In the last I was quite an adept, for our village teacher was rather clever at "Ciphering," and took great pride in proving his accomplishment, by communicating what he knew to his pupils.
"The Boy Tar"
Mayne Reid
It was not that Don Gervaso was a man of superior acquirements: in writing, Ciphering and the rudiments of Latin he seemed little likely to carry Odo farther than the other; but in religious instruction he suffered no negligence or inattention.
"The Valley of Decision"
Edith Wharton
He had perhaps been living a little beyond his means, but as to the school, he had rather refined tastes, and he longed to teach his children something more than the Ciphering, as it was called, and bookkeeping which they would have learned at the academy at which men in his position usually educated their boys; and as to the seaside, his wife was ill, and he could not bear to see her suffering in the smoky street, when he knew that a little fresh air and change of scene would restore her.
"The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford"
Mark Rutherford