We used to carry to church a little foot-stove with a little
tin pan in it, which we filled with coal from the stove in
the meeting-house, and the ladies of the family would pass
it round to each other to keep their toes from freezing; but
the boys did not get much benefit from it.
They had good schools in Concord, and the boys generally
were good scholars and read good books. So whenever they
thought fit they could use as good language as anybody; but
their speech with one another was in the racy, pithy Yankee
dialect, which Lowell has made immortal in the "Biglow Papers."
It was not always grammatical, but as well adapted for conveying
wit and humor and shrewd sense as the Scotch of Burns.
The boys knew very well how to take the conceit or vanity
out of their comrades. In the summer days all the boys of
the village used to gather at a place on the river, known as
Thayer's swimming-place, about half a mile from the town
pump, which was the centre from which all distances were
measured in those days. There was a little gravel beach
where you could wade out a rod or two, and then for a rod
or two the water was over the boy's head.
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