The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1873-09-03

| o"t ohp ocou ucIc Nuu lnCre, u
willing to sanction u degrading
troaty, nnd run tho remainder OF
its race inn revolving cago, for
tho amusement. Of tho farmers
daughter.
In the contro Of this forest is St.
Johns Church, with It's school.
house, and grave yard--tho neigh
borhood comctory, whore those
who wero onco neighbors in lito
are still ncighbors in donth. But
what n rush Of rccollections tho
schoolhouso lots loose upon mo !
Tho piazza, built for tho. Drama
(eIhs6ttton in thoso days) is still
standing. 1t was converted in
to u palace OF prison by quilts,
borrowed from Tho bods in tho
hcighborhood and tho drop
curtain consisted Of thrco oxpo-
rionced countorpanos originally
died in copporas. Near tho door,
entoring INTO tho schoolhouso, is
tho place where Romeo poisoned
himself with cup full of puro wa
ter fresh from Mrs. Ebting's
spring; u littlo moro to tho left, is
whore Robin RongIohoad distrib
ated two dollars worth of coppors
tor two hundred guinoas; and, noar
tho odgo Of tho stage, 1 could put
my stick upon tho worry spot whero
Douglas blod to doath with Poke
berry juice. In tho interior Of tho
house I found tho samo bcnches
and desks, covered with the initials
OF my schoolmate's names, just as
L had loft thom years ago. How
still 1T was--not even q mouse was
disturbed by my entrance, and no
living thing couldbo seen, but bat
hattoned against tho ceiling. This
silence, contrastod with tho noise
of former days, was painful, and I
loft tho old schoolhouso saddonod
by the reflection, that l had lived
TO 500 two thirds Of those samo
initials chissoled upon tho foot.
stones of graves. l walked forth,
and every square yard of ground
hold up its reminiscenco. Thore,
by tho side Of the road, upon that
little bank, is whore Levi Stuck
proved too hard for mo in a trial
of Juvenile prowess. 1t was while
l was shedding teeth, and Lovi
restored mo to perfect good humor,
tho next day, by displaying tho
calf OF his log, whoreon 1 had Bit
ton a paronthesis in black and
blue, with here and thcre q ludi-
crous little gap, loft by tho vacan-
oios whore three Of my innisnrs
had deserted tho ranks. At tho
roots Of that big black oak, about
which can DO soon 40 many frag-
monts Of stones and brickbuts, is
tho place where wc boys fought
tho yoilow;j Jackets nest. 1t was
hard contested battle, and 1T was
difficult to decide which party
would have beon victorious, had
the conflict gono on undisturbed
but tho authoritative cry of
"books I" from tho schoolhouse
door forced us to boat disgrace.
full retreat, followed to tho worry
steps by our triumphant foes. It
was the custom Of our Master
to exercise US, directly aftor our
play hours, in enunciation; that
is, all tho boys at once had to spell,
at tho top of thoir voices, q column
Of those monosyllabic words
grouped together in tho middle Of
tho old Wobster's spelling book. |
toll you tho forest Of st. Johns
used to ring to it's worry limits with
tho first afternoons lesson. Aftor
l had made my escape from the
six or sovon yollow;iackots, which
had marked me for thor own, I
seized my book, and, with ono leg
crossed ovor tho other, commenced
spelling, in tono something like
that Of q moderately sized green
bull frog, such words as those:
Troop troop,
Hoop hoop,
S.t-o.o-p stoop,
loop -
whom, to my amazement, / hoard,
little above my knee, q buzxing
sound, which convinced mo that q
yollow, Jacket had crawled up my
brooches log. l grabbed that part
OF my trowsers, and, stretching 1T
as far away from my skin rs pos.
sible, devoted full minute to
crushing tho audacious wretch,
that could carry its thirst for re-
vongo to such a rockloss extont.
Falling in with tho boys again,
some fiftoon words lower down
tho column, 1 was gotting on worry
woll with
Ring ring,
Stirring string,
Bring bring,
Sting
whom tho samo sounds reached nv
oar, under notifications plainly
showing that my tormontor, in
his struggles to rosist my attempts
upon his lifo, had shifted his posi-.
tion q great doal higher up. Ho
had also changed his buzzing to
o fierco quivering whine, oxprcs-
sive Of tho most implacable vindi-
catiyooone. ond Lnou tbo Joono