Page:Pen And Pencil Sketches - Volume I.djvu/38

freely on slight provocation. In hearing the Latin class, if a boy made a false quantity, he would gnash his teeth, and groan “Take the blockhead down!” “Hold out your hand, sir,” was his command in extreme cases ; and if the delinquent failed to do this, the pedagogue would cut him about the body until the hand was held out to receive the needful punishment. It was the custom, when the school broke up for the holidays, to have examinations of the boys, at which they recited pieces, debates, or dialogues, in English or the classic tongues, for which we were well crammed. The parents and friends of the boys were invited to these displays, which took place at the Institute Rooms in Edward Street, Portman Square. I was in much request on these occasions, as I could “speak up,” and was free from nervousness in addressing an audience. I had been cast for a character in a dialogue in Greek, of all languages. I hated the task, as it would have been learning literally by rote what I could not understand, and I succeeded in ridding myself of the odious business in the following way. I had one day a more than usually severe chastise- ment (doubtless well deserved). I took my punish- ment pluckily, and said, “ Now, I won’t learn that Greek speech; I’ll be hanged if I do!” To this mutinous language, oddly enough, the Doctor made no reply. I at once cooled my hand on a school-