FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47  
48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   >>   >|  
had trouble to keep the big negro from setting fire to the gunpowder and blowing them all up. Maynard took away from the Governor of North Carolina many hogsheads of sugar that Blackbeard had stolen. Then he hung the great ugly head of the pirate at the bow of his ship, and sailed back to Virginia in triumph. AN OLD PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL. There was a schoolmaster in Philadelphia before the Revolution who did not like to beat his pupils as other masters of that time did. When a boy behaved badly, he would take his switch and stick it into the back of the boy's coat collar so that the switch should rise above his head in the air. He would then stand the boy up on a bench in sight of the school, in order to punish him by making him ashamed. This schoolmaster's name was Dove. If any boy was not at school in time, the master would send a committee of five or six of the scholars to fetch him. One of this committee carried a lighted lantern, while another had a bell in his hand. The tardy scholar had to march down the street in broad daylight with a lantern to show him the way, and a boy ringing the school bell to let him know that it was time for him to be there. [Illustration: The Tardy Schoolmaster.] One morning Mr. Dove slept too late, or forgot himself. The boys made up a committee to bring the teacher to school. They took the lantern and the bell with them. Mr. Dove said they were quite right. He took his place in the procession, and the people saw Schoolmaster Dove taken to school late with a lantern and a bell. The larger schoolboys of that time were very fond of foot races. They would take off their coats and tie handkerchiefs about their heads before starting. The short breeches they wore were fastened at the knee by bands. When they were going to run a race, they would loosen these bands, and pull off their shoes and stockings. Some of the boys ran barefoot in this way, but others wore Indian moccasins. The race course was round a block; that is, about three quarters of a mile. Crowds would gather to see the boys run, and the people rushed from one side of the block to the other to see which was leading in the race. A DUTCH FAMILY IN THE REVOLUTION. What is now the State of New York was first settled by people from Holland who spoke the Dutch language. New York afterward became an English colony, but the Dutch settlers and their descendants still spoke the language of Holland, at
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47  
48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

school

 
lantern
 

people

 
committee
 

switch

 

Holland

 
language
 

Schoolmaster

 

schoolmaster

 

breeches


larger

 
starting
 

schoolboys

 

forgot

 

procession

 

teacher

 

handkerchiefs

 
REVOLUTION
 

FAMILY

 

leading


colony

 

settlers

 

descendants

 

English

 

settled

 
afterward
 
stockings
 

barefoot

 
loosen
 

Indian


Crowds
 

gather

 

rushed

 

quarters

 
moccasins
 

fastened

 

PHILADELPHIA

 

SCHOOL

 
triumph
 

sailed


Virginia

 
Philadelphia
 

Revolution

 

behaved

 

masters

 
pupils
 

pirate

 
gunpowder
 

blowing

 

Maynard