. Charterhouse: old and new. they wereto be attended by one of the Monitors, who sawthat they were fought according to the conceivednotions of equity and justice. A curious factabout School was that no gas had ever beenlaid on into the building. Consequently, when-ever London was enveloped in a pea-soup fog,candles had to be fetched for the Masters, whilethe boys contented themselves with any wax ortallow stumps (known as tollies) they couldprocure. These improvised lights of coursebecame the victims of many practical missiles were clandestinely hurled atthem; at other times th
. Charterhouse: old and new. they wereto be attended by one of the Monitors, who sawthat they were fought according to the conceivednotions of equity and justice. A curious factabout School was that no gas had ever beenlaid on into the building. Consequently, when-ever London was enveloped in a pea-soup fog,candles had to be fetched for the Masters, whilethe boys contented themselves with any wax ortallow stumps (known as tollies) they couldprocure. These improvised lights of coursebecame the victims of many practical missiles were clandestinely hurled atthem; at other times they were mischievouslyextinguished; but most frequently bits of moist-ened blotting-paper, deftly rolled into pills, weresent flying at them from quill pens. If thepaper bullets missed their mark, and struckthe maps instead, great was the resonancethereof, and woe in the shape of an impositiongenerally awaited the luckless dense were some of the metro-politan fogs, and when they intruded themselves. OLD AND NEW 49 into School through key-holes and other crannies,it was impossible to see further than a few yardsahead. There was something rather weird, there-fore, in the presence of the innumerable waxlights. I remember, about ten oclock onemorning in November, the whole of Charter-house being enveloped in total darkness forthree quarters of an hour. It was neither anordinary nor an extraordinary fog, but completeStygian, Cimmerian, Egyptian darkness. Atemporary pall rested over the entire some few of the younger boys it actuallystruck dismay. To play football in one of thedense Novembrian fogs was a feat provocativeof much mirth ; the ball frequently losing itselffor many minutes at a time. Hockey, also, wasplayed in thick fogs; two huge candles at eachend of Under Green serving as space for goal. As we are now in the inner sanctuary, so tospeak, of Charterhouse, let me endeavour todescribe its aspect. It formed, as it were, onelarge square d
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcharter, bookyear1895
