AN IRON TASKMASTER 185 



appeal too directly to the vanity ; and even in 

 the course of a careful amateur performance such 

 as ours, much of the smaller side of man will be 

 displayed. Fleeming, among conflicting vanities 

 and levities, played his part to my admiration. 

 He had his own view ; he might be wrong ; but 

 the performances (he would remind us) were after 

 all his, and he must decide. He was, in this as 

 in all other things, an iron taskmaster, sparing 

 not himself nor others. If you were going to do 

 it at all, he would see that it was done as well 

 as you were able. I have known him to keep 

 two culprits (and one of these his wife) repeating 

 the same action and the same two or three words 

 for a whole weary afternoon. And yet he gained 

 and retained warm feelings from far the most of 

 those who fell under his domination, and par- 

 ticularly (it is pleasant to remember) from the 

 girls. After the slipshod training and the in- 

 complete accomplishments of a girls' school, 

 there was something at first annoying, at last 

 exciting and bracing, in this high standard of 

 accomplishment and perseverance. 



Ill 



It did not matter why he entered upon any 

 study or employment, whether for amusement 

 like the Greek tailoring or the Highland reels, 

 whether from a desire to serve the public as with 



