Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1906-02-15
MEMORIES OF OLD DAYS.
Former Student at Old r. S. N. S. Re-
calls Scenes and Incidents

II
calls Scenes and Incidents
Charles w. Levings OF Oshkosh, Wis.
sent to the late Principal Edward Consnt
in 1855 bis reeollections of school life at
the Orange County Grammar .sebooI AZ
years before and told mis- story with so
much humorous appreciation Of his COM
rades aud surroundings that the reading
gives pleasure to one uDacquainted even
with the old school or schooimates while
to the surviving students Of those days it
can hardly fail to be of absorbing interest.
The story, which has been finally en-
trusted to friend of the writer, Henry g.
| Gilbert, is long and must be iven in
instaliments, OF which the opening chapter
/ f0llows:-
~ first made the acquaintance, as a
/ student, OF that american Harrow on the
HILL, the Orange County Grammar
school, in the fall Of 1916, when the prin-
cipal was Mr.. Chamberlin, who had no
more than fifty or sixty pupils
"fhe building was of the then regula-
tion order Of architecture for academical
scbools-two stories with a four sided
roof surmouDted by a beltsy in which
/ hung the bell that every half hour sum-
moned us TO Rotations, except semi
occasionally when the bell-rOpe was non
est inventum Said belfry was in turn
/ surmounted BY spire upon which lazily
L
ing, weather vane that for the mai n
4 part OF the year pointed towards Hudson's
/ Bay and other boreil regions. There was
a lightning rod Of the old Ben Franklin
type that held a stumbling dependence
/ from the eastern side, and that played
most doleful tattoos upon the roof in
windy weather, especially on or about the
BIRD Of September. That rusty rod was
handled by the boys with a familiarity, il
not contempt, that showed how little they
cared for Joyinian fires. Late in the fall,
after all the electrical storms had passed,
and they had advanced into the chapter
on electricity in Comstock's Natural
| Philosophy and had witnessed few cheap
electrical experiments in the old labora-
tory so laden with the odors of drug
shops and photo galleries, they realized
1 the narrow escapes from the wrath of
/ Jupiter they had had, and how much the
very existence Of the school itself depended
upon that crazy old rod.
I "The building was divided by a hall
running east and west, the back door OF
which commanded view OF somebody's
I moving the homestead Of Priest East
man, a strip OF beech woods and the
heights dividing Randolph from Chelsea.
/ From the front door we had a pleasant
view across fine yard dotted with maple
| trees into the broad street across the farm
OF (perhapsl Gov. Lebbeus Edgerton, and
I
OF Ore west fork OF White river TO the
Green mountains that have for 5000 years
and more kept up their grand and solemn
march northward into the bleak and
British regions OF Lower Canada.
ITO the right, as you entered the hall,
was the assembly room, where at : 40 each
morning we were expected TO listen to
reading OF the Scriptures, followed by a
prayer from the principal, and TO be gem
orally ound up and set going for the day.
A general outline OF the days campaign
would be written on the teachers black
board on the door. and so the Older pupils
would be dismissed to their several
rooms, while the younger fry lof whom
/ the writer was which, remained under the
eve OF the principal to con our Porter's
Rhetorical readers. Adams arithmetic
| Keene, n. H., published for the author
I is27l and the Rev. Peter Billions Latin
grammar.
The seating Of the assembly room
would nowadays be considered peculiar.
| The desks and seats, each for two pupils,
we're upon a raised floor the eastern. or
/ boys, side. sharply inclined towards the
center OF the room. and the western, or
\ girls, side the same; so that the two sexes
/ we're exactly facing each other, like spec
/ tators in n cockpit, medical students IN
dissecting room OF the audience M the
1 psruuet OF some theatres This arrange
| ment OF seating was admirably adapted to
4 the study OF the art Of physiognomy-
/ branch OF learning in which all the stu
dfnts OF that period stood remarkably
high. Although this was full 30 years be-
/ fore the invention Of the telephone, yet
that wondrous instrument was doubly
discounted by the CELEBRITY with which
messages flew across the room, Just 10
i front OF the principals desk the while he
was supplIcating the Throne OF Grace not
only for the school, the village, the coun-
/ ty, the state, the inhabitants OF the then
/ % states OF the Union, but also for the pa
gans Of other lands and the isles OF the
sea
"To the left OF the hall was a recitation
room. out OF which one door opened into
4 the laboratory and another into the IL
brarv. In the corner was a stairway
/ leading TO the great hall above, which
covered the whole size OF the building
On the wall at the head OF the stairway
was a yellow portrait OF Gen. Washing
ton. and it was under this supposed
resemblance to the Father OF his Country
/ thet the BOYS took their stand Saturday
morning to demonstrate to the glggiing
/ Girls and the world large their htness
| to succeed Daniel Webster and Henry
/ CLAY as the great orators OF the century;
I "A mong the older students OF that fali
term ~ 1915. / recall the names OF Henry
| RoardmRn. Sylvanus Carpenter, Col. j. b.
\ Mead Loren Griswold, Jr., David
/ Noting. Henry, Carlos and George
/ Partridge, Ellen Griswold, Helen Part.
ridge and Gustave Markham, eldest son 81
| the proprietor Of the tavern, then known
as the Markham House. Among those OF
NV own age were Ann Grlswold, Jane
Partridge, Charles Granger, Ed. Markham
/ Henry q. eli bert fwho was my seatmateE
Orpha o. K. Carpenter, several OF the
/ Blodgetts and Parishes, and many Others
whose forms and faces | see, but whose
names have faded from my memory dur
Il ing these AZ intervening years"
man who once had rough, horny