The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1847-11-13
Miscellaneous.
LOCKE AMsDEN,
OR,
THE SCHOOLMASTER.
EXTRACTS-CONTINUED.

his leisure DOuGS lllO STUDY Oh his DOCKS.
Winter arrived and the narrative proceeds:
When the usual time for commencing the
school came, it was found that no teacher had
been engaged. The committee, up to this
time, had been waiting for applications for
the school, expecting that their only trouble,
as usual, would be in deciding upon n select
ion ofthe various applicants. But it some
how had unuccountuby happened, that not
single application had been made; and the
committee were now consequently forced to
tcstir themselves in going on in search of
Hcher. But in this, also, they were without
access; for, though they found candidates
for teaching in pleDty,they could find no one,
when they named their particular school who
made not some excuse for not undertaking
20 instruct it. This they thought very strange
rs their school had ever been considered
yery orderly one. But as strange and I'M
common as the trouble was they were con-
PEELED o yield to it, and reluctantly give up
all thought of having a schoolth winter.
Various were the conectures formed in
the distrct,by way ofaccounting for this un-
expected failure. Some commended, that the
school, after all, must be so unruly that no
teacher would engage in it; others, that the
masters had not been treated with sufficient
attention by the inhabitants of the district;
aud yet others, that the schoolmasters had
combined to strike for higher wages, and had
come to the determination not TO teach till the
punished public should voluntarily come for
ward, and offer the secretly fixed prices. A
mong all these, and other sage conjecturcs
of the cause, however, no one had hit upon
the truth. For the true secret of the msfor-
mne at length leaked out; when the discove-
~ was made, that Locke Anisden had in fact
been the innocent aud unconscious cause of
the whole of it. He, it appeared, besides an
nOyiug his own teacher with questions too
hqni for him, had also been the means of n
similar annoyance 10 many other teachers of
the neighboring districts. He had beer in
the habit, the preceding winter, of frequently
attending the evening spelling chools, which
1t was customary for the instructors in that
section of the country 30 appoint aud at in
tervals, through the whole term of their en-
gngementS. And ut each of these evening
schools which he thus went abroad to attend,
he was sure 10 propose 10 one or two of the
best scholars, for answer, some difficult
noint in grammar, some mathematical ques-
ton of his own originating, or, as was more
generally tie case, such as hcEhad metswilh in
his studies, and was anxious TO sec eXplnln-
cd Nearly all these questions, as had been
expected, aud, indeed, commonly requested
hy the mover, were carried for solution to the
master: who, too often, was compelled to re-
sort to some pititul evasion to hide his inabil-
ny to furnish The required answer, And the
same questions, also, besides being agitated
in the schools into which they were first III
r0duced were often communicated 10 other
schools, aud thus became a source of trouble
10 other masters; so that, in this way, there
was scarcely n teacher, anywhere in the vi
Cinny, who had not experienced the incon-
venicnce of Locke's scholarship and inquir-
ing disposition: and most Of them, though
they prudenlly kept the fact to themselves,
fairly wished him out of the country, and Sc
crclly resolved never to he caught engaging
to instruct any school where he should be a
pupil. 1t appeared, therefore, that the failure
Ofthe committee. before mentioned, was &C.
caSoned, not by there being bad scholars III
The school, hut good ones; or rather one
whose aptitude and requirements had made
him so much the dread of the schoolmasters
with whom the country then happened to be
favored, as effectually to keep them out Of
the district.
The disappointment thus occasioned the
district, however, as veXatious as it was to
Locke at the time, was, like many other dis
appointments in life, of which we want to
complain, destined, in short time, to prove
blessing, not ouly to him, but to the whole
school. For, in few weeks, an unforeseen
occurrence brought them an instructor well
qualified for his task. This was senior
collegian, who had returned to spend his last
vacation at his fathers residence, in neigh
boring town, and who, on accidentally learn
ang that the district in question had been I'M
able to supply themselves with teacher,
from the suspected causes we have named
was thereby induced to send them word he
would come and instruct their school, If they
would give him dollar per day and board
10 be sure, the very unusual price demand.
ed by the young man, threatened, for some
days, to prove an insurmountable obstacle &c
engaging him. The sum asked, commended
the com mittee, was outrageous, unheard Of
and it was out ofal question that they SHOULD
give it. But all the larger boys and girl!
clamored; Locke electioneered as if life anC
death hung on the event; and his mother
whose influence was generally felt in the
neighborhood, when she chose to exert it
went round TO see other mothers, who, being
either COW inced by her arguments in favo
Of the cause she had espoused, or tired oil
having their noisy children any longer a
home, beset their husbands to beset the com
mlitee;and the result was, that the commute,
unable to stem the current thus brought t.
Dear against them, started off, and engaged
Inc young gentleman, whose name was Sea
Fer' at his own price. The next Monday
morhInS,to the great Joy of Locke, he appear
cd on the ground, and commenced the du
ties OF his school.
We have said that Ms Seaver,the instruct
or now employed, was well qualified for III,
task he had undertaken; and in so saying w,
meant much more than what extensive at
tainments in science and literature, merely
would necessarily imply. He possesse,
science, indeed, to an eminent degree; but a
rs too rarely the case, especially with thos
fresh from the schools, he possessed it with
outIany of that learned quackery oftechncu
nd Is htnh &c ~