A GALLANT SAINT AND PEDAGOGUE.• Tara late head-master of Charterhonse
and his cousin have deserved well of Harrow in particular, but also of a wider circle, by their portrayal in this small volume of a most remarkable man. Mr. E. D. Rendall has written some fifty pages dealing with John Smith's quarter of a century spent as a Harrow master : his life before and after that period is recounted in a like space by Dr. Rendall. No doubt these authors would say that to produce the book was a labour of pions affection and that it was their subject which compelled success ; but in any case it is a model of brief, honest, and tactful biography, presenting and illustrating the man's character and influence without a dull page. Harrovians will read it for obvious reasons, but such a rare character should have a general interest, and in particular we trust that every schoolmaster will study it and gain a finer appreciation of his vocation.
John Smith came of a family of no especial note and tainted with insanity, the dread of which was an incessant torture calling for infinite moral courage. He was sent to King Edward VI. school at Birmingham, where that magnificent head-master, Prince Lee, became his friend, recalled him later as an assistant, and was plainly Smith's ideal teacher of boys. Before this he had taken his degree at Cambridge, been appointed a master at Brighton College, and taken holy orders after much searching of heart. In 1854 he began at Harrow the main work of his life. Such a combination of intense earnestness and penetrating sympathy must have gained a powerful influence in any sphere, and certainly it did at Harrow. He was first and foremost a devout Christian, with a most vivid realization of the closeness of the divine and spiritual world. There was for him but the narrowest gap to be spanned between the finite and the eternal. He constantly spoke of divine things with a manner of familiarity, but a manner poles asunder from the ranter who also speaks of God with "familiarity." He said to one person, "I know you wish to serve God, but remember that you must serve Him in His own way, not in your way, or He will snub you and bring you to naught." Everything he or his boys did was to be worthy to be seen of God in the smallest detail. Erasures in exercises, dirty nails, or any kind of slovenliness was in this way to be abhorred. It speaks volumes for the reverence he inspired that his biographers can assure us that there was no mockery when he got a neat exercise from an untidy boy by saying," Will you do it for my sake? " And when that motive bad proved sufficient, he went on, "Could you not do one better • Recollections and Impressions of the Rey. John Smith, M.A. By E. D. and G. H. Rendall. London : Smith, Elder and Co. [3s. 6d. net.]
still for Christ's sake?" The following story expresses admirably, none the less forcibly for the whimsical manner, his intense consciousness of high motive and responsibility in his profession:-
" One day he said to a boy who had failed in his lesson, 'Dear fellow, when you and I get to heaven, if you don't know your Greek grammar, the dear Lord will call me up and say, "Go, teach this boy his grammar before you come into My presence." We must try to do it better.'"
In the same way, always spending his money on others, he could restrain his great desire to travel by this consolation : " One of the first pleasures I look forward to in heaven is a visit to Switzerland." There was no humbug about his thanksgivings for those who were released from " this body of humiliation," but the courageous honesty of his biographers must have been tested in recording that he once said to a boy at a high window, "Jump out, dear fellow ; you'll be in heaven in a minute." Mr. E. D. Rendall writes : " It may be said
that his outlook on life was never quite sane. Maybe ; but we might thank God for more such madmen • . . utterly forgetful of his own interests, eager to spend and be spent in the ceaseless service of others . . . utterly fearless in what he said . . . transparently sincere . . . utterly humble." When the brain became more clouded, he was perfectly conscious of the fact and assented to his retirement. The last eleven years were spent at St. Luke's Hospital, Old Street, where he evidently filled a somewhat gloomy atmosphere with interest
and even joyful brightness. Throughout his school life, while working indefatigably to educate the minds and characters of the boys, he found time to spend one half-holiday every week with his mother, whom he had supported since leaving Cam- bridge, and another in visiting prisoners. He was constantly organizing and practising charity, and in the holidays helping overworked clergy. With all this activity of mind and body
he had a scholarly, meditative intellect and a great apprecia tion of scenery, poetry, and all beauty. How else could J. A. Symonds have so delighted in his comradeship ? Perhaps the most comprehensive comment on this life would be to repeat "The Happy Warrior," for there is scarcely a line which is not applicable to John Smith :-
" The generous spirit, who, when brought Among the tasks of real life, bath wrought Upon the plan that pleased his childish thought : Whose high endeavours are an inward light That makes the path before him always bright: Who, doomed to go in company with pain, And fear . .
Turns his necessity to glorious gain : Whose powers shed round him in the common strife Or mild concerns of ordinary life
A constant influence, a peculiar grace."
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