CHAPTER II. "And then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel, EARLY SCHOOL DAYS-FIRST APPEARANCE AT SCHOOL AMONG THE CHILDREN IN BOSTON-REMOVE TO RAYNHAM, AND THERE APPEAR IN THE DISTRICT SCHOOL ADVENTURE ON MY FIRST APPEARANCE IN THIS CHARACTER PROPOSAL FROM MY RELATIVES TO ATTEND A COURSE OF STUDIES AT THE BRISTOL ACADEMY IN TAUNTON-REFLECTIONS ON THE PASTEXPECTATIONS FOR THE FUTURE. I AM indebted for the first lessons of infant teaching to my mother. At that period of my life marked by the fifth year, I was transferred to the care of a lady at the south part of Boston, then known as Madam Ayres, according to my recollection a personage of considerable rotundity, with a sharp nose, grey eyes, and hair once red, or golden, at times mingled with a white growth sufficiently numerous to entitle the mixture to be known as red roan, when applied to the skin of a horse, upon his own trunk, or when transferred-as was often the case in the days of which I write-to the outer surface of a box used for the safe keeping of such articles of wardrobe as are needed on journeys, and which was a part of a traveller's equipage, known as his trunk, more troublesome to keep the run of than his own ideas. I had just such a trunk in after life, and it was perpetu ally associated in my mind with the roan-colored head of the schoot ma'rm," who is at this time undergoing the process of mental exhumation. She has slept in peace many years-ditto, her hus band--not in one grave, but side by side, an occurrence during their life time not often noted, and as seldom enjoyed, if neighbors' tales are true. I do not mean to be understood that their connubial couch was like that one in which they are taking their last sleep, but the husband was a watchman; his duty was performed in the night, and "School mar'm Ayres' avowed to her neighbors that she could not sleep in quiet when her man was away, because she didn't know what he was about. And when he came home after the fatigue of his nightly patrol, he could not sleep in quiet,in consequence of the interrogatories put to him by his better-half, as to the state of the morals of the citizens, and the infringements of municipal laws, and other doings, of which she supposed him to be cognisant, of people who choose night rather than day to mingle and to jollify. The school and the children occupied Mrs. Ayres' time pretty well. Hers was a model school of her day—not a public school-and the entry into the low porch leading to the front door of her three-story house, as a candidate for the honors of her teaching, was considered both by parents and child as an achievement of which everybody's child could not boast. In after years the subject was invaluable in an estimate of acquirements which were necessary for a child to possess before passing into the public Grammar School at seven years of age. In brief, for twenty-five cents a week I was to be allowed to draw wisdom from the fountain at which Mar'm Ayres was the presiding goddess in such measures as my mental stomach could receive and digest. A B, ab's, and their relative, words of one syllable, to some extent I was acquainted with. I was en couraged to be a good boy, and munching a piece of cake, I was taken from home to be deposited among the infantry under the drill of Mrs. Captain Ayres. I arrived; was met at the porch by the teacher, or "School mar'm," in the vernacular of those days; she had a rod in her hand, bent and flexible from recent use upon the pantaloons and subjacent parts of an urchin, Bill Ryder by name, whose hair was of the color of hers who held the rod. Her frowns changed to smiles as she received the new source of anxiety and income in the shape of George H. Hill. I was welcomed in, my piece of cake laid by till after school, my cap hung upon a peg; I placed at the tail end of the fourth class, told to be a good boy and to "sit still" for my first lesson. I tried to do so; I couldn't. After a while, Bill Ryder was brought out from a dark closet, rubbing his eyes, crying, either from the smart of the rod or the recol-lection of the whipping; perhaps both. Although the first day at school impressed itself so strongly on my mind that I could describe it minutely, it will not be so described. I remained under the rule of Mrs. Ayres but a short time, as the circumstances under which my mother again visited Boston, after friendly sojournings in the country, had so materially altered, that she found it, convenient to return again to her out-of-town friends. For some time her residence was in the town of Raynham, in the south-eastern part of Massachusetts; and there or in its vicinity we remained for some years. As I have been informed, all my recitations were given with variations of my own, spiced with the ludicrous additions which are usually made by a child reputed smart, whose little errors are made the theme of laughter rather than correction. I had memory, but no application. My prayers, taught me by my mother, were mingled with songs and school lessons, and the spirit of travestie seemed to inspire all my efforts at serious mental work. I was bold in the presence of my mother, a veritable "little Pickle," but rather shy among strangers. A peculiar bashfulness and distrust of my own powers was natural to me, and, strange as it may seem to others, I am not rid of this drawback upon free action to this day. I was at an early age sent for a short time to the District School at Raynham. That was a great day in my juvenile career. I took my place among a lot of rough, country lads, of all sizes and ages. Silence reigned. As I ventured to look about the school room, horrid visions of discipline filled my mind. The stove funnel was suspended by long iron wires from the ceiling in the form of hooks. One had been left for which there appeared to be no particular use. This my imagination metamorphosed into an instrument of torture. I whispered to my neighbor, asking for information as to its use. He said, "To hang up boys who don't get their lessons." The master looked daggers in the direction of the place where I sat. "Boys that whisper in this school are to be punished," said he, in a harsh tone of voice, and with an expression of countenance which would give you an idea of an inquisition. I've seen a cast-iron knocker on a prison gate not unlike it. I could not help whispering for the life of me. I had often been promised a whipping at home and at Mrs. Ayres' school, but I never received it, and why or wherefore I could never tell. I would not resist a rising feeling of defiance against this law to prevent whispering, and the promulgation of the terms of the penalty of infraction. I kept whispering to my former mate, who every way tried to keep me still; now touching my toe with his toe, nudging me with his elbow, keeping one eye on the master, the other on me, with sundry expressive grimaces, all having for their purpose, the intent to keep me still, and save me from the threatened castigation. Presently the iron mouth of the master opened: ed. "Who's whispering?" The boys all looked different ways, and no one answer "Who is whispering?" again was heard. "Speak, or I'll flog you all," said the dominie, with the upraised greenhide; shaking it in token of his intentions, he repeated his question and threat. I could'nt hold in any longer; in a small, trembling voice, I said, "I, sir, but I didn't mean to." "What, the new boy, Hill," said the master. "Come up and be flogged." This part of the performance, I was unwilling to participate in. I kept my seat. "Thompson bring Hill along up here," said the master. Thompson was a big-boned boy, strong as an ox. He advanced and took hold of me by the shoulders; I resisted, with both legs clinging round the bench upon which I had got astride, and both arms clasped round the form. He tugged, and I held on, hallooing "Mother," lustily. Before I could be loosened from my hold, it |