The Beech Hill Industrial School had nearly completed its third year of existence; and in the opinion of the principal, and also of a great many other people, it was a decided success. It had certainly reformed quite a number of young men who might otherwise have become useless, if not dangerous, members of the community. It had given useful trades to a considerable number of young men who would not have taken them up on their own account. Its moral influence had been even more marked than its industrial power, and it had assuredly done something to make manual labor more respectable than it had been considered to be before. There were already those who were not only earning a living, but were supporting their parents, by the aid of the knowledge and skill they had acquired in the institution; and if it had done nothing more than this, it would have done a great deal. Cold critics said it ought to be a success, for the founder of it had a purse long enough to make any reasonable undertaking a success; but the idea was not a practical one, because it was not susceptible of universal application. The State could not afford to support such schools for all who might be willing to use them. It certainly could not provide for an expenditure as liberal as that of Captain Gildrock, but it could do a great deal more than it has yet done in this direction. After the principal had disposed of his impertinent visitor,--for there was really only one of this type, as Chuckworth and Mackwith hardly spoke a word,--he could not help thinking that it was a great pity Spickles could not be brought under such discipline as that of the Beech Hill School. He was a young man of decided ability, and all he needed was a kind of discipline that would give him something to live for. He needed something to think about and work for. When Matt Randolph returned from his trip with his class in sailing, he reported to the principal, who happened to be in the office. He informed the captain where he had been, and the nature of the operations he had conducted on board of the Lily. He commended his crew for good discipline, and close application to their duty. A critic might have laughed at this last part of the report as entirely superfluous; for, as a matter of course, any party of human boys would be interested, and do their whole duty, in sailing a boat. "By the way, Randolph, is Mr. Spickles a friend of yours?" asked the principal, after he had listened attentively to the report. "No, sir!" replied Matt, very decidedly. "I was acquainted with him at home, and he was on board of the yacht a number of times; but after he stole a thousand dollars from his father, and ran away, I had nothing more to do with him." "Was he as bad as that? He seemed to be more like one of the puppy order than one of the criminal kind. He was very saucy to me after I had shown his party over the school; and I had to take him by the collar, and put him into his boat."