Page:Orange Grove.djvu/43

 nor spoken, he demanded a full account of the occurenceoccurrence [sic], with the names of the offenders; to which he replied that he had nothing to say, and positively declined to give any information.

"You have nothing to say? and yet you know all about it, who and what have been the cause of this mischief, but refuse to tell me," giving him a look that Walter, brave as he was, trembled to encounter,—an angry, defiant look.

"Answer me now, were you yourself concerned in it?"

"No, sir."

"You confess to a knowledge of the facts which you refuse to communicate, do you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then mind you, sir, the punishment that should have been the culprit's, shall be yours!"

If ever there was a class of persons who need a double share of patience in order to meet the responsibilities resting upon them, and discharge them acceptably to themselves and the community, it is school-teachers. Entrusted with the moral and intellectual training of a score or two of juveniles, with all sorts of temperaments, and all sorts of bringing up, and some with no bringing up at all; some, so full of fun and roguery that an attempt to repress them seems like turning nature out of her course; others, so obstinate that the most to be hoped for is sullenness, instead of submission, their parents the while watching with jealous eyes any assertion of authority which they have not seen fit to maintain; the person who successfully manages the hetero-