There was a real need for this admirable little book.
The eleven letters are supposed to have been written by his guardian to a Public School boy during his first term ; and they deal with subjects as varied as Games, Latin, Pride of School and House, Friendship, Books, Tradition . and the Public School Spirit. The Head-Master of Eton, who contributes a Foreword, says of the author : "His experience as a house-master has taught him much, but he never needed to learn that instinctive sympathy with boys of every kind without which the best of exhortations carries so little weight." This is abundantly clear in the letters that follow : they arc so honestly and understandingly written (" without fuss or jaw," as the wrapper says) that no boy, into whose hands they fell, could fail to benefit by them. The author has the gift (rare in schoolmasters, but invaluable) of defining a difficult thing easily and sympathetically. In his letter on books, for instance, he writes of character as "the stuff these fellows show they've got in them when they come to face their adventures " ; and he gives a new meaning and interest to
(Continued on page 703.)
'those long, descriptive passages in Scott that boys are so prone to skip. Of the Public School man he writes :—
" He plays fair' thrOughout -his life, in good fortune or in 'bad, with all sorts of men, high and low alike • he plays for his side and slot for himself, yet he does not forget that there is another side as svell; when he fails he does not snivel and when he succeeds he does not brag ; he travels hopefully and cheerfully through all his days, nor does he 'forget the less fortunate travellers whom he meets upon tOe road."
We heartily recommend this little book to all fathers whose boys are about-to embark upon their difficult first term, and to all schoolmasters,- too.
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