Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-25
A PRINCE IS YOUNG Asron.s rae
sensational Information TL,t Fame.
From Eton

LONDON Letter In st. Louis Globe Demncro+
Something very much like Consideration
i'"' oeefi caused among the more IovaI sub
Jus Oh the queen by the discovery that
iiiiice arthur OF Great Britain, only bov
OF the Duke of Connaught, who is the fa-
'orite son OF the queen, and now beinp
euu'd'ea at Eton, Is forced 20 do his share
Vi lasslhS' and that the senior boy To
Whom ne Is forced to render meniaI serv
ice Is no other than young Aston. son Of
the American multi-mllionaire, who has
established his permanent home in Eng
land The idea that prince of the blood
should be called upon to fag at ali is boyri.
tsms III 'he extreme But that he should
ne caIed upon to flag for an American is
simply dreadful in the eyes of the yas1
masses OF the English people
faSSinS Is form of servituie from
winch n" boy at Eton, or indeed, at any
other OF the great colleges of England is
exempt no matter what his rank, and it
may be looked upon as part and Marcel
81 the course of education, since il teaches
the Tag the meaning of the word democ;a-
cy' ana that there are considerations which
are oil more importance and weight than
mere rank, ancestry and BIRTH A full
iiouSed duke, when he first joins Elton may
o1tentlmes be found tagging for the son
OF brewer or OF a city merchant. As
flag he is expected to attend to his
masters clothes, to heat his shaving wate,
the senior boys always are fond of shaw
ing, since it betOkens their manhood-be
must I'LL his masters bath and empty it
lun errands for him, make and serv,. hiS
tea in his study, and may be asked even tc
brush his masters boots. Moreover in
his spare time. when his master amuses
himself with cricket or with tennis, 1t is
his duty as flag to do the fielding and T.,
hunt for the balls Of course. there is
no question of his being permitted to use
the bail himself unless his master wishes
TO practice bowling In one word, he is
to all intents and purposes the slave Of
ms master, who has the right to chastise
him across the shoulders with a STICK II
ne dschneS obedience, and II that is NOT
sufficl2nt to reduce him to subi,gation he
IS sent du to The head master for a birch
ing. i
Tagging and birching are time-honor.d
institutions of the British public schoo,u
and colleges. and have been so for hundreds
OF years. Ihey have been abolished in the
middle class and board schools as well as
In schools of a municipal and charitabIe
character. But the schools of the arist,c~
racy ana upper classes retain both faoyinp
anu hossnis, winch they apparently regard
as privilege belorSing to their caste. In
TACT, they pride themselves in the m,rl,.
made by the birch, which they regard ~
constituting sort of retrospective evidence
of their blue blood. Lord Salsburv 49,
prime minister, was birched al Eton no lee
IMAM seven times, and on one memorabIe
occasion the heaimaster at Elton flopgeI n
whoie party OF thirty candidates for con-
~ nrmatioE, me paper with their names on
1t being mistaken by him for the list for
punishment sent to him every day. He
would listen TO no remonstrance but uant
conscientiously through the whole list.
Young Astor, who is very pop1,ar Mt
Elton, and has received a good deal of re-.
nown on the river as an oarsman, has re-
! oeived his fair share of birchings along
with the rest, in spite of his rights as an
American citizen. But the English peonJe
have yet 10 learn that castigation Of this
KIND has been inflicted upon young Con-
naught,' the grandson of their queen