ity, when they
suddenly burst forth into opprobrious language, being a very vulgar
school indeed, and exposed Peter's designs openly. His feelings were not
much hurt by the talk, in which, indeed, he scored an easy victory after
he had abandoned negotiation and had settled down to vituperation, but
Seminary boys whose homeward route took them past the hostile
territories had to be careful all that summer. It was, indeed, a time of
bitter humiliation to the premier school of Muirtown, and might have
finally broken its spirit had it not have been for the historical battle
in the beginning of November, when McGuffie and Robertson led us to
victory, and the power of the allies was smashed for years. So great,
indeed, was their defeat that in early spring Peter has been known to
withdraw himself from marbles in the height of the season and of his own
personal profit, for the simple purpose of promenading through the
enemies' sphere of influence alone and flinging words of gross insult in
at their gates.

One of the schools must have been a charity for the education of poor
lads, since it was known to us as the "Penny School," and it was a
familiar cry ringing through the yard of the Seminary, "The Pennies are
coming!" when we promptly turned out to give them the welcome which, to
do them justice, they ardently desired. Whether this was a penny a week
or a penny a month we did not know, or whether, indeed, they paid a
penny at all, but it pleased us to give this name, and it soon passed
beyond the stage of correction. Our enemies came at last to wear it
proudly, like many other people who have been called by nicknames and
turned the nickname into an honour, for they would follow up a
particularly telling snowball with the cry, "There's a penny for ye!"
They were sturdy varlets, quite indifferent as to boots and stockings,
and equally so as to blows. Through their very regardlessness the
Pennies would have been apt to rout the Seminary--whose boys had given
pledges to respectability, and who had to answer searching questions as
to their personal appearance every evening--had it not been for
stalwarts like McGuffie, whose father, being a horsedealer, did not
apply an over strict standard of judgment to his son's manners or
exploits, and Robertson, who lived in lodgings and, being a soldier's
son, was supposed to be in a state of discipline for the Army.

Our feeling towards the Pennies was hardly cordial, but it was as
nothin