Architects of Character
Fifty Years Against the Stream. By E. D. Tyndale Bk., (Wesleyan Methodist Press, Mysore. Is.)
" A SNOLI: and a stick will carry you through most dillicultiei in this life," says Lord Baden-Powell in his preface to Mr. 13iscoe's book about the Church Mission School in Srinagar. Kashmir. "If you need a concrete example," adds the Chief Sront, '- you will find it in this story." Al first. in 1880. there was strong opposition to the school among the Brahmins of Srinagar. The boys (there were only five of them) wore large, tight turbans, gold ear-rings and nose-rings, wooden clogs, and a long garment like a nightgown, which inhibited vigorous movement. Mr. Biscoe tried to teach them cricket and football and athletic exercises, but the latter were forbidden by order of the then Maharajah, as being beneath the dignity of liasluniri pundits. Then 1891 the policy was changed, and the following principle,' introduced : (1) compulsory Christian teaching, (2) compulsory games,- (a) compulsory swimming. (4) compulsory fees, (I) eta, pond punishment for misbehaviour. Instead of dwindling in numbers, as the Principal had feared, the membership of the school increased.
The dress of the pupils was reformed. They were taught Western personal hygiene and Western standards of morality. The parents of the boys," we are told, "are often quite indifferent to the character of their Sons: it is no good going to them for help. . . We have to make is public opinion at our school which shall be different to public opinion in the city, We do this bypttnishinjyt boy who is caught jainimor-
ality in such a way that neither he nor the school will forget it. This curing of diseased minds is one of the hardest surgical operations we have to tackle, and we have by no means cut out the disease as yet." All this reads rather oddly in the light of modern psychology ; as also do some of the chapter headings : e.g., "Athletics or Shabby Gentility ? "—but there is no doubt that Mr. Biscoe is a great headmaster, that his boys love him, and that he has been greatly successful. -
It is no small thing that this Church Mission School is doing-- nothing less than combining the industry and fidelity of the " twice-born " with the ethics Of Christian chivalry. May its work long continue to flourish. There are 500 boys in Srinagar now learning "to play the game " : the influence of these lads on the rising generation will be of incalculable benefit not to Kashmir only, but to all India.
Previous page
