Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/194

 150 THE HISTORY OF BAEEINGTON. several have withdrawn their part of payment thereto, some objecting against the school and some against the ministry, now it is voted, and ordered to be understood, that the above said maintenance shall be for both, and to be paid in beef, pork, or provision, as corn, butter, etc." In the town legislation of 1673 are found the rudiments of a thorough education in good earnest, for, in addition to the three Rs of modern times, we have Rhetoric, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. What say you, schoolmen within the limits of Old Swansea, are these ancient tongues taught in your graded grammar schools of 1897, or has the English tongue, as such, a place in your modern course of studies.'* And what say you, teachers of Wannamoisett or Kickemuit, do your certificates of qualifications embrace the ancient classics and the higher English studies ? or shall we yield to the ancient dwellers on the Sovvams a higher standard of education than now prevails in the same quarters .'' Parson Myles, the pastor and teacher, now becomes John Myles, the schoolmaster and pedagogue, and with his saddle-bags across his horse's back he starts for Captain Willett's, to commence his two months' school service in that section. Board and lodgings for man and beast are a part of the schoolmaster's salary, and as there are no school- houses, he rides up on Monday morning to the hospitable door of his old friend Brown — the scene of his future labors, A group of boys and misses is gathered to pay their deference to their future teacher, and with bows and courtesies they welcome him whom they have been taught to reverence as their spiritual guide. The student and the rogue are there, and the latter scans, with mischievous eyes and with proph- etic spirit, the ferule, and Solomon's rod, which are to form a part of the school furnishings of our ancient school-room. The saddle-bags contain the little library of text-books, which are to be the common stock for instruction and study. The spelling, the grammar, the arithmetic, and the classical books have all been thumbed in English and Welsh homes, across the Atlantic, and are now made to bear tribute to the educa- tional needs of this early civilization. Our school-room is an