Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1869-01-01

How lucky that you never could heat the
OLD clock tick when the case was shut and
tastenedl should not be much worried
uow by the stint we had then, but in those
days these fingers were more fit for bats
and balls than for pens, snd the up strokes
had to be very fine and the down strokes
very heavy, Still, we had always thought
hS bore to be kept twenty-five minutes
on those ten lines, and so we had some
margin TO draw upon. And as that rapid,
good d.natured minute-hsnd neared the V
en- the clock finished the " in the last
"faithful Having unfortunately no
room left on the line for the l. Hackma-
tack was but word behind me, and Clapp
and Singleton had but q few "faithfulsh
to finish. Why do boys think 1t easier to
write their words in columns than in
linesH Is 1t simply because this is the
wrong wsy-O shade of Calvin Tor that
the primeval civilization still fingers in
their blood, and the Fathers wrote so, o
Burlingame and shade of ConfuciusP
We sat up straight, and held our long
quill pens erect, as was our duty when we
had finished The little boys from their
side of the room looked up surprised and
redoubled the viciots speed by which al
ready their NUNS had been debasing
themselves into Uiuiui with the dots to
the is omitted. Faithful Brereton and
Harris and Wells-I can see them now
plodded on unconscious, could see that
none of them had advanced more than
quarter down his page.
For few minutes the dominic did not
observe our erected per. feathers, 50 en-.
gagged was he in altering "sense line of
Singleton's or somebody's. The "sense"
ofthis line was, that the virtuous father
of Minerva always rewarded green con.
querors," such epithets and exple-
tiyes having suggested themselves
from Brownies Viriderium. But the
last syllable of "Palladis had
got sns9ged behind consonant, and the
amiable dominic was relieving it from the
| over pressure. SO we sat like Roman
| senators, with our quill sceptres poised
not coughing nor moving, nor in any way
calling his attention, that the others might
fairly galloped with their NUNS, But our
sedate fellows on the other form plodded
painfully on and had only finished seven
lines when Mr.. Whipple looked up, saw
| the senators and the sceptres, and said, re-
proachhlly; "You cannot all have hur-
ried through that copyl The chestnuts
turn your heads" With the moment he
turned his, to see that the minute hand
had passed full halfcircle. "Is it half.
pastf" he said, innocently. "I beg your
pardon; but among the MUSES., you know,
we are unconscious of time. Well, well,
let us see. Rather shabby, George
rather shabby; not near SO good as yes
terday;
Some strains are short, and some are
Shorter,.'
and you too, Singleton. do not know
when you have been so careless-you both
of you are in such haste. See, Wells and
Harris have not yet finished their lines"
Wells and Harris l think were as much
astonished in their way; for it was not
their wont to come in sixth and seventh
fairly distanced, indeed-on any such
race course. But there was little time for
criticism. That gOod-natured pendulum
was rushing on. The little boys escaped
| without comment on those vicious ms,
and, if there were anything in the system,
each one Of them ought to write COM
monwealth" now, so that it should pass the
proofreader as counting house" But
there is is not much in the system, and
dare say they are all bank presidents, edi'
| tors, professors of penmanship, or other
men of letters.
The clock actually pointed at quarter
of eleven! Now at 1890 we should have
| been out at recitation, translating Ca
milla well over the plain. We had
thrown her across the river on lance
the day before. We shuffled out, and l.
still in hurry, had to be corrected fol
speed by the master. then assumed q
more decorsus tone, his grated nerves
were soothed as he heard the soothing ca
dences of the Latin,-and then, of course
| Just the same thing happened as before
| The lesson was ninety lines, but we had
not read half of them when Miss
Tryphosa put in her head to look at the
clock.
Beg pardon, brother, my watch has
run down. Bless me, it is half pas
eleven |" And she receded as suddenly as
she came. AS she went she was heard
asking, "Where can the morning have
gomez" and observing to vacant space il
the hall, that 1.-THE potatoes were not ye
on the fire." AS Tor the dominic, he as
cribed all this to our beginning the Virgi
too late; said we might stay on tht
benches and finish it now, and gave tht
little boys another "take" in their arith
metics, while we stayed till the welcome
clock struck twelve.
Certainly short morning, boys 81
much for being quiet and good. Coco
day, now, and pleasant afternoon t.
you" 1t is at this point, SO far as know
that my conscience, for the first time
tingled little.
A little, but, alas, not long !, We rushed
in for dinner. Poor Miss Tryphosa haC
to apologize for the first and last time il
her life Somehow we had caught her
she said. She was sure she had no ide,
hOw,-but the morning had seemed very
short to her, and so our potatoes were no
done. But they would be done before
long,-and of course we had not expected
much from a picked-up dinner, an houl
early. We all thanked and praised. Gu
the cold corned beet, and we fell to,--ou
appetltes, unlunched, beginning to COM
into condition. My only trouble was Il
keep the rest back till Miss TryphOsa'
potatoes-the largest little hard at hear
appeared.
For, in truth, the boys were all wild t
be away. And as Fsoon as the potatoe
were well freed from their own jacket
and imprisoned under ours, l cut tn
final slices of the beef Hackmatack Gu
the corresponding bread the little boy
took galore of apples and of doughnuts
we packed all in the lunch-basket, tool
the hard eggs beside, and the salt, AM
were away. AS the boys went down tn
hill, stopped in the school-room, locke'
the doors, drew the curtain, opened th
clock, cut the packthread, pocketed tn
horseshoe, screwed on the bob, an'
started the pendulum again, A yer,
good.Datured pendulum indeed 1t ha'
done the work of four hours in two. How
much better that than sulking, discomfort
ed, for a whole hour in the corner of
farmers Kitchen
Miss Tryphosa and her brother had tn
feeling, suppose, which sensible peopl
nave about half the days of their lives
"that it is extraordinary the time shoul
go SO fast" So much for being infinit
beings, clad for only few hours in Tim
and clay, nor wholly at home in thos
/ surroundings.
, Did l say l would write the history G
that chestnutting? did not say 80.
: did not entitle this story "The Goo
. Chestnuts," but "The Good-natured Per