'When I had been in school about twelve months, he resolved that one of the boys should read a chapter from the New Testament every Sunday after the opening prayer. I was the first one selected, and had to choose my chapter; I read, in a somewhat tremulous voice, the first chapter of the gospel according to St John. The master applauded my execution of the task. On the following Sunday, two or three others were named to read, but each one demured, and I had again to read the lesson. This circumstance, being new in the school, was sufficient to bring down upon me the ridicule of my fellow apprentices.'