JOHN BULL'S SCHOOLDAYS SIR,—In the interests of our old friend
historical accuracy again, may I say an odd thing that struck me when I read Mr. Simon Raven's piece on his schooldays? It was just that, in a very different school but at exactly the same time, I saw exactly the same thing happening. At the convent I attended, the old Tom Brown spirit of group loyalty flourished until the war : sneaking was almost unknown, and likely to be punished, if it ever did appear, with a ferocious glee quite worthy of Ronald Searle. But early in the 1940s, everything suddenly changed. Priggishness and the inevitable sneaking that goes with it became the order of the day.' The odd thing was, we were posted away from bombs to one of the remotest corners of England, where the general climate of the world (never a great modifier of con- vent behaviour) seemed to touch us less than ever. And, too, the old Tom Brown values ruled when the school was in London, a highly cosmopolitan place at least half-filled with foreigners; whereas the sneak values came in during an aggressively nationalistic phase, when 'abroad' became a dirty word.—Yours faithfully,
ISABEL QUIOLY 12 Byron Court, Ham Common, Surrey
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