120 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



stood them around the hot stove to dry. One of 

 the other pupils was sent to the osage-orange fence 

 and directed to cut and bring me eight whips. 

 Meanwhile I had taken so much time to consider 

 the matter that standing around the hot stove 

 became a punishment. I knew that it was a dan- 

 gerous situation for, in the previous winter, the 

 large pupils had placed the teacher in one of thf 

 seats and then a pupil had gone through the 

 motions of teaching the school. 



In order to get the advantage of them I ar- 

 ranged the eight in a row and taking one of the 

 whips which were quite brittle I gave the 

 first boy one good cut and commanded him in no 

 uncertain tone : " Take your seat ! " The second 

 boy was served with switch number two and the 

 same command, and so on down the line. Before 

 the job was half done someone laughed, then all 

 of them roared, even the lads who were receiving 

 one stroke each, and what was a dangerous begin- 

 ning ended happily on both sides. The news of 

 this affair spread through the countryside and I 

 gained a reputation for clever discipline and very 

 cheaply withal. 



In changing from teaching to carpentering in 

 the spring and vice versa in the fall I rarely lost 



