Eric; Or, Little by Little

The Easter holidays at Roslyn lasted about ten days, and as most of the boys came from a distance, they usually spent them at school. Many of the usual rules were suspended duri...

Next evening, when preparation began, Pietrie and Graham got everything ready for a carouse in their class-room. Wildney, relying on the chance of names not being called over (w...

Eric Williams pursued his disconsolate way to the station, and found that his money only just sufficed to get him something to eat during the day, and carry him third class by t...

“For alas! alas! with me The light of life is o’er; No more--no more--no more (Such language holds the solemn sea To the sands upon the shore) Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tr...

After prayers the next morning Dr. Rowlands spoke to his boarders on the previous day’s discovery, and in a few forcible vivid words set before them, the enormity of the offence...

A note to this effect was put into Eric’s hands by Wildney after prayers. He read it when he got into his study, and hardly knew whether to be pleased or disgusted at it.

Eric and Wildney were flogged and confined to gates for a time instead of being expelled, and they both bore the punishment in a manly and penitent way, and set themselves with...

At last the longed-for yet dreaded day approached, and a letter informed the Trevors that Mr. and Mrs. Williams would arrive at Southampton on July 5th, and would probably reach...

“O far beyond the waters The fickle feet may roam, But they find no light so pure and bright As the one fair star of home; The star of tender hearts, lady, That glows in an Engl...

On the Monday evening, the head boy reported to Dr. Rowlands that the perpetrator of the offence had not been discovered, but that one boy was very generally suspected, and on g...

Upton, expatriated from his study, was allowed to use one of the smaller class-rooms which were occupied during play-hours by those boys who were too high in the school for “the...

They did not awake till noon. Montagu opened his eyes, and at first could not collect his thoughts, as he saw the carpeted little room, the bright fire, and the housekeeper seat...

The second term at school is generally the great test of the strength of a boy’s principles and resolutions. During the first term the novelty, the loneliness, the dread of unkn...

Latterly the small boys, in the universal spirit of disobedience, had frequented the studies a good deal, but it was generally understood that no study-boy might ask any one to...

Time, the great good angel, Time, the merciful healer, assuaged the violence of Eric’s grief, which seemed likely to settle down into a sober sadness. At first his letters to hi...

At Roslyn, even in summer, the hour for going to bed was half-past nine. It was hardly likely that so many boys, overflowing with turbulent life, should lie down quietly, and ge...

For a few days after the Sunday walk narrated in the last chapter, Upton and Eric cut each other dead. Upton was angry at Eric’s declining the honor of his company, and Eric was...

The vessel was under way when Eric woke, and collected his scattered thoughts to a remembrance of his new position. At first, as the Stormy Petrel dashed its way gallantly throu...

Why is it that new boys are almost invariably ill-treated? I have often fancied that there must be in boyhood a pseudo-instinctive cruelty, a sort of “wild trick of the ancestra...

To Eric the changes were not for good. The memories of Russell were getting dim; the resolutions made during his illness had vanished; the bad habits laid aside after his death...

“Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!” cried a young boy, as he capered vigorously about, and clapped his hands. “Papa and mamma will be home in a week now, and then we shall stay here a lit...

“We are not worst at once; the course of evil Begins so slowly, and from such slight source, An infant’s hand might stop the breach with clay; But let the stream grow wider, and...

“I am so glad to see those two together,” said Montagu; “I really think Wright is one of the best little fellows in the school, and he’ll be the saving of Vernon. He’s already p...

“By the bye, Eric, you remind me to-morrow’s my birth-day, and I’ve got a parcel coming this afternoon full of grub from home. Let’s go and see if it’s come.”

It must not be thought that Eric’s year as a home boarder was made up of dark experiences. Roslyn had a very bright as well as a dark side, and Eric enjoyed it “to the finger-ti...

Wright had not forgotten Montagu’s advice, and had endeavored to get the names of boys who wern’t afraid to scout publicly the disgrace of cheating in form. But he could only ge...

“Keep the spell of home affection. Still alive in every heart; May its power, with mild direction, Draw our love from self apart, Till thy children Feel that thou their Father a...

“And hath that early hope been blessed with truth? Hath he fulfilled the promise of his youth? And borne unscathed through danger’s stormy field Honor’s white wreath and virtue’...

“So you’re coming as a boarder,” said Montagu, “and to our noble house, too. Mind you stick up for it, old fellow. Come along, and let’s watch whether the boats are bringing any...