ide them that mistakes are most liable to be made. I can
myself remember the unhappy state of some solitary and eccentric
schoolfellows of mine who aroused the resentment of "the Herd" by
their behaviour or opinions. If it is clear that the boy has a
peculiar temperament and is likely to suffer in this way, some _via
media_ must be found. The home has failed so that he must leave home
and come under the influence of some one who understands the nature of
the difficulty and can adapt the boy to school life. A change of
environment of this sort as a preliminary to the public school is
often all that is needed. If his age permits, every effort should be
made in this way to obtain for the nervous child who has developed
peculiarities or faults the benefits of a public-school education.

Some types of nervous children will show immediate improvement when
they go to school. The boy who is passionate and disobedient, and
whose parents cannot control him, is best at school. Boys who, from
being much with grown-up people, have become too precocious and have
acquired the habits and tastes of their elders, will dislike school at
first, but it will do them good. Their fault shows that they are quick
to learn and sensitive to the influences of others, and they will soon
adapt themselves to their new surroundings. Boys who are dreamy and
imaginative, who early adopt a "specialist" attitude towards life,
who, however ignorant they may be of everything else, cultivate a
reputation for omniscience in some particular subject, such as
Egyptology, astronomy, or the construction of battleships, are usually
nervous boys whose symptoms will disappear at school. Where undue
timidity, phobia, or habit spasm is present, the question is more
difficult to decide. Every individual case must be studied as a whole,
and our object should be not unnecessarily to deprive the boy of the
wholesome training of public-school life.

There are parents who from sheer ignorance add to the difficulties
which the boy encounters in going to school. Failure to appreciate
very small points may cause unnecessary suffering. To be the only boy
in the school to wear combinations is not a distinction that any new
boy craves, however strong his nerves may be. A friend of mine still
relates with feeling how, twenty years ago, he arrived at school with
shirts which _buttoned_ at the neck! At night when every one else in
the dormitory was asleep he sat for hours on his bed,