Publisher's Synopsis
There was certainly no reason to accuse Yan of neglecting school. He was the head boy of his class, although there were many in it older than 20 himself. He was fond of books in general, but those that dealt with Natural Science and Indian craft were very close to his heart. Not that he had many-there were very few in those days, and the Public Library had but a poor representation of these. "Lloyd's Scandinavian Sports," "Gray's Botany" and one or two Fenimore Cooper novels, these were all, and Yan was devoted to them. He was a timid, obedient boy in most things, but the unwise command to give up what was his nature merely made him a disobedient boy-turned a good boy into a bad one. He was too much in terror of his father to disobey openly, but he used to sneak away at all opportunities to the fields and woods, and at each new bird or plant he found he had an exquisite thrill of mingled pleasure and pain-the pain because he had no name for it or means of learning its nature.