28 How I Became a Sportsman-. 



that moment that black pony took complete 

 possession of my thoughts by day and my 

 dreams by night. I did not say much about 

 it when my father showed him to me ; but I 

 fully determined I would see him again, and 

 that very soon ; and as the field where he was 

 usually kept was only about three-quarters of 

 a mile out of my road on my way to school, 

 where the Rev. Dr. Carter daily endeavoured to 

 instil the rudiments of Latin and Greek into 

 me, I very soon made the proposed visit. The 

 Doctor was an ignorant, idle, and severe man, 

 and what he lacked in brains and assiduity he 

 made up in beating. He literally drove the 

 grammar into us by rule of thumb or cane 

 of thumb, for whenever we made the slightest 

 mistake we had to hold out our hands, and 

 have what we called " a spat." It was of no 

 use our drawing back our hands, which we 

 almost involuntarily did (it only made him 

 more savage), for in doing so we often caught 

 the tip of the cane on the tips of our fingers or 

 thumb, which was ten times worse than getting 

 it on the palm of the hand. 



But I am getting off the line. Well, as I 

 was saying, the pony only lay about three- 



