n to do well. The first sentence is
generally right and well written. In the second you perceive signs of
flagging; it then gets worse and worse till the end, which is not
legible. Judge for yourself, here is a specimen. It collapses with a
blot half licked off.

Master H. W. S.'s flourish after his signature is not, as you see, a
masterpiece of calligraphy; but it is not intended to be so. It is
simply an overflow of relief and happiness at the thought that his
exercise is finished.

Translate the flourish by--

"Done!!!"

* * * * *

H. W. S. is not particularly lucky with his genders. Fortunately for
him, the French language possesses no neuter nouns, so that sometimes
he hits on the right gender. For this he asks no praise. Providence
alone is to be thanked for it.

Once he had to translate: "His conduct was good." He first put _sa
conduite_. After this effort in the right direction, his conscience was
satisfied, and he added, _etait bon_. Why? Because an adjective is
longer in the feminine than in the masculine, and with him and his like
the former gender stands very little chance.

* * * * *

I remember two very strange boys. They were not typical, I am happy to
say.

When the first of them was on, his ears would flap and go on flapping
like the gills of a fish, till he had either answered the question or
given up trying, when they would lie at rest flat against his head. If
I said to him sharply: "Well, my boy, speak up; I can't hear," his ears
would start flapping more vigorously than ever. Sometimes he would turn
his eyes right over, to see if he could not find the answer written
somewhere inside his head. This boy could set the whole of his scalp in
motion, bring his hair right down to his eyes, and send it back again
without the least difficulty. These performances were simply wonderful.
The boys used to watch him with an interest that never flagged, and
more than once I was near losing my countenance.

One day this poor lad fell in the playground, and cut his head open. We
were all anxious to ascertain what it was he had inside his head that
he always wanted to get at. The doctor found nothing remarkable in it.

The other boy was a fearful stammerer. The manner in which he managed
to get help for his speech is worth relating. Whenever he had to read a
piece of French aloud, he would utter the letter "F" before