Page:Carroll - Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.djvu/223

XII] the diseasehad it bad, I warrant you! Of course, as the Examination was all in all, we tried to put in just what was wantedand the great thing to aim at was, that the Candidate should know absolutely nothing beyond the needs of the Examination! I don't say it was ever quite achieved: but one of my own pupils (pardon an old man's egotism) came very near it. After the Examination, he mentioned to me the few facts which he knew but had not been able to bring in, and I can assure you they were trivial. Sir, absolutely trivial!"

I feebly expressed my surprise and delight.

The old man bowed, with a gratified smile, and proceeded. "At that time, no one had hit on the much more rational plan of watching for the individual scintillations of genius, and rewarding them as they occurred. As it was, we made our unfortunate pupil into a Leyden-jar, charged him up to the eyelidsthen applied the knob of a Competitive Examination, and drew off one magnificent spark, which very often cracked the jar! What mattered that? We labeled it 'First Class Spark,' and put it away on the shelf."