I was sent to school early--more, I fancy, to get me out of the way for
a good part of the day, than from any expectation that I would learn
much. It took a long time to hammer the alphabet into my head. But if I
was dull at school, I was noisy and mischievous enough at home, and very
fond of tormenting my sisters. Hence, my parents--and no child ever had
better ones--could not be blamed very much if they did send me to school
for no other reason than to be rid of me. The school house was close at
hand, and its aspect is deeply graven in my memory. My first
schoolmaster was an Englishman who had seen better days. He was a good
scholar, I believe, but a poor teacher. The school house was a small
square structure, with low ceiling. In the centre of the room was a box
stove, around which the long wooden benches without backs were ranged.
Next the walls were the desks, raised a little from the floor. In the
summer time the pupils were all of tender years, the elder ones being
kept at home to help with the work. At the commencement of my
educational course I was one of a little lot of urchins ranged daily on
hard wooden seats, with our feet dangling in the air, for seven or eight
hours a day. In such a plight we were expected to be very good children,
to make no noise, and to learn our lessons. It is a marvel that so many
years had to elapse before parents and teachers could be brought to see
that keeping children in such a position for so many hours was an act of
great cruelty. The terror of the rod was the only thing that could keep
us still, and that often failed. Sometimes, tired and weary, we fell
asleep and tumbled off the bench, to be roused by the fall and the rod.
In the winter time the small school room was filled to overflowing with
the larger boys and girls. This did not improve our condition, for we
were mere closely packed together, and were either shivering with the
cold or being cooked with the red-hot stove. In a short time after, the
old school house, where my father, I believe, had got his schooling, was