Nov 1891

Page 1

THE

P141TERITE. VOL . XIl .

NOVEMBER, 1891 .

No . 95.

CONFESSIONS OF A MASTER. ANY years ago, when first I joined myself to the glorious band of what the other day, in my hearing, a searcher after knowledge termed " Pup Stuffers, " I was a different person to what I am now. (It has indeed been noticed that as men grow old they change, physically and mentally, and nature has possibly not seen fit to make an exception in my case .) I was then a slim B .A ., fresh from Oxford, and says I to myself, says I, "What old fools those Masters at School used to be and how the fellows used to rot them ." Just let me in the interests of humanity, take a mastership and I will show the boys how to sit up . Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturuia retina, (what is the good of a master who can ' t reel off a snag or two of Latin ?) I would herald the dawning of a new age, and chaos and anarchy should flee gibbering into the NO-MORE at sight of my imperial determination, and of my new system of marking . I had not then the beard which now you know ; in accordance with the prevailing fashion, I presented myself to the scholastic world —" Magnificent, with ambrosial whiskers, like a god . " Waistcoats were then a prominent feature, and I fancy mine rnoulted no feather. And so, with the dial pointing to Set Fair, I applied for a mastership, caught my mark book to my breast, and sat down to wait for the world to come and be regenerated.

M

Things would appear to have not been so bad as I thought, for, in place of competition for my services, I first appeared on the scene at a Private School . This Private School has been described to the life , by the author of " Vice Versa," a book which I now read as my own biography . Think of it, 0 ye Peterites, you with your blessed


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.