A house was hardly necessary in the summer time; I could hold my school under the shade of an old oak tree, as well as any where else.

The thing was, to get the scholars, and to have them thoroughly imbued with the desire to learn.

Two such boys were quickly secured, in Henry and John, and from them the contagion spread.

I was not long bringing around me twenty or thirty young men, who enrolled themselves, gladly, in my Sabbath school, and were willing to meet me regularly, under the trees or elsewhere, for the purpose of learning to read.

It was{205} surprising with what ease they provided themselves with spelling books.