The Jasper weekly courier., 1874-09-25
THE DISTRICT SCHOOL.
BY AUGUSTA LARNEn.

Ii was queer little company OF sun
Drowned children that long ago used To
90 struggling down winding road of a
bright summer morning. on their way To
the old stone school-h0use. The road
was little more than a rustic lane, very
solitary in part. running under the brow
of a big hill and over the back of another
still larger, and past thick orchards. and
grass meadows, and sleepy farm-houses
In winter il was dreary enough when
the snow blew and drifted into the road
and the icy boughs ratified overhead bat
in summer birds sang in the thick leaves
and fiocks grazed on the sweet herbage of
the hills, and yellow butterflies palpitated
above wayside thistles, and strawberries
redeemed in orchard hollows.
A motley little group We were i'm calico
frocks, and tow trowsers, and gingham
pinafores, and sur-bonnets. and tattered
palm-leaf hats. Probably there was as
much human nature i'm that small compa-
ny as often carries dinner baskets and tin
buckets down a country road. We had
delegation from the big family--there is
always one exceptionally large family in
every rural neighborhoOd-with rations
for the day equal to the allowance of a
regiment. Then there was the talkatiye
aud highly imaginative girl. who told
great stories about the saying and longs
OF her own folks, and let out some things
il was thought might better have been
concealed. and the homcly boy with a
monumental nose and carroty hair. who,
in spite OF his personal defects. was esteem-
ed for his intellect. He was the best SPELL
er and speaker in school. and was sup
posed to know Murray's English Reader
by heart. Beyond that the Imagination
could not 90. There was also achld with
one OF those composite names which mis-
guided parents sometimes fasten upon
their unprotected offspring. | remember
such an one. though she did not belong to
this particular flock of school children,
called Ananias sapphira Guy Fawkes
Dunleith. This sounds like one of the
stories in the newspapers, but alas. il is a
sad and solemn fact.
Deacon LIS orchard lay on the road to
school, and direful were the effects Of
green apples there gathered. or. in juvenile
parlanca, "hooked," and munched by the
way. liz was more meadow than orchard.
properly speaking, with hills and daIes
and grassy interiudes. and here and there
a great appe-tree putting up its tent of
shade. Near the center occurred a dish
like depression, where the wild strawber-
Il
ever seen. Ii seemed. as Hawthorne aptly
described certain valley, like .'the hollow
in the hand Of Providence
Our diversions along the road TO school
in summertime were varied. We found
"cheeses in the common mallow which
grew abundantly by the way, and made
funny old women, with caps and petit
coats. from hollyhock blossoms. We
smacked the fleshy leaves of the liver
wort. which rewarded our efforts BY lit
tie explosive noise. highly delightful to
juvenile ears. and we're tempted into by
nd forbidden paths by picking choke
cherries growing over the stone wall.
There were nests of the robin and chip
ping bunting, into which we peeped daily. |
and sometimes the callow Young would ke
lifted out of the nest by little brown hands !
and felt of and otherwise examined. and
then put back, much to the dismay of the |
cid bir'is and not at all to the benefit of
the birdlings.
Another highly priced pastine consisted |
in plucking, at the risk of much self-tor- |
ture, the head of big thistle and beating
1t with stone until the dangerous outer |
covering could be removed. leaving a
pretty pompon of crimson and white /
fibres. Moreover, we searched about 4
stumps and logs for young leaves of the
red sorrel, which the omniverous appetite
Of those days found delicious, and we
gathered lunches Of fragrant mint mt the
brook side, where the broad-leaved sweet
flag grew, and fascinating cat tails and
alder bushes. which bore in their season
rich clusters Of dark purple berries.
The school-house was hidden under
sand hill quite destitute of trees, and re-
sembled juvenile penitentiary or lunatic
asylum. II was built of stone. with high
narrow windows that repellcd CURIOSITY.
and gave q not too liberal supply Of light
and air. A large box stove, cracked and
rtlsted from overheating, stood in the mid
ole OF the floor, and extended its forlorn
length OF pipe above our heads. Most
were we little ones on those days
when the pipe smoked. sitting on high
benches with our feet suspended several
inches from the floor-and coming over
ong lines Of wordsin Webster's Spelling
book, like rows of petrifactions. which ex- .
ended up one page and down another. | :
san see now the boardy covers of my first l
'pelling-book. with wretched blue paper
pasted upon them. lt had a peculiar
smell unlike any other book. and which |
seemed to me the distinctive odor of that |
torment concentrated for us little ones In
and the rules i'm the fore I
part Of the volume. I
Those Were days before the blessed in {
Iiuenccs of kindergarten and object les [
sons had smoothed the way up the hill Of I
science for tender young feet. We re- !
yarded Authorizations as Margorie Fleming I
lid the multiplication table. as of Satan, !
and not to be endured-bnt for the spell :
ng.book, taken as whole. we had ex- [
IRENE reverence not to say awe. To my |
childish fancy the spelling-book was not /
The work OF any mere mortal II had ex-
Isted from the foundations Of things, and |
was IN some way connected with adams (