When A Young Lad Explained In My Hearing All The Properties Of The Different Levers As Exemplified By The Bones Of The Human Body, I Bowed My Head Before Him In Unaffected Humility.

We, at our English schools, never got beyond the use of those bones which he described with such accurate scientific knowledge.

In one of the girls' schools they were reading Milton, and when we entered were discussing the nature of the pool in which the devil is described as wallowing. The question had been raised by one of the girls. A pool, so called, was supposed to contain but a small amount of water, and how could the devil, being so large, get into it? Then came the origin of the word pool - from "palus," a marsh, as we were told, some dictionary attesting to the fact, and such a marsh might cover a large expanse. The "Palus Maeotis" was then quoted. And so we went on till Satan's theory of political liberty,

"Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven,"

was thoroughly discussed and understood. These girls of sixteen and seventeen got up one after another and gave their opinions on the subject - how far the devil was right, and how far he was manifestly wrong. I was attended by one of the directors or guardians of the schools; and the teacher, I thought, was a little embarrassed by her position. But the girls themselves were as easy in their demeanor as though they were stitching handkerchiefs at home.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 476 of 538
Words from 126663 to 126916 of 143277