The Newtown bee., 1906-11-30
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THE HOME CIRCLE.
 ROBINS ROAD. WRITTEN BY REUBEN HAzEN SMITH.

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 WRITTEN BY REUBEN HAzEN SMITH.
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 Rat half plague aad half . jest.
 -lSir Walter Scott.
 How and when Robin learned to | reed, tradition saith not, but, like most bYiQht minds, it was probably from tho blocks, lettered with the pictorial alphabet, which combine instr uctiOn with amusement,-uncOnS hand maidens of strength and grace. Ger taiu it is that his first visit to the Amington school at the village four cornefs found him master of books enough to be set at once at the mas tery of simple geography. Geogra, ply. however. Was % nos n.doo ,ons nnn pors1hesc hss stomach on the floor of the Rev Rich- ard Souths study, Robin pored over the geographies and atlaseS which came to the father from publishing houses, because of his place and in- fluence on the local school board. No knowledge b sWeeter, moro satisfying, than that self sought and won In mo- ments of leisure and 1t is the use of odd moments that makes the scholar OF the ignOramus.
 These were the days of the Webster ure that made s1ch . hne speller of Inc retentive memory. The class toed crack in the floor and, having maetered the sentences of one syllable, beQan with baker to pronounce each syilable by itself, adding 1t to those gone before until the end of the word. In, In, com, com, 1ncOm, p-r-e, pre-, Incompre, hen, hen, 1ncOmprehen, e-i, si, Incomprehensi, b-i-l, bil, 1n- comprehensibfl, 1, Incomprehensibili, t-y, ty,-Incomprehensibility. Woe to the scholar who forgot to pronounce each individual syllable and add 1t properly to the growing word, for any Slip in the scheme was as fatal asto apell the word awry. The brightest scholar went of head, taking the foot Of the class, next morning. Robin, spurred by | premium offered by Rev Richard for each time that he stood first ct night, became crack speller and, in contest with another school, when each scholar lined up on its own side of the school room, contested with the brightest girl of the school for the pre-eminence. Scorn 1t as those may who dub 1t the house-that-Jack- built system, 1t bred . mastery of the language and . memory for correct 'spetling that have never been sur to spell any word and be unable ito pronounce it when spelled, as b tho case with less successful mod ern. methods. It bred that blue Web stef spelling book, with it's million copies, generations of spoilers, the last of whom are passing from memory to life or death.
 Fieures were equally amepable to Robin and, at 13 years, he lstudied Greenleaf with young men offs and 10 h their last winter of school life.
 ''There arc few things, 1t has been we'll said, ''that test . man more than ent upon him." Judged by this stand ard, Arlington loomed large and gen. erous, for 1t had surrounded it's village university, to which Rev Richard brought as teacher many college boy winning his way, by ample grounds, protected by wooden rails supported 6y stone posts. Inside this fence was . hedge of evergreen and, on either side the school, trees in great varie- ty, forming the most fragrant and grateful recesses for childish play. Favorite of all was an oak into whose spreading trunk . brick had grown not far from the ground, under whose shade rude playhouses of stone and mud were built, mimic cities dear to childhOOd's heart.
 Just in front of the schoolhouse it. self, facing the south, was an open triangle set with two or three elms. It was on this triangle, sloping to the highway, that Robins passion prOduc- cd penalty. The larger boys were fond of nicknsming Robin as SpurReon, which stirred his ready ire and, hav- ing irritated his temper by united malice, he vas turned loose, red hot and still heating, upon a playmate. ants worked to frenzy tore hair and clothes, until the fighters, cut loose from further mutual injury, Robin Was turned over to his father. Rev Richard, accepting the artful account of those who had purposely started and urged on the war, visited dire penalty on Robin, who smarted at once under injustice and stripes. He illustrated afresh what John Nichol says In n16 l1le or Carlyle Un0I every over-sensitive child finds the life of public school one long misery.
 The past is insensibly but sure. ly the yeast of to-day and to-morrow's bread. Books are but the past living on in miniature, in germs that per petuate good or i'll, according as the original spirit was in communion with God or with the devil. "A book of De Foes called an Essay on Projects and another of Dr Mather's called Essays to do Good gave me turn of thinking that had an influence on some of the principal future events of my life," writes Ben jsmin Franklin, Americas inventive genius and philosopher statesman. So Robin found the key note of his life in John Jacob Abbott's Rollo books; given by the father when the lad began to develop his early vora- ciousl appetite for reading. It was the little volume called "Work" that especially impressed Robin. MT Rolli- day showed Rollo that work was not a but an acquired habit, g hab- 1t of working while you werk and play ing while you play, with no attempt at mixing work and play to the dam age of both; especially the thought that hahita of industry must be &C.,