The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-07-23 00:00:00

sTOTTRITRITKIE orsravrrt.

SCHOOL VA.CA.TION.TIM.E,

VaA is a koily an.l useful phra e

srrin to di:stiu4aish the summer-a,uttunn
school recess from the shorter holidays at
Christmas, Elster, and. Whitsantide. It
varies a good deal as to duration in different
classes of schools. The longest continuous
spell of play. ,srldom lxstina less than ix
weeks , and s,Jmetimes more, falls to the lot
of boys attending such high—clas; educa-
tional institations as WestnainAer School,
Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester CliFton,
Dolwieh College, or the Charter4louse at
alminz, in Bar rey. aearl s of families
who send their sons to these ani_similar

seminaries have 7ood reason to complain, as
many of them do, at the. amount of time
wasted ii h tidays throueliout the year, and
especially in . he period of the long vacation.
nem; ;venial be an excuse for frequent and
even prnlenged interruptions of study if the
t at our chief public sehools were
aseoe;a!eed with the close confinement of
monastic o- cenventual life. Bat the very
twerse of this is the case. It is far from
heinn: a steee of all work and no play with
IVII, )ick, and Harry. The matches in
r orieket, and other athletic sports
that take place at Oxford and Cambridge
show that University men appreciate the
importance ef exerciiing their bodies as well
as their minds, and the boys at Eton, Har-
r rw, and kindred institutions, exhiba an
e pally s. rang desire to prevent 'their
mascles fi•om becoming- stiff from disuse.
Tae number of high-clase schools annually
represented by selected teams in the shooting
iml)e6ition tor the Ishbarnham Seiel I at
Wimbledon, also serves to indicate that boys
are abundantly stVeguarded, during the
terms, from any risk of injury to their
brains by to,) close aprnlieatien to their hooks.
In the long vacation, whether staying at
home, at the seaside, or under the roof of
some good natwel uncle, they mast often
And time hangin; heavily on their hand- ;
and it would not surpri,ing to hear them
declare emphatically, in the dull hours—
when ticy feel most keenly the absence of
coupaitions that holidays are a
.erribie b we. It may readily be sarmised
tat, w-ien they get into a meodof this kind,
;.,hey are not likely to contribute much to the
happiness or comfort of any household.
!.'ortunaei ly, it happens that in the gener-
Oity of senools in.:luting all which share
in the Government groat for educational
purposes the summer-autumn vacation is
mere moderate and reasonable, in point of
•ength, than at any of the intermediate
000 is. When set at liory, the children
or the Wed.to-do, residing in lar,re towns,
-nr in tilejdaud di-triets of the country,
are c .:aunonly transferred to the seaside,
- Lid. there they enjoy themselves to their
hearts' coutent, after getting accustomed to
heir daily plunge over head and ears in the
oig bath of the blue sea. If they do not
xper:en :i, on the shore the precise kind of
eavureo which i3yron made allusion in his
w .-‘&11 u lines,theyareinfinitely delighted
at „he oppertuutuies afforded .hem of joining
in (he sp.)l.;-ive gambols of the advanciuo•
1,1 retreating waves, and they even take
pleasuve in witnessing the havoc wrought
ny the incoming tide on their carefully-con.
8 enrcted pyrarn7ds of sand. When towing
is done in family parties, as occasionally
happens, the liberated schoolboys and school-
;irls who accontpany their parents are kept
in a state of high spirits day after day, from
inornMg to evening, by the panoramic
changes of scenes and by novelties of every
'dud. constantly sustainin2; an excitement
which finds vent in frequent exclamations
of wonder and delight. The children who
ttt ,n.I tile elementary scheels in small towns
and rural parishes give little trouble to
parents and gilarnians in the way of schem-
ing on their behalf when the annul vacation
time comes round. 'I hey have no distance
to walk or run from their own doors until
they get among the fielns and woods and
gorse-tufted commons, where they feel as
free and happ) as the birds of the air. When
they gca, tired of old familiar games, they
light up -n new methods of amusing them-
&lye.; and aisnlay much ingenuity and vet.-
-eitilit-y of ii ention Boys, more adventur.
°its tcian gicls. go further afield, and exhibit
all the ardour of enterprising explorers.
tVliet hunting rabbits or hares or bounding
s ninTets, they have no fear of gamekeepers
before their eyes. If they happen to 1111.
earth a hedgehog they feel a 3ten joy, like
that experienced sportsmen when they -
get on the trail el' a tienead tiger in the
jengle. Wde wanderings in the fields and
woods at vacation time not unfrequently
a -waken tastes and thought in boys' minds
which lay the foundations of;their after
lone as itatuealists. In our large cities, and
particularly in the mammoth metropolis, the
uhildren educated Ln Government schools are
leis happily so tinted than their country
cousins Li the ,natter of recrea7 ive enjoyment
,tt the seas ,m oi their longest and sunniest
eelidaya. Many of them would have littlo
ehance of getting into the midst of rural
scenery at all, even for a single day, if they
did not go ti Su scho or have their
names enrolled in the membei ship of Band
i.f Elope soeie.ties, the teachers and managers
of wh.ch take a kindly interest every year
rid iing and providing excursion funds. Thus
it comes to pass that in the different districts
of the metropolis arrangetnents are m tcle for
days in the country, and little juvenile
Armies, in boy and giel battalions, with theie
b.innerettes, and frequently fife
eel, have their enca,mpmen.s in selected
Apts where they can enjoy themselves to
~neir hearts' content in romping about in
the woodland or among the gorse, and where
in irgnees, which enliven the scene, contain
pieta of refreshments for them when they
feel pretty we'.l tired oat with play. The
high sprits they exhibit en route, in their
gambols at the spit where teats are pitched,
atd on their return jovieney homewards,
testifies to the delight they take in getting
out of the smoke and noise of t-ivvn if only
for a singe summer day.

X

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oi,thn Wou .(35 U'carat ohs
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