NOVELS.
GODFREY MARTEN, SCHOOLBOY.*
THE detached student of humanity whose judgment is un- deflected by patriotic bias cannot but be amused by the
conflict of opinion which rages round our public-school system. Votaries of efficiency are anxious at all hazards to
remodel the curriculum on the German pattern, on the principle that fas est at ab hoste doceri, overlooking the fact that the French, towards whom our sentiments have of late so greatly improved in cordiality, regard the greatness of the
Anglo-Saxon race as in great part built upon the athletic discipline of our public schools, and even honour them with the flattering tribute of imitation. The situation is rather puzzling, between the warnings of Professor Armstrong and Sir Oliver Lodge on the one hand, and the eulogies of the Baron de Coubertin on the other. Both of them, we doubt
not, would derive a whole armoury of arguments from the admirable portrait of the English public-school boy of to-day given by Mr. Turley in his delightful volume, Godfrey Marten.
One cannot imagine, for example, any defender of the status quo venturing to contend that the war of the markets can be won
on the playing-fields ; nor could the most uncompromising advo- cate of intellectual efficiency fail to recognise the value of the qualities—generosity, unselfishness, and loyalty—developed under a system which exalts pastime into something of a
fetish. Of work in school there is hardly any mention, beyond the ingenious devices contrived by the hero and his companions for the tormenting of their instructors.—We may
note as an amusing instance of their irregular methods that by their vicarious industry in helping their great chum Morrison to secure his promotion from a lower form, and so escape superannuation, Marten and his friend Foster neglect their own form work with disastrous results.—The book almost from beginning to end is concerned with the schoolboy at play, and we know of no more eloquent or engrossing vindication of the influence of disciplined pastime on character than is to be found in its pages.
It is no small proof of Mr, Turley's talent that he should have succeeded in a work cast in the form of an auto-
biography. Given an exceedingly high-spirited boy, always spoiling for a fight, and with a genius for following any lead into mischief, it must be difficult for him to avoid a certain amount of self-glorification in the recital of his exploits. But there is none of the terrible complacency of Mr. Crockett's boy-heroes about Godfrey Marten. His ingenuousness is most enchanting, and the conversational tone is maintained with such perfect naturalness throughout that to read the book is just like listening to the racy talk of a very human public-school boy. We take a passage almost at random to bear out this remark :—
"During the last week of the holidays, Foster came to stay with me, and we had a ripping time. My sister, whose name, by the way, was Nina, played cricket quite decently, and Miss Read, her governess, who was not at all a starchy sort of person, played like anything, and didn't mind me bowling fairly fast at her, which, considering that I didn't know in the least where the ball was going to, was very brave, ' and perhaps very foolish. You can never quite tell whether another fellow enjoys himself when he is staying with you, because he can't say it is rot even if he thinks so ; but I know I did my best to give Foster a good time, and when he went back to Cliborough he wrote a letter to my mother, which she told me showed that he was a perfectly charming boy. I know Foster would have been sick at being called perfectly charming,' so I didn't tell him anything about it. However, he approved of Nina, which, considering that she wasn't fourteen and he was nearly sixteen, made me think that he was pretty easily pleased."
The narrative begins with the arrival at Cliborough of the hero, who had been head both in games and work of his pre- paratory school, and describes with a rich fund of humour and an abundance of realistic detail how he found his level, how he stood up to his oppressors, made and generally kept friends, and ultimately, after a most chequered career, rose to eminence in the house and schooL It is interesting to note as the dominant feature of Cliborough—internal evidence renders the task of identification easy enough—a somewhat exaggerated form of particularism. House-spirit, house-rivalry, and house-feuds form the staple of the plot. Of the head- master we bees little, though he makes himself felt at times with
• &Oa Morton, Schoolboy. By Charles Turley. London : W. Heinemann. Ns.] undeniable force. But Sandyman, Marten's house-master, is constantly in evidence, and represents the imperium ira imperio at its best. Indeed, the author's attitude toward the masters—allowing for the standpoint of the narrator— strikes us as singularly fair on the whole. Smiles, the " driver" ; Leach, the mathematical master; Dupont, the French teacher; and the eccentric Prettyman are all lifelike portraits, and with hardly a trace of caricature. But the boys are even better. Mackenzie, the head of the House, represents the cult of athletic efficiency in its most exacting and tyrannical form. When Marten and his inseparable com- panions in mischief get into trouble through being unable to pay for a meal at a farmhouse, they are thrashed by Mackenzie, not for discrediting the school, but because they have eaten new bread when in training for a cup-tie,—we may incidentally mention that corporal punishment, whether• inflicted by masters or prefects, is so frequently mentioned as to render the book hardly suitable for perusal by a tender- hearted parent. The hero and his two chums, the incorriffAy optimistic Morrison and the indiscreetly chivalrous Foster, are a delightful trio, but this enumeration by no means exhausts. the gallery of finished portraits given us by Mr. Turley. We will not, however, say more than that the book is extremely good reading from end to end, that it abounds in entertaining and exciting episodes, is wholly void of sentimentality, and enforces in the most unmistakable and wholesome way the- duty of straight and manly conduct.
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