Now he got up and studied through the small hours of the morning
until the time came when he had to transfer his industry to
shoemaking, or go to school on the appointed days after the
distant eight o'clock had come. His brother had got worn out.
Early sleep seemed to be the best. They then both went to bed
about eight o'clock, and got the policeman to call them up before
retiring himself.
"So the struggle went on, until the faithful old schoolmaster
thought that his young pupil might try the examination at the
Bangor Normal College. He was now eighteen years of age; and it
was eighteen months since the time when he began to learn the
counties of England and Wales. He went to Bangor, rigged out in
his brother's coat and waistcoat, which were better than his own;
and with his brother's watch in his pocket to time himself in his
examinations. He went through his examination, but returned home
thinking he had failed. Nevertheless, he had in the meantime, on
the strength of a certificate which he had obtained six months
before, in an examination held by the Society of Arts and
Sciences in Liverpool, applied for a situation as teacher in a
grammar-school at Ormskirk in Lancashire. He succeeded in his
application, and had been there for only eight days when he
received a letter from Mr. Rowlands, Principal of the Bangor
Normal College, informing him that he had passed at the head of
the list, and was the highest non-pupil teacher examined by the
British and Foreign Society.
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