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On boys the hold of the morung was far deeper. Unlike the girls, they spent the whole of their time there; they came home only for meals, and when seriously ill. Each morung was the enlarged front porch of a private house. Its owner, always a leading villager, was host and headmaster to the boys, as his wife was matron. He taught them by precept and example in peacetime; he led them in war. |
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But, more important still, the give and take of communal life, the opinions of contemporaries, replaced the disciplinary influence of the father. The people who checked the boy and (83) ordered him round, who told him to wash and twisted his ears if he didn't, were lads of his own age or a little older. He was responsible to a body to which he belonged, of which he was an active member. The system taught early the meaning of co-operation and responsibility. I have known and employed men trained by both methods, the morung and the home; and, where choice existed, I would choose the morung graduates every time. They are of tougher fibre and the rough corners have been rubbed off. They are more self-reliant, with commonsense and better discipline, and above all their loyalty and sense of service to a corporate body is well-developed. They have not lost their individualism; but they have a view of the world in relation to themselves, a grasp of mutual duties as well as rights, a way of giving a fair deal for a fair deal, which is most refreshing. |
