Chapter 8 Summary

Twain revisits the subject of the first day of school. This time he speaks of the school in his own town. He was four and one half years old when he started school; he received a whipping with a switch the first day.

He says he believes his mother really enjoyed all the trouble he gave her. Henry, his older brother, gave her no trouble at all. Twain is sure that she would have been bored her to death without his own antics to provide her with some variety. Twain went swimming when he wasn't supposed to, lied about going to church when he hadn't gone, and generally stayed in trouble. He was supposed to take a teaspoon of "pain-killer" every day to prevent cholera, but he fed it to the cat. All of these adventures showed up, in some form or other...