]
While this free outdoor life develops strong and vigorous bodies, there is
not much schooling in these backwoods settlements. Most boys and girls
learn very little except reading and writing and very simple ciphering, or
arithmetic. If there are any schoolhouses at all, they are log huts, dimly
lighted and furnished very scantily and rudely.
The schoolmaster, as a rule, does not know much of books, and is quite
untrained as a teacher. His discipline, though severe, is very poor. And
he is paid in a way that may seem strange to you. He receives very little
in cash, and for the rest of his wages he "boards around" with the
families of the children he teaches, making his stay longer or shorter
according to the number of children in school.
In many ways, as you see, the life of the pioneer child, while it was
active and full of interest, was very different from yours. He learned,
like his elders, to imitate bird calls, to set traps, to shoot a rifle,
and at twelve the little lad became a foot soldier. He knew from just
which loophole he was to shoot if the Indians attacked the fort, and he
took pride in becoming a good marksman. He was carefully trained, too, to
follow an Indian trail and to conceal his own when on the war-path--for
such knowledge would be very useful to him as a hunter and fighter in the
forests.
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