AMMOS. Well, it's a conclusion I've reasoned out with my own brain.

GOVERNOR. Too much brain is sometimes worse than none at all.--However,
I merely mentioned the courthouse. I dare say nobody will ever look at
it. It's an enviable place. God Almighty Himself seems to watch over it.
But you, Luka Lukich, as inspector of schools, ought to have an eye on
the teachers. They are very learned gentlemen, no doubt, with a college
education, but they have funny habits--inseparable from the profession,
I know. One of them, for instance, the man with the fat face--I forget
his name--is sure, the moment he takes his chair, to screw up his face
like this. [Imitates him.] And then he has a trick of sticking his hand
under his necktie and smoothing down his beard. It doesn't matter, of
course, if he makes a face at the pupils; perhaps it's even necessary.
I'm no judge of that. But you yourself will admit that if he does it to
a visitor, it may turn out very badly. The Inspector, or anyone else,
might take it as meant for himself, and then the deuce knows what might
come of it.

LUKA. But what can I do? I have told him about it time and again. Only
the other day when the marshal of the nobility came into the class-room,
he made such a face at him as I had never in my life seen before. I
dare say it was with the best intentions; But I get reprimanded for
permitting radical ideas to be instilled in the minds of the young.

GOVERNOR. And then I must call your attention to the history teacher. He
has a lot of learning in his head and a store of facts. That's evident.
But he lectures with such ardor that he quite forgets himself. Once
I listened to him. As long as he was talking about the Assyrians
and Babylonians, it was not so bad. But when he reached Alexander of
Macedon, I can't describe what came over him. Upon my word, I thought a
fire had broken out. He jumped down from the platform, picked up a chair
and dashed it to the floor. Alexander of Macedon was a hero, it is true.
But that's no reason for breaking chairs. The state must bear the cost.

LUKA. Yes, he is a hot one. I have spoken to him about it several times.
He only says: "As you please, but in the cause of learning I will even
sacrifice my life."

GOVERNOR. Yes, it's a mysterious law of fate. Your clever man is either
a drunkard, or he makes such grimaces that you feel like running away.

LUKA. Ah, Heaven save us from being in the educational department! One's
afraid