THE students washed themselves once or maybe twice a year, they supped on thin gruel in the morning and were in bed by 10 p.m. Greek and Latin were regarded as the most important subjects, and the fear of corporal punishment was universal.
This was the spartan existence of the boarding school pupil for most of this century, as portrayed in a newly published history of St Mel's College, Longford.
The book, by sports journalist and editor of the Longford Leader, Mr Eugene McGee, traces the history of one of Ireland's most famous sporting colleges since it was founded in 1865.
At the beginning, St Mel's was a pro establishment institution which played cricket. Post 1916, however, a strongly nationalistic outlook was established, and this underpinned the college's educational philosophy and its later success on the GAA field.
Many past pupils gathered yesterday in Croke Park for the publication of the book. The Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise, Dr Colm O'Reilly, acknowledged that some students would have happier memories than others.
In recent years, St Mel's has gone the way of many other Catholic secondary schools. As numbers grew extra lay teachers were appointed, and today there are only four priests on the staff.
