oolmaster told us that we must hold our slates on our laps, and our
open books in the right hand, and not look at the pictures, but study
all the time, and not speak, even to each other, without permission.
His face was so severe, his eyes so keen, and his voice so sharp that I
was afraid of him.

He had a chair with a back to it, and a table to hold his books; yet he
spent most of his time walking about with a narrow strap of rawhide in
his hand, and was ever finding some one whose book drooped, or who was
whispering; and the stinging bite of that strap would call the erring
to order.

The Misses Boggs, Lewis, Smith, and Bone were pretty young ladies, and
brought their own chairs and a table to sit around; and when they
whispered, the master never saw them; and when they missed in lessons,
he didn't keep them in, nor make them stand on the floor.

I learned my lessons well enough, but grandma was terribly shocked
because I got strapped nearly every day. But then, I sat between
Georgia and the other little girls in our row, and had to deliver
messages from those on both sides of me, as well as to whisper a little
on my own account. Finally, grandma declared that if I got a whipping
next day, she would give me a second one after reaching home. So I
started in the morning with the intention of being the best girl in
school; but we had hardly settled in line for our first lesson, when
Georgia whispered behind her book, "Eliza, see! Mary Jane Johnson has
got my nice French card, with the double queens on it, and I can't get
it."

Forgotten were my good resolutions. I leaned out of line, and whispered
louder than I meant, "Mary Jane Johnson, that is my sister's card, and
you must give it back to her."

She saw the master watching, but I did not, until he called me to hold
out my hand. For once, I begged, "Please excuse me; I won't do it
again." But he wouldn't, and I felt greatly humiliated, because I knew
the large girls had heard me and were smiling.

After recess, a new boy arrived, little Willie McCracken, whom we had
seen on the plains, and known at Sutter's Fort, and he knew us as soon
as he reached his seat and looked around. In a short time, I nudged
Georgia, and asked her if I hadn't better roll him the little knot of
dried apples that grandma had put in the basket for my lunch. She said,
yes, if I wanted to. So I wiggled the basket from under the seat with
my foot, and soon thereafter, my bit of hospitality