KNOWING ENGLISH
SIR,—In A Spectator's 'Notebook Janus asks what Mr. Churchill meant by " knowing English " when he wrote: " I would whip boys for not knowing English." He explains what he meant earlier in the paragraph from which the extract is taken. It occurs in Chapter II of his book My Early Life. He writes:—I haven't space to quote the paragraph in full:-
" Mr. Soniervell was charged with the duty of teaching the stupidest boys the most disregarded thing—namely, to write more English. Not only did one learn English parsing thoroughly, but we also practised continually English analysis.. As I remained in the Third Fourth three times as long as anyone else, I had three times as much of it I learned it thoroughly. Thus I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence—which is a noble thing. I would make all boys learn English and the only thing I would whip them for is not knowing English. I would whip them hard for that faithfully,
Trevine, South Cliff Gardens, Tenby. . J. HOWARD PRICE.
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