Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1883-04-03
he most expert spoilers were left stand.


At last, the victor stood alone, proud oil
his or her achievement, sometimes defy
ing, for q long time, the skill of the
teacher in the selection Of the most diff
cult words. In this way we combined
instruction with social enjoyment, and,
though some matches were undoubtedly
made at the school or on the return
home, they were happy ones, and no
divorces followed.
Here, too, we had what we called our
Speaking Schools" in which we exer-
cised our gifts, such as they were, upon
the stage. Our selections took wide
range, from Shakespeare down. In rapid
transition, we went from the grave to the
gay and from the sublime to the ridicu-
lous, so that every conceivable quality on
the part of the actors was brought out.
After few evenings practice we would
have a public exhibition. On these &C.
casions the house would be crowded with
the fathers and mothers and other admir-
ing friends Of the actors. Our costumes,
when any were attempted, were Of the
rudest kind. Scenery-we had none.
For curtains, we used sheets or blankets,
kindly loaned by some sympathizing
housewife in the district. The usual
verdict of the spectators was: "The
boys and girls did remarkably WE'LL
To thi. we all modestly assented, and
were encouraged to try again.
In this house, our debating society or
lyceum held its meetings. On these oc-
casions, we were accustomed to discuss,
and, sometimes, to settle, in our own es'
timation, at least, a great variety Of
questions Of both private and public IN
tere,t. The subjects discussed ranged
from" Resolved, That there is more en-
ioyment in the pursuit than in the pos
session Of an object" to the most pro-
found questions of national policy. Some
Of us, after the experience Of lifetime,
can see more difficulties in the settlement
Of these questions than we were able to
see then.
But all these methods Of training,
though crude and, perhaps, in some re-
spects faulty, served to develop class
of Young men and women, well informed
for their times, self-reliant and unusu-
ally well prepared to struggle with the
sterner duties Of life. This fact is shown
by their general success in whatever they
have undertaken. No school OF equal
numbers in my acquaintance, and, prob
ably, bu, few, If any, in the County,
produced so many successful instructors
who went directly from the school to the
teachers work as this. II furnished not
only teachers for our own town. but FOL
many other towns around, whose educa'
tional privileges were very much superior
to ours. And that they were appreciated
at home is shown by the fact that TWEEN
ty-two of them have taught more than
fifty terms in their own district.
This, like many other school houses
of its time, was occupied for variety o
purposes, other than for schools. II wal
located near the centre of the town, ant
wa. used as a town house for man,
wears. 1t was the scene Of all the pollt'
ical contests that occurred in the town
Here, when a boy, attended my hrs
political caucus. On that occasion
Capt. Samuel Stephens was nominated
for the State Legislature. | rememoe
how | admired the modesty with whicl
he accepted the honor of the nomination
Mr.. Stephens was, | think, the secon'
Representative from the town-Stephe'
Chase having been the first. During
portion of the time when town meeting
were held here, political parties were ii
a transition state, and our town meet
ings were sometimes very exciting. The
were especially so when, on several &C
casions. we tested the sentiment OF tn
town on the question of licensing tn
sale of intoxicating liquors. Many WI
remember how, on these occasions, tt
temperance voters took special delight
"polling the house," so that every ma
could be counted. In this way the ant
license party believed they got sever
votes of men who were really for licen'
but who did not care to be found,
such occasions, in line with the licen
men. We also found it to be an exec
lent method of educating public sent
ment on this question, by giving the vo
ers an opportunity to look on this sid
then on that" On these, and other o
casions, when large meetings were hel
it was interesting to see the large nun
Der of teams that were hitched in I
shelter of the trees around the house.
In this house, ! first took the pied
to total abstinence, and joined with OF