SCHOOL PROGRESS AND THE ACADEMY. 379 



out any desks. At the noon hour in winter the scholars 

 from a distance ate their cold luncheons of " rye 'n' 

 Injun" bread while gathered about the fireplace, perhaps 

 warming mince pie and bottles of milk upon the hearth. 



Ungraded as the school was, in whatever part of the 

 precinct it was being held, the scholars were of all ages 

 from six to twenty years. The method of teaching had 

 to be for the most part personal coaching rather than 

 class work. In arithmetic, for example, each would work 

 away upon his own "sums" while the teacher went 

 from scholar to scholar approving or correcting and ex- 

 plaining. 



The best example of class work was in spelling, when 

 a long line of boys and girls stood up to spell all kinds of 

 words, many of them never used in the community except 

 for " spelling matches." When a big boy blundered out a 

 wrong order of letters, a little girl by his side might catch 

 up the word and spelling it correctly, would pass above him 

 towards the "head of the class." This spelling custom 

 was a famous occupation in those early days, for it gave 

 room for much practice in memorizing, which seemed to 

 constitute the most important factor in the idea of an edu- 

 cation. 



Nothing was taught of natural science in the animal or 

 vegetable or mechanical realms. Whatever drawing was 

 done was of the kind that must be punished ; for the im- 

 pulse to pictorial art, being never encouraged, was forced 

 to break out in some caricatures of teacher or pupils that 

 could not be allowed. The instruction in reading was de- 

 signed to give fluency and moral training. The aims of a 

 modern teacher of literature were scarcely suggested by 

 the way reading was taught. For many years there were 

 probably no reading books such as came into use after the 

 Revolutionary War, and a teacher must have had to use 

 any kind of books that might be owned by the scholars, 

 the Bible beinc: the most available one. 



