Farmers' wives came to Centreville to make
purchases, just as ladies living within a radius of thirty miles
visit New York and Boston, for a similar purpose. Altogether,
therefore, Centreville was quite a lively place, and a town of
considerable local importance. The fact that it had a weekly paper
of its own, contributed to bring it into notice. Nor was that all.
Situated on a little hillock was a building with a belfry, which
might have been taken for a church but for a play-ground near by,
which indicated that it had a different character. It was in fact
the Prescott Academy, so called from the name of its founder, who had
endowed it with a fund of ten thousand dollars, besides erecting the
building at his own expense on land bought for the purpose. This
academy also had a local reputation, and its benefits were not
confined to the children of Centreville. There were about twenty
pupils from other towns who boarded with the Principal or elsewhere
in the town, and made up the whole number of students in
attendance--about eighty on an average.
Standing on the eminence referred to, Harry's attention was drawn to
the Academy, and he could not help forming the wish that he, too,
might share in its advantages.
"There is so much to learn, and I know so little," he thought.
But he did not brood over the poverty which prevented him from
gratifying his desire.
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