ons.

This being the first and only schoolhouse the parish boasted,
naturally every one was glad that at last a long-felt want had
been met. In the old days Sexton Blackie had no choice but to go
about from farmhouse to farmhouse with his pupils.

Up until the year 1860, when the Oestanby school was built, the
sexton had been compelled to change classrooms every other week,
and many a time he and his little pupils had sat in a room where
the housewife prepared meals and the man of the house worked at a
carpenter's bench; where the old folk lay abed all day and the
chickens were cooped under the sofa.

But just the same it had gone rather well with the teaching; for
Sexton Blackie was a man who could command respect in all weathers.
Still it must have been a relief to him to be allowed to work in a
room that was to be used only for school purposes; where the walls
were not lined with cubby-beds and shelves filled with pots and
pans and tools; where there was no obstructing loom in front of the
window to shut out the daylight, and where women neighbours could
not drop in for a friendly chat over the coffee cups during school
hours.

Here the walls were hung with illustrations of Bible stories, with
animal pictures and portraits of Swedish kings. Here the children
had little desks with low benches, and did not have to sit perched
up round a high table, where their noses were hardly on a level
with the edge. And here Sexton Blackie had a desk all to himself,
with spacious drawers and compartments for his record-books and
papers. Now he looked rather more impressive during school hours
than in former days, when he had often heard lessons while seated
upon the edge of a hearth, with a roaring fire at his back and the
children huddled on the floor in front of him. Here he had a fixed
place for the blackboard and hooks for maps and charts, so that he
did not have to stand them up against doors and sofa backs. He
knew, too, where he had his goose quills and could teach the
children how to make strokes and curves, so that each one of them
would some day be as fine a penman as himself. It was even possible
to train the children to rise in a body and march out in line, like
soldiers. Indeed, no end of improvements could be introduced now
that the schoolhouse was finished.

Glad as was every one of the new school, the parents did not feel
altogether at ease in the presence of their children, after they
had begun to go there.