8 lORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



to-day, for they were just coming- into existence. I 

 recall that we children, upon hearing of a free school in 

 a neighboring village, decided that it must be a very 

 fine thing, for what else could a free school be than one 

 in which the scholars were free to whisper to their heart's 

 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 recollection was a man who distinguished him- 

 self by having a large family of boys named in order 

 after the presidents, 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 im- 

 provement, 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 thing as a class in arithmetic. Each one did his 

 sums on his slate, and submitted them to the "master" 

 for approval, the master doing such sums as were beyond 

 the ability 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 

 12}^ cents 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 young fully to realize. He was an elder in the Pres- 

 byterian church, but for one of those days very tolerant 

 of the views of others. He was most lovable in charac- 

 ter, and the wish has been with 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 ances- 



