I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die.

I had managed to bring up my grades in composition just before the end of my sixth grade year after Mr. Constantino, my comp teacher, called my Mother and informed her I was on the verge of flunking; […]

I get algebra, but calculus eludes me.

Mr. Coffey does not tell us whether he accomplished this admirable stabilization of his avoirdupois by exercising, by calorizing, or by reading James Joyce.