arried out his resolutions while they were hot and, on
the very day after his conversation with his wife on the subject,
he went first to the vicar and arranged for the retirement of the
clerk, and the instalment of White in his place; and then went to
the school house, and informed the master of his intention. The
latter had been expecting his dismissal, since Mrs. Ellison had
spoken to him on the previous day; and the news which the squire
gave him was a relief to him. His emoluments, as clerk, would be
smaller than those he received as schoolmaster; but while he would
not be able to discharge the duties of the latter for very much
longer, for he felt the boys were getting too much for him, he
would be able to perform the very easy work entailed by the
clerkship for many years to come. It was, too, a position not
without dignity; and indeed, in the eyes of the village the clerk
was a personage of far greater importance than the schoolmaster. He
therefore thankfully accepted the offer, and agreed to give up the
school as soon as a substitute could be found.

In those days anyone was considered good enough for a village
schoolmaster, and the post was generally filled by men who had
failed as tradesmen, and in everything else they put their hands
to; and whose sole qualification for the office was that they were
able to read and write. Instead of advertising, however, in the
county paper, the squire wrote to an old college friend, who was
now in charge of a London parish, and asked him to choose a man for
the post.

"I don't want a chap who will cram all sorts of new notions into
the heads of the children," the squire said. "I don't think it
would do them any good, or fit them any better for their stations.
The boys have got to be farm labourers, and the girls to be their
wives; and if they can read really well, and write fairly, it's
about as much as they want in the way of learning; but I think that
a really earnest sort of man might do them good, otherwise. A
schoolmaster, in my mind, should be the clergyman's best assistant.
I don't know, my dear fellow, that I can explain in words more
exactly what I mean; but I think you will understand me, and will
send down the sort of man I want.

"The cottage is a comfortable one, there's a good bit of garden
attached to it, and I don't mind paying a few shillings a week more
than I do now, to get the sort of man I want. If he has a wife so
much the better. She might teach