though they were not conscious of it, set every young nerve ajar.
He supposed they knew--hey?--what he had come down for? It was not often
that he had an opportunity to talk to boys. He supposed that boys were
very much the same kind of persons--some people thought them rather
funny persons--as they had been in his youth.

"This man," said McTurk, with conviction, "is _the_ Gadarene Swine."

But they must remember that they would not always be boys. They would
grow up into men, because the boys of to-day made the men of to-morrow,
and upon the men of to-morrow the fair fame of their glorious native
land depended.

"If this goes on, my beloved 'earers, it will be my painful duty to rot
this bargee." Stalky drew a long breath through his nose.

"Can't do that," said McTurk. "He ain't chargin' anything for his
Romeo."

And so they ought to think of the duties and responsibilities of the
life that was opening before them. Life was not all--he enumerated a few
games, and, that nothing might be lacking to the sweep and impact of his
fall, added "marbles." "Yes, life was not," he said, "all marbles."

There was one tense gasp--among the juniors almost a shriek--of
quivering horror, he was a heathen--an outcast---beyond the extremest
pale of toleration--self-damned before all men. Stalky bowed his head in
his hands. McTurk, with a bright and cheerful eye, drank in every word,
and Beetle nodded solemn approval.

Some of them, doubtless, expected in a few years to have the honor of a
commission from the Queen, and to wear a sword. Now, he himself had had
some experience of these duties, as a Major in a volunteer regiment,
and he was glad to learn that they had established a volunteer corps in
their midst. The establishment of such an establishment conduced to a
proper and healthy spirit, which, if fostered, would be of great benefit
to the land they loved and were so proud to belong to. Some of those now
present expected, he had no doubt--some of them anxiously looked
forward to leading their men against the bullets of England's foes;
to confronting the stricken field in all the pride of their youthful
manhood.

Now the reserve of a boy is tenfold deeper than the reserve of a maid,
she being made for one end only by blind Nature, but man for several.
With a large and healthy hand, he tore down these veils, and trampled
them under the well-intentioned feet of eloquence. In a raucous voice,
he cried aloud little matters, l