Читать книгу Lost Voices of the Edwardians: 1901–1910 in Their Own Words - Max Arthur, Max Arthur - Страница 117

I went to Haileybury College in 1910. It was originally the student college for the students of the East India Company. It had many associations with India, such as the names of the houses and the servants. It was a fairly primitive place. The dormitories had boards on the floor and the food was pretty primitive. It was not a luxury school. Many of the public schools were much the same – at Eton, the bathing facilities were even less adequate than our own. We were out of bed at seven o'clock in the morning and down for chapel at half past seven. At quarter to eight we had our first lesson. Breakfast was at half past eight. The second lesson started at quarter past nine and on we went until noon. At noon, there was a break for lunch until one o'clock. The afternoon was taken up by games or a seven-mile run until four o'clock. From four until six, there were more lessons, ending up with supper at half past six. Supper was left-over bread with cocoa. Then we had ‘preparation’ – homework – and we were in bed by nine-thirty with lights out by ten.

The lessons you had depended which side you were on. If you were on the classical side, you had the normal English lectures and subjects but you had Latin and Greek thrown in. If you were on the modern side, you had a much more modern approach, with Physics and Chemistry. I was on the modern side and I did a great deal of handicraft work in the workshops. I had no bent for the classical side. I was intensely practical and I liked using my hands. When I left, I passed out top of the engineering branch.

Discipline was pretty severe. Most of the discipline came from the prefects. Their word was law. If you were late in the dormitory, they beat you. I was beaten once when I arrived as the clock was striking ten. The prefects kept bullying down. You only got into trouble with your housemaster if your form master found you unbearable, and he would give you a note to carry to the housemaster, who would give you the appropriate number of smacks with the stick. I would have thought that most boys passed through Haileybury with only two or three beatings.

The fagging system was in full force. An excellent system it was too. During the first three terms at the school, you were subject to this tyranny and you were liable to be a fag. Coming out from breakfast, you might hear a shout from across the quad: ‘Fag! Fag!’ Every boy had to run and the last one to arrive got the job, which might be to go down to the grub shop and buy something or collect some books or collect some boots from the bootmakers. If a prefect wanted a fag, he would call ‘Fag!’ in the dormitory and any boys liable to serve had to trot along quickly to his bed to see what he wanted. At Haileybury, each fag was at the beck and call of anybody senior.