they exploded; they piled wood in the stoves
until every one gasped for breath; they fired wads of paper at each
other; and once they threw shot in Phillips's face.

The principal of the school beat his boys when they did not behave, and
he had no patience with Phillips for not doing the same. But Phillips
could not do that. He finally said he would resign. Some principals
would have said to the young teacher: "Now, don't mind it if you have
not done very well at teaching; there are, no doubt, other things that
you will find you can do better than this. Good luck to you--my lad.
Remember you have always a friend in me!" But Phillips's principal
glared at him and declared: "Well, if you have failed to make a good
teacher, you will fail in everything else."

Just then Phillips did not think of much else but his own
disappointment. His father and his five brothers were very successful at
their work and it shamed him to think he was not.

Phillips's brown eyes were very serious in those days. The same ones who
had once sighed: "There's a boy to be proud of," now showed no pity in
their looks, and often hurried down a side street to avoid bowing to
him. Dear me--and it was the very same boy they had praised when he was
taking prizes!

Phillips began to feel that he would like to help the people in the
world who had the heartache. There seemed to be plenty to help the
happy, rich folks, but there were many others who he was sure needed a
friendly word and hand-clasp to give them new courage. His pastor
advised him to become a preacher.

This meant more study. So he went to a seminary down in Virginia, where
men fit themselves for the ministry. He got there after school had
begun, so he had to take a room in an attic. There was no fire in it,
poor light, and he, with his six feet and three inches, could not stand
up straight in it without bumping his head against the rafters. And his
bed was not nearly long enough for him. It _is_ a nuisance, sometimes,
to be as tall as Phillips was. But he never minded all these things. He
only felt in a hurry to finish his studies so that he could preach and
work among the poor.

After he had preached at two churches in Philadelphia, he was asked to
be the rector of Trinity Church in Boston. He was rector there for
twenty-two years--until he was made Bishop of Massachusetts. He spoke so
beautifully from the pulpit that strangers traveled from all parts of
the country to hear him. So m