Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1877-05-14
slunth's Column.
A COUNTRY SCHOOL.

When was little girl, went to |
little school, which was kept by very |
little lady. in very little house. The
little lady herself lived in another little
house, which was divided from the little |
school house only by little garden.
did not know then how little the houses.
and the garden. and my school-teacher
were. Miss Caroline seemed large and |
powerful to me (; and as for her ferule,
it looked bigger to me than the big trees
of California looked when l saw them a
few years ago. But when went back,
grown woman. to my old home. and
walked past Miss Caroline's cottage and
the little old school-house. hardly could
believe my eyes, everything was so tiny
and | could have picked Miss Caroline
up under my arm.
The school house had been a shoe
makers shop once, and some of the shoe
makers furniture had been left in it.
There was the bench on which he used
to sit and work: this had little open
box at one end, where he used to keep his
TOOLS this bench stood in the middle of
the room, in front of Miss Caroline's
desk, and all the classes sat on it to re-
cite their lessons. The end which had
the open box on it was called the "head'
of the class. Once | kept up '.at the
head in spelling, a whole week, and |
grew so used to having hold of the edge
of the box, and slipping my fingers
back and forth on it, that when | lost
my place, and had boy or girl on my
left side, had hard work not to keep
all the time taking hold of their arms,
instead of the box. There used to be
also little drawer under the bench,
at this end but Miss Caroline had that
taken of, after she found out that it
was there Ned Spoford hid the "spit-
balls" he used to fire up and down all
the classes he recited in. On, what a
bad boy Ned Spofford was But how we
all liked hial Even Miss Caroline her.
self, think, liked him better than any
other scholar in all the school; and yet
he gave her twice as much trouble as all
the other scholars put together. But he
was so good-natured and affectionate
that nobody could help loving him. in
spite of his mischief. He never resisted
nor struggled when she had to punish
him. | really think he got feruled as
often as once week but he used to
hold out his hand the minute she told
him to. and look straight into her eyes
while she struck him. Sometimes he
would bite his lips, and the tears would
come into his eyes, but he never cried
nor begged of, as the rest of us did
He was as brave as he was mischievous
Even when he had to sit on the Ounce
stool for twenty minutes with his mouth
: wide open and a piece of corn-cob Sc
set firmly between his teeth, he neve
cried. This was Miss Caroline's wors
punishment. | think if she herself hat
tried it once, to see how much it hurt
she never would have had the heart t
r infict 1t on US. At first, when sh
: wedged in the piece of cob. you felt lik
; laughing that any body should thin,
such thing as that could be much of
punishment; but pretty soon your jaw
r began to ache, and then the back c
your neck ached, and the pain reache
up into the back of your head, and int
your ears, and it became real torture
there was not single boy in school tia
could bear it without the tears stream
ing down his cheeks, except Ned Spofforc
Miss Caroline very rarely did it to girls
think no one but Sarah Kellogg and
ever had it. We were the worst CIR
in school we two and Ned SpofoI
were the three black sheep in Mi
2 Caroline's little fock.-From 1T
First Time" By SAGE Holm, st. Nc
oLnS for Maq.