tudy which I always loved, but he
insisted on my taking Latin and French literature, for neither of
which I had the slightest taste. I consequently made no effort
whatever to improve my mind, a fact which did not in the least disturb
his equanimity. The great interest of those journeys to the Hermitage
were the fables of La Fontaine--which I learned as repetition and
enjoyed--and the enormous number of lizards on the walls, which could
disappear with lightning rapidity when seen, though they would stay
almost motionless, waiting for a fly to come near, which they then
swallowed alive. They were so like the stones one could almost rub
one's nose against them without seeing them. Each time I started, I
used to cut a little switch for myself and try to switch them off
their ledges before they vanished. The attraction to the act lay in
that it was almost impossible to accomplish. But if you did they
scored a bull's-eye by incontinently discarding their tails, which
made them much harder to catch next time, and seemed in no way to
incommode them, though it served to excuse my conscience of cruelty.
At the same time I have no wish to pose as a protector of flies.

Returning to Marlborough School the following summer, I found that my
father, who knew perfectly the thorough groundwork I had received in
Greek and Latin, had insisted on my being given a remove into the
lower fifth form "in absentia." Both he and I were aware that I could
do the work easily; but the form master resented it, and had already
protested in vain. I believe he was a very good man in his way, and
much liked by those whom he liked. But alas, I was not one of them;
and never once, during the whole time I was in his form, did I get one
single word of encouragement out of him. My mathematical master, and
"stinks," or chemical master, I was very fond of, and in both those
departments I made good progress.

The task of keeping order in a chemistry class of boys is never easy.
The necessary experiments divert the master's eye from the class, and
always give opportunity for fooling. Added to this was the fact that
our "stinks" master, like many scientific teachers, was far too
good-natured, and half-enjoyed himself the diversion which his
experiments gave. When obliged to punish a boy caught "flagrante
delicto," he invariably looked out for some way to make it up to him
later. It was the odd way he did it which endeared him to us, as if
apologizing for the kin