Death of a Fag

"The second stroke fell. How damnably timed they were! The time taken in handing the cane over to the next monitor and his run across the library was just enough for Colin to realize the sickness of the pain of the first blow without any of its sting wearing off. . . . Two more! How they could lay in! And only half. He began to feel sick. . . ."

Thus does Derek Walker-Smith, 19, record one brutal incident engendered by the time-honored British public school "fagging" system, in his recently published novel Out of Step. Thoughtful English parents last fortnight had their attention directed to an incident of much more gravity, a far sterner condemnation of fagging.

One Geoffrey Fairhurst, 14, clergyman's son, at home on vacation, brooded over his return to Sedbergh school and the hardships and servitude imposed upon "new boys" by their schoolmates. Rather than return, he hanged himself.

Although "fagging" has been abolished at some institutions, many a middle and upper-class Englishman likes to believe that the rigors of public school life fit youngsters to become Backbone-of-the-Empire. Evidence of the childish cruelty which Fag Fairhurst was made to suffer was given at the coroner's inquest.

Asked by the coroner to describe the routine to escape which Fag Fairhurst had killed himself, one witness explained: "Each new boy is expected to do 20 'fags' or acts of service, a week. Each new boy is asked to do these 'fags' for a prefect who in some cases is in a lower form. The 'fags' are expected to run at the call of a prefect, and the first arrival receives a mark and the others receive no marks. Each boy runs 50 times and is expected to make 20 marks a week. If he has not gained these marks he is judged by the prefect and 'billed.' "

Coroner: What does "billed" mean?

Witness: Beaten.

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