being eminently so, were accepted at once and energetically carried
out. A sort of heathen revival took place, for even the ministers
and deacons turned Musclemen; old ladies tossed bean-bags till their
caps were awry, and winter roses blossomed on their cheeks;
school-children proved the worth of the old proverb, "An ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure," by getting their backs ready
before the burdens came; pale girls grew blithe and strong swinging
their dumb namesakes; and jolly lads marched to and fro embracing
clubs as if longevity were corked up in those wooden bottles, and
they all took "modest quenchers" by the way.

August Bopp, the new leader of the class, was a German possessing
but a small stock of English, though a fine gynmast; and, being also
a bashful man, the appointed moment had no sooner arrived than he
found his carefully prepared sentences slipping away from his memory
as the ice appears to do from under unhappy souls first mounted upon
skates. An awful silence reigned; Mr. Bopp glanced nervously over
his shoulder at the staring rows, more appalling in their stillness
than if they had risen up and hooted at him, then piling up the bags
for the seventh time, he gave himself a mental shake, and, with a
crimson visage, was about to launch his first "Ladees und
gentlemen," when the door opened, and a small, merry-faced figure
appeared, looking quite at ease in the novel dress, as, with a
comprehensive nod, it marched straight across the hall to its place
among the weaker vessels.

A general glance of approbation followed from the gentlemen's side,
a welcoming murmur ran along the ladies', and the fifty pairs of
eyes changed their focus for a moment. Taking advantage of which,
Mr. Bopp righted himself, and burst out with a decided,--