A MILD REMONSTRANCE. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—In fairness to an Oxford College and to our public
schools I ask you to insert this mild remonstrance. "L. S. H.," in his letter to you on "Theological Tests at Oxford" last week, went out of his way to trample on members of my college, and this in order to produce what perhaps be imagines is a striking paradox. He says :—
" Yet the fact remains that from Keble dons the most conserva- tive element in the Church draws its largest support, and that many youths who pass through its portals become the variety of curate which is not man, not woman, but something between the two—strong only in ecclesiastical prejudice and anaemic virtue."
Then he brings out the startling fact that the head of this conservative establishment for the production of thin milk is the very man of all others who comes forward and grants the
Divinity degree to non-Churchmen ! From 1878 and up till now I have known many youths who have passed through the
portals of " Keble dons," as "L. S. H." quaintly puts it, and these youths, as men, have earned a reputation which is the very reverse of that described by him. The type of man represented by the Bishop of London and by the late Bishop of Korea is the type also of the majority of those who have taken Orders since they left Keble. Had it been only "L. S. H." who trod on my tail I might have remained silent, though writhing with indignation, but in the same issue of the Spectator I find a review on " A Housemaster's Letters." At the end of this the reviewer lets himself go, stamping on schoolmasters in general and on housemasters in particular.
I am myself what he calls a " mere teacher " who, according to him, " is always the worst paid," and " is also becoming the least honoured member of his profession," and so perhaps he may expect the likes of me to subscribe to his earlier assertions that "Headmasters count it their chief praise to be called ` organizers' ; housemasters exhibit a large sympathy with everything but the pursuit of knowledge."
These things being so, who can doubt but that "the
intellectual life of our public schools .is being pinched and starved ; and while this is so they can never worthily fulfil the great trust committed to them by the nation." I submit, Sir,
that reckless allegations, such as those above, are nothing short of criminal. From my experience of thirty years at this school, and with my knowledge of the character of many masters at other schools,-I can assert boldly that these indict.
ments against headmasters and housemasters are without foundation, while the statement about payment of "mere teachers" is false. As to the public schools, one thing they teach is the practice of fair play, and one thing they scorn is the sneaking backbiter who dares not let hie name be known while he vents his poisonous slanders.—I am, Sir, &c.,
REGINALD G. DURRANT.
The College, Marlborough.
[There was nothing in our reviewer's remarks to justify this exuberance of language. To take punishment cheerfully, even
when hitting back hard, is supposed to be, and generally is, the way of public schools .—ED. Spectator.]
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