re it all the next day, and was sorry when he had to
take it off--for was it not, in a way, a badge of courage?

From this time Mr. Verdant Green began to despise mere reading-men who
never went in for sports. He resolved at once to go in for them all. He
took to rowing, and was rescued from a watery grave by Mr. Bouncer.
Then, defeated but undaunted, he took to riding, and was thrown off. But
what did it matter? Before the term ended, he grew more accustomed to
the management of Oxford tubs and Oxford hacks.

It is true that the unfeeling man who reported the Torpid races for
"Bell's Life" had the unkindness to state in cold print; "Worcester
succeeded in making the bump at the Cherwell, in consequence of No. 3 of
the Brazenface boat suffering from fatigue." And on the copy of the
journal sent to Mrs. Green of Manor Green, her son sadly drew a pencil
line under "No. 3," and wrote: "This was me." But both Mrs. Green and
Miss Virginia Green were more than consoled when their beloved boy
returned home about midsummer with a slip of paper on which was written
and printed:

GREEN, VERDANT, E. Coll. AEn. Fac. Quiaestionibus Magistrorum Scholarum
in Parviso pro forma respondit.

Ita testamur (GULIELMUS SMITH.
(ROBERTUS JONES.

In other words, Mr. Verdant Green had got through his Smalls. But, sad
to say, poor Mr. Bouncer had been plucked.

Mr. Verdant Green smiled to himself. It was the sheerest bit of good
luck that he had managed to get through. Still, he had learned more at
Oxford than was taught in books--he had learned to be a manly fellow in
spite of his gig-lamps.

* * * * *

CHARLOTTE BRONTE

Jane Eyre

Charlotte Bronte was born at Thornton, Yorkshire, England, on
the 21st of April, 1816, of Irish and Cornish stock. By reason
of her father's manner of living, she was utterly deprived of
all companions of her own age. She therefore lived in a little
world of her own, and by the time she was thirteen years of
age, it had become her constant habit, and one of her few
pleasures, to weave imaginary tales, idealising her favorite
historical heroes, and setting forth in narrative form her own
thoughts and feelings. Both Charlotte and her sisters Emily
and Anne early found refuge in their habits of composition,
and about 1845 made their first literary venture--a small
volume of poems.