Another teacher, a woman, had the floor of the school-room kept very
clean; consequently no boys were allowed to come in at all with heavy
boots, and the other children in wet weather were compelled to remove
their boots and shoes and put on slippers before entrance. If any of
the scholars were too small to take off and put on their own boots
they were punished by being "blindfolded" and stood upon a cricket in
the middle of the floor. Apparently the worst offence scholars could
be guilty of was to bring in mud or wet upon the polished floor of the
school-room. At this school one very small boy who wore high boots,
but who was unable to take them off without assistance, having been
punished for his "stubbornness," was taken away from the school by his
parents, who resented such an act of injustice and oppression. The
"school-marm," however, said she would rather lose all her scholars
than have any mud or wet upon her floor.
These cases are simply curious. It may be doubted whether we can in
this country show anything so bad as the record furnished by Dickens
in describing some of the schools of England.
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