New-York tribune., 1906-02-18


once the monks garden. and it is known
the college garden-a courtesy title. for the stu
dents are allowed to enter it only few days In
the year Names are to be taken ironically at
Westminster The deans yard is the play
ground of the school, the old granary of the
monks, long used as dormitory, and the abbey
brewhouse and bakehouse having been demol-
ished in order to secure its enlargement. Tho
little deans yard is the college quadrangle and
quarters for the school have been found in the
crypt around the cloister garth and the chapter
house, and in front of the deanery. The
abbey clergy have their little revenge by reserv-
ing the college garden for their own pleasure
| and keeping the Westminster boys out of il.
| The school has indeed been retarded and Grip
pied in its growth by dependence upon the abb
bey chapter and by divided jurisdiction over
lands and monastic buildings 1t rivals in n
tiquity Winchester College, for the monks had a
school in the abbey long before the Reforma-
ton. and Henry VIII nominated a headmaster
for it and put it under the charge of the dean:
but its official history begins in 1860. with Queen
Elizabeth as the founder. She provided a coll
legiate body for the government of the abbey
and the school, made a generous disposal Of
mOnastic buildings and lands, increased the
number of royal scholars, admitted town boys
! not only pay scholars but also as
petitors for honors. and arranged for the annual
| eiectlOn or theSe candidates to each or her
! fathers colleges-Christ Church, Oxford. and
Trinity, Cambridge, With this large measure Of
royal patronage. and with the service Of
Dr. Busby for over half a century as head
master, the attendance from 24O during
Queen Elizabeth's reign to 434 early in the
| eighteenth century. AS a stronghold Of Tory
ism, Westminster rivalled Eton a centre of
political influence. Sometimes many seven
| or eight of the old boys were in the Ministry at
| once. Its partial conversion to Whig PRINCIPLES
came too late to avert the decline of the school
Many causes contributed to reduce the at
tendance to Ct about 1910. The chapter
neglected the school; the income scampcd:
the boarding houses, college dormitory and other
buildings were not kept in repair and the dsci-
| pine relaxed under headrnasters who were
| afraid to suppress bullying when DR. Arnold was
setting high standard Of morality and eff
| cheney at Rugby and practical reformers were
| reorganizing Winchester. Eton and Harrow.
The. fortunes of the college revived under three
| eminent headmasters, DR.. LiddelI, DR.. Scott and
Dr. Rutherford, and dependence upon the char
| ter ceased when complete self government was
secured under the Public Schools act. The ben-
efcIaI effects of sound. progressive admin1stra-
ton have continued under the present heaumas-
| ter. DR.. Cow and the attendance has risen aDove
two hundred and forty.
| Like Winchester College, Westminster does
! not attempt to rival wealther public schools in
numbers. but in the quality of students and in
thoroughness of instruction It is pre-eminently
| a working school in classics and mathematics;
but it has also n modern SIDE French and Ger
man being Systematically taught and neither
| science nor art being neglected There
tutors, but the housemaSterS supervise the
| work OF their boarders; and the forms
not large, the students receive adequate atten-
ton from staff of sixteen masters. There are
literary and debating societies. and there is also
gee club; and there is stage training in the an
nual production of n Latin play. While the diver
sions and college institutions not so numer-
Gus as In other public schools, there is intensity
| of common life Tagging is retained as tradt3
| tion and the head seniors as monitors are NJ
| powered to use the cane when they agree upon
| the necessity for punishment; and they can also
send juniors to coventry by sentencing them to
remain at their desks for a definite period. The
monitors the only fag masters. and their
! principal duty is the maintenance of oldtime
| customs. The juniors serving in rotation are
| tory, to give seniors five minutes warning Of
| morning chapel. and to watch for the coming Of
| the headmaster and to proclaim it in a shrill
| voice At election time there is a carnival of
! practical joking when seniors are satirized in
! doggerel juniors pelted with crackers while
| mounting a rostrum with lighted candle in a
dark room and footraces run in the colieg'