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may the Lord have mercy

       on you."

      Other schoolmasters used to beat their scholars severely

       with whips and long switches; but Schoolmaster Dock 15

       had found a better way. When a child came to school for

       the first time, the other scholars were made to give the

       new scholar a welcome by shaking hands with him one

       after another. Then the new boy or girl was told that

       this was not a harsh school but a place for those who would

       behave. And if a scholar were lazy, disobedient, or stubborn,

       the master would in the presence of the whole school

       pronounce him not fit for this school but only for a school

       where children were flogged. The new scholar was asked 5

       to promise to obey and to be diligent. When he had made

       this promise, he was shown to a seat.

      "Now," the good master would say, when this was

       done, "who will take this new scholar and help him to

       learn?" When the new boy or girl was clean and bright 10

       looking, many would be willing to take charge of him or

       her; but there were few ready to teach a dirty, ragged little

       child. Sometimes no one would wish to do it. In such a

       case the master would offer to the one who would take such

       a child a reward of one of the beautiful texts of Scripture 15

       which the schoolmasters of that time used to write and

       decorate for the children. Or he would give him one of

       the pictures of birds which he was accustomed to paint

       with his own hands.

      Whenever one of the younger scholars succeeded in 20

       learning his A, B, C, Christopher Dock would send word

       to the father of the child to give him a penny, and he would

       ask his mother to cook two eggs for him as a treat. These

       were fine rewards for poor children in a new country.

      There were no clocks or watches in the country. The 25

       children came to school one after another, taking their

       places near the master, who sat writing. They spent

       their time reading until all were there; but everyone who

       succeeded in reading his passage without mistake stopped

       reading and came and sat at the writing table to write. 30

       The poor fellow who remained last on the bench was called

       the Lazy Scholar.

      Every Lazy Scholar had his name written on the blackboard.

       If a child at any time failed to read correctly, he

       was sent back to study his passage and called again after

       a while. If he failed a second or a third time, all the scholars

       cried out, "Lazy!" Then his name was written on 5

       the blackboard, and all the poor Lazy Scholar's friends

       went to work to teach him to read his lesson correctly. And

       if his name should not be rubbed off the board before school

       was dismissed, all the scholars might write it down and

       take it home with them. But if he could read well before 10

       school was out, the scholars, at the bidding of the master,

       called out, "Industrious!" and then his name was erased.

      The funniest of Dock's rewards was that which he gave

       to those who made no mistake in their lessons. He marked

       a large O with chalk on the hand of the perfect scholar. 15

       Fancy what a time the boys and girls must have had, trying

       to go home without rubbing out this O!

      If you had gone into this school some day, you might

       have seen a boy sitting on a punishment bench, all alone.

       This was a fellow who had told a lie or used bad language. 20

       He was put there as not fit to sit near anybody else. If

       he committed the offense often, a yoke would be put round

       his neck, as if he were a brute. Sometimes, however, the

       teacher would give the scholars their choice of a blow on

       the hand or a seat on the punishment bench. They usually 25

       preferred the blow.

      The old schoolmaster in Skippack wrote one hundred

       rules of good behavior for his scholars. This is perhaps the

       first book on good manners written in America. But rules

       of behavior for people living in houses of one or two rooms, 30

       as they did in that day, were very different from those

       needed in our time. Here are some of the rules:

      "When you comb your hair, do not go out in the middle

       of the room," says the schoolmaster. This was because families

       were accustomed to eat and sleep in the same room.

      "Do not eat your morning bread on the road or in school,"

       he tells them, "but ask your parents to give it to you at 5

       home." From this we see that the common breakfast

       was bread alone, and that the children often ate it as they

       walked to school.

      "Put your knife upon the right and your bread on the

       left side," he says. Forks were little used in those days, 10

       and the people in the country did not have any. He also

       tells them not to throw bones under the table. It was a

       common practice among some people of that time to throw

       bones and scraps under the table, where the dogs ate them.

      As time passed on, Christopher Dock had many friends, 15

       for all his scholars of former years loved him greatly. He

       lived to be very old, and taught his schools to the last.

       One evening he did not come home, and the people went

       to look for the beloved old man. They found their dear

       old master on his knees in the schoolhouse. He had died 20

       while praying alone.

      —Stories of American Life and Adventure.

      1. How was Christopher Dock's school different from most pioneer schools of that day?

      2. How did he teach good behavior? What inducements were offered for scholarship? You often hear people say that only the "three R's" were taught when they went to school. What do they mean?

      3. What information about pioneer home life does this article give you?

      4. You will be interested to know that the pupils in the early schools studied their reading aloud at the top of their voices. They learned reading by singing "ab," "ba," etc. Later, when geography was taught, the capitals of the states were sung.

FRENCH

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