The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1869-01-22

speedily. Then did go into the school
room ten minutes before the crowd.
locked both doors and drew down the pa
per-hanging curtain. took brad-aw
out of my pocket. and unscrewed the pen
dulum from tho bottom Of the rod. lef
II In the bottom Of the box, Itook
horseshoe from my pocket and lashed J
tight with packthread about a quarter
way down the rod-perhaps two inche'
above the quarter. Iput In q nall atter
was tied, twisted the string round 1t twice
and rammed the point into the Knot
Then started the pendulum again.,
found to my delight that 1t was very good
natured. and licked twice rs fast as l eyel
heard it, shut and locked the cloch
door, rolled up the paper-hanging cur
tain, and unlocked the school door. u
you choose to say went to the clock nj
ter breakfast, before school, that Is true
II do not deny It.. you say went be.
fore breakfast, do deny it,-that Is mol
true. Ifyou ask II II was right for me =
do so,-as you implied you were going =
dol do not claim that II was. have
not said 1t was right. AL ] have said yc'
Is that the pendulum was goOd.natured
And will always prOtest,-as have OF
ten done before, ,-against these interrupt
tiOns.
suppose was engaged three minutes
I'm these affairs. | cannot tell, because
the clock had stopped, and, when we are
pleasantly employed, time fies. was
not Interrupted. Nobody came into that
schoolroom before II was time. lnj the
Boston schools now they hire the scholars
to be unpunctual, giving them extra cred.
Its II they arrive five minutes too early. IL
they knew as well as do, what nulsances
people are who come before the time fix
ed for their arrival. they would not bribe
the children In that direction. Certainly
dear old Parson Whipple did not. We
went In when the clock struck, and we
went ont when II struck. He had no idea
of improving on what was exactly right.
Ii he had read Voltaire, he would have
said, "Le inicux est l'ennemi du bon."
So when the clock struck eight we rush.
ed In. Reverent silence mt Prayers.
suppose my conscience pricked me, have
very little doubt Il did,-but | don't re-
member Il ut all. Little boys called mp
In Latin grammar. Luckily they were all
well up, and gabblcd Of their lesson In
fine style: .
"Amusls, a mason's rule"
"Buris, the beam of u plough" &c.
The lesson went d0wn-One exception
to each bOy-without one halt; the mas
ter nodded pleasure, and passed up to the
first boy again. These were bright little
fellows; not one mistake; perfect credits
all.
at is very good lcsson," said the dear
old soul. "lt's pleasure to hear boys
when they rccitc so well. This will give
us little time for me to show you"
What he was going to show them i do
not know. He turned round as he said
''time," and saw to his amazemeut that
the clock pointed to $50. lie put his hand
to his watch unconsciously, and half smil-
ell when he saw II had run down.
"No NATTER" said he, "we are later
than thought. Seats,-Algcbra boys
So we took our places, AMI very much
the same thing followed. Singleton and
i were sent to the blackbOaris, for the
dear old man was In advance of tho age
In those matters,-and we did our very
quickest. But Hackmatack had not our
motive, and perhaps did not understand
the algebra so well, so that he stumbled
and made a long business OF Ii, nnd so did
the boy who was next to him. That boy
was still on the rack too much puzzled to
see what Singleton meant by holding up
three fingers one hand and one of the 9TH
er. when the Parson said, 81 cannot spend
all the morning upon you; sit down, sirt'
sent another boy to the board to. explain
my work, looked ut the clock, and was
this time fairly surprised to see that 1t was
already half past nine. He seized the OPP
portunity for Parthian lesson 10 Brcre-
ton and Hackmatack. "IIalfan hour each
on one Of the simplest problems In this
book. And must put of the other boys
till tomorrow" The other boys were q
little amazed ut their respite, but took the
goods the gods provided without comment.
We went to our seats, and In very few
minutes It was quarter of ten, and we were
sent out to recess. Recess, you know.
was quarter Of an hour; ID generally be-
gan mt quarter cf eleven, but to-day we
had II at quarter Of ten, because school
was an hour earlier. say quarter OF ten
because the clock said SO. The sun was
overcast with heavy Indian-summer
mist, so we could not compare the clock
with the sundial.
The little boys carried out their lunch
rs usual, going through the storc-closct
on the way. But there was not much en-
thusiasm on the subject OF lunch, and q
good deal of generosity was observed In
the offer from one to another of apples
and doughnuts,-which, however, were
not often accepted. l soon stopped this
by saying that nobody wanted lunch, be-
cause we were to dine so early, and pro-
posing that we should all save Our proyis-
ions for the afternoon picnic. Meanwhile
l conferred with Clapp about the blacR
mare. He said she was In the upper pas
ture, which was the next field to our ST..
gar-lot; and he thought he would run
across now and drive her down into the
lower pasture. In which case she would
be standing by the bars rs soon rs school
was over. and he could take her mt once,
and give her some grain while we were
eating our dinner. Clapp you see, was
day scholar. I asked him II he should
have time. and he said Of course he should.
But, In fact, he was not out OF sight OF the
house before the master rang the bell out
Ofthe window, and recess was over. Even
the little boys said II was the shortest re-
cess they had ever known.
So far as I felt any anxiety that day, II
was In the next exercise. This was the
regular writing Of copies by the whole
school. Now the writing Of copies Is
pretty mechanical business, and the mas.
ter was n pretty methOdlcal man, and
when he assigned to us ten lines OF the
to be written In Twenty-Five
giving him five for ''lnspection,
he meant very nearly what he said, us he
did. ventured to say to Hac-
matack and Ciapp, rs we sat down Mt our
form, Lets all write like hokey." But
did not dare to explain to them, and far
less to the others, why the writing should
be rapid. Earlier than that, my uncle
had taught me one ofthe great lessons OF
life, "If you want your secret Kept,
keep it."
So we all fell to- OH
Time trirs fs thners, but dies for the faithful.
which was the copy for the biz boys for
the day. The little boys were still mum
in very large letters. Sin
rlcton and put In our fastest-and Capp
and Ilacmstack caught the c0ntagion.
The master sat correcting Latin exercises,
and the school was very still, rs always