There was another school near, kept by Mr. John Goodwin; the pupils were more advanced, some being farmers’ sons. That being a free school, yet the master was allowed to take private pupils. Females, also, were instructed, having a room to themselves opposite the master’s desk, called the “Ladies’ Room.” The boys at those schools were not allowed to play together, the smaller ones possessing the protection of the sacred enclosure, which was at the larger ones’ peril to invade. We could see them at their play, as we looked through the openings of the gate; and there was sometimes displayed a germ of hostility among the youthful students. In attending this school I was taught to read, and also easy spelling, as before observed; then came little sums in addition, subtraction, and multiplication. I soon became able to read in class; we daily read the Psalms from the book of Common Prayer. We did not have bible reading at this school, as many families at that time did not possess the sacred volume, my parents being among that number; but our immediate neighbours were in possession of a bible, and were always willing to lend it to my parents of an evening, and the owners, being aged people, would often invite me to stand and read to them from their bible, of Adam and Eve, of Noah, of Abraham, and Lot, of Isaac and Jacob, and also that remarkable narrative of Joseph and his brethren. These exercises were to me helps in the right direction. My master found I was getting on, and set me to read to him pieces from history, principally from Goldsmith’s “Vicar of Wakefield.” The closing paragraph of the 7th chapter I will here insert, because, although more than sixty years have rolled away, yet I well remember the concluding sentences. Here is a sample:— “My wife now kept up the conversation, though not the argument. She observed that several prudent men of our acquaintance were freethinkers, and made very good husbands. And she knew some sensible girls that had skill enough to make converts of their spouses. ‘And who knows, my dear,’ continued she, ‘what Olivia may be able to do? The girl has a great deal to say upon every subject, and to my knowledge is very skilled in controversy.’ ‘Why, my dear, what controversy can she have read?’ cried I. ‘It does not occur to me that I have ever put such books into her hands; you certainly overrate her merit.’ ‘Indeed, papa,’ replied Olivia, ‘she does not. I have read a great deal of controversy. I have the disputes between Thwackum and Square, the controversy between Robinson Crusoe and Friday, the savage, and I am now employed in reading the controversy in ‘Religious Courtship.’’ ‘Very well,’ I cried I, ‘that’s a good girl; I find you are perfectly qualified for making converts, and so go help your mother to make the gooseberry-pie.’”