these contests in grammar were esteemed the most important part of the daily exercises. Henry's name was generally called last, for no one chose him except as a matter of necessity. He was sure to be a dead weight to his leader.
"The fair leader of one of these divisions took the boy aside to a private apartment, to put into him with female tact and insinuation those definitions and distinctions on which the honor of the class depended.
"'Now, Henry, A is the indefinite article, you see, and must be used only with the singular noun. You can say a man, but you can't say a men, can you?' 'Yes, I can say Amen, too,' was the ready rejoinder. 'Father says it always at the end of his prayers.'
"'Come, Henry, now don't be joking. Now, decline He.' 'Nominative he, possessive his, objective him.' 'You see, his is possessive. Now, you can say his book, but you can't say him book.' 'Yes, I do say hymn book, too,' said the impracticable scholar, with a quizzical twinkle. Each one of these sallies made his young teacher laugh, which was the victory he wanted.
"'But now, Henry, seriously, just attend to the active and passive voice. Now, I strike, is active, you see, because if you strike you do something. But, I am struck, is passive, because if you are struck you don't do any thing, do you?'
"'Yes, I do; I strike back again.'
"Sometimes his views of philosophical subjects were offered gratuitously. Being held rather of a frisky nature, his sister appointed his seat at her elbow when she heard her classes. A class in natural philosophy, not very well prepared, was stumbling through the theory of the tides. 'I can explain that,' said Henry. 'Well, you see, the sun, he catches hold of the moon and pulls her, and she catches hold of the sea and pulls that, and this makes the spring tides.'