[Dark Saint Alaick]

Our schoolmaster entered upon his second term with new courage and invigorated
authority. Twice certified, who should dare doubt his competency? Even Joshua was
civil, and lesser louts of course obsequious; though the girls took more liberties, for they
feel even at that early age, that influence is stronger than strength.
Could a young schoolmaster think of feruling a girl with her hair in ringlets and a gold
ring on her finger? Impossible--and the immunity extended to all the little sisters and
cousins; and there were enough large girls to protect all the feminine part of the school.
With the boys Master Horner still had many a battle, and whether with a view to this, or
as an economical ruse, he never wore his coat in school, saying it was too warm. Perhaps
it was an astute attention to the prejudices of his employers, who love no man that does
not earn his living by the sweat of his brow. The shirt-sleeves gave the idea of a manuallabor school in one sense at least. It was evident that the master worked, and that afforded a probability that the scholars worked too.
Master Horner's success was most triumphant that winter. A year's growth had improved
his outward man exceedingly, filling out the limbs so that they did not remind you so
forcibly of a young colt's, and supplying the cheeks with the flesh and blood so necessary
where mustaches were not worn. Experience had given him a degree of confidence, and
confidence gave him power. In short, people said the master had waked up; and so he
had. He actually set about reading for improvement; and although at the end of the term
he could not quite make out from his historical studies which side Hannibal was on, yet
this is readily explained by the fact that he boarded round, and was obliged to read
generally by firelight, surrounded by ungoverned children.