’My dear Papa,—­I am very sorry for having told so many falsehoods, which Uncle Frank has told mamma of.  I am very sorry for having done so many bad things, I mean falsehoods, and I heartily beg your pardon; and Uncle Frank says that he thinks, if I stay, in a month’s time Mr. Cornish will begin to trust me again.  Uncle Frank to-day had me into his house and told me to reflect upon what I had done.  He also lectured me in the Bible, and asked me different questions about it.  He told me that if I ever told another falsehood he should that instant march into the school and ask Mr. Cornish to strip and birch me; and if I followed the same course I did now and did not amend it, if the birching did not do, he should not let me go home for the holidays; but I will not catch the birching...

’So believe me your dear Son,

‘J.  C. Patteson.’

On the flap of the letter ‘Uncle Frank’ writes to the mother:—­

’My dear Fanny,—­I had Coley in my room to-day, and talked to him seriously about his misdeeds, and I hope good has been done.  But I could scarcely keep my countenance grave when he began to reduce by calculation the exact number of fibs he had told.  He did not think it was more than two or three at the utmost:  and when I brought him to book, I had much to do to prevent the feeling that the sin consisted in telling many lies.  However the dear boy’s confession was as free as could be expected, and I have impressed on his mind the meanness, cowardice, and wickedness of the habit, and what it will end in here and hereafter.  He has promised that he will never offend in future in like manner, and I really believe that his desire to be away from the school and at ease among his friends induced him to trump up the invitations, &c., to Mr. Cornish, in which consisted his first fibs.  I shall watch him closely, as I would my own child; and Cornish has done wisely, I think, by giving the proper punishment of confining him to the school-court, &c., and not letting him go to his friends for some time.  The dear boy is so affectionate, and has so much to work on, that there is no fear of him; only these things must be looked after promptly, and he must learn practically (before his reason and religion operate) that he gains nothing by a lie...  He is very well, and wins one’s heart in a moment...

’Ever your affectionate Brother,

‘F.  G. C.’

The management was effectual, and the penitence real, for this fault never recurred, nor is the boy’s conduct ever again censured, though the half-yearly reports often lament his want of zeal and exertion.  Coley was sufficiently forward to begin Greek on his first arrival at Ottery, and always held a fair place for his years, but throughout his school career his character was not that of an idle but of an uninterested boy, who preferred play to work, needed all his conscience to make him industrious, and then was easily satisfied with his performances; naturally comparing them with those of other boys, instead of doing his own utmost, and giving himself full credit for the diligence he thought he had used.  For it must be remembered that it was a real, not an ideal nature; not a perfect character, but one full of the elements of growth.