"Tom Brown's School Days"

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 35, 13 March 1931, Page 7

"Tom Brown's School Days"

Scenes from this great School Story from 4YA, Friday

Tom was the eldest of the children of Squire Brown, J.P. for the County of Berks. He was a Tory, but nevertheless held divers social principles, the foremost of which was the belief that a man is valued for what he is, apart from all externals. Therefore, it did not matter a straw whether Tom associated himself with the sons of lords or ploughmen. It is not to be wondered at that, when the time came for Tom to go to Rugby, there was great grief among all the village boys. It was long before the time of motors, and trains were few, so in the cold grey hours of the morning Tom crept up. beside the driver of the stage coach that would pass through Rugby. "And now, Tom, my boy," said the squire, "remember you are going to be chucked into this great school, like a young bear, with all your troubles before you-earlier than we should have sent you perhaps. You'll see a great many cruel blackguard things done and hear a deal of foul, bad talk. But never fear. You tell the truth and keep a brave heart, and never listen to or say anything that you wouldn’t like your mother or sisters to hear, and you'll neve feel ashamed to come home, or we to see you." Something choking welled up inside Tom at the mention cf his mother, and he would have liked to have hugged his father. But. he couldn’t do that now, so he only squeezed his father’s hand and said bravely, "I'll try, father." The coach rumbled into Rugby just in time for dinner, and as Tom passed the school gates and saw the boys standing there _ as if the town belonged to them, his heart beat quickly and he felt proud. One of the younger boys ran out and greeted him by name. Tom was terribly astonished, but the boy explained that his aunt lived somewhere near his home and knew his father. "She asked me to give you a lift," he went on, "and I want to please the old lady, for she gave me a half-sov. this half, and perhaps she'll double it next, if I keep in her good books." Tom rather resented the patronising: air, for this boy, East, was scarcely.-older than himself, and, as it transpired, in the lower fourth while Tom was joining the third.. In this form, Tom made great progress and earned a good reputation. As a new boy. he was excused from fagging, though, in his enthusiasm, took turn about with East and the others of the fourth. So he soon gained the character of a good-natured, willing fellow, ready to do a turn for anyone. Tom came up into the lower fourth as one of the "good boys" of the third, but he rapidly fell away, and at the end of two months, his character for steadfastness was gone. For years after, he went up to the school without it and regarded the masters as a matter of course and as his natural enemies. FAGGIN G was on the increase, but it would not have mattered so much if the fifth hadn’t started it. It was all right for the sixth, they were privileged, but apart from them-well, it shouldn’t e. Tom, who shared a study with East, was one night brooding over the wrongs of the school, and the abuse of the fagging systen, in particular. "Do you know, old fellow, I won’t fag except for the sixth." "Quite right, too, my boy. I’m with you and all for a strike myself. It’s getting too bad," cried East. . ce At that particular moment there sounded from down the corridor the-well-known voice of "that blackguard Flashman." "Fa-a-a-g," but the call was not answered. It came again and again, but each time the voice died away without any reply. The colours of the revolt had been hoisted. Tom bolted the door and East put out the candle. "Now, Tom, no surrender." The assault was a rough one, and one (Continued on page 31.)

"Tom Brown’s School Days," the finest and most famous example of stories, depicting. English public school] life, was written by Thomas Hughes and_ published + in 1857, when the ‘author was a young barrister -of thirty-three. It leaped at once into a ‘deserved popularity it has never lost. Tom’.is’ ‘a. typical middle class lad ‘with the distinctive British virtues of pluck, honesty and the love of fair play. The story portrays his -. life" from the moment he ‘enters the lowest form of the great school, a homesick timid lad, who has to fag for the older boys, and has his full-share of the rough treatment which obtained in the Rugby of his day, to the time when he has developed into a big brawny fellow, the head of the school, a football hero, and ‘ready to pass to Oxfordanother story, a failure, being devoted to his experiences there. A faithful, life-like, and most entertaining picture of © the Rugby of Dr. Arnold is given; its social habits, methods of teaching, its sports, beliefs, and ideals. The wide influence of that great man is sketched with hearty appreciation and in another figure-that of the gentle, -high charactered lad Arthur " --one may recognise Dean Stanley in his student days. Individual scenes, like the bullying of Tom when he is "sreen" in the, school, the football match, and the boat race, will always cling in memory for their graphic lines and fullness of life. To read "Tom Brown" is to have an exhilarating sense of the vigorous young manhood of that nation, its joy in fruitful activity. ,

ae Brown’ S School- days . "(Continued from page 7.)

and one panel of the door was broken. Tom and Hast managed to run out, and soon the whole lower. school: had learned of the escapade. The pledge not to fag for the fifth was taken by. nearly all the younger boys. Their adviser was Diggs, a clever boy, nearly at the top of the fifth himself. He stood by them all through, and seldom have small.boys had more need of.a friend. ; , Flashman and his. associates set about bringing the boys to their senses and the whole house was filled with chasings, seiges and lickings. In Tom ‘and Wast’s study matters came to a head when. Flashman: came in and: started bullying. Diggs, who was present, advised the two boys to "Go in at Flasman," as it was.the a.

only way they would rid themselves of the bully. The fifth former was a big fellow of seventeen, but the younger boys, although hardly up to.his shoulder, were much more fit and wiry. Diggs promised to see fair play. For a while the boys got the worst of the bargain, but Diggs stopped the fight temporarily, declaring that. the end of the round had come. Tn‘ the second round Mashman- became . furious and flurried. All three went down in a heap, Flashman striking his head on a form. The. fight was over, Flashman’s skull was not injured, however, as the boys had at first thought, but whatever harm a spiteful tongue can do the defeated bully took great ¢are should be done. Some of the dirt stuck, and Tom and Hast lived as Ishmaelites. The upper school avoided them, so they became dilatory in their obligations to their -own schoo] fel- _ lowa, and then to the masters, They

earned the character of sulky, unwilling fags. At the end of the term the doctor wants to see them. He is not angry, only grave. He explains that. rules are made for the good of the school and must and shall be obeyed. . He should be'sorry if they had to and wishes them to think very seriously in the holidays over what he had said.-"Good night." The turn of the Tide. (THH turning point of otr hero's school career had now come, and the manner of it was as-follows. ‘Tom, Hast and another boy rushéd into the matron’s room on the first day of the new term. The matron sent all but Tom away, and then broke the news that the Doctor’s wife, Mrs. Arnold, wanted Tom to share his study with a new boy. He was to be kind to him and see that he wasn’t bullied. fn the far "corner ‘of the ‘room was a _ slight pale boy who seemed teady. to sink ‘through the floor. "Poor little fellow, his father’s dead, and. his mamma almost ‘broke « her heart at*parting with him. She said one of his eteters might die of decline "Well. well," . burst in. Tom, ° "ey wate pose. I must ‘give up Hast," and quite good. naturedly he took the boy off to his study. "Mrs. Arnold would like you both to tea," finished | the matron as. the boys: disappeared. Here was an announcement for Tom, for this was one of the greatest honours of' the school. He,-the scapegrace, being asked to tea'as if he were of some importance. His cup’ was filled: when Dr. Arnold, with a wart shake of the hand, seemingly oblivious of all the scrapes Tom had: been getting into, said: "Ah, Brown, you here! I hope you have left all well-at home. Azid: this is the little fellow who is to share your study? Well, he doesn’t look as well as we should like to see hin. You must take him for long walks and show him the beautiful country we have about here. "

back In the Now Ccomrortadiy iulr~nished study, for Arthur’s mother had made it very cosy, Tom gave some advice. "And don’t ever talk of your mother or your sisters," he concluded. To which, Arthur, ready to ery, only answered: "But mayn’t I talk about them to you?" "Oh, yes, but not to the other boys." He thought of his own first night when he led Arthur up to the big dormitory. He was terribly shy, poor boy, and for a while dared not take his clothes off. This task at last finished, he looked round nervously, and then, without hesitation, dropped on his knees. Tom was unlacing his boots at the time and had his back to the boy, but at the sudden hush, looked up in wonder. Then two or three boys laughed, and one big, brutal fellow picked ur a slipper and shied it at the kneeling boy. The next moment the boot Tom had just taken off flew straight at the head of the bully. "Tf any other fellow wants the othe boot," Tom, stepping out on th

floor, "he knows how to get it." But at this’ moment a sixth-former came in, and:'Tom and the rest rushed into bed. and’ finished .unrobing there. Sleep seemed: to have deserted. the pillow: of poor Tom. The thought of his broken promise to his mother came over him, and that night. he made a resolution. It was the groping of the new. and real Tom.: Next morning, in face of ‘the whole room, he knelt and found the words: "God. be merciful. to me.a sinner." He repeated them over and over and then rosé, humbled and ready to face the whole school. It was not needed; two other boys. had followed. suit... Before Tom.and Arthur had left the schoolhouse there was no-room in which: it had not become the custom. ; Lom -Brown’s Last Match. curtain now ‘rises on the last act of our little drama" Wight yeats have passed, and it-is the end of the summer term at Rugby. The boys, except. a few enthusists and the © eleven, have been scattered to the four The return match "between Marylebone and Rugby is being played in the school grounds. Apart from the rest is a group -of- -three; "First a clergyman, looking rather old and worn." Beside him;'in flannels, wearing’ the captain’s belt, ‘is a strapping figure; with tanned face and laughing eye, It is Dom Brown; spending his last day at School. At their feet sits Arthur. oo : ‘He goes to the wicket to play; his face is rather pale, but "his figure is well knit and active, and all his old timidity has disappeared. "I’m rather surprised ‘to see Arthur. in the eleven," says the-master.,: "Well, I’m not sure he ought to be," answered "Tom, ° "hut I couldn’t "help putting him in. It will do him’ somuch good, and you can’t think what’ I. owe -him." The master smiled. we "Nothing has given me pleasure," he said, "than your friendship for him. It has. beén-the making of .you, both." "Of me at any rate," answered Ton. "Tt was the luckiest chance that sent him to Rugby and made. him’ my chum." ‘There. ‘was neither "luck nor chance,": said the master, and he re-called-the time when. the Doctor had lectured him. The Doctor had been in great. distress about ‘Tom and Wast,’ and. wanted something ‘to keep them out. of mischief. .

-so the Doctor looked .out the best of the new boys and separated you and. Hast in the hope that when you had somebody else to lean on, you’d be steadier yourself and get manliness and thoughtfulness. He has watched the. experiment ever since with great satisfaction." Up to this time Tom had never fully given into or understood the Doctor. He had learned to respect him and to think of him as a very great man. But it was new to him to find that beside teaching the sixth and goyerning and guiding’ the whole _ school, editing classics and writing the great headmaster had found time to watch over the career of him, Tom Brown. The match was over. . Tom said good-bye to his tutor and marched down to the schoolhouse. Next morning he was in the train and away for London, for he was no longer a school bay,