Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-08-25

WIN. " ) nsaa,aia sshssl ussss.
Mp. Willis. ths agreeable ldlswiid sditofof
thc Home Joumai, recently made railroad ~
ourolon over lhs mountains wtf'WaIa from bal'
timors HE vas party Of noiables, and he
whites that they found themselves ''ih thanid.
die Of tho forenoon Of a delicious summer day,
haltiug fof Few monsnia difscily ia if0nt ofs
little Bit Of a log school house, right in The
heart ofNorthweslern Yhginia'a mountain wills
dcrness. The small, low door, aud The glimpse
Of a row Of little hailess heads, as we saw them
from the car were very tempting and there
was an immediate jump Of our party fora little
look at tbe interior" He adds, as Willis only
can
A modest an6 digni6ed courtesy from the
scht olmistress gave us a welcome There was
a spare bench ne the door which acoommo-
dated the most Of Us, and Judge Warren and
Poet Thompson occupied vacant spots on the
short seat Of the class "up for spelling" Sec
rotary Kennedy leaned ON his stick near the
shut-up stove in the center, his kindliost Of
voices and faces encouraging the interrupted
exercises 70 proceed, and "cloud compelling
Mauryp stroked the head Of the nice boy next
him in the corner. Bayard Taylor sat, in his
quiet observing way, studying the surrounding
rows Of boys and girls faces-some thirty Of
them, altogether, and every one barefoot, and
all seated against the rough hewn logs on the
one bench of narrow plank which lued the
room. Fancy what picture for photograph
er to have brought away--the celebrities. and
the little ragged problems of humanity, all
But oh the tender Proyidcnee Of God which
! has provided, for these cradles Of the intelli-
! gence Of our race, the willing devotion Of
womaDhood. 80 patient so selfsacrifcing, so
uncomplaining and aifectouate The "school-
ma'am' before us was delicatey formed young
woman oftwenty Ortwenty.two years, perhaps,
dressed with exceeding painness and of the
most unconscious simplicity of demeanor, but
her pale and thoughtfully refined features he'd
an expression which seemed to me the perlec
ton of what we recognise as the beauty Of the
soul. She looked as il she felt born only to be
! good and kind to others, while life should last,
and that she was here in her place, somewhat
overtasked, but doing good, she hoped aud viii
] ling TO be forgotten. At the same time, in her
4 subdued gentleness Of tone, her exquisite pro-
! priety Of replies, and her calm sweet manner
/ to u.s. party Of strangers, there was a self
| possessed dignity that it was impossible not TO
pay homage to-dificult Il may as well say)
not TO record for others, as admiringly rs one
remembers it for ones self As l sat in that
humble schoolroom and looked upon the un-
conscious beauty of its patiently presiding
spirit, could noi but thank God for the an
| gels still found distributed through the world
We were to hear class reclte, however, and
you are never surprised, l hope, to find that fun
and pathos come very close together A half
dozen of the little shock headed bareiooIlings
were called up to spell; and my friend, the
Judge, who, a moment before. had some trouble
to keep his eyes dry with the sight of the pic
ture have described, burst into commissions Of
! laughter at the succession of intrepid little
voices, each with its proud pronunciation Of
the mastered monosyllable B-u-double z,
BUZZ E-double g, EGG S-m-a-double J.,
SMALL G-r-a--double S, GRASS rang out
from the low rooted temple of learning into the
neighboring woods, the sturdy little reciters as
consequential with the dignity of their per
formance as if they were speakers for the first
time on the floor of Congress- The fun was
somewhat catching, but the unresrained laugh
ter of one or two Of our party had no effect on
the scholars Bravely they spelled away, book
in hand and eyes turning exclusively from the
| slow-spet word to the approving face looking
down upon them-our uncOmprehended visit,
| and our Interruptions Of the lesson, being evil
IDENTIFY taken, like the long words at the end of
the spelling book, to be mysteries which it was
enough, for the present, that the school Iua'sm
| should understandable be treated respectfully
till they should know more about them
| Among the bits Of bare feet doubled up un-
der the long bench was one very slight pair, be.
! longing to girl Of perhaps ten years old,whose
natural pride of form and feature struck me as
something remarkable She was in ragged
fIock, which appeared to be her one single gar
ment, but the head was set on her sunbunt
shoulders like an infant Fairfax's, and the
brown lustre of those great dark eyes with the
long eye lashes, looked as if it must have been
filtered through long race of court beauties
1 called Bayard Taylor's attention to her, as be
sat next me- and i became so interested in
studying the little princess of the woods that
| ventured to ask the schOolmstress, at last if
we could not hear her read or spell. But she
was new scholar, and this her third day-her
court education at present, toiling painfully
over the A-B, Alb. If there were any nursery
garden for the renewal of sold families" such
flowers as that girl should be transplanted
| l must record for history, before leaving this
interesting spot, bit of Presidential foresight
on the part of Ex.Seoretary Kennedy. A colr
lection had been made, by Judge Warren, from
our various pockets, to constitute prize for the
smartest boy and the distinguished statesman
having contributed his loose change like the
J rest, the fund was deposited on the top of the
rusty stove in the centre Of the schoolroom-
Our party then took leave, and were mostly on
their way to the cars myself remaining alone
on the log doors step to bring up the rear when
the Ex-Secretary should pass OUT but he lin
gered. looked back once more, and thus
CHANGED to see him steal up to tine stove, and
quietly deposited another popular dollar on the
democratic fund Future Presidents, you see,
like to make sure of being the "him for infant
minds!"