The ideal of the school was to fit the children for the struggle into which their lives would thrust them, so that the boy who could spell and read and cipher was supposed to be ready for his life work.

Those whose ambition led them into the subtleties of Euclid's problems and theorems were supposed to be in preparation for somewhat higher spheres of life.
Through the various classes of arithmetic the examination proceeded, the little ones struggling with great seriousness through their addition and subtraction sums, and being wrought up to the highest pitch of excitement by their contest for the first place.

By the time the fifth class was reached, the air was heavy with the feeling of battle.

Indeed, it was amazing to note how the master had succeeded in arousing in the whole school an intense spirit of emulation.

From little Johnnie Aird up to Thomas Finch, the pupils carried the hearts of soldiers.
Through fractions, the "Rule of Three," percentages, and stocks, the senior class swept with a trail of glory.