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Article MASONIC REMINISCENCES. Page 1 of 8 →
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Masonic Reminiscences.
MASONIC REMINISCENCES .
By $ h > Tod > ikog , P . M ., L . 50 , Dublin . ( Continued from p . 422 . ) CHAPTER VI . —PHIL IS SENT TO COLLEGE—His FAILURE—SUFFERINGS OF A SPOILED PET—COLLEGE JOKES—HINTS TO OVER-INDULGENT PARENTS .
WE shall pass over the heart-wearing trials of the unfortunate tutor , conscientiously endeavouring to hammer a little knowledge into Phil ' s impenetrable skull , despite the perpetual interruptions of parental protests against her darling ' s being over worked ; a most unnecessary request , as that young gentleman seemed incurably afflicted with bibliophobia : the sight of a glass of water could not produce more nervous excitement in one afflicted with canine madness , than a dance at Horace or Homer would in Phil .
We often felt and feel still , deep sympathy with that most useful and important class , private tutors , ( called grinders at T . C . D ., and known under the title of coaches , at Cambridge ) gentlemen frequently of great moral worth , and high literary attainments ) whose honest endeavours , not only to infuse useful knowledge into their pupils , but to fit them for the duties and high purposes of life , are so often thwarted by the
interference of weak and over weening parents . If those parents could but foresee , and reflect upon the mischiefs and hindrances through life , they thus inflict upon the victims of their misplaced , and mistaken indulgence , they would restrain this feeling , of perhaps what we should be justified in calling , selfish fondness , more within the limits of reason , and common sense . . We should then have fewer instances of fine natural abilities run to waste , or perverted , and the Phil Simpson class would become extinct indeed .
Phils' tutor did all he could under his difficult circumstances , and wrote to the Colonel to say his nephew was as fit , as he thought he ever would be , for his entrance examination . The Colonel lost no time in posting to Simpson Hall , luxuriating in the hope of finding his nephew ground to a point , and in short , facttcs ad wiguem for the intellectual ordeal he was about to undergo ; but alas ! poor Phil was never destined to be a tree
in the grove of the Academy . " After settling a few necessary preliminaries , Phil took his departure , receiving a maudlin tear from his father , and a caution against Botany Bay , and leaving his poor mother nearly broken hearted , and almost suffocated with wild convulsive sobs ; and with his uncle for cicerone was soon making rapid way towards the metropolis .
Phil had no . buoyant feeling that " the world was all before him , " he was very little affected by the aspirations of hope , or the tremblings of fear , beyond the wish for a speedy return , and the horror of books and tutors ; he had no yearnings of that youthful ambition which generally absorbs the bitterness of a first parting from the home of our childhood ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Reminiscences.
MASONIC REMINISCENCES .
By $ h > Tod > ikog , P . M ., L . 50 , Dublin . ( Continued from p . 422 . ) CHAPTER VI . —PHIL IS SENT TO COLLEGE—His FAILURE—SUFFERINGS OF A SPOILED PET—COLLEGE JOKES—HINTS TO OVER-INDULGENT PARENTS .
WE shall pass over the heart-wearing trials of the unfortunate tutor , conscientiously endeavouring to hammer a little knowledge into Phil ' s impenetrable skull , despite the perpetual interruptions of parental protests against her darling ' s being over worked ; a most unnecessary request , as that young gentleman seemed incurably afflicted with bibliophobia : the sight of a glass of water could not produce more nervous excitement in one afflicted with canine madness , than a dance at Horace or Homer would in Phil .
We often felt and feel still , deep sympathy with that most useful and important class , private tutors , ( called grinders at T . C . D ., and known under the title of coaches , at Cambridge ) gentlemen frequently of great moral worth , and high literary attainments ) whose honest endeavours , not only to infuse useful knowledge into their pupils , but to fit them for the duties and high purposes of life , are so often thwarted by the
interference of weak and over weening parents . If those parents could but foresee , and reflect upon the mischiefs and hindrances through life , they thus inflict upon the victims of their misplaced , and mistaken indulgence , they would restrain this feeling , of perhaps what we should be justified in calling , selfish fondness , more within the limits of reason , and common sense . . We should then have fewer instances of fine natural abilities run to waste , or perverted , and the Phil Simpson class would become extinct indeed .
Phils' tutor did all he could under his difficult circumstances , and wrote to the Colonel to say his nephew was as fit , as he thought he ever would be , for his entrance examination . The Colonel lost no time in posting to Simpson Hall , luxuriating in the hope of finding his nephew ground to a point , and in short , facttcs ad wiguem for the intellectual ordeal he was about to undergo ; but alas ! poor Phil was never destined to be a tree
in the grove of the Academy . " After settling a few necessary preliminaries , Phil took his departure , receiving a maudlin tear from his father , and a caution against Botany Bay , and leaving his poor mother nearly broken hearted , and almost suffocated with wild convulsive sobs ; and with his uncle for cicerone was soon making rapid way towards the metropolis .
Phil had no . buoyant feeling that " the world was all before him , " he was very little affected by the aspirations of hope , or the tremblings of fear , beyond the wish for a speedy return , and the horror of books and tutors ; he had no yearnings of that youthful ambition which generally absorbs the bitterness of a first parting from the home of our childhood ,