It caused him to be obedient and
reverent, and to have an easier apprehension as it were of everything
that was taught him.
The history ran thus:--
The school-master's name was Baard, and he once had a brother whose
name was Anders. They thought a great deal of each other; they both
enlisted; they lived together in the town, and took part in the war,
both being made corporals, and serving in the same company. On their
return home after the war, every one thought they were two splendid
fellows. Now their father died; he had a good deal of personal
property, which was not easy to divide, but the brothers decided, in
order that this should be no cause of disagreement between them, to put
the things up at auction, so that each might buy what he wanted, and
the proceeds could be divided between them. No sooner said than done.
Their father had owned a large gold watch, which had a wide-spread
fame, because it was the only gold watch people in that part of the
country had seen, and when it was put up many a rich man tried to get
it until the two brothers began to take part in the bidding; then the
rest ceased. Now, Baard expected Anders to let him have the watch, and
Anders expected the same of Baard; each bid in his turn to put the
other to the test, and they looked hard at each other while bidding.
When the watch had been run up to twenty dollars, it seemed to Baard
that his brother was not acting rightly, and he continued to bid until
he got it almost up to thirty; as Anders kept on, it struck Baard that
his brother could not remember how kind he had always been to him, nor
that he was the elder of the two, and the watch went up to over thirty
dollars.
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