had I so much as raised my finger at him, was
now begging me, as a special boon, to give him a whipping! I could
hardly believe my senses. Yet there was no doubt of the boy's sincerity,
or of his earnestness. So, to give me time to reflect as to what should
be done, I finally said, "Charlie, I will think of what you have asked,
and let you know at three o'clock."

Three o'clock came, and Charlie again made his appearance.

"Do you still wish me to whip you?"

"I do. I will make any apology you think proper to the teacher whom I
insulted, and I will be most thankful to you to chastise me for the
offence."

"Please to take off your coat."

* * * * *

When the painful affair was over, I gave him my hand cordially and
frankly, and said, "Charlie, you have honorably and courageously atoned
for a grievous fault, and I assure you, I restore you not only to your
position in school, but to my respect and confidence."

I never had any further difficulty with Charlie Graham. Years
afterwards, when I met his father at the Springs, he could hardly
contain his amazement when I told him that I had once flogged his oldest
son Charlie, at his own particular request. It was, I suppose, the first
and last time the hand of correction was ever laid on him.

XXIII.

PHRENOLOGY.

In the previous chapter I gave a leaf from my experience of life in a
boarding-school. I propose now to give another leaf from the same book.
The incident about to be narrated, however, is not given as an
illustration of boarding-school life, but merely because it happened at
school. It might have happened elsewhere, though the circumstances on
that occasion were particularly favorable for giving to it a curious
point.

While I was at the head of the Edgehill school, at Princeton, N. J., a
stranger called one day and announced himself as Prof. ----. The name is
one almost as well known in the history of Phrenological science as that
of Prof. Combe. He said he was about to give a lecture in Princeton on
the subject of Phrenology, and as he was an entire stranger to myself
and to all the pupils and teachers in the school, he thought it would be
a good opportunity for making an interesting and critical experiment. He
proposed, therefore, with my consent, to spend an hour, in presence of
the school, in examining the heads of any of the boys that I might call
up for that purpose. From the very intimate relations existin