necessary portion of the woes of boyhood. Indeed, in some respects,
when not smarting under the infliction, they were inclined to believe
that their lot was, in comparison with that of others, a fortunate
one; for whereas in many schools the diet was so poor and bad that
the boys were half starved, at Hathorn's if their food was simple
and coarse it was at least wholesome and abundant.

Mr. Hathorn, in fact, intended, and as he quite believed with success,
to do his duty by his boys. They were sent to him to be taught, and
he taught them through the medium then recognized as most fitting
for the purpose--the cane; while, as far as an abundance of
porridge for breakfast, and of heavy pudding at dinner, with twice
a week an allowance of meat, the boys were unstinted. He would
indeed point with pride to his pupils when their parents assembled
at the annual presentation of prizes.

"Look at them!" he would say proudly. "None of your half starved
skeletons here--well filled out and in good condition every boy
of them--no stint of porridge here. It keeps them in good health
and improves their learning; for, mark you, a plump boy feels the
cane twice as much as a skinny one; it stings, my dear sir, it
stings, and leaves its mark; whereas there is no getting at a boy
whose clothes hang like bags about him."

This was no doubt true, and the boys themselves were conscious of
it, and many had been the stern resolutions made while smarting in
agony that henceforward food should be eschewed, or taken only in
sufficient quantities to keep life together. But boys' appetites
are stronger than boys' resolutions, and in the end there was never
any marked falling off in the consumption of viands at Hathorn's.