Middletown transcript., 1899-01-07
CARLYLE AS A TUTOR
AN AMUSING ANEcDoTE OF THE
GREAT AND GLOOMY MAN.

earthed an amusing anecdote OF Thoma
Carlyle as a country sdominie, = TO
the accuracy Of which he Youches. /
was told in 1858 by Cupar Fife law
yer and provost who had been one O
Carlyle's pupils at Kirkcaldy, to th,
writer and Hugh Miller. The interes
of this gentleman's "reminiscences o
his sehoolmaster was heightened by hiI
utter Inconsistencies that his old do
mimic was the Thomas Carlyle who wal
then beginning to be known to fame.
The old gentleman described the Older
race Of Scottish schoolmasters as always
during school hours wearing their hats
.--at least keeping their heads covered
and many of the boys, viewing the pc
cnliar angle at which the hat stood up,
on the head and how near it came to the
eyebrows, could conjecture IL the saw
age mood were to BE- that day predomi-
nant.
g But my teacher, = said the provost,
"a strict and gloomy disciplinarian
with the name Of Carlyle, never wore
his hat in the school, and indeed his
broW was SO overhnng with dark threat
eniAg that no extra expression to alarm
us vas needed from his lum hatl He
did not thrash us either very often or
very severely, but we had a fear that,
il provoked, he would go great lengths
in punishment. / have seen his mere
scoNl hush at once the whole school. =
Hugh Miller here interposed by ask
ing, ibid your teacher ever burst into
strange laugh in school?"
'fThat is a very odd question. re-
turned the provost. ''Why do you ask?
Bus now that I remember, he had at
times very extraordinary laugh that
made us all stare. It had train Of
queer ehuckling which exploded in a
succession Of loud and deep outlaws that
shook his whole body and displayed all
his teeth like the keys Of piano. He
then olapped his hands on the book he
held against his knees. Yet none of us
never knew at what he was laughing.
He had grim smilein reproving pupils
and habit of tapping their heads with
his knuokles as he told them that the
heads would never be worth the price
of hats or the charge of barber, though
mammas and aunts had that morning
combed, kissed and blessed them, as il
they were teeming with the sublimest
.inyentions and designsl''
~9The provost saw that Hugh Miller
and some other guests were listening
eagerly, and he proceeded
zone morning, few minutes before
the school hour, when most Of the pu-
pills had arrived, and, as rain was fall
ing, they had gone into the school, q
donkey, which had broken loose from
its tether on grassy spot near, was en-
tering the playground. Bill Hood and I
were so far on our way, and Bill who
was a stout and frolicsome lad-the
in many sports and tricks
rushed to mount the animal and began
to guide and force it into the school.
with desperate squirting the donkey
was induced to carry its rider over the
Threshold, and what a reception both
Of them got from the juvenile crowdsl
Bags Of books were at once fastened to
the tail and around the neck Of the ass,
and SO busy wers Bill and half dozen
in urging the animal to a
Canter around the school and to ascend
the short stair of the masters desk that
they did not notice how time was speed.
ing, and before they could remove the
stranger Mr.. Carlyle appeared.
" We expected tremendous explosion
Of wrath, but he burst into a roar of
a roar, however, as, in
stead of tempting us to join in it, pro-
duced a sudden and complete hush, and
that roar was renewed again and again
when the ass, withdrawing it's forefeet
from the first step Of the desk stair and
turning round, took pace or two slow
" toward the master as if to salute him.
" That, exclaimed Carlyle, SIS the
wisest and best scholar KirkcaIdy has
yet sent me. He is fit to be your teach
Dr.. He tapped the donkey's head as he
was wont to do ours and said, There's |
here far more than in the |
skulls of any of his brethren before me,
though these skulls are patted in fond |
admiration by papas and mammas, and |
though that far grander headpiece meets
only with merciless blows
HE then gave some hard taps on |
Bill Hoods head, and would not allow |
nim to dismount, but for a penalty or
Tered him to ride up and down the |
school for an hour, while those boys
who had been most active in helping |
Bill to 60 through the farce had to |
march in pairs before and behind the
oerplexed looking ass. He did not re.
luire the other scholars to attend to
heir several school lessons, but silently
permitted them to stand as spectators
If the grotesque procession. Then he
himself, seated within his pulpitlike
lesk, surveyed Bill and his company.
II have not for years thought Of this
cene," continued the provost, 'but it
las now come back to me freshly, and
remember that my old master had
cry strange laugh. don't know what
las become Of him, nor indeed have
leard Of him since I left Kirkealdy
chool."