Boys Who Are Mad

The great English public is tremendously worked up over the character of fifteen year old boys. The headmaster of Eton has stated in print that "It is only known to schoolmasters, and not to all of them, how large a proportion of boys are a little mad between the ages of 14 and 17. Weird fancies, always egotistic, suspiciousness, moroseness, solitariness, all these are common, but they present most diverse appearances to the observer. Among the rougher boys arson is not infrequent and kleptomania is fairly rampant with all classes." Frankly, the British public doesn't believe it, and it takes every occasion to say so.

The discussion sprang from the suicide of Vivian Tanner, a "Blue Coat" boy of Christ's Hospital, who had been "ragged" for poor playing in a football game. The headmaster of Christ's Hospital was reported to have said that "If a boy acts badly as a linesman a mild kick is not an excessive punishment." The result was a storm of indignant protests. Then Canon Lyttleton of Eton published his opinions including the sentences quoted above. Followed more indignation. Interviews with headmasters, teachers and laymen representing every shade of opinion began to appear in the press. And apparently the controversy is still raging, with the late Lord Salisbury, whose public school experiences were much discussed a few years ago, center of the storm.