[ [1] ] Things have changed in England since the dynamite scare.
III.
I Make the Acquaintance of Public School Boys. — "When I Was a Little Boy." — An Awful Moment. — A Simple Theory. — I Score a Success.
I am not quite sure that the best qualification for a school-master is to have been a very good boy.
I never had great admiration for very good boys. I always suspected, when they were too good, that there was something wrong.
When I was at school, and my master would go in for the recitation of the litany of all the qualities and virtues he possessed when a boy—how good, how dutiful, how obedient, how industrious he was—I would stare at him, and think to myself: How glad that man must be he is no longer a boy!
"No, my dear little fellows, your master was just like you when he was mamma's little boy. He shirked his work whenever he could; he used to romp and tear his clothes if he had a chance, and was far from being too good for this world; and if he was not all that, well, I am only sorry for him, that's all."
I believe that the man who thoroughly knows all the resources of the mischievous little army he has to fight and rule is better qualified and prepared for the struggle.