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Advanced Readers 279
In the extract below we get a glimpse of very primitive educational conditions. The book vouches for what is depicted as still true to life in some vicinities, though not nearly as applicable as formerly. The scene is a public house.
Enter School-Master, with a pack on his back.
Schoolmaster. How fare you, landlord ? what have you got that's good to drink ?
Landlord. I have gin, West-India, genuine New England, whiskey, and cider brandy.
Schoolm. Make us a stiff mug of sling. Put in a gill and a half of your New England; and sweeten it well with lasses.
Land. It shall be done, Sir, to your liking.
Then the schoolmaster asks if the landlord knows of any vacancy in the local schools, and is informed they are without a master in that very district, and the three school-committeemen were to be at the tavern directly to consult on school matters. The landlord says the last master " was a tyrant of a fellow and very extravagant in his price. He grew so important the latter part of his time, that he had the frontery to demand ten dollars a month and his board." He never patronized the landlord's bar, and was always in his chamber of an evening " poring over his musty books." Finally the severity of his discipline- roused the neighborhood, and he was hooted out of town.
The three committeemen, accompanied by the parson, at length appeared at the tavern, and the |
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