onnaire_, and counted himself the equal of
anyone in Muirtown, but Moossy was little better than an abject. He was
a little man, to begin with, and had made himself small by stooping till
his head had sunk upon his chest and his shoulders had risen to his
ears; his hair fell over the collar of his coat behind, and his
ill-dressed beard hid any shirt he wore; his hands and face showed only
the slightest acquaintance with soap and water, and although Speug was
not always careful in his own personal ablutions, and more than once had
been sent down to the lade by Bulldog to wash himself, yet Speug had a
healthy contempt for a dirty master. Moossy's clothes, it was believed,
had not been renewed since he came to the Seminary, and the cloak which
he wore on a winter day was a scandal to the town. His feet were large
and flat, and his knees touched as the one passed the other, and the
Seminary was honestly ashamed at the sight of him shambling across the
North Meadow. He looked so mean, so ill put together, so shabby, so
dirty, that the very "Pennies" hooted at him and flung him in our faces.
The Rector was also careless of his dress, and mooned along the road,
but then everybody knew that he was a mighty scholar, and that if you
woke him from his meditation he would answer you in Greek; but even
Speug understood that Moossy was not a scholar. The story drifted about
through Muirtown, and filtered down to the boys, that he was a bankrupt
tradesman who had fled from some little German town and landed in
Muirtown, and that because he could speak a little English, and a little
French, as German tradesmen can, he had been appointed by an
undiscriminating Town Council to teach foreign tongues at the Seminary.
It is certain he had very little education and no confidence in himself,
and so he was ever cringing to the bailies, which did him no injury,
for these great men regarded themselves as beings bordering on the
supernatural; and he was ever deferring and giving in to the boys, which
was the maddest thing that any master could do, and only confirmed every
boy in his judgment that Moossy was one of the most miserable of God's
creatures.

His classes met in the afternoon, and were regarded as a pleasant
relaxation after the labours of the day, and to escape from the
government of Bulldog to the genial freedom of Moossy's room proved, as
we felt in a vague way, that Providence had a tender heart towards the
wants and enjoyments of b