10 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



school be than one in which the scholars were free to whisptr 

 to their hearts' content ? The teachers, in too many cases, 

 seemed to be chosen because of their lack of fitness for any 

 other calling. The one concerning whom I have perhaps the 

 earliest reeoUction was a man who distingnished himself by 

 having a large family of boys named in order aft-er the presi- 

 dents, as far as the United States had at that time progressed 

 in the matter of presidents, and who extinguished himself by 

 falling in a well one day when he was drunk. 



But with the advent of free schools came rapid impro\-e- 

 ment, and I made fair progress in the rudiments, even though 

 the advancement of each pupil was entirely independent of that 

 of every other. Indeed, there was no such thins' as a cUish in 

 arithmetic. Each one did his " sums " on liis slate, and sub- 

 mitted them to the " master " for approval, the master doiiii; 

 such sums as were beyond the abilily of the pupil, in some cases 

 a more advanced pupil doing this work in place of the teacher. 

 Tom Cole was a beneficiary of mine, and every time I did a 

 sum for him he gave me an apple. I do not recall that I lacked 

 for apples, and apples then and there were worth I2V2 cenis 

 a bushel. 



PARENTS. 



When ten years old I suffered a loss in the death of my 

 father, the greatness of which loss I was at that time too youni; 

 fully to realize. He was an elder in the Presbyterian ehurcli, 

 but for one of those days very tolerant of the views of others. 

 He was most lovable in character, and the wish has been willi 

 me all through my life that I might be as good a man as my 

 father. I think he was chiefly of English extraction, although 

 his ancestry had for many generations lived in this country. 

 His father had tried to make a tailor of him, but he did not 

 take kindly to that business, and became a physician. 



My mother was German, her father and mother having 

 both come from the fatherland. Like many others at that day, 

 her education iie\er went beyond the ability to read, and I am 

 not sure that her reading ever went outside, of the Bible. Possi- 

 bly confining her reading to so good a book was one reason why 

 she was a woman of remarkably good judgment, and to her 



