But -- what would all the learned men say to him after his speech at the British Association ? And what would Ellie say , after what he had just told her ? There was a wise old heathen once , who said , `` Maxima debetur pueris reverentia '' -- The greatest reverence is due to children ; that is , that grown people should never say or do anything wrong before children , lest they should set them a bad example . -- Cousin Cramchild says it means , `` The greatest respectfulness is expected from little boys . '' But he was raised in a country where little boys are not expected to be respectful , because all of them are as good as the President : - Well , every one knows his own concerns best ; so perhaps they are . But poor Cousin Cramchild , to do him justice , not being of that opinion , and having a moral mission , and being no scholar to speak of , and hard up for an authority -- why , it was a very great temptation for him . But some people , and I am afraid the professor was one of them , interpret that in a more strange , curious , one-sided , left-handed , topsy-turvy , inside-out , behind-before fashion than even Cousin Cramchild ; for they make it mean , that you must show your respect for children , by never confessing yourself in the wrong to them , even if you know that you are so , lest they should lose confidence in their elders . Now , if the professor had said to Ellie , `` Yes , my darling , it is a water-baby , and a very wonderful thing it is ; and it shows how little I know of the wonders of nature , in spite of forty years ' honest labour . I was just telling you that there could be no such creatures ; and , behold ! here is one come to confound my conceit and show me that Nature can do , and has done , beyond all that man 's poor fancy can imagine . So , let us thank the Maker , and Inspirer , and Lord of Nature for all His wonderful and glorious works , and try and find out something about this one ; '' -- I think that , if the professor had said that , little Ellie would have believed him more firmly , and respected him more deeply , and loved him better , than ever she had done before . But he was of a different opinion . He hesitated a moment . He longed to keep Tom , and yet he half wished he never had caught him ; and at last he quite longed to get rid of him . So he turned away and poked Tom with his finger , for want of anything better to do ; and said carelessly , `` My dear little maid , you must have dreamt of water-babies last night , your head is so full of them . '' Now Tom had been in the most horrible and unspeakable fright all the while ; and had kept as quiet as he could , though he was called a Holothurian and a Cephalopod ; for it was fixed in his little head that if a man with clothes on caught him , he might put clothes on him too , and make a dirty black chimney-sweep of him again . But , when the professor poked him , it was more than he could bear ; and , between fright and rage , he turned to bay as valiantly as a mouse in a corner , and bit the professor 's finger till it bled . `` Oh ! ah ! yah ! ''
cried he ; and glad XXXXX an excuse to be rid of Tom , dropped him on to the seaweed , and thence he dived into the water and was gone in a moment .
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