virtuous boys banding themselves together to resist evil and put it
down has an alarmingly priggish sound.

The most that a man can do at present, it seems to me, is to have
good sensible servants; to be vigilant and discreet; to try and
cultivate a paternal relation with all his boys; to try and make
the bigger boys feel some responsibility in the matter; but the
worst of it is that the subject is so unpleasant that many masters
dare not speak of it at all; and excuse themselves by saying that
they don't want to put ideas into boys' heads. I cannot
conscientiously believe that a man who has been through a big
public school himself can honestly be afraid of that. But we all
seem to be so much afraid of each other, of public opinion, of
possible unpopularity, that we find excuses for letting a painful
thing alone.

But to leave this part of the subject, which is often a kind of
nightmare to me, and to return to my former point; I do honestly
think it a great misfortune that we tend to produce a type. It
seems to me that to aim at independence, to know one's own mind, to
form one's own ideas--liberty, in short--is one of the most sacred
duties in life. It is not only a luxury in which a few can indulge,
it ought to be a quality which every one should be encouraged to
cultivate. I declare that it makes me very sad sometimes to see
these well-groomed, well-mannered, rational, manly boys all taking
the same view of things, all doing the same things, smiling
politely at the eccentricity of any one who finds matter for
serious interest in books, in art or music: all splendidly reticent
about their inner thoughts, with a courteous respect for the
formalities of religion and the formalities of work; perfectly