Doubtless the best of it had come not in school.

It had taken me close to the great stage and in a way lifted the curtain.

I was most attentive, knowing that presently I should get my part.
"I've been thinking, Bart, o' your work in the last year," said the schoolmaster as we walked.

"Ye have studied six books and one--God help ye! An' I think ye have got more out o' the one than ye have out o' the six." In a moment of silence that followed I counted the books on my fingers: Latin, Arithmetic, Algebra, Grammar, Geography, History.

What was this one book he referred to?
"It's God's book o' life, boy, an' I should say ye'd done very well in it." After a little he asked: "Have ye ever heard of a man who had the Grimshaws ?" I shook my head as I looked at him, not knowing just what he was driving at.
"Sure, it's a serious illness an' it has two phases.