THE BRADFIELD COLLEGE RANCH.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I am quite unable to understand the unnecessary beat which my letter has provoked in the soul of Dr. Gray. He accuses me of "clumsy vituperation," of twisting and mis- representing the words of his pamphlet; still worse, of deliberately using "the familiar process of separating words from their context" for the purpose of misrepresentation (Spectator, January 15th). Yet the next moment lie con- cludes, and rightly, that I have never seen the pamphlet which be accuses me of distorting. Well ! my withers are unwrung ; but I hope he metes out more equal justice to his boys at Bradfield than he does to me. Dr. Gray quotes the original sentence in your article, " free from the indignities and the dirtiness which are frequently and unnecessarily associated with the work of a farm- pupil," and admits its substantial accuracy. Now I have no doubt, since he says so, that the words "indignities and dirtiness" carried some special meaning of his own both in his mind and his pamphlet; but why it should he perfectly clear to the rest of the world who had not read his treatise that these two words " did not, and could not, refer to any kind of work in the stable or in the field " when used in direct connexion with farm-work passes my poor comprehension. I attached the plain meaning which ninety-nine persons out of a hundred would attach, and Dr. Gray must forgive me for not perceiving his more recondite signification. In my letter I approved the scheme as " excellent in conception," but I thought I detected a concession to that want of thoroughness which in my opinion is too widely characteristic of the youth of the present day, and protested accordingly. I am glad I was wrong, and beg to offer my best wishes to Dr. Gray for the success of his scheme. But as to whose was the "over-hasty pen" "let the forest judge."—I am, Sir, &c., CECIL F. PARR. Kimpton Grange, Welwyn, Herts.
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