Sketches from Concord and Appledore | Page 4

near battleground.]
The life of Concord, at the time of which we write, was not its
celebrated people so much as Mr. Frank B. Sanborn's school for youth
of both sexes. There were not young people enough in the town to
make a dance or a picnic out of, and this school introduced an element
from the outside world which was both useful and improving. Most of
his pupils came from the vicinity of Boston, but there were many also
from Springfield, now and then one from the West Indies, and finally a
Sandwich Islander, a genuine Kanaka. They supported several
boarding-houses, the candy-store and the corner grocery, besides
greatly increasing the revenue of the post-office.
It was a cheerful sight to see these ruddy youths and blooming maidens
of a winter's day come trooping in to get the evening mail with their
skates in their hands. There was also a daily delegation of farmers' boys
from Acton, staunch, worthy fellows, and generally better behaved than
their more aristocratic companions.
Mr. Sanborn himself, (afterwards for more than twenty years the
efficient inspector of our state charities,) was the most genial and
good-humored of schoolmasters. He enjoyed teaching, and wished his
scholars to enjoy learning. He liked to see the bright young faces about
him, and it was their own fault if he was not liked by his pupils. He was
impartial, frank, and perfectly sincere; knew how to keep discipline
without being a martinet. He was especially a good instructor for young
ladies for he never showed them any sentimental tenderness.

It was not a very good training school, like the Boston Latin School, or
Phillips Academy at Exeter, and this is usually the case in a school
where there are pretty young women; but, as Emerson indeed said,
much could be learned with Mr. Sanborn which was not to be had at
other schools,--especially this, that the true aim of life should not be
riches or success or even scholarship, but moral and intellectual
development. Mr. Sanborn's ideal of his profession was a high one, and
but for his interest in the larger field of philanthropy he might have
succeeded in realizing it.
Mr. Sanborn's most troublesome boy had a scriptural name, which we
will call David,--afterwards quite a distinguished lawyer. There was no
harm in David, but an immense deal of mischief. In fact he was
irrepressible. "David, stand up on the floor," was part of the customary
routine; and when this was accompanied by the use of a large lexicon
his situation was a truly amusing one. If he succeeded in escaping this
penalty of transgression until the first recess he was considered
fortunate. He usually returned from the school sports too much
exhausted for any further exertion, but in half an hour was as lively
again as ever. All veneration for authority seemed to have been
replaced in David by a strong sense of the ridiculous. His seat was
immediately under the eye of the master, with his face to the wall, and
a large map of ancient Rome before him, but this did not prevent him
from turning about on all possible occasions and expressing his various
states of mind in such ludicrous pantomime as would set off the young
girls and small boys like a row of torpedoes. Whatever might be said or
done in the school without bringing condign punishment on his head
David was sure to say or do; and his criticism of passing events and
comments during recitations were quite as edifying as those of the
instructor,--which is saying a good deal. He had committed to memory
one of the longest lists of exceptions in the Latin grammar, and never
missed an opportunity of repeating it as rapidly as possible and with a
comical look.
His one object of aversion was Mr. Sanborn's rattan, and what to do
about it he did not know; until coming to school one morning very
early with another youth of the same disposition, they cut it into
sections and smoked it. After this he was in great terror for several days
lest the theft should be discovered, but as the rattan was more for

ornament than exercise, its absence did not appear to have been noticed.
Of course these performances made quite a hero of him with the girls,
and he was rewarded with their smiles and favor at the school dances
and other social occasions.
As an artistic contrast to this picture we remember three beautiful girls
who boarded with the wife of the village blacksmith, in one of the
whitest and most neatly kept houses in the town. They were not merely
pretty young women, but each possessed a style of beauty peculiarly
her own. One was a bright, rosy blonde, with sparkling eyes and