'
He began the tale, the amused incredulity of the boys quickly vanished,
and he never had a more attentive audience. When he had finished, his
auditors raised their hats and caps with a hearty and convinced 'Thank
you, sir.'
He gravely saluted them, as was his custom towards young and old, high
and low, and then he fell a-dreaming. He was out walking in the pleasant
English woods with Whately, learning from him the manner in which the
ancient Britons lived, and how they dug for pig-nuts; or Whately rubbed
dry sticks against each other, the primeval manner of making fire. More,
he concentrated, with a glass, the rays of the sun upon a handful of dry
twigs, which at the bidding went ablaze. Still another picture!
'While I was at Cheltenham, Whately was courting a connexion of mine, who
later became his wife. She put me through my tasks, and Whately would
help her in that, I sitting between them. Did ever a boy at his lessons
occupy a seat of such influence? I suppose I could have commanded my own
terms in reference to them, and perhaps I did. They were most pleasant
for all concerned. My education altogether, as a boy, was not very
systematic, but it was broad and useful.'
Finally to Sandhurst, where Sir George did so well that the authorities
had quite a special word for him; and where one of the teachers, a
Scotsman, gave him Bacon to read.
Pages:
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43