St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-10-22


was bound to come to the surface. And
by degrees the ring-leaders resorted to
all the little irritating tricks to make
my life sour. Those who have taught
school know just what mean when 1
say that they made no effort at study,
but were cunning enough to go just far
enough to keep the masters hands off
of them.
need not recount the little vexa-
tions 1 submitted to for full four weeks
of torture before it was made certain
that had to enforce order and obedi-
ence or abandon the field ingloriously.
My pedagogue life became burden to
me, and was only too anxious to have
matters precipitated. 1T seems that
previously the pupils had been allowed
to chew their native spruce gum during
school hours. I put stop to that vul-
gar habit at the start. But some of the
girls, who, having little of the spirit
of insubordination, commenced again,
compelling me to threaten to severely
whip the first trespasser. The very next
day one of my favorites-the bright
eyed and sparkling Lizzie B.-was
chewing gum. Notwithstanding she
was fourteen years old, l called her
upon the. floor, ordered her to put her
shoe on the gum, took her hand and
gave it a singing chastisement with my
ruler. (SOme years later I saw this
same Lizzie B., then known and honor
ed as Mrs. DR.. c., and the acknowledge
ed belle of California ball room. She
danced with me on condition would
not refer ever again to spruce gum.)
While l was Furnishing this willful
little miss, Zeke A. was "gritting" his
teeth and trying to leok courageous.
The next day noon on coming to the
school house l found the stove pipe
knocked down and the room full of
smoke. I kept perfectly cool until 1
had everything in order, when asked
the name of the offender. was oblig-
ed to wait some moments for an an
swer, since the whole school, seemingly,
was afraid to expose the guilty one. 1
then said, 'Is it possible that no one of
you has the courage to do right I"
Whereupon Miss Dorcas Jones, the for
mer Lowell operative, rose in her place
and said: "Pm not afraid to tell-Tim
Baker kicked it down, and he said he
would like to.see if you dared to lay a
hand on him, and said he wanted to see if
you was as spunky as you looked" Imay
here add that Miss Jones,was full20 years
old and weighed 180 lbs, without being
very fleshy either had much respect
for her, for she was not only studious,
but felt the importance of acquiring
some education, which adverse circum-
stances had denied her in her youth.
And she regarded her school privileges
as something worth fighting for if nee
essary, and verify believe she would
have lent powerful help to her teach
er if necessary. AS soon as she took
her seat Timothy Baker cried out loud,
"You are liar" Then half-dozsn 9TH
er girls rose and confirmed all she had
said. / was in the humOr for making
an example of this fellow, and l sent
out and had large stick cut and gave
him castigation that he remembers to
this day if living. Tim B. was the
youngest and smallest of the trio. He
evidently expected the active assist
ance of his cronies, but those worthless
remained quietly i'll their seats, looked
black and gritted their teeth.
Directly, when recess time came,
they started out with ominous looks,
J but neither of the three entered again
that afternoon. Nor did they put in an
appearance for nearly week. In the
: mean time heard of their caucussine
with some bullies of a neighboring dis
trict, and attempting to form an offens-
, i've and defensive alliance with the
} view as publicly proclaimed, of "clean.
ing out" all school masters The ruff.
|
sages daily. The sum and substance o
, them all was to the effect that they in
} tended to have my scalp within few
3 days. And felt it to be only ques
} ton of courage whether they did no
, murder me outright. Zeke A. sent IN,
5 word by his little sister that the mex
/ time would have to take man of m,
E size, and "mighty soon, too"
7 So impressed were the children tha
h the school was to be broken up and t
receive bodily harm, that all were file
a with poignant sorrow. Two or three c
t the more delicate little girls were mad
d "down sick" And there was great ez
Il citement among all of the well dispose
l people of the district. An inform;
l meeting of about dozen of the MOI
Q influential of the citizens was held-s
) which l was invited to be presen
: There was a unanimous sentiment
/ favor of sustaining me at all hazard
l. Each one of them waxed eloquent ov,
f, the progress their children had mad
E, and my discipline was highly approve
h and all expressed the belief that cris
l was at hand, and they wanted to he
o. from me as to my faith in my ability
re cope with the blackguards. They vc
OF unteered to render me any physical a
8, 1 might require. One of them, N
es George Parker, IA powerful young ma
living nearest to the school house, to