f course, happen that clever boys,
from a greater sympathy with his understanding, would be brought into
closer intercourse with him, this did not affect his feeling of respect,
and even of reverence, for those who, without ability, were
distinguished for high principle and industry. "If there be one thing on
earth which is truly admirable, it is to see God's wisdom blessing an
inferiority of natural powers where they have been honestly, truly and
zealously cultivated."

_III.--As Teacher and Preacher_

Arnold had always been painfully impressed by the evils of the public
school system, according to which a number of boys are left to form an
independent society of their own, in which the influence they exert over
each other is far greater than that exerted by the masters. He writes,
in 1837:

Of all the painful things connected with my employment,
nothing is equal to the grief of seeing a boy come to school
innocent and promising, and tracing the corruption of his
character from the influence of the temptations around him, in
the very place which ought to have strengthened and improved
it. But in most cases those who come with a character of
positive good are benefited; it is the neutral and indecisive
characters which are apt to be decided for evil by schools, as
they would be, in fact, by any other temptation.

This very feeling led him to catch with eagerness at every means by
which the trial might be shortened or alleviated. He believed that the
change from childhood to manhood might be hastened without prematurely
exhausting the faculties of body and mind; and it was on this principle
that he chiefly acted. He desired the boys to cultivate true manliness
as the only step to something higher. He treated them as gentlemen, and
appealed and trusted to their common sense and conscience.

Lying to the masters he made a grave offence. He placed implicit
confidence in a boy's assertion, and then, if a falsehood were
discovered, punished it severely. In the higher forms any attempt at
further proof of an assertion was immediately checked. "If you say so,
that is quite enough; of course, I believe your word"; and there grew up
in consequence a general feeling that "it was a shame to tell Arnold a
lie: he always believed you." Few scenes can be recorded more
characteristic of him than when, in consequence of a disturbance, he had
been obliged to send away several boys, a