telling them that he intended to teach them while their
master was away. In speaking he endeavored to imitate, as far as
possible, the mild and gentle tones of the Minor Canon, but it must
be admitted that in this he was not very successful. He had paid a
good deal of attention to the studies of the school, and he
determined not to attempt to teach them any thing new, but to review
them in what they had been studying; so he called up the various
classes, and questioned them upon their previous lessons. The
children racked their brains to remember what they had learned. They
were so afraid of the Griffin's displeasure that they recited as they
had never recited before. One of the boys, far down in his class,
answered so well that the Griffin was astonished.

"I should think you would be at the head," said he. "I am sure you
have never been in the habit of reciting so well. Why is this?"

"Because I did not choose to take the trouble," said the boy,
trembling in his boots. He felt obliged to speak the truth, for all
the children thought that the great eyes of the Griffin could see
right through them, and that he would know when they told a
falsehood.

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," said the Griffin. "Go down to
the very tail of the class, and if you are not at the head in two
days, I shall know the reason why."

The next afternoon this boy was number one.

It was astonishing how much these children now learned of what they
had been studying. It was as if they had been educated over again.
The Griffin used no severity toward them, but there was a look about
him which made them unwilling to go to bed until they were sure they
knew their lessons for the next day.

The Griffin now thought that he ought to visit the sick and the poor;
and he began to go about the town for this purpose. The effect upon
the sick was miraculous. All, except those who were very ill indeed,
jumped from their beds when they heard he was coming, and declared
themselves quite well. To those who could not get up, he gave herbs
and roots, which none of them had ever before thought of as
medicines, but which the Griffin had seen used in various parts of
the world; and most of them recovered. But, for all that, they
afterward said that no matter what happened to them, they hoped that
they should never again have such a doctor coming to their bed-sides,
feeling their pulses and looking at their tongues.

As for the poor, they seemed to hav