The Choir School of St. Bede's

BY FREDERICK HARRISON Author of “Wynport College”
WITH THIRTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS BY EMILY A. COOK
BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED LONDON GLASGOW AND BOMBAY

THE CHOIR SCHOOL OF ST. BEDE’S.
IT was a lovely morning, about eleven o’clock, and the boys of the cathedral choir of St. Bede’s were playing in the cloister of the grand old church. There was a square plot of grass in the centre, where the boys used to amuse themselves during the intervals of school-work; when it was wet they would walk round the covered cloister.
One boy, of about eleven years, was standing by himself, looking shyly on without taking any part in the games of the others. He was leaning against a stone pillar, when one of the bigger boys came up to him.
“You’re the new probationer solo-boy, aren’t you?” he demanded.
“Yes,” replied Alfred Davidson, for that was his name.
“Where do you come from?”
“From Darlton.”
“What’s your father?”