o the finger-tips of his
left hand, which she held in a firm grasp within one of her own.

The physical sensation gave the boy a terrible shock. No one had ever
really hurt him before. The spankings administered at home once in a
very great while were like thunderstorms, with a great deal of noise and
small harm done. This was something else, and more intimidating than the
pain was the manifest intention of the teacher to inflict it. Her face
was tense and her eyes flashed fire. Worst of all, however, was the
shame of it, for the punishment was applied in front of the
whole school.

When Keith retired to his own seat sobbing bitterly, he felt that he
could never look the other children in the face, and that they probably
would shun him as a pariah. The only thing would be to tell his mother
that he could not go back to school again. He was still shaking with
sobs, when he heard a boy on the chair behind him whisper into his ear:

"Oh, that's nothing. You just wait till she pulls your hair. She pulls
it right out by the roots. I'll show you a bare spot on my head during
the next pause."

And so he did when the lesson came to an end and they were permitted to
play for a few minutes. Other children joined them, and no one seemed to
think less of Keith for what had happened to him. It was a revelation to
him and opened vistas of considerable interest. But the memory of the
physical and mental shock received was more powerful, and after that he
took care to reach school in time regardless of what might be the
temptations along his path or the effort it might cost him to get there.

In fact, the incident became to some extent determining for his whole
career in school. He never voluntarily did anything that might expose
him to punishment, and rarely was he able to forget himself to the
extent of incurring reproof. He turned out a docile pupil, and on the
whole, docility did not come hard to him. In spite of the vitality with
which he overflowed, there was a certain timidity attaching to him.

VII

It would be wrong to conclude that the little school of the Misses
Ahlberg was characterized by any reign of terror. As a rule, the
atmosphere was peaceful and kindly, and the teaching was rather good.
Keith was eager to learn, and learning came easy to him. In those early
days, of course, there was no studying to be done at home, but even in
later years he never knew what it was to "plug." In fact, he could not
do it. E