Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1860-04-12

men who have studied Latin in American
colleges for four or FIVE years, and yet did
not know half 60 much sbout II as this boy
! does Of English afler eighteen months study.
Several other boys have made almost equal
progress with this one. Taking them as 8
school however, these are thu same varieties
OF character which are found in all parts o.
the world. Some are superior, some medium
and many mcniaRy dumb.
The government, Of the school is difficul,
task. The boys ore not rebellious. but they
are utterly needless. Any amount OF rule.
may be adopted and the most severe penal
ties attached to iLem, and although the boys
may cheerfully consent TO obey them, yet
they would all be broken within an hour. II
is customary oil over India for scholars to
read aloud when studying, q practice which
turns every school room into perfect babel.
| determined to put a stop to this ss soon as
! cane here, lit.le dreaming Of the trouble
it would give me. The boys protested that
they could not learn unless they read aloud.
1t did no good to tell them how other boys
studied, and that they could do the same.
They ioouId make themsel Ives heard and
have not yet succeeded in breaking up the
practices. believe it coul1 be done, " ere
l to remain in the school room all the time,
but in my absence the native moonstees caD
do nothing with the babbling little brood
Whether will ever succeed or not is very
doubtful.
The Ohio teacher can form little idea Of
the value Of mutual love and kindness among
the scholars, as an aid in governing school.
Here, where cruel idolatry crushes out
every trace Of affection from the heart, every
boy is controlled by the most narrow and
selfish feelings. Hence they are seldom
willing TO yield the slightest advantage to
their schoolmates. they are always ready to
take mean revenge in wrongiug their mates
in any manner or to any extent. They have
very little affection for their nearest rela.
lives. A few days ago an English officer,
who was sending his boy to the school, died
and of course was buried WITH military hon
ors. gave the boys permission to go out
and see the soldiers march by, think NJ they
might be fasoiably impressed on comparing
it with their own horrid burning of the dead.
After the procession had passed, one of the
boys said to me with evident surprise, that
John L. Ohe boy mentioned } was crying.
Well, said l., is not that right! liyour f,ther
shoud die, would. not you cry tool The
who'd school at once burst Out laughing at
the very idea Of such thing. They seemed
utterly at loss to understand the force of
my question. 1t is not wilful and wicked
recklessness which makes them difficult to
govern, so much Os moral stupor which
seems TO parslyze all the finer feelings of
the; heart.
] have also found it very difficult to incul-
cate habits of cleanliness among the boys.
The natives on the plains of India are
clsanly people, it being part OF their relig-
ion to wash themselves every morning
before eating. But up here on the noun.
tains, where the air aud wafer are too cold
for com fort before breakfast times, the
natives make few drops answer for the
ablution, and generally keep thems elves in
a very filthy condition, l have succeeded
pretty well in getting the boys TO wash their
hands and faces, but as they daub themselves
with mud every day as a mark of the caste
TO which they belong, the washing does no,
do much good. By hard persuasion have sue
ceeded in getting them to keep the mud off
their faces until they 90 home from school,
but they are very impatient under ths re-
striction. As for clothing, cleanliness is
out Of the question. BY the rules of caste,
every man has his own peculiar trades, and
he dare not do any thing outside Of his ow n
profession, under penalty of becoming an
outcast. Hence no one dares TO wash his
own clothes, this being the work of the
"Dhoby" or washermen's caste, and as few
are able to pay for it, the greater part ofths
people wear the most filthy kind OF clothing.
This is dffisulty which have not tried to
overcome. Until Christianity destroys the
prejudices Of the parents, the children can.
not improve in this respect.
Owing to my limited experience and i'm
perfect knowledge OF the language. / am
not able to speak very definitely about the
amount OF good such schools are likely to do
in India. The boys who have attended our
school for year or more have their conf
dence in the nonsense Of the Shasras com
ple,ely shaken. They have nc idea that
there are mountains on the earth, SO ,0eO
miles high or that any of the 333 10000
Hindoo gods are in the habit of cheering