The Heart of Boyhood (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1918. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... The girl almost lost her senses, but at last raising her eyes to the boy, she broke into an outburst of weeping. "Good bye, Mario," she cried to him between her sobs, and with her hands stretched towards him: "Good bye Good bye Goodbye " "Good bye," cried the lad raising his hand above his head. The boat moved swiftly away upon the troubled sea under that dark sky. No one on the doomed vessel shouted any longer. The water was already lapping the edge of the deck. Suddenly the boy fell on his knees with his hands joined together and his eyes turned to the sky. The girl covered her face. When she raised her head and looked again upon the sea, the ship was no longer there. # A Dreaded Day The examination day has come at last. Around the streets and about school, we hear nothing else spoken of. Every one talks about examinations, points, problems, average. Yesterday morning we had the examination in composition, this morning in arithmetic. It was touching to see the parents taking their boys to school, bestowing the last advice on the way. Some of the mothers would accompany their children as far as the benches in the school room to see if there was ink in the inkstand and to try the pen, and turning around at the door to say: "Have courage Pay attention I beseech you " Our assistant teacher was Coatti, the one with that rough black beard, who has a voice like a lion and who never punishes any one. Some of the boys on the benches were afraid. When the teacher unsealed the letter from the school board and took out the problem, not a breath could be heard. He read the problem in a loud voice, looking first at one and then at another with terrible eyes, but we could see that if he had been able to dictate the solution also and have us all promoted, he would have...