A WORD

To the glancing Reader, if he will just stop a moment and see what it is.

This little volume was written in the hope that it would be a trifling aid to that improvement which is going on in respect to common schools. It was also intended to present a pleasant picture of some peculiarities which have prevailed in our country, but are now passing away.

It is trusted that no one who has kept* or is keeping a district school after the old fashion, will be offended at the slight degree of satire he will meet with here. Any one of due benevolence is willing to be laughed at, and even to join in the laugh against himself, if it will but hasten the tardy steps of improvement. Indeed, there are quite a number who have reason to believe that the author has here sketched some of his own school-keeping deficiencies.

It may be reasonably anticipated, that the young will be the most numerous readers of these pages. Some scenes have been described, the sports of the school-going season, for in

*Keep school is a very different thing from teach school, according to Mr. J. G. Carter, in his Essays on Popular Education.

stance, with a special view to their entertainment. It is trusted, however, that the older may not find it unpleasant to recall the pastimes of their early years.

Now and then a word has been used which some young readers may not understand. In this case they are entreated to seek a dictionary, and find out its meaning. They may be assured that the time spent in this way will not be lost. The definition thus acquired may be of use to them the very next book they shall take up, or at least in the course of the reading, their future leisure will allow them to enjoy.

The reader shall no longer be detained from the experience of a supposed school-boy; if true to nature, no matter whether it really be, or be not, that of the

AUTHOR.

THE

DISTRICT SCHOOL AS IT WAS.

CHAPTER I.

THE OLD SCHOOL-HOUSE.

THE Old School-house, as it used to be called, how distinctly it rises to existence anew before the

eye of my mind! Here was kept the District School as it was. This was the seat of my rustic Alma Mater, to borrow a phrase from collegiate and classic use. It is now no more; and those of similar construction are passing away, never to be patterned again. It may be well, therefore, to describe the edifice wherein and whereabout occurred many of the scenes about to be recorded. I would have future generations acquainted with the accommodations, or rather dis-accommodations, of their predecessors.

The Old School-house in District No. 5, stood on the top of a very high hill, on the north side of what was called the County road. The house of

Capt. Clark, about ten rods off, was the only human dwelling within a quarter of a mile. The reason why this seminary of letters was perched so high in the air, and so far from the homes of those who resorted to it, was this:-Here was the centre of the district, as near as surveyor's chain could designate. The people east would not permit the building to be carried one rod further west, and those of the opposite quarter were as obstinate on their side. So here it was placed; and this continued to be literally the "hill of science" to generation after generation of learners, for fifty years.

The edifice was set half in Capt. Clark's field, and half in the road. The wood-pile lay in the corner made by the east end and the stone wall. The best roof it ever had over it was the changeful sky, which was a little too leaky to keep the fuel at all times fit for combustion, without a great deal of puffing and smoke. The door-step was a broad unhewn rock, brought from the neighboring pasture. It had not a flat and even surface, but was considerably sloping from the door to the road; so that, in icy times, the scholars, in passing out, used to snatch from the scant declivity the transitory pleasure of a slide. But look out for a slip-up, ye careless; for many a time have I seen an urchin's head where his feet were but a second before. And once, the most lofty and perpendicular pedagogue I ever knew, became suddenly horizontalized in his egress.

But we have lingered round this door-step long enough. Before we cross it, however, let us just