CHAPTER XXXII.
WHEN OLD PEG LED THE FLOCK During the fifth week of school there was an enforced vacation of three or four days, over Sunday, while the school committee were investigating certain complaints of abusive punishment, against Master Brench.
The complaints were from numbers of the parents, and concerned putting those props in pupils' mouths to abolish "buzzing" of the lips, while studying their lessons; and also complaints about "sitting on nothing," said to be injurious to the spine.

The affair did not much concern us young folks at the old Squire's.

Indeed, we did not much care for the school that winter.

Master Brench's attention was chiefly directed to keeping order and devising punishments for violations of school discipline.

School studies appeared to be of minor importance with him.
It was on Tuesday of that week, while we were at home, that the following incident occurred.
Owing to our long winters, sheep raising, in Maine, has often been an uncertain business.