The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-11-16
|FAGS OF ETON COLLEGE.
Noted English Statesmen Who
Boiled Eggs and Cooked the
Homelike Floater.
Gladstone Got OFF Easy as He Was
His Own Brothers
Fag.
How ford Salisbury Escaped Cleaning
MI. Gladstone's Shoes-The College
Slave Market Day.

tWrttsn for The HELENA INDEPENDENTLY
Tcw OST PEOPLE CONTEMPLATING
INEj a debate in the house of lords
I'M from the gallery would be sur
priaed to hear that a goodly pro-
portion Of the grave and reverend segniora
engaged in settling affairs of state on the
very eseps of the throne were adopts at
frizzling the toothsome sausage and cook
ing tho homelike 'bloater." Yet 80 it is,
for ve,y nearly half OF the peers of Eng
land are old Etonians, and one of the old
est Institutions still cherished under the
shadow of the distant spires and
antique towers sacred to the memory
of Kiag Hsnry's shade is that of flag
ging.% The first and second day OF every
tenn, when the whole school has returned,
a sori of slave market is held in each house
ut which the upper boys have tho privilege
Of choosing from among the lower boys
their own particular flag" for the next
three months or 30. In some houses where
the lower boys-that is. boys who have not
reao9ed tho fifth form-are numerous, an
upper boy may have two such servitoIs for
his own exclusive use.
TAe right Of selection is exc cisco accord
ing to seniority, the boys known to be the
Quickest and best servants" being natur-
ally snapped up first, except in the case of
new boys, whose looks have to be taken as
credentials. as often ms not, to the ultimats
disRust of the fag- master, for tho smartest
looking boys are very frequently the LATEST
at their work. The duties of IN Eton flag
are many and various. Not a few Of them
-o~I1 10 l.cl;~ad h,, tbnir Fofhar1o copyanfa
Mt home as far too mental to suit the dig
nifty of the modern James della Pluche. The
flag is responsible for getting his master out
of bed in time for early morning SCHOOL,
dangerous and thanklsss task to perform
on q big boy who is a hard sleeper and free
with his fists. and quick at throwing shoes
when once awakened. School over, the fag
has to prepare his masters breakfast. He
lays the cloth, makes the tea and toast
woe betide him if the latter be burned
or cut too t~hick-boils the eggs and
fries any extra Injuries in the way OF
bacon or sausages his master may send him
to purchase in town. The meal prepared,
the fag is by no means free to go and get bis
own breakfast, but he has to wait at table,
be ready to fetch hot water from the
kitchen and. if ordered, fly off to the town
to one of the ''sock shops'' tor a pot of jam
or marmalade. He is q lucky boy if he can
snatch a clear ten minutes for breakfast be-
fore inc Cnhpol Dell begins 10 ring
The same round of duty has to BIO gone
through again at supper time. the only diff
ference being that there ia moro time to dc
it in, and fag-masters are generally in bet.
ter temper when school for the day is over,
But tagging at meals is by no means thu
render. He has to scrape the mud Oft his
masters football boots, to put his clothes
away after cricket or running with the
beagles, and take notes to other boyR il
other houses.
It is strange to think if Lord Salisbury
had only gone to Eton a few years earlier
than he did he might have had to clear
Mr.. Gladstone's shoes and run errands for
his future rival. Mr.. Gladstone WINS some
what lucky in his tagging at Elton. as he
tagged for his elder brother Thomas, and
naturally got let down easier than if he
had been apportioned to some strange
boy. The present duke of Marlbor-
o%ugh-then Marquis Of Blanford-and
his brother. Lord Randolph Churchill. hac
the reputation of being incolrigibly idle
fags, but when they chose to exert them
selves they we're excellent cooks. and al
such were much In request. 1t is equal,
difficult to imagine the diRnifed Lord Chic
Justice Coleridpe making toast and boil
ing eggs for his master" but tradition hal
it that he was a most exemplary flag.
In addition to their regular daily wotl
for their own master, the lower boys hav'
VI q ~ Il 49, " hHy eBPSA ~
who may want them during tho day. A
the cry of Lower boy!" shouted by m,
fellow above the lower division of the fifth
form, every boy below the fifty has {,
scamper out in answer to the ant
the hipdermost in the race ls generally or
dered off for whatever duty has to be rer
formed. This is rather a hardship when
bow ia busy preparing his lessons for school
but he would rather run the risk of gettin:
into trouble in school than of mourning tn
wrath of a boy very little older than him
self by ''skulkinR."
rhe head masters birch does not inflic
such wounds hs the vigorously applies
t~oasting fork of an incensed faRmastel
The most tedious of all kinds of tagging j
to have to sit and read on: the crib" O
translation to a number of upper boys pre-
pairing their Virgil or Thucydides. Til
duty combines all the irksomeness OF
school lesson, with the disadvantage G
learning nothing in return for it. When
lower boy has neglected his work and hi
fagmaster is not an advocate OF corport
punishment a common form of 'corret
tom is to send the offender up to LA,
tonga famous confeetioner In Winds6
to fetch n penny bun during his pla
time. The length of the walk spoila tt
erring fag's chance of playing for
ball or otherwise amuaing himse
in that particular play time. and !
has to prove that he has real
been to Windsor and back by bringing tt
bun in ono of "Layton's" bags. sharp DO,
have been known to obtain a regular stoe
of these bags from "Lnyton'e" on some pr
text or other. and, IN the next occasic
when they were sent for the penny bun,
purchase that comestible at one of ii
''sock shops in college, and envelop it in
wrapper as evidence of n journey that he
not been undertaken.
On the whole Elton boys don't seem
mind tagging much. and the system at al
49, l.- tba 81 ~ ~ bn,p, Hn nar
for all. Every boy knows that though
has to fag at present, he is certain to
able to flag others i'll a shors time.
Hucklen's Arnica Salvo
The Best SaIvo in the world for Cut