“The school was at one time kept in the old Landon house, then in the old red one. After that a school house was built very nearly on the site of the later building. The dwelling house which Miss Pierce occupied for many years was built by herself & her sister Nancy, they borrowing the money [600] of Julius Deming Esq. “Miss Nancy looked after the house.[85] She was a very small woman with a large head & very tiny feet. A fine mind—Miss Pierce was the only teacher at first. Subsequently Mr. John Brace assisted in the teaching of arithmetic. “History was taught by Miss Pierce’s reading aloud; the scholars then wrote down what they remembered, which was with many of them, kept in their daily journal. “Every Saturday, the pupils faults noticed by Miss Pierce during the week, were pointed out by her in the presence of the whole school, and credit and debt marks set down accordingly. “At the close of each month, a ball was given & gentlemen were invited. “The building was divided by a sort of swinging partition which was shut back on such occasions. “In the winter only one room was used for recitations warmed by a fire of wood in a large fire place, there being one at each end of the room. “The balls were kept up until twelve o’clock, commencing early in the evening. “At the end of six months a stage was erected at one end of the building, with drawing curtains, and plays were written by Miss Pierce from Scriptural stories, Ruth, & Naomi, David & Absolom, Jepthah’s Daughter &c., were performed by the scholars, a few boys who also attended the school assisting. “In speaking of the school room Aunt added, the seats were without backs, with primitive desks in front, & debt marks were given those who sat crooked! “Miss Mary Pierce after Miss Nancy’s death taught occasionally in the school, but she did not like it, and was mostly occupied in the house.”[86] Old Mrs. Pierce, [“Aunt Mary’s” mother] lived with her daughter, [adds Mrs. Gray], leaving Mr. James[?] Brace the red house after her husband’s death. The reputation of the school, [it being the only one almost for young ladies] was in Aunt’s time very high, pupils coming from Canada & Georgia, & elsewhere. Mrs. Mary D. Hoppin (wife of Professor Hoppin) writes: The Geography item was simply this—that at the period of your Aunt’s success in teaching it, it had not been allowed in other schools, it was not considered a suitable branch of study for young women. Indeed Geography as now taught was not known. It was considered a history of the planet more than of its surface physically. I wish we could see in some Library a copy of the first Geography used in America. I believe it was a thick heavy Octavo for students, & had an account of savage tribes, nations, wars, geology, great men, architecture, &c. &c. I think Morse’s Geography was not written till long after your Aunt’s day, I presume she used maps with her own instruction added. Miss E. W. Davenport writes: