EDUCATION 63 



Two consecutive terms under a rarely good 

 teacher, took me far beyond vulgar fractions, the 

 point at which I had usually arrived when school 

 closed every spring; and by the end of the next 

 winter term I could exclaim with one of Edward 

 Eggleston's characters : " Lay there, Old Pike- 

 Davis and Thompson's Higher and show me an 

 example that I cannot do! " 



The educational facilities and the teaching were 

 uniformly good in our locality, according to the 

 standards of the time, although both education 

 and religion were informed more with the letter 

 than the spirit. There was an atmosphere of cul- 

 tural and intellectual activities, stimulated not only 

 by frequent spelling schools, debating clubs, and 

 singing schools, but also by evening gatherings 

 where difficult mental examples were propounded 

 - riddles, charades and rebusses, catch-word say- 

 ings, and highly moral as well as foolish and 

 laughable things, both in prose and rhyme. 



Here are a few of these old puzzles on which 

 we whetted our minds: 



A HARD ONE 

 I am disposed to plant a grove 

 To satisfy the maid I love: 

 This ample grove must be composed 

 Of nineteen trees in nine straight rows; 



