I remember well the warmth of
his greeting and the kind look of his mild blue eyes when, after I had
gone out into the world, I sometimes revisited him.
But my school life was not all happiness. In the school there was an
almost brutal element of roughness, and fights were frequent; not only in
our own, but between ours and neighbouring schools. Regular pitched
battles were fought with sticks and staves and stones. I shrunk from
fighting but could not escape it. Twice in our own playground I was
forced to fight. Every new boy had to do it, sooner or later.
Fortunately on the second occasion I came off victor, much to my
surprise. How I managed to beat my opponent I never could understand.
Anyhow the victory gave me a better standing in the school, though it did
not lessen in the least my hatred of the battles that raged periodically
with other schools. I never had to fight again except as an unwilling
participant in our foreign warfare.
CHAPTER III.
THE MIDLAND RAILWAY AND "KING HUDSON"
In the year 1851 the Midland Railway was 521 miles long; it is now 2,063.
Then its capital was 15,800,000, against 130,000,000 pounds to-day.
Pages:
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30