The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-07-24
WHERE BRITONS TRAIN
Elton College Plays Important Part in the History of John
Bulls Life

neds, brushed clothes, swept rooms, drew
water. fetched coal, kept up fires, and
waited upon their feg masters from
morning till night; yet a practice based
upon the irresponsible authority OF the
Older and stronger boys has survived the
reformatery influence of recent years.
The flag, IN house or In college. is still
the body servant and errand boy Hs
calls his fag-master in the morning, pre-.
pares the bath and toasts the bread FOL
his breakfast; and during the day he i:
expected 10 look after the fires. 70 make
tea, and to run errands. All lower boys
are Tags and nearly all sixth-form men
and portion of the hfth-form men. as
well, are flag masters. The flag can be
caned for neglect of duty. or for DISC
bedience, but there is seldom any revolt
against the system, since the younger
boy knows that hts turn as fag-master
viii come in due time
Bullying of flags is considered an UNI
pardonable offense and is severely pun
ished by the fag-masters themselves,
Fags are under the protection OF those
whom they serve. and when ill-treated
by DULLES with no right to impose upon
them they can call upon their fag-mas-
tiers 70 redress their grievances. The
smartest young nobleman or the wealth
lest upstaFt among the oppidians has 10
serve his term as a flag. and the expert
enee is supposed TO be as Wholesome as
Raging among thu guards
There is the familiar legend OF the
small boy, who proclaimed himself Wis
count and future marquis, and who
was promptly kicked twice by his fag-
master. Certainly boys who boast Of
their wealth, lineage. and social posi-
ton are improved by irregular yet H.
eensed discipline, and there Is an ap-
proach to democratic feeling when spend
thrifts, lordlings. and snobs are taught
that one Eton jacket IL as good as
another. and that anything like ostenta-
uous display of dress OF luxurious living
is vulgar and unmanly.
The animal spirits Of more than a
thousand boys are worked of in athiet-
les, which have been systematically en-
eouraged by the college authorities since
DR.. Hawtrey abolished the licensed high
way robbery OF the Montem masquerade
and suppressed other abuses. With a
fine reach OF the Thames curving around
the playing fields. Etonians are naturally
the best watermen in English schools.
No boy is allowed 70 enter a boat until
he has passed in a public swimming
trial. conducted by masters at either
Cuckoo Weir or Athens, the bathing
places OF the college. and with coaching
and practice in trial crews the best oars
men work their way up into positions
in the ten boats parading on the Fourth
OF June and take part in house fours"
or other contests on the river and in
the race at Henley for the Ladies Cup.
The races with Westminster school
were abandoned years ago. and the Rad
ley eight is invariably beaten by Elton at
Henley As Or. Ware, a great Oxford
oarsman. was an enthusiastic patron of
rowing. his successor, Canon Lyttleton, as
the representative OF a famous family
OF crieketers, revived cricket which has
declined in recent years. Notwithstanding
constant field practice and the annual
matches with Winchester and Harrow.
Football is also a favorite recreation,
especially in the winter, and one form
OF 1t, known as wall" because II is
played on a morrow field bounded on one
side by a narrow wall. is a local inven-
ton. The school athletic sports are well
r-d Dc
tice at rackets and hves There is also
q corps Of volunteers with regular drills
and rife practice; and in winter there
is a college hunt with pack Of beagles.
With its large body of students to draw
upon, Eton holds it's ground against
other public schools in all sports. except
rackets. in which Harrow is unriva1ed.
Literary diversions are less numerous
than athletic contests, yet there are dra-
matte societies, competitions in music
and art, and debating clubs in the
houses. Pop" which is rounding out
a century OF continuous life, Is less of
a debating club than social club, made
up of the brightest and most representa-
tive men in college
Eton Is less quaint and picturesque
than Winchester II is less isolated in
its stored antiquity, and seems TO court
modern innovations instead Of shrinking
from them in dignifed seclusion. Even
the splendid chapel, which has survived
the ravages Of restorations more wanton
than dishguring reforms, when affairs
were stripped and frescoes whitewashed.
can hardly be considered a medieval
so often has it been re-
and adapted to the changing
OF royal favor and religious
opinion.
Elton takes a masters time and leaves
little leisure for teaching. Others again
angrily resent the well-worn structures
on Elton as a refuge for rich mems sons,
who want to scrape acquaintance with
young noblemen and TO gossip about
them snobblshly during the remainder Of
their lives The stranger who strolls
about the cloisters and mounts the stair
ways to the hall or the upper school is
not disposed to be critical when he reads
the names carved by boyish hands, and
S silenced by the glorious traditions OF
his nursery OF greatness. When Etoni-
ms have played so large a part in every
held Of national effort. craftsmanship,
diplomacy, war, empire building, art. lit
erature, and religion their successors in
Jackets may well ask for deliverance
rom stale quotations. like the winning of
in the playing fields and from
-ulsome adulation: and their masters
nay wisely content themselves with the
that the old college. like other
human institutions. has the defects and
limitations Of its own virtues. Certainly il |
$ true that the history Of England during
he last four centuries would ye mutt
ated beyond recognition and abridged
Until it was unintelligible if the work
md achievements Of Eton men were left
tut Of the record