Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/44



36 WILLIAM H. PACKWOOD

out clearly in my recollection is attending- a wandering circus in Sparta. I think it was called Dan Rice's Circus. I also remem- ber very distinctly my first school teacher. His name was Dr. C. B. Pelton. I went to school to him one year or more. There was a bad boy and a sort of bully who came to school. He abused one of the smaller boys who reported to the teacher. Dr. Pelton, the teacher, sent the smaller boy out to cut a hazel switch. Presently the boy came back with a large hazel switch about the size used for whack- ing bulls. We all expected to see the Doctor pitch in and give the boy a terrific whipping. The doctor laid down the savage hazel club and taking the big boy's hand closed his eyes and raising his head prayed that the boy would have a change of heart and become better. It certainly settled the bad boy. It was the most effective punishment the teacher could possibly have administered. As a matter of actual fact the teacher ruled that school by love and kindness, a very unusual thing in those days. Later our teacher went to Springfield, Illinois, where he became an official of the American Bible Society.

"My next teacher was a young man named McClure. I went to him about six months. This was all the schooling I ever had. At that time there were no free schools, they were all subscription schools. During my two years at school I studied five books. Noah Webster's blue back Speller, Smith's Arithmetic, Murray's Grammar, Parley's Geography, and a small American History. I still remember vividly the picture in the front of one of my school books. It was a picture of Justice and the law. Justice was shown as a monkey with a pair of scales. Two cats claimed the ownership of a piece of cheese. They brought their dispute to the monkey. The pic- ture showed the monkey placing the cheese in the scales to be weighed and divided equally between the two cats. The little story below the picture told how the scales would not balance so the monkey had to keep taking a bite first from one piece and the other until he finally ate the whole cheese while the cats looked on. I have an idea that the law is still adminis- tered that way at times.