22 Edward Livingston Youmans. 



abated any pretense of knowledge where knowledge 

 did not exist. If a boy dishonestly claimed to be 

 ''away up" in any subject, he was sure to be search- 

 ingly examined by his comrades, and merciless ridi- 

 cule greeted the pretender's silence or his blunder- 

 ing answer. Public opinion among the scholars was 

 strong, and a stringent standard of honour was en- 

 forced. Fewness of rules and scantiness of machinery 

 favoured the individuality that could render a reason. 

 It was a school of democracy quite as much as a 

 place for learning arithmetic and grammar. The 

 most wholesome feature in the district school of 

 those days was this absence of over-regulation. It 

 was a feature that Edward learned early to appre- 

 ciate, and he always cherished a distrust of excessive 

 organization, and a dislike to machine methods with- 

 out elasticity of adaptation to pupils with special gifts 

 or tastes. 



It was then common for boys to visit schools in 

 districts adjoining their own, and the practice tended 

 to the advancement of learning in two ways: abroad, 

 the boys were ready enough to tell wherein their own 

 schools might excel, and if they could bring home any 

 new light wherewith to criticise their teacher, they 

 did so cheerfully. On visits of this kind Edward went 

 to a school at Greenfield Centre attended by his cous- 

 ins. There he saw a teacher who had a decided '' call " 

 to his ofhce, and who retained his charge for many 

 years. Jeremiah Goodrich, or Uncle Good, as he was 

 always called, had originally studied law, but, disliking 

 the contests of the courts, had, early in his practice, 

 abandoned the bar for the schoolroom. He had all 

 the elaborate courtesy of a gentleman of the last cen- 

 tury. Because he loved children they loved him, and 



