The Fatal Boots by William Makepeace Thackeray

When my mamma heard of the treatment of her darling she was for bringing / an action against the schoolmaster, or else for tearing his eyes out / (when, dear soul! she would not have torn the eyes out of a flea, had it / been her own injury), and, at the very least, for having me removed from / the school where I had been so shamefully treated. But papa was stern / for once, and vowed that I had been served quite right, declared that / I should not be removed from school, and sent old Swishtail a brace / of pheasants for what he called his kindness to me. Of these the old / gentleman invited me to partake, and made a very queer speech at dinner, / as he was cutting them up, about the excellence of my parents, and his / own determination to be KINDER STILL to me, if ever I ventured on such / practices again. So I was obliged to give up my old trade of lending: / for the Doctor declared that any boy who borrowed should be flogged, and / any one who PAID should be flogged twice as much. There was no standing / against such a prohibition as this, and my little commerce was ruined.

I was not very high in the school: not having been able to get farther / than that dreadful Propria quae maribus in the Latin grammar, of which, / though I have it by heart even now, I never could understand a syllable: / but, on account of my size, my age, and the prayers of my mother, was / allowed to have the privilege of the bigger boys, and on holidays to / walk about in the town. Great dandies we were, too, when we thus went / out. I recollect my costume very well: a thunder-and-lightning coat, a / white waistcoat embroidered neatly at the pockets, a lace frill, a pair / of knee-breeches, and elegant white cotton or silk stockings. This did / very well, but still I was dissatisfied: I wanted A PAIR OF BOOTS. Three / boys in the school had boots -- I was mad to have them too.