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  CHAPTER IV. A SUM IN ARITHMETIC

  Harry kept on his way to school, and arrived just the bell rang. Many ofmy readers have seen a country schoolhouse, and will not be surprised tolearn that the one in which our hero obtained his education was farfrom stately or ornamental, architecturally speaking. It was a one-storystructure, about thirty feet square, showing traces of having beenpainted once, but standing greatly in need of another coat. Within weresixty desks, ranged in pairs, with aisles running between them. On oneside sat the girls, on the other the boys. These were of all ages fromfive to sixteen. The boys' desks had suffered bad usage, having beenwhittled and hacked, and marked with the initials of the temporaryoccupants, with scarcely an exception. I never knew a Yankee boy who wasnot the possessor of a knife of some kind, nor one who could resist thetemptation of using it for such unlawful purposes. Even our hero sharedthe common weakness, and his desk was distinguished from the rest by "H.W." rudely carved in a conspicuous place.

  The teacher of the school for the present session was Nathan Burbank, acountry teacher of good repute, who usually taught six months in a year,and devoted the balance of the year to surveying land, whenever he couldget employment in that line, and the cultivation of half a dozen acresof land, which kept him in vegetables, and enabled him to keep a cow.Altogether he succeeded in making a fair living, though his entireincome would seem very small to many of my readers. He was notdeeply learned, but his education was sufficient to meet the limitedrequirements of a country school.

  This was the summer term, and it is the usual custom in New England thatthe summer schools should be taught by females. But in this particularschool the experiment had been tried, and didn't work. It was found thatthe scholars were too unruly to be kept in subjection by a woman, andthe school committee had therefore engaged Mr. Burbank, though, by sodoing, the school term was shortened, as he asked fifty per cent. higherwages than a female teacher would have done. However, it was betterto have a short school than an unruly school, and so the districtacquiesced.

  Eight weeks had not yet passed since the term commenced, and yet thiswas the last day but one. To-morrow would be examination day. Tothis Mr. Burbank made reference in a few remarks which he made at thecommencement of the exercises.

  He was rather a tall, spare man, and had a habit of brushing his hairupward, thus making the most of a moderate forehead. Probably he thoughtit made him look more intellectual.

  "Boys and girls," he said, "to-morrow is our examination day. I've triedto bring you along as far as possible toward the temple of learning,but some of you have held back, and have not done as well as I shouldlike--John Plympton, if you don't stop whispering I'll keep you afterschool--I want you all to remember that knowledge is better than land orgold. What would you think of a man who was worth a great fortune, andcouldn't spell his name?--Mary Jones, can't you sit still till I getthrough?--It will be well for you to improve your opportunities whileyou are young, for by and by you will grow up, and have families tosupport, and will have no chance to learn--Jane Quimby, I wish you wouldstop giggling, I see nothing to laugh at--There are some of you who havestudied well this term, and done the best you could. At the beginningof the term I determined to give a book to the most deserving scholarat the end of the term. I have picked out the boy, who, in my opinion,deserves it--Ephraim Higgins, you needn't move round in your seat. Youare not the one."

  There was a general laugh here, for Ephraim was distinguished chieflyfor his laziness.

  The teacher proceeded:

  "I do not mean to tell you to-day who it is. To-morrow I shall call outhis name before the school committee, and present him the prize. I wantyou to do as well as you can to-morrow. I want you to do yourselvescredit, and to do me credit, for I do not want to be ashamed of you.Peter Shelby, put back that knife into your pocket, and keep it theretill I call up the class in whittling."

  There was another laugh here at the teacher's joke, and Peter himselfdisplayed a broad grin on his large, good-humored face.

  "We will now proceed to the regular lessons," said Mr. Burbank, inconclusion. "First class in arithmetic will take their places."

  The first class ranked as the highest class, and in it was Harry Walton.

  "What was your lesson to-day?" asked the teacher.

  "Square root," answered Harry.

  "I will give you out a very simple sum to begin with. Now, attentionall! Find the square root of 625. Whoever gets the answer first may holdup his hand."

  The first to hold up his hand was Ephraim Higgins.

  "Have you got the answer?" asked Mr. Burbank in some surprise. "Yes,sir."

  "State it."

  "Forty-five."

  "How did you get it?"

  Ephraim scratched his head, and looked confused. The fact was, he wasentirely ignorant of the method of extracting the square root, but hadslyly looked at the slate of his neighbor, Harry Walton, and mistakenthe 25 for 45, and hurriedly announced the answer, in the hope ofobtaining credit for the same.

  "How did you get it?" asked the teacher again.

  Ephraim looked foolish.

  "Bring me your slate."

  Ephraim reluctantly left his place, and went up to Mr. Burbank.

  "What have we here?" said the teacher. "Why, you have got down the 625,and nothing else, except 45. Where did you get that answer?"

  "I guessed at it," answered Ephraim, hard pressed for an answer, andnot liking to confess the truth--namely, that he had copied from HarryWalton.

  "So I supposed. The next time you'd better guess a little nearer right,or else give up guessing altogether. Harry Walton, I see your hand up.What is your answer?"

  "Twenty-five, sir."

  "That is right."

  Ephraim looked up suddenly. He now saw the explanation of his mistake.

  "Will you explain how you did it? You may go to the blackboard, andperform the operation once more, explaining as you go along, for thebenefit of Ephraim Higgins, and any others who guessed at the answer.Ephraim, I want you to give particular attention, so that you can doyourself more credit next time. Now Harry, proceed."

  Our hero explained the sum in a plain, straightforward way, for hethoroughly understood it.

  "Very well," said the schoolmaster, for this, rather than teacher, isthe country name of the office. "Now, Ephraim, do you think you canexplain it?"

  "I don't know, sir," said Ephraim, dubiously.

  "Suppose you try. You may take the same sum."

  Ephraim advanced to the board with reluctance, for he was not ambitious,and had strong doubts about his competence for the task.

  "Put down 625."

  Ephraim did so.

  "Now extract the square root. What do you do first?"

  "Divide it into two figures each."

  "Divide it into periods of two figures each, I suppose you mean. Well,what will be the first period?"

  "Sixty-two," answered Ephraim.

  "And what will be the second?"

  "I don't see but one other figure."

  "Nor I. You have made a mistake. Harry, show to point it off."

  Harry Walton did so.

  "Now what do you do next?"

  "Divide the first figure by three."

  "What do you do that for?"

  Ephraim didn't know. It was only a guess of his, because he knew thatthe first figure of the answer was two, and this would result fromdividing the first figure by three.

  "To bring the answer," he replied.

  "And I suppose you divide the next period by five, for the same reason,don't you?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "You may take your seat, sir. You are an ornament to the class, and youmay become a great mathematician, if you live to the age of Methuselah.I rather think it will take about nine hundred years for you to reachthat, point."

  The boys laughed. They always relish a joke at the expense of acompanion, especially when perpetrated by the teacher.

  "Your method of extracting the square root is ver
y original. You didn'tfind it in any arithmetic, did you?"

  "No, sir."

  "So I thought. You'd better take out a patent for it. The next boy maygo to the board."

  I have given a specimen of Mr. Burbank's method of conducting theschool, but do not propose to enter into further details at present. Itwill doubtless recall to some of my readers experiences of their own,as the school I am describing is very similar to hundreds of countryschools now in existence, and Mr. Burbank is the representative of alarge class.