Tom Brown at Rugby

In these days of zealous reform in school methods, it is well to keep in mind the true aim of all education,—the right development of character. It is important that our children acquire extensive knowledge, and sound habits of thought; it is imperative that they become honest, steadfast, and manly. Dr. Arnold, as head-master of Rugby School, was eminently successful in attaining this object. In Tom Brown's School Days, Mr. Hughes has caught, and immortalized, the spirit of his old teacher's work. While the book emphasizes the peculiar moral earnestness of Dr. Arnold's pupils, it is free from all suspicion of cant. Those who enjoy its pages should read also Dean Stanley's admirable life of the great schoolmaster. We trust that it will be many years before we cease to read the life of Mr. Hughes in his daily works of goodwill to his fellow-men.
The notes have been prepared for children in the grammar school, as explained in Mr. Ginn's preface to the Lady of the Lake, in this series.
A few passages have been omitted from the original text, in the belief that it will thus be better adapted for the use of American schoolboys; and the typographical errors of former editions have been corrected.
N. L. R.
Canton, N.Y., October 20, 1888 .
Thomas Hughes is a native of the royal county of Berkshire, England. From the nursery windows of the old farmhouse in Uffington, where he was born, in 1823, he delighted in looking out on that famous White Horse Hill which he describes in the opening chapters of Tom Brown's School Days.
His father was such an English squire as he represents Tom's father to be, and his grandfather was vicar of the parish, and therefore a man of a good deal of local influence. When a child, young Hughes must have become familiar with the old parish church, which dates almost from the time of William the Conqueror, and which has within it some Roman brickwork which carries one back to the days when Agricola's legions were building walled towns in Britain.