English Boys

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 76, 5 December 1885, Page 4

English Boys

The talented Frenchman, who under the norn de plume of Max O'Rell, vr>te those clever skits on English manners and customs, " John Bull and his Island," and " John JBull's Women Kmd," ; has recently published another work, called "Nos chens voisihs," in which he gives the following -description of the British school boy. He writes : — " It is a' sturdy, roburst, Hardy,' well-knitted . lad, with muscles of steel, and mule-like obstinacy, who, sooner than let go the football which he fiercely cuddle?, will perform prodigies of valour ; who, merely for the chance of making that ball pass between two goals, will bite the dust, will let his flesh be torn, his jaw dislocated, -his ribs stove in ; and would even be carried off to die upon a bed of anguish, with a smile upon, his lips^ if he could only hear, as his young eyes closed, that his side had secured the game." Then he goes on : " Multiply such au English youth up to the number of ,^he stars of the firmament, and you will get an idea of the martial, if not the military strength of England."