The Making of Wellington College; Being an Account of the First Sixteen Years of Its Existence (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1920 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II "IN THE BEGINNING" TN order to give some idea of what the school was like in those days, I here insert the following reminiscences of the late A. H. Browne, one of the first boys to be educated at Wellington: --On a dark night towards the end of January 1859, on the 20th to be exact, an ancient four-wheeled cab, drawn by an ancient horse, and driven by a still more ancient native, carried a somewhat scared, and already home-sick small boy, over water-logged roadless ways, from York Town to the gaunt, unfinished building rising stark from the surrounding prairie of heather, which formed the outward and visible sign of the Royal and Religious Foundation of Wellington College, opened that very day. Since then he has never received a buffet from a reek of wet paint without that scene being thrown in sharp detail on the screen of his memory, so faithless and capricious in matters of yesterday. The School Authorities seem to have come to the conclusion that a beginning must be made, and so, on the 20th of January 1859 aforesaid, some sixty boys were summoned to make it--the absence of the Great Gate, or any temporary substitute, the allpervading stench of paint, and the lack of any lighting power, other than that obtained from candles, sconced in bottles, notwithstanding, The story of the First Night has often been told, but no record of these early days would be complete without some attempt being made to reconstruct the scene. The strangeness and wildness of our surroundings added, perhaps, to the mental disturbance caused by our being thrown into contact with so many strangers murdered sleep most effectually, and 3 o'clock in the morning, if it did not bring the courage proper to that hour, found us wide awake and restless. The whole school got up an...