Excerpt from Social Science, Municipal and Federal Government Whilst yet very young Arnold Toynbee delighted in reading history, especially military history, and his favorite pastime was to construct mimic fortifications, which he built with more than childish precision and armed with the heaviest ordnance procurable. Always delicate and exquisitely sensi tive to pain, he had not the animal courage common to strong, healthy boys; yet, by the unanimous testimony of brothers and of schoolfellows, he was singularly fearless, throwing himself into everything which he attempted with an impetu osity which made him forgetful of consequences and even of actual suffering. With this high-strung vehemence he united a very resolute will. From first to last, he was one Of those who would sooner be dashed to pieces than fail to climb any height which they have once determined to surmount. In later life these qualities were tempered by scrupulous anxiety to be just and fair, by a beautiful kindliness and delicacy; but in early youth they were accompanied with a violent temper, and an excess Of self-confidence. He was but eight years old when he went to his first school, a private establish ment at Blackheath, where he became the leader in amusement and mischief of boys much older than himself. Having once planned with many Of his schoolfellows a joke to be executed when the master's back was turned, he failed to notice the entrance by an Opposite door of another master and the hasty retreat of all his accomplices who left him alone in the middle of the floor, absorbed in the execution Of a caricature for which he alone suffered, although all were guilty. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.