Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/401

 all were ambitious to obtain. The schoolroom had been left in a ruinous condition. The tables and benches broken or disfigured; the plaister in some places peeled off the walls, and in others scrawled over with chalk or ochre; the panes of the windows broken, and stuffed with rags; and the floor covered with such a thick paste of dirt, that it was not till after much hard labour, the pavement was rendered visible. All was now put in complete repair, and on the first of May the school opened with forty scholars. The twenty-five boys, and the fifteen girls, who made up this number, came pouring in pell-mell, in the disorderly manner to which they had been formerly accustomed; and observing that the desks and benches were not yet placed, they were proceeding in groups rudely to seize on them; but were arrested by the master, who commanded silence in a tone of such authority, as forced attention. Having formed them into a circle round his chair, he