population, who would condescend to entertain
the addresses of a sub-usher. He was
partially successful. Although oppressed
by the competition of the chief usher, he
found some families willing to engage his
extra services for their children, at the sum of
one-and-a-half florin* per month. But his
endeavours to find a soft and feeling female
heart, and to appropriate the same to his
exclusive use, though often seemingly successful,
never led to any favourable result. Herr
Holub, however, was truly great. He was
"adversis major;" each successive
disappointment served but to enhance the
victorious assurance of his gait, and the melting
tenderness of the cast in his eye.

* Three Shillings.

About the time when Herr Holub had been
ten years attached to our village, I was a
small urchin of six, he was always promenading
in front of our house; the fact was that a pretty
young cousin of my mother's had come to
live with us, and to this wicked young woman's
heart Herr Holub had resolved to lay a
formal siege. His plan of operations was
worthy of his great mind, although I, who
record his deeds, was doomed to become the
medium of his passion. May my fate be
a warning to all little boys with pretty
cousins!

On a fine summer's evening, when I had
just succeeded in harnessing six young ladies
and gentlemen to a long string, and at the
very moment I was setting off with them at
a slapping pace round the statue of St. John of
Nepomuk, in our market-place, we were
surprised by the appearance of Herr Holub; who,
leaning against one of the acacia trees in our
vicinity, was intently bent upon inspecting
the method of our sport. My companions
belonged to the usher's class, and had some
experience of that wholesome severity which
pervaded his system of education. They no
sooner saw him than they took to their heels;
and, by so doing, they upset me, their driver,
and flung me against the sharp granite steps
which served as a pedestal to the statue of
the patron saint and protector of our country.
I screamed lustily, for the red, hot blood was
running down my cheeks; but who can
understand my dismay, when, rising, I found myself
face to face with Herr Holub, who readily
embraced the opportunity of obtaining an
introduction to our house.

"Reckless child," said he, in a tone of
authoritative mildness, while he fillipped
away the snuff which stuck to the tips of his
fingers; " reckless child! these, then, are the
consequences of thy disobedience. If thy
teachers'—I ought to say, thy parents', for
teachers, it seems, thou hast none—exhortations
had prevailed with thee, thou wouldst
now be safe and free from harm."

Saying which, he produced a red cotton
handkerchief, which he tied round my
forehead, and, taking my hand, he led me to my
mother.

"Here, Frau Meisterin, is your spoiled
child," quoth the worthy usher. " But for my
timely presence and assistance, I am confident
that his life would have fallen a sacrifice to
his reckless conduct."

Mr. Holub's impressive speech, and my
own cries, soon brought all the inmates of the
house to the spot. My father volunteered to
beat me, our old nurse gave me a lump of
sugar, and the pretty cousin wiped the blood
from my cheeks; while Herr Holub expatiated
on the imperative necessity of my being sent
to school. His impressive manner and sage
remarks produced a favourable effect on all,
even on my cousin; and when he repeated
his visit, a few days afterwards, he found
the wound in my head in a fair way of healing,
and my parents prepared to sacrifice the joys
of my infancy to the persuasion of his seductive
eloquence. He saw his advantage, and,
what is more, he followed it up.

"Frau Meisterin," said he, " why don't you
send the boy to school?—And yet," he
continued, " he is young, and it is not easy, let me
tell you, to get young children well taught and
taken care of. They never learn anything in
this school of ours."

And Herr Holub enforced this sweeping
condemnation with a pinch of snuff.

"You are right," said my mother. " The
children learn nothing at school; and as for
teaching them at home, why there is no
one—-"

Herr Holub took another pinch, and said—

" Send your boy to school for discipline,
and apply to an able and attentive teacher for
private instruction, and, take my word for it,
you will be satisfied with the result."

"But what is to be done with children that
are good for nothing, and little vagabonds,
that won't learn? " asked my mother, making
a dead set on my ambition.

"Then let the teacher alone for his method,"
replied Herr Holub, with great dignity.
"Dost thou mean to learn, boy?"
continued he.

I stared at him, blushed, and fell back upon
the protection of my pretty cousin. Herr
Holub, who was beetle-browed and long-
nosed, was quite as formidable. Was I to
declare my readiness to learn, and thus offer
my back to the merciless rod of the usher?

"If thou wilt but learn, I will give thee a
large cake, and lots of sugar," said Babieka,
the nurse.

Still I hesitated. But the pretty cousin said,
"If thou wilt but learn, I'll love thee;" and
she gained the day. I consented to go to
school! Herr Holub (how I trembled to hear
him say it!) promised to take me under his
special protection, and to devote an hour a
day to my instruction at home.

The following Monday was my first
school-day. It was full of fate. Early in
the morning I was dressed in my Sunday
jacket and breeches, and shoes and stockings
were put on my feet; for my mother