56
times three thousand two hundred and thirty eight
In one of his UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER papers ('The Short-Timers')
Dickens describes a visit to a school run by the Stepney Union Board
of Guardians. It combined schooling with naval drill. First of all
Dickens describes the drill and the manning of "a decked mimic ship,
with real masts, yards, and sails mainmast seventy feet high".
"Belay, starboard watch! Fifer! Come aft, fifer, and give 'em a
tune! Forthwith, springs up fifer, fife in hand smallest boy ever
seen big lump on temple, having lately fallen down on a paving
stone gives 'em a tune with all his might and main." When the
manning of the mimic ship had been displayed, the boys came out
with musical instruments and stood in a circle at their music stands.
Dickens soon found himself singing the "praises of a summer's day
to the harmonium This done, we threw our whole power into God
bless the Prince of Wales, and blessed his Royal Highness to such an
extend that, for my own Uncommercial part, I gasped again when it
was over. The moment this was done, we formed, with surpassing
freshness, into hollow squares, and fell to work at oral lessons
Take the square of five, multiply it by fifteen, divide it by three,
deduct eight from it, add four dozen to it, give me the result in
pence, and tell me how many eggs I could get for it at three farthings
a piece. The problem is hardly stated, when a dozen small boys pour
out answers. Some wide, some very nearly right.... For the moment,
none are quite right, but behold a labouring spirit beating the
buttons on its corporeal waistcoat, in a proces of internal calculation
and knitting an accidental bump on its corporeal forehead in a
concentration of mental arithmetic It is my honourable friend,
the fifer. With right arm eagerly extended in token of being inspired
with an answer, and with right leg foremost, the fifer solves the
mystery; the recalls both arm and leg, and with a bump in ambush
awaits the next poser. Take the square of three, multiply it by
seven, divide it by four, add fifty to it, take thirteen from it,
multiply it by two, double it, give me the result in pence, and say
how many halfpence."
