Percival Keene

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER FIVE.

  As soon as I gained the play-ground, which was, in fact, nothing morethan a small piece of waste land, to which we had no more claim than anyother people, I sat down by a post, and commenced my dinner off what MrO'Gallagher had thought proper to leave me. I was afraid of him, it istrue, for his severity to the other boys convinced me that he would havelittle mercy upon me, if I dared to thwart him; but indignation soonbegan to obtain the mastery over my fears and I began to consider if Icould not be even with him for his barefaced robbery of my dinner; andthen I reflected whether it would not be better to allow him to take myfood if I found out that by so doing he treated me well; and I resolved,at all events, to delay a little. The hour of play was now over, and abell summoned us all to school; I went in with the others and took myseat where Mr O'Gallagher had before desired me.

  As soon as all was silent, my pedagogue beckoned me to him.

  "Now, Mr Keene," said he, "you'll be so good as to lend me your ears--that is, to listen while I talk to you a little bit. D'ye know how manyroads there are to larning? Hold your tongue. I ask you because I knowyou don't know, and because I'm going to tell you. There are exactlythree roads: the first is the eye, my jewel; and if a lad has a sharpeye like yours, it's a great deal that will get into his head by thatroad; you'll know a thing when you see it again, although you mayn'tknow your own father--that's a secret only known to your mother. Thesecond road to larning, young spalpeen, is the ear; and if you mind allpeople say, and hear all you can, you'll gain a great many truths andjust ten times as much more in the shape of lies. You see the wheat andthe chaff will come together, and you must pick the latter out of theformer at any seasonable future opportunity. Now we come to the thirdroad to larning, which is quite a different sort of road; because, yousee, the two first give us little trouble, and we trot along almostwhether we will or not: the third and grand road is the head itself,which requires the eye and the ear to help it; and two other assistants,which we call memory and application; so you see we have the visual,then the aural, and then the mental roads--three hard words which youdon't understand, and which I shan't take the trouble to explain to suchan animal as you are; for I never throw away pearls to swine, as thesaying is. Now, then, Mr Keene, we must come to another part of ourhistory. As there are three roads to larning, so there are three manesor implements by which boys are stimulated to larn: the first is theruler, which you saw me shy at the thick skull of Johnny Target, and yousee'd what a rap it gave him; well, then, the second is the ferrule--athing you never heard of, perhaps; but I'll show it you; here it is,"continued Mr O'Gallagher, producing a sort of flat wooden ladle with ahole in the centre of it. "The ruler is for the head, as you have seen;the ferrule is for the hand. You have seen me use the ruler; now I'llshow you what I do with the ferrule."

  "You Tommy Goskin, come here, sir."

  Tommy Goskin put down his book, and came up to his master with a gooddeal of doubt in his countenance.

  "Tommy Goskin, you didn't say your lesson well to-day."

  "Yes I did, Mr O'Gallagher," replied Tommy, "you said I did yourself."

  "Well then, sir, you didn't say it well yesterday," continued MrO'Gallagher.

  "Yes I did, sir," replied the boy, whimpering.

  "And is it you who dares to contradict me?" cried Mr O'Gallagher; "atall events, you won't say it well to-morrow, so hold out your righthand."

  Poor Tommy held it out, and roared lustily at the first blow, wringinghis fingers with the smart.

  "Now your left hand, sir; fair play is a jewel; always carry the disheven."

  Tommy received a blow on his left hand, which was followed up withsimilar demonstrations of suffering.

  "There sir you may go now," said Mr O'Gallagher, "and mind you don't doit again; or else there'll be a blow-up. And now Master Keene, we cometo the third and last, which is the birch for the tail--here it is--haveyou ever had a taste?"

  "No, sir," replied I.

  "Well, then, you have that pleasure to come, and come it will, I don'tdoubt, if you and I are a few days longer acquainted. Let me see--"

  Here Mr O'Gallagher looked round the school, as if to find a culprit;but the boys, aware of what was going on, kept their eyes so attentivelyto their books, that he could not discover one; at last he singled out afat chubby lad.

  "Walter Puddock, come here, sir."

  Walter Puddock came accordingly; evidently he gave himself up for lost.

  "Walter Puddock, I just have been telling Master Keene that you're thebest Latin scholar in the whole school. Now, sir, don't make me out tobe a liar--do me credit,--or, by the blood of the O'Gallaghers, I'llflog ye till you're as thin as a herring. What's the Latin for a cockedhat, as the Roman gentlemen wore with their _togeys_?"

  Walter Puddock hesitated a few seconds, and then, without venturing aword of remonstrance, let down his trousers.

  "See now the guilty tief, he knows what's coming. Shame upon you,Walter Puddock, to disgrace your preceptor so, and make him tell a lieto young Master Keene. Where's Phil Mooney? Come along, sir, and hoistWalter Puddock: it's no larning that I can drive into you, Phil, butit's sartain sure that by your manes I drive a little into the otherboys."

  Walter Puddock, as soon as he was on the back of Phil Mooney, received adozen cuts with the rod, well laid on. He bore it without flinching,although the tears rolled down his cheeks.

  "There, Walter Puddock, I told you it would end in a blow-up; go to yourdictionary, you dirty blackguard, and do more credit to your educationand superior instruction from a certain person who shall be nameless."

  Mr O'Gallagher laid the rod on one side, and then continued--

  "Now, Master Keene, I've just shown you the three roads to larning, andalso the three implements to persuade little boys to larn; if you don'ttravel very fast by the three first, why you will be followed up verysmartly by the three last--a nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse,any day; and one thing more, you little spalpeen, mind that there's moremustard to the sandwiches to-morrow, or else it will end in a blow-up.Now you've got the whole theory of the art of tuition, Master Keene;please the pigs, we'll commence with the practice to-morrow."

  My worthy pedagogue did not address me any more during that day; theschool broke up at five, and I made haste home, thinking over all thathad passed in the school-room.

  My granny and mother were both anxious to know what had passed; thefirst hoped that I had been flogged, the second that I had not, but Irefused to communicate. I assumed a haughty, indifferent air, for I wasangry with my mother, and as for my grandmother, I hated her. AuntMilly, however, when we were alone, did not question me in vain. I toldher all that had passed; she bade me be of good heart, and that I shouldnot be ill-treated if she could help it.

  I replied, that if I were ill-treated, I would have my revenge somehowor another. I then went down to the barracks, to the rooms of CaptainBridgeman, and told him what had occurred. He advised me to laugh atthe ruler, the ferrule, and the rod. He pointed out to me the necessityof my going to school and learning to read and write, at the same timewas very indignant at the conduct of Mr O'Gallagher, and told me toresist in every way any injustice or tyranny, and that I should be sureof his support and assistance, provided that I did pay attention to mystudies.

  Fortified by the advice and protection of my two great friends, I madeup my mind that I would learn as fast as I could, but if treated ill,that I would die a martyr, rather than yield to oppression; at allevents, I would, if possible, play Mr O'Gallagher a trick for everyflogging or punishment I received; and with this laudable resolution Iwas soon fast asleep, too fast even to dream.