use
he consecrates his life to the welfare of so many boys who will
forget him; love him because he opens and enlightens your
intelligence and educates your mind; because one of these days,
when you have become a man, and when neither I nor he shall be in
the world, his image will often present itself to your mind, side
by side with mine, and then you will see certain expressions of
sorrow and fatigue in his honest countenance to which you now pay
no heed: you will recall them, and they will pain you, even after
the lapse of thirty years; and you will feel ashamed, you will feel
sad at not having loved him, at having behaved badly to him. Love
your master; for he belongs to that vast family of fifty thousand
elementary instructors, scattered throughout all Italy, who are the
intellectual fathers of the millions of boys who are growing up
with you; the laborers, hardly recognized and poorly recompensed,
who are preparing in our country a people superior to those of the
present. I am not content with the affection which you have for me,
if you have it not also for all those who are doing you good, and
among these, your master stands first, after your parents. Love him
as you would love a brother of mine; love him when he caresses and
when he reproves you; when he is just, and when he appears to you
to be unjust; love him when he is amiable and gracious; and love
him even more when you see him sad. Love him always. And always
pronounce with reverence that name of "teacher," which, after that
of your father, is the noblest, the sweetest name which one man can
apply to another man.

THY FATHER.

JANUARY.

THE ASSISTANT MASTER.

Wednesday, 4th.

MY father was right; the master was in a bad humor because he was not
well; for the last three days, in fact, the assistant has been coming in
his stead,--that little man, without a beard, who seems like a youth. A
shameful thing happened this morning. There had been an uproar on the
first and second days, in the school, because the assistant is very
patient and does nothing but say, "Be quiet, be quiet, I beg of you."

But this morning they passed all bounds. Such a noise arose, that his
words were no longer audible, and he admonished and besought; but it was
a mere waste of breath. Twice the head-master appeared at the door and
looked in; b