Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1869-10-15
anistrllanp.
OUR SCH OIL.
BY CHARLES prCKENs.

We went TO look at it. only this last mid
summer, and found that the railway had
cut il up root and branch. \ great trunk
line had swallowed the play ground, slic-
ed away the school-room, and pared off
the corner of the house which, thus cur
tailed OF its proportions. presented itself.
in green stage of sIucco, prOhlewise to-
wards the road, like iorlorn lat-iron
without handle, standing ON end.
1t seems as ii our schools were doomed
TO be the sport ot change. We have faint
recollection Of Preparatory Day-School
which we have sought in vain, aud which
must have been pulled down 10 make
new street. ages ago We have dim inn
preSSions. scarcely amounting 10 a belief,
that il Was over 4 Overs shop, We know
tha, YOU went up steps; tha, YOU frequent
" grazcd your knees in doing 50; that
YOU generally 90, your les over the Scra.
per, in trying TO scrtpe the mud of q very
unsteady little shoe. The mistress of the
establishment holds No place in our mem.
DRY but rampant on the eternal doormat,
in an eternal entry long and narrow, Is u
puffy pug-dog, with a personal animo>ity
towards u. who triumph over Time. The
bark of that baleful pug, certain radiat-
inc way he had of swapping at our unde-
fined legs, the CHASTITY grinning OF the
moist black muzzle and white teeth, and
the insolence ofhiS crisp tail curlcd like 4
pastoral crook, all Hive aud flourish. From
an otherwise unaccounlable association OF
him with a fiddle, we conclude that he was
OF French extraction. and his name Fidele.
lie belonged To some female. chiefly in
habiting back parlor, whose life appears
TO us TO have been consumed in shifting.
and in wearing brown beaver bonnet
For her, he would sit up and balance cake
upon his nose, and not eat it until twenty
had been counted To the best of our be-
lief We were once called in TO witness this
performance when, unable, even in his
milder moments, TO endure our presence,
ne instantly made at Us, cake and all.
Why a something in mourning, called
Miss Frost" should sill connect itself
with our preparatory school. we are un-
able to say. We retain no impression OF
the beauty of Miss Frost-if she were
beautiful: or OF the mental destinations of
Miss Frost-if she were accomplished !;
vet her name and her black dress hold an
enduring place in our remembrance. An
equally impersonal boy, whose name has
long since shaped itself unalterably into
Master Mawls," is not TO he dislodged
from our brain. Retaining no vindictive
feeling towards MawlS-no feeling what
ever, indeed-we infer that neither he nor
we can have loved Miss Frost. Our first
impression of Death and Burial is assOcia-
ted with this fornlesS pair. We all three
nestled awfully in corner one wintry
day, when the wind was blowing shrill,
with Miss Frost's piuafore over our heads /;
and Miss Frost told us in whisper about
something being screwed down" 1t is
the ouly distinct recollection we preserve
of these impalpable creatures, except a
suspicion that the manners OF Master
Mawls were susceptible ofmuch improve
ment. Generally speaking We may OBJ
serve that whenever we see achild intent
| " occupied with his nose, 10 the exclusion
of all other subjects of interest, our mind
reyertS, in flash, to Master Mawls.
But the School that was Our School be-
fore the Railroad overthrow it, was
quite another sort of place. We were old
enough to be put into Virgil when we
went there, and to get prizes for variety
OF polishing on which the rust has long
accumulated. 1t was n school OF some
celebrity in its neighborhood-nobody
could have said why-and we had the
honor to attain and hold the eminent posi-
ton of first boy. The master was sup,
! posed among us to know nothing. and