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Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 05 - Little Journeys to the Homes of English Authors by Elbert Hubbard
page 30 of 249 (12%)
attention to the Browning boy than to her other pupils--she had to, to
keep him out of mischief--and soon the boy was quite the head scholar.

And they tell us that he was so much more clever than any of the other
scholars that, to appease the rising jealousy of the parents of the other
pupils, the diplomatic spinster requested that the boy be removed from her
school--all this according to the earnest biographer. The facts are that
the boy had so much energy and restless ambition; was so full of brimming
curiosity, mischief and imagination--introducing turtles, bats and mice on
various occasions--that he led the whole school a merry chase and wore the
nerves of the ancient maiden to a frazzle.

He had to go.

After this he studied at home with his mother. His father laid out a
schedule, and it was lived up to, for about a week.

Then a private tutor was tried, but soon this plan was abandoned, and a
system of reading, best described as "natural selection," was followed.

The boy was fourteen, and his sister was twelve, past. These are the ages
when children often experience a change of heart, as all "revivalists"
know. Robert Browning was swinging off towards atheism. He grew
melancholy, irritable and wrote stanzas of sentimental verse. He showed
this verse, high-sounding, stilted, bold and bilious, to his mother and
then to his father, and finally to Lizzie Flower.

A word about Lizzie Flower: She was nine years older than Robert Browning;
and she had a mind that was gracious and full of high aspiration. She
loved books, art, music, and all harmony made its appeal to her--and not
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