One of us handing two of these whips to a
companion to take his choice, we stood up close together and thrashed
each other on the legs until one succumbed to the intolerable pain and
thus lost the game. Nearly all of our playground games were
strenuous,--shin-battering shinny, wrestling, prisoners' base, and
dogs and hares,--all augmenting in no slight degree our lessons in
fortitude. Moreover, we regarded our punishments and pains of every
sort as training for war, since we were all going to be soldiers.
Besides single combats we sometimes assembled on Saturdays to meet the
scholars of another school, and very little was required for the
growth of strained relations, and war. The immediate cause might be
nothing more than a saucy stare. Perhaps the scholar stared at would
insolently inquire, "What are ye glowerin' at, Bob?" Bob would reply,
"I'll look where I hae a mind and hinder me if ye daur." "Weel, Bob,"
the outraged stared-at scholar would reply, "I'll soon let ye see
whether I daur or no!" and give Bob a blow on the face.
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