Even the bad boys sat in attitudes of attention, hypnotized by the solemnity of my demeanor.

If they got any inkling of what the hail of big words was about, it must have been through occult suggestion.

I fixed their eighty eyes with my single stare, and gave it to them, stanza after stanza, with such emphasis as the lameness of the lines permitted.
He whose courage, will, amazing bravery, Did free his land from a despot's rule, From man's greatest evil, almost slavery, And all that's taught in tyranny's school.
Who gave his land its liberty, Who was he?
'T was he who e'er will be our pride.
Immortal Washington, Who always did in truth confide.
We hail our Washington! [Illustration: TWOSCORE OF MY FELLOW-CITIZENS--PUBLIC SCHOOL, CHELSEA] The best of the verses were no better than these, but the children listened.

They had to.

Presently I gave them news, declaring that Washington Wrote the famous Constitution; sacred's the hand That this blessed guide to man had given, which says, "One And all of mankind are alike, excepting none." This was received in respectful silence, possibly because the other Fellow Citizens were as hazy about historical facts as I at this point.