Fleeming, among conflicting
vanities and levities, played his part to my admiration. He had
his own view; he might be wrong; but the performances (he would
remind us) were after all his, and he must decide. He was, in this
as in all other things, an iron taskmaster, sparing not himself nor
others. If you were going to do it at all, he would see that it
was done as well as you were able. I have known him to keep two
culprits (and one of these his wife) repeating the same action and
the same two or three words for a whole weary afternoon. And yet
he gained and retained warm feelings from far the most of those who
fell under his domination, and particularly (it is pleasant to
remember) from the girls. After the slipshod training and the
incomplete accomplishments of a girls' school, there was something
at first annoying, at last exciting and bracing, in this high
standard of accomplishment and perseverance.
III.
It did not matter why he entered upon any study or employment,
whether for amusement like the Greek tailoring or the Highland
reels, whether from a desire to serve the public as with his
sanitary work, or in the view of benefiting poorer men as with his
labours for technical education, he 'pitched into it' (as he would
have said himself) with the same headlong zest.
Pages:
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235