While they could locate the Desert of Sahara or the capital
of China on an artificial globe, I found out that the girls could not
locate the proper places for the knives and forks on an actual dinner-
table, or the places on which the bread and meat should be set.
I had to summon a good deal of courage to take a student who had
been studying cube root and "banking and discount," and explain to him
that the wisest thing for him to do first was thoroughly master the
multiplication table.
The number of pupils increased each week, until by the end of the
first month there were nearly fifty. Many of them, however, said
that, as they could remain only for two or three months, they wanted
to enter a high class and get a diploma the first year if possible.
At the end of the first six weeks a new and rare face entered the
school as a co-teacher. This was Miss Olivia A. Davidson, who later
became my wife. Miss Davidson was born in Ohio, and received her
preparatory education in the public schools of that state. When
little more than a girl, she heard of the need of teachers in the
South. She went to the state of Mississippi and began teaching there.
Later she taught in the city of Memphis. While teaching in
Mississippi, one of her pupils became ill with smallpox.
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