time came for Davie
and Katie to go back to die school, he had been its teacher for more
than a year. Not so good a teacher in some respects as two or three of
the orderly, methodical college lads, who were still remembered with
affection in Gershom; but in other respects he surpassed any of them--
all of them together. It was said of him that he had forgotten more
than all the rest of Gershom ever knew; and that he had a tongue that
would wile the very birds from the trees. He was an eloquent man, and
he had not only "words," but he had something to say. From the
treasures of a highly-cultivated mind he brought, for the instruction of
his pupils, and sometimes for the instruction and delight of larger
audiences, things new and old. As an orator he was greatly admired, as
a man he was much esteemed, as a teacher he was regarded with the
respect due to his great powers, and with the tolerance which the
defects accompanying them needed.

He had decided defects as a school-master. His government of his school
was imperfect; he took it up by fits and starts, having his stern days,
when the falling of a pin might be heard in his domain, and days when
the boys and girls were mostly left to their own devices; but there were
no idle days among them. No teacher who had ever ruled in the
High-School could compare with him in the power he had to make the young
people care for their books and their school-work, or to present to the
clever idle ones among them the most enticing motives to exertion. "He
got them on," the fathers and mothers said, and though he made no
pretension to being a very good man, and sometimes used sharper words
than were pleasant to hear, he loved the truth and hated a lie, and
lived an honourable life among them, and all men regarded him with
respect, and most men with affection.

So, putting all things together, Davie and Katie and the other young
people of Gershom had a fair chance of a happy winter, and so it proved
to the brother and sister. There were plenty of amusements going on in
the village, but with these they had little to do. Their grandfather
fretted if they were not at home in the evening, and it was no
self-denial for them to stay away from all gay village doings--at least
it was none to Davie. Except the master's lectures, and those debates
and spelling-schools in which the reputation and honour of the
High-School were concerned, he scorned them all. Katie did not scorn
them.