.
The machine is logically correct and consistent, according to the laws
of the Medes and Persians. It "treats all pupils alike." Allah be
praised! Yet a single man like Mr. Bright is worth whole battalions of
machines. Thank God!

I must take space, just here, too, to explain a phrase quoted by Mr.
Bright, just above, namely, the "Other-Fellow."

The quotation marks are there in deference to Dr. Holmes, who is
responsible for the idea that Mr. Bright had made familiar in his
school. That idea was as follows, when elaborated by this teacher, and
was presented to his pupils on a Monday morning, a few weeks after
"Dodd" had entered school. I give this as Mr. Bright paraphrased it,
rather than in the words of the "Old Master" in the "Poet at the
Breakfast Table," where he first came across it.

"Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes says," Mr. Bright remarked to the school,
"that in every one of us there are two persons. First, there is
yourself, and then there is the Other-Fellow! Now one of these is all
the time doing things, and the other sits inside and tells what he
thinks about the performance. Thus, I do so-and-so, act so-and-so,
seem to the world so-and-so; but the Other-Fellow sits in judgment on
me all the time.

"I may tell a lie, and do it so cleverly that the people may think I
have done or said a great and good thing; and they may shout my
praises, far and wide. But the Other-Fellow sits inside, and says,
'You lie! you lie! you're a sneak, and you know it!' I tell him to
shut up, to hear what the people say about me; but he only continues to
repeat, over and over again, 'You lie! you lie! you're a sneak, and you
know it!'

"Or, again, I may do a really noble deed, but perhaps be misunderstood
by the public, who may persecute me and say all manner of evil against
me, falsely; but the Other-Fellow will sit inside, and say, 'Never
mind, old boy! It's all right! stand by!'

"And I would rather hear," he used to add, "the 'well done' of the
'Other-Fellow' than the shouts of praise of the whole world; while I
would a thousand times rather that the people should shout and hiss
themselves hoarse with rage and envy, than that the 'Other-Fellow'
should sit inside and say, 'You lie! you lie! you're a sneak, and you
know it!'"

This was what Mr. Bright said to his pupils on a Monday morning, and it
made a wonderful impression upon them. The same thought always will
make an impression upon people if only it can