“My leaving examination at the Gymnasium I passed satisfactorily, though not so well as people expected, and the cause of that was the trousers I wore for the occasion! I possessed a black frock-coat which I had inherited from an old relative of my mother’s, but I had no black trousers. For economy’s sake I would not have a pair made, but asked my uncle to let me wear his for the examination. He was much shorter than I was, and fairly stout, while I was tall and thin; however, we thought it would be all right for this one occasion. Unfortunately I omitted to try beforehand how they fitted, and when on the morning of the examination I put them on, they scarcely came down to my shoes, although I had lengthened my braces with string; moreover, between them and the waistcoat there was a yawning gap. How they fitted me behind I refrain from describing.

“My appearance among my fellow candidates produced unrestrained merriment. They turned me round and round so that they might look at every side of me, and our solemn entry into the examination room was anything but comme il faut, because we could not control our laughter. When our masters at the table saw the trousers, they too were amused, though the stern School Commissioner from Strassburg —his name was Albrecht—who was to preside, failed to see what it was all about. All he could see was that I was the cause of the ill-timed merriment, and he made some severe remarks on our irreverent behaviour in general and on myself in particular. In order to take down the conceit of the supposed buffoon, he undertook to examine me himself in all the subjects except in mathematics, of which he confessedly knew nothing. He gave me a hard time. Some friendly looks from the Principal encouraged me, and I did my best, but many of the questions from my stern vis-a-vis got no answer, and again and again he shook his solemn head. He was especially annoyed that I was unable to give him any accurate information about the way they beached the ships, as described by Homer; and as the other candidates knew very little more about it than I did, he denounced our ignorance as a serious defect in our culture. For my part I thought it a far greater defect in our culture that we were leaving the Gymnasium without knowing anything about astronomy or geology.

“The last subject of all was history, the Commissioner’s own special subject. In ten minutes he seemed a different person! His indignation melted away, and finally, instead of questioning me, he discussed with me the differences between the colonizing efforts of the Greeks and those of the Romans.

“In his final address, after the announcement of the results, he mentioned the pleasure I had given him over the history, and a very real compliment, suggested by him, adorns my leaving certificate.”

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