“I thank you all for the spread, and for the toast, and for making my birthday such a jolly one that I shall always remember it. You’ve all been so good to me, since I sprained my ankle, that I haven’t minded it much, now honestly, and—and—and—” Leon hesitated for a minute, in the hope of further inspiration; then added desperately, “and please take some more grub.”
It was scarcely the ordinary form for an after-dinner speech; but it was sincere enough to make up for any other faults, and the boys received it with acclamation, while Mrs. Flemming said to Harry, as she helped herself to another piece of the birthday cake,—
“What a pity your mother and Miss Dorothy couldn’t have been here! But tell me, where did you ever get such wonderful costumes for your young women?”
“You’ll have to ask Max about that,” he answered. “He’s taken possession of everything he could lay his hands on, from the sheets off his bed to the dame’s cap. He’s made us some pretty fair-looking girls, though,” he added, glancing complacently at Max who was coquetting with Lieutenant Wilde, quite regardless of the fact that his top-knot had fallen off on the floor, back of his chair.
Just then the doctor leaned forward as if to say something, and there came a pause.
“Speech, sir?” inquired the irrepressible Max, turning his eyeglass on him.
“Not exactly a speech, Max. I only want to say, before I go, how much I have enjoyed my evening. And now, as long as I don’t often see all the Wilders, as the boys call you, together, I’m going to take just a minute to talk to you. Some of you only have a few months more to stay here, and then your days at Flemming will be ended. I dread the changes as they come, for not even twelve years of teaching have hardened me to having one class after another go away from me. You know you are all my boys, and wherever you go in the future, whatever you do, you will still be ‘the boys’ to me, no matter how old and gray, or how famous and renowned you may become. And so I want my boys to always be as true and pure and high in their aims, as honorable in their every-day lives as they are to-day. I have been looking around at you since I have been sitting here, and I am proud and glad to see that every one of you looks me squarely in the eye, and holds up his head like a man and a soldier. It’s not a bad test for a boy, after all; and I’ve watched you closely enough to know that I am not deceived in it. So remember, whether you go away from Flemming this year or next, while you are here and after you have left us, make up your minds to live so that I can be proud of you; so that you are doing honor to the old school; and, above all, so that you may never shrink from looking your mothers and sisters and, some day, perhaps, your wives too, straight in the eye when you meet them. Then I shall know that I made no mistake when I gave my boys the uniforms of soldiers, for a soldier’s first duty is to be true, true to himself and to his Maker. That’s enough sermonizing to-night; but I am so happy in my boys now, that I must never be disappointed in them in the future.”