Fragments of An Autobiography

and those disgracefully irregular, verbs the old Greeks tolerated. But Dr. Traumann was always kind and helpful; in fact, he was not only a first-rate teacher but a lovable man. I had, soon after my arrival in Leipsic, been put under his care, and thanks to his coaching, I got so well ahead of myself, that although my scholastic antecedents would really have fitted me more for the " Tertia" class, I could be pitchforked into " Secunda." During a temporary absence of my parents from Leipsic I was for some months staying in the Magis- ter's house; three flights of stairs brought one to his door. I usually bounded up those stairs with the elastic step that leads to a happy home, but to-day ?a certain to-day that seems but yesterday?my tread was slow and diffident. How could I face the Magister, the man above all others whom I hadtreated with disrespect?I had libelled! What reception awaited me ? Whether I took two steps at a time or one at half-time, the result was much the same; I got upstairs, rang the bell, and went in. This is what had happened during the morning's lesson at the Thomas-Schule. The learned doctor was expounding the subtle meaning of some lines in Virgil's " JSneid." I found that the top layer of the poet's meaning would do for me, but, as is the way with the erudite, Dr. Traumann went down very deep, backed by an army of commentators; in fact so deep that I did not care to follow. So I took to a more congenial occupation, and, under t...