The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1856-12-24
OLD TEL SCHOOL.

Old Field School, which we extract from
IN able article upon the "Frce School sys-
tenn Of South Carolina published in the
last number of the Southern Quarterly Re-
view. The writer descants upon the invlfi.
cheney of n voluntary system Of common
schools like ours, based upon no plan tina, is
regulated or sustained by Government, and
in his own experience, gives II fair ilIustra.
ton of its workings. The picture is not
creditablc to n people protesting great con.
Germ for the principles of education, but it
is nevertheless JUST, and many of our read.
ers will doubtless recognize it rs not being
ovcrdrawn. There arc exceptions Of course.
but in the minority Of cases, but few attrac.
tons are thrown around the schools of our
country where the first rudimcnts Of an
education are taught that might in after
years call up plensu.able associations and
recolcctions and but few Of the means de-.
signed 10 facilitate the duties of both mas.
ter and pupil, are furnished. But 20 the
extract alluded TO, which will be found
amusing rs we'll as suggestive
We remember well the place where our
own ideas were first taught To shoot 10y
cabin, about eighteen by twenty, the chinks
stopped with wood and daubed with clay.
One end was almost wholly taken up in "A
fireplace, in the jambs Of which. Moan and
his family might have been comfortably nc.
commoda,ed. The chimney MAS u pep con.
structcd Of billcts of wood, and open on
the side which faced the room, and, though
protected from the fire by " THEA Lining of
clay, the destructive elemcu, had runlriyrd
10 elude all distractions, and To open sun.
dry communications. like that of uranus
and Thisbe, with the oxygen without. The
other end was adorned with a wiudow,a
genuine opening, which made no distinction
between the mir and light, and which scorn.
ed the mocern contrl,anccs by which one
could be admitted 10 the exclusion Of the
other. Midway, on one side, was the door.
crcaking on wooden hinges, and hear il.
there hung, except When Il Was in use (and
that was not seldom-for, in srhonlbuy
phrase, it was kept hot), u forkcd sick,
which served as n pass 10 all whom nature
or idleness rendered uneasy in their slraitcn-
cd circumstances No one ever dared 10
leave the room, however stringent the call,
when that stick was missing from its peg.
The other side was minus "A log The
vacant space being used as u light 10 the
general wfiting-dcsk OF the school. which
consisted Of n plank extending horizontally
the whole length of the room. At n given
signal, every member of our little establish
ment was required 10 take down his copy
book, put himself at this desk. and vet
abont the serious operation of chirography.
Daripg this exercise, our backs were turned
10 the master; and well do we reroIlcct tn,
generous Indignation with which We looked
upon his uniairness in stealing up hehind
us, slyly inspecting our performances, aud,
when they were not to his mind, giving ns
q demonstration of his presence, which left
the fingers in unfortunate trim for further
achievements. HUrr>sco referens-our knu,.
kles ache now, albeit more than thirty win
tiers have passed over our heads, when we
think of that formidable rul. r. What null
tiplied the danger Of slips (the techsnical
name for every kind of blunder, from a
mistake in spelling To a mistake in mark
ing), was the manner in which We kept our
ink. We had 10 put il 10 small Walls, aud
as they were easy upset, We guarded against
the chances of loss, by putting in enough, of
cotton TO absorb it. II not unfrcquently
happened, that in squeezing out tho ink, "a
small fragpept Of tho cotton WOULD stick to
the pen, and the consequence Was "a mark,
n huge sprawl, which sad experience Taught
us was like the seal of fate. Our benches
had the t=9sIt Of training IN 10 sa!!y h.h;.a
o! seif-denia. and modification Of the flesh;
We ARE sure that, for the FIRST year Of our
schoOlboy experience, our feet never rested
on the floor when our thighs and legs made
any assignable angle and the only relief
we could obtain when the torked stick was
1 A,a.tn. ,raa IN a. 49, l-I... -.
inclined plane, by propping The small OF the
baIk against the edge Of the bench.
Our dominic was, Ia many respects, n
good-patured man, but even Job's patience
could not have been proUf against the trials
he endured in the gteyioas misprirts Of text
books, BY some odd fatality, every hard
sun in DabolFs Arithmetic bad the answer
Wrong and we shall never forget the earn.
estness with which the good old man, after
having rugged for hours over a tough ques-
ton which had stumPed our feebler capaci.
ties, would expatiste upon the blunders of
Daboll, and the merits Of Pie, the book
which he had studied, and which he recon-
mended 10 MS as the very pink OF perfection
in figures. Misfortunes, however, mover
come single; a copy Of Pike was at length
procured ; We priced il rs n treasure, and
bore il In triumph TO our venerable teacher.
His eyes glistcned with delight, and We re-
ciproeated his Joy, In the hope that the
course OF arithmetic, unlike that Of true
love, might for once run smooth. q GaLLa-
cen hominum speu,, Iyagiiemque Jorltuam .
What was on. CONSERVATION and anazpment,
when we found upon trial that we were still
the sport Of mischeyious printers, and hat
every hard sum, even in Pike, had the an-
swer wrong.
Our teacher was skillet 10 Latin but hs
Tould never consent 20 use any other copies
of the classics bat those Of Clark, which
contained the text and m English tran.la.
ton in parallel columns. In Justice. how.