The union Democrat. [volume] (Sonora, Calif.) 1854-1946, 1871-04-08

cure him. sent word hack by his brother,
who did not staramer, that the remedying oi
lingual defects did not m yet come within the
province of common-school teachers voca-
tim. The parents were indignant. They
/ cent ne Mexican children guileless of any
knowledge in the English tongue There
was work enough daily laid out for me in
that hot, little church to have kept husily en-
ployed the whole faculty of Yale College.
Sturdy, muscular, fast-growing boys, tho
sons of ranchers, would drop in two days in
the week 20 be educated. Tie Importance Of
regularity in attendance did not seem to be
realized at jamestown. Two days in the
week will not tone down a farmers boy to
the repnse necessary for the school-room.
They we're restless: their nerves oTerfowed
with rough vitality--vitality Of that sort
which comes into play in the fields. behind
the pillow, on the mustang chasing cattle, or
on the drivers seat. In school, they could
not keep qoiet: they turned, and twisted
resslessly on their seats they plowed their
grimy hands into their copy hooks they up
set ink, and inyoluntarily rubbed it on and
in their faces; they twisted their limbs in
snake-l;te contortions about their desk-legs
when writing, their tcngoes protrnded from
their mouths, and followed the curve of every
letter with involuntary and painful effort; in
class, they stood frss.on one leg, then on the
other. and trod on toes. and fell over each
other. They were prolofic in spit-balls /; they
infected the whole school with their atmos-
phere of restlessness, and generally capped
the climax OF their unrest by bringing bull
terrier to school with them.
The very common dog constituted another
great annoyance. Dogs, my pupils would
bring with them to school. Dogs of high and
low degree, ours, mastiffs, NeYfoundlands.
and terriers swarmed on the outside of the
University, and at every opportunity sneaked
in to lay themselves lovingly fHnder their
masters desks. To drive them out involved
disturbance and confusion, for the brntes
took the longest route possible to the door,
scutsing around under the desks. ard receiv-
ing gratuitnus kicks from. hostile boys, while
nv harassed, pedagogical soul mathematical
Noah for ever having allowed the chosen Ca
nine pair to enter the Ark.
/ There was one little girl, five years of age
could never teach that child the alphabet.
Four times day did / agonize with her
through the ,wenty-six signs. At the exrir-
alton of eighteen months, she could not be re-
lied upon for single letter after A. Her
parents of course were not satisfied. md held
hec up to the community as a bright and
shining example of the school-master s ineff-
cheney. Tier eyes were bright. black, and
| in my daily alphabetical wrestlings with her,
they looked at me as if innocently wondering
what was taking all that trouble for. That
child will never realize the pain and anxiety
she cost me- After two years. labor at the
jamestown Institute, left her uncertain as
to the identity of B. left her, legacy
i<.c. G. 81 10 he
4 was ever willing to be taught. She ever
came dutifully to my call. That proved the
most discouraging feature Of the case. Her
stold docility exasperated ne. Month after
month did she repeat those twenty-six letters
after me-, as if it were labor of love. She
liked it. Once in great while, she went
through the whole corr ectly. A load would
/ be lifted from me. / would not test her
again that day. rejoiced in the thought
that, for twenty-four hours at least, she was
alphabetically perfect. Alas invariably the
next morning the fogs had gathered over her
4 little brain, and she gave out at ID.
! NY geography classes became wonderfully
proficient. Owing to the geographical drill
and discipline, nv children would stand be-
| fore the large outline-charts of the world. and
correctly name thereon all the continents,
| oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, ISLANDS, capes,
sounds, bays, the countries and theircapitals,
| the zones and their characteristics of climate.
Visitors, who came occasionally and witness
ed these exercises, retired humiliated at their
own geographical ignorance. Yet it was a
sham. Most Of those children had 10 very
clear idea of what the map meant. They
were liable, at times, to define an island as
"a BODY of land surrounded by land" Be-
fore visitors. always trembled at the pnssi-
BILE Examinations of such definitions. How
could it be otherwise? They had been born
and brought up in an inland country. The
miners reservoirs were the largest bodies of
water they had any knowledge of. could
not lead my flock to one of these and say,
MY children. behold on small scale the
mighty ocean - The thing was too small,
too muddy. and there was no surge. So, ge-
Geographically, was obliged to be content
with imparting to my flock much shadow in
stead of substance.
| Itw even SO, If not moro so, in grammar.
After months of drilling. produced gram
mar-class able to define nouns. verbs, adjec-
tives. and all other parts of speech able to
repeat all the required rules, able to parse
| fuent!y. This grammatical battalion was
exhibited before parental visitors. who retir-
ed awe-struck at their children's learning,
and ashamed of their own ignorance. This
was another sham. The whole exercise was
mainly due to parrot-lke proficiency Of
memory When the drill was neglected for
a week, the whole battalion showed signs Of
retrograding into grammatical darkness. 1t
was nv patience aud perseverance, that kept
them bostered up in the upper regions of
grammatical light. | was to them what. in
civilization, the superior race is to the infe-
rinr. One originates. the other copies one
leads, the other follows. Snuff out the eau
casian, and in generation those who borrow
from him. those who shine by his reflected
Hight, will 60 hack to their native barbarism.
When my pedagogical candle was snufFed out
| at jamestown, all the lesser grammatical
lights went out with it.
NY young-lady scholars proved greattrials.
They entered society early in jamestown.
At fifteen, they were acknowledged feminine
powers in the community, attending balls
and parties, being whirled about on the dusty
reads of Tuolumne in dusty buggies, and hav-
Inc received more or less offers of marriage
from miners. old and young. These were
Idif6cult subjects to discipline. They were
ld;,nosed TO laugh to scorn the control of any