Decline of Cumberland Wrestling. 2 1 3 



they are now, and the account given by 

 George Moore of " Blackbird " Wilson, his 

 schoolmaster, would appal many a tender- 

 hearted mother if she thought that her little 

 son was about to undergo such horrors as 

 the hero of Dr. Smiles' best biography en- 

 countered between 18 14 and 18 18. 



"He was called 'Blackbird' Wilson," 

 writes George Moore, " because he could 

 imitate the song of any bird, and especially 

 the blackbird. He was an old man and fond 

 of drink. His scholars were sent out to 

 fetch it for him three or four times a day. 

 With a thick ruler, which he brought down 

 sharply upon our backs, he used to drive 

 learning into us. He often sent the ruler 

 flying among our heads, and the wonder is 

 he did not break our skulls. His rule was 

 to drive reading, writing, and arithmetic into 

 us by brute force. He never attempted to 

 make learning attractive. Such being the 

 case, I was never fond of school and often 

 played the truant. Indeed, I should have 

 been much oftener absent but for the dread 

 of the terrible floggings which were then 

 common. My determination not to study 



