The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-03-13

Here, mid natures wild and rugged scenes,
With no inviting prospects to adorn,
The latent spark of genius frightened forth
The greatest lives in history were born.
Backward, far backward, in the
dim vistas of bygone years, there is
no dearer or more reverend spot in
memory than that of our early school
days. To most of those of advanced
years these scenes were enacted amid
the primeval shades of the "Old Field
School House." This pioneer land
mark was conveniently situated upon
some country thoroughfare within a
grove of natural forest trees, and, if
possible, in proximity to a spring of
water. The district, of which this
rural temple of learning was the nu-
cleus, included an irregular area of
twenty or thirty square miles in ex-
tent, and embraced an isolated popu
lation of from forty to sixty children
of school age.
The present system of free schools
was unknown in those days. Ali
terms of school were organized and
conducted upon the subscription plan,
that is, the patrons subscribed to an
article of agreement with teacher
for certain number of pupils at a
stated rate of tuition per scholar, and
paid therefor out of their own pock-
cts at the close of the term. Board
for the teacher was generally included,
whereby 1t became necessary for him
to "board round" visiting each pa
tron with a frequency proportionate
to the number of pupils sent by him
to school. These perambulating So
journs were often very onerous to the
schoolmaster, as they frequently took
him miles away from the seat of his
labors, where, in exceedingly cold
weather, his early presence was neces-
sary to have the room comfortable.
They were, also, rot conducive to
preparatory study, nor always. re-
warded by that quality of diet salts
factory to one engaged in sedentary
occupation.
The school building, erected by the
volunteer labor of the citizens of the
district. was made logs from the ad-
jacent forest, or handmade brick, and
seldom exceeded in dimension twenty
FIVE or thirty feet square. The fur
nishings of the room were wholly the
handiwork of the amateur mechanics
of the neighborhood, and consisted of
two or three stout walltables some
three feet wide and ten feet long, used
for writing, and upon which were
placed the divers lunch buckets and
baskets, and motley array of sundry
wearing apparel not convenient to
hang upon the wooden pegs that orna
mented all the vacant spaces between
the one door and the four little win
dows of the building.
The seats for the pupils were rough
benches of various heights and lengths,
made from slabs, and placed parallel
to the sides of the roon-the lower
ones for the smaller pupils on the in
terior-leaving central rectangle,
at one end of which was the wide
open fireplace, and at the other the
ink-bespattered desk of the teacher.
There was not q semblance of black
hoard or wall map; and the only
ecoration, aside from the gauzy net
work Of the geometrical spider in the
corners of the ceiling, were the hero
glyphics of "kee1'' and charcoal on
the walls, made by spectacular urchins.
School was called by the loud rap
pings of the teacher upon the window
sash, and the entrance of the mixed
throng of knowledge seekers into the
room was characterized by All indis-
criminate rush for the more desirable
seats. It was strictly a case of First
come, first serve" and everywhere
there might be observed animated
bevies of both sexes In promiscuous
and hilarious enjoyment. Nothing
but the most fragrant violation Of de-
corum was noticed by the instructor,
and the rod and ferule were the pana-
cea for all severe offenses. Pupils
came into the school at all hours of
the day and no questions asked; and
seldom did teacher rebuke the social
communications and sly mischievous-
ness of the young tyro. But willful
misdemeanors and serious distur-
Dances were common, and the severest
chastisements were promptly inflicted.
There was no schoolboard to which to
appeal for assistance in subduing the
unruly, and the tutor was truly a
monarch of all he surveyed, and gov
erned and controlled the infant repub-
lie or abdicated the realm. The con-
test for supremacy between the teacher
and the combined force of disorderly
boys was often spirited and sometimes
tragical.
"Licken and larnen' were consid-
cred indissolubly allied in the Old
Field School of antebellum days, and
corporal punishment was an everyday
occurrence. A bunch of stron G
switches was always kept in store,
and it was one of the funniest OF
tricks of the bad boy to discover these
instruments of torture and encircle
them with sharp knife, which while
unseen, caused them to fly into nu-
merous pieces when applied. Another
lesser punishment was to stand upon
the floor, which was sometimes inten-
sifed by being required to hold out a
book until the arm became semi
paralyzed. Avery frequent and most
reprehensible correction was the cruel
application of the ferule or ruler to
the inside of the hand.
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