BEGINNINGS IN SCIENCE AT MUG BY SCHOOL. 61 



Fig. 8.— Scale of Loach. 



is one thing more difficult to explain concerning instincts than 

 another, it is the instinct of boys' friendships. 



How Jack Hampson — big-limbed, broad-backed Jack — came to 

 take up, the very day he arrived at Mugby, with little Willie Ran- 

 som e, I can not tell. There 

 is something in the doc- 

 trine of contrasts ; doubt- 

 less Willie was as great a 

 contrast to Jack as you 

 would have found in the 

 whole school — rather un- 

 dersized, weakly, but never- 

 theless a brave and truthful 

 boy. He was fond of books 

 — a trifle too fond, for it 

 would have done him good 

 to have got away from them 

 a little. The chief feature about Willie was his large, bright, in- 

 quiring eyes, and his altogether affectionate disposition. He took 

 to Jack at once, and Jack to him. Never before was there a better 

 illustration of " friendship at first sight." 



It was at the commencement of the spring term that the friends 

 came to Mugby School. Without knowing it, but fortunately for 



them and for the whole 

 school, a fine, enthusiastic 

 young fellow had been ap- 

 pointed " science teacher." 

 The term sounds vague, but 

 so do all terms if too strictly 

 analyzed. The boys dubbed 

 him " professor," and there- 

 by unconsciously gave him 

 higher rank than his con- 

 freres, who were only 

 " teachers." It would have 

 been impossible for a young 

 man to have been selected 

 better fitted for such a post. 

 Nothing gets hold of boys 

 sooner than enthusiasm. Boys are naturally enthusiastic. There 

 is no better proof of vitality, even in an old man, than that he con- 

 tinues to be enthusiastic about anything intellectual. 



Willie Ransome's father was a village doctor, and it was hoped 

 Willie would some day help his father in his increasingly larger, 

 but not increasingly profitable, rounds. Willie entered the science 

 class the first term. His father was a man of scientific tastes, with 



Fig. 9.— Scale of Minnow. 



