The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1870-12-17
'front.' of one of the boys benches

screamed in breath. 'he done did
it; done chunk de bench, an dash
we all on de flo'.'
why. Charlie" l said, "what
made you do that p
81 does hate girls" said Charlie,
and he seemed to consider that
good and sufficient reason for up
setting bench full of them.
Rut they very soon got over all
this, and became as quiet and or
DERBY as any one could desire; and
l never saw any children at the
North so eager to learn, or who
tried SO hard as these Their pa
rents were all very poor, and but
few of them were able to get books
for their children, SO many of the
boys used to work after school
hours and earn money to buy their
own books. One little fellow, only
seven years old, had looked with
longing eyes, as day after day one
and another came with a primer.
AT last I missed him. He was
gone a week, then came with a
primer, which he showed in tri-
umph. Done got my book he
said. He was such a little fellow
that 1 never thought Of his having
bought it himself, so l said, 4 All
very glad. Who gave it to you ?
He drew himself up with offended
dignity as he answered, Didn't no
body CUB it 10 me. Oar don't no
body buy my books buys UNI my
sell 2
"Where did you get your mon
ey? l asked"
"Don kotch bait for it,
He had caught small fish, which
he sold to the fishermen for bait,
and saving up the pennies he earn
cd III this way, at last had enough
10 buy book. The boys had all
sorts of ways of making money,
and knew quite as well how to take
care Of their own interests. One
boy ten years old, as soon as he
could read in the primer, started
night school. There were several
men who wanted to learn to read,
but as they were at work all day
they had no chance to go to school.
They engaged little Dick to teach
them in the evening, paying him
five cents week each. He always
insisted upon being paid in sd
vance. asked him why that was,
swell, he said, i dunno 'noffin
bout dem ar men dey mout go off
any time, an eff deys got dar
weeks larnin' fus', mout whistle
fer my money. But Use only g
chile, l can't go nowhars widout
my nanny, an eff dey pays dar
money, dey's sho huff ter git de
larnin'"
thought that was brig bit enough
for Yankee boy. He earned
money in this way to buy all the
books he needed, and put quite
little sum into the savings bank
besides.
These children would spend their
last cent for a book, If they went
without anything to eat in conse-
quence They did care more to
learn than to eat. Often they
would come 10 me late IN the day
and say, please ma'am, kin l run
home jes' a few minutes when NY
class is froo2 l amt had noffin
ter eat to day.
why l would ask, what made
you como without your breakfast ?
Had work ter do dis mo: min :,
an when l got froo it wor late, an
Use feared l be late ter school, SO
/ didn't wait fer no breffus.'
They. had no clocks; their only
way Of telling the time was by the
sun and on cloudy days, when
they had no guide at all, they were
so afraid of being late that it was
very common thing for them to
bring their break fast to school and
eat it there. There was one little
| girl who lived more than mile
! from the school. The roads were
very bad in wet weather, and she
I had to cross brook where there
was no bridge, only stepping
/ stones. After heavy rain the
water would rise so that the ston es
were a..tirely covered, and che had
to wade through as best she could
She used TO come through storms
that would have kept many grown
people in the house, and otter
came into school wet to the skin
and with the water running in
streams from her clothes. For one
whole year this little girl was nei
Their absent nor tardy.
| y