ate.

Once a well-to-do Afghan brought down his three sons to place them in
our hostel, and told me I might use any means I liked to discipline
them, short of shooting them. He had evidently found them too much
of a handful himself. They had been accustomed to run wild in a wild
country, and any idea of sitting still in a classroom to learn lessons
seemed to have never entered their heads. They seemed so accustomed to
the use of knife and revolver that the other boys, Afghans though they
were, came to ask me to take precautions for their safety. Finally,
when I had to "discipline" them, and that was not before very long,
they all three disappeared, and I never saw them till, some years
later, I visited their village.

Once a Government civilian wrote asking me to take a young ward of
court into my hostel. The account of him was not promising, as,
though only sixteen, he had been turned out of two schools for
misconduct. His family was of noble Afghan descent, but had been
bereft of most of its male members owing to the wretched blood-feuds,
and this boy was now the head of the family. Hoping to be able yet
to save him and to make him a power for good instead of for evil,
as he must by his position become one or other, I consented, and a
day was appointed for his admission. The day passed, but the boy did
not appear. I then got a letter from the officer responsible for him,
saying that as he had just murdered his younger brother, the hope of
his schooling must be abandoned.

Some of the masters of the little Government primary schools in the
more remote parts lead very unenviable lives, especially if they happen
to be Hindus. Their pupils often defy their authority, and they are
afraid to chastise them. I have myself seen a boy allowed to sit in
class with a loaded revolver in his belt. The unwillingness of the
master to enforce his authority is excusable, yet, had he complained,
he would merely have lost his place and his pittance. On another
occasion I came upon a poor Hindu schoolmaster in a certain village
who was about to send in his resignation. He had punished a boy for
playing truant, and the father had just been round with a loaded
rifle and dared him to touch his son again.

In the mission school the work of the day commences with roll-call,
at which a portion of Scripture is read by the headmaster, and
the Lord's Prayer repeated. During the latter the boys have to
stand. They do not object to this, but I