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128 Old-time Schools and School-books
Friday. Breakfast abroad. Dinner at Mr.. B.'s; cold gander and potatoes—the latter very good; ate them, and went to school quite contented. Supper—cold gander and no potatoes, bread heavy and dry ; had the headache and couldn't eat. Peggy much concerned; had a fire built in the square room, and thought she and I had better sit there out of the noise ; went to bed early; Peggy thought too much sleep bad for the headache.
Saturday. Cold gander and hot Indian Johnny cake; did very well. Dinner—cold gander again; didn't keep school this afternoon; weighed and found I had lost six pounds the last week; grew alarmed; had a talk with Mr. B. and concluded I had boarded out his share.
In the newer and thinner populated portions of the country education was much neglected. Communities either had a poor school or none at all. We get some idea of the difficulty of obtaining an education on the frontier from the life of Abraham Lincoln. The schools he attended between 1814 and 1826 in Kentucky and Indiana were held in deserted log cabins with earthen floors. The windows were small holes cut through the logs ; and in some of the schoolhouses sheets of paper greased with lard served in the window holes instead of glass. Lincoln never was able to go to any school regularly and had less than a year's schooling in all. He was seventeen when he attended his last school. It was four and a half miles distant from the home cabin, and no doubt the long daily walk back and forth seemed a waste of time to most of his relatives. The region was still new and but little subdued, with many bears and other wild animals in the woods, and |
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