"I have a little boy eleven years old," said the lady, "whom my husband is anxious to have educated here. He is a very clever little fellow. We have heard that, on leaving the school to go to one of the two great universities, some boys received exhibitions varying in value from £80 to £100 a year for four years. Do you think, sir, that our son would get one, for the probability of his obtaining such an exhibition would be a great inducement to us to trust the boy to your care?"
"Well," replied the head-master, with great command over his countenance, "I am afraid I cannot commit myself to any such promise."
The lady retired. Her promising son was probably sent to a more accommodating school.
The same head-master once received the visit of a man who asked him point-blank if the scholarship examinations were conducted honestly, or, in other words, if the scholarships were given according to merit.
From the answer he received he deemed it expedient to beat a speedy retreat.
When a school has to offer, say, six scholarships to the public, and there are a hundred candidates applying for them, you may easily imagine that it is difficult to persuade the parents of the ninety-four boys who fail that the scholarships are given according to merit.
In distributing six scholarships among a hundred candidates you make six ungrateful fathers and ninety-four discontented ones.