PART II.
“I [hold] it truth, with him who sings,
To one clear harp in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things.”
—TENNYSON.
[Original]
CHAPTER I—HOW THE TIDE TURNED.
“Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side.
. . . .
Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside,
Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified.”
—LOWELL.
![[Original]](#3268490384213638772_9241.jpg.id-5218662706083546835.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
he turning-point in our hero's school career had now come, and the manner of it was as follows. On the evening of the first day of the next half-year, Tom, East, and another School-house boy, who had just been dropped at the Spread Eagle by the old Regulator, rushed into the matron's room in high spirits, such as all real boys are in when they first get back, however fond they may be of home.