The waves behind impel the waves before,
Wide-rolling, foaming high, and tumbling to the shore.
Pensive numbers.
In these deep solitudes and awful cells,
Where heav'nly pensive contemplation dwells,
And ever-musing melancholy reigns.
Battle.
Arms on armor clashing brayed
Horrible discord; and the madding wheels
Of brazen fury raged.
Sound imitating reluctance.
For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned;
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind?
A spelling exercise followed, in which the pupils spelled for places, or for the head. Abraham Lincoln stood at the head of the class. He was regarded as the best speller in Spencer County. He is noted to have soon exhausted all that the three teachers whom he found there could teach him. Once, in after years, when he was asked how he came to know so much, he answered, "By a willingness to learn of every one who could teach me anything."
"Abraham," said Master Crawford, "you have maintained your place at the head of the class during the winter. You may take your place now at the foot of the class, and try again."
The spelling for turns, or for the head, followed the method of the old Webster's "Speller," that was once so popular in country schools: