I strove against him
from year to year, but it was all in vain; for he was a very wicked
boy, and I was convinced he had dealings with the Devil. Indeed,
it was believed all over the country that his mother was a witch;
and I was at length convinced, that it was no human ingenuity
that beat me with so much ease in the Latin, after I had often sat
up a whole night with my reverend father, studying my lesson in
all its bearings. I often read as well and sometimes better than he;
but, the moment Mr. Wilson began to examine us, my opponent
popped up above me. I determined (as I knew him for a wicked
person, and one of the Devil's handfasted children) to be
revenged on him, and to humble him by some means or other.
Accordingly I lost no opportunity of setting the master against
him, and succeeded several times in getting him severely beaten
for faults of which he was innocent. I can hardly describe the joy
that it gave to my heart to see a wicked creature suffering, for,
though he deserved it not for one thing, he richly deserved it for
others. This may be by some people accounted a great sin in me;
but I deny it, for I did it as a duty, and what a man or boy does for
the right will never be put into the sum of his transgressions.
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