him smile in his peculiar way as he read them in my presence. He said
something about "decided talent," and when preparations for the
celebration of the birthday of King Frederick William IV were made he
gave me the task of composing an original poem. I gladly accepted it.
Writing was a great pleasure, and though my productions at school were
far too irregular for me to call them good, I was certainly the best
declaimer.




THE NEW HEAD OF THE SCHOOL.

Before passing on to other subjects, I must devote a few words to the
remodelling of the school and its new head.

At the end of my first term in the first class we learned that we were to
have a new teacher, and one who would rule with a rod of iron. Terrible
stories of his Draconian severity were in circulation, and his first
address gave us reason to fear the worst, for the tall man of forty in
the professor's chair was very imposing in his appearance. His smoothly
shaven upper lip and brown whiskers, his erect bearing and energetic
manner, reminded one of an English parliamentary leader, but his words
sounded almost menacing. He said that an entirely new house must be
erected. We and the teachers must help him. To the obedient he would
be a good friend; but to the refractory, no matter what might be their
position, he would---- What followed made many of us nudge one another,
and the young men who attended the school merely for the sake of the
examination left it in a body. Many a teacher even changed colour.