Little did king Solomon apprehend, when his unfortunate saying concerning
the rod fell from his lips, that it would occasion more havoc among
birch-trees than was made among the cedars for the building of his temple,
and his house of the forest of Lebanon! Many is the phlebotomist who, with
this text in his mouth, has taken the rod in hand, when he himself, for
ill teaching, or ill temper, or both, has deserved it far more than the
poor boy who, whether slow of comprehension, or stupified by terror, has
stood untrussed and trembling before him.
* * * * *