FAGGING AT WINCHESTER.
FOR the thousandth time, the subject of fagging is mooted in the newspapers. A gentleman who signs himself " Humanitas et Veritas " writes to the Times the story of a young boy at Win- chester School, who, says the narrator, was forced to fag at cricket for six hours, was roughly treated, was consequently taken ill, and lay for many days senseless, without hope of re- covery. There was a show of inquiry, he adds ; but the boys are compelled to conceal their wrongs under an oath. " AP who knew a pupil at Winchester, is ready to confirm the statement with respect to the unhappiness of many of the junior boys, and also with respect to the reason assigned for their enduring their sufferings in silence." On the other side, " Nuper Scholaris," who "was the tutor and friend of the poor boy in question," avers that it is " incorrect " to say that the boy was detained f6r six consecutive hours at cricket : " first, because a rule has been established by the Prefects themselves, that no boy need be fagging at cricket for more than two hours a day ; secondly, be- cause the time allotted for study and meals will in no way admit of six hours being passed out of doors without intermission." Moreover, "the oath" is never taken by any boy until he is past fifteen years of age, and there are few if any juniors of that age; no oath binds them to secrecy ; but "on the contrary, the juniors one by one, are called on several times in the year, to make known any grievances they may feel; and their complaints are strictly attended to." We have it, then, under the statement of this friendly writer, that fagging at cricket is only restricted to two hours a day by a positive rule : quite long enough of compulsory exertion to be very intolerable to a child, and to produce very prejudicial effects. Of course fagging is not limited to cricket ; and two hours a day does not acquit the unfortunate junior. The practice of fagging may vary in different schools, and at different periods in the same school ; but there is no reason to suppose that Winchester is now worse than the average. " Nuper Scholaris " intimates that "it continues to improve in minor points." But fagging is an odious practice, and ought to be extirpated altogether. It is defended as part of a system which develops the "spirit" of the English character, also as tending to produce habits of dis- cipline. No doubt, it is a very questionable proceeding to inter- fere with all the sallies of youth : too much coddling, too much protection, or too perpetual a restriction even on irregularities, may beget timidity or a pedantic cautiousness, very opposite to true manliness. But it is easy: to draw a distinction between those things in the spontaneous institutions and habits of school- boys which really conduce to manliness and those which are cruel without promoting courage. Manly sports which involve per- sonal danger, even to a considerable degree, are good, precisely because they habituate the boy to that contempt of personal dan- ger which is one of the surest sources of moral independence, and even on perilous occasions a source of safety. Considerable freedom in the settlement of disputes, whether by spontaneous rules or by fighting, promotes a manly self-reliance, inculcates a practical habit of valuing and venerating fair play, and affords opportunity for the exercise of personal friendship—all incidents to that generous disposition which we call chivalrous. The sub- jection of one class to another may be useful in promoting habits of discipline ; but it must be under responsibility, and manifestly reasonable in its nature. All these things are accordant with good feeling, and produce good feeling. But fagging does not accord with good feeling, and is not con- ducive to discipline. It engenders, if anything, servility in the junior, and prepares him for undergoing an education in tyranny as asenior. Personal subjection to the irresponsible caprice of an individual is literally the condition of a slave ; and it can only be by the most abject submission to habit that Englishmen can ad- lets to a notion that an apprenticeship in slavery is good for the youth of the aristocracy. The present infliction of oppressive torments on children is not an evil to be overlooked, and it can only be justified by the most positive result: if you lay a child -daily on a roaring fire, you must be sure that you can recompense -him by making him a Triptolemus. Fagging promotes no healthy habit of enduring hardship to conquer it, cherishes no one good feeling either in slave or tyrant : it is a source of bad feeling only, and falls within that class of influences from which the teacher should shield the pupil.
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