A YORKSHIRE NATURALIST 15 



this being my first independent journey, though 

 we had travelled only a single stage, instead of 

 giving him the wonted sixpence, I felt it my duty to 

 give, as he felt it his duty to take, and from a young, 

 inexperienced lad, half a crown. But this was not 

 our only folly ; we had to walk the five miles inter- 

 vening between Stainton and Thornton, where tea 

 would be awaiting us. But were we not on a 

 journey, and did we not think it fine to do as we 

 had heard of other travellers doing? ergo, we 

 ordered tea to be prepared for us in the inn before 

 starting on our walk. No tea we ever tasted was 

 so delicious as this, which we ordered and paid 

 for ourselves. Needing the tea or no was not any 

 consideration, the luxury of being our own masters 

 constituted the charm, though it cleared our pocket 

 money. 



On entering upon the school work, I found my- 

 self in an unwonted atmosphere. Hitherto, I, along 

 with my class, had been accustomed to prepare 

 sixty or seventy lines of Virgil within the space of 

 an hour. The thing was not to be done by young, 

 imperfectly taught lads. I had looked forward with 

 dread to my first Latin task in the new school. 

 This was soon given, and consisted of three lines of 

 the ^^Eneid." I could not comprehend the meaning of 

 so pleasant a change, but this meaning became clear 

 when the class stood round Mr. Irving's desk. We 

 were expected to understand, not only every word, 

 but every syllable or letter of both the syntax and the 



