Schools of the Three ''BY' 201 



eiples of English grammar, by Alexander Barrie, 

 teacher of English, Writers' Court, Edinburgh." 



The volume bears the imprint of the publishers, 

 Murray & Mitchell, Edinburgh, the date, 1832, and 

 has a quotation from the Scottish poet, James 

 Thomson, who wrote "The Seasons," "The Cas- 

 tle of Indolence ' ' and other poems worth reading. 



The quotation, I presume, was intended to 

 reconcile the teachers to their lot. It runs : 



"Delightful task! To rear the tender thought, 

 To teach the young idea how to shoot, 

 To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, 

 To breathe th' enliv'ning spirit, and to fix 

 The generous purpose in the glowing breast." 



NOT A SMILE IN THE WHOLE BOOK 



I do not know if "Jimmy" Thomson ever 

 taught school but, at all events, he had lofty ideals 

 for those in that profession. 



Looking over the old Reader in which the "f 's" 

 and "s's" are in the same character, I fail to 

 find a line of brightness — ^nothing in lighter vein, 

 nothing that would conjure up a smile, but the 

 same seriousness throughout as prevails in the 

 Shorter Catechism. 



But, of course, it was compiled by a God-fearing, 

 sober, dour, melancholy Scot, in the days when it 

 was customary in Edinburgh, to draw the blinds 

 down tightly on Sunday and when to laugh on the 

 "Sawbath" Day was a crime. 



