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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