o teachers and
scholars. The best of old stories grow tiresome when repeated too
often. One day a traveller from Cincinnati brought me samples of a
new series of "Readers," offering on my approval, to substitute next
day a new volume for every old one produced. I approved, and he
presented each scholar with copies of the new series for nothing.

The teaching was secular, but certain virtues were inculcated either
directly or indirectly. Truth and patriotism were recommended by the
example of George Washington, who never told a lie, and who won with
his sword the freedom of his country. There were lessons on history,
in which the tyranny of the English Government was denounced; Kings,
Lords and Bishops, especially Bishop Laud, were held up to eternal
abhorrence; as was also England's greed of gain, her intolerance,
bigotry, taxation; her penal and navigation laws. The glorious War
of Independence was related at length. The children of the Puritans,
of the Irish and the Germans, did not in those days imbibe much
prejudice in favour of England or her institutions, and the English
teacher desirous of arriving at the truth, had the advantage of
having heard both sides of many historical questions; of listening,
as it were, to the scream of the American eagle, as well as to the
roar of the British lion.

Mr. Curtis was a good teacher, systematic, patient, persevering, and
ingenious. I ceased to hate him; Miss Priscilla's downfall cemented
our friendship. We kept order in the school by moral suasion, but
the task was sometimes difficult. My private feelings were in favour
of the occasional use of the hickory stick, the American substitute
for the rod of Solomon, and the birch of England.

The geography we taught was principally that of the United States and
her territories, spacious maps of which were suspended round the
school, continually reminding the scholars of their glorious
inheritance. It was then full of vacant lots, over which roamed the
Indian and the buffalo, species of animals now nearly extinct. We
did not pay much attention to the rest of the world.

Elocution was inculcated assiduously, and at regular intervals each
boy and girl had to come forth and "speak a piece" in the presence of
the scholars, teachers, and visitors.

Mental arithmetic and the use of fractions were taught daily. The
use of the decimal in the American coinage is of great advantage; it
is easier and more intelligible to ch