They were to be paid something above the cost of their
board for their work. The greater part of their earnings was to
be reserved in the school's treasury as a fund to be drawn on to
pay their board when they had become students in the day-school,
after they had spent one or two years in the night-school. In
this way they would obtain a start in their books and a knowledge
of some trade or industry, in addition to the other far-reaching
benefits of the institution.
General Armstrong asked me to take charge of the night-school,
and I did so. At the beginning of this school there were about
twelve strong, earnest men and women who entered the class.
During the day the greater part of the young men worked in the
school's sawmill, and the young men worked in the laundry. The
work was not easy in either place, but in all my teaching I never
taught pupils who gave me much genuine satisfaction as these did.
They were good students, and mastered their work thoroughly. They
were so much in earnest that only the ringing of the
retiring-bell would make them stop studying, and often they would
urge me to continue the lessons after the usual hour for going to
bed had come.
These students showed so much earnestness, both in their hard
work during the day, as well as in their application to their
studies at night, that I gave them the name of "The Plucky
Class"--a name which soon grew popular and spread throughout the
institution.
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