to the miscellaneous association of large district schools, it might be difficult to say, save that it was the custom of the times. The idea of being given in charge to a man, filled me with uncontrollable awe. On the first morning of my entrance, I could have taken the shoes from my feet, as if the place where he stood were a modern Sinai, where the law might be given amid thunderings, and lightnings, and tempest. Yet, on the contrary, I was far more at ease than under the dominion of his predecessor. To my amazement, I found myself rather a favorite with him, and kindly appreciated by the scholars. Some of these were large boys, on the borders of manhood, who attended school in winter, and at other seasons pursued various useful occupations. One of their prime accomplishments was covering large sheets of paper with fine chirography of different sizes, they having been previously ruled and ornamented with devices in bright red, blue, and green ink. I thought them intensely elegant, and, as I now remember them, they had somewhat the effect of the old illuminated missals. My aid in devising their decoration, and selecting the poetry that formed a great portion of their contents, was sought and valued, so that I suddenly became a personage of consequence. Instead of being made a scapegoat or a burnt-offering, as I had anticipated, I was vastly comforted at this terrific "man's school," and not a little built up in my own estimation. Though my highest pleasures were
