to the
field as spectators. Sometimes a lighted balloon or two, of varied
colours, would be sent up, which were watched by the bright eyes of
sisters and cousins, until they were lost in the distance.

At length the conflagration was reduced to smouldering ashes, and all
retired; but on our way back to the school house there were often rough
doings, between the town boys and bull-dogs; free vent was given to
spite, and a broken or bruised head, or body, might be the result; but we
made no complaint; as loyal subjects we had done our duty in protesting
against all such underhand doings as "Gunpowder Plot;" and, after a
hearty supper, given by our kind Head Master, we enjoyed the rest, well
earned by the exertions and trials of the day.

We have now said enough of the school, its institutions and customs,
under a regime which has passed away, doubtless never to return; _tempora
mutantur_.

Of the modern school we may here say that it is now doing useful work,
although with a different class of pupils to those above referred to; and
in the near future, it is hoped, that further changes will give it a
still higher position in educational work. Under Dr. A. G. Madge, who
retired and accepted church preferment in 1907, the school was made to
meet the requirements of the Oxford and Cambridge local examinations, the
London University Matriculation, and the South Kensington Science and Art
Departments.

In late years boys from the school have filled posts in various parts of
the world with credit. A considerable number have obtained clerkships in
banks, or in the Civil Service; one boy, Richard Gordon Healey, passed
7th among more than a hundred candidates for the General Post Office
service, London, and is now in the excise service. Another, Fairburn, is
Assistant Inspector of Police at Singapore. Another, Isle, is a Civil
Engineer, and has taken the B.Sc. degree. A summary of successes at the
school, kindly supplied to the writer by Dr. Madge, shows that in the
last seven years (1906) five boys have passed the London University
Matriculation, 19 the Cambridge local examination, 34 the South
Kensington examination, while four have qualified for the public Civil
Service; a creditable result for a town of the size of Horncastle.

[Picture: The Seal of the Grammar School]

A recent change has been the admission of pupil teachers to classes
specially adapted to their requirements, and with this accessio