The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1868-01-30
TOO MUCH MACHINERY.
BY W. II. vENABLE

BY W. II, VENABLE !
The back-woods schools Of by-gone DAYS. wlh
all their shortcomings, dida better work thhn
we are opt to suppose. 1t Is seldom lpossibleho
'rlng out the old, ring in the new" without
some sacrifice Of good, though our whole gam
may more than compensate US for our partial lossA
Those old, primitive, ungraded, unclassined un-N
nOrmaized institutions in which our fathers con
ned their daily lessons, and of which many of u
might recall personal "reminiscences, had their
peculiar advantages as well as their peculiar fail
ings. They did Mt run in ruts They were not
put into straightforward by inexorabe boards of
education. They were not besiegcd by over
persistent publishers or rdeluged by Hoods Of rival
textbooks. They were your bona .fde free
schools. Neither Legislative nor conventional
trammels restricted them Committees of exam
inatlon kept their distance. The teacher wrought
according to his Town sweet will" Nor educa-
tlonal journal, nor summer institute, nor lecture
ON theory and practice, Yexed his tranquil soul;
and his car was never offended by the sound of
that euphOnious polysyllable, peddgogics. Each
pupil was at liberty within not very definite lin
It's TO scale the rugged Chill of science" by
self-ehosen path. WHAT do you want to studyY'
was the masters first qestlon to the newcomer.
There were almost as many classes as textbooks
and scarcely two textbooks alike. Individual
competition ran high Nobody was held back
by his class; for II one pupil could run ahead OF
the rest, away he shot, like locomotive uniast-
ened from Its train. He who had the pluck to
try arithmetic, for example bought book, slate,
aud pencil, and began TO- cipher away as II for
dear life, and that was proud day on viii leh he
could allrm--"Iye done every sum in the book. ]"
And when the spelling match" came oil, what
hero he, or heroine she, who, after the close,
exciting contest Ofa whole afternoon, triumph
antly held the floor, while, one by one, fifty,
eighty, or a hundred boys and girls missed q"
and were compelled by the laws OF photographic
war to sit down aud chew the bitter bread OF
defeat. Have we as good spoilers nowadays as
we used TO have
The back-woods schools have nearly passed
away, and ere long we shall know them only in
tradition
In addition to the attention paid to
spelling every day in the early Schools,
the night schools acted as powerful aux
iliaries. Those who never attended
these schools in their early days, can
never realize the ecstatic joy they in
spired. ! have attended these schools
at the distance of five miles. There
were three or four modes of conducting
them, The most common mode was
for the master to announce a certain
number of pages to be spelled at each
round, One on two persons, generally
parents who were in attendance, took
states, and when a word was missed,
he would make a mark, and when the
designated pages were gone over, he
would count up, and see which side had
missed the most words.
The master would then select two
other captains, aud they would choose
up again, always, Of course, choosing
the best spoilers first, until all were cho-
sen. Each person who missed a word,
had to go over to that side where it was
finally spelled, Ifspelled on the side
where it was first missed, all were
saved who had missed it. When one
side all went over they were broken NJ
and defeated,
But the mode | liked best was spelling
down. Whenever a pupil missed
word, he or she sat down, and did