Part 5 (1/2)
”A light to guide, a rod To check the erring and reprove.”
(_Wordsworth--”Ode to Duty”_)
Few of the many conversations I have had from time to time with old w.i.l.l.y have been more interesting than those upon the subject of schools and schoolmasters in the days when he was young.
In the early part of the nineteenth century education was conducted in a primitive fas.h.i.+on at Ardmuirland. In a small community, consisting almost entirely of Catholics, and those mostly in poor circ.u.mstances, a trained teacher was rarely to be found. In many country districts like ours the task of instructing the young devolved upon one or other of the better educated of the crofter cla.s.s. For in those days even reading and writing--not to mention ”counting,” or arithmetic, as we style it--const.i.tuted a liberal education in Ardmuirland, and many of the people were unable to boast of possessing either. Hence when one of the community was sufficiently versed in such accomplishments he was looked up to as a qualified instructor.
w.i.l.l.y had pa.s.sed through the hands of more than one of such schoolmasters, and his recollections on the subject are interesting.
The one who seems to have made the most impression upon his memory was a better informed man than is usually found in the cla.s.s to which he belonged.
”Finlay Farquharson wes the best o' them a'! There wes saxty or siventy bairns went to his school at Carnavruick when I wes a loon.
He'd been to Ameriky, ye ken, sir, and I doot he'd brought back wi' him a bit o' the Yankee tongue. Faix! He had a lively tongue! He niver wanted his answer when he had to come oot wi' it.”
Farquharson's ”Academy” was his little living-room--not over-s.p.a.cious for such an a.s.sembly; but in those days no parental government legislated for so many cubic feet of s.p.a.ce for each child, and they seemed to keep in health and strength in spite of that fact. The school a.s.sembled in what we may term the winter months only, which in Scotland may be reckoned as nearly two-thirds of the year. The remaining months were occupied in farming work both by master and scholars.
During the term (as we may call it) the procedure was as follows: Farquharson was accustomed to rise about four o'clock and to work for two or three hours at thres.h.i.+ng corn. After an early breakfast he made preparations for his scholastic duties by clearing out of the way all unnecessary furniture--though there was little that was superfluous--and placing the long planks supported by big stones which served for forms. As some children were sure to be occupied with cla.s.s work during the whole time, fewer seats were needed than would have been necessary otherwise. The schoolmaster's old mother, Margot, kept her own chair by the fire, where she kept an eye on the pot of soup and occupied herself with knitting. The one small table served as master's desk and as writing-table for those pupils who had advanced sufficiently in the art to be allowed to use a copy-book instead of a slate--but they were few.
The scholars arrived about eight o'clock. It was required of each, as part of the school fees, to bring a block of dried peat to serve as fuel for the fire. It was always the ambition of a boy of lively temperament, such as w.i.l.l.y represented himself to be, to choose as hard a ”peat” as he could possibly find, to serve as a weapon in the mimic battles fought on the road to school. As the fire was composed wholly of peat, and the chimney was wide, the place would be often a difficult one to study in when the wind was in the wrong quarter. At such times, to use w.i.l.l.y's description:
”It wes juist a reeky hole! We wes all well learned to pit up wi' the reek! I niver thocht muckle o' reek aifter that schule!”
The proceedings began with reading; after that came spelling.
”c.o.o.ntin'” followed for those who were sufficiently accomplished.
”Them as wes best at the readin' spent nearly all day at the c.o.o.ntin'
and writin'. The maister wes short enuch in the temper,” remarked w.i.l.l.y on this point. ”Aye, aye, he wes gey hot in the temper, I insure ye! I mind a loon comin' up to him ane day wi' a c.o.o.nt on his slate, ye ken, an' Farquharson wes that enraged at a mistak' i' the c.o.o.nt that he broke the slate on the laddie's heid an' left the frame hangin' like a horse's collar roond his neck!”
Farquharson evidently held to the great principle that corporal punishment was part of a sound education. Behind the door was a stool, which served as a block upon which to stretch a victim whose offense deserved the extreme punishment, but that was not often required. A favorite instrument was the strap, or, as w.i.l.l.y termed it, ”the belt.”
Should the master catch sight of an idler, or practical joker, he would throw the strap to the delinquent as a sign that a thras.h.i.+ng was due, and the boy or girl had to come up to his table and receive the punishment.
”Some wad be stiff to come up wi't, ye ken,” explained w.i.l.l.y; ”but he'd niver let a loon off, though he wes mair merciful-like to the wee la.s.sies. He'd larnt by experience, ye ken; for in the auld days, afore I went there, ane o' the la.s.sies wes a month awa' frae the schule--he throosh her that severe.”
About midday there was a recess, and the children ate their ”pieces,”
which they had brought from home, and spent a little time outside at play, while the schoolmaster took his simple meal. The favorite game was a kind of s.h.i.+nty. It was played by the boys with a ball, driven with sticks, each with ”a big lump o' wood at the end o't.”
The more advanced pupils learned grammar.
”I niver learned nae graymer masel',” said w.i.l.l.y. ”I couldna'
onderstan' a word o't. I thocht it a gey-like leetany to hear the graymer. 'I mak', thou mak's, he mak's'--seemed to me nae sense, ye ken!”
There were no holidays as a regular thing. School went on in the season every week-day. But there was one great day in the year, which was looked forward to by both parents and children; it was that set apart for what we more delicately reared folk in these days would regard as cruel sport--that of c.o.c.k-fighting! Sometimes as many as thirty of the lads would each bring his bird under his arm, and these in turn would be placed in the ring. Neighbors from far and near would come to the school for that day.
”The best fichter,” said w.i.l.l.y, ”wes callit the King; the second best, the Queen; the third, the Knave. Them as wouldna' ficht we callit 'fougie.' Eh, what a day that wes!”
But it must not be thought that the duties of the schoolmaster were confined to his school. He was a personage in the community when he had a.s.sumed his position as pedagogue. Since he was instructor of youth, he was regarded as capable of a.s.sisting the literary pursuits of their parents and elders.
”We callit the schoolmaster 'Dominie d.i.c.k,'” explained w.i.l.l.y. ”He wes a big mon i' the distric', ye ken, sir! He'd oft write letters for the fowk roond aboot!”
I gathered from the same authority that the ”Dominie,” for the time being, was also the reliable reader of the public newspaper. When the weekly paper had arrived, all the men who were interested in what the world was doing would gather at some specified house to listen to the schoolmaster as he read aloud choice extracts. In his absence the best reader of the party was requested to undertake the duty.