The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's: A School StoryReed, Talbot Baines
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The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's: A School Story
Reed, Talbot Baines
Boarding schools -- England -- Juvenile fiction; Boys -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction
And so the Doctor's visitation came to an end. It made a very deep
impression on the youthful members of the Fourth Junior. Most of them
felt very much ashamed of themselves; and nearly every one felt his
veneration and admiration for the Doctor greatly heightened. Only a few
incorrigibles like Bramble professed to make light of the scene through
which they had just passed, and even he, it was evident, was
considerably chastened by his experience.
That evening, after the first bed-bell, Dr Senior requested some of the
masters to meet with him for a few minutes in his study.
"Do any of you know," asked the head master, "anything about this
newspaper, the _Dominican_, which I see hanging outside the Fifth door?"
"I hear a great many boys talking about it," said Mr Jellicott of the
Fifth. "It is the joint production of several of the boys in my form."
"Indeed! A Fifth form paper!" said the Doctor. "Has any one perused
it?"
"I have," said Mr Rastle. "It seems to me to be cleverly managed,
though perhaps a little personal."
"Ah, only natural with schoolboys," said the Doctor. "I should like to
see it. Can you fetch it, Rastle?"
"It is nailed to the wall," said Mr Rastle, smiling, "like Luther's
manifesto; but I can get one of the boys, I dare say, to unfasten it for
you."
"No, do not do that," said the Doctor. "If the mountain will not come
to Mahomet, you know, Mahomet and his disciples must go to the mountain,
eh, Mr Harrison? I think we might venture out and peruse it where it
hangs." So half-stealthily, when the whole school was falling asleep,
Dr Senior and his colleagues stepped out into the passage, and by the
aid of a candle satisfied their curiosity as to the mysterious
_Dominican_.
A good deal of its humour was, of course, lost upon them, as they could
hardly be expected to understand the force of all the allusions it
contained. But they saw quite enough to enable them to gather the
general tenor of the paper; it amused and it concerned them.
"It shows considerable ability on the part of its editor," said the
Doctor, after the masters had returned to his study, "but I rather fear
its tone may give offence to some of the boys--in the Sixth for
instance."
"I fancy there is a considerable amount of rivalry between the two head
forms," said Mr Harrison.
"If there is," said Mr Jellicott, "this newspaper is hardly likely to
diminish it."
"And it seems equally severe on the juniors," said Mr Rastle.
"Ah," said the Doctor, smiling, "about that `strike.' I can't
understand that. Really the politics of your little world, Rastle, are
too intricate for any ordinary mortal. But I gather the small boys have
a grievance against the big ones?"
"Yes, on the question of fagging, I believe."
"Oh!" said the Doctor. "I hope that is not coming up. You know I'm
heretic enough to believe that a certain amount of fagging does not do
harm in a school like ours."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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