An elementary school is never exactly a bed of
roses, but we had a lofty building and classrooms, with plenty of
windows, which could be adjusted to admit as much or as little fresh
air as was requisite. We protested without result, and we had
eventually to pull the new walls about and spend L20 on what we
considered an uncalled-for alteration.
Our inspectors of schools varied greatly: some were quiet with the
children and considerate with the teachers; others vindicated their
authority by unnecessary fault-finding, upsetting the teachers and
alarming the children. In the days of our voluntary school I have seen
a room full of children in a state of nervous tension, and the
mistress and pupil-teachers in tears, as the result of inconsiderate
reprimands and irritable speech. My sympathies have been strongly
aroused on such occasions with a child's terror of being made an
exhibition before the others. As a boy at Harrow, in the form of the
Rev. F.W. Farrar, afterwards Dean of Canterbury, I had an unpleasant
experience, though it was no fault of his and quite unintentional. The
Russian Government had sent a deputation of two learned professors to
England, to inquire into the educational system of the Public Schools,
with the view of sending a member of the Royal family for education in
this country. Among other schools, they visited Harrow, and Mr.
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