class, he began to adjust his drooping eye-lid, or coax back his nose
into its natural, position. On these occasions a sudden pause might be
noticed in the business of the class; the boy's voice, who happened
to read at the time, would fail him; and, on resuming his sentence by
command of the master, its tone was tremulous, and scarcely adequate to
the task of repeating the words without his bursting into laughter. The
master observed all this clearly enough, but his mind was already made
up to take no further notice of what had happened.

All this, however, conduced to render the situation of the poor scholar
much more easy, or rather less penal, than it would otherwise have been.
Still the innocent lad was on all possible occasions a butt for this
miscreant. To miss a word was a pretext for giving him a cruel blow. To
arrive two or three minutes later than the appointed hour was certain
on his part to be attended with immediate punishment. Jemmy bore it all
with silent heroism. He shed no tear--he uttered no remonstrance; but,
under the anguish of pain so barbarously inflicted, he occasionally
looked round upon his schoolfellows with an I expression of silent
entreaty that was seldom lost upon them. Cruel to him the master often
was; but to inhuman barbarity the large scholars never permitted him to
descend. Whenever any of the wealthier farmers'-sons had neglected their
lessons, or deserved chastisement, the mercenary creature substituted a
joke for the birch; but as soon as the son of a poor man, or, which was
better still, the poor scholar, came before him, he transferred
that punishment which the wickedness or idleness of respectable boys
deserved, to his or their shoulders. For this outrageous injustice the
hard-hearted: old villain had some plausible excuse ready, so that
it was in many cases difficult for Jemmy's generous companions to
interfere; in his behalf, or parry the sophistry of such: a petty
tyrant.