The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-12-13

- Duster, "Mahala SprigR
y Boy "General Butler" "Jim Crow
j. y Ana the owners Of these names answer
- " TO them ms seriously as il there wosr
. |! anything funny about it. And the
L wasn't to them they didn't see that the
. names we're at all out Of the way.
= They had been accustomed to runnir
u wild out of doors all their lives and
: was very hard for them TO sit still for tv
or three hours in school. II would n,
Q been quite 80 hard If our school room ba
: been moro comfortable; hut we had n
i nice brick school-house; we had to ne
an old barrack, OF barn. or wbatcve
we could get. And we had no desks q
chairs; only long benches,--some ofthen
without backs, where the children ba,
70 70 SIT packed as close as herrings in box
they csnld not very well help getting in
to trouble under such circumstances nm,
every few minutes some one would cal
out, Teacher, dis yere boy IL chunkin"
oy which they meant pushing with hi
elbows; or. "Teachcr, please make di,
yere gal have herself; or. Teacher
make dis yere boy stop rollin' he eve,
roan at me-. Nothing troubles them SO
much as to have "eyes roll roun'" at
them. Sometimes matters we're more
serious and | would hear, "Boy, IN
mash yer mouf cf yer don lemme lone .
When they are very angry they always
want to "masl'" !" somebody's "mouf."
One day bench full of girls in front
ofone of the boys benches was overturn.
ed, and the girls rolled in heap on the
foor. "How did this happen ?'' I asked
"Dis yere Charlie" they all screamed
in breath, "he done it ; done chunk de
bench. an dash we all on de flo' :"
why, Charlie" said "what mad.
you do that ?"
"i does hate girlA," said Charlie and
n nc seemed to consider that good and suf.
hcient reason for np-ettipg a bench full of
them. '''''
But they very soon got over all this.
and became as quiet and orderly as any
one could desire /; and l never saw apy
children at the North so eager 10 learD.or
who tired 20 hard as these. Their parents
were All very poor, and but few of them
we're able to get books for their children. /
20 many Of the boys used to work after
school hours and earn money to buy their
'wn books. One little fellow only seven
Years old had looked with longing eyes.
IS day after day Que and another came
With rrimluer AT last | missed him
ie was gone week, then came with q
trimmer which he showed in triumph
Done got my book" he said. He was
uch little fellow that never thought
+ his ha7ing bought it himself, so I said,
! am very glad. Who gave it to you ?''
ie drew himself up with offended digni. |
as he answered, didn't nobody CUB it
me. Oar don't nobody huy nv books t
nys um myself" O
Where did you GET your mone, >. I t
sked. &
''Donr kotch baii i-r it," a
lie bad caught small hsa which h, "
a 'amSr to the ehSl@a sheaTn,- msEi M school There
,re several men who wanted TO learn TO "
ad but as they were at work all day ", "
ey had no chance 10 go to school. They X :,
gagged little Dick 10 teach them IN the ~ ~
'enine, rsying him five cents week =, =,
ch. He always insisted upon being u
id !, advance. asked him why that D
as. :.
"Wou." he said, Il dunno noriin' Il
,out lem AZ men dey mout 90 on any
me-. an eff dey's got dar weeks larnin Z
49," mout whistle fer my money. But
Sc on'ya chile. can't 60 nowhar's
-idout my nanny, an cfdey pays oar
,opey, dcy's sbo' nuff ter git de larnin'."
| thought that was bright enough tor a
ankee boy. He earned money in this
say to buy all the books he needed, and
,ut quite little -um into the savings
,ank besides. Il
These children would spend their last
.ent for book. il they went without
,nythiug to eat in consequence. lhsy
lid care more TO learn than to eat. W
ten they would come 10 me late IN the
aav and say, PLEASE, ma'am, kin run
home ies' few minutes when my class Is
froo! | amt had notin' ter eat to-day"
"Why," | would ask, "what made you
come without your breakfast? ?" i
Had work ter 10 dis mornin', and
when | rot fro it wor late, an Use fear
ell he late fer school 80 didn't wan
fer no hrehus. =
They had no clocks their only way oil
telling the time was by the sun and on
cloudy davis, when they had no guide at
all they were so afraid Of being late that
il was very common thing for them to
hiring their breakfast to school and eat 1t
,here There was one little girl who
lived more than a mile from the school,
The roads were very bad in wet weather
and she had to cross brook where there
was no bridge, only stePping.stoues
After heavy rain the water would rise
so that the stones were entirely covered
and she had to wade through as best sh'
could. She used to come through storm
that would have kept many grown people
in the house, and often came into schoo
wet TO the skin, and With the water run
ming in streams from her clothes. 70
one whole year this little girl was neithe
, absent nor tardy..
; Whenever any Of the children happeer
r ed to be late, they were sure to brin
. some very good excuse, though sometime
i It would be very comicsl. One mornin
about ten O'Clock, boy came rushing a
+. out of breath, into the school-room, e.
G claiming, Deed ,ma'am' icouldn't he he,
Il bein' late dis mornin' no ter save my iif
. My nanny done got a COW, an de co
!. done got a calf, an de calf done rum,
b away, an de COW dcne gone afer de ca
an done gone afer de COW. an spec
be late cherry mornin' now, gwine arer
yere."
}" My class in Sunday school consisted
Q dozen boys between the ages Of eng
and twelve. most Of them bright, and o