. Wit bought; or, The life and adventures of Robert Merry . nd drankmore deeply, his prejudice against it seemedto increase. He was equally opposed to reli-gion, and spoke disrespectfully of the ministerand the church. Now as he was a kind-hearted, generousman, how could he be so narrow-minded inrespect to education and religion? Theanswer to this question is easy. He wasaddicted to the free use of liquors, whichnot only tend to destroy the body, but toruin and debase the mind. I have been particular about this part ofmy story, for I wished to show the naturalinfluence of the habits of my uncl
. Wit bought; or, The life and adventures of Robert Merry . nd drankmore deeply, his prejudice against it seemedto increase. He was equally opposed to reli-gion, and spoke disrespectfully of the ministerand the church. Now as he was a kind-hearted, generousman, how could he be so narrow-minded inrespect to education and religion? Theanswer to this question is easy. He wasaddicted to the free use of liquors, whichnot only tend to destroy the body, but toruin and debase the mind. I have been particular about this part ofmy story, for I wished to show the naturalinfluence of the habits of my uncle, and theiroperation upon mj own fortunes. I shall THE TOWN SCHOOL. 35 hereafter have yet a sadder story to tell, asto the effect of the village tavern. For thepresent, 1 only point out the fact, that aman who encourages intemperance is usuallyunfriendly to the education and improve-ment of mankind; that his position tends tomake him fear the effect of light and wishfor darkness ; and that hard drinking ruineven a generous and noble mind and But to return to the school. I have aiready described the situation of the house,The building itself was of wood, aboutfifteen feet square, plastered within, thebenches were without backs, and constructedby thrusting sticks, for legs, through augeiholes in a plank. On one side, against thewall, was a long table, serving as a desk fo?th< writers. 36 WIT BOUGHT. In summer, the school was kept by thewoman I have mentioned, who charged thetown a dollar a week, boarding herself; inwinter it was kept by a man, who was paid fivedollars a month and found in board and lode:- ^ ino;. Here about seventy children, of all sizes, o •/ were assembled during this latter portion ofthe year; the place and manner of treat-ment being arranged as much as possible onthe principle that a schoolhouse is a peni-tentiary, where the more suffering there is,the more the improvement will be. The books in use were Websters Spell-ing Book, Dilworths A
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