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CHAPTER VIII.

"Not long the house so raised, so prop'd, can stand;
For, like the fool's, 't is built upon the sand."

PARNEL.

THE place to which we will now repair, as the seat of the future operations of our schoolmaster, was a thriving interior village, with a population of something over a thousand. Its name, Cartersville, was derived from that of its founder, a Mr. Carter, an enterprising individual, who, some forty or fifty years before the period of our story, here established himself, erected several kinds of mills, and opened a store, which, with the natural advantages of the location, soon drew around them the buildings and shops of other settlers, till the place swelled, at length, into a village of considerable importance, with, perhaps, even more than the usual complement of mechanics' shops, taverns, stores, churches, and fine dwelling houses. At the time of which we are writing, the first Carter, whom we have named as the principal founder of this village, had been dead many years. He had amassed, during a prosperous and active life, an amount of property, which, for a country merchant, was considered very large. This he had left to three sons and a daughter. Two of the sons became spendthrifts, soon squandered their portions, and left the country. The daughter, who was now dead, had married a man that had lost her portion also, and gone abroad, but little better than bankrupt. The remaining son, who alone inherited any of his father's talents for business,

or attempted to improve on the property left him, continued in the trade to which he had been brought up, that of merchandise, and was now accounted the rich man of the place, being extensively engaged in business, and still a man of industry and good calculations in traffic, though otherwise a person of rather contracted notions. His family, however, consisting of a wife and three daughters, were of small advantage to him, either in improving his property, or in elevating his character,

- at least not to any correct standard

of moral action. For his wife was a woman of false tastes, and of affectedly fashionable habits; and accordingly she had brought up her daughters, who, as might be expected under such maternal guidance, had little to boast, of which they had reason to be proud, being vain, empty-headed, wronghearted girls, fond of expensive display, priding themselves upon their father's wealth, talking much about family distinction, and only ambitious to be looked up to as they unfortunately were by the young society of the place—as a sort of inapproachable standard in dress, and all matters pertaining to what they deemed stylish life, and to be considered, as they considered themselves, the very

"Glass of fashion and the mould of form."

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This family belonged to the school district in which Locke Amsden was now engaged as a teacher for the ensuing winter; but, being above patronizing a common school for the purposes of educating their children, Mr. and Mrs. Carter, or rather Mrs. Carter, in conjunction with two or three other wealthy families of similar views, had established a private school, or select academy, as they called it, which was designed to afford the means of what they chose to term a genteel education, leaving the district schools of the village to be attended by the children of less distinguished families, and all those who had tastes for nothing better. At the head

of this establishment was, at present, a fellow whose mind, manners, qualifications, and general character, admirably fitted him for such a station. He wrote himself Manlius C. W. Tilden, Professor of Elegant Literature; and taught crowquill penmanship, drawing sundry problems in geometry, French, fashionable pronunciation, and the whole round of what he designated belles-lettres accomplishments, including music upon the piano, flagelet, &c., if required. The tendency of this school had been, as might be expected, to create envy, as little as there was reason for it, towards the favored few who attended it, and to cause the common schools to be neglected and looked upon with contempt. And Dr. Lincoln, who was a man of science, and an abominator of every thing of the tinsel order, was the first man to whom it occurred that it was a matter of importance to attempt to elevate the character of the common schools of the place, both to counteract the influence we have named, which he considered in all respects baneful, and to make those schools what they should be for public benefit.

Towards night on the day previous to the one appointed for entering upon his engagement, young Amsden arrived in the village to which we have just introduced the reader, and immediately repaired to the residence of his employer, Dr. Lincoln.

"Your arrival just now is most opportune, Mr. Amsden,” said Lincoln, shaking the other heartily by the hand; "for I hope to have the remainder of the afternoon to myself, uninterrupted by professional calls, to enable me to spend a little time with you, in introducing you at your boarding place (for we have concluded to board you at one place), visiting with you our school-house, and in apprising you, in some measure, of the difficulties you will have to encounter, if you earn your money, as I intend you shall. But, come, sir,

walk into the house first

you will stay with us through the night, and we will talk over these matters at our leisure." The doctor then ushered the other into his house, and introduced him to his wife, a highly intelligent and agreeable lady, who, with her husband, they having no children, — and a domestic of each sex, constituted the whole family.

After a pleasant half-hour spent in general conversation, the doctor and his guest set forth to visit the school-house, as the former had proposed.

"You have rather a large proportion of fine dwellinghouses in your village, have you not, doctor?" said Amsden, as they gained the street, and proceeded on their way.

"It may be so," replied the doctor. "Some ambitious people, in times past, erected several expensive buildings; since which many others, having imbibed the idea that social happiness is dependent on the size of the house where it is to be enjoyed, have followed the example; less for their own good, in some instances, I believe, than the good appearance of the village."

"Quite possible. But to whom belongs that large house, up yonder, observed Locke, pointing to a castle-like building, standing on an eminence, a little aloof from all others.

"O, that is the residence of the Carter family," answered the other. "This village took its name from the father of the owner of that house. The old gentleman was a stirring man, in his day, and died very wealthy. And his son, who built that fabric, is esteemed by some to be now equally rich; though he built, as some shrewd ones would have it, not so much according to his own judgment, as on his wife's somewhat different scale of greatness."

"It is a showy thing, indeed," rejoined the former; "but still I fancy it less than that much smaller, but more truly elegant house, as I should esteem it, standing within the bor

ders of that beautiful farm, lying to the east of the Carter establishment."

"Ah! that was built by a man of true taste, and one of the finest of gentlemen," said the doctor, warmly. "He married the daughter of the elder Carter, and received that farm as her dowry. But he got entangled by his profligate brothers-inlaw, and lost the whole establishment, which went into the hands of city creditors, while the unfortunate debtor was left to shift for himself, and, finally, to go to foreign lands, and there die, as is now generally supposed."

By this time they reached the school-house, which was situated in a noisy business corner, about ten paces from the street, with a blacksmith's shop on one side, and a cooper's on the other.

"Here is your palace, my lord of the birchen sceptre," said Lincoln, giving the other a good-natured slap on the shoulder.

“Ay, but it is rather near the street here; is it not, doctor?" remarked Amsden.

"True," replied the former, ironically; "but don't you perceive the wise design of that? It is to inure the children to the danger of being run over, and horses to the danger of being frightened, to the peril of the necks and limbs of their drivers."

"You succeed so well in reasons," observed the other, laughing, "that I will hear you tell why the house is made to stand between two such noisy shops."

"O, the idea,” answered Lincoln, in the same strain, “the idea must have been taken from the classics; as you scholars, I think, should at once perceive. Demosthenes, you know, practised oratory amid the roar and racket of waterfalls. And who knows how much the future orators, that shall have been educated in this school, will be indebted for

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