Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1858-04-30
An Enlightened Teacher.

"The school-master is abroad" and if
any one wants to see him, they can have
a sight by visiting the Capitol at Harris
burg, where he occupies seat as the Re-
preventative, in the House, of Wayne
county. His patronymic is Stephens, and
he is a Hardshell Lecompton democrat
His face, when we saw him, was rub;cuud !;
but that was probably owing to perspiring
efforts in delivering a set Grafton Of an
hours length on the beauties of education,
and we are rather inclined to think that
his natural color is g:eea. In spite Of his
rubicuud face he seemed to US TO be the
most rerRam of men.
This gentleman informed the House, on
the occasion referred to, that be had been
for many years teacher; and he doubt
less procured lis election to the Legisla-
ture for the purpose Of enlighteniDg the
representatives Of the people, and radically
reforming the school laws Of the State
His bill for that purpose, which he has
nursed and tended as the pet of his soul,
is great curiosity and We laid hands upon
copy for the purpose Of showing what
stuff Wayne county teacher is made Of.
1t sets the English language at absolute
defiance, treats grammar as if it were enc
of the forgotten sciences, and brings Us to
vernacular of the backwoods as the true
language for the statute book. If the
County Superintendent of Wayne is at oil
equal to his business, we do not wonder at
the anxiety Of Stephens to abolish that
office. As specimen Of the language Of
the bill, we submit the following.
"SEc. .. That every dollar Of said
school fund shall be appropriated to cdu-
cate the children of the State, and not one
cent shall be paid for County or State
school officers except the five per centum
Of that part which goes to the counties Of
the State for to pay the Normal School
Inspector
When this section was before the House
some one moved to strike out "not one
cent as being too refined, and iusert "nory
red;" and another moved to stikc out ''for
to pay" and insert "tor till pay" The
bill broke down at this point, and was sent
to Coventry,a ,and hence there was no chance
to get at the other sections but we add
a specimen or two:
s1n the sping one thousand eight hun.
dred and fifty nine those parts of the dis.
trict or schools where there is more than
one director to school the directors who
hundred and tifty-eight shall resign"
A rather expeditions and certainly ori-
ginal plan of getting rid Of obnoxious ofli-
GERS. Congress might take the hint and
Iegislate upon it to the relief Of the Presi-
dent. Again:
"Where there is less or no more than
five schools in operation in one district
the teachers shall form one committee /;
where there Is six schools and less than
nine in operation in one district the tea
chers shall be divided into two committees;
where there Is bine and less than twelve
into three committees, W here there Is twelve
and less than fifteen into four committees,
ct cetera.
The persistent disregard of Lindley Muir
ray, here, is something refreshing coming
from teacher. Again
"The Secretary of the Commonwealth
shall make out State table by counties,
comparative statement, and list of the
aggregate number OF scholars in each
county, together with statement of the
city and county Of Philadelphia !; these
several reports and statements be shall
hand over to the State printer for him to
print one and one third times as many
copies as their is school districts in the
State for the use of the Legislature and
their constituents
But enough. We suggest to the Legis-
lature the propriety of apprOpriating few
hundred dollars to send this man, under
the direction of the State Superintendent,
to some one of the ordinary common
schools, and keep him there until he ac-
quires the ruliments of the English Ian
guage. He may in time be taught to spell,
read, and write correctly; and after that
if Wayne county ,eiN have him for rep
resentative, it is to be hoped his expert
ence will make him little more modest.
-PusJurgh Gazette.
HOUSEHOLD MEAsUEEs.-As all fami-
lies are not provided with scales and
4 .l;ar,