The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1870-12-08

JoHngrowx. Dec s 1s1o.

JoHNsTowS, Dec. s, 1870.
DEAR FEEEMAN-There are two kinds OF
| men III this mundane sphere, rich men and
poor men rich man is necessity, and he
IS somebody. He is great chap to shake
! hands with. We have seen folks fairly run
across the Gtreet to shake hands with a rich
! man. lie IS useful, too, at town meetings 70
/ act as president, or secretary, or agent in any
public enterprise. Then he is honored by
! every body, male and female No matter if he
: DO swear little. or drink a little, he belongs
/ TO our chuIch as subscriber and pew rem ter,
and we couldn't well co without him Then
! ne mas carriage and a span of horses and his
daughters have piano. They can't play on
! IT. but still they have piano. In short q itch
man Is necessity, if he is ignorant and should
swear littles But poor man is a nuisance.
nondescript, fungous excrescence, that is
permitted to grow on the body Of society lust
TO institute pleasant contrast. poor man
Is nobody. He may be intelligent. moral.
pious' religious, but no matter for that He is
always IN the way. Nobody shakes hands Wi tn
him. he is nobody but a mechanic or n cob.
bier. or farmer, with big. hard hands, or a
puddler or laborer. He has no piano He
doesn't wear gloves. Who cares for him. He
can't swear so nice as the rich man. and he has
no carnage lie cannot make rich dinners,
nor pay fnr oysters and champagne. He might
do for printer, or publisher, or an editor
but lawyers and doctors and preachers, would
rather shake hands with the rich naboh His
touch has talismanic power. He is an cleo
trio eel, that shocks with magic secret power
everything he touches. The poor man is not
good fellow, but the rich man is clever gen
tleman. Hence We can't help liking him.
Poor boys are also nuisance. 1t makes
ones heart bleed To witness them standing
around the show windows of toys shops, before
the holidays come, looking wistluily at the
supple jacks, drums, cars, trumpets whistles
guns, e:c., etc. If were rich, / should give
every little nuisance dollar or SO before the
holidays. But then ] poor-a nuisance
myselt-and cannot help other nuisances. |
did help one. / met little girl going to Fra
zer's drug store for some cough syrup, who had
lost her money, and was crying Justify. /
gave her enough to repenish her treasury.
,u,t to see her countenance change from tears
to smiles 1t was grand sight, and | should
rejoice to fill the hearts of thousand Young
lads with JOY in the same manner, but then /
am poor ; SO the boys anu l will have lust to
look on and say muffin.
But must change my subject and refer to
educatonsl matters. l want to correct the
School Journal, which has evidently, got into
new hands, as the December number would in
dicate. A certain w. W Woodruff insists ON
rapid rending-a bad mistake, contrary to ali
rules of education. " II. Johnston and Ann
Dickson, (page i60) assert that the District of
Columbia is tel, miles square. Another mis-.
take. 1t used to be, but it isn't Low. PAGE
l66 says, Life at last began on earth Ii
would read better, Life frat began on the
earth" Page I70 Education in Bayaria} no
tees 6,e53 infant schools. ilh only 6, ,796 pu
pills, which would be small schools indeed
something less than one 10 each school An
educational journal should do better than that,
for teachers should be correctly posted.
he Teachers Institute should give education
a general overhauling. l notice that several
normal schools are being erected in different
parts OF the State, at an immense cost to the
tax payers, rs each one gets an appropriation
from the State. These normal schools do not
furnish teachers to the common schools. But
very few of their pupils ever teach a common
school. The people must soon demand less
extravaganza and more money for home use
\ OF less than TWO hundred thousand dollars
are taken from the district schools, annually.
to pay for Superintend0nts, Sate officers, print
ing, normal schools, lectures, institutes, etc
ali of which machinery does little or no good.
What the districts want are higher salaries Tor
teachers and longer terms.
The Directors of Conemaugh borough have
decided to build Uuion School Hoase and to
grade their schools-a step III the right direc-
ton which they will never need to Iegret. -
\ othing more at present.
IOur$. Ron