CHAP, in.] "OLD 31" EDINBURGH ACADEMY. 51 



pleasant to him, and the repetition ad nauseam of "di, 

 do, dum" by his new acquaintances, varied with the 

 sound of the tawse, did not make the subject more 

 attractive. Like the boy Teufelsdrockh, he seemed 

 to hear at school innumerable dead vocables, but no 

 language. His hesitation got worse and worse, and 

 as his place in the class was not amongst the " best 

 boys," some of his neighbours willingly did their 

 utmost to disconcert him. On one occasion we shall 

 find him humorously retaliating. He was not in the 

 least inwardly perturbed by all this, nor bore any one 

 the slightest malice. It was a new scene of life, which 

 he contemplated with amused curiosity. But it was 

 natural that his chief interest should not lie there. 

 He seldom took part in any games, though he was 

 loyally proud of the success of his school in them, and 

 characteristically took some interest in the spinning 

 of " pearies " (pegtops), and the collision of " bools " 

 (marbles); but, when he could, preferred wandering 

 alone, sometimes imprisoning the humble-bees on 

 the green slope at the back and letting them go again, 

 sometimes doing queer gymnastics on the few trees 

 that were left, availing himself, in short, of the 

 scanty inlets by which Nature visited that shingly 

 ground. 1 For his heart was at Glenlair, even when 

 he made sport for the young Philistines of the 

 Academy " yards." It should be added that his 

 attendance was a good deal interrupted by delicate 

 health. 



1 Things are altered now. For years past there has been an ample 

 recreation-ground provided for the boys of the Academy. 



