The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-11-26
ORDL rs
.t4eun Fags Who Are Forced to
81 Wait Upon the Older Students.

4 aas6 aArt OF Cooking Acquired In an IN
81 sSsss pleasant Manner In the Old Ed s
ucational Institutions
Of England.
Most people contemplating debate
5;dn the house of lords from the gallery
would be surprised to hear that a good
u proportion Of the grave and reverend
'seigniors engaged in settling affairs Of
state on the very steps Of the throne were
adopts at THRILLING the toothsome sau-
sage and cooking the homelike ssbloat-
en-" Yet so it is, according to the Bos-
bQn Herald, for nearly half Of the peers
cf England are old Etonians, and one
Of the oldest institutions still cherished
Under the shadow Of the distant spires
~ of King Henry's shade is that Of
Tagging" The first and second day of
every term, when the whole school has re-
turned, sort of slave market is held
ia each house, at which the upper boys
have the privilege Of choosing from
among the lower boys their own par
ticnlar flag" for the next three months
OF 80. In some houses where the lower
bcys-that is, boys who have not
reached the fifth form--are numerous,
IN upper boy may have two such SER
vitors for his own exclusive use. The
duties of an Elton flag are many The
Tag is responsible for getting his mas
ter out of bed in time for early morn
ing school. A dangerous and thank
less task to perform on big boy who
Is a hard sleeper and free with his fists
and quick at throwing shoes when once
awakened. School over, the flag 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 thicl1-boils the eggs
and fries any extra luxuries in the way
Of bacon and sausages his master may
send him to purchase in the town.
The same round of duty has to be
gone through again at supper time.
But tagging at meals is by no means
the only service which the lower boy
has to render. He has to scrape the
mud off his masters football boots, to
put his clothes away after cricket or
running with the beagies, and take
notes to other boys in other houses.
Mr.. Gladstone was somewhat lucky
In his tagging at Elton, as he tagged for
his elder brother Thomas, and naturally
apportioned to some strange boy. The
marquis of Blanford and his brother,
. Lord Randolph Churchill, had the repu-
tation of being incorrigibly idle Tags,
but when they chose to exert them
selves they were excellent cooks, and as
such were much in request. tits equal
" difficult to imagine the dignified Lord
Chief Justice Coleridge making toast
end boiling eggs for his master but
tradition has it that he was most ex-
emplary fag.
In addition to their regular daily work
for their own master, the lower boys
have to fag in a desultory way for any
upper boy who may want him during
the day. The headmaster's birch does
not inf1ict such wounds as the vigor-
ously applied toasting fork Of an in
censed fagmaster The most tedious OF
all kinds Of tagging is to have to sit
and read out the 1'crib'' or translation
to number of upper boys preparing
hheir Virgil or Thucydides. This duty
combines all the irksomeness of a
school lesson with Che disadvantage of
learning nothing in return for it. When
a lower boy has neglected his work and
his fagmaster is not an advocate OF cor
poral punishment a common form OF
sscorrection' is to send the offender up
TO s'Layton's;'-a famous confectloner
In Windsor Ito fetch a penny bun dur
ing his playtirne. The length OF the
walk spoils the erring fag's chance OF
8 playing football or otherwise amusing
himself in that particular playtime,
and he has to prove that he has really
been to Windsor and back by bringing
the bun IN one Of ''Layton's" bags.
sharp boys have been known to obtain
q regular stock of these bags from
.sLayton's on some pretext or other,
and on the next occasion they were sent
]. Tor the penny bun to purchase that
oomestible at one of the ''sock shops
II college and envelop it in the wrapper
as evidence Of journey that had not
been undertaken.
HILLS Worn Down by Wind.
Attention has lately been directed by
scientific writers to the fact that the
l. Il