The Newtown bee., 1878-03-28
Pluaratrees.

To every one acquainted with Plumtrees, a ia mliar object is the little old wagon house of Mir Rufus L.. Couch, standing on thg hill just above Mr. H. II. Baird's "old red house." It is not thing of beauty, but rather an object of venera. tion, It's walls are not ivy .mantled, neither is it's roof moss,grown, It stands bare and gray on the hill where it has stood sentinel through storm and sunshine for century. That was the old,time schoolhouse. There the Plumtrees lads and lasses of other generations were init. lated into the mysteries of A. B. c. There they were introduced to the genial Daboll and good old Lindly Murray of blessed memory.
 The bright little Plum.tr tree blossoms of oday the arophetic fruit of the next generation, who attend school in the present connections Snd | pleasant schoolhouse have but little conception 1 of the schoolhouse of that old day. It was in no sense a Yale college or Harvard. The main room was perhaps twelve by fifteen feet, with stationary writing tables or forms" built against the walls running around on the sides and one end. The seats were long benches without backs, made of oak blanks or "slabs," |" the softest being selected. In the enls Of these | blanks auger holes were bored at proper an gle into which long pegs were driven for legs. These benches were placed before the writing 1 tables in line around the room. On these benches were seated the older boys and girls graded" according to age and advancement. ! When seated they formed a kind of hollow 1 square. Within this square smaller benches of ! the same soft material and similar construction ! were placed for the youngeE-the "sophomores and freshmen" On these oaken benches the | littla hottra c1,v,Y,o,.t i for their backs By long years of seasoning these slabs had become almost as hard as stone and by constant friction as smooth as polished
 marble. The teachers desk was placed tow ards the end Of this hollow square, and with one chair for the teacher, completed the furni- l ture of the room. Here the teacher presided, ruled and feruled. There were no maps on the walls, no blackboard, no globes. The books used were dry and hard.
 1 The honse had large stone chimney, and an ample fireplace which in the earlier days was 1 the only means of warming the room. In its later days it enjoyed the luxury of a ''box'' stove.
 Within those limited walls much genius bud ded There some of the present residents oi i Plumtrees, and some who reside elsewhere and many who have passed away, received their English rudiments. Among others Messrs. Samuel and Cornelius Dibble, Mir. R- L. Couch and Mir. Abram Hoyt, of the present fathers oi i Piumtrees, Virgil Dibble of Charleston, s C. Andrew Dibble. deceased, the late Rev. John L, Ambler and Hiram Ambler, A. L. Benedict oi Bethel, Ezra and Miles Anlbler who died in l Virginia, Dr. Geo. Benedict, Rev. Jas. 5. Clark of Tiyoli, N r., "Afack Jr.s of the Bridgeport .Sfandard, and scores of others.
 A full history of that ancient temple of learn jag and incidents connected herewith would be interesting and would i'll volume. It wa; called common school. but much tsansPired there that does not commonly occur. Ii gave . lCosniau-d CT nexl pagel.