earn how this
original man commenced his task of training the minds committed to him in
those peculiar tendencies, both as to feeling and thinking, which enter
appreciably into the tone of the upper classes of the present generation.

Dr. Arnold, from the day on which he first took charge of the school, adopted
the course which he ever after adhered to, of treating the boys like
gentlemen and reasonable beings. Thus, on receiving from an offender an
answer to any question he would say, "If you say so, of course I believe
you," and on this he would act. The effect of this was immediate and
remarkable; the better feeling of the school was at once touched; boys
declared, "It is a shame to tell Arnold a lie, because he always believes
you;" and thus, at one bold step, the axe was put to the root of the
inveterate practice of lying to the master, one of the curses of schools. In
pursuance of the same views, when reprimanding a boy, he generally took him
apart and spoke to him in such a manner as to make him feel that his master
was grieved and troubled at his wrong-doing; a quakerlike simplicity of mien
and language, a sternness of manner not unmixed with tenderness, and a total
absence of all "don-ish" airs, combined to produce this effect. Nor were his
personal habits without their effect. The boys saw in him no outward
appearance of a solemn pedagogue or dignified ecclesiastic whom it was a
temptation to dupe, or into whose ample wig javelins of paper might with
impunity be darted; but a spare active determined man, six feet high, in duck
trousers, a narrow-brimmed hat, a black sailor's handkerchief knotted round
his neck, a heavy walking-stick in his hand,--a strong swimmer, a noted
runner; the first of all the masters in the school-room on the winter
mornings, teaching the lowest class when it was his turn with the same energy
which he would have thrown into a lecture to a critical audience, listening
with interest to an intelligent answer from the smallest boy, and speaking to
them more like an elder brother than the head master. {67} They soon
perceived that they had to deal with a man thoroughly in earnest, acute,
active, and not easily deceived; that he was not only a scholar but a
gentleman, who expected them to behave as the sons of gentlemen themselves.
Their attention was awakened, and, although their fears were somewhat
excited, their sympathies and interest were at the same time aroused. This
was a good c