The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-06-05
Select Storp.
BARoRO-
From Longman's Magazine.
CHAPTER 1.

MANY examinations. His real name was
Brandon, but none of the students called
him Professor Brandon except to his face.
Even logical girls will invent nicknames.
They called him Baroko, and it was con-
sidered a good joke by the initiated to say
that Baroko was in his worst mood. Near
" all the teachers at the academy were
honored with new titles, hattering or un-
fattering, and generally containing some
reference to their particular branches of in
struction. The science master, Mr.. Mad
olson, had been called Sirius till some es-
pecially intelligent member of the class that
dealt with ecliptics, parallaxes, and the like
discovered that Sirius was the dog-star. 1t
was felt that nothing less than constella-
tion or planet would do for Mr.. Maddi-
son, he was so universally popular; 50 from
Sirius his name passed to Arcturus, or,
sentimentally, the bright one, or even
aThe Archangel" The amount of adora-
tion that was lavished on Arcturus was in
calculable; but luckily he was modest
young fellow enough, and it did not turn
his head
The girls could never understand why
Arcturus had anything to do with Baroko.
They were excellent friends, though Baro-
ko was as generally disliked as Arcturus
was admired. He looked too old perhaps
he was ten or fifteen years
Younger than he looked-to be fascinating.
But a worse drawback was that, though he
never got vexed, he was given to making
the most bitter remarks in the coolest,
blandest of tones. A master who wishes
to be unpopular cannot do better than keep
his temper and be sarcastic. One polished
sentence does more to make his pupils hate
him than a dozen ebullitions Of wrath.
They feel that the method is not just, that
there is trickery about it, that it is heart
less and eold-blooded. 1t is impossible to
pay it back in its own coin. Abuse they
can understand, direct reproaches they can
understand, and be sorry and wish to do
better, in order to please the person who
has right to reproach; but about sarcasm
there is something deadly and lurking that
battles, maddens, and hardens them. 1t
may scare them into obedience, but it de-
stroys faith and confidence, and the ODE
dience will be halfhearted.
Sarcasm is too keen a weapon to be used
on slight occasion. Professor Brandon had
forgotten this. 1t is true that his habit of
always speaking satirically, after the style
of many popular critics, sprang from care
lessness rather than from any ingrained
cynicism or harshness of mood but, then,
the logical girls did not know this. 1t is
with the logical girls that we have to do.
They were not extremely sensitive for the
most part, and much of Baroko's refined
satire glided over their heads, only giving
them vague feeling of discomfort, for
which they hated him.
So far as learning went the logical girls
we're very advanced. They knew little
about statics, little about anatomy-they
we're always knowing and forgetting again
the difference between the cerebrum and
the cerebellum. They could tell the date
at which Xerxes or some one crossed the
Hellespont-that II is, if they had recently
got it up. 1t was the same, as regarded
the majority of the class, with their other
attainments. They knew Latin, and had
been constituting the first book Of Virgil
ever since anybody could remember, for
when they came to the end they had always
forgotten the beginning, and turned back
again to make sure of it. Nevertheless,
they were very advanced girls, and were
going in, some of them, for the Higher
Local Exam. This only required them to
take one group at time; they could get it
up in one year, and in the next forget it
and get up another
1t was an exceptional class There was
only one backward girl in it; and she was
not stupid, but logic seemed to turn her
brain. 1t was Molly Drummond. She
was bright enough at music and drawing
and history and literature, and could even
write bad verses in the albums of the other
girls. Her arithmetic, truly, was failure;
she owned, in fact, frankly enough to the
arithmetic master, who was not Professor
Brandon, that the other girls always did
her sums for her; but she considered it a
sufficient expiation of this offence that she
did their essays for them. The morality
of the average school girl is hazy. Would
she do the sum by herself for once? Yes,
certainly; Molly would do anything she
was asked to do-and she did. They were
more than wrong; they were ridiculous.
Evidently the girl-s seventeen, too did not
know her multiplication-table.
AS for logic, she had as clear head for
it as any one when she chose But she
did not choose She disliked the logical
girls, whose virtues afflicted her with too
painful sense of contrast; and she consol-
ed herself with the reflection that she could
outstrip them if she liked; also, that she
dressed more .tastefully, and was prettier
than any of them, except Alicia Hargreaves.
Alicia was nineteen, tall and dark, and
with fine figure, and eyeglas-
ses-gold ones. Nearly all the logical girls
wore eyeglasses, except those who wore
spectacles; and they were subject most of
them to headaches and neuralgia. Molly
was exceptional in having excellent sight
and health and fresh color. She was not
beautiful, but her face was very charming,
with its laughing yet earnest dark-gray
eyes. Her figure was 1.-THE and rounded,
and she walked well and seemed to dance
by instinct. Altogether winning girl,
with woman's power of passion and of
and greater favorite with the
teachers, in spite of her idleness, than
Alicia, who was first in everything. Alicia
was really intellectual, and could under
stand satire more or less; but even Profes-
sor Brandon never made her his victim.
She was too unimpeachable Neverthe-
less, they were not attached to each other.
There was even, as Molly Drummond soon
an enmity between them, yelled
by exceeding urbanity on both sides.
Alicia was not to Baroko's liking. The
fact was, she had detected him in purely
technical error years ago, and instead of
passing it by she had brought it forward in
the assembled class and made the most of
it. Every one had forgotten the incident
long ago, except Alicia and the Professor
himself; but he never forgaye her He
her in his mind as the type Of
an especially disagreeable woman, and sol
emnly warned Arcturus one day of the
danger of allowing his appreciation of her
talents IN carry him too far