by F. W. Farrar
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
DAUBENY.
La Genie c'est la Patience.
Buffon.
I suppose that no days of life are so happy as those in which some greatsorrow has been removed. Certainly Walter's days as his heart grewlighter and lighter with the consciousness that Mr Paton had forgivenhim, that all those who once looked on him coldly had come round, thathis difficulties were vanishing before steady diligence, and that, youngas he was, he was winning for himself a name and a position in theschool, were very full of peace. O pleasant days of boyhood! howmercifully they are granted to prepare us, to cheer us, to make us wisefor the struggles of future life. To Walter at this time life itselfwas an exhilarating enjoyment. To get up in the morning bright,cheerful, and refreshed, with thoughts:
"Pleasant as roses in the thickets blown, And pure as dew bathing their crimson leaves;"
to get over his lessons easily and successfully, and receive Mr Paton'squiet word of praise; to shake with laughing over the flood of nonsensewith which Henderson always deluged everyone who sat near him atbreakfast-time; to help little Eden in his morning's work, and to seewith what intense affection and almost adoration the child looked up tohim; to stroll with Kenrick under the pine woods, or have a pleasantchat in Power's pretty little study, or read a book in the luxuriousretirement of Mr Percival's room, or, if it were a half-holiday, tojoin in the skating, hare and hounds, football, or whatever game mightbe on hand--all these things were to Walter Evson one long unbrokenpleasure. At this time he was the brightest, and pleasantest, andhappiest of all light-hearted and happy English boys.
The permission to go whenever he liked to Mr Percival's room was hismost valued privilege. There he could always secure such immunity fromdisturbance as enabled him to learn his lessons in half the time hewould otherwise have been obliged to devote to them; and there too hecould always ask the master's assistance when he came to any insuperabledifficulty, and always enjoy the society of Henderson and the one or twoother boys who were allowed by Mr Percival's kindness to use the sameretreat. From the bottom of his form he rapidly rose to the top, and atlast was actually placed first. A murmur of pleasure ran through theform on the first Sunday when his name was read out in this honourableposition, and it gave Walter nearly as much satisfaction to hearHenderson's name read out _sixth_ on the same day; for before Waltercame, Henderson was too volatile ever to care where he stood in form,and usually spent his time in school in drawing caricatures of themasters, and writing parodies of the lesson or epigrams on other boys;up till this time Daubeny had always been first in the form, and hedeserved the place if any boy did. He was not a clever boy, but nothingcould exceed his well-intentioned industry. Like Sir Walter Raleigh he"toiled terribly." It was an almost pathetic sight to see Dubbs setabout learning his repetitions; it was a noble sight, too. There was aheroism about it which was all the greater from its being unnoticed andunrecorded. Poor Dubbs had no privacy except such as the greatschoolroom could afford, and there is not much privacy in a room,however large, which is the common habitation of fifty boys.Nevertheless, the undaunted Daubeny would choose out the quietest andloneliest corner of the room, and with elbows on knees and hands overhis ears to shut out the chaotic noises which surrounded him, would stayrepeating the lines to himself with attention wholly concentrated andabsorbed, until, after perhaps an hour's work, he knew enough of them toenable him to finish mastering them the next morning. Next morning hewould be up with the earliest dawn, and would again set himself to thetask with grand determination, content if at the end of the week hegained the distinguished reward of being head in his form, and couldallow himself the keen pleasure of writing home to tell his mother ofhis success.
When Daubeny had first come to Saint Winifred's, he had been forced togo through very great persecution. As he sat down to do his work hewould be pelted with orange peel, kicked, tilted off the form on whichhe sat, ridiculed, and sometimes chased out of the room. All this hehad endured with admirable patience and good humour; in short, sopatiently and good-humouredly that all boys who had in them a spark ofsense or honour very soon abandoned this system of torment, and made upfor it as far as they could by respect and kindness, which always,however, took more or less the form of banter. It is not to be expectedthat boys will ever be made to see that steady, strenuous industry, evenwhen it fails, is a greater and a better thing than idle cleverness, butthose few who were so far in advance of their years as to have someintuition of this fact, felt for the character of Daubeny, a value whichgave him an influence of a rare and important kind. For nothing coulddaunt this young martyr--not even failure itself. If he were too muchbullied and annoyed to get up his lesson overnight, he would be up byfive in the morning working at it with unremitting assiduity. Veryoften he _overdid_ it, and knew his lesson all the worse in proportionas he had spent upon it too great an amount of time. Without beingpositively stupid, his intellect was somewhat dull, and as his mannerwas shy and awkward he had not been quite understood at first, and nomaster had taken him specially in hand to lighten his burdens. Hisbitterest trial, therefore, was to fail completely every now and then,and be reproached for it by some master who little knew the hours ofweary work which he had devoted to the unsuccessful attempt. This wasparticularly the case during his first half-year, during which he hadbeen in Mr Robertson's form. It happened that, from the very wearinessof brain induced by his working too hard, he had failed in severalsuccessive lessons, and Mr Robertson, who was a man of quick temper andstinging speech, had made some very cutting remarks upon him, and senthim, moreover, to detention--a punishment which caused to his sensitivemind a pain hardly less acute than the master's pungent and undeservedsarcasm. This mishap, joined to his low weekly placing, very nearlyfilled him with despair, and this day might have turned the scale, andfixed him in the position of a heavy and disheartened boy, but forPower, who had come to Saint Winifred's at the same time with Daubeny,and who, although in his unusually rapid progress he had long leftDaubeny behind, was then in the same form and the same dormitory withhim, and knew how he worked. Power used always to say to his friendsthat Dubbs was the worthiest, the bravest, the most upright andconscientious boy in all Saint Winifred's school. Daubeny, on the otherhand, had for Power the kind of adoration of the savage for the sun; hewas the boy's beau-ideal of a perfect scholar and a perfect being.--Itwas a curious sight to see the two boys together Power with his fine andthoughtful face beaming with intelligence, Dubbs with large, heavyfeatures and awkward gait; Power sitting down with his book andperfectly mastering the lesson in a quarter of an hour, and then turninground to say, with a bright arch look, "Well, Dubbs, I've learnt thelesson; how far are you?"
"Learnt the lesson? O, lucky fellow. I only know one stanza and thatnot perfectly; let me see--`Nam quid Typhoeus et validus Mimas namquid'--no; I don't know even that, I see."
"Here, let me hear you."
Whereupon Dubbs would begin again, and flounder hopelessly at the end ofthe third line, and then Power would continue it all through with him,fix the sense of it in his memory, read it over, suggest little mnemonicdodges and associations of particular words and lines, and not leave himuntil he knew it by heart, and was ready with gratitude enough to pluckout his right eye and give it to Power, if needed, there and then.
The early failures we have been speaking of took place when Power hadbeen staying out of school with a severe cold, and being in the sickroomhad not seen Daubeny at all. He had come out again on the morning when,after Daubeny's failure, Mr Robertson had called him incorrigiblyslothful and incapable, and after muttering some more invectives hadsaid something about his being hopeless. As he listened to the master'sremarks, although he knew that they only arose from misconception,Power's cheeks flushed up with painful surprise, and his eyes sparkledwith indignation for his friend. He wanted Daubeny to tell MrRobertson how many hours he had spent in being "incorrigibly slothful"over that particular lesson, but this at the time he coul
d not get himto do. "Besides," said Daubeny, "if he knows me to be quite hopeless"--and here the poor boy grew scarlet as he recalled the undeservedinsult--"it's no disgrace to me to fail."
When detention was over, Power sought out his friend, and found himsitting on the top of a little hill by the side of the river, alone, andwith a most forlornly disconsolate air. Power saw that he had beencrying bitterly, but had too much good taste to take any notice of thefact.
"Well, Power, you see what credit I get, and yet you know how I try.I'm a `bad, idle boy,' it seems, and `incorrigibly slothful,' and`hardly fit for the school,' and `I must be put down to a lower form ifI don't make more effort'--oh! I forgot though, you heard it allyourself. So you know my character," he said, with a melancholy smile.
"Never mind, old fellow. You've done your best, and none of us can domore. You know the soldier's epitaph--`Here lies one who tried to dohis duty'--a prince could not have better, and you deserve that ifanyone ever did."
"I wish I were you, Power," said Daubeny; "you are so clever, you canlearn the lessons in no time; everyone likes you, and you get no end ofcredit, while I'm a mere butt, and when I've worked hard it's a case of_Kathedeitai honos_, as the lesson-book says."
"Pooh, Dubbs," said Power, kindly putting his arm on his shoulder;"you're just as happy as I am. A fellow with a clear conscience _can't_be in low spirits very long. Don't you remember the pretty verse I readto you the other day, and which made me think of you while I read it--
"`Days that, in spite Of darkness, by the light Of a clear mind are day all night?'"
"Don't think I _envy_ you, Power--you won't think that, will you?" saidDubbs with the tears glistening in his eyes.
"No, no, my dear old boy. Such a nature as yours can't envy, I know;I'm sure you're as happy when I succeed as when you succeed yourself. Ithink I've got the secret of it, Dubbs. You work _too_ much; you musttake more exercise--play games more--give less time to the work. I'msure you'll do better then, for half is better than the whole sometimes.And Dubbs, I may say to you what I wouldn't say to any other boy in thewhole school--but I've found it _so_ true, and I'm sure you will too,and that is, Bene orasse est bene studuisse."
Dubbs pressed his hand in silence. The hard thoughts which had beengathering were dissipated in a moment, and as he walked back to theschool and to new heroic efforts by Power's side, he felt that he hadlearnt a secret full of strength. He did better and better. He brokethe neck of his difficulties one by one, and had soon surpassed boys whowere far more brilliant, but less industrious, than himself. Thus itwas that he fought his way up to the position of one of the steadiestand most influential boys among those of his own standing, because allknew him to be sterling in his virtues, unswerving in his rectitude,most humble, and most sincere. During all his school career he wasnever once overtaken in a serious fault. It may be that he had fewertemptations than boys more gifted and more mercurial; he was neverexposed to the singularly powerful trials which compensated for thesuperiority of others to him in good looks, and popular manners, andquick passions; but yet his blamelessness had something in it verybeautiful, and his noble upward struggles were remembered with fondpleasure in after days.
Walter, like all other sensible boys, felt for Daubeny a very sincereadmiration and regard. Daubeny's fearless rectitude, on the night whenhis own indulged temper led him into such suffering, had left a deepimpression on his mind, and, since then, Dubbs had always been among thenumber of his more intimate friends. Hence, when Walter wrested fromhim the head place, he was half sorry that he should cause the boy tolose his well-merited success, and almost wished that he had come outsecond, and left Daubeny first. He knew that there was not in hisrival's nature a particle of envy, but still he feared that he mightsuffer some disappointment. But in this he was mistaken; Daubeny was afirm believer in the principle of _La carriere ouverte aux talons_; hewas, under the circumstances, quite as happy to be second as to befirst; and among the many who congratulated Walter, none did so with aheartier sincerity than this generous and single-minded boy.
People still retain the notion that boyish emulation is the almostcertain cause of hatreds and jealousies. Usually, the fact is the veryreverse. An _ungenerous_ rivalry is most unusual, and thoseschoolfellows who dispute with a boy the prizes of a form are commonlyhis most intimate associates and his best friends. Certainly, Daubenyliked Walter none the less for his having wrested away from him with somuch ease a distinction which had caused himself such strenuous effortsto win.
The pleasant excitement of contending for a weekly position made Daubenywork harder than ever. Indeed, the whole form seemed to have received anew stimulus lately. Henderson was astonishing everybody by a fit ofdiligence, and even Howard Tracy seemed less totally indifferent to hisplace than usual. So willingly did the boys work, that Mr Paton hadnot half the number of punishments to set, and perhaps his latemisfortune had infused a little more tenderness and consideration into acharacter always somewhat stern and unbending. But, instead of rising,Daubeny only lost places by his increased work; he was making himselfill with work. At the end of the next week, instead of being first orsecond, he was only fifth; and when Mr Percival, who always had beenhis friend, rallied him on this descent, he sighed deeply, andcomplained that he had been suffering lately from headaches, andsupposed that they had prevented him from doing so well as usual.
This remark rather alarmed the master, and on the Sunday afternoon heasked the boy to come a walk with him, for the express purpose ofendeavouring to persuade him to relax efforts which were obviously beingmade to the injury of his health.
When they had once fairly reached the meadows by the riverside, MrPercival said to him--
"You are overdoing it, Daubeny. I can see myself that your mind is in atense, excited, nervous condition from work; you must lie fallow, mydear boy."
"O! I'm very strong, sir," said Daubeny; "I've a cast-ironconstitution, as that amusing plague of mine, Henderson, always tellsme."
"Never mind, you must really work less. I won't have that getting up atfive in the morning. If you don't take care, I shall _forbid_ you to behigher than twentieth in your form under heavy penalties, or I shall getDr Keith to send you home altogether, and not let you go in to theexamination."
"O! no, sir, you really mustn't do that. I assure you that I enjoywork. An illness I had when I was a child hindered and threw me backvery much, and you can't think how eager I am to make up for that losttime."
"The time is not lost, my dear Daubeny, if God demanded it in illnessfor His own good purposes. Be persuaded, my boy; abandon, for thepresent, all struggle to take a high place until you feel quite wellagain, and then you shall work as hard as you like. Remember, knowledgeitself is valueless in comparison with health."
Daubeny felt the master's kind intention; but he could not restrain hisunconquerable eagerness to get on. He would have succumbed far sooner,if Walter and Power had not constantly dragged him out with them almostby force, and made him take exercise against his will. But, though hewas naturally strong and healthy, he began to look very pale, and hisbest friends urged him to go home and take a holiday.
Would that he had taken that good and kind advice!
