Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-04-05
The Mistake About Hamp See.

Hamp See Ounce! Well, may be so,
but arter what seed, it 'ud take smarter
schoolmaster than you to make me think
so.
1t was old Riley Vaughan who spoke;
and although old Riley had no education,
his hard sense and sound Judgment were
respected by all the men who sat there in
the village postofice waiting for the mail.
He had grown prosperous by dint Of hard
work and good judgment, and the neigh
bors were accustomed to ask for and re-
spect his opinions.
an. replied Mr. Penruddock, the school
master; | only said that my best efforts to
educate the boy were rendered futile and
nugatory By reason of ineXplicable inabil-
ity to grasp and retain so simple thing
as the accidence of the Lntin verb.
That means in plain English that be
amt no grip on what you teach him, don't
it? asked Riley.
Yes; that is what mean, replied the
schoolmaster, with something like shud-
der at old Riley's English. But make
an honorable exception in mathematics.
He seems inslinctively to grasp arithmet-
ical principles.
Yes, drawled out old Riley, one of our
boys told mo that Hamp could figure out
how long it would take for cistern to get
full if the were three pipes O. different
sizes runnn' into it, and two others O.
still different sizes a-runnin out.
Yes, he is an expert at practical appl-
cations of arithmetic; and yet even in
arithmetic his standing is not good, be-
cause he seems incapable of mastering the
exact formula and rules.
Well. now, look here, said old Riley,
rising and striking the counter with his
big fist; it jest comes to this here; the boy
amt got no grip on your words and things,
but he's got good grip on idees and
principles, an its my belief that's the in
side o sense, | dom want to be unneces
sarily offensive, but you, and all school.
masters like you, ought to teach parrots.
They don't want idees; they jes' want the
words, an that's your notion o. learnin'.
That's the trouble with this country down
here; men learn words and make speeches,
but they can do nothin'. Now, I've seed
that boy, Hamp See, do what marry man
in this country could do. l bought the first
reapin' machine as was ever seed in these
parts, an. an when it come it was all to
pieces an packed in boxes. sent one
artcr another for all the blacksmiths an >
wheelwrights an carpenters hereabouts to
set the thing up, and I'm blest if one of
'em could make out which end o. the thing
was the foremost. Not one of 'em could
put any of the two pieces together. That
ere boy hung around all the time, with
his forred creased up like. an finally he
says to me, says he, Mr.. Vaughan, let me
ltry. Well, try, says /; an if you hit her
together, I've got five dollar bill for you
Maybe YOU won't believe it, but beore
noon that very day. that reaper was a
reapin' wheat like dozen hands. The
boy jest seed right into the thing. Now !
say if he's q Ounce, the sooner most people
in these parts loses their sense an gets to
be ounces the better twill be for all con-
lcerned. And with that old Riley stalked
Indignantly out of the postoffice.
Notwithstanding all that old Riley could
say, public opinion was against Hamp See.
1t was certain he was dull in lessons. He
could not keep up with Mr.. Penruddock's
classes, and instead of studying Latin verbs
he was perpetually interrupting the school
by asking Mr.. Penruddock to explain
things like thunder and lightning, and the
VI buCllo III IOChS
and the curious way plants have of taking
care Of themselves-things which had nc
relation to the work OF the school. 1t was
agreed that Riley Vaughan could not
know anything about education, because
he was not himself educated. twas even
, said-and this came to Riley's ears-tha,
he was prejudiced against education. Ever
Hamp's mother was discouraged Hamr
was always puttering, she said, instead o
attending to bis books.
Why, she said, hos been fooling with Z
spring on the bill back of the house the
whole season through He's laid pipes tC
bring water down here, aud now he.
turned the whole house into mill Their
she would show her visitor what Hamr
had DONE He had constructed an inpen
, ious water. with which to make mos
of the power afforded by the spring, ant
had set 1t at q variety of tasks. A stretcl
Of line shafting passed through the floor o
8 the house, and band passed through th,
floor to the churn and the sewing machin,
r and even the sausage chopper could be at
tached at will l don't deny it's hand,
and saves work, said his mother. AM
! now he's made sort of fan In the dinnin,
S room, and has set that going too, so tina
q IL keeps the flies off the table. If we ha,
b, baby in the house, believe he'd max
t the water rock the cradle. But It's dis
D couraging about his studies. Mr.. Penrud
r dock Is in despair, aud says he don't know
s what is to be made of the boy.
D The summer proved to be very dr.
} one. and tho gardens especially suffered 70
0 water. When the people began to com
plain Hamp bad an idea. He always ha
an idea when the emergency arose. II
lwent into his mothers's garden an