86 EARLY LIFE AND EXPERIENCES OF DR. COOK 



from work on the farm. But the youngster was ardent as a student 

 and managed to make very satisfactory progress, standing, as we 

 are told, always at the head of his class, and doubtless winning the 

 warm encomiums of his teacher by his diligence and intelligence. 

 It is said that he was especially interested in geographical studies 

 and locations, and that as he grew older he gathered every book on 

 this subject which he could obtain and studied their contents closely, 

 never tiring of his pursuits in this direction. If this was the case it 

 becomes apparent that the favorite inclinations of the man were 

 already stirring in the soul of the boy, and a prophet might have 

 predicted that this youthful geographer was destined to make a 

 mark for himself in geographical research. It may be said, how- 

 ever, that he disclaims any such inclinations. 



Yet the winning of an education was uphill work for him and 

 his brothers, as anyone will know who is familiar with the school 

 methods of that day, at least those of the frontier regions. The fine 

 schoolhouses, the numerous books, the trained teachers, the detailed 

 and well-arranged courses of study of the present day had not then 

 come into existence, and the methods used were often crude and 

 primitive in the extreme. Books were few, school accommodations 

 miserably contracted, and teachers frequently ignorant and unfit 

 to develop the minds of the young. Of system there was none, while 

 discipline consisted in the frequent use of the birch, applied with or 

 without cause, and so indiscriminately that the pupil who escaped 

 at least one whipping a day felt that he had missed his just deserts. 

 For the boys and girls, too, for that matter were apt to take 

 pains to deserve the whippings by which the teacher sought to 

 stimulate their budding intellects. 



It must, of course, be admitted that all schools even all fron- 

 tier country schools were not of this description, and it is quite 

 possible that the little Hortonville district school was of a higher 

 type. At any rate, young Cook seems to have obtained there the 

 rudiments of an education and developed a thirst for mental advance- 

 ment that stood him in good stead in his later years. 



