Mr. Punch's History of Modern England, Vol. 2 (of 4).—1857-1874Graves, Charles L. (Charles Larcom)
History
Mr. Punch's History of Modern England, Vol. 2 (of 4).—1857-1874
Graves, Charles L. (Charles Larcom)
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901 -- Humor
The resounding fame of W. G. Grace, who began his great career in
first-class cricket in 1863, at the age of 15, and had just reached his
majority, was doubtless responsible for this new educational departure.
The salary was certainly not exorbitant, but the advent of the
cricket-master moves no sympathy in _Punch_. He admits the force of the
proverb that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," but asks
"does not Jack at some schools play a little to excess?" and speculates
on the amazement which the schoolmaster abroad would feel in reading
this announcement. On the other hand, over-pressure and "cramming" were
equally distasteful to _Punch_, who was seriously perturbed by the
sensational accounts given in 1870 of the breakdown of Woolwich
candidates.
[Illustration: REAL EDUCATION
MR. PUNCH is of opinion that a polite and easy bearing towards the
opposite sex (tempered, of course, with propriety and discretion) cannot
be inculcated at too early an age. He therefore recommends that whenever
an Institute for Young Ladies happens to meet an Academy for Young
Gentlemen, they should all be formally introduced to each other, and
allowed to take their walks abroad in company.]
Co-education had not yet emerged on the horizon of practical educational
politics, and the plea put forward in a picture by Du Maurier for a
mixed "crocodile" cannot be seriously entertained. The artist suggests
that whenever an Institute for Young Ladies happens to meet an Academy
for Young Gentlemen they should all be formally introduced to one
another and allowed to take their walks abroad in company. The question
of corporal punishment was raised by a lively correspondence in _The
Times_, towards the close of 1872, on the Winchester practice of
"tunding" with a ground-ash or cricket-stump. The action was general,
the father of the boy whose punishment by a prefect had started the
correspondence, the headmaster, Dr. Ridding, "in English less classical
than queer," and sundry old Wykehamists all joining in. _Punch_ was at
first scandalized by the brutality with which the prefects exercised
their disciplinary powers, but the spirit and good sense showed by the
victim caused him to modify his view:--
His punishment, while he feels it unjust
He takes without blather or ban:
Yes, out of the lot who've kicked up a dust,
The boy is the Man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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