the master's desk turned squarely around and whispered to Tommy Jones,
three desks away.

Everybody saw him. Little Lucy Martin saw him through her tears, but
said nothing. Everybody was astonished, for that boy was the best
scholar in the school, and he had never been known to break a rule.

It lacked only half a minute now. The awkward boy turned again and
whispered so loudly that even the master could not help hearing:
"Tommy, you deserve a thrashing!"

"Elihu Burritt, take your place on the floor," said the master sternly.
The awkward boy stepped out quickly, and little Lucy Martin returned
to her seat sobbing. At the same moment the bell struck and school was
dismissed.

After all the others had gone home, the master took down his long birch
rod and said: "Elihu, I suppose I must be as good as my word. But tell
me why you so deliberately broke the rule against whispering."

"I did it to save little Lucy," said the awkward boy, standing up very
straight and brave. "I could not bear to see her punished."

"Elihu, you may go home," said the master.

All this happened many years ago in New Britain, Connecticut. Elihu
Burritt was a poor boy who was determined to learn. He worked many
years as a blacksmith and studied books whenever he had a spare moment.
He learned many languages and became known all over the world as "The
Learned Blacksmith."