Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1871-01-14
s BULLYTNG.o

It is unfortunate that there is place
in our vocabulary for the term "bully."
But human nature, approaching, rs il
often does, the british, necessitates the
expression.
There il "bullying" on sea-ship-
masters over sailors; and on land, be-
tween "sharks" Of different degrees,
and wherever men are found whose
lower passions have been cultivated at
the expense of the higher parts of their
nature.
We have examples of this in places
high and low among the rich aud the
poor; certain amount of the brute or
physical force overmasters those who
may have less
We confess to peculiar hatred OF
the bullying disposition ever since our
sdhool days This spirit is not confined
to full grown men-the school boy un>
derstands it too well.
1t is that mean, contemplate spirit
that dominates unjustly over the one
who is often only physically weaker
than his tormentor. Nay, We know of
many cases where the boy who was
ridiculed, sneercd at, trampled on at
school by the heel of prejudice, has
afterwards risen as much higher than
his sneering, bullying contemporaries,
as the eagle rises above the ground
sparrow in ito lofty fights
We have in mind q most marked
Instance OF this nature,
There is no man living, perhaps,
who, considering all the circumstances,
has made greater attainments in Lam
guage, literature and descriptive power,
with pen or tongue, than sEl,hu Burritt,
the learned blacksmith; and yet, when
at school in his native village, he
meekly bore the epithet bestowed by
his superiors % of s.tow head r.
Now, almost every school will fur
nish examples Of rough, untaught, I'M
disciplined, unprincipled, selfish boys,
who fancy it is brave or manly to cause
one in their power to suffer.
Who does not remember ia child
hood, scenes Of torture, when the suffer-
ing consisted not merely in the physi-
cal pain caused, but also in the sense of
shame, anger, degradation, and in the
pent up fires OF indignation at the bold,
dastardly injustice Of the bully Who
that has experienced such personal in-
suits can forget the offender during
lifetime2 The effect In terrible on the
career of the injured boy, sometimes
causing him TO be estranged from sooi>
ETY., shaking his confidence in men and
in himself through life. Here is a
matter for the faithful teacher to look
into. When justice thus falls in the
street near the school house, let the
teacher set her upright again show
the pupils what is and what is not true
courage; teach them that the meek,
accomplishing, though often sensitive
one, who comes under fist or foot of
your "bully," is generally the manifest.
Let no one in, school boast of his brute
force. when unjustly matched against
another. Let such an one be pat 10
shame in the presence Of che school,
and thus LET oil be taught that moral
and intellectual attainmens are vastly
superior to mere physical prowess..
The teacher will thus have created
public sentiment, and the teacher
who cannot do this, will surely fail in
his calling--a sentiment which shall be
salutary In the school itself, and he win
have contributed his quota OF influence
| towards lessening that demoniac taste
for prize ring performances among
grown up people called men!"
Where education has bean ant;rafu