Three years-Lilly's grammar-Proficiency-Ignorant of figures-The school bell-Order of succession-Persecution-What are we to do?-Northward-A goodly scene-Haunted ground-Feats of chivalry-Rivers-Over the brig.
YEARS passed on,even three years;during this period I had increased considerably in stature and in strength,and,let us hope,improved in mind;for I had entered on the study of the Latin language.The very first person to whose care I was intrusted for the acquisition of Latin was an old friend of my fathers,a clergyman who kept a seminary at a town the very next we visited after our departure from 'the Cross.'Under his instruction,however,I continued only a few weeks,as we speedily left the place.'Captain,'said this divine,when my father came to take leave of him on the eve of our departure,'I have a friendship for you,and therefore wish to give you a piece of advice concerning this son of yours.You are now removing him from my care;you do wrong,but we will let that pass.Listen to me:there is but one good school-book in the world-the one I use in my seminary-Lilly's Latin grammar,in which your son has already made some progress.If you are anxious for the success of your son in life,for the correctness of his conduct and the soundness of his principles,keep him to Lilly's grammar.If you can by any means,either fair or foul,induce him to get by heart Lilly's Latin grammar,you may set your heart at rest with respect to him;I,myself,will be his warrant.I never yet knew a boy that was induced,either by fair means or foul,to learn Lilly's Latin grammar by heart,who did not turn out a man,provided he lived long enough.'
My father,who did not understand the classical languages,received with respect the advice of his old friend,and from that moment conceived the highest opinion of Lilly's Latin grammar.During three years I studied Lilly's Latin grammar under the tuition of various schoolmasters,for I travelled with the regiment,and in every town in which we were stationary I was invariably (God bless my father!)sent to the classical academy of the place.It chanced,by good fortune,that in the generality of these schools the grammar of Lilly was in use;when,however,that was not the case,it made no difference in my educational course,my father always stipulating with the masters that I should be daily examined in Lilly.At the end of the three years I had the whole by heart;you had only to repeat the first two or three words of any sentence in any part of the book,and forthwith I would open cry,commencing without blundering and hesitation,and continue till you were glad to beg me to leave off,with many expressions of admiration at my proficiency in the Latin language.Sometimes,however,to convince you how well I merited these encomiums,I would follow you to the bottom of the stair,and even into the street,repeating in a kind of sing-song measure the sonorous lines of the golden schoolmaster.
If I am here asked whether I understood anything of what I had got by heart,I reply-'Never mind,I understand it all now,and believe that no one ever yet got Lilly's Latin grammar by heart when young,who repented of the feat at a mature age.'
And,when my father saw that I had accomplished my task,he opened his mouth,and said,'Truly,this is more than I expected.I did not think that there had been so much in you,either of application or capacity;you have now learnt all that is necessary,if my friend Dr.B-'s opinion was sterling,as I have no doubt it was.
You are still a child,however,and must yet go to school,in order that you may be kept out of evil company.Perhaps you may still contrive,now you have exhausted the barn,to pick up a grain or two in the barn-yard.You are still ignorant of figures,I believe,not that I would mention figures in the same day with Lilly's grammar.'
These words were uttered in a place called-,in the north,or in the road to the north,to which,for some time past,our corps had been slowly advancing.I was sent to the school of the place,which chanced to be a day school.It was a somewhat extraordinary one,and a somewhat extraordinary event occurred to me within its walls.
It occupied part of the farther end of a small plain,or square,at the outskirts of the town,close to some extensive bleaching fields.It was a long low building of one room,with no upper story;on the top was a kind of wooden box,or sconce,which I at first mistook for a pigeon-house,but which in reality contained a bell,to which was attached a rope,which,passing through the ceiling,hung dangling in the middle of the school-room.I am the more particular in mentioning this appurtenance,as I had soon occasion to scrape acquaintance with it in a manner not very agreeable to my feelings.The master was very proud of his bell,if I might judge from the fact of his eyes being frequently turned to that part of the ceiling from which the rope depended.Twice every day,namely,after the morning and evening tasks had been gone through,were the boys rung out of school by the monotonous jingle of this bell.This ringing out was rather a lengthy affair,for,as the master was a man of order and method,the boys were only permitted to go out of the room one by one;and as they were rather numerous,amounting,at least,to one hundred,and were taught to move at a pace of suitable decorum,at least a quarter of an hour elapsed from the commencement of the march before the last boy could make his exit.The office of bell-ringer was performed by every boy successively;and it so happened that,the very first day of my attendance at the school,the turn to ring the bell had,by order of succession,arrived at the place which had been allotted to me;for the master,as I have already observed,was a man of method and order,and every boy had a particular seat,to which he became a fixture as long as he continued at the school.
