such a school, as
I and my brothers all did.
Hugh is packed off to school from his comfortable home in the Strand,
London. His older brother is already at the school, and can give him
some guidance, but on the whole he is on his own. Boys can be very
cruel to one another, and Hugh gets his fair share of the bullying, the
fights, the unfair masters, and the small squabbles over borrowed money.
One day in the playground there is an episode which little Hugh tries to
escape from by climbing over a wall. He is pulled back, and the very
heavy loose coping stone on the top of the wall falls from onto his
foot, crushing it so badly that it has to be amputated. That's about
half-way through the book.
How Hugh endures the operation, recovers, and rebuilds his life with the
other boys at school, his family relations and the school staff takes up
the rest of the book, which is well and sensitively written, coming as
it does from a talented authoress who is no stranger to personal
problems.
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THE CROFTON BOYS, BY HARRIET MARTINEAU.