solving hard problems in arithmetic or algebra. They were sure
to come out even, neck and neck, as they say. But _I_ knew that if
Willing had been called upon to explain the process he couldn't have
done it; and he was sure to get the praise.

"As for Howard, he plodded on, never getting all the appreciation he
deserved. Always prepared, but not always ready--for he was easily
abashed, and then his tongue did not do justice to his thoughts. No
fellow in the class--or, as we then said, no _man_ in the class--was so
thorough as he, but the teachers did not always find it out. We boys
did, however; and we knew, too, that what Jack Howard once got he kept,
in the way of mental acquisition. But the best of it was, he was such a
solid fellow as to worth. His word was never doubted; we could trust him
in everything. '_Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus_,' holds true, and the
converse is also true, Faithful in one, faithful in all. Howard was true
and faithful from the time I first knew him, a little shaver, 'knee-high
to a grasshopper,' as children say.

"I'm the more particular in giving you an insight into the character of
these boys as a key to their after-life. I know that the child is not
always 'father to the man,' and that the insertion of a new and
transforming principle into the soul will elevate and ennoble the
meanest man. But as a general rule the mainsprings of character develop
early, and the man is very much as the child has made him. The sowing
then, brings forth a harvest afterwards. They tell us, that two natives
of Scotland settled in the far West, and that each took with him a
memorial of his fatherland--one the thistle, the national emblem, the
other the honey-bee. Rather different sowing that! For while the
dwellers on the Pacific coast have to keep up a continual fight with the
thistle, the honey of that region is now largely exported, and is worth
its millions. A little time has done it--and thistles are especially
prolific, you need take no pains in the sowing.

"But we didn't think much of sowing and reaping in those days, though we
were sowing all the time. The years flew fast till we had seen seventeen
birthdays, and our fathers thought we should learn something of business
if we were ever to be business men. Willing had influential connections,
excellent abilities, and popular manners; he was a general favorite. He
was placed without difficulty in a large importing house, where he gave
entire satis