one day at the beginning of ella’s second year in the first room, the superintendent came to the school and brought with him a stranger, a quiet gentleman with a pleasant smile.
“do you suppose that is the one?” was the question signaled from one to another.
three days of the term had passed, and the principal had not appeared. all sorts of rumors were floating about. it was said that he had leave of absence, that he was sick, and finally, that he had resigned and that a new principal might step in at any moment. the assistant was quite equal to the management of the school, and everything was going on well.
the superintendent introduced the stranger to her; then, turning toward the pupils, he introduced to them their new principal. fortunately it was near the close of the session, for no rules against “communicating” or even whispering could have long suppressed the comparing of notes that was all ready to burst forth. there was no playing on the homeward way that noon; the children were too eager to tell the great news.
ella was an ardent little partisan. whatever the principal was to others, he had always been kind to[pg 161] her, and she wrote forlornly in her little diary, “another king arose which knew not joseph.”
of course some different ways of doing things were introduced, and ella was certain that the older ways were far better. in arithmetic, it had been forbidden to preserve any written work. what was wanted was the ability to do a problem; why preserve it then, if you have the ability to do it at any time? the new way was to keep your problems in a blank book, each one fenced off from the others by a carefully ruled double line, and have them to refer to at any moment. there were good reasons for both ways.
the plan of map-drawing had been to study a map till you had a picture of it in your mind, then to draw that picture on paper or on the blackboard. the new way was to make as nearly an outline of the country to be drawn as could be made with straight lines, and then fit the true outline of the country around it. this worked very well if one happened to remember just how many “measures” long each line of the outline should be; but if the proper length of any one line was forgotten, the pupil was all at sea. the numbers had gone from his mind, and he had no mental picture of the map. ella’s diary called it “a queer, conglomerated way of drawing europe.”
gradually the new principal made his way. every lesson had to be learned as carefully as ever, but there was a margin to the work. when strange kinds of woods appeared in the list of “productions” that was[pg 162] the children’s horror, the new principal was quite likely to bring some specimens of them to school, and perhaps to invite a group of those children who seemed most interested to spend the evening at his house to see the rest of his cabinet of woods. with him a company went not only to the asbestus ledge, but to a coal mine not far away where they could collect some fossils. he had a valuable microscope, and this he brought to school to reveal the marvels of little things.
so passed the spring term. in those days the spring term began the school year, so that when ella returned to school in september, she had only three terms more before going to the high school.
it was soon plain that much of the rest of the year would be given to preparation for the high school examinations. every study was reviewed most thoroughly, from the beginning of the book to the end. for a while geography was recited twice a day, once to the new principal and once to the assistant. every question in the little pink geographical question book was asked by the teacher and answered by the pupils. the principal exports of europe, fifty-three articles, were recited over and over. a table of the latitude and longitude of fifty-six places, a thing to give one bad dreams, was repeated in chorus and in solo. more than once the time sacred to the reading class was given to going over the united states or some other country, naming boundaries, rivers, and cities. maps[pg 163] were drawn until the children could almost have drawn them with their eyes shut. the new principal said it was never his way to offer prizes; but if it had been, he would have offered one long ago for the best map of europe. “draw just as good a map as you can,” he said to the first class, “and we will see about the prizes afterwards.”
the other studies were reviewed in much the same way as the geography. there was more teaching than the teachers could do, and some of the pupils were pressed into the service. ella hardly recited at all, she was so busy hearing others. among these were two girls who were sent to her in the office every day. “see if you can possibly make them understand how to analyze a sentence,” said the assistant almost hopelessly.
there were written examinations without end. surely the children ought to have been well used to them, for they lived and breathed examinations every few days, especially in grammar and arithmetic. among these examinations were full sets of the questions used for entrance to the high school for the last twelve years, and every one of these was given to the class in hand. the children of the sixties must have been tough little things, for not one of them had nervous prostration.
as the weeks passed on, the work became more and more intense. every question in the geographical question book had been answered, as has been said.[pg 164] every topic in history was recited and every map of a battle reviewed. “miscellaneous problems” from numerous arithmetics were now showered upon the children’s heads like avalanches. weird and incredible tales these problems were, tales of men who bought goods on the most impossible terms and sold them in fractional lots of most uncomfortable size; tales of a group of men who bought a grindstone in partnership and left to the members of the first class the task of finding out how many inches each should grind off to get his money’s worth. did any one ever work on that problem without a mental vow never, never to buy a share in a partnership grindstone, especially well in toward the center?
the rules of the grammar were thoroughly reviewed and then came a great expanse of opportunity for parsing and analyzing. on pages and pages of the sixth reader difficult words were underlined for parsing. the most complicated sentences were carefully dissected, and incidentally a habit of looking closely into the exact meaning of words and the precise shade of thought which they expressed was formed. the study of grammar was much more than a repetition of rules. it had a wide and generous margin. it took the place in the grammar school that is filled by logic in the college.
in spelling, the knowledge of one book was all that was required. indeed, there was once quite a little insurrection when, in one of the test examinations,[pg 165] the word “pusillanimous” appeared, a word which was not in the spelling book. about music there was grave questioning. many of the pupils were taking lessons at home, and some were doing quite advanced work. was it fair to compare this with the work of children whose only instruction came from an hour a week in school? “there will always be a difference in home advantages,” said the wise superintendent, “but these examinations should be limited to what they have had full opportunity to learn in school.” it was decided that the examination in music should be given, but should not be counted in ranking the pupils.
this matter of rank was of vast importance in the eyes of the children, and was watched with interest by some thousands of the older folk of the city. the high school examinations were not given in the grammar schools, but in the high school—which gave to them an added dignity. the papers were corrected with the utmost care and were then ranked according to their percentage. the city was proud of her schools, and to stand number one in these examinations was looked upon as being the highest honor that it could bestow upon a pupil entering the high school.
this was ella’s ambition. “i want it! i want it! i want it!” she said to herself. “it seems as if i must have it.” but would she get it? ever since the first half-term she had been at the head of her class. she had become used to this, and had fallen into the habit[pg 166] of writing carelessly in her diary, “reports to-day. i was number one as usual,” and then had forgotten it all and had crocheted a mitten or played ball without thinking any more about it. this, however, was quite different. her work was to be compared with that of the pupils of the first class in all the grammar schools of the city. it is no wonder that she was anxious.
the last day of school arrived. ella went through the exercises almost in a dream. she began to realize that she was going into a strange new school, and she was half afraid. after the day was over and the guests had gone, the whole class wrote their names on the board with “graduating class of 1869. good-bye.”
on the following morning a long procession of boys and girls wound its way up the hill to the high school. they were distributed among the different rooms. each room was in charge of a teacher, and ella was delighted to find the assistant standing by the door in her room, ready to welcome her. the place of honor was given to arithmetic; first written, then mental arithmetic. it was “mental” indeed, for not one figure was allowed to be written. the pupils did the examples in their minds as best they could, then set down the answer; and they had had so much practice in keeping the example as well as the work in mind that it seemed to them hardly more than play when a good clear printed copy of the questions lay before them.
[pg 167]
what the nerves of the children of 1869 were made of is a mystery, but sure it is that after graduating from the grammar school on tuesday, going through part of the high school examinations on wednesday, ella, and probably many others, went to a party wednesday evening, and on thursday finished the examinations—geography, grammar, spelling, history, and music. thursday afternoon there was a visitor for ella to take shopping. the visitor went home at night, and now there was time to think. ella began to be a little alarmed. she thought over one of her answers after another, and wondered whether she had by mistake slipped in a wrong word or figure. “i must be head of the city,” she said to herself. “i want it! i want it! oh, i want it! i do so wish the principal would come and tell me.”
the doorbell rang; the principal had come.
“oh, i’m so glad!” ella cried. “do please tell me where i stand!”
“you know it takes some time to look over all those papers,” said the principal kindly, “but i will see that you know the results just as soon as possible. i came about the map. have you forgotten about the map for which a prize was to be given?”
she had not forgotten, but prizes for maps seemed a very small matter to her now, and it really required a little effort to thank the principal as warmly as she thought he would expect. after he had gone, she opened the package rather indifferently. it contained[pg 168] a handsome copy of æsop’s fables. with its corners put into slits in the flyleaf was a card with her name and the date. she laid the book down, and wandered restlessly about the room. “did you notice how queerly he looked at me?” she said to her mother. “he knows that some one else is ahead of me, and that is why he wouldn’t come in. he was very good to bring the book, but i don’t care one bit for it or for anything in it.” she took up the book indifferently and began to turn the leaves over; and behold, with the corners put into slits in a second flyleaf was another card, and on it was written, “ella, 94 per cent average. highest in the city.”
one day ella heard the bell of the grammar school ringing faintly across the old cemetery, and she went down the path between the graves of the revolutionary heroes to visit the school. the principal and the assistant gave her a warm welcome and a seat on the platform just as if she was a committee man. the pupils looked at her enviously, just as she used to look at the high school girls when they came back to visit. the big waste-basket stood near her. on top of the scraps of paper was a half-sheet, and on it was written a line or two in the “tories’ alphabet.” she wondered which of these children were “best friends” and had been admitted to the secret. new maps were on the board, not hers nor those of any of her class. a girl whom she had not especially liked was sitting in her old seat. a class from the second [pg 169]room had been promoted, and how young they did look! they were just babies!
“aren’t those children from the second room a great deal younger than we were when we came in?” she asked.
the assistant smiled. she had heard that question before.
“just the same average age,” she replied; “but you know that you have grown up. you are not a little girl any longer; you are a young lady of the high school.”
there was a lump in ella’s throat. something had gone out of her life. she was not “in it” any more—and “it” was her vanished childhood.
the end
