Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-07-20
SCHOOL-DAYS OF OLD
HOW THE CHILDREN WERE IN
STRUGGLED FORTY YEARS AGO.
The Log Cabin--(;ames INDUCED In N
Notwithstanding ischievous
Pupils, Etc.
IFof the Dispatch.

il is pleasure to me to let my thoughts
roam about among the things of the past
and to try to reproduce them for the benefit
of the present generation. IL is 80. but it
Is not therefore necessarily inferable that
nm very old man-one who lags super
fuous on the stage of life" and does not
direct his thoughts towards the suggestion
of methods for ameliorating the conditions
and Increasing the happiness and prosperity
| of the people now Indeed. it is with this
very view in mind that love to recur to
the past, and to tell my fellow-citizens
now about former distinguished men and
about memorable occurrences of days gone
by, 80 that they may think about their
characters and reflect upon the results, and
thus gain by study what we older men
have learned by experience.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Now, feel great interest in the public
schools of the city and country as means
for the education Of the masses, and as
oftentimes in nv solitary walks about our
eoodly city behold here and there the ele-
CANT school-houses erected OF public ex-
pense, in which some twelve thousand
children are assembled to have their minds
educated by competent teachers, exult
and rejoice, because 1t furnishes positive
proof that the voice OF the whole people
has spoken In its loudest tones
in favor of public education. But sponta-
neously, even perhaps impelled by the con-
trast, my thoughts 60 back to the school
houses in which the grandfathers and the
rreat-grandfatbers of the little boys and
girls whose sparkling eyes scintillate before
me. had their young ideas first taught how
to shoot, and at once my thoughts are out
of Richmond and awav of in distant
county, and the old-feld school-house
stands before me.
All mel the happy memories that
cluster around it, the young people OF this
generation can never know. But there
are many men IN Virginia and the South
whose heads are now silvered DER with
gray. whose waning pulses will throb with
increased velocity by the recolections
which reading this imperfect sketch will
recall.
THE OLD SCHOOL.
Yonder stands the old school-house-a
veritable log caDin-a single story nigh
with shelving roof and chinked between
the interstices of the logs with clayey
mud to keep out the cold in winter time,
with small windows at the sides and with
large rude door in front. and opposite to
| il in the rear of the room. great big rec
| tangular- shaped fireplace, In which, rest
! ing on stones. large long oak or hickory
! logs, lust cut from the woods near by. are
cracking and blazing and emitting
/ genial warmth to the little urchins
who surround it. Come to books"
( shouts the schoolmas.er, and at once the
children who had been playing in the yard
/ around the house run for the door and
enter pell-mell. and take their seats upon
/ the hard, wooden benches with no backs
/ to them, and long plank before them for
desks Immediately buzzing sound
would be heard all over the room-ab-eb,
cat, rat, baker, ca-per, Con-stan-tl-no-ple,
| ETC., etc.
THE SPELLING CLASS.
take your places in the spelling class"
excaims the teacher, and we all jump mp
and arrange ourselves ali around the sides
of the room in circle. and then the spell
ing begins. The word is given out. The
head of the class tries to spell II; he
misses the next boy tries, succeeds, and
goes to the head. Look at the boys. Every
ear bent to catch the word; every thought
intent to know whether the boy
or not: all anxious to turn each
other down and to get to the head of the
class. No Napoleon. after successful vic
tory, had his mind filled with more exult-
ant JOY than does the boy at the foot feel
when perchance. rs sometimes happened,
he spelt the word which all the rest
had failed to spell and marched
I
Indeed | did know how to spell when |
was boy. for | have spelt through the
dictionary we then used at least dozen
times, but fear have partially forgotten
since. for IL has not been many years ago
when at spelling bee i'll this city, at
which the classes were commanded
by Colonel Thomas Evans and Peter
". Grubbs, missed very sim
pie word, which Plummer Gretter
onI NVabotar'o nicfinparv 6acIarad | had
misspelt, but upon examination afterwards
found out that the spelling of the word
itself had been changed IN later times.
Strange to say-no. II Is not strange-the
whole class. consisting of doctors of di-
vinity. doctors of medicine, learned law
yers, and others, were turned down and
beaten by a ten-year-old boy just fresh
from the public schools-the son of my
much-loved friend. the late John Overton
Steger, who won the prize.
PLAYTIME.
Twelve o'clock soon comes around and
with it comes playtime. Then a picnic
begins. The girls and boys. with their
dinners in all sorts and sizes of baskets on
their arm. go out and sit down under the
shade of the trees and eat their dinner.
Some of them have chicken, some
ham. most all pies of some sort. and
regular barter of yictuals takes place.
One boy who has been surfeIted on cherry
tarts sweetened with molasses will ex-
claim &" BOYS. who wants to swap victuals
to-day? I've eaten cherry-tarts till I'm
sour through and through" Another
legs?" or Who'll swap damson-tarts for
green-apple pot-pies?" Perhaps some of
them had bottles of milk hid away in
the branch to keep cool, and small bot
ties of molasses. 1t was amusing to
see them. as sort Cf dessert. take out
biscuit, stick hole in it with their finger.
pour the molasses in the hole, and then
take bite and swallow the milk. Verify,
if a stranger had passed by at such time
and have seen the groups of boys and girls
scattered about among the trees, laughing.
talking, and eating, it would have been
surprise to him, and If he had undertaken
to chat them he would have soon received
good natured, singing replies.
oLD-TIMR GAMES.
Dinner being over all were ready for
play. If 1t was the season for ball-playing
most likely the game was made up IN
books. Two leaders, one on each side
land there were self-constituted leaders
among the boys like there are now among
the mem, would cut for partners-that is,
each one would open book and the one
whose book had the first letter of the first
word on the opened page nearest to the
letter would be entitled to the first
choice Of partners. Three-cornered cat,
high over Anthony, four-cornered
ball. or chermany were the usual
games, and the boys engaged in
them with alacrity and vim. 1t always
appeared curious to me that boys not only
in one neighborhood. but all over the
country, played the same games at the
same seasons. At one time they play ball
e everywhere, and at another time they play
marbles, and so on. Like the wild geese
or the sora, these games would be in vogue
and go out at the appointed time sponta-
neously. 1t is. so even now. but never
could account for il how they hit upon the
same games throughout the country with
out any correspondence among themselves
about 1t. -.
The two hours of play-time in the mid
die of the day helped the boys to bear the
burden of the long hours in books. for we
generally commenced school at half-past
or O'Clock in the morning and stayed
there until o'clock in the evening. The
presence Of the schoolmaster all the time
was conservative and beneficial. Ii gene
rally restrained quarrelling and lighting,
but not always.