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Article AMABEL VAUGHAN. ← Page 5 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Amabel Vaughan.
felloAv , also showed pretty plainly that something more than noble looks Avere there . He Avas always merry ancl good tempered , a great admirer of the ladies , and a great favourite with , them too , but a man of so volatile a nature that it would be impossible to calm Mm CIOAVU to loA r e or admire any one in particular , so he satisfied himself with being " constant to tAventy . " And yet it Avas said he hacl loved once , ancl that be had been tbe victim of a hopeless attachment . These two bad been at Christ ' s Hospital
together , and both hacl since joined that admirable institution , the Benevolent Society of Old Blues . Fitzgerald had been somewhat thin ancl delicate in youth , and bis career at the Hospital had been marred by an accident , Avhich had lamed him for life , —though Avhen in health this defect was not so observable as at other times .
HoAvever , he Avas not sensitive and touchoy about it as Byron Avas ; ancl often laughed as he told about the old clays at the Blue Coat School , Avhere he Avent by the name of "Skinny Galeeny , " or " Dot-and-go-one , " and where , if all tales were true , he was better known as the leader of an amateur band of Ethiopian Serenaders ( it Avas before the advent of the Christy ' s proper ) than as a 23 roficient in the Schools . In the recent discussion in the newspapers , as to tbe death of poor little Gibbs , he
took the part of the boys ; and I recognised a letter of Ms in tbe " Daily Telegraph , " though Avritten under a nom de plume , that as a bit of autobiography I do not hesitate to reproduce it . and if he eA cr sees these pages , I hope he will forgive me . xlnd any one tinning to the file of the Daily Telegraph for a certain day in July last , Avill find the folloAvbig amongst a number of others on the suicide of Gibbs , and tbe management of the great Hospital .
"Sir , — " I desue to add my testimony to that of WW ., as to the necessity of an hrvestigation into the management and discipline of Christ ' s Hospital . " I entered in 1847 , at Hertford , a delicate sensitive child of seven , witli a tendency
to asbma , and a nervous stammer , contracted in infancy , which made it difficult for me to speak in class . Instead of bebig treated Avith kmdness ancl gentleness , I Avas flogged , I suppose , nearly every clay , Avith a birch rod , whilst under the head grammar master there , AVIIO Avas a clergyman by the way . Sometimes he kicked out of Ms study , ancl called us pigs and brutes . I am sure we Avere brutally used . "But when one or tivo of the governors came down in the summer time , tbe rods , which
Avere kept under Ms desk , were cleared away . He vi r as all suavity ancl graciousness , and some of us Avere invited into his Reverence's garden , to cat bis Reverence ' s fruit . Whilst I Avas there a boy , of the name of Beaumont I believe , Avas flogged so severely by another of the masters Avith a cane as to raise deep blood marks on his hands . The boy pricked one of them , with a pin , I suppose , to ease tbe pain ; mortification set in and be died . As far as I know , no enquiry Avas made in this case .
" In London the flogging by the Masters Avas notn early so bad , but the bullying by the Grecians ancl monitors , particularly the latter , Avas almost unbearable . I can corroborate W . W . ' s statement as to the insufficiency of the food . Except once a year , Avhen we had pease-pudding and pork for dinner , I have no hesitation hi saying , that I never got up from a meal Avithout being more hungry than Avhen I sat down . I Avas very fond of fairy stories , ancl I remember many a time fairing my faby book , or " Arabian Nights
Entertainments , " ancl going to sit in the cloisters on a hot summer ' s clay to read the tales , and try to forget how dreadfully hungry I was , and so to prevent myself from crying from sheer want . Once when I Avas at school during tbe holidays , a lady sent me 5 s . ancl because I would not share it with a big boy , almost a stranger to me , he thrashed me so severely that I was confined to the infirmary for a fortnight . " Dining a dispute with another boy , he threw a piece of glassAvhich cut through one
, of the tendons and veins of my left foot . I got doAvn to the hifirniary with his help , Avhere I bled for two or three hours before the doctor came ; and the first tiring be did Avas to box my ears , because I said it Avas not a stab , Avhich to be sure it looked very much like . I Avas treated for a mere flesh wound , ancl discharged at the end of eig ht
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Amabel Vaughan.
felloAv , also showed pretty plainly that something more than noble looks Avere there . He Avas always merry ancl good tempered , a great admirer of the ladies , and a great favourite with , them too , but a man of so volatile a nature that it would be impossible to calm Mm CIOAVU to loA r e or admire any one in particular , so he satisfied himself with being " constant to tAventy . " And yet it Avas said he hacl loved once , ancl that be had been tbe victim of a hopeless attachment . These two bad been at Christ ' s Hospital
together , and both hacl since joined that admirable institution , the Benevolent Society of Old Blues . Fitzgerald had been somewhat thin ancl delicate in youth , and bis career at the Hospital had been marred by an accident , Avhich had lamed him for life , —though Avhen in health this defect was not so observable as at other times .
HoAvever , he Avas not sensitive and touchoy about it as Byron Avas ; ancl often laughed as he told about the old clays at the Blue Coat School , Avhere he Avent by the name of "Skinny Galeeny , " or " Dot-and-go-one , " and where , if all tales were true , he was better known as the leader of an amateur band of Ethiopian Serenaders ( it Avas before the advent of the Christy ' s proper ) than as a 23 roficient in the Schools . In the recent discussion in the newspapers , as to tbe death of poor little Gibbs , he
took the part of the boys ; and I recognised a letter of Ms in tbe " Daily Telegraph , " though Avritten under a nom de plume , that as a bit of autobiography I do not hesitate to reproduce it . and if he eA cr sees these pages , I hope he will forgive me . xlnd any one tinning to the file of the Daily Telegraph for a certain day in July last , Avill find the folloAvbig amongst a number of others on the suicide of Gibbs , and tbe management of the great Hospital .
"Sir , — " I desue to add my testimony to that of WW ., as to the necessity of an hrvestigation into the management and discipline of Christ ' s Hospital . " I entered in 1847 , at Hertford , a delicate sensitive child of seven , witli a tendency
to asbma , and a nervous stammer , contracted in infancy , which made it difficult for me to speak in class . Instead of bebig treated Avith kmdness ancl gentleness , I Avas flogged , I suppose , nearly every clay , Avith a birch rod , whilst under the head grammar master there , AVIIO Avas a clergyman by the way . Sometimes he kicked out of Ms study , ancl called us pigs and brutes . I am sure we Avere brutally used . "But when one or tivo of the governors came down in the summer time , tbe rods , which
Avere kept under Ms desk , were cleared away . He vi r as all suavity ancl graciousness , and some of us Avere invited into his Reverence's garden , to cat bis Reverence ' s fruit . Whilst I Avas there a boy , of the name of Beaumont I believe , Avas flogged so severely by another of the masters Avith a cane as to raise deep blood marks on his hands . The boy pricked one of them , with a pin , I suppose , to ease tbe pain ; mortification set in and be died . As far as I know , no enquiry Avas made in this case .
" In London the flogging by the Masters Avas notn early so bad , but the bullying by the Grecians ancl monitors , particularly the latter , Avas almost unbearable . I can corroborate W . W . ' s statement as to the insufficiency of the food . Except once a year , Avhen we had pease-pudding and pork for dinner , I have no hesitation hi saying , that I never got up from a meal Avithout being more hungry than Avhen I sat down . I Avas very fond of fairy stories , ancl I remember many a time fairing my faby book , or " Arabian Nights
Entertainments , " ancl going to sit in the cloisters on a hot summer ' s clay to read the tales , and try to forget how dreadfully hungry I was , and so to prevent myself from crying from sheer want . Once when I Avas at school during tbe holidays , a lady sent me 5 s . ancl because I would not share it with a big boy , almost a stranger to me , he thrashed me so severely that I was confined to the infirmary for a fortnight . " Dining a dispute with another boy , he threw a piece of glassAvhich cut through one
, of the tendons and veins of my left foot . I got doAvn to the hifirniary with his help , Avhere I bled for two or three hours before the doctor came ; and the first tiring be did Avas to box my ears , because I said it Avas not a stab , Avhich to be sure it looked very much like . I Avas treated for a mere flesh wound , ancl discharged at the end of eig ht