Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

SCHOOJ. AND COLLEGE DAYS 151
ducted morning prayers and read from the Bible. Slie afterwards
married a missionary and went to Jerusalem. That was
so long ago that now it looks misty as to particulars.
It is easy to recall the schoolroom and the general appear-
ance of the classes as they are called out on the floor. The first
order was "Toe the mark!" the mark being a crack in the
board floor. The tall girl would stand up to read; the lesson
was from McGuflFey's Fourth Reader, as I remember, and had
for its subject "The Flight of Time." She drew a deep breath,
knowing she would need every bit of it in the race she was to
run with "Time." Her voice was shrill, and just as rapidly
as is possible to anyone she read the dignified measure:
Heardst thou that knell.? It is the knell of Time.
And is Time dead? I thought Time never died!
This is as nearly as I can write the way she rendered those
stately lines: "Heardst-thou-that-kennel-it-is-the-kennel-of-
Time-I-thought-Time-never-^fjt/./" Triumphantly she ran
against the exclamation point, having outraced Father Time
himself. The initiated were much amused.
Now Anderson Balser is trying his favorite oration. It is
from Phillips upon the "Character of Napoleon," as in Mc-
GufFey's Sixth Reader. Anderson Balser was afflicted with
stammering, but he bravely attempted "He is Fallen!" It
was Friday afternoon and we were "speaking pieces;" Anderson
arose and prepared to begin the great oration. At once
he used up all his breath on the first sound as he expelled "h"
from his lips; but he finally did triumph over the first three
words, and "He is fallen!" smote the air. "We may now
p-p-p-pause — " here he would fill his cheeks with wind, turn
very red in the face, and choke down. Anderson had come
to a pause indeed, and the master would excuse him. The
next Friday he would again take the floor and get as far as
"He is fallen!" and then begin to blow hard and be again
excused. I think we must have sympathized, though we
laughed; for so anxious were we to help him get the words out
that I can remember some of Anderson's "piece," though sixty
years at least have fled since those performances took place