254: CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY: 



It was proliiliited indeed in the articles to be observed in operations of attack and defence, to 

 construct missiles of very wet snow ; to dip a missile in melted snow-water prior to use ; to 

 subject a missile after a saturation of this kind, to the action of a night's frost ; to secrete 

 within tlie substance of a missile any foreign matter ; yet, nevertheless, occasionally such acts 

 were not refrained from ; and wounds and bruises of an extra serious cliaracter, inflicted by 

 hands tliat could not always be identified, caused loud and just complaints. Portions of the 

 solid and extensive walls of the extemporized snow-fortresses were often conspicuou in the 

 play-ground long after a thaw had removed the wintry look from the rest of the scene. 



The Building into which the usual denizens of the six-acre play-ground were constrained, 

 during certain portions of each day, to withdraw themselves, was situated at a point 114 feet 

 from its western, and 104 from its southern boundary. It was a large frame structure, about 

 fifty-five long, and forty wide ; of two storeys ; each of a respectable altitude. The gables 

 faced east and west. On each side of the edifice were two rows of ordinary sash windows, five 

 above, and five below. At the east end were four windows, two above, two below. At the 

 west end were five windows and the entrance-door. The whole exterior of the building was 

 painted of a bluish hue, witli the exception of the window and door frames, which were white. 

 Within, on the first floor, after the lobby, was a large square apiartment. About three yai-ds 

 from each of its angles, a plain timber prop or post helped to sustain the ceiling. At about 

 four feet from the floor, each of these quasi-jiillars began to be chamfered off at its four angles. 

 Filling up the south-east corner of the room was a small platform approached on three sides by 

 a couple of steps. This sustained a solitary desk about eight feet long, its lower part cased 

 over in front with thin deal boards, so as to shut off from vjew the nether extremities of whoso- 

 ever might be sitting at it. — On the general level of the floor below, along the whole length of 

 the southern and northern sides of the chamber, were narrow desks set close against the wall, 

 with benches arranged at their outer side. At right angles to these, and consequently running 

 out, on each side into the apartment, stood a series of shorter desks, with double slopes, and 

 benches placed on either side. Through the whole length of the room from west to east, 

 between the ends of the two sets of cross benches, a wide space remained vacant. Every 

 object and surface within this interior, were of the tawny hue wliich uupainted pine gradually 

 assumes. Many were the gashes that had furtively been made in the ledges of the desks and 

 on the exterior angles of the benches ; many the ducts cut in the slopes of the desks for spilt 

 ink or other fluid ; many the small cell, with sliding lid, for the incarceration of fly or spiider ; 

 many the initials and dates carved here, and on other convenient surfaces, on the wainscot and 

 the four posts. 



On the benches and at the desks enumerated and described, on either side, were ordinarily to 

 be seen the figures and groups which usually fill up a school-interior, all busily engaged in one 

 or other of the many matters customary in the training and informing the minds of boys. Here, 

 at one time, was to be heard, on every side, the mingled but subdued sound of voices conning 

 or repeating tasks, answering and putting questions : at another time, the commotion arising 

 out of a transposition of classes, or the breaking up of the whole assembly into a fresh set of 

 classes ; at another time, a hushed stiUness preparatory to some expected allocution, or conse- 

 quent on some rebuke or admonition. It was manifest, at a glance, that the whole scene was 

 under the spell of a skilled disciplinarian. 



Here, again, the presiding genius of the place was Dr. Strachan. From a boy he had been In 

 the successful discharge of the duties of a schoolmaster. At the early age of sixteen we find 

 that he was in charge of a school at CarmyUie, with the grown-up sons of the neighbourmg 

 farmers, and of some of the neighbouring clergy, well under control At that period he was 

 still keeping his terms and attending lectures, during the winter months, at King's College, 

 Aberdeen. Two years afterwards he got a slightly better appointment of the same kind at 

 Denino, still pursuing his academical studies, gathering, as is evident from his own memoranda, 

 a considerable knowledge of men and things, and forming friendships that proved life-long. Of 

 his stay at Denino he says, in ISOO : "The two years which I spent at Denino were perhaps as 

 happy as any in my life; much more than any time since." "At Denino," the same early 

 document states, " I learned to think for myself. Dr. Bro^vn [the parish-minister of the place, 

 afterwards professor at Glasgow,] corrected many of my false notions. Thomas Duncan [after- 

 wards a professor at St. Andrews] taught me to use my reason and to employ the small share of 



