he least teachable is the Londoner. A countryman is fresh clay to the
potter's hands, the Londoner has much to unlearn before he can be
taught.

While these men are undergoing their training, they are not
uncomfortable. Peel House has all the comforts and conveniences of a big
hotel and club. Each man has his own cubicle; there are a billiard-room,
a library, gymnasium, shooting gallery, scrupulously kept dining-rooms
and kitchens, and, for the primary purpose of the school, a number of
class-rooms.

Mr. Gooding holds no light responsibility. His duty is to see that no
man leaves the school to be attached to a division who is in the
faintest degree lacking in all that goes to make an officer of the
Metropolitan Police.

Tactful and sympathetic, a shrewd judge of character, able to
discriminate between nervousness and stupidity, a disciplinarian, with a
gift of lucid exposition, an organiser, and a man with a fixed belief in
the honourable nature of his calling. That is Superintendent Gooding,
and his characteristics are reflected in his staff.

As the _corps d'elite_ of the police services of the world, the
Metropolitan Police is careful in the selection of its men. Before a
candidate is admitted to Peel House he must prove that he is of
unblemished good character, be over twenty and under twenty-seven years
of age, stand at least 5 ft. 9 ins. in his bare feet, and be of a strong
constitution, free from any bodily complaint.

Then he is passed on to the school, which will be his home for at least
eight weeks--unless before that time he is shown to be obviously unfit
for the service. There he will work from nine in the morning till
half-past seven at night, learning the thousand and one laws, written
and unwritten, that a policeman has to obey. In cold black and white the
curriculum, of which even a summary would occupy many thousand words,
looks formidable. But so minutely, so lucidly is everything taught that
a man of average intelligence finds no difficulty in grasping it.

Every contingency that a constable may have to face, from dealing with
insecure cellar flaps to the best method of stopping a runaway horse, to
action in cases of riot, and the privileges of Ambassadors is gone into.
Nothing is omitted. And day after day the instructors insist: "Remember,
the honour of the service is in your hands; you are to serve, not to
harass, the public."

That is dwelt upon and reiterated until it is indelibly impress