s talking that way about
one of the prophets! I'll dally with you no more. The boys shall see
you as you are. It's books!"

I threw the window open and shouted, "Books!" I pounded on the ledge
with my ruler and shouted, "Books!"

For a minute the boys feigned not to see me, and played the harder,
trying to drown my cries in their yells to the runners on the bases. But
the girls took up my call and came trooping schoolward. The little boys
began to break away, and soon the school resounded with the shuffle of
feet, the clatter of empty dinner pails, and the banging of desk tops.

"It's books, William; hurry," I cried to the last laggard.

I knew this boy well. He was the biggest in the school, and to hold his
position among his fellows he had to defy me. As long as I watched him,
he must lag. The louder I called, the deafer he must seem to be. His
post was hemmed around by tradition. It was his by divine right, and it
involved on its holder duties sometimes onerous, often dangerous; but for
him to abate one iota of his privileges would be a reflection on his
predecessors, an injustice to his heirs. It would mean scholastic
revolution. He knew that I must yell at him. My position also was
hemmed about by tradition. To appear not to fear the biggest boy was one
of the chief duties of a successful pedagogue. We understood each other.
So I yelled once more and closed the window. The moment my back was
turned he ran for the door.

"It is," Daniel Arker was shouting.

"It ain't," Samuel Carter retorted, sticking out his tongue.

"Boys, be quiet!" I commanded.

"He said his eye was swole worse 'an mine oncet," cried Daniel.

His good eye was blazing, his shoulders were squared back, and his fists
were clenched. There was no sign of a snuffle about him now. Heaven,
but he looked fine! All this time I had wronged Daniel. I had only
known him as he crawled to me broken and bruised after the conflict. I
had never known the odds he had encountered, for when I questioned him he
just snuffled. Now I saw him before the battle, ready to defend his
honor against a lad of more than his years and size, and the wickedest
fighter in the school. I believed that had I let him loose there he
would have whipped. But one in my position is hemmed in by tradition, so
in my private capacity I was patting the boy's head with the same motion
that I used in my public capacity to push him into his seat, while with a
cr