She was an invalid and unable to leave her chair.
So she had a long rattan.
When the children did not mind, she could, with her long rattan,
reach them at the further side of the room.
One punishment of Mrs. Rand's was to pin a naughty child to her
dress.
As early as this part of his life, Finley Morse tried his hand at
drawing.
He drew Mrs. Rand's picture upon a chest of drawers.
Instead of a pencil he used a pin.
So Mrs. Rand pinned him to her dress.
Of course he did not like that.
He tried to get away.
This tore the dress.
Then Mrs. Rand had to use her rattan.
When seven years of age Finley was sent to school at Andover.
He went to Phillip's Academy.
While there the father wrote letters to his boy.
He gave his boy good advice.
He told him about George Washington.
He also told him about another great man.
This man was a statesman of Holland.
He did all the business for that republic.
Yet he had time to go to evening amusements.
Some one asked this statesman how he did this.
He said there was nothing so easy, for that it was only doing one
thing at a time, and never putting off anything until to-morrow that
could be done to-day.
Finley's parents were always kind to him.
He soon became a manly boy.
He was the kind of boy who seemed to know that he must one day be a
man.
So he worked hard at school.
He began early to think and act for himself.
When he was but thirteen he wrote a sketch of the "Life of
Demosthenes."
He sent it to his father.
This his father kept carefully.
It showed the genius, learning and taste of his boy.
This bright boy was ready for college at the age of fourteen.
But his father thought it best to keep him at home for a year.
Finley, when a boy, was always fond of drawing.
When but fifteen, he painted a fairly good picture in water colors.
This represented a room in his father's house.
His father, his two brothers and himself stood by a table.
His mother sat in a chair.
On the table was a globe, at which they were all looking.
His room at college was covered with pictures of his own making.