character and make him good as well as clever. George was a sharp,
shrewd boy, a keen observer, who would know the why and the wherefore of
everything, and his lessons always came to him more as an amusement than
a task. He had a horror of being low down in his class, and if he did
not retain his place at the top, it was rarely through inattention or
want of study on his part.

George was a great favourite with the whole school; he was a merry,
joyous fellow, who always had sunshine in his face and a kind word on
his lips; a ringleader in any harmless fun, and a champion on the side
of all the younger boys who met with oppression or injustice from the
elder classes. At cricket or football, swimming or boating, George had
few superiors; and as he was one of those boys who seem determined,
whatever they do, to do it with all their might, he went heart and soul
into all the spoils with such a zest and earnestness that he acquired
the name of the "Indefatigable." Nor did this name merely apply to his
zeal in sports. There was not in the whole school a more diligent
student than George: there was for him "a time to work and a time to
play," and he never allowed one to trespass upon the other. He would
rather go without a game at cricket for a fortnight than be behindhand
in one of his lessons. The boys would laugh at him for this, but George
could bear to be laughed at on such points, because he knew he was in
the right. "I came to school to learn," he would say, "and I don't see
any fun in making my parents pay heavy fees for me every year to play
cricket at the expense of study." Every boy knew there was wisdom in
this, and they secretly admired George for it, although it condemned
their own conduct, more especially when they had to go to him not
unfrequently, and say, "Weston, I shall get in a scrape with these
lessons to-morrow, unless you can help me a bit with them. Do give me a
leg up, that's a good fellow!" and though George never said "No," he did