Naughty Tommy

Sunday 26 November 1916: [an anonymous entry in The Ousel, the magazine of Bedford School]

Naughty Tommy: A Tale for the Little Ones

Once upon a time there was a little boy at Bedford School whose name was Tommy. I am sorry to say that Tommy was a very naughty little boy. One of the naughty things he used to do was to write his lessons like a fly that had been nearly drowned in the ink. So his master made him buy a copybook, and made him draw pothooks, although he was a Senior Mon.

When Tommy grew up into a big man he went away to fight, and when he had been fighting a long time he came back home again. One day, after he came back, he wrote a story for the Colonel about what the other soldiers were doing. A colonel is like a master. he punishes soldiers when they are naughty, just as your master punishes you. And it was written so badly that the Colonel could not read it, because it was like a fly that had been nearly drowned in the ink. So the Colonel was very cross, and the Colonel said to Tommy, “You must buy a copybook, and write me out six copies.”

And Tommy did SO wish he had not been such a naughty boy at school.

Source: The Ousel, 2 December 1916 [ref: Z447/23]