Indeed, he soon had a reputation in the school that the American boys envied; and all through the school course he more than held his own with pupils of his age.

So much for the right and wrong way of doing things.
There is a record of my early progress in English much better than my recollections, however accurate and definite these may be.

I have several reasons for introducing it here.

First, it shows what the Russian Jew can do with an adopted language; next, it proves that vigilance of our public-school teachers of which I spoke; and last, I am proud of it! That is an unnecessary confession, but I could not be satisfied to insert the record here, with my vanity unavowed.
This is the document, copied from an educational journal, a tattered copy of which lies in my lap as I write--treasured for fifteen years, you see, by my vanity.
EDITOR "PRIMARY EDUCATION":-- This is the uncorrected paper of a Russian child twelve years old, who had studied English only four months.

She had never, until September, been to school even in her own country and has heard English spoken _only_ at school.