heavy good-tempered foolish fellow, about half a head taller
than the schoolmaster.

At the top of the first form--the post of honour in the
school--was the vacant place of the little sick scholar, and
at the head of the rows of pegs on which those who came
in hats or caps were wont to hang them up, one was left
empty. No boy attempted to violate the sanctity of seat or
peg, but many a one looked from the empty spaces to the
schoolmaster, and whispered his idle neighbour behind his
hand.

Then began the hum of coming over lessons and getting
them by heart, the whispered jest and stealthy game, and
all the noise and drawl of school; and in the midst of the din
sat the poor schoolmaster, the very image of meekness and
simplicity, vainly attempting to fix his mind upon the
duties of the day, and to forget his little friend. But the
tedium of his office reminded him more strongly of the
willing scholar, and his thoughts were rambling from his
pupils--it was plain.

None knew this better than the idlest boys, who, growing
bolder with impunity, waxed louder and more daring; play-
ing odd-or-even under the master's eye, eating apples
openly and without rebuke, pinching each other in sport or
malice without the least reserve, and cutting their auto-
graphs in the very legs of his desk. The puzzled dunce,
who stood beside it to say his lesson out of book, looked
no longer at the ceiling for forgotten words, but drew closer
to the master's elbow and boldly cast his eye upon the page;
the wag of the little troop squinted and made grimaces (at
the smallest boy of course), holding no book before his
face, and his approving audience knew no constraint in their
delight. If the master did chance to rouse himself and seem
alive to what was going on, the noise subsided for a moment
and no eyes met his but wore a studious and a deeply humble
look; but the instant he relapsed again, it broke out afresh,
and ten times louder than before.

Oh! how some of those idle fellows longed to be outside,
and how they looked at the open door and window, as if
they half meditated rushing violently out, plunging into the
wood, and being wild boys and savages from that time
forth. What rebellious thoughts of the cool river, and
some shady bathing-place beneath willow trees with
branches dipping in the water, kept tempting and urging
that sturdy boy, who, with his shirt-collar unbuttoned and

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