Under the Lilacs - Chapter 19

The first of September came all too soon, and school began. Among the boys and girls who went trooping up to the "East Corner knowledge-box," as they called it, was our friend Ben, with a pile of neat books under his arm. He felt very strange, and decidedly shy; but put on a bold face, and let nobody guess that, though nearly thirteen, he had never been to school before. Miss Celia had told his story to Teacher, and she, being a kind little woman, with young brothers of her own, made things as easy for him as she could. In reading and writing he did very well, and proudly took his place among lads of his own age; but when it came to arithmetic and geography, he had to go down a long way, and begin almost at the beginning, in spite of Thorny ¹'s efforts to "tool him along fast." It mortified ² him sadly, but there was no help for it; and in some of the classes he had dear little Betty to console with him when he failed, and smile contentedly ³ when he got above her, as he soon began to do, - for she was not a quick child, and plodded ⁴ through First Parts long after sister Bab was flourishing away among girls much older than herself., ,Fortunately, Ben was a short boy and a clever one, so he did not look out of place among the ten and eleven year olders, and fell upon his lessons with the same resolution with which he used to take a new leap, or practise patiently till he could touch his heels with his head. That sort of exercise had given him a strong, elastic ⁵ little body; this kind was to train his mind, and make its faculties ⁶ as useful, quick and sure, as the obedient muscles, nerves and eye, which kept him safe where others would have broken their necks. He knew this, and found much consolation ⁷ in the fact that, though mental arithmetic was a hopeless task, he could turn a dozen somersaults, and come up as steady as a judge. When the boys laughed at him for saying that China was in Africa, he routed them entirely ⁸ by his superior knowledge of the animals belonging to that wild country; and when "First class in reading" was called, he marched up with the proud consciousness that the shortest boy in it did better than tall Moses Towne or fat Sam Kitteridge., ,Teacher praised him all she honestly could, and corrected his many blunders so quietly that he soon ceased to be a deep, distressful ⁹ red during recitation, and tugged ¹⁰ away so manfully that no one could help respecting him for his efforts, and trying to make light of his failures. So the first hard week went by, and though the boy's heart had sunk many a time at the prospect ¹¹ of a protracted ¹² wrestle ¹³ with his own ignorance, he made up his mind to win, and went at it again on the Monday with fresh zeal ¹⁴, all the better and braver for a good, cheery talk with Miss Celia in the Sunday evening twilight ¹⁵., , ,He said nothing of this to Miss Celia; but she found it out, and liked him all the better for keeping some of his small worries to himself. Bab and Betty came over Monday afternoon full of indignation at some boyish insult Sam had put upon Ben; and, finding them too full of it to enjoy the reading, Miss Celia asked what the matter was. Then both little girls burst out in a rapid succession of broken exclamations ¹⁸, which did not give a very clear idea of the difficulty, -, ,"Sam didn't like it because Ben jumped farther than he did - ", ,The boys argued over the thorny points in the lesson.孩子们辩论功课中的难点 。,She was mortified to realize he had heard every word she said. 她意识到自己的每句话都被他听到了 ，直羞得无地自容。