every boy and man in the place.
He was always the leader, though I believe
that he was keenly alive to the danger to him-
self of the pride of self-will. One of his say-
ings to his men was, " A schoolmaster must
THE DOCTOR'S TALKS 71
learn to be disobeyed." I remember, as a man,
receiving a rebuke that gave me food for
thought. I differed from him on the expedi-
ency of some rule because of the impossibility
of enforcing it. " You mean," he said, " the
impossibility of not having your own way."
In his talks to the boys he showed scant
sympathy with the ordinary schoolboy code
of fellowship. He knew its power, however,
and he was often at much pains to show the
true relation of the individual to the crowd,
as well as to his fellow. " Friendship " was a
frequent theme, and "mutual help" was often
the end of his talks. I remember once his
beginning in some such way as this : " What is
it that you look for when you are choosing
a friend ? I have seen a boy not altogether
blessed with friends suddenly become a centre
of admii-ation. He has arrived from town with
a pound of toffy ; he has begun to wear a new
and well-cut coat, or he has made a top score."
After a few light touches of this sort, he
would tell a story of what some boy had done
for his friend, dwelling on those unselfish
traits which make for friendship, and so de-
scribing the joy of interdependence of char-
acter as to arouse in us new desires. He was
72 MEMORIES OF A GREAT SCHOOLMASTER
a great believer in the one friend. In a little
society which he fostered among the boys,
one of the objects was to lead fellows to look
out for and befriend those who needed help.
Another was to induce boys to speak out
boldly for the right. Indeed, these were key-
notes of his own character, which in many
ways he impressed upon the school. The
motto of our only other society, the Missionary
Society, was Non nobis sed aliis.
At the beginning of the term we were
pretty sure to have a talk on bullying : " It is
such a pleasure to bring tears to a fellow's
eyes ! Such a noble enjoyment to put others
in pain ! Such a brave thing to be one of a
crowd to torment a fellow fresh from home,"
or " so honorable to attack one weaker than
yourself ! If you must show your prowess pray
take — " mentioning a school-giant ; " there
would be some glory in that. You have come
from refined and gentle homes, and it goes
without saying that this kind of thing is not
worthy of you. But let me say distinctly that
no bully will be tolerated here." His whole
nature was aroused by cruelty ; and woe to the
boy who took these words lightly !
Another subject of these talks was " slang."
THE DOCTOR'S TALKS 73
He objected to useless vulgar expressions.
The habitual chasteness of his own speech
made it all the more striking when he said one
evening, " What would you think if you heard
me ' darn it ' or take my oath * By Jove ? ' If
not for me, why for you " ? A practical talk
on the absurdity and weakness of interlarding
one's conversation with slang turned many a
boy to a permanent effort to reform. But in
regard to expressions that bordered on swear-
ino- or " the use of sacred names in a li2;ht and
thoughtless way," the Doctor was very pro-
nounced. In this there was no hair-splitting,
but a straight direction as against swearing
itself. We were not allowed to use sacred
names in declamation exercises and the like,
and we were directed to change the words of
some of our song's which seemed to us harm-
less enousfh. "Homer's Iliad" was to be the
refrain of "Bingo" instead of "Balm of
Gilead."
A test of the power of these talks would
appear in the faithful way in which many
customs were established and maintained,
customs which could rely on nothing but
public spirit. A good instance of this was the
universal habit of Bible reading in the school.
74 MEMORIES OF A GREAT SCHOOLMASTER
When Bible hour came, every boy, so far as I
could see, would take out his Bible and read
the chapter. A story that the Doctor told us
one Thursday evening made a great impression,
mostly from the manner of the telling, for the
matter was simple enough.
" You know that one of our traditions es-
tablished here from the beginning is ' Bible
hour.' I had a letter some years ago from an
old boy who had been through the last years
of the war. He wrote to tell me of the death
in battle of another old boy, with whom he had
been associated. He was a wild fellow and
had disgraced his family and broken his mo-
ther's heart ; but he had done noble service in
the field, and the writer felt that I would like
to know how he had retrieved himself ; and he
wanted to tell me that, no matter how tired
or how drunk, when that fellow came into his
tent at night he always took out and read a
little Bible which he carried in his pocket, and
said, ^ Now we '11 have Bible hour.' When he
was brought in dead, there was the book in
his breast."
In later years when I was a master among
the boys, the effect of his talks was very ap-
parent. Though I no longer heard them, I
THE DOCTOR'S TALKS 75
generally knew what had been the subject
from changes in the boys' tone, as well as
in more direct ways. One of many special
cases occurs to me. Some of the younger boys
were banded together for no good purpose.
I could not lay my finger exactly on the
trouble, and one day, when I asked a leader
among them what was up, he said, "You need
not worry about that ; the Doctor broke that
up by his lecture."
Nothing could exceed the dexterity, as well
as force, with which in these talks the Doctor
touched upon all matters that affected the
inner life of the school as well as of the boy,
— purity, unselfishness, reverence, gentleness,
manhness, truthfulness, honesty, friendship,
and habits of prayer, study, order, and good
manners. He was a thorough believer in the
power of habit, and he was constantly shaping
his policy to " form habits." I remember a
talk on the " habit of an outdoor life." He
marked the tendency of some to shun the cold
and the rough games of winter. I can see
him now as he threw back his shoulders with
a great breath, and spoke of the joy of battling
with the storm, and of the poverty of a life
shut indoors.
76 MEMORIES OF A GREAT SCHOOLMASTER
The Thursday evening lecture was, as I
have said, never a direct appeal to school
order or discipline ; but it was sometimes an
outcome of some breach which had been dealt
with at the proper time. I shall never forget
the awe that fell upon the room one night
when, in some matter of theft, after oppor-
tunity had been given for confession with no
results, the Doctor said, " Then we have a
thief among us."
Again, on another occasion, after a boy had
been promptly sent home for using unfair
means at an examination, our hearts stood
still as he said, " No boy who is a cheat can
possibly live here." This personal reference
was almost unique as far as my experience
goes, for while the Doctor was unbending
and sometimes bitter against the sin, he ever
had mercy for the sinner. Though his words
were often severe, we always took them at
their face value, for his character was such as
to tally exactly, and we knew that he meant
what he said, for he not only said but lived.
It is with regret that I turn from the Thurs-
day evening lecture. There all the secret
springs of school life were cleared of the mud
of evil spirits ; there so many slipping anchors
THE DOCTOR'S TALKS 77
found bottom to bold all tbrougb a man's life.
But tbe temptation to dwell on tbese life-
giving bours of long ago, now so moulded
bebind a man's own experience, is sure to
lead to an undue coloring of tbe picture of
tbis great master of boys. It was bere tbat
tbe man became intimately known in tbat wide
manliness tbat included tbe gentleness and
sympatby of tbe woman ; bere be was botb
fatber and motber ; it was bere tbat be mainly
laid tbe foundation in our bearts of tbose
traditions wbicb governed tbe scbool, and so
impressed bimself in tbem as to make it im-
possible for a bad boy to continue long at St.
Paul's. In spite of tbe evil everywbere, no
form of wickedness could become fasbionable :
a boy wbo set about inculcating tbe " ways
of otber places " soon found bimself in tbe
minority. I recall most distinctly tbe prompt-
ness witb wbicb a certain boy in our fiftb
form was put down, wben be enunciated tbe
principle tbat a man bad a rigbt to use for-
bidden belps in an examination if be was
watcbed ; be maintained tbat tbe fact of being
watcbed by a master lifted tbe bond from bis
bonor. A congenial spirit wbo sat rigbt be-
bind me immediately reported tbis view to
78 MEMORIES OF A GREAT SCHOOLMASTER
bis neighbors (we were just about to have a
written examination), with a vague hope of
corroboration ; but he got scant attention, save
a fling or two, " Bill, you 're a fool," " You
had better not try that here."
As I write, another scene comes to mind :
*' John Smith told a He to Mr. Harrison, and
he is writing his English all over again ; come
and look at him." With three or four others
I went to the school-room door, and we stood
there for some minutes, gazing at the culprit
as he bent over his book, and whispering to-
gether of the facts of this disgrace. " He is
only a new fellow, anyhow," one remarked as
we turned away. It was not the fashion to
lie, even to a master.
Those who studied in the Lower, or in
old Number 3, did not hear so much talk.
The Doctor was always more or less annoyed
by the restlessness of the little fellows, and
felt that with them words could be easily
overdone. He was always divided in feeling
between his duty to make the effort and his
distaste to talk to unattentive ears. When he
broke his leg, it was by slipping on the ice as
he was going into Number 3 one evening for
a talk. Afterwards he said to me, " It has
THE DOCTOR'S TALKS 79
been a mistake, my going over there so often,
and this is a judgment on me."
There was almost always a talk on Satur-
day afternoon at the calling in for weekly
" marks ; " and this occasion also had its own
round of subjects, namely, those of school
order or school work. " If you were all boys
of another kind, it would, perhaps, be right
to have here a system of espionage. But
consider what that would mean, and how our
pleasant relations would be marred.'^ The
Doctor would then put some matter of school
order in a light entirely novel to the ordinary
boy; he would start a youngster's mind to
reason on a different plane, threading his logic
through and through with lines of humor, and
pleadings for one's own best interests, ending
in some such way as this : " I can foresee that
some of you are setting out to spoil your year.
Nothing will come of it but disappointment
to yom'self and to your home. Now, do lay
this to heart."
It is the first Saturday afternoon of the
year. We are all in or about the school-room,
washed and brushed. New boys are feeling
a little more at home, especially those who
have been fortunate enough to have gotten
80 MEMORIES OF A GREAT SCHOOLMASTER
into some game for the afternoon. Talk is
running high on the chances of the clubs
for the year, while old boys are gathering
in knots about the likeliest-looking new boys,
presenting their rival claims. " You 're an
Old Hundred, I can tell it by your eye."
" No ! No ! he is an Isthmian ! You 've pro-
mised, haven't you?" and so on, in much
good-natured and bewildering banter, till
suddenly there falls a hush, and gradually per-
fect qiiiet, as the Doctor comes in with a broad
roll of paper in his hand. Whatever this man
carried became at once a wand of office and
added to his dignity. As we went to our
desks, the sixth form and some of the fifth
began to file in with chairs till the aisle and
space about the dais were completely filled.
(In the new school-room these boys had stalls
about the sides of the room.) " We have
started on another term of work. Some of
you for the first time are learning what it is
to be away from home. I pray that no boy
brings anything here that will shame this
place, or learns anything here which would
make him blush before his mother.
" In a large company of this sort it is neces-
sary to have some restraints which are not
THE DOCTOR'S TALKS 81
required at home. But Ave shall not call them
rules ; in one sense of the word we have no
rules but the rule of the gentleman. Com-
mon sense and good breeding dictate what is
fitting in a place like this. Our traditions
have grown from the beginning, and I count
on you all to help me in fixing these firmly in
our hfe. You can readily understand that we
must have fixed customs to keep this great
company in harmony and to accomplish any
adequate result. I wish all to have as much
liberty as is compatible with our well-being
as a household. You will please observe that,"
etc. Here followed a precise statement of the
few rules as to " bounds," " punctuality," etc.,
suggestions as to hours of recreation, and a
promise that he himself would give a prize at
the end of the year for the best collection of
wild flowers and one for the best collection
of minerals. " Most of our neighbors here
are our good friends and I wish to keep them
as friends, so you will be careful not to inter-
fere with their belongings. It is absolutely
necessary that you do not traffic with them
in any way. And when you have permission
to go into the town you will please deal with
Mr. A. and Mr. B. They count on us for
82 MEMORIES OF A GREAT SCHOOLMASTER
their support and I can really rely on them
to deal fairly by you."
It is easy to see how this style of talk
wrought a spirit of confidence and loyalty,
magnifying each one's responsibility, as well
as the high import of the school.
Then, unfolding the large sheet in his hand,
he explained the system of " marks," and the
honors to be won, and awarded at the end of
the year. As there were no " marks "to be
read on the first Saturday, he proceeded to
call the roll of the school. As he concluded
he said, with a tone of love and reverence :
" To-morrow is your first Sunday, — for some
of you the first Sunday ever spent away from
your own homes. I do pray that you will
make it a helpful day, one and all. It is the
first day of a new week ; it is God's day, and
each of us must keep it for Him. There will
be a short lesson to learn; but you will have
ample time for walking and reading and writ-
ing home. The books of every-day are to be
put by, so that you may observe a marked
change from the rest of the week. If there is
any doubt about the kind of book to read,
come and consult with myself. One of the
older boys will open the Sunday library after
THE DOCTOR'S TALKS 83
breakfast, and you will find there a very suit-
able collection. But the surest way to keep
ourselves in tune is for each to join heartily
in the chapel services. At seven o'clock there
is a celebration of the Holy Communion
for the older ones, and communicants of the
household. There is the place to meet your
Lord and to begin the week in His presence.
Speak to me in my study this evening, if you
wish to be present at that service. I should
like to be notified at once of any new boys
who are communicants.
" Now, do take heart and buckle to ; you
will soon be accustomed to new surroundings ;
and it will be such a joy to bring home at
Christmas a good report ! "
" Home-coming " was often the theme of
these talks. I seem to hear even now the
words, " Five weeks from this hour most of
you will be once more in your homes sur-
rounded by those who love you best in the
world. What a difference to them if you have
done your duty here ! Reports do not always
tell. But there is a sure happiness to mother
and boy for him who has done his best."
CHAPTEK VI
THE PLAYGKOUND
For his knowledge of the playground and his
wise appreciation of manly sport we have to
thank the Doctor's native intuition rather than
any practical experience. We sometimes for-
got that his study window commanded a view
of the whole ground (now devoted to the
Lower School) ; I saw him actually on the
field but once. Mrs. Coit and the Doctor
would sometimes stroll after tea on the path
that skirted the pond, and on various occa-
sions he would be seen looking on from the
road, or even at the "lower grounds " in later
times. On the occasion in mind the Doctor
was to our eyes the principal man in the
game. It happened on this wise : With some
other little fellows I was returning from a
chestnut raid one Saturday afternoon, when,
as we crossed the bridge, we heard cheering
and saw a compact group of boys on the play-
ground. There seemed to be little going on
but some kind of " horse-play," yet suddenly
THE PLAYGROUND 85
the Doctor sailed across the lawn and made
straight for the scene of action. As he ap-
proached, all fell back, and disclosed a tipsy
man, standing foolishly in the midst. The
Doctor walked deliberately up to him, and,
while all stood amazed, took him firmly by
the collar, and at arm's length marched him
out to the middle of the road, and turning
him right about toward Farmer Hall's, gave
him a gentle push, with the words, " Go home
at once ! " Fifteen years afterwards I hap-
pened on this same man "doing chores" on
the top of Flagstaff Hill, and he remembered
the above incident, but with only kindly feel-
ings tow^ard Doctor Coit. The Doctor's firm-
ness and efficiency on this occasion led us to
manufacture all sorts of tales about his pro-
digious strength and athletic prowess. Though
I still believe that his nervous force was
capable of surprising results, yet, in truth, of
muscle he had none. I cannot conceive of his
ever having taken part in any game. He once
said to me that he had never felt equal to
games as a boy, but when he did play that he
remembered doing it with great enthusiasm. I
imagine that his energies had always gone out
to purely intellectual effort. He never had any
86 MEMORIES OF A GREAT SCHOOLMASTER
athletic ambition, and he heartily agreed with
the Psalmist, that "The Lord delighteth not
in any man's legs." It was certain that we
considered him far above all these things, — a
man of another kind, a sort of an angel. But
no schoolmaster more thoroughly appreciated
the influence of the playground. The very
fact of the Doctor's distance from our boyish
love of sport, and his evident ignorance of the
technique, combined with his unfailing inter-
est, kept the whole thing in its proper place
in the school. The responsibility for ordering
and leading the games thus devolved upon the
older boys, with whom some of the masters
were wont to join, but simply as fellow-players.
Football, cricket, rowing, shinney, skating,
and coasting, — all held sway, each in its own
time. Some members of the sixth will remem-
ber how much quiet suggestion came from the
Doctor to create what seemed to be only spon-
taneous play. Do you not recall the challenge
to a " friendly game of cricket " from the two
club captains to the Lower School? What
swipes over the shed and through the win-
dows ! But the little fellows had their en-
thusiasm aroused by the notice from the great
men of the school. In the same way " prison-
THE PLAYGROUND 87
ers' base," " peel away," and other rollicking-
games were set going on off afternoons. The
same tactics were pursued in keeping out
games that were " not convenient." Beyond
a spasmodic life in the late fall and early
spring, baseball could make no head. The
game was never forbidden, or even publicly
alluded to, but somehow a boy felt like a
culprit when he played what we were pleased
to call the national g-ame. I remember once
that some talk came back to the Doctor of
baseball havino- been forbidden at St. Paul's.
He took occasion to say in the school-room
that " I never have forbidden and never will
forbid any manly game." Though some good
and loyal fellows never could submit kindly
to this feeling against their favorite sport, yet
the very large majority fell into line, it seems
to me to their own advantagfe. The tone of
our playground was certainly far ahead of
that of any place where modern baseball
rules. As to the individual, one generally
feels that his own experience is typical, —
namely, that of a baseball lover taking up
cricket " because the Doctor wanted it," learn-
ing the game, liking it, gradually realizing
its moral effect on one's life, and ending by
88 MEMORIES OF A GREAT SCHOOLMASTER
placing it ahead of any other one game or
study in developing the best powers of a boy.
Intuition and long experience as an interested
observer, I believe, brought Dr. Coit to much
the same conclusion.
But he never could exalt a mere game of
any kind. " Now just look at Tom Brown,"
to a group of boys standing about him at
noon in the school-room. It was one of the
first dry days of the spring. We all looked
out, and there were Tom and several others
over on the old clay crease getting ready for
cricket ; he had taken off his linen shirt and
tied his head up in a pocket handkerchief
and was just then in the act of taking off his
suspenders to tie them round his waist ; this
was the approved fair-weather costume for
bowlers. The Doctor, however, remarked,
" He looks as if he was going to undress com-
pletely ; my dear, just run and tell him to re-
frain ; he must put on his hat and shirt and
vest." To the end of his days the Doctor never
could see why a fellow needed to undress in
order to play. He was constantly giving little
directions about coats and hats. One day,
cool for the time of year, he said that all
must wear their coats except the batters and
THE PLAYGROUND 89
bowlers, pronouncing the " bow " in "bowler,"
like "bow" of a ship, as some of the English
do, which made his remarks seem all the
more to come from the distance of the stars.
This seemingly impractical and far-away point
of view but added to our feeling of rev-
erence and awe towards the man. No matter
how successful the athlete or how glorified
by the boys, never did he feel at St. Paul's
that he was the man his brother scholar was.
The very way in which the Doctor would
praise a boy for his prowess, while it gave
genuine pleasure, never unduly exalted. In
his study, surrounded with his books, while a
new boy, rather homesick, was under the
other-world spell of the place, the Doctor
could afford to say to the little lad, " Jack, I
hear that you are famous at football ; " or he
would stop in a stroll along the edge of the
field to reward a boy by a smile, or a " Well
done." I stood next him once at such a time
and heard him say, " Who would ever have
thought that fellow had such go?"
If we played any outside cricket team, he
was always emphatic, however, that we should
win. One summer the school eleven got to-
gether in the middle of the vacation under
90 MEMORIES OF A GREAT SCHOOLMASTER
a too zealous captain, to play a return match
with a team which we had beaten in the
spring ; we were disastrously defeated. You
may be sure that there was a " rod in soak"
for us on our return to the school.
He never allowed boys to leave the school
during term to play any game ; and it was with
evident misgiving that he allowed matches
even at the end of term, or visiting teams
during term: these were favors granted only
to cricket.
While we played, the Doctor would gener-
ally be found visiting the sick and sorrowing
in the country ; or, as Mr. Hunt used to say,
"browsing around" his bookstore in the town.
Barring his boys and his few friends, what he
loved the best in the world, as we have said
before, was the inside of a book, and next to
that the outside. Bats and balls had no charms
for him except as means with which to open a
boy's soul.
The important place held by outdoor life
at St. Paul's was due not only to the Doctor's
appreciation of the necessity of keeping boys
healthfully occupied, but also to his unfailing
respect for the individual. So considerate was
he in this regard, that almost any privilege
THE PLAYGROUND 91
would be granted to a boy if it was asked for
in the proper spirit. Wondering at the liberty
to certain boys to keep pets, a boy once said,
" I believe that the Doctor would give us leave
to have an elephant, if I just asked." And as
to the o^ames, much was left to the initiative
of the individual. I thank my stars that when
captain of an eleven I had no manager. As
noted above, the masters played freely with us,
but played as fellows, and we enjoyed their fel-