responsible for the slowness of their advancement.
These children came to school in
November and attended it up to March. But
in spring, summer, and autumn, they stayed
away to take care of the goats, or of the
house, or to nurse their little brothers and
sisters while their parents worked in the
fields. On their return to school, in winter,
the children had, of course, forgotten the
lessons of the last season, and Herr Holub
had to begin again with his explanations of
letters and infliction of "Pardus," Only a
few of the more industrious and docile were,
every year, declared to be fit and proper to
" go up to Herr Melitka."

Herr Melitka was a man of great severity,
especially with respect to the " Schulgeld " or
"school-money." On Saturdays he made his
appearance in the class, for the purpose of
collecting this money. On these occasions he
held a list of the scholars in one hand, and a
long leathern purse in the other. He was
accompanied by his wife, the Fran Schullehrerin,
armed with a large ruler. He sat down
by the table, and with the list before him, he
called the children one after another by name.
Those who deposited their week's groschen
on the table were praised as good and orderly
children, and received a " good mark " for
every groschen they paid. But those who,
when called upon, were not ready with their
coin, were denounced as " dissolute and reckless
vagabonds; " they lost all their good
marks, and crosses were set against their
names as signs of " laziness and of
disrespectful behaviour." But if, after being thus
warned, the groschen was again wanting in
the following week, Herr Melitka subjected the
culprits to a very summary and, sometimes,
efficacious proceeding. In cases in which
there were just reasons to doubt the solvency
of the parents, the Frau Schulmeisterin bade
the insolvent child hold out its hand, which
she belabored with the ruler, to the tune of,
"Boy—why—didst—thou—not—bring—the—
mon—ey? " But when the parents were
known to be well off, a writ of attachment
was issued and executed forthwith by Herr
Melitka, and the body of the child remained
confined in the school-room, until the debt
was duly paid by the parents. The above
were almost the only occasions on which Herr
Melitka appeared among the children that
were entrusted to his care. Now and then,
indeed, he would come with the Herr Pfarrer to
inquire into some very great crime, and to
punish it with a Pardus. He, in short,
superintended the departments of finance and of
justice; that of public instruction was given
up to the chief usher, Herr Kuckawy, and
the Frau Schulmeisterin. The latter
superintended the reading and the lessons in
composition, for the sake of the paper which she
was thus enabled to collect, and which, at the
end of the year, fetched a good round sum
from the grocer.

Herr Kuckawy had lived fifteen years as
sub-usher and three as chief-usher. Herr
Melitka relied upon him. He spoke little,
but he coughed a great deal. His method was
very simple. Everything was to be learned
by heart as it stood in the books. Herr
Kuckawy was not fond of explanations, and
much less of making a scene. He never made
an inquiry into any disorderly conduct, but he
punished the whole of a form, or every boy in
the school, by compelling them to kneel on
peas, or to stand up for two or three hours at
a time. The adjustment of very important
cases was left to the Frau Schulmeisterin and
her ruler.

Herr Kuckawy commenced his lessons by
making the boys repeat the paragraphs which
they had learned by heart. For this purpose,
he examined all the windows, to prevent
anything like draught, sat down, put a piece of
sugar-candy into his mouth, and said, " First
form."

The first form advanced, and Herr Kuckawy
put the question of the day, to which each
boy was expected to give exactly the same
answer. Then came the second, third, and
fourth form, and finally, the last and fifth; viz.,
Herzel Samuel, the only so-called " infidel,"
whose seat was removed from those of his
school-fellows. Poor boy! he had much to
suffer. Having on one occasion resented a
gross affront put upon him by the sauciest
of our school-mates, poor Samuel received
a thrashing from every boy in the school.
Happily, however, Herr Kuckawy entered
at the very nick of time to see him bleeding
and sprawling on the floor, made a speech,
and appealed to Frau Melitka for the
castigation of the self-constructed propaganda.
Frau Melitka was the common executioner to
our school; and, on this occasion, she handled
her ruler with a dexterity and devotion most
delightful to witness.

From all I have said, it must appear to
every one, that my education was altogether
unexceptionable; for be its merits whatever
they may, no one of those concerned was
able to find fault with it. And when the
third year drew to a close, and I had
completed my ninth year, it was solemnly
announced that I, and several other boys of
an equally ripe age, should take a formal
leave of school, on the occasion of the
grand examination. That examination was
to come off with more than usual solemnity
and splendour. Many weeks before,
there were dark rumours of a " Herr Kanonicus"
from Prague, and two Deans from
Möseritz, who were expected to be present,
and who were to sleep, the Herr Kanonicus
at the parsonage, and the two Deans at the
house of Herr Melitka. And on the eve of
the great day, as late as ten o'clock at night,
there was a grand burst of music from the little
square in front of the parsonage, announcing
the arrival of the very reverend guests.
Every soul in the place ran out to see them,
and there, just before the Herr Pfarrer's door,