Andthisfeelingcarriedhimthroughhisfirstpartingwithhismotherbetterthancouldhavebeenexpected。Theirlovewasasfairandwholeashumanlovecanbe——perfectself-sacrificeontheonesidemeetingayoungandtrueheartontheother。Itisnotwithinthescopeofmybook，however，tospeakoffamilyrelations，orIshouldhavemuchtosayonthesubjectofEnglishmothers——ay，andofEnglishfathers，andsisters，andbrotherstoo。NeitherhaveIroomtospeakofourprivateschools。WhatIhavetosayisaboutpublicschools——thosemuch-abusedandmuch-belaudedinstitutionspeculiartoEngland。
SowemusthurrythroughMasterTom’syearataprivateschoolasfastaswecan。
Itwasafairaveragespecimen，keptbyagentleman，withanothergentlemanassecondmaster；butitwaslittleenoughoftherealworktheydid——merelycomingintoschoolwhenlessonswerepreparedandallreadytobeheard。Thewholedisciplineoftheschooloutoflessonhourswasinthehandsofthetwoushers，oneofwhomwasalwayswiththeboysintheirplayground，intheschool，atmeals——infact，atalltimesandeverywhere，tilltheywerefairlyinbedatnight。
Nowthetheoryofprivateschoolsisorwasconstantsupervisionoutofschool——thereindifferingfundamentallyfromthatofpublicschools。
Itmayberightorwrong；butifright，thissupervisionsurelyoughttobetheespecialworkofthehead-master，theresponsibleperson。TheobjectofallschoolsisnottoramLatinandGreekintoboys，buttomakethemgoodEnglishboys，goodfuturecitizens；andbyfarthemostimportantpartofthatworkmustbedone，ornotdone，outofschoolhours。Toleaveit，therefore，inthehandsofinferiormen，isjustgivingupthehighestandhardestpartoftheworkofeducation。WereIaprivateschool-master，Ishouldsay，Letwhowillheartheboystheirlessons，butletmelivewiththemwhentheyareatplayandrest。