Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/105

 18^0-40.] OT WAY CURRY. 89 The season for instruction was called a quarter, and usually extended from Novem- ber to March ; though short, it was long enough to enable the pupil to receive all the knowledge that the teacher could spare. The subjects taught were reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic as far as the rule of three. Grammar was ranked among the natural sciences, and geography among the classics. At the appointed time the chil- dren proceed to the school-house, guided by the blazes of the trees. Here they come, young and old, male and female, each having text-books unlike those of all others. Anticipating amusement as well as instruction, one brings a violin, another a dog, a third a jews-harp, etc. They venture to suggest, at the outset, to the teacher, that in order to have a good school, it is necessary to have short recitations, long intermis- sions, and good entertainment. Organization is out of the question ; each scholar must recite in turn out of his own book, and bring up his slate as his sums are worked. Order is almost as impracticable as organization. Happily there were other means of instruction and mental development ; the debat- ing club, the neighborhood meeting, the singing-school, etc., but, above all, the home. Our young poet heard his father relate the tale of the Revolution, the wrongs of the colonists, their determined rebellion, their bloody battles, and their final triumphs ; he also heard him describe the characters of the leading statesmen and warriors of that period, the organization of the State and National Governments, the causes, and actors, and consequences of the war of 1812. These details would make others nec- essary ; and we can imagine how Otway would ascend through the history of the United States to that of Great Biitain, and from that of Great Britain to that of the middle ages, and so on, up to the great nations of antiquity. We can see how history would make geography and politics needful, and how these would lead an inquiring mind, by nearer or remoter routes, to all the branches of education. Moreover, the pious mother had her pleasant legends and fairy tales, with which she kept down the rising sigh, and kept up the leaden eyelids of the httle ones as she sat plying her spinning-wheel, and waiting for the return of her husband from the mill, when the driving snow-storm delayed him far into the hours of night. She seems, indeed, to have been no ordinary woman ; she was accustomed to relate over and over, at her fireside, the whole story of Paradise Lost, as well as of many other classic poems, so that young Otway was familiar with their scenes and characters long before he could read. She would often beguile the weary hours of summer nights as she sat in the cabin door with her young ones, watching for the return of the older from the perilous chase, by naming the constellations as they came up to the horizon, and explaining the ordinances of heaven. The school education of Otway was impeded by the events of the war of 1812. "When it bi'oke out the father was summoned to Chillicothe, as a member of the Leg- islature ; the eldest brother went out with the army ; the rest of the family remained upon the farm under the superintendence of the prudent and patriotic mother. Alone in the wilderness, surrounded by hostile savages, they were never molested, though often alarmed. On one occasion their horses showed every indication of fear ; their dogs barked furiously, now rushing into the cornfield, and then retreating with bi-ist-