Memoirs of Six Reigns.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 5 February 1912, Page 4

Memoirs of Six Reigns.

DEATH OF A CLERIC OF THE OLD SCHOOL. (!() YEARS IN ONI? PARISH. STAGE COACH ECHOES AND STORTES OF ARNOLD. At, Bournemouth. M'here lie had gone for a win (or holiday, tlierc. pas,sor] away {lie Rev. -lolni Hnskvns, rector of Aston Tyrrold, four miles south-west of Wallingford, in Berkshire, and ninth baronet of a. family famous in English history.

Born aw far back as 1817, that is to sav, two years after tho battle of Waterloo, Sir John Tloskvne lived under six English Sovereigns. When he was in his cradle George TIT. was King, a poor, mad old man, blind and helpless, but still remembering sometimes tho victories and conquests which had made his reign glorious. "The First Gentleman of Europe" was Regent, and afterwards became King George TV. Ah ei schoolboy of 13 years old Sir John TToskyns heard (lie 'boll-: toll for the. death of George and ring out for the new King William IV. PANORAMA OF NATIONAL CHANGES. TTe was a young man at 20 nnd one of the most brilliant scholars of Balliol College, Oxford, when all the romance in the- hearts of England was stirred by the accession of a young girl to tho Throne as Queen Victoria. Ho lived all through tho Victorian era. nnd had been an eyewitness of all 11ie changes that altered the social, industrial, and political life of England during lhat wonderful reign changes so marvellous that the world of his boyhood seenit-i as far removed from modern life as (hough ii belonged to the Middle Ages. Throughout the reign of Kin;; Edward Sir John TToskyns served his flock, and into the reign of King George V.

.Sir .To>],'n war-; horn at- Boss. in Herefordshire. where hi? father, the Btli baronet, wjik a groat comity gentleman. keeping open house and living in t»l10 grand manner of "aPine old "English .lieiitloHir.ii, all of the olden time"- until misfortune overtook linn nikl impoverished his estn to. There wore no railway trains in those days, and Sir John's onrlic.st recoiled ion was when, an a small boy, with a l)i<r box, ho mounted tin' stage coach on his \vnv In school. T jt liil! i'ukl down dale wont thai co.aeh with a tantivy of tlio horn and a crack of Iho whip, and a .ureal bustle and fuss at evorv on lhc road, where tlio travellers got down to st-rolch tlioir legs and -stomp their foot, nnd drink strong liecr ;md w'irni wine before the roaring fire in Mr,.- inn's parlor. "At every lull." said Sir John, "tlio guard would will upon the gent lemon to down and walk, and wc would trudge behind the lurching eo'ich. throucrh the snow drills or Hie sleet, until wo came to the erect of the hill." A journey lik<-> 111 is: was an adventure in Mie 111 c ii{ a sm-ull bov nev<>r fo he forgotten. There were util! highwaymen on the roads, and i( was in the davs when manv a gentleman took off his coat to fight an insolent osiler. and when tlie roads were filled wifh desperate tramps, who had .served with Wellington in tlio Peninsula or with Nelson at Trafalgar, and now found it hard to get an honest livinoj.

Pho industrial conditions of life in Kngland during Ibo early manhood of Sir .Tohn Tdosl •cvn.s were innpalin";. had been introduced into the facfori<>s. and human lives were treated as though thev, ton. were nifieibine-ninde and machinedriven. 'I hero were thousands of child slaves in tl" 1 cotton mills op Lancashire, Hvained to the looms and suffering cruelties worse than those meted out to the negro slaves those melted out to the negro slaves 'if the American plantations. It was only in 1833 that children under 1G v. ere limited to half a (lav's work, and that women had their hours fixed at not more than 12 a day. Tn the country districts: life was as primitive in the worst period of the Middle Ages, and when Sir .lohn TToskyns first became a clergyman he found his Hock not much better than savages in their habits and conditions. BEGINNING OF A NEW EllA. But the light of a new social order was just beginning to dawn j when he 'became .a schoolboy, at Rugby, under Dr Arnold, the host and wisest of schoolmasters. His predecessor, Dr. Wood, had adopted the old brutal methods of education, with plenty ot flogging and lew ideals. Naturally such methods encouraged equal brutality among the boys, and tor any sensitive youth life at Rugly was torture almost beyond endurance as everyone knows who has read 'Tom Brown's Schooldays.' by Thomas Hughes, who was a schoolfellow of Sir John Hoskvns. Dr. Arnold altered the whole tone of the school. "Ho was « man of the highest ideals and the noblest, sweetest character. 1 have always remembered the influcnco which ho exercised over us. He brought out all that was best in a boy's heart. He crushed all that was worst." He put the boys 011 thoir honour, and checked any attempt to affirm a statement by proof. "If you say so, that is quite enough. Of course, I believe your word," he wouki say, so that there grew up a general tooling that it was a shame to tell Arnold a lie. "He always believes one," said the boys. "I remember," added Sir John Hosykins, "that one boy went to a wayside inn and made himself disgustingly drunk. Dr. Arnold flogged him publicly before the whole school, without mercy. We could not believe such a thing possible, and it made a profound effect upon us all.