Litchfield enquirer., 1881-09-08

the pit of the stomach. The Door fellow
 doubled up suddenly Phe balf Stuck in the
 wrinkitof the body,l and the striker was de.
 clared Tout" amid shrieks of merrimentsd9 L
 How vividly the light of memory Streams
 back over the scenes of that scl1oolboy home
 toi the Gnnnery building, vine embowered
 puzzfe sef architecture, to the football games
 in which the teacher SO often measured his
 length on the wint, sIush in collision with
 some muscular rival; to the coasting,o < the skatipgs the tramps with rod and gun,,sal en-
 couragea and even enforced as part, of the
 scheme Fof training to the ball nine on which
 Mf. Gum himself played an efficient first base
 and which, though made up of striplings,, was
 so skilled by faithful practice that itiearIy be-
 came tue champion team of the county to
 the family meeting" called each Sunday afternoon, when the household of forty boys
 was sunlmnnedatei give am account of the
 weeks peccadiIloes to the, '..,reeeption night"
 held on Friday evenings with it's dancing and
 games, when the village naidens forgot their
 difhdense and the city girls their airs, and all smingleasw ilh the boys in rational and whole
 some fua; for the teacher regarded nothing
 as imoreseie vating for the boys than the com
 panionship of pure minded girls Over all
 these memories of the school life there stands
 two predominating figures: one, that of the
 master, six feet high, awhh bust of gladia-
 tor and the head of a Viking, witty. genial, always ready to take or give a joke, majestic
 In angek yet, at points. as sentimental as a
 maiden, ,sas yielding as a child The other
 figure, apd Sometimes it seems to eclipse all
 the rest &js that of Mrs Gum, the mother mistressDf the school. To be a mother to foftH s, to chide and comfort. to watch
 ovefShl myriad duties of the household, to
 take RdiHg partin the social events of the
 village, And withal to keep we'll versed in the
 literature and news of the day, were, duties
 which this rare lady assumed as easily as
 Newportbelle passes 6 sammer day Her
 kindly presence snffused all the home life of
 the Gunnery and is an inspiration even now
 to the hundreds of boys who felt it's gracious
 influence os a-FL1 a
 As 10 scholarship the general standard of
 the school was unquestiQnable low. There
 was no marking system and no direct incen- tives tO purely intellectual growth Yet Mr.
 Gum, first and last, fitted good many boys
 for college, and most of them did we'll His theory for teaching the dead languages was characteristic of the man. ''Learn the lau- guage first and the grammar afterwards" was
 his dlctam So boy often found himself in
 Homer before he could analyze the simplest
 form of a Greek verb, and reading four hun dred lines day in Virgil without question on the syntax or prosodY. His boys therefore fell
 into hard lines when they first faced the iron drill of the grammar school or college. But somehow they mastered it all, and at college, as rule, they not only became self-respecting men but proficient students. In composition, rhetoric and oratoTy the standard of the school
 was high, and knowledge of public events
 was made almost compulsory part of the course-Mr. Gum himself reading the daily alOnH fo ho cohpol
 nOon mail brought it in. By teaching, and even more by his personal example, Mir. Gum emphasized the duties of citizenship. His was the leading figure in village affairs. and the whole county knew him as the first citizen
 of the town. Active, generous of his means
 even to a fault, giving money almost with contempt of 1t, alway sready to labor for a new enterprise, from railroad down 10, g. Fourth of July celebratlon, it is scant truth to say that his part in expanding and liberalizing the was reasureless, and that the boys drew from his example fresh and in- vigora sing ideal of the good citizen-.- Rellg-. ions instruction he never impartcd to his scholars. He made them attend church and Sunday school, and write Sunday letter home, but otherwise Sunday was kind of holiday, when the boys could indulge in what ever was allowed on secular days, except sports, games and card playing. The latter, except on Sundays. was never forbidden or discouraged. 4,st5 -..l. ,f t..l t-.7..ls
 One single, experiment in the school was a. most dismal failure. During the civil war MT. Gum, misled by the military and patriot ic ardor of sbe times. tried to introduce drill ing. The state, by legislative act, lent him guns, and German drill l-master was engaged.
 The new -comer was curious old fellow, qulck.tempered, but kind-hearted-an exiled nobleman, now renstated in his paternal titles, and member of the heGerman Rechstag. He was picturesque character in the Guhnery scheme of education disorders were given in pngfammatical English, intensely amusing, and he was the constant victim of the pranks of his company New who saw them will forget his desperate efforts to adapt the Prlst slan manual of arms 10 the intractable- combination of a small boy with bigmnsket. Against the military system the whole sys- tenn of the school rebelled, and the master, after three years trial, confessed failure and sent back the muskets One incident taken from this military period of the Gunnery must stand for others of the kind Seven or eight of the most mlschievous boys in the company used to drop sticks and corn cobs in the mus \ kets to block the manual of arms Mir. Gum was appealed to by the. drill-master. The was drawn up in line about as straight as rams horn and the master came out and faced them with fire in his eye. 'sI won't ask the boys who have plugged those muskets to confess, he said, flor boy who will do so mean a thing will lie about it. But ten boys shall be drawn from this company and stay at home next Saturday to clean. the guns, while the school goes to the lake" In due season the lots were cast, and not one guilty bog soas drGon. In a Sunday-school story just at this point the real culprits should enter, confess guilt and accept the penalty. But in this story they didn't. They went up lo the lake and had royal time, while ten innocent boys stayed behind and cleaned muskets.
 ! Using hispecuiiar methods Mir. Gunn con- ducted his school successfully for twenty five years. It grew in numbers and fame, the best families of the country~sent their sons to
 it, and applications for a place had to be made months ahead. The teacher, finished the quarter centennial of his school hardy and. vigorous, but three years ago, at the age of sixty-one, the shadows of the end began to fall, A trouble of. the heart,, an hereditary disease, showed it's deadly symptoms, and with body and mind impaired MT. Gum gave up the school to his son-in law. These declin- ing years of the old instructor were in some respects the days of his greatest comforts He lived in the past. talking about old scenes, and loving to meet the boys of the earlier I school days who came back to walk arm-in- arm with hin through the old paths But the disease grew apace. A few days ago, in inc early morning, came the final summons The silver cord was loosened suddenly, and tue master baow stood with the Great Master above. S''Igs 'tss# .sfs 9ii saaa e'r9
 The funeral of the old teacher was singular y touching and appropriate. From far and near his old boys gathered to pay the supreme tribute to one who had been to them not in- s1rnctor only. but companion, adviser and friend. They came back from the professions, from business, from the places they had. .ehos- en for short August vacations-ynuths, young men and great bearded fellows with their hair l streaked with gray. In deference te the dead mans love of nature only wild plants were lsed in the decoration of the Guunery and l church. The coffin was lifted by seven of he old scholars, not into a sombre hearse but into MT. Gnnn's favorite wagon, which had been hung with clematis and oak, and was drawn by the white horses that their master