[#] The Act of 1816 required the trustees of each school to report to the district Board of Education the books used in the school, and it was lawful for the Board to order and direct such books not to be used; but no one was clothed with authority to order what books should be used. For many years the only Geography used in the schools contained the following information relating to the continent of America: "What is America?" "The fourth part of the world, called also the New World." "How is North America divided?" "Into Old Mexico, New Mexico, Canada or New France, New England, and Florida." The next answer must have been particularly enlightening to the ambitious youth thirsting for knowledge. "What is New France?" "A large tract of ground about the River St. Lawrence, divided into East and West, called also Mississippi or Louisiana." Having given this very lucid explanation the author then proceeds to make his readers feel at home by acquainting them with their neighbours. "What does the East contain?" "Besides Canada, properly so-called, it contains divers nations, the chief of which are the Esquimalts, Hurons, Christinals, Algonquins, Etechemins, and Iroquois. The considerable towns are Quebec, Tadousac, and Montreal." "What is New Britain?" "It lies north of New France, and is not cultivated, but the English who possess it derive a great trade in beaver and originac skins." (In passing it may be pointed out that "originac," or more correctly "orignac," was the name applied to the moose.) The painful part of the story of this most extraordinary geography is that what I have already quoted was all there was between its two covers in any way touching upon North America.[#] [#] _Documentary History of Education in Upper Canada_, Vol. I., page 106. The great drawback to the legislative efforts to improve the system was the lack of uniformity. Each section, and later, each district, followed its own inclination, and no satisfactory results were attained until Egerton Ryerson introduced his reforms, and brought every school in Upper Canada under the same general supervision. The old teacher of the pioneer days is gone from us forever, and, while he served his day and generation as well as he could, we cannot entertain any feelings of regret that he will never return. Brute force played an important part in his system of instruction. The equipment of no school was complete without the tawse or leather strap, and the offending pupil was frequently despatched to the neighbouring woods to cut from a beech tree the instrument of torture to be applied to his particular case.