The Brookhaven leader., 1884-03-20
OLD.TIME SCHOOL-TEACHING.
"Reminiscences of an Old Pedagogue.


per window in large school house
where taught, that the boys came out
the back door into the play ground as
if they had been fired from cannon.
They shot out one after another, and
generally landed in convenient snow
bank. On going to the head of the
stairs | saw the reason. The boys
iumped astrde of the ban:stcr and went
sailing down the inclined plane, jump
inc clear OF the steps, and landed, as a
general thing, on their feet. The end
Of the banister had o newell post, and
the open door was only few feet from
the bottom of the stairway. 1t was great
fun, and the amusen ent was increa scd
when a big boy could rake in with his
projecting feet some unfortunate
youngster who was going down the
stairs in the ordinary way. | told the
lovs when school was called that tn 5
sort of rapid transit would have to stop.
BOYS usually don't have muc |
respect for the commands of anew mas
ter until they find that he means what
he saws. At the next recess | went to
the foot of the stairs to find out whether
they proposed to obey me or not L
found, as | expected that they d DIN t..
When the lads came sailing down the
banister | graspcd each as he flew past
by the collar and swung him round into
the lower passageway and stood item
up one by one in row somewhat dazed
by the whirl they got. 1t was lively
work, for the supply of boys exceeded
the demand. They came from the up
per regions with ewilder.ng rapidity
and had my hands full in every s,nse
of the word as gathered them in. At
last the news spread that the master
was at the foot of the stairway with a
standing invitation to all slide'S, and
the downpour of boys suddenly ceased
| was Just about to turn my attention to
the row of captiveS when | heard the
following conversation at the head of
the stairs:
Don't. The masters down there. y"
81 don't ca e."
Hell collar you.'
"Td like to see him do it. I'll give
him dig wi h my foot that'll double
h Ill up mighty quick, you bet. Like to
see him collar me.
The latter speaker made no attempt
to conceal the fact that he didn't give
hang for the new master
| stood at the foot of the stair and
waited for HIN. He threw his leg over
the ban 'ster, and. spreading out his
feet, launched himself down toward
me. A glance showed me that
| would be raked in the next mo-
ment, and would be tie laughing stock
of the school; so | Kicked the door shut
and stood aside. The big fellow, whose
name | did not then know, came down
like a whirlwind The moment the
door closed he tried to fling himself off,
but he was too la'e. He shot against
the door with thud that made every
window rattle, and fell back in heap
ON he floor.
| helped him up on. his feet, assisted
by one of the boys, and he said, feebly,
that he guessed he would sit down for a
little while. let the row of culprits
go, and told them that an accident l. Ike
that might happen at any moment if
the door chanced to shut, and so after
that we had no more sliding down cd
Grimes cellar door
1t is seldom that school-master has
hand to hand encounter with pupil;
vet. in the backwoods | have known
such thing to take place. once was
one of party of five who undertook TO
thrash our school master, who was a
terribly severe man. He gave me the
worst thrashing | ever received, and to
this day don't know what it was for.
However, thrashing never went amiss
with me at that time. l always de-
served it, aud this one merely placed
to account, knowing there was still a
large balance coming to me. But as l
was saying, five of us agreed to climb
on the teacher at a lonesome place
about half mile from the school where
he couldn't cry for help. We cl mbed.
But alas! it was not the teacher who
had to cry for help. He thrashed all
five of us. He had got so accustomed
to thrashing boys that he seemed to do
it quite from the force of habit.
The schOol-boy of my day was born
fighter Every new boy had to fight his
way to his place among the boys. 1
have fought, when i went to a rev
school as pupil, with good-natured
fellows who happened to be the cham
pions, who had not the slightest ill-will
towards me, nor to them. But school
etiquette demanded that we should fight,
and we did. don't suppose this occurs
TO any extent in town schools, but, no
doubt, it does in the country, where a
hollow behind the school-house or a
piece of woods down the road offers a
secure fighting ground. Little the
teacher will know of these combats ii
there is stream near by where the vic
tor and vanquiste1 can wash their
bloody noses, as an East LOndoner
would say. was always coward, and
never took kindly to those fellows
F'whose fist was ever ready for knock.
down blow" The boys of that far of
time had no idea of the rules of the
ring. They fought in a savage, rough
and tumble way, and when one got the
other down it was considered no d s.
honor to pound away at him till he
cried enough" At this cry the boys
generally pulled the upper savage of il
he didn't quit.
one day tramp circus man taught
me some valuable wrestling tricks. My
iavorite was a hip-lock, which invaria
ply brought to earth the opposite party.
1he beauty of it was that when once
you raised your opponent of his feet
you could lay him out in almost any