Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1921-02-08
AMONG THR FARMERS,
SPEED TIE PLov.'
Disappearing Reds.

larger villages of Oxford County to se,
big teams coming into them loaded will
children and young people to attend th'
village schools. This means, OF course
the depletion or closing OF the strictly
rural schools. This is no doubt bettel
with present classification Of studies
than the old happy go-lucky educationa
Ways of our fathers; nevertheless, fol
sentimental reasons one dislikes TO ses
them disappear.
| One of the first things our an
cestors did when they settled the hills
and valleys Of the country round about
was to build q school house for the
education OF their children. They were
not very elaborate sffsirs,-small build.
ings at the crossing Of highways to nc.
commodste the greatest number Of pu'
pills on given square OF territory
Many times their shingled outsides were
left TO weather in sunshine and rain but
budding civic pride bade them do what
they could for their temples Of learning.
White lead had not ct that time arrived
in the interior Of the country but Indian
red and linseed oil had. In fact they
found the red Indian here when they
arrived, so the trsnsposed words came
easy enough. II is generally supposed
democracy reigned In this country at
that far of dsy-thst men, whose only
business was to cut OFF forests and dig
out rocks were pretty nearly on . level ;
but 1t seems such was not the fact. The
limits were not SO divergent as at the
present day perhaps, but society was
budding and every man and woman, like
those Of the present day, were trying to
do their neighbors one better. The
smart set, who wished to be an honor,
or rather perhaps an ornament to the
community, did not wish to paint the
town red-oh, no, but only once In .
while house in II, and that building
their own, to distinguish 1t from the
others; bat the combined civic pride of
the community, whether living In gray
weathered cabin or Q brick red house,
felt that common property owned by
them should be treated and look as we'll
as any In the neighborhood. That is
why and how so many schoolhouses
were treated to Indian red and linseed
oil. That is why our fathers saw red
and were not ashamed of 1t. 1t was kind
of Bolshevik idea, however, born in
New England, for the state to own prop
erty; and perhaps il was going some to
tax people who couldn't paint their own
houses, to color the school house red |;
but one never heard any complaint of
burden; and IL they could have guessed
the renown their "little red school
houses" would attain, they certainly
could not have complained.
These school houses, like early grave
yards, were placed on the poorest pieces
Of ground that could be found in the
usighborhood. It was desirable that
nothing could or should grow on the lot
except gray birch bushes, for "lickin'
and lsrnin'" went together In those
days. The "liokins," however, were
not always on one side. or course IL
was expected the teacher should drive
knowledge into his pupils heads with q
birch rod, although that was not the
place where he applied the rod; but a
companion thought to the Bolshevik
idea that had got inio the parents heads
of state owned property crept into the
noddles of the children, that the proper
thing was to abolish all constituted
authority. That Is how the practice of
''csrryin' out" and "lickin'" the "mas-
ters" came about.
Pretty red, wasn't itS
II goes without saying the successful
teacher was the one who did not get
carried out" There was not so much
difference between modern students and
those of an older day. The physical
part always seems to have predominated
over the mental; the only difference be-
ing that In the older class Ii had to pre-
dominate to hold down ones job; while
In the present day II is necessary In
order to be In the swim,-that 10 10 be
athletic instead of pedsntic perhaps
so one has to wrinkle up ones forehead
to decide
(which it is best to choose,
Great big hat or great big shoes"
There were lot of successful peds-
gogues In the old days, teaching the
farmers boys and girls the three RS,
and boarding round at their homes.
Many Of them made prominent men,
which proves pretty conclusively they
There 10, or was q school house down In
Oxford pointed out ss having once been
presided over by a president of the
United States-Franklin Pierce. There
was another up on Paris Hill presided
over by vice resident-Hsnnibal Ham
lin; one In Fryeburg that had as teacher
q cabinet officer-Daniel Webster, secre-
tary of state; several throughout OK
ford County had as teacher, q congress
man, John j. Perry, who, II might also
be added, was at one time editor OF the
few years ago q school house in the
town Of Oxford in which governor,
Sidney Perham, gained his first expe-
rience as an executive.
All the geniuses did not sit behind the
teachers desks, however; some occu-
pied the pupils benches. There was q
school house down 10 Raymond, pointed
out not so long ago, as the place where
the young ideas of Nathaniel Hawthorne
began to shoot. The building got lost
some years since. It was supposed to
have had 80 many germs Of genius about
IL that some one thought he might edu-
cate superior class Of hogs or hens by
housing them In IL.
ucKo ~ anOln6r 6cQOOl nOuo6 10 u
lonely district up 10 Piscasaquis valley,
where those modern geniuses, Hiram
and Hudson Maxim, went to school
barefooted, it 10 said, both summer and
winters. Because of these names, one
cannot but losth to part with the alt
tie red school house."
Our mothers and grsndmothers rather
turn up their noses to the modern sweet
girl and sour boy graduates. They may
have Q smattering Of some subjects
never taught In the "little red school
house" they attended, but 10 10 every
other subject, they say "smattering"-
nothing very thorough. Now thorough
ness was the keynote Of the "little red
school house," No scholar attending
this Institution could help being thor
,ough. Pupils In the old days always
began with the beginning OF text book
ut the beginning OF . term Of school, and
the pages covered depended on the
length OF term. On IN average, In arith-
metic let US say, pupil began with Che
query what are numbersr and ended
with "The Rule OF Three" And gram
mar-that was conned from beginning
to end each term, with the adjunct OF
''psrsin'," which Was the tail, but It
wsggsd the dog. Our mothers and
grandmothers knew 'Parsdiss Lost" BY
heart, &C least the frst book or two,
knew every noun. verb and modifler