The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-05-02
For The
REMINISCENCE.

Transcript letter NO 81 by Rev. Joseph
Wilson to the Boys and Girls of Middle
town Academy.
| 1t referred to the place of his early
youth, New Leeds, where his father had
established a mandatory of cloth, and
erected church in which he preached on
the Sabbath day. recollect hearing him
preach often in his church-he was large
man with pleasant countenance, and spoke
huently, though he had little of the y ork
shire accent OF Joseph's teacher, Amos
Miles, have distinct recollection, though
did not attend his school in the old log
house referred to by Mr.. Wilson, which
was near the same spot, now the residence
of Benjamin Miller, Esq.
! Peter Baldwin and his wife Katy, lived
there and Master Miles boarded with them.
There was story that Peter had laid in
a key of whisky for harvest, and being
about to leave home was afraid to leave it
| within reach of Katy, who had a taste for
the article, and he strapped it up to the
rafters in the peak of the roof, there being
no floor overhead, and after he had gone
Katy was sorely puzzled to know how to
get drop At last she thought of the
gun, and taking aim at the key, fired, and
the whisky began to drop. She set a tub
under it, and was enjoying herself when
Peter returned. Where there is will
there is a way"
Soon after Mr.. Wilson attended the
school mentioned. a new log school house
was built about half mile farther west
ward, and was known as Maffits School
House. Mr.. Wilson may recolect one of
the boys, Joe McCummins, who had
brought hard boiled egg for dinner, and
to show some extras pushed it into his
mouth and could not get it out until it was
cut in two and brought out in halves. At
that time there was no school house at
New Leeds or Cherry Hill. Master Miles
taught some time at Matft's, and professed
to teach more than Mr.. Wilson has given
him credit for, as he had hand bill posted
up in which he proposed to teach geome-
try. trigonometry, dialing and gouging-he
intended gauging l suppose, but misspelled
the word. Gouging was somewhat in vogue
among fighting men at that day, and had
reference to the peppers, now it is considered
as having reference to the pocket. The
writing benches were around the walls,
and there was more writing then in school
than now. Those who were in arithmetic,
set their sums down in a book, which gave
considerable exercise in writing, and thus
going twice over each operation, it became
familiar, and there was some pride in keep
ing these books clean and in good order.
Quill pens were the only kind in use, and
it required sharp knife to make them.
There was a large boy who made his own
pens, and had a very sharp knife for the
purpose; he had moreover very long nose.
One day at noon he had a long strip of
meat; one end was in his mouth, and he
held the other in his left hand, and with
his right hand he drew his knife up under
it to cut it in two in the middle, but not
calculating rightly for the length of his
nose, he clipped piece of skin off the end
of it. When Master Miles saw two boys
talking together he would throw ruler on
the floor near them, and tell them to bring
it up-one take hold of each end-it is
very heavy. Then hold out your hands,
and he made them ring. He had pad
die hung up near the door, on one side
was, "All H." and on the other, Gone
Out" and woe to the lad who went out, or
came in without turning it.
The Testament was the principal reading
book in school and there were many mis-
takes. One boy reading of John the Bap
tist, said he had leathern CRADLES about
his loins. Another reading the passage,
"To him that knocketh it shall be open
ed" made halt at the last word, and
after studying awhile, said, appended.
They generally read over their lessons
aloud, and boy was reading the first
chapter: abraham begat Isaac and Isaac
begat jacob but the words began to get
rather hard for him, and he said, so they
begat one another to the end of the chap
ter" All kinds of geniuses went to school
in those days.
A well-grown boy wanted another to
write him love letter, as he could not
write any himself He said that she was
a very nice girl to whom he was going to
write, and he wanted nice verse in the
letter. Well, said the writer, let us lave
the verse and l will write it. He studied
awhile and then he said, guess l have
one that will do:
"Some say the devils dead and buried
in a pumpkin,
Others say he's rose again and eatin' apple
dumping"
There was very inquisltive lad who had
always many questions to ask. Seeing
man with yoke of oxen, he asked, what
do you call these oxen? The man replied,
Buck and Berry. Well, then, which of
them is Buck well, if that is Buck,
which is Berry?
There were some Irish schoolmasters
then that exceeded in penmanship any
teachers that we now have in the county,
notwithstanding they wrote with quill
pens, and were fond of whisky. Some
Master Montgomery and his writing, and
there was one named McVitty, in Elk
Neck, who, when sober came very near the
copper plate manuscript Children now
have great advantages over those of earlier
times, in the supply of books, paper, pens,
and school furniture but it is not SO clear
that their improvement is CORRESPONDENCE
greater.
In looking over the notice of Governor
GroOme in The Baltim0rean, when | read
of his fathers canvass for Governor, ! was
reminded of an anecdote the Colonel told
of his canvass on the Eastern Shore. He
was driving along with friend when a
goose flew and align in the carriage.
When they stopped he related the circum-
stance, and one of the party said it was
favorable omen; the cackling of goose
saved Rome, and he would save the State
of Maryland. Dick Holly6ay said that was