The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-08-06
BL0DGETT.
ny JAMES MAURICE THOMPSON.


THE study of ones past life is not unlike
Che study of geology. II the presence of
the remains of extinct species of animals
and vegetables in the ancient rocks calls
up in ones mind a host of speculative
thoughts touching the progress of crea-
ton; so, as We cut with the pick of retro
spectiOn through the strata of by-gone
days, do the remains of departed things
constantly turning up, put one into his
studying cap to puzzle over specimens
as curious and suggestive as the eephaL-
9svts.
The first stratum of my intellectual for
nation contains, most conspicuously, the
remains of dog-eared spelling-books, Il
score or more of them by different names,
among which the elementary of Webster is
the best preserved 1t was finding an old
yellow, badly-thumbed and dirt-soiled
copy of Webster's in the bottom of an old
chest of odds and ends, that caused the
infliction of this article on the g dear
reader" for which | cannot honestly
offer any other excuse. Possibly none is
needed.
The old-time schoOl-master, the real
pedagogue, is thing of the past. The
twenty years since he flourished seem, on
reflection, like an age. He scampered
away when he heard the whistle of the
steam engine and the cry of small boys
hawking the daily papers in country viii
lages. He could live nowhere within the
pale of innovation. He was born to rig
idity.
We older fellows remember him, but to
the young fry he is not even a fossil, he is
a myth.
purpose to write of Blodgett, perfect
type of the old-time pedagogue; but,
ls.afA Int L, 10 ILL
awhile with my beginning, in order to
give some of the salients of the history OF
the DAYS when pole-ribbed log school
houses flOurished, with each a pedagogue
for despot. 0 =
In those fine days. boys from seven to
fifteen years of age wore tow-linen pants
with pockets in them that reached to the
knees, and suspenderS to hold them up
that were frequently merely tow strings.
The dresses of all sizes of girls hung loose,
SUSPENDED from the shoulders. Democ-
racv. pure and undefiled. flourished like
green buckeye tree. Women rode TO
church on horseback. behind their hus-
bands, occasionally reaching round in the
mans lap to feel if the baby was properly
fixed. Young fellows went courting on
Saturday nights. The girls wouldn't
suffer any hugging before eleven O'Clock
Unless the old folks were very early to
bed. Candles were scarce in those days,
so that billing and cooing were done in
the dark or by very dim fire-light.
The pedagogue was the intellectual CEN
ter of the neighborhood. He was con-
suited on all subjects, and, as a rule. his
decisions were final, his jurisdiction un-
questioned.
/ recollect quite a number of peda-
gogues. and one of them / never think of
without feeling a strange sadness steal
over me. he was a young fellow. deli
cate and pale. He taught school for two
terms and we all grew TO love him. He
was so kind and gentle, so soff-yoiced and
mild-eyed. Some of the old people found
fault because he did not whip us much,
but we saw nothing forcible in the objec-
ton. Well, he took cough and began to
fail At the last he dismissed us one fne
evening in May and we saw him no more
alive. We all followed him in solemn
line to the grave, and for a long time after
we talked of him only in whispers.
Blodgett came next, and here my story
properly begins. - b
Blodgett, who. having once seen him,
could ever forget Blodgett. Not |. BE
was, as | have said, perfect type OF his
kind, and his kind was such as should not
be sneered at. He was one ofthe humble
pioneers of American letters. He was in
love with lettering. He considered the
matter of imparting knowledge a mere
question of effort. If he couldn't talk or
read ii into one he took stout stick and
mauled it into him. The latter method,
though somewhat disagreeable TO the sub
ject always had a charming result-red
eyes and good lesson. The technical
name for this method was stripping the
jacket" 1t always seemed 10 me that the
pee-wee birds sang very dolefully after I'd
had my jacket stripped. remember my
fiogging at school with so much aversion
that do think. if a man should whip one
of my little ruddy-faced erandbovs, I'd
spread his 1.-THE man's) nose over his face
As thin as rabbits skin.
From the first day that Blodgett came