Creaping Cato

From The Hampden-Sydney Boys 1776-1778 by Joseph Eggleston.  An unpublished manuscript completed in the 1940s and at Hampden-Sydney College Library.  Eggleston is recounting the history of the 65 or so students in the first years of HSC (founded in 1776) who were members of the school Company who were twice called out by the Governor of Virginia to repulse British incursions.

The subject is Joel Watkins.  Some interesting perspective on both the education of the landed gentry when schools were not available as well as how student behavior never changes.

Readers of the Alumni Record of our College will find in volume 12, page 4 (issue of October 1937), an account of Joel Jr.’s Cyphering Book, dated June 12, 1772, when he was being taught by Mr. Thomas Brooks.  On his memorable trip to Kentucky young Watkins found Mr. Brooks settled there, and was received by him with gra­cious hospitality.  In this Cyphering Book, which was an arithmetic made by the pupil out of stiff paper sewed together, the teacher "set" the problem at the top of the page, and under it the pupil wrote out the solution.  On one page Joel drew a picture of a race, or riding, horse, which he called "Creaping Cato”.  Joel no doubt needed the relaxation, for some of the problems were worse than any of the fiendish ones devised later by Pike, Robinson, Davies and Venable in their "Complete" Arithmetics.

 Click to enlarge.  Source:  Hampden-Sydney College Alumni Record, volume 12, page 4, issue of October 1937