Then, folding his pinions close by his side, 3. I watched his flight, with wistful eye, Where the apple-trees stood crotch-deep in the rye; Singing the same sweet chorus of glee, "I cheat-ed ye! I cheat-ed ye! I cheat-ed ye!" 4. The aspen leaves rocked lazily, As he scanned me again with his keen black eye. "You can't cheat, for I see the nest, Warmed by your sweetheart's downy breast, And took up his song and began to repeat, "I cheat-ed ye! I cheat-ed ye! I cheat-ed ye!'" JAMES H. HARDY. IX. SCHOOL DAYS. THE morning was cloudy, and threatened rain; besides, it was autumn weather, and the winds were growing harsh, and rustling most dismally among the tree-tops that shaded the house. I did not dare to lis home, and gather the nuts as they fell, and pile up the falling leaves to make great bonfires, with Ben and the rest of the boys, I should have liked to listen; and would have braved the dismal morning with the cheerfulest of them all; for it would have been a capital time to light a fire in the little oven we had built under the wall; it would have been so pleasant to warm our fingers at it, and to roast the great russets on the flat stones that made the top. 2. But this was not in store for me. I had bid the town boys good-by, the day before; my trunk was all packed; I was to go away to school. The little oven would go to ruin- I knew it would. - I knew it would. I was to leave my home. I was to bid my mother good-by, and Lilly and Isabel and all the rest, and was to go away from them so far that I should only know what they were all doing in letters. It was sad. 3. Then, to have the clouds come over on that morning, and the winds sigh so dismally, oh, it was too bad! I thought. I remember that the pigeons skulked under the eaves of the carriage-house, and did not sit, as they used to do in summer, upon the ridge; and the chickens huddled together about the stable-doors as if they were afraid of the cold autumn. In the garden, the hollyhocks stood shivering, and bowed to the wind as if their time had come. The yellow musk-melons showed plain among the frost-bitten vines, and looked cold and uncomfortable. 4. Then, they were all so kind, in-doors! The cook made such nice things for my breakfast, because little master was going. Lilly would give me her seat by the fire, and would put her lump of sugar in my cup; and my mother looked so smiling and so tender that I thought I loved her more than I ever did before. Little Ben was so gav, too; and wanted me to take his jack knife, if I wished it, though he knew that I had a new one in my trunk. The old nurse slipped a little purse into my hand, tied up with a green ribbon, — with money in it, and told me not to show it to Ben or Lilly. 5. At length, Ben came running into the house, and said the coach had come; and there, sure enough, out of the window, we saw it, a bright yellow coach, with four white horses, and band-boxes all over the top, and a great pile of trunks behind. Ben said it was a grand coach, and that he would like a ride in it. The old nurse came to the door, and said I would have a capital time; but, somehow, I doubted if the nurse was talking honestly. I believe she gave me an honest kiss, though, and such a hug! But it was nothing to my mother's. - 6. Tom told me to be a man, and study like a Trojan; but I was not thinking about study, then. There was a tall boy in the coach, and I was ashamed to have him see me cry, so I didn't, at first. But I remember, as I looked back, and saw little Isabel run out into the middle of the street to see the coach go off, and the curls floating behind her, as the wind freshened, I felt my heart leaping into my throat, and the water coming into my eyes, and how, just then, I caught sight of the tall boy glancing at me, and how I tried to turn it off, by looking to see if I could button my over-coat a great Ideal lower down than the button-holes went. 7. But it was of no use. I put my head out of the coach window, and looked back, as the little figure of Isabel faded, and then the house, and the trees; and the tears did come; and I smuggled my handkerchief outside, without turning, so that I could wipe my eyes, before the tall boy should see me. 1 boys who were scattered in the great play-ground, as the coach drove up at night. One boy took me down to see the school-room, which was in the basement. The walls were all mouldy, I remember; and when we passed a certain door, he said, "There is the dungeon." How I felt! I hated that boy. Then, the matron took me up to my room, a little corner room, with two beds, and two windows, and a red table, and closet. My chum was about my size, and wore a queer round-about jacket with big bell buttons. 9. We had spending money once a week; and we used to go down to the village store, and club our funds together to make great pitchers of lemonade. Some boys would have money besides, though that was against the rules. One, I recollect, showed us a fivedollar bill in his wallet, and we all thought he must be very rich. 10. On Sundays, we marched in procession to the village church. There were two long benches in the galleries reaching down the sides of the meeting-house ; and on these we sat. At first, I was one of the smallest boys, and took a place close to the wall, against the pulpit; but afterward, as I grew larger, I was promoted to the lower end of the first bench. This I never liked, because it was close by one of the ushers, and because it brought me close to some country women who wore stiff bonnets, and ate fennel, and sung with the choir. But there was a little black-eyed girl, who sat over behind the choir, that I thought handsome; I used to look at her very often, but was careful she should never catch my eye. 11. There was one boy, who had poor Leslie, friends in some foreign country, and who, occasionally, received letters bearing a foreign post-mark. What an extraordinary boy that was! what astonishing letters! what extraordinary parents! I wondered if I should ever receive a letter from foreign parts! I wondered if I should ever write one; but this was too much, too absurd! As if I, Paul, wearing a blue jacket with gilt buttons, and number four boots, should ever visit those countries mentioned in the geographies, and, by learned travelers! No, no; this was too extravagant; but I knew what I would do, if I lived to come of age, and I vowed that I would, I would go to New York! 12. A boy by the name of Tom Belton, who wore linsey gray, made a dam across a little brook by the school, and whittled out a saw-mill that actually sawed. He had genius. I expected to see him, before now, at the head of American mechanics; but I learn, with pain, that he is keeping a grocery store. 13. At the close of all the terms, we had exhibitions, to which all the towns-people came. My great triumph was, when I had the part of one of Pizarro's chieftains, the evening before I left the school. How I did look! I had a moustache put on with burnt cork, and whiskers, very bushy, indeed; and I had the militia coat of an ensign in the town company, with the skirts pinned up, and a short sword, very dull and crooked, which belonged to an old gentleman who, it was said, got it from some privateer that had taken it from some great British admiral in the old wars. The way I carried that sword upon the platform, and the way I jerked it out, when it came my turn to say, "Battle! battle! - then death to the armed, and chains for the defenseless!" was tremendous! 14. The morning after, in our dramatic hats, black felt, with turkey feathers, we took our place upon the top of the coach to leave the school. The head-master, in green spectacles, came out to shake hands with us, a very awful shaking of hands. |