GIFT-BOOKS.
A SCHOOL-STORY.* "As the East is distant from the West, so far was Muirtown Seminary removed in its manners and customs from an English public school." The reader, therefore, must not expect to find in Young Barbarians anything like Tom Brown, still less anything like Eric. There is a tinge, too,
• Yampa Barbary:4m. By Ian Maelaren. London : Hodder & Stoughton. [Ge.1
of the heroic in the colours of the story, which, indeed, has been judiciously placed in a somewhat remote time. We are
given to understand that things have changed in Muirtown, that learning, the ingenuous art, has done what it ought to have done long ago, and has softened even the Seminary manners. Historic probabilities having been thus con- sidered, we may take the tale without any drawback of doubt, and enjoy it without reserve. And highly enjoyable
it is ; we have seldom seen a book more full of genuine, irre- sistible fun. The two prominent figures are " Bulldog," who has held the office of mathematical and writing master in the Seminary from time immemorial, and " Spleug " (Anglice,
" Sparrow "), by birth and baptism Peter McGuffie, son of a horse-dealer, a boy with quite unlimited capacities for mis- chief. And here we may venture on a word of remonstrance to the author. " Spleug " is described more than once as exhausting the resources of stable-yard profanity. Surely we may object, without being at all straitlaced or priggish, that this is against taste, if not morals. Possibly a very ancient and widely prevailing literary custom may be pleaded in valid excuse for making fun out of drunkenness. But this, too, is offensive to many readers, and may be held specially to offend against the debetur pueris reverentia maxim. Apart from these, we have nothing but praise for Young Barbarians. Of course, the comic scenes are somewhat farcical—that could hardly be avoided—but there is no mistake about the humour of them. There is " The Disgrace of Mr. Byles," for instance. Mr. Byles is an assistant-master who is bent on improving Seminary manners by gentle treatment and ele- vating recreations. Among these he gives a high place to practical botany. Accordingly he arranges for an excursion to a suitable place known as Kilspindie Woods, the habitat of sundry desirable plants, and also, as it chanced, a great preserve of Lord Kilspindie's pheasants. " Spleug," to the astonishment of his friends, joins the party, and after getting some fun out of acting as their guide, and taking them by not the easiest paths, makes ready his great coup. Mr. Byles and his young friends have reached at last a pleasant glade, where the pheasants are very numerous and very tame. He is delighted, enlarges on the cruelty of sport, and even wonders whether it "would be wrong to snare one of the birds in the net, to hold it in the hand and let it go again." Meanwhile the head-keeper has been warned that poachers are at work. " I dinna ken," said " Spleug," " if they were juist poachin', but they were feeding them, and we saw a net." He falls headlong into the trap, rouses his helps, and hurries to the spot. There he sees a very dis- reputable-looking group, Mr. Byles and three older boys; the little ones have been skilfully manoeuvred out of the way. "Gathering flowers, are ye, and gave the pheasants a biscuit, and the boys thought they would like to stroke one, would they ? I have seen two or three poachers in my time, but for brazen-faced lyin' I have never seen your match." And finally they are carted off as criminals to be brought before the Bailie. "Bulldog," the Master, is, of course, a more suitable study, a firm believer in the " taws," but with a solid groundwork of character. We cannot within our limit even attempt to sketch him. But the scene of his illness—a quite unexpected catastrophe to Muirtown, which had come to think him out of the reach of such accidents—and of his resignation, are particularly good. " Nestie " reminds us of Arthur m Tom Brown. The deathbed of the father is touched with the delicate pathos of which " Ian Maclaren " is a well-known master. We must not forget the Bailie, who may well be ranked with the famous Bailies of Scottish fiction.
Previous page
