St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1891-06-13
PROUD PETTED PAUPER.
AONDON BLUECOAT, BARE
HEADED SCHOOL BOY.
Rich Parents Accepting the Charity
yhat Should be Bestowed Upon
the Poor and Wearing It's
Badge with Pride.

| Badge with Pride.
Visiting Americans wandering
through the streets of London often
| notice with no little establishment boys
of various sizes attired in long, loose
fitting gowns reaching to the heels,
confined at the waist by a leather strap
and showing between the opening in
front black knee breeches and bright
yellow stockings meeting low shoes
with steel buckles. The garments
themselves are of excellent texture and
fit, and falling on the neck of the
gown are two little strips of white
| lawn, similar to the nick adOrnmcnt
we see in the old prints of puritan
preachers The finishing touch, how
ever, of this extraordinary costume for
small boy is that neither hat nor
cap of any description is worn, no
matter whether the sun be blazing in
the heavens Or heavy rain or snow be
falling.
These quantity CARRIED lads are
scholars of the celebrated Bluecoat
School, founded by Edward VI, the
boy king, who succeeded Henry of the
six wives.
These boys are absolute charity pen
sioners, and properly speaking they
should be sons of the poor and humble
classes. But by some eccentric abuse
of benevolence Bluecoat boy is near
ly always the son of a gentleman, and
very often with a parent sufficiently
rich to pay lavishly for his education.
Here in fact is a strange instance in
which the badge of charity is worn in
a most conspicuous way with the great
est of pride by the boy himself, and
the most complete satisfaction on the
part of the boys family.
1t takes enormous influence to obtain
nomination for the school. Indeed,
the lads are the petted objects not only
of the great municipality of London,
! but of the throne itself Each year
the lord mayor receives all the boys
at the Mansion House and presents
them with a huge piece of cake, a
| glass of wine and pocket-money,
varying from new sovereign to the
senior boys to a new sixpence to the
little fellows Of seven years who have
last joined. On another day in the
year the boys go in procession with
their masters to Buckingham Palace,
where the reigning sovereign accepts
drawings from some of the boys shakes
! hands with a number of them, and
sees that they have a repast of dain-
ties before they return home. At
seventeen the boys are discharged with
a full outfit and f12 in money Was
ever charity dispensed in more delight
| full guise!
Now, however, just as all that is of
antiquity in London is disappearing
| before the onslaught of the fendish
renovator, so the B1uecoat boy, as far
as his outward appearance is con-
cerned is to disappear from London.
The school at present is in the very
heart of the busiest part of the me-
tropolis and within stones throw of
the Jail of Newgate and the cathedral
| Of St. Paul. During the dinner hour
scores of junior clerks cling to the rail
ing of the boys playground and watch
them at football or other sports. But
the precious land of the city of London
| is too valuable for school, even as it
is too valuable for a jail-Newgate is
shortly to be torn down and its site
| covered for warehouses-andt the Blue
| coat school is to be removed q dozen
| miles into the country. Shops and
offices will soon cover the quarter acre
of priceless ground given by Edward
VI, and with the removal of the boys
to the country the distinctive uniform
| is to give place to the coats, trousers,
| and knickerbockers of the common
or garden school boy. They will
| even wear caps and hats, and in this
connection curious statistics have been
obtained regarding former Bluecoat
boys; they seldom or ever become bald
headed! The early years of head ex-
| posture evidently gave abnormal
| strength to the hair.
Perhaps the garb of the Bluecoat
schoolboy is the only badge of poverty
| and charity that is worn with con-
scious pride, for all the other uniforms
of charity institutions Of London are
derided with contempt by the gamins
of London, and worn with conscious
dislike by the boys and girls belonging
to benevolent institutions. 1t really
seems to be desire on the part of the
patrons and managers of schools Who'll
ly or partly supported by charity that
their scholars should be more Or less
hideously attired in distinctive uni
form. Every now and then one meets
small boys with fiat caps, short coats
with red collars, and corduroy
breaches, trying to escape from crowd
of other boys, who are yelling:
A ha'porth of bread and halfpenny sprat.
Are quite good enough for a charity brat.
Or else a long string of girls file out
of church, their poor little faces half
hidden by ugly white straw poke bon
nets and their shoulders disfgured by
cloaks of cut and hue SO ltrocious in
appearance that one would suppose
charity was regarded as stigma of
shame. Still England is essentially a
land of uniforms and liveries. and just
as it is impossible for justice to be adj
ministered without a judge in wig and
ermine, SO charity cannot be accepted
without the recipient being indicatively
-arbed as benefited.