excuses. Then we always put off writing our exercises till the last
moment; if there were a book to be finished, or if we were lost in
thought, the task was forgotten--again an imposition. How often have
we scribbled an exercise during the time when the head-boy, whose
business it was to collect them when we came into school, was
gathering them from the others!

In addition to the moral misery which Lambert went through in trying
to acclimatize himself to college life, there was a scarcely less
cruel apprenticeship through which every boy had to pass: to those
bodily sufferings which seemed infinitely varied. The tenderness of a
child's skin needs extreme care, especially in winter, when a
school-boy is constantly exchanging the frozen air of the muddy
playing-yard for the stuffy atmosphere of the classroom. The "little
boys" and the smallest of all, for lack of a mother's care, were martyrs
to chilblains and chaps so severe that they had to be regularly dressed
during the breakfast hour; but this could only be very indifferently
done to so many damaged hands, toes, and heels. A good many of the
boys indeed were obliged to prefer the evil to the remedy; the choice
constantly lay between their lessons waiting to be finished or the
joys of a slide, and waiting for a bandage carelessly put on, and
still more carelessly cast off again. Also it was the fashion in the
school to gibe at the poor, feeble creatures who went to be doctored;
the bullies vied with each other in snatching off the rags which the
infirmary nurse had tied on. Hence, in winter, many of us, with
half-dead feet and fingers, sick with pain, were incapable of work, and
punished for not working. The Fathers, too often deluded by shammed
ailments, would not believe in real suffering.

The price paid for our schooling and board also covered the cost of