The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1877-04-25
A Country School.

When | was little girl. | went 10
little school, which was kept by q
very little lady, in very little house.
The little lady herself lived in anoth-
er little house, which was divided
from the little school house only by a
little garden. | did not know then
how little the houses, and the garden,
and my school-teachcr were Miss
Caroline seemed large and powerful
to me; and as fer her ferule. it looked
larger to me than the big trees
of California looked when | saw
them few years ago. But when
went back, grown woman, to my
old home, aud walked past Miss
Csroliae's cottage and the little old
school house, | hardly could believe
my own eyes, everything was 50 tiny;
and could bave picked Miss Caro-
line up under my arm.
The school house had been shoe
makers shop once, and some of the
shoemaker furniture had been left
in il. There was the bench on which
be used to sit and work; this had
little open box at oae end, where be
used to keep bic 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 recite their
lessons. The end which had the
open box on it was called toe "head"
of the class. Once kept up 'at the
head, "in spelling, q whole week, and
| grew so used to having bold 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
bard work not to keep all the time
taking hold Of their arms, instead OF
the box. There used to be also lit
tie drawer under the bench, at this
end; but Miss Caroline bad that
taken off, after she found out that it
was there Ned Spoford hid the spit
balls" be used to FIRE up and down
all the classes he recited in Oh,
what bad boy Ned Spoford was
But how We AL did like him ! Even
Miss Caroline herself, | think. liked
bin better than any other scholar IL
all the school; and yet he gave her
twice as much trouble as all the 9TH
er scholars put together. But he
was so good-natured and affeetionate
that nobody could help loving him,
in spite Of his mischief. He never re-
sisted nor struggled when she had to
punish him. / really think be got
feruled as often as once week +; but
be used to hold out his hand the min
ute she told him to, and look straight
into her eyes while she struck him.
Sometimes he would bite bis lips, and
the tears would come into his eyes,
but be 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 dunee-stool for
twenty minutes with his mouth wide
open and piece of fcorn-eob set firm
" between bis teeth, be never cried:
This was Miss Caroline's worst pun
isbment. Think if she herself had
tried it once. 20 see how much it hurt,
she never would have bad the heart
20 inhict II on us. At first when she
wedged in the piece of cob, you felt
like laughing that anybody should
think such thing as that could be so
much of a punishment but pretty
soon your jaws began to ache, and
then the back of your neck aehed,
and then the pain reached up into the
back of your head, and into your
ears, and it became real torture,
there was not single boy IN school
that could bear it without the tears
streaming down his checks except
Ned Spoford. Miss Caroline very
rarely did it to girls; think no one
but Sarah Kellogg and ever bad it.
We were the worst girls in school (;
we two and Ned Spoffo-d were the
three black sheep in Miss Coroline's
little hock.-S. Nicholas for Hay.