nd he turned on his side and slept, tired of trying to reason, but
resolved to follow the impulse which had been so strong, and in which
he had found peace.

TOM LEARNS HIS LESSON.

Next morning he was up and washed and dressed, all but his jacket and
waistcoat, just as the ten minutes' bell began to ring, and then in
the face of the whole room knelt down to pray. Not five words could he
say--the bell mocked him; he was listening for every whisper in the
room--what were they all thinking of him? He was ashamed to go on
kneeling, ashamed to rise from his knees. At last, as it were from his
inmost heart, a still small voice seemed to breathe forth the words of
the publican,[5] "God be merciful to me a sinner!" He repeated them
over and over, clinging to them as for his life, and rose from his
knees comforted and humbled, and ready to face the whole world. It was
not needed; two other boys besides Arthur had already followed his
example, and he went down to the Great School with a glimmering of
another lesson in his heart,--the lesson that he who has conquered his
own coward spirit has conquered the whole outward world; and that
other one which the old prophet learnt in the cave in Mount Horeb,
when he hid his face, and the still small voice asked: "What doest
thou here, Elijah?"[6] that however we may fancy ourselves alone on
the side of good, the King and Lord of men is nowhere without his
witnesses; for in every society, however seemingly corrupt and
godless, there are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal.[7]

[5] #Publican#: here, a revenue or tax collector. See Luke
xviii. 13.

[6] #Elijah#: see 1 Kings xix. 9.

[7] #Baal#: an idol; hence any great wickedness.

He found, too, how greatly he had exaggerated the effect to be
produced by his act. For a few nights there was a sneer or a laugh
when he knelt down, but this passed off soon, and one by one all the
other boys but three or four followed the lead. I fear that this was
in some measure due to the fact that Tom could probably have thrashed
any boy in the room except the praepostor; at any rate, every boy knew
that he would try upon very slight provocation, and didn't choose to
run the risk of a hard fight because Tom Brown had taken a fancy to
say his prayers. Some of the small boys of Number 4 communicated the
new state of things to their chums, and in several other rooms the
poor little fellows tried it on; in one instance or so, whe