On entering the playground I saw about forty boys amusing themselves in
various ways. Some were jumping with a pole, others were leaping over a
tape, whilst several were talking in groups. As I approached the
ground, I heard several boys call out, "Here he is!"
"Now where's Fraser?" whilst eight or ten boys came round me, and seemed
looking at me as a curiosity.
"You're going to be an engineer, aren't you?" said one boy.
"Yes," I replied.
A shout of laughter was the result of this remark of mine, the reason
for which I could not comprehend.
"You're very clever, I suppose," said the same boy; "an awful hand at
Swat."
"I can do rule-of-three," I replied.
"Lor! what a clever fellow!" replied the boy. "I say," he shouted,
"Ansell, James, come here! We have a Sir Isaac Newton here!"
As he called, four or five boys came up and joined the others near me.
"He's going to be an engineer," said the same boy; "and he knows
rule-of-three! Isn't he likely to get them?"
"Where have you come from?" asked another boy.
"From the New Forest, Hampshire," I replied.
"Then you'd better go back to the New Forest, Hampshire, and feed the
pigs there."
"You are very rude," I said, "to speak like that."
A shout of laughter greeted this speech, whilst the same boy intimated
that I was "a confounded young prig!"
"Oh, here you are!" said Fraser, who suddenly appeared on the scene.
"I've been looking for you. What do you mean by shying a book at me?"
"Why, you kicked me for no reason at all," I replied. "It is I who have
cause to complain of you."
"Oh, you have, have you? then take that?"
Before I knew what was going to be done, Fraser suddenly struck me full
in the face. The blow was so severe that for a second or two I scarcely
knew what had happened. Then, however, I realised the fact, and,
rushing at Fraser, I struck wildly at him. Without seeming to disturb
himself much, Fraser either guarded off my blows or quickly dodged so as
to avoid them; and when he saw an opportunity, as he soon did, he
punished me severely.
Fraser was smaller than I was, but was certainly stouter, and he
possessed what I did not, viz, skill in the use of his fists. This was
the first fight I had ever been in, whilst he was an old hand at
pugilistic encounters. The result, consequently, was what might be
expected, viz, in ten minutes I was entirely beaten, all my strength
seemed gone, and I was unable to raise a hand in my defence.
"Don't you shy a book at me again," said Fraser as he left me leaning
against the wall, trying to recover myself.
"Bravo, Fraser! well done!" said one or two boys who had formed a ring
round us as we fought. Not a boy seemed to pity me, or to be disposed
to help me, and I felt as utterly miserable as a boy could feel.
As I leant against the wall, with my handkerchief to my nose, a boy
named Strong came up and said,--
"You'd better wash the blood off your face, Shepard, or there'll be a
row."
"I don't care," I replied, "whether there's a row or not."
"Come along," said Strong; "don't be downhearted. Fraser is an awful
mill and a great bully, and always bullies a new boy just to show off
his fighting. Come and wash your face."
I went with Strong, and removed as much as possible the evidence of my
late combat--Strong all the time trying his best to cheer me up.
"You've never been at a boarding-school before?" said Strong
inquiringly.
"No; and I don't think I shall stop here long," I replied.
"Oh, there will be another new boy soon, and then you'll lead an easy
life."
"But is every new boy treated as I am?"
"Well, very nearly the same. Then they are down upon you because you
boasted you were going to get the Engineers'."
"Boasted? I didn't mean to boast. I came here to prepare for the
Engineers."
"But don't you know that it's only about one in twenty who go to the
Academy who are clever enough for the Engineers? and when you say you
are going to be an engineer it looks like boasting. You may be very
clever, and a first-rate hand at Euclid and Swat; but it doesn't do to
boast."
This speech opened my eyes at once. In my ignorance I knew no
difference between being an engineer or anything else; but I now saw why
it was that all the boys seemed to make such game of me when I said I
was intended for the Engineers, as it was like asserting that I was very
clever, and claiming to have it in my power to beat nineteen out of
twenty boys who might compete with me. I now began to realise it as a
fact that I was utterly ignorant on nearly every subject that was likely
to be of use to me at Mr Hostler's. I knew nothing either of
schoolboys or school-life. To me it seemed most ungenerous that I
should be laughed at because I made a mistake, not knowing that
schoolboys as a rule are disposed to make butts of those who are not as
well acquainted as themselves with the few facts on which they pride
themselves.
In the afternoon of this my first day at Mr Hostler's, my pride again
received a severe blow. The subject studied in the afternoon was
arithmetic and algebra; and on coming into the schoolroom Mr Monk asked
me where I had left off in arithmetic.
In order not to make any mistake, I replied that rule-of-three was what
I had last done.
I remember well that Aunt Emma, who used to teach me arithmetic, had a
book out of which she used to copy a sum of a very simple nature, but
which she as well as I thought at the time rather difficult. She then
used to show me an example to point out how it was done; and, when I had
finished it, used to compare my answer with that given in the book. She
was rather hazy about the problem as a rule, and never ventured to give
me any explanation as to where I was wrong in case my answer did not
correspond with that in the book; but still I was supposed to have
learnt rule-of-three, though I soon found out my mistake. The style of
questions that I used to solve at home were such as the following:--
"If a bushel of coals costs two shillings and sixpence, what would be
the price of fifty bushels?"
These I could fairly accomplish without much probability of making a
mistake; and so I hoped I might succeed in passing Mr Monk's
examination of my rule-of-three.
"Just write down this question," said Mr Monk; "we shall soon see if
you know anything about rule-of-three."