ols are managed by the great
teaching orders, especially by the Jesuits, and managed at astonishingly
low cost. They give everywhere more than value for the fees which they
receive. No unendowed institution could compete with them; and it
practically comes to this, that the regular clergy subsidise education
with their own unpaid labour and even with their own funds, in order to
maintain their influence over the faith and morals of their country.
Whether it might be more to the advantage of Irish parents to pay more
and get something different, is another question; but those of us who
least like the exclusive delegation of these important functions to the
priesthood, cannot but admire the thoroughness and consistency with
which the Catholic priesthood's idea is carried out. It would be hard to
overstate the moral effect of that vast organised system of
self-sacrifice and self-suppression.

Three or four points may be noted in relation to these schools. One is,
that in all classrooms and playgrounds, a master is always present.
Comparing this with the system in vogue at many English schools, under
which a boy out of school hours is always forced to live in public by
rules which compel him either to be playing some game or looking on
while others play, I prefer the system of frank supervision, as leaving
more individual freedom and choice of pursuits, and as making serious
bullying impossible. Generally, the idea that it is good for a boy to be
knocked about without stint is foreign to Irish ideas. A pleasant and
characteristic feature of Jesuit schools is the habit of telling off
some boy to act as companion and cicerone to a newcomer for his first
week or fortnight; and the ridiculous English fashion which prescribes
that the smallest fag should be described as a "man" is unknown.
Christian names, not surnames, are used generally. The unpopularity of
boarding schools in Ireland is due to the great value set upon home
life; and an Irish boarding school is far less distinct from home life
than an English one.

English eyes would be surprised and a good deal shocked by the presence
of a billiard table in every playroom; yet it may fairly be argued that
it is wise to limit the number of things that have the fascination of
the forbidden. A more serious criticism would address itself to the
permitted slovenliness. Untidiness amounts to a national vice in
Ireland, and, though one may overstate its gravity, the secondary
scho