  Letter-day. One day, about the middle of the quarter, in a certain school, what the boys called Letter-day came. Letter-day was a day in which all the boys in the school were employed in writing letters. Each boy, on these occasions, selected some absent friend or acquaintance, and wrote a letter to him. The letters were written first on a slate, and then, after being carefully corrected, were copied neatly on sheets of paper and sent. The writing of these letters was thus made a regular exercise of the school. It was, in fact, an exercise in composition. Erskine’s conversation with his teacher. A boy named Erskine, after taking out his slate, and writing the date upon the top of it, asked the teacher whom he thought it would be best for him to write to. “How would you like to write to your aunt?” asked the teacher. “Why, pretty well,” said Erskine, rather doubtfully. “I think it would be doing good to write to her,” said the teacher. “It will please her very much to have a letter from you.” “Then I will,” said Erskine. “On the whole, I should like to write to her very much.” So Erskine wrote the letter, and, when it had been corrected and copied, it was sent. This is the letter. It gives an account of a petition offered by a dog to his master, begging to be allowed to accompany the boys of the school on an excursion: Erskine’s letter. August 2, 1853. Dear Aunt,—I hope you have been well since I have heard from you. We took an excursion up to Orange Pond, and stayed all day. In the morning it was very misty, but in about an hour it cleared up, and the sun came out. Charles and Stephen went over to Mr. Wingate’s to get a stage, and a lumber-wagon, and a carriage. There were two horses in the stage, and an old gray one in the lumber-wagon. Wright and I went down to get William Harmer, a new scholar, to come up here before we started. At last we all were ready, Crusoe and all. The teacher bought a little dog in the vacation, and named him Crusoe. One of the boys wrote a letter, and tied it about Crusoe’s neck, and this was it: The dog’s petition. My very dear Master,—Can I go with the boys to-day on the excursion? I will be very good, and not bark or bite. I wish to go very much indeed, and I hope you will let me. From your affectionate dog, Bow-wow-wow. Account of an excursion. Diving off the row-boats. The hot rock. Coming home. Soon we started. It was very cool when we left home, but when we got out on the hills it was very hot. The teacher let us get out once and get some berries. After a ride of about nine miles, we got out, and found it a very cool place. The public house was very near to the pond, and we ran down there as soon as we got our fishing-poles. Some of the boys got into an old boat, and got a fish as soon as they cast their poles out. The man said some of us should go out on an old rock that was there, From your affectionate friend, Erskine. Erskine’s aunt was very much gratified at receiving this letter. She read it with great interest, and answered it very soon. |
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