Curiosities of toil and other papers / by Dr. Wynter.

  • Andrew Wynter
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Curiosities of toil and other papers / by Dr. Wynter. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    649/662 page 313
    be pardoned if I say a few words on the subject of our vacations. Why, in the name of reason, cannot they have the holidays a little later here ? I see all the schools in London are only just breaking up; and, to make it more tantalising, just as I go back to school. The schoolmasters are sensible persons in London, and I only wish their brethren in the country would follow their example. Why not ? It is a question I think all fellows have asked themselves, and with Lord Dundreary (who, by-the-bye, I went to see last Christmas), may ex- claim, ' It's a thing no fellah can understand.' The present arrange- ment, like others, has its advantages to be sure. We break up in June, and it is a shorter time to look forward to from Easter than if they were in July ; but, on the other hand, if we come back on the 5th or 6th of August, a long time ensues before Michaelmas comes on, and we poor beggars have to look forward to week after week of fag, and no holidays for a confoundedly long space of time. And now let us look at the prospect of this unhappy member of society, if he be, like myself, about that age which is termed ' hobbledehoy:' too old to think himself a little boy, and therefore to play with his juniors; and just young enough not to be thought a man, and therefore not to associate with his elders—when, in short, he remains just half-way, an unpleasant medium between the two parties. Generally, it is my desire to seem like a man, dress like a swell, and speak like a sage; but in each of these things I most dismally fail, and I end, where I begin, a miser- able fifteener. Ah, Mr. Editor! can you suggest anything by which my solitude could be enlivened ? True, I've seen But lam straym* from my subject. These early vacations bring in their train a variety of inconveniences which otherwise might have been avoided: for instance,—our family are going to the sea-side, as usual; but as I go back to school just when my father has a little time to spare, I am not granted that pleasure, and, I must say, I consider it a regular chouse. I am reminded by my governor of the old proverb, ' You cannot have your cake and eat it too;' therefore, as I have had my holidays whilst the later schools are at work, I must work whilst the later schools are at play. They can go by the sea-side—they can enjoy their holidays ; but I cannot, for the simple reason, that I am obliged to stay in town during my vacation. But there are more inconveniences than these which I have mentioned, viz., the dreariness and monotony about the early vacations which cannot be got rid of; for where is the change from the chimney-pots, housetops, and smoke, that are so awfully universal throughout this vast metropolis ? and if you live in the country, where is the variety in the green fields, trees, with perhaps a few cows to finish it off ? I ask the question to nobody in particular but just to the world in general, in order that something might be
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