Lastly, Mr. Klotz. Mr. Klotz may be described as a Teutonic survival--a
survival of the days when it was _de rigueur_ to have the French
language taught by a foreigner of some kind. Not necessarily by a
Frenchman--that would have been pandering too slavishly to Continental
idiosyncrasy--but at least by some one who could only speak broken
English. Mr. Klotz was a Prussian, so possessed all the necessary
qualifications.
His disciplinary methods were modelled upon those of the Prussian Army,
of which he had been a distinguished ornament--a fact of which he was
fond of reminding his pupils, and which had long been regarded by those
guileless infants as one of the most valuable weapons in their armoury
of time-wasting devices.
Mr. Klotz, not being a resident master, had no special classroom or key:
he merely visited each form-room in turn. He expected to find every boy
in his seat ready for work upon his arrival; and as he was accustomed
to enforce his decrees at the point of the bayonet--or its scholastic
equivalent--sharp scouts and reliable sentries were invariably posted to
herald his approach.
Behold him this particular morning marching into Remove A form-room,
which was situated at the top of a block of buildings on the south side
of the quadrangle, with the superb assurance and grace of a Prussian
subaltern entering a beer-hall.
Having reached his desk, Mr. Klotz addressed his pupils.
"He who rount the corner looked when op the stairs I game," he
announced, "efter lonch goms he!"
The form, some of them still breathless from their interrupted rag,
merely looked down their noses with an air of seraphic piety.
"Who was de boy who did dat?" pursued Mr. Klotz.
No reply.
"Efter lonch," trumpeted Mr. Klotz, "goms eferypoty!"
At once a boy rose in his place. His name was Tomlinson.
"It was me, sir," he said.
"Efter lonch," announced Mr. Klotz, slightly disappointed at being
robbed of a holocaust, "goms Tomleenson. I gif him irrecular verps."
Two other boys rose promptly to their feet. Their names were Pringle and
Grant. They had not actually given the alarm, but they had passed it on.
"It was me too, sir," said each.
"Efter lonch," amended Mr. Klotz, "goms Tomleenson, Brinkle, unt Grunt.
Now I take your names unt aitches."
This task accomplished, Mr. Klotz was upon the point of taking up
_Chardenal's First French Course_, when a small boy with a winning
manner (which he wisely reserved for his dealings with masters) said
politely:--
"Won't you tell us about the Battle of Sedan, sir, as this is the first
day of term?"
The bait was graciously accepted, and for the next hour Mr. Klotz ranged
over the historic battle-field. It appeared that he had been personally
responsible for the success of the Prussian arms, and had been warmly
thanked for his services by the Emperor, Moltke, and Bismarck.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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