treasure, "there's a bottle fu' o' them!" "Give me the bottle," said the master; and, looking at the culprit, he said, "You come this way, Master Edward!" Edward followed him quaking. On reaching the desk he stopped, and, holding out the bottle, said, "That's yours, is it not?" "Yes." "Take it, then—that is the way out," pointing to the door; "go as fast as you can, and never come back; and take that, too!" bringing the taws down heavily upon his back. Tom thought that his back was broken, and that he should never get his breath again. Tom's mother took him back to the school-room door, but before she could open her mouth the master abruptly began: "Don't bring that boy here! I'll not take him back—not though you were to give me twenty pounds! Neither I nor my scholars have had a day's peace since he came here."
Tom was now sent to a third school, where he staid eighteen months, but did not learn very much. The Bible was the readingbook, and he got so that he could read it, and also repeat the Shorter Catechism. But he knew very little of arithmetic and nothing of grammar. He could add up two lines of figures, but could not manage the multiplication-table. He could only multiply by means of his fingers, and knew nothing of writing. He had given up bringing beasts with him to school, but he had got a bad name. One morning, when the boys were at their lessons, the master gave a loud scream, and, jumping to his feet, shook a big worm from his arm; then, turning in Tom's direction, he exclaimed, "This is some more of your work, Master Edward." Edward was then called to the floor. "You've been at your old trade, Edward, I see; but I'll now take it out of you. I have warned you not to bring any of your infernal beasts here, and now I have just found one creeping up my arm and biting me. Hold up!" Edward here ventured to say that he had not brought the beast, and he had not brought anything for a long while past. "What! a lie, too?" said the master. "A lie added to the crime makes it doubly criminal. Hold up, sir!" Tom held up his hand, and the master came down upon it very heavily with the taws. "The other!" The other hand was then held up, and when Tom had got his two hot hands the master exclaimed, "That's for the lie, and this for the offense!" and then he proceeded to bring the taws heavily down upon his back. The boy, however, did not cry.
"Now, sir," said the master, when almost out of breath, "will you say now that you did not bring it?" "I did not; indeed, sir, I did not!" "Well, then, take that," giving him a number of tremendous lashes along his back. "Well, now?" "I did not!" The master went on again: "It's your own fault," he said, "for not confessing your crime." "But I did not bring it," replied Edward. "I'll flog you until you confess." And then he repeated his lashes upon his hands, his shoulders, and his back. Edward was a mere mite of a boy, so that the taws reached down to his legs, and smote him there.
