Buttons, by Ascott R. Hope

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. I am not of your element; you shall know more hereafter.? Twelfth Night. ABOUT a week or two after the awkward page's dtbut in the Shaws' household, Geoffrey was walking to school arm-in-arm with his particular friend, one of the sons of their next-door neighbour, Dr. Grey. The two school-fellows were engaged in exclaiming against the tyranny of a certain person whom they called Cobweb, who was in fact the Rev. Mr. Webb, their mathematical master. This gentleman was the bane of Geoffrey's life. Our hero was far from being a dunce in most studies; but he disliked Euclid even more than he disliked Mr. Webb, who, for his part, was very strict about his lessons, without much considering whether or not they were to the taste of his pupils. Geoffrey very much preferred reading novels; and it is not surprising that he had just had a heavy imposition, and of course thought himself very ill- used, and had been expatiating on this subject toMaster Grey, who had some reason to sympathize with him, when they came upon John, the new boy in buttons, wasting his master's time in the streets. On his way back from an errand he had stopped for a minute to look on approvingly or enviously at another inferior boy of his acquaintance, who was whipping a top with great zeal and ability. Whether the boy John, forgetful of the duties and dignity of his professional character, might not presently have been moved to try his own hand at this pastime, is uncertain; but he looked as if he was thinking of something of the kind, when his young master appeared upon the scene and was very indignant at this dereliction of duty. It may be mentioned that the two young gentlemen were engaged in discussing the best means for appeasing their master with regard to a mathematical exercise whi...