CHAPTER X.
THE JUNIOR IN MEADS.
“Watching out”—Cricket Reminiscences—Lord’s Matches—Turf—Football—Six and Six—Twenty-two and Twenty-two—SS and Trees—Fines—Sick-House—Gooseberry Fool—“Going Continent”—Long Meads—Enlargement of Meads.
As I said before, I must confess that as a Junior I did not on the whole look upon a holiday as a peculiar blessing; indeed I used to watch the applicant for a Remedy with much interest, and profound was my secret disgust when it was granted, and ill-concealed my satisfaction if it was refused.
My reason for this was the unlimited extent to which “Watching out” at cricket was enforced on us. I believe that this is now altered, the time being limited to one hour on a school-day, and two on a holiday, which amount is healthy for the boys, and very useful, inasmuch as it initiates them into one of the most useful branches of a public-school education—the science of cricket. But it is quite possible to have too much of a good thing. I have been, on a Saint’s-day, (this, however, was an extreme case, and did not occur often,) ordered down to watch out in Meads early in the morning before breakfast, and not allowed to quit the ground, (except to attend chapel,) till dark, the whole time without a hat, often in a broiling sun; at breakfast time and one o’clock one of the Fags would be sent up to bring down food, which we ate on the ground. In order to effect this day’s work, we had (if we could not get leave, and I think only three were allowed) to shirk Hills three times, for each of which we were liable (if discovered, by names being called, as was generally the case) to an imposition. And when the day’s entertainment commenced by a big Præfect, about twenty-two years old, placing a boy about ten paces behind the wickets as Longstop to a fast bowler, pointing significantly to a spare stump stuck in the ground close by, and remarking, with a savage scowl, “Now, you look here, you young ⸺, you see that stump, the first ball you miss I’ll cut you in three pieces—body, soul, and legs,” I think it will be admitted that to that Longstop at any rate a holiday would not be regarded as a very great privilege, especially when Nestor was not at all the boy (man, I should rather say) not to endeavour conscientiously to fulfil any promise of the kind above mentioned. I again repeat, this is an extreme case; and now, even if the will were present, the opportunity would be wanting. Happy was the boy who succeeded in making a catch, as in that case he was excused from watching out for the rest of the day; still more serene must have been the existence of the mustard and pepper keeper—the responsible duties of which office relieved the fortunate holder from service in the field.
But what adepts we became in fielding under this rough treatment! I would in those days stop a ball with my left hand, which, if I now saw coming towards me, I should diligently avoid touching at all. So “there is no cloud but has its silver lining;” and, perhaps, if in these latter days Winchester has not held the laurels in cricket quite so firmly as of old, it is in some respects owing to the mitigated apprenticeship served by the boys in their Fagging days. This, alas! is not of much consequence now, since it has been deemed expedient by the authorities to put an end to the public-school matches at Lord’s, which tended so much to produce a wholesome feeling of patriotic rivalry among the boys, and were always looked forward to by all Wykehamists as the pleasantest rendezvous of the year, where their spirits were refreshed by talking over past times with old friends seldom seen but at those reunions.
I have heard, from the best authority, that the principal reason for no longer permitting the Winchester boys to contend with Harrow and Eton in the public arena at Lord’s is, that their parents complained that they were put to great inconvenience by having to send up their sons to London in the middle of the holidays, that they were put to considerable expense, and the boys exposed to many temptations. These objections are valid ones, I admit; but, I think, not insurmountable. As regards the expense, I am certain that a fund could easily be raised that would cover all the travelling expenses of the eleven for the next ten years; and as regards the exposure of the boys to temptation, I am sure that, even if they had no relations resident in London who could put them up, were the want made known, hospitable doors would open in sufficient number, not only to take in the eleven, but the whole school, if required; and the boys’ proceedings would be as carefully looked after as if they were at home. And I cannot doubt but that the old school is lowered in the eyes of the public by its absence from the annual contest at Lord’s, and that other schools will gradually usurp the position as one of the first in England, which it has held for so many centuries.