The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1859-04-09
The Hard School.

In lhe autumn Of 1912, / received a yisi
I from ONE uf the experimenting Behooi com
mittee Of the town Of c., IN the stat,
Of New Hampshire, lie introduced himself
as Bonnoy and at once proceeded With hi,
business. IIo wished to employ teacher
for one Of the schools 10 his town, lle RAJ
his eyes ovor my frame, and | saw tho result
was satisfactory, for be immediately express
ed a desire to secure my services, | psked
him what sort of a school Il was.
WAL ho said with o peculiar nasal tWnng
and a pronunciation not set down By any Of
our leSicographers, its pooty hard school,
naow tell Sc. Bot you've got the bone an
muscle, an reckon as how yeou might dew
it,
IIc again ran his eyes o,e, nay ,ioewy
frame, aud rubbed his hands with evident
satisfaction.
Have scholars been in the habit Of gaining
control Of the schoolP asked.
Bless ye, yes. Why, no master can stand
Il week. Ye scc squire, thar's some pooty
staout boys ia that school Ye see they
work Ia sNamps, an they're rough in thvir
ways. We hcarn tell o..yeou, aud was
sent to see sc, An ] was privileged to Of
ferye forty dollars month. ef ye'ed only
come an keep It. That's moFen twice as
much as We ever paid afore,'
How large is the sohool| | asked.
Wal--thars nigli unto sixty seholars, all
told, when they eome-tome boys, an some
gals
had heard Of tho school before, aud had
been acquainted with ~ excellent teacher,
who had been thrown out Of the schoo-houSe
and rolled IN snow bank by the larger
boysi yet resolved TO go and try 4, or
personal danger had no fear, for happen
ed to possess a large frame and proportion
ate amount Of nerve and muscle had eH-
erciscd freely in our gymnasium, and there
was not another man in the place who could
hold his strength by the side Of mine. Ma
turc had been lavish in her fayors, and evil
habits had not impaired the faculties God
had given me.
! told Mr., Bonney ] v9glIn( (GqR abe
Of December, and 10 continue three months
bat told him mast have my own way
That in all things apprTtaiuiaE to the school
! must be master-that my will must be alb
solulc, even to the casting out Of half Of the
scholars. lie said should have my own
way and he pledged his word the commit
tee should not interfere in any way nor un.
der any circumstances.
A tl,.. ,,.y.t,,t.l ts I IL
wHdFUbe ana school hooks, aud started Tor
c.. When II reached the village ]
learned that my school was in distant part
Of the town--in a rugged region, known as
Rdtrbone Holiow. On the following morn
ing Mr.. Bowen took me over in his sleigh.
| found my school-housc upon the edge Of
quite a settlement, which was located in
wide valley with high bleak mountains up
on all sides l was taken at once to the
place where was to board and in this lat
ter respect was fortunate.
My hosts name was Elias Bonney. lie
was n wcll-to-do faFmer-about forty-fve
years Of age, firm, intelligent man, and one
of the sclectmcn Of the town. lie mad FIVE
children who were to attend the school--the
Oldest being girl Of nineteen, named Lydia
and the youngest a boy seven.
Mr. Bonney remained to dinner and then
took his leaves began to enquire particu.
larly about the school My host shook his
head with dubious expression.
You know what boys are he said, 'cspe-
cially il they've had their own way for long
time. For six winters we've had no school.
There are quite number of stout boys, and
they generally contrive to get the master out
at the end Of week. But l think they'll
find it hard work to get you out
Il don't know / replied but / really
shouldn't want them to try it, for I'm not apt
to be very considerate when acting on the
defensive against mere brute force
Bonney said he should think ':.~ould be
dangerous for the scholars to make an at
tempt But he added. with another du-
bious shake of the head, they are not only
stout and hearty, but you must remember
there's nunber OF them. Once get them
started, and they don't fear anything. They
have had some pretty stout masters TO deal
with.
But how many arc there in the school,
asked, who are ready to 20 ahead in any evil
pranks?'
Bonney pOndered few moments and then
replied
why, there's only two of them that are
really uglyi and even they are not bad
neighbors. They're kind and ready in cases
of need, but they seem determined to resist
the schoolmaster.'
We kept up the conversation, at intervals
until bedtime when had retired for the
night, had about made up my mind as to
the nature of the work / bad to do. / had
learned enough to assure me of several inn
poytant facts. In the first place, each sue
ceeding teacher had gone into the school
honse with The firm bsIi.f that he had e,nt 20