Our Boys - Entertaining Stories by Popular Authors by Various
page 12 of 157 (07%)
page 12 of 157 (07%)
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modest and unsuspicious that he was good, that everybody loved him. He
had not the least idea that he could get the place with the Christmas Monks, but the Prince was sure of it. When the examination day came all the boys from far and near, with their hair neatly brushed and parted, and dressed in their best clothes, flocked into the convent. Many of their relatives and friends went with them to witness the examination. The refectory of the convent, where they assembled, was a very large hall with a delicious smell of roast turkey and plum pudding in it. All the little boys sniffed, and their mouths watered. The two fathers who were to examine the boys were perched up in a high pulpit so profusely trimmed with evergreen that it looked like a bird's nest; they were remarkably pleasant-looking men, and their eyes twinkled merrily under their Christmas wreaths. Father Anselmus was a little the taller of the two, and Father Ambrose was a little the broader; and that was about all the difference between them in looks. [Illustration: The Prince & Peter are examined by the Monks.] The little boys all stood up in a row, their friends stationed themselves in good places, and the examination began. Then if one had been placed beside the entrance to the convent, he would have seen one after another, a crestfallen little boy with his arm lifted up and crooked, and his face hidden in it, come out and walk forlornly away. He had failed to pass. |
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