The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-12

the empire could not even undertake
If the Germans are wise, they will hasten
to make peace on such terms as the French
people can submit to. To prolong the war
is to imperil all the glory that Germany has
already won.
THE MURDER OF A SCHOOL TEACHER.
From the NJ Y. Times.
The epidemic of youthful crime continues.
On Wednesday young lady, the teacher of
district school at Canton, Mass, was MUIR
dered by her pupils. Four lads between
the age of nine and thirteen, lay in wait for
her while she was on her way home to dinner,
and deliberately stoned her to death. "One
of the missiles, we are told, ''the size of
common inkstand, hit the teacher on the
neck, just below the ear, and another stone
struck her on the back, which caused her
to stagger." Upon this her dastardly young
assailants proclaimed her to be drunk. The
unfortunate girl managed to drag her.
self to her home, where she told what
had happened. ''Those awful boys" she
said, with eonvulsive shudder, 'have
been stonlng me-" The next day she died
Her physicians say that an old disease was
brought to climax by the inhuman assault
thus made upon her, and that it was the cause
of her death. In law. this fact may mitigate
the responsibility of Miss Barstow's murder
ers, but it cannot do SO in a moral point of
view. When we come to look into the pro-
vocation for this crime, there seems less and
less excuse for the young miscreants. There
was surely never case of more bitter ven
geance for light offense. The school, it
seems, had been hard to manage, but Miss
Barstow's predecessor happily was "robust
woman" and so carried things on "with a
measure of success" This means, we sup
pose, that the gentle youths, her pupils, were
afraid of her. They, perhaps, apprehended
that if they threw stones at her they might
get the worst of it. At any rate, the
difference between the two women was
quickly seen and taken. advantage Of. On
Wednesday, at the noon recess, Miss Barsto "
''rung in" the scholars as usual. Some of
them refused to return. The teacher then
shut out the delinquents. This seems mild
form of punishment, since at worst it need
only cut off the afternoons tuition, depri-
vatlon of which youths of the manifest stamp
of Miss Barstow's pupils do not in general
complain. Determined, however, on mis-
chief at any cost, the excluded lads began
to throw stones through the windows. This
wrought destruction, but no harm to life or
limb, so that they ragged about unsatisfed.
An opportunity to repair the omission soon
presented itself Miss Barstow started for
home, and thus put herself in the power of
| her enemies, and the merclless way in which
| corded
1t is dangerous and unfair to generalize
against whole bodies of individuals because
of the misbehavior of part of their number,
and the rule applies to boys as we'll as tc
men, But the public do not need to be told
that the list of crimes committed by boys has
of late alarmingly increased. To assert that
there is something radically wrong in the
training Of youths or of large classes of them,
in different parts of the country, might be tc
go too far. Yet it is not easy to account on
any other hypothesis for a frightful amour,
of wrong-doing, greater, we believe, than has
ever been recorded of our younger popula
ton. 1t threatens to become one of the
| gravest social difficulties of the future. Wher
several murders are committed by lads under
fourteen within week, it is not extravagan
to call the fact alarming, or unreasonable tC
urge special investigation, and, if possible
| special remedies.