Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-08-10
school,, BooKs-scHooL HOUSES
SCHOOL HOURS.

gogue, ignorant anu brutal, tyIalnlZea
over the Forms until the imperative need
that was felt for supplying females with
employment operated to install the gentler
sex as instructress in the primary ddpart-
ments. And it was n very hard struggle
that preceded the introduction of the new
and vastly superior series OF textbooks.
It is very true that textbook changes
nowadays are frequent: a circumstance
to be occasionally attributed to the fees
paid BY publishers to susceptible Superin-
tendents. Indeed, it is highly probable,
that Noah and Daboll would have fur
nished, exclusively, spelling columns and
arithmetical calculations for the rising
generation unto this day, if sinister mo-
tives had not been brought to bear upon
town and county school.men-and, per-
haps, upon State Superintendent Of Pub
lie Instruction-by book sellers who were
equally enterprising and INSCRIPTIONS.
! However, thar may DO, it dooO rOmain On
item for exceptional congratulation, that
q good object has been accomplished,
though the method employed for securing
that object is likely to be continued to the
diversity and confusion of class lessons
and the enrichment Of those who have the
authority to widely circulate the latest
system of learning the fundamentals "
il. from ten to fifteen minutes. It is q
subject for deep regret that an equally
available power could not be brought to
bear in favor of other school improve
ments which constitute really greater
necessities than have existed in regard to
textbooks. To illustrate: Can any one
tell US the reason why it yet appears ut
terly impossible TO obtain the construc.
ton of q village or country school house
with due reference to ventilation. Out.
side Of San Francisco there is not g
school house on this coast fit foI
the purposes for which it is DO
signed. Nothing is more entirely and
Familiarity admitted than the necessity fol
free and perfect ventilation in rooms where
growing and studying children are rcSu-
larly assembled. And yet the same low
ceiling, the same contracted space covers
the heads and holds the bodies Of thirty,
forty and fifty pupils, of tender age,
steamed to high pressure on the "path Of
knowledge" And q very large proper
ton Of experienced school teachers in our
land admit that three, or at most, four
hours schooltIme per day is up to the limi,
of reasonable tax on the energies Of
scholars Of both sexes under fourteen
years. AL the great physiological re-
formers of the world insist, and have in
sisted for the last ten years, that the six
hour system of school confinement,
amounts to q barbarous treatment Of chill
dren under ten years. But the doors oil
our houses for public instruction continue
to open and close on the six hour time,
The bad air and the too protractcd con.
6nement in our academies is solemnly de-
clared by DIR. Hall and DR.. Jackson and
Professor Dio Lewis to be the ascertained
cause OF mortality in an estimate of one
fourth the deaths under pubity among
| those who are in constant attendance,
from infancy up, at the public school
house. And the probabilities are asserted
to be, by these same distinguished investi-
gators on the subject, that the proportion
Of untimely deaths is far greater than
above stated.
Much we deplore the fact that in our
flush times Virginia and Gold Hill did not
erect, each for itself, q temple of primary
learning worthy the purpose as a work OF
art and as a structure for the preservation
and promotion Of good health. 1t is
easier to make new rulers in new coun-
tries than in old ones. The improvements
or progressive steps herein suggested might
be adopted /; and we urge their considera-
ton. Let our school-day sessions be &C.
duced one-half or one-third; let US have
a few holes scientifically knocked through
the ~cornices Of our district school houses
Not little 3-inch apertures, stopped up
with r~as-gratings.) We appeal to the
powers that behaving jurisdiction over
this matter: Arc you Of the opinions
herein expresseds And if 80. will you act
in the direction which your own judg-
ment, as well as ours, has for a long time
dictated. Give the children a chance to
learn as much as they do now, and as fast,
with more of sunshine and play, aud
with their bodies unenervated and unde-
s,royed by the present p~enitensiary style
Of confinement.