This ferule was shaped much like the stick with which she
stirred her hasty pudding for dinner,--I thought it was the same,
--and I found myself caught in a whirlwind of family laughter by
reporting at home that "Aunt Hannah punished the scholars with
the pudding-stick."
There was one colored boy in school, who did not sit on a bench,
like the rest, but on a block of wood that looked like a backlog
turned endwise. Aunt Hannah often called him a "blockhead," and I
supposed it was because he sat on that block. Sometimes, in his
absence, a boy was made to sit in his place for punishment, for
being a "blockhead " too, as I imagined. I hoped I should never
be put there. Stupid little girls received a different treatment,
--an occasional rap on the head with the teacher's thimble;
accompanied with a half-whispered, impatient ejaculation, which
sounded very much like "Numskull!" I think this was a rare
occurrence, however, for she was a good-natured, much-enduring
woman.
One of our greatest school pleasures was to watch Aunt Hannah
spinning on her flax-wheel, wetting her thumb and forefinger at
her lips to twist the thread, keeping time, meanwhile, to some
quaint old tune with her foot upon the treadle.
Pages:
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66