The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1870-04-28
POOR SCHOOL HOUSES.

| Penny-wise economy is a curse to a
community. We mean that miserable
economy that picks uD rusty coppers and
lets the gold eagles pass. We mean that
contemplate economy that tries to meas
ure the tremendous magnitude of thought
with yard stick, and in its failure calls
the whole matter sour grapes" Re.
| ligiously speaking, it is the advocates of
this economy that, for the cheapness of
way, spend the. whole of life in meanly
creeping through rat-holes, and thus
miss the sublime ascension.
Beauty and convenience, which some
philosophers regard as Identical, have
much to DO with instruction. 1t is well
known that life during the common
years of pupilage is very susceptible to
surrounding influences. The student of
! history can read the character of a people
from the climate and uatural aspects OF
their country. So a school house and its
surroundings must have considerable to
do with young minds.
We haye such school houses in view.
They are caricatures set in wood. The
outside has namelcss architecture, the
inside has ''most ancient and fsh-like
smell" Indeed, with little variation,
we might apply to such structures the de-
scription that Erasmus gives of London
in its earlier days, when he says its
houses were de6led with straw, tobacco
ouids, and the remnants Of old beer.
What good is in these 'sga unit, ghaistly,
ghost-alluring edifces?" as Burns would
style them. In respect to these, lit is
safer to change many things than one
as Bacon says Of nature and state.
The seats are horrible contrivances of
elder times. Hard and uncomfortable,
they have tendency to produce peevish
tempers and crooked spines. There are
various torturing concerns Of this kind
Truly, there is moral significance in a
seat. The Christian loses half Of his de-
votion in bad seats, and why should not
the scholar thus lose some Of his intel
lectual possibilities?
The lack of proper ventilation is also
the cause of muchlmischief for the air
being thus filed with poisonous gas. dis
ease is created. Often, in the miserable
alternative, windows are opened and thus
is uuwisdom shown against the old Chi
nese proverb, "avoid a current Of air as
you would an arrow"
! Means Of demonstration are lacking
Neither charts nor maps are on the walls.
The black-boards are small and time
worn. There is no apparatus for seien-
ti6c Illustration. The scholar thus
thrown back upon abstract memory loses
much advancement for the lack of facili-
| ties. Fit instruml nts for illustrations
do much to give things ''local habita
tion and name
This state of things, being a fruitful
source of insubordination, entails endless
difficulties upon the teachers. Thus it
seems the economy that allows this
insufficiency to exist, adds to the burdens
of those who spend time in such thank
less task. IF, to this lack of external ar
rangements, be added the unjust criti-
cisms of careless parents, then indeed
the unfortunate under dog" has hard
lot. Such materials would furnish a
chapter for Victor Hugo's famous novel.
At least, it would be well for the one
that accepts the situation to remember
the poetic inscription over the entrance
to hell,
"All hope abandon, ye who enter in ~
0.