Norwich bulletin., 1921-06-14
MEMORIAL TABLET TO ACADEMY BOYS

just able to hold the gun out straight long enough to pull the trigger
 One of the schoolboys died and we gave him a military funeral. the com pany marching in the procession to Han- tic cemetery, and, after the service end- ed, firing a volley over the grave, as remember it, rather scattering voney. On our return some street boys spoke disrespectfully of us, whereupon we charged upon them with bayonets and put them to ignominous flight. We had, of course our commissioned officers, and | we had sergeant named John tlsn | Lyon, or, as we disrespectfully called him, John Fishline. Sergeant Lyon one day was left in command of the com | pany. owing to. the absence of his supe- | rior officers, and in drilling us he or dered us to advance in line over the front lawn toward the street, while he walked backward before us, all his attention upon his duty as drill sergeant and none upon the danger in his rear, until he sud denly struck his leg against the rim of the fountain and fell backward into it's waters.
 We had literary society called the Hubbard Rhetorical society, named after the first president of Sne board of trus- tees, Russell Hubbard. Esq, great-uncle of the late Charles L. Hubbard Russell Hubbard used to own and occupy the brick house at the top of the Broadway hill where Timothy Murphy now lives To be president of the Hubbard Rhetori- cal was counted a great honor among the pupils, and I recall an election when the candidates for president were Edward Selden, son ot Col Joseph Selden, long U. S. collector of internal revenue, and older brother of Rev. MT. Selden of this city, and Alpheus Gilbert.
 
 Prof. Elbridge Smith, was still in office when I began my course, but was called elsewhere at the end of my iunlor year. Professor Smith was a learned and good man and a good teacher of pupils disposed to learn. Unfortunately, many boys are more disposed to play than to work, and Such boys imposed on Pro- lessor Smith I have called your atten- tion to the white marble topped wash | stand structure and the white mugs in the boys wash room. These were the means of trick which the boys played repeatedly on the professor. A boy would | fill a mug with water and place a small l piece of white paper over its top. Then by sudden skilful movement the mug could be placed upside down on the mar | ble slab without spilling the water. Pro- | lessor Smith was very orderly man,
 and coming through Che wash room and | seeing a mug out of place, his first inn
 pulse was to pick up the mug and put it
 where it belonged. Of course when the | inverted mug was suddenly picked up the
 water which it contained flew everywhere it ought not, and especially upon Pro- lessor Smith,
 The boys were forbidden to go into the
 main hall on the ground floor without
 special permission, and therefore they
 would sometimes go thither at recess for
 a game of bull in the ring, not a quiet sport, for the express purpose of making the professor go after them. When he | heard the noise he would Lome, and the boys would run. The Trustees at that
 time were solicitous as to the fine pa pearance of the school lawn. and in the spring the lawn near the front door was literally covered with stable manure.
 One day while this fertilizer surrounded
 the front porch, the boys played bull 1T
 the ring in the main hall at recess the professor ran to catch them; the boy: , escaped by the front door, jumped of the side of the porch, intending to rur round the building; the professor pur sued onto the porch and jumped off tn,
 side after them, but caught his toe or i. one of the scrapers I have mentioned and fell on his nose in the fertilizer There was a boy in school banned Ed
 whose tricks if he still plays them, ar I played now in another world One day , when Professor Smith was presiding il
 the school room, Ed, who for some for
 mer misconduct, had been sentenced t,
 sit at the very front desk of all, roHe,
 ball across the floor. The profes . sor heard and saw the ball, hut no knowing who had rolled it, called on tn
 boy who rolled the ball to rise and con fpSS N0 proceeded to ask every boy in schoo whether he rolled the ball. In the inter
 est of the inquiry the professor steppe- , down from the platform onto the school
 room floor and advanced a little way So that while all the other boys were be
 fore him, Ed was behind him. Jones, |, said the professor, did you roll tn T hall?" ''No. sir" replied Jones. "Smitt f did you roll the ban?" "No, sir" sai
 Smith. So every boy before the profes
 sor was asked, and everyone replied i ', the negative. The professor was shock 2 ed at the untruthfulness of the boys, an II 1 said, ''Boys, one oI you has told me a lie, and he delivered short address 0 F the wickedness and folly of lying. Th
 boys did not receive his honnily with a = = much attention as it seemed to him t
 deserve and actually began to 1augl - Something made the professor tur  " " Ed said the professor. "did you TO ', the ball?" "Yes. sir" said Ed. You ma - - imagine the professors feelings, and |" will not attempt to describe them.
 There was a platform in the lare = hall on the third floor, corresponding o the platform in the school room, and z e graduation and other solemn occasion . the trustees sat at the back of tn d q platform, the president in their cente !, II In both the schoolroom and the ha U U above there was a door at the back ( . the platform, leading, on the school foo 10 into the principals room, and, on th U third floor, to a room corresponding :" the principals room. The surface 4' the platform was raised perhaps tv ' ' feet above the floor of the room behin V it. and. to allow access between tf platform and the room in it's rear. :, door opened into the room, and a fligf u of perhaps three steps, necessarily cl . into the platform, was provided. Ie therefore was necessary for person .e sitting near the rear of the platform. - beware of the steps. On the occasion u some solemn scholastic ceremony, whe the trustees dignifed the rear of u is platform, and the venerable presiden Il General William Williams, whose hou: le is now the Park church parsonag i- graced the centre of the line, the alter 'r tion of the audience was suddenly le verted from the programme by an Ill "a advertised feature. The president of u board suddenly disappeared bac!zwar le Nothing remained visible but his leg n kicking wildly in the air. He had pusl ie ed his chair too far back and falle s backwards down the stairs. where u II door held him standing on his head.
 On the occasion of my own graduatic wi I alyin adl1af f