"B But you shall hear an odd affair, indeed,
O Of which all Europe rings from side to side"—
Then he paused, turning the leaves of his parsing-book eagerly.
"I can't find anything in Y to finish this up with," he said at last.
"Can't you give us a line from your own brain?"
And at this Howard's eye brightened with fun, and, turning to the board after a moment of thought, he dashed off the closing line,—
"Y You who can finish this may have the job;"—
then took his seat amid bursts of laughter from the boys, who all began to understand what an acrostic was.
Ellis Holbrook's hand was up, and his eyes were full of questions.
"Mr. Burrows, why is that called by such a queer name as acrostic?"
His teacher smiled.