and excuses he trod under foot with utter scornfulness. 'I want that
problem. I don't want any reasons why I don't get it.'

"'I did study it two hours.'

"'That's nothing to me; I want the lesson. You need not study it at
all, or you may study it ten hours--just to suit yourself. I want the
lesson. Underwood, go to the blackboard!'

"'Oh! yes, but Underwood got somebody to _show_ him his lesson.'

"'What do I care _how_ you get it? That's your business. But you must
have it.'

"It was tough for a green boy, but it seasoned him. In less than a
month I had the most intense sense of intellectual independence and
courage to defend my recitations.

"In the midst of a lesson his cold and calm voice would fall upon me in
the midst of a demonstration--'_No_!' I hesitated, stopped, and then
went back to the beginning; and, on reaching the same spot again,
'_No_!' uttered with the tone of perfect conviction, barred my
progress. 'The next!' and I sat down in red confusion. He, too, was
stopped with 'No!' but went right on, finished, and, as he sat down,
was rewarded with, 'Very well.'

"'Why,' whimpered I, 'I recited it just as he did, and you said No!'

"'Why didn't you say _Yes_, and stick to it? It is not enough to know
your lesson. You must _know_ that you know it. You have learned