Before 1880 long "duck" returning from a game, they trousers were worn for foot- wore their caps," made of ball by all who had obtained velvet of their house colour, no distinction in the game. with silver or gold-lace band The first distinction gained was and tassel. "flannels"-i.e., the privilege of wearing flannel trousers instead of "ducks." The flannels were always tucked into the socks, and, when ducks were abolished and every one wore flannels, the "flannels were generally known as "bags." Flannels or "bags wore two thin silver or gold lines round the band of their housecaps. "Flannels were conferred by the Head of the House XX., if a cap." If there were no caps " in the House, the distinction was conferred by the Head of the School XV. A new cap always played his first "Bigside" in his old flannels, but went to and from the game with his new cap upon his head. On all subsequent occasions he wore knickerbockers. A "Bigside was a game arranged by the Head of the XV. for all the caps, and was played on "Bigside," the historic football ground. The XV. wore blue serge knickerbockers, and had a red, white, and blue ribbon on their straw. Football boots were unknown, but each boy took his oldest boots at the beginning of the term to the shoemaker to have bars put on them. Runners, unless they were caps, had to run in long trousers, and the labour and discomfort of the "run-in " to a small boy, if, as often happened in a paper-chase, he had been half a dozen times in the brook, were extreme. After the institution in 1881 of the running-cup, however, runners began to wear shorts, and to substitute gym.-shoes for boots. No colours were given for running until 1894. The XI. wore, as they still do, light-blue shirts and caps, and the XXII. white shirts and dark-blue caps; but the rest of the players wore at cricket their ordinary white linen shirts, and their ordinary boots with spikes in them. And a linen shirt becomes in going to their place in chapel, as if they had barely time to reach their goal. Their hands also must be kept out of their pockets, except when horrid long before you have made 20 or taken your third wicket! But about 1883 grey flannel shirts were introduced for the undistinguished-ugly, in their own studies, which, so but more comfortable and sanitary. There were also minor distinctions in cricket "blue band and "red band -conferred by the Head of the House XI., if of XI. or XXII. rank; otherwise by the Head of the XI. These were blue or red bands round the housecap, worn all the year round, and were relics of the original first and second house elevens. There were no blazers," no cricket boots, and no cricket bags, except for the members of the XI. and the XXII. The XI. blazer was dark blue, edged with light blue, and the XXII. blazer was white, edged with dark blue. 66 House-caps were only worn when going to or returning from games, and to wear them in the town was an offence. The keenest observer of the customs of the school was the new boy. He observed them with an interest which was often pained. Having been Having been shown his study, and finding nothing much to do there, perchance he wandered forth to loiter in the passage or the yard. His meditations were rudely and painfully interrupted, and he learned that only swells were allowed to loiter anywhere. New boys must hasten on their way, even long as they did not make a noise, were their castles. The new boy's next discovery was that he could not go anywhere by himself. Whether the occasion were a walk, the start of a run, a game or a lesson, he was expected to provide himself with a companion; and the companion must be one of his own house, and of much the same standing as himself. Moreover, he must only have one companion, and the two must "link "—i.e., one of them must take the other's arm. This linking was a curious custom. For two small boys to be found walking together within the precincts of the school or town without having their arms linked was unseemly, and to be punished. But for three or more boys to link was swagger," and no one but swells dared to do it. Before the three school matches -i.e., Sixth, O.R., and CockHouses-the caps used to link "by houses,' "by houses," and parade the cloisters round the Quad, while the school gazed in admiration. There was no intercourse between big boys and small, or between those who were high in the school and those who were low, unless, of course, the boy low in the school was distinguished in games. Small boys only came under the notice of their seniors in games, really associated with them. or as fags, or when they went You never walked with them, to them as they were always you never went to their house, allowed to do in genuine cases and they never came to yours. of difficulty for help in their As soon as you left the school work. But any lowering of gates, you went at once to the the dignity of the Upper School, side of the road on which or of the boy of standing in your house stood, and you House or school, was promptly kept on that side of the road squashed. till you reached your house. To walk on the other side and only cross when opposite your house, or to walk back from school with a boy of another house, was "swagger." No one ever told you so, but it was so, and you knew it. For swells, of course, swagger was right, and you expected them to do these things. As the terms slipped by the new boy ceased to be a new boy, and at the end of two years or sooner, if he distinguished himself in games he became a member of Hall. He was now allowed to enter the Hall by a door he had never used before; he could go into Hall whenever he liked, instead of only at meal-times; and he could sit as long as he liked at his breakfast, instead of leaving at 8.30-rather sharp work, considering that first lesson ended at 8.15. After breakfast he could read the papers at his leisure, whereas formerly he had had to share them with many others for an hour in the afternoon. He was now a member of a kind of club, and paid his "Hall subscription" for sausages, jam, and other luxuries, with which the members of Hall embellished their breakfast and tea. It was his admission into the society of the Sixth and the swells, and he began to be "somebody" in the house. All morning lessons began at a quarter-past the hour, all afternoon lessons at the hour, the reason being that chapel, at 7 A.M., lasted just a quarter of an hour, and that odd quarter was not balanced until the afternoon. But although we had to be in chapel at 7, we thought it unreasonable to turn out of bed at 6.30, when the "boys' man came round the dormitories with his horrible bell. Therefore in each dormitory a fag was appointed every week, whose duty it was to keep awake from 6.30 to 6.45, when he had to sit up in bed and yell "Quarter!" This In spite of the fact that work gave you twelve or thirteen brought you constantly into minutes to dress, and two or contact with boys of other three to run from your house houses, with whom you natur- to chapel. To be sure, you ally became friendly, unless could generally reckon on being you were a swell you never in time if you arrived at chapel two minutes past the hour, but sometimes the door would be slammed punctually on the stroke of seven, and upwards of a hundred boys would be "locked out," with a prospect of 300 lines! I do not know what was the purpose of "early chapel." If it was to ensure that every one was in time for first lesson, there was something to say for it; but if it was a spiritual preparation for the day's work, it was a failure. Speaking generally, chapel was a failure. My recollection of the preaching is that it was bad, and the only thing that appealed to us was the singing, and I cannot say very much even for that! Entrance into early chapel was a tumultuous unseemly scramble, but entrance on Sunday afternoon was a weird performance. All small boys were expected to be in their places before the last bell began, but no swell would dream of entering until that bell was ringing. Moreover, small boys must enter in numbers-no one would think of walking up the aisle by himself and they must walk fast, because loitering was the privilege of the swell; and finally, after the last company of the small boys had raced to their places, began the leisurely progress of swells, one by one or in twos and threes, slowly and magnificently parading up the centre. Such was the entrance, but such could not be the exit, for Between breakfast and dinner the whole school was never at lessons at the same time. For instance, for some boys second lesson on certain days was from 9.15 to 10.15; for others it was from 10.15 to 11.15. This had an important bearing upon games, for there were not enough "grounds " for the teams which wished to play on them, and a ground was taken by the boy who could first get to it after second lesson. The method of taking a cricket-ground was as follows: you wrote on a piece of paper "Michell's (or Elsee's, with a kick as hard as the kicker could manage, straight for the opposite goal. One of the backs would catch it and run, but, in the early days, the idea of punting did not occur to him. He simply ran till he was tackled, and never thought of passing until then. Others would run close behind himnot wide on either side-crying, "Pass when you're collared ! and, if he could shove it back to one of them then, he would. Tackling was generally high, and "handing-off" the way of dealing with it. or School House) groundtaken by Jones ma, after 2nd lesson, 3rd June 1883." You folded this paper, and raced with it to the ground you wished to take, and, if there were no other paper previously in possession, you inserted it in the hole made by the centre stump at the end of the pitch nearest to the school. If your paper was in order, the ground was yours; if there were any informality in it, the next arrival would "dish" it-i.e., he would write on it: "Dished by Smith mi, School Housewrong date," and would insert his own paper, and the ground was his. The best boys to take a ground were good runners, who sat near the door of the school of a master who stopped his lesson punctually. But during the 'eighties further grounds were acquired by the school, and were allotted equitably among the various houses. Fives-courts and racquet-courts, however, were still taken in the old way, and I have had many a good race diagonally across the Close to secure one. Football at Rugby passed through more changes in the 'eighties than in any other similar period of its career. In House games-called "Littleside" and in House Matches twenty played on each side, and there were generally two backs, two three-quarters, two halves, and the rest in the scrum. The game was always started There was no particular formation in the scrum, which lasted sometimes for many minutes, and left a black muddy mark on the ground when it broke up. Sometimes the whole scrum would fall, and the halves would pull out the forwards one by one as they lay helpless at the bottom of it. A favourite dodge was for one forward to get the ball between his legs and hop along like a frog, his companions assisting him by pushing with all their might. The hopper did not keep his head down but up, and embraced with his arms the bodies of two of the front rank of his opponents. It was always allowable to hack "on the ball," so his shins, being on each side of the ball, were liable to severe punishment. A try behind the goal had to be taken opposite to one of the goal-posts, and a try far out was often made easier by |