Elsie Venner by Oliver Wendell Holmes
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page 12 of 456 (02%)
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bull-terriers, with their hair combed straight up from their foreheads,
which were not commonly very high or broad. The special form of physical life I have been describing gives you a right to expect more delicate perceptions and a more reflective, nature than you commonly find in shaggy-throated men, clad in heavy suits of muscles. The student lingered in the lecture-room, looking all the time as if he wanted to say something in private, and waiting for two or three others, who were still hanging about, to be gone. Something is wrong!--I said to myself, when I noticed his expression.--Well, Mr. Langdon,--I said to him, when we were alone,--can I do anything for you to-day? You can, Sir,--he said.--I am going to leave the class, for the present, and keep school. Why, that 's a pity, and you so near graduating! You'd better stay and finish this course and take your degree in the spring, rather than break up your whole plan of study. I can't help myself, Sir,--the young man answered.--There 's trouble at home, and they cannot keep me here as they have done. So I must look out for myself for a while. It's what I've done before, and am ready to do again. I came to ask you for a certificate of my fitness to teach a common school, or a high school, if you think I am up to that. Are you willing to give it to me? Willing? Yes, to be sure,--but I don't want you to go. Stay; we'll make it easy for you. There's a fund will do something for you, perhaps. |
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