Tales of St. Austin's

Tales of St. Austin's is a collection of short stories and essays, all with a school theme, by P. G. Wodehouse.

Venables, of Merevale's House, is the captain of the St Austin's team and tells Scott he needs a player for next Saturday's match against Windybury, on the latter's ground.

Using the string, he makes noises during the night without being caught for a while, but eventually Tony Graham, a prefect in Merevale's who looks after Harrison's dormitory, catches him and punishes him.

Richard went to meet Uncle John at the station, and came across a middle-aged man digging holes in the cricket field.

The other boys in the compartment are amused and don't let Harrison make the stranger leave his seat.

Frederick Wackerbath Bradshaw, once the narrator's classmate, is deceptive and would be brought to court for committing fraud in later years.

Bradshaw had claimed he had seen the Euripides paper in Mr Yorke's classroom but did not realize what it was, and did badly on the exam to not take an unfair advantage.

Mellish is talking to Monsieur Gerard, the French master, when they all hear Bradshaw shouting from the Science Museum room.

The Babe, a skilled rugby player, is a day boy (a student who does not live at the school) but will soon become a boarder and choose a House to join.

Miss Florence Beezley, the Dragon, is a friend of the Babe's sister at Girton, and had visited the MacArthur family before the term started.

"The Manoeuvres of Charteris" is significantly longer than the other stories in the collection and was originally published in two parts.

[1] In a rugby game between St Austin's and the team of a village called Old Crockford, one of the players for St Austin's, Tony Graham, is injured by an opposing bearded player, the secretary of the Old Crockfordians (or the Bargees, as the Austinians call them).

In retaliation, Charteris, of Merevale's House, consistently throws the ball to the bearded player so that Prescott, the hardest tackler in St Austin's, tackles him.

Charteris occasionally goes to the village of Stapleton, which is a mile from St Austin's and off limits to students, for the fun of breaking the rule.

After the man reports him, Charteris reveals he actually had permission to go to Stapleton from Mr Dacre, and the secretary is defeated.

Later, "Babe" MacArthur and Charteris run to the hamlet of Worbury for exercise, and while there, they learn about contests to be held at Rutton in a week.

He is relieved to hear Mr Seymour plans to take a train to town in the morning and will not be around to see Babington start on the mathematics exercises.

However, Babington is not in trouble, since Mr Seymour was only a temporary master and his term of office ceased earlier that day.

Trentham, the head of the House, is visited by his sister Mrs Williamson, and he asks her to buy the cat from Prater.

In the past, a rich man left an income to St Austin's in his will for an annual prize, for the best poem submitted by a member of the Sixth Form on a subject selected by the Headmaster.

Smith complains about being required to write a poem (on the subject of the College), while Reynolds wishes he could compete.

Later, Montgomery of the Sixth, who has difficulty writing poetry like Smith, sees a copy of Reynold's unsigned short poem, blown from the infirmary by the wind.

Another member of the Sixth, Morrison, is brought a copy of the poem by his fag Evans, who also found it near the infirmary.

The essays included in the collection were originally published in magazines, and are all light-hearted and comedic in tone.

[7] The essay presents criticism of the 1857 novel Tom Brown's School Days in the form of fictional dialogue.

In The Captain, T. M. R. Whitwell illustrated "How Pillingshot Scored",[8] "The Odd Trick",[9] "Harrison's Slight Error",[10] "The Babe and the Dragon",[11] "The Manoeuvres of Charteris",[12] and "How Payne Bucked Up".

[14] In Public School Magazine, R. Noel Pocock illustrated "L'Affaire Uncle John"[15] and "The Prize Poem".

[19] "How Pillingshot Scored" was included in the anthology Twenty-Five Cricket Stories, published by George Newnes, London, in 1909.

[20] "How Payne Bucked Up" was included in the anthology Twenty-Five Football Stories, published by George Newnes, London, in 1910.

[21] The first edition of Tales of St Austin's contained twelve full-page illustrations by T. M. R. Whitwell, R. Noel Pocock, and E. F. Skinner.