ld equal, and even surpass me, when he took no pains to
learn.
If the master had done him common justice, I should never have stood
above him. But for some reason, best known to himself, he always
favoured me, and snubbed Bill Martin, who in return played him a
thousand impish tricks, and taught the other boys to rebel against his
authority. Bill called me the _obsneakious_ young gentleman, and Mr.
Bullen, the master, the Squire's Toady.
There was constant war between this lad and me. We were pretty equally
matched in strength; for the victor of to-day, was sure to be beaten on
the morrow. The boys generally took part with Martin. Such characters
are always popular, and he had many admirers in the school. My aversion
to this boy made me restless and unhappy. I really longed to do him some
injury. Once, after I had given him a sound drubbing, he called me "a
base-born puppy! a beggar, eating the crumbs which fell from the rich
man's table."
Foaming with rage, for a wound to my pride was far worse in my
estimation, than any personal injury, I demanded what he meant by such
insulting language, and he sneered in my face, and told me to go home
and ask my _virtuous_ mother, as she doubtless was better qualified to
give me the information I desired. And I did ask my mother, and she told
me "I was a foolish boy to heed such nonsense, spoken in anger by a lad
I had just thrashed; that Bill Martin was a bad fellow, and envious of
my being better off than himself; that if I listened to such senseless
lies about her, it would make her miserable, and I should never know a
happy hour myself."
I felt that this was true. I loved my mother better than anything in the
world. Her affection and kindness to me was boundless. She always
welcomed me home with a smiling face, and I never received a blow from
her hand in my life.
My mother was about six-and-thirty years of age. She must have been
beautiful in youth, for she was still very pretty. Her countenance was
mild and gentle, and she was scrupulously neat and clean. I was proud of
my mother. I saw no woman in her rank that could be compared with her;
and any insult offered to her I resented with my whole heart and
strength. I was too young to ask of her an explanation of the frequency
of the Squire's visits to our house; and why, when he came, I was
generally despatched on some errand to the village; and had the real
explanation been given, I should not have believed it.
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