Eric, or Little by Little

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On his desk Eric found a torn bit of paper, on which was clumsily scrawled, “I’ll teach you to grin when I’m turned, you young brute.” If you want a practical comment on what we’ve been talking about, you’ll see it there,” said Montagu. That day Eric was to have his first interview with Dr Rowlands. The school had already re-opened, and one of the boys passed by the window while they were breakfasting. He looked very happy and engaging, and was humming a tune as he strolled along. Eric started up and gazed after him with the most intense curiosity. At that moment the unconscious schoolboy was to him the most interesting person in the whole world, and he couldn’t realise the fact that, before the day was over, he would be a Roslyn boy himself. He very much wondered what sort of a fellow the boy was, and whether he should ever recognise him again, and make his acquaintance. Yes, Eric, the thread of that boy’s destiny is twined for many a day with yours; his name is Montagu, as you will know very soon. The bell had just done ringing when they had started for the school, so that Eric knew that all the boys would be by this time assembled at their work, and that he should have to go alone into the middle of them. As he walked after the servant through the long corridors and up the broad stairs, he longed to make friends with him, so as, if possible, to feel less lonely. But he had only time to get out, “I say, what sort of a fellow is Mr Gordon?”

The two sixth-form boys hoped to pass by unobserved, as they did not wish for a rencontre with our hero under such circumstances. But they saw Wildney pointing to them, and, from the fits of laughter which followed his remarks, they had little doubt that they were the subject of the young gentleman’s wit. This is never a pleasant sensation; but they observed that Eric made a point of not looking their way, and went on in silence. Here Eric departs from his predecessors in evangelical tracts, for, unlike them, he has inherent goodness, but it is not enough to ensure salvation, for one must also overcome temptation. Mr. Rose, Eric's mentor at Roslyn, makes this clear in his letter to the schoolboy: I'm not going to spout," he said; "but boys must be boys, and there's no harm in a bit of fun. I for one have enjoyed it, and am much obliged to you for asking me; and now I call for a song."

Very well, Williams, you are placed in the lowest form—the fourth. I hope you will work well. At present they are learning their Caesar. Go and sit next to that boy,” pointing towards the lower end of the room; “he will show you the lesson, and let you look over his book. Barker, let Williams look over you!” Soon after in walked “the young man,” and coming to the astonished Mr Lawley, bowed, scraped, and said, “Master Williams said you sent for me, sir.”

In Norway, Sweden and Finland, the name day for derivations of Erik and Eirik is 18 May, commemorating the death of Saint King Eric IX of Sweden, founder of the royal House of Eric.

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Farrar’s solution is fascinating. He puts masturbation front and centre, as it were, in his novel; and yet does not name it. Instead we get the baffling reference to Kibroth-Hattaavah. Many, indeed, must have been the young 19th-century readers of this novel who came across this passage only to cry out, internally, ‘but what is this terrible sin? Kibroth-Hattaavah — what does that even mean? If I don’t know what it is, how can I ever avoid it?’ Hakuna Matata this is not. Farrar carefully recounts these episodes only to denounce each event as immoral — Eric is invariably caught or claims responsibility for each debacle and duly punished while his superior friends pray for his salvation — he nonetheless makes them very entertaining, which probably explains why Eric enjoyed such popularity in the mid nineteenth-century. The pious moral tone underlying every jaunt must have appealed to adults while there remains just enough excitement to satisfy youthful readers.

What? I’m a liar, am I? Oh, we shall take this kind of thing out of you, you young cub; take that;” and a heavier blow followed. Meanwhile Eric was on the best of terms with the rest of the form, and such of the other boys as he knew, although, at first, his position as a home-boarder prevented his knowing many. Besides Russell, there were three whom he liked best, and respected most—Duncan, Montagu, and Owen. They were very different boys, but all of them had qualities which well deserved his esteem. Duncan was the most boyish of boys, intensely full of fun, good nature, and vigour; with fair abilities, he never got on well, because he could not be still for two minutes; and even if, i

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Mr Gordon heard a whisper, and glanced that way. “Silence!” he said, and Barker pretended to be deep in his work, while Eric, resigning himself to his fate, looked about him. It is getting a common practice with some fellows. One of the ripples, you see, of Brigson’s influence.”