It seems as if our schools were doomed3 to be the sport of change. We have faint recollections of a Preparatory Day-School, which we have sought in vain, and which must have been pulled down to make a new street, ages ago. We have dim impressions, scarcely amounting to a belief, that it was over a dyer’s shop. We know that you went up steps to it; that you frequently grazed your knees in doing so; that you generally got your leg over the scraper, in trying to scrape the mud off a very unsteady little shoe. The mistress of the Establishment holds no place in our memory; but, rampant4 on one eternal door-mat, in an eternal entry long and narrow, is a puffy pug-dog, with a personal animosity towards us, who triumphs over Time. The bark of that baleful Pug, a certain radiating way he had of snapping at our undefended legs, the ghastly grinning of his moist black muzzle5 and white teeth, and the insolence6 of his crisp tail curled like a pastoral crook7, all live and flourish. From an otherwise unaccountable association of him with a fiddle8, we conclude that he was of French extraction, and his name FIDELE. He belonged to some female, chiefly inhabiting a back-parlour, whose life appears to us to have been consumed in sniffing9, and in wearing a brown beaver10 bonnet11. For her, he would sit up and balance cake upon his nose, and not eat it until twenty had been counted. To the best of our belief we were once called in to witness this performance; when, unable, even in his milder moments, to endure our presence, he instantly made at us, cake and all.
Why a something in mourning, called ‘Miss Frost,’ should still connect itself with our preparatory school, we are unable to say. We retain no impression of the beauty of Miss Frost — if she were beautiful; or of the mental fascinations12 of Miss Frost — if she were accomplished13; yet her name and her black dress hold an enduring place in our remembrance. An equally impersonal14 boy, whose name has long since shaped itself unalterably into ‘Master Mawls,’ is not to be dislodged from our brain. Retaining no vindictive15 feeling towards Mawls — no feeling whatever, indeed — we infer that neither he nor we can have loved Miss Frost. Our first impression of Death and Burial is associated with this formless pair. We all three nestled awfully16 in a corner one wintry day, when the wind was blowing shrill17, with Miss Frost’s pinafore over our heads; and Miss Frost told us in a whisper about somebody being ‘screwed down.’ It is the only distinct recollection we preserve of these impalpable creatures, except a suspicion that the manners of Master Mawls were susceptible18 of much improvement. Generally speaking, we may observe that whenever we see a child intently occupied with its nose, to the exclusion19 of all other subjects of interest, our mind reverts20, in a flash, to Master Mawls.
But, the School that was Our School before the Railroad came and overthrew21 it, was quite another sort of place. We were old enough to be put into Virgil when we went there, and to get Prizes for a variety of polishing on which the rust22 has long accumulated. It was a School of some celebrity23 in its neighbourhood — nobody could have said why — and we had the honour to attain24 and hold the eminent25 position of first boy. The master was supposed among us to know nothing, and one of the ushers27 was supposed to know everything. We are still inclined to think the first-named supposition perfectly28 correct.
We have a general idea that its subject had been in the leather trade, and had bought us — meaning Our School — of another proprietor29 who was immensely learned. Whether this belief had any real foundation, we are not likely ever to know now. The only branches of education with which he showed the least acquaintance, were, ruling and corporally punishing. He was always ruling ciphering-books with a bloated mahogany ruler, or smiting30 the palms of offenders31 with the same diabolical32 instrument, or viciously drawing a pair of pantaloons tight with one of his large hands, and caning33 the wearer with the other. We have no doubt whatever that this occupation was the principal solace34 of his existence.
A profound respect for money pervaded35 Our School, which was, of course, derived36 from its Chief. We remember an idiotic37 goggle-eyed boy, with a big head and half-crowns without end, who suddenly appeared as a parlour-boarder, and was rumoured38 to have come by sea from some mysterious part of the earth where his parents rolled in gold. He was usually called ‘Mr.’ by the Chief, and was said to feed in the parlour on steaks and gravy39; likewise to drink currant wine. And he openly stated that if rolls and coffee were ever denied him at breakfast, he would write home to that unknown part of the globe from which he had come, and cause himself to be recalled to the regions of gold. He was put into no form or class, but learnt alone, as little as he liked — and he liked very little — and there was a belief among us that this was because he was too wealthy to be ‘taken down.’ His special treatment, and our vague association of him with the sea, and with storms, and sharks, and Coral Reefs occasioned the wildest legends to be circulated as his history. A tragedy in blank verse was written on the subject — if our memory does not deceive us, by the hand that now chronicles these recollections — in which his father figured as a Pirate, and was shot for a voluminous catalogue of atrocities40: first imparting to his wife the secret of the cave in which his wealth was stored, and from which his only son’s half-crowns now issued. Dumbledon (the boy’s name) was represented as ‘yet unborn’ when his brave father met his fate; and the despair and grief of Mrs. Dumbledon at that calamity41 was movingly shadowed forth42 as having weakened the parlour-boarder’s mind. This production was received with great favour, and was twice performed with closed doors in the dining-room. But, it got wind, and was seized as libellous, and brought the unlucky poet into severe affliction. Some two years afterwards, all of a sudden one day, Dumbledon vanished. It was whispered that the Chief himself had taken him down to the Docks, and re-shipped him for the Spanish Main; but nothing certain was ever known about his disappearance43. At this hour, we cannot thoroughly44 disconnect him from California.
Our School was rather famous for mysterious pupils. There was another — a heavy young man, with a large double-cased silver watch, and a fat knife the handle of which was a perfect tool-box — who unaccountably appeared one day at a special desk of his own, erected45 close to that of the Chief, with whom he held familiar converse46. He lived in the parlour, and went out for his walks, and never took the least notice of us — even of us, the first boy — unless to give us a deprecatory kick, or grimly to take our hat off and throw it away, when he encountered us out of doors, which unpleasant ceremony he always performed as he passed — not even condescending47 to stop for the purpose. Some of us believed that the classical attainments48 of this phenomenon were terrific, but that his penmanship and arithmetic were defective49, and he had come there to mend them; others, that he was going to set up a school, and had paid the Chief ‘twenty-five pound down,’ for leave to see Our School at work. The gloomier spirits even said that he was going to buy us; against which contingency50, conspiracies51 were set on foot for a general defection and running away. However, he never did that. After staying for a quarter, during which period, though closely observed, he was never seen to do anything but make pens out of quills52, write small hand in a secret portfolio53, and punch the point of the sharpest blade in his knife into his desk all over it, he too disappeared, and his place knew him no more.
There was another boy, a fair, meek54 boy, with a delicate complexion55 and rich curling hair, who, we found out, or thought we found out (we have no idea now, and probably had none then, on what grounds, but it was confidentially56 revealed from mouth to mouth), was the son of a Viscount who had deserted57 his lovely mother. It was understood that if he had his rights, he would be worth twenty thousand a year. And that if his mother ever met his father, she would shoot him with a silver pistol, which she carried, always loaded to the muzzle, for that purpose. He was a very suggestive topic. So was a young Mulatto, who was always believed (though very amiable) to have a dagger58 about him somewhere. But, we think they were both outshone, upon the whole, by another boy who claimed to have been born on the twenty-ninth of February, and to have only one birthday in five years. We suspect this to have been a fiction — but he lived upon it all the time he was at Our School.
The principal currency of Our School was slate59 pencil. It had some inexplicable60 value, that was never ascertained61, never reduced to a standard. To have a great hoard62 of it was somehow to be rich. We used to bestow63 it in charity, and confer it as a precious boon64 upon our chosen friends. When the holidays were coming, contributions were solicited65 for certain boys whose relatives were in India, and who were appealed for under the generic66 name of ‘Holiday-stoppers,’ — appropriate marks of remembrance that should enliven and cheer them in their homeless state. Personally, we always contributed these tokens of sympathy in the form of slate pencil, and always felt that it would be a comfort and a treasure to them.
Our School was remarkable67 for white mice. Red-polls, linnets, and even canaries, were kept in desks, drawers, hat-boxes, and other strange refuges for birds; but white mice were the favourite stock. The boys trained the mice, much better than the masters trained the boys. We recall one white mouse, who lived in the cover of a Latin dictionary, who ran up ladders, drew Roman chariots, shouldered muskets68, turned wheels, and even made a very creditable appearance on the stage as the Dog of Montargis. He might have achieved greater things, but for having the misfortune to mistake his way in a triumphal procession to the Capitol, when he fell into a deep inkstand, and was dyed black and drowned. The mice were the occasion of some most ingenious engineering, in the construction of their houses and instruments of performance. The famous one belonged to a company of proprietors69, some of whom have since made Railroads, Engines, and Telegraphs; the chairman has erected mills and bridges in New Zealand.
The usher26 at Our School, who was considered to know everything as opposed to the Chief, who was considered to know nothing, was a bony, gentle-faced, clerical-looking young man in rusty70 black. It was whispered that he was sweet upon one of Maxby’s sisters (Maxby lived close by, and was a day pupil), and further that he ‘favoured Maxby.’ As we remember, he taught Italian to Maxby’s sisters on half-holidays. He once went to the play with them, and wore a white waistcoat and a rose: which was considered among us equivalent to a declaration. We were of opinion on that occasion, that to the last moment he expected Maxby’s father to ask him to dinner at five o’clock, and therefore neglected his own dinner at half-past one, and finally got none. We exaggerated in our imaginations the extent to which he punished Maxby’s father’s cold meat at supper; and we agreed to believe that he was elevated with wine and water when he came home. But, we all liked him; for he had a good knowledge of boys, and would have made it a much better school if he had had more power. He was writing master, mathematical master, English master, made out the bills, mended the pens, and did all sorts of things. He divided the little boys with the Latin master (they were smuggled71 through their rudimentary books, at odd times when there was nothing else to do), and he always called at parents’ houses to inquire after sick boys, because he had gentlemanly manners. He was rather musical, and on some remote quarter-day had bought an old trombone; but a bit of it was lost, and it made the most extraordinary sounds when he sometimes tried to play it of an evening. His holidays never began (on account of the bills) until long after ours; but, in the summer vacations he used to take pedestrian excursions with a knapsack; and at Christmas time, he went to see his father at Chipping Norton, who we all said (on no authority) was a dairy-fed pork-butcher. Poor fellow! He was very low all day on Maxby’s sister’s wedding-day, and afterwards was thought to favour Maxby more than ever, though he had been expected to spite him. He has been dead these twenty years. Poor fellow!
Our remembrance of Our School, presents the Latin master as a colourless doubled-up near-sighted man with a crutch72, who was always cold, and always putting onions into his ears for deafness, and always disclosing ends of flannel73 under all his garments, and almost always applying a ball of pocket-handkerchief to some part of his face with a screwing action round and round. He was a very good scholar, and took great pains where he saw intelligence and a desire to learn: otherwise, perhaps not. Our memory presents him (unless teased into a passion) with as little energy as colour — as having been worried and tormented74 into monotonous75 feebleness — as having had the best part of his life ground out of him in a Mill of boys. We remember with terror how he fell asleep one sultry afternoon with the little smuggled class before him, and awoke not when the footstep of the Chief fell heavy on the floor; how the Chief aroused him, in the midst of a dread76 silence, and said, ‘Mr. Blinkins, are you ill, sir?’ how he blushingly replied, ‘Sir, rather so;’ how the Chief retorted with severity, ‘Mr. Blinkins, this is no place to be ill in’ (which was very, very true), and walked back solemn as the ghost in Hamlet, until, catching77 a wandering eye, he called that boy for inattention, and happily expressed his feelings towards the Latin master through the medium of a substitute.
There was a fat little dancing-master who used to come in a gig, and taught the more advanced among us hornpipes (as an accomplishment78 in great social demand in after life); and there was a brisk little French master who used to come in the sunniest weather, with a handleless umbrella, and to whom the Chief was always polite, because (as we believed), if the Chief offended him, he would instantly address the Chief in French, and for ever confound him before the boys with his inability to understand or reply.
There was besides, a serving man, whose name was Phil. Our retrospective glance presents Phil as a shipwrecked carpenter, cast away upon the desert island of a school, and carrying into practice an ingenious inkling of many trades. He mended whatever was broken, and made whatever was wanted. He was general glazier, among other things, and mended all the broken windows — at the prime cost (as was darkly rumoured among us) of ninepence, for every square charged three-and-six to parents. We had a high opinion of his mechanical genius, and generally held that the Chief ‘knew something bad of him,’ and on pain of divulgence79 enforced Phil to be his bondsman. We particularly remember that Phil had a sovereign contempt for learning: which engenders80 in us a respect for his sagacity, as it implies his accurate observation of the relative positions of the Chief and the ushers. He was an impenetrable man, who waited at table between whiles, and throughout ‘the half’ kept the boxes in severe custody81. He was morose82, even to the Chief, and never smiled, except at breaking-up, when, in acknowledgment of the toast, ‘Success to Phil! Hooray!’ he would slowly carve a grin out of his wooden face, where it would remain until we were all gone. Nevertheless, one time when we had the scarlet83 fever in the school, Phil nursed all the sick boys of his own accord, and was like a mother to them.
There was another school not far off, and of course Our School could have nothing to say to that school. It is mostly the way with schools, whether of boys or men. Well! the railway has swallowed up ours, and the locomotives now run smoothly84 over its ashes.
So fades and languishes85, grows dim and dies, All that this world is proud of,
— and is not proud of, too. It had little reason to be proud of Our School, and has done much better since in that way, and will do far better yet.
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1
curtailed
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| v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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rampant
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| adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的 | |
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muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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fascinations
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| n.魅力( fascination的名词复数 )；有魅力的东西；迷恋；陶醉 | |
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13
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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impersonal
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| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
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vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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reverts
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| 恢复( revert的第三人称单数 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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21
overthrew
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| overthrow的过去式 | |
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rust
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| n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退 | |
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celebrity
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| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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usher
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| n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员 | |
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27
ushers
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| n.引座员( usher的名词复数 )；招待员；门房；助理教员v.引，领，陪同( usher的第三人称单数 ) | |
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28
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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smiting
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 ) | |
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offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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caning
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| n.鞭打 | |
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solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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rumoured
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| adj.谣传的；传说的；风 | |
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gravy
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| n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快 | |
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atrocities
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| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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45
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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46
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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47
condescending
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| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
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48
attainments
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| 成就，造诣； 获得( attainment的名词复数 )； 达到； 造诣； 成就 | |
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49
defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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50
contingency
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| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
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51
conspiracies
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| n.阴谋，密谋( conspiracy的名词复数 ) | |
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52
quills
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| n.（刺猬或豪猪的）刺( quill的名词复数 )；羽毛管；翮；纡管 | |
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53
portfolio
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| n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位 | |
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54
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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55
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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56
confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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57
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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58
dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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59
slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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60
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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61
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
hoard
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| n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积 | |
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63
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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64
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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65
solicited
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| v.恳求( solicit的过去式和过去分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求 | |
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generic
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| adj.一般的，普通的，共有的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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68
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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69
proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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70
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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71
smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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72
crutch
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| n.T字形拐杖；支持，依靠，精神支柱 | |
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73
flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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74
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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75
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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76
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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77
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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78
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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79
divulgence
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| v.透露，泄露 | |
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80
engenders
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| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的第三人称单数 ) | |
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81
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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82
morose
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| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
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83
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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84
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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85
languishes
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| 长期受苦( languish的第三人称单数 )； 受折磨； 变得（越来越）衰弱； 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐 | |
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