hoisted on runners, and, with the aid of several yoke of oxen, was taken
up the road about a mile and enlarged a little. This event brought my
course of study to an end for a while. I next sat under the rod of an
Irish pedagogue--an old man who evidently believed that the only way to
get anything into a boy's head was to pound it in with a stick through
his back. There was no discipline, and the noise we made seemed to rival
a Bedlam. We used to play all sorts of tricks on the old man, and I was
not behind in contriving or carrying them into execution. One day,
however, I was caught and severely thrashed. This so mortified me, that
I jumped out of the window and went home. An investigation followed, and
I was whipped by my father and sent back. Poor old Dominic, he has long
since put by his stick, and passed beyond the reach of unruly boys. Thus
I passed on from teacher to teacher, staying at home in the summer, and
resuming my books again in the winter. Sometimes I went to the old
school house up the road, sometimes to the one in an opposite direction.
The latter was larger, and there was generally a better teacher, but it
was much farther, and I had to set off early in the cold frosty mornings
with my books and dinner basket, often through deep snow and drifts. At
night I had to get home in time to help to feed the cattle and get in
the wood for the fires. The school houses then were generally small and
uncomfortable, and the teachers were often of a very inferior order. The
school system of Canada, which has since been moulded by the skilful
hand of Dr. Ryerson into one of the best in the world, and which will
give to his industry and genius a more enduring record than stone or
brass, was in my day very imperfect indeed. It was, perhaps, up with
the times. But when the advantages which the youth of this country now
possess are compared with the small facilities we had of picking up a
little knowledge, it seems almost a marvel that we learned anything.
Spelling matches came at this time into vogue, and were continued for
several years. They occasioned a friendly rivalry between schools, and