after a moment of thought, he dashed off the closing line,--

"Y You who can finish this may have the job;"--

then took his seat amid bursts of laughter from the boys, who all began
to understand what an acrostic was.

Ellis Holbrook's hand was up, and his eyes were full of questions.

"Mr. Burrows, why is that called by such a queer name as acrostic?"

His teacher smiled.

"You must study Greek, Ellis. We get it from two words in the Greek, or
from one word made up of two others, which mean _extreme_, or _beginning_
and _order_. In an acrostic the beginnings of the lines are arranged in
order. Do you understand how we get that word now?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, now, you would all like to know what this talk is for. I want
every boy in school who can write, to bring an acrostic on his own name
for his next composition."

The boys groaned, and exclaimed, "They couldn't do it, they were sure;
they couldn't _begin_ to do it!"

"Yes, you can," said Mr. Burrows; "I don't give my scholars any work that
they _can't_ do. You may quote it, or make it original, as you please;
but I want every one of you to _try_."