Despite all this he used essentially the method of the hen-pecking incompetent when handling disciplinary matters in school. The moment he entered the school precincts he was a different man. His countenance then betrayed the sternness of the schoolmaster who dwelt within and apart from the polite gentleman he seemed to be when outside the school-room. His eyebrows gathered and his muscles reverberated with the sense of authority that flooded his whole nature. His eye was on the lookout for misdemeanors and if a pupil made a misstep in the realm where Mr. Bradley thought he had jurisdiction, that harsh, strident voice, with but the slightest trace of fellow-feeling, spoke the word of correction or announced an impending penalty. In the school-room it was his delight to slip up behind an offender and pluck him by the ear as a reminder of duty. Being the only instructor who indulged in this practice it soon came to be one of the most odious signals of his presence in the room. When absorbed in his subject he made instruction interesting; his pupils could not fail to learn if they did not venture to vary the program by misconduct. However, their recollection of his general attitude toward them, the ease with which they could upset his plans by introducing a few school pranks, the certainty that he would lose his temper on slight provocation, always hung as a barrage screen between them and undivided concentration on the subject-matter of their lessons. Mr. Bradley made it a practice to watch for accumulating offenses. He felt incompetent to handle minor evils, but attempted to squelch a wayward pupil by reciting a list of grievances and applying penalties for the same. He had a good memory for facts of this sort. He could shake his finger in the face of a boy or girl and say, “Didn’t you pull Esther’s hair yesterday ... trip up Jimmie on the way to class in geometry and purposely spill the crayons when you were at the board? Now, I have had enough of this. I want to know what you are going to do about it.” This gentleman could not catch the drift of things. Early in his first year Mr. Bradley’s attention rested upon Ted. Ted was a short, heavy-set chap of some fourteen years, incapable of any revolutionary propensities, but able to interest himself with a variety of aggravating tricks. His pranks were individually almost too small to command severe penalties, but they were too annoying to escape the principal’s eye. Unfortunately, Mr. Bradley hit upon the lash as a cure for Ted. Selecting a more pronounced misdemeanor as an opportunity for settling accounts with the troublesome pupil, he gave him a sound whipping.