Chapter 9 : Marks

At two o'clock the hungry children run home. But notwithstanding their hunger, they always wait a few moments to learn what their marks are. Marks, though at the present time they give no rank, are still regarded by them with the keenest interest.

"I have five, with the cross, and they have given Olgushka [7] such a healthy cipher!" "And I have four," they cry.

The child takes the marks as a gauge of his work, and discontent at marks is shown only when there is any unfairness in making the returns. Too bad if he has been trying, and the teacher, through an error, has given less than his deserts! He will give the teacher no peace, and will weep bitter tears unless he can have the record changed. Bad marks, if they have been deserved, go without protest.

Marks, however, remain only as a relic of a past system, and are beginning, of their own accord, to go out of use.