“Why, I pulled the teacher over, when I got the stick away,—I believe I didn’t tell you about that,” replied Ronald, in a lower tone. “I didn’t mean to do it, though. She was on the edge of the platform, and I was standing on the floor, and when I caught the ratan and jerked it away, she fell upon the floor, somehow, and then I ran off.”
“How do you know that she was not injured by the fall?” inquired Marcus.
“O, it didn’t hurt her, for she chased me out to the door, and shook her fist at me,—I turned around and saw her,” replied Ronald.
“Well, you have got yourself into a pretty scrape,” said Marcus, “and it’s my opinion you have not seen the worst of it yet. According to your own story, you are liable to be arrested for assault and battery, and what’s to be done, then?”
“I didn’t assault her, nor batter her; she held on to the stick, and I just pulled her over, that was all,” replied Ronald.
“You resisted your teacher, and pulled her upon the floor; and that is sufficient, I think, to constitute what the law terms assault and battery,” said Marcus. “At any rate, I do not see but that you will have to go back and apologize to her, before the school, and then let her finish the flogging she intended to give you, if she chooses. I think that would be the easiest way to settle the difficulty. You had better go home and tell mother about it, and see what she says.”
Ronald turned away with a sadder heart than ever. He revolted at the thought of a public apology and submission, and secretly determined that he would not yield to such a humiliation. He went home and told his story to Mrs. Page, who seemed much grieved and troubled by his conduct. She questioned him very closely about the blots on the writing-book, from which all the trouble sprang; but he protested that he knew nothing about them, with great apparent sincerity. Still, she remembered that Ronald was much addicted to lying, when he came to live with her; and though the habit had been broken up, by patient labor and often severe discipline, there was a lurking fear that he might possibly have relapsed, under a strong temptation.
When Marcus came in to dinner, Ronald’s case was freely discussed, and the conclusion appeared to be unanimous that they could not sustain him in the course he had taken, even if he were innocent of the fault for which he was punished. It was argued that a school government must, of necessity, be a sort of absolute monarchy. The teacher, although responsible to the community, and more immediately to the committee, if it be a public school, is not accountable to his pupils. Among them he is king, and resistance to his authority is treason. He may sometimes seem unreasonable in his requirements, but his scholars are not the best judges of this. He may even sometimes punish the innocent, by mistake; but in such a case, it is better to submit to a little temporary pain and mortification, trusting in a future redress or reparation, rather than to defy or resist his authority in the presence of the school, thereby shaking the foundation of his government. So reasoned Mrs. Page, Aunt Fanny, and Marcus, and they thus reached the conclusion that Ronald was guilty of a flagrant offence in school, and was liable to expulsion, if not prosecution.
In the afternoon, just before it was time to dismiss school, Marcus went to see the teacher, taking Ronald with him, who, by the way, was quite reluctant to go. Mrs. Benham received them politely, and after the school closed, Marcus told her Ronald had informed him that he had had a difficulty with her, and requested her to give him an account of the affair.
“Something more than a difficulty,” replied the teacher; “it was a downright attack upon me, and I feel the effects of it yet. I never was abused in that way by a boy before. The way it commenced was this: I asked Ronald to let me look at his writing-book, and I found several large blots on the last page he wrote. I felt doubly provoked, because his was the neatest writing-book in the boys’ department, and I wished it kept nice, for the committee to examine. When I called him to account for the blots, he answered, as children are apt to do in such a case, that he didn’t know anything about them, and never saw them before. That was a very improbable story, and I felt almost sure, from his actions, that he was telling me a lie. So I told him I should be obliged to punish him if he attempted to deceive me. He answered, in an impudent tone, that ‘he hadn’t done anything, and wasn’t going to be whipped for nothing.’ I talked with him further about it, and tried to persuade him to tell the truth, but he grew more obstinate and saucy, and threatened that he would never come to school again if I punished him. I thought it was time then to take him in hand, so I began to punish him with the ratan; but before I had given him half a dozen blows, he caught hold of the stick, and in jerking it away from me, some how threw me down upon the floor. He then ran off and took my stick with him. I hurt my shoulder, in falling, and it is quite sore, now.”