Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1872-10-17
BARRING OUT A sCHOOLMAsTER.

BARRING OUT A SCHOOLMASTER.
Ny early life was made miserable by
one Mulberry Bangs, gentleman of the
old school, who devoted himself to read
ing, writing and arithmetic, and the
general use of a stick. Upon my head
and other parts of my person he i'm
printed himself 30 positively that can
see him now as plainly as if we had
parted but yesterday. He was a stout
man, who made in his figure, when seen
in profile, Hogarth's line of beauty, be-
ing round-shouldered and crooked in
the legs. He was blonde. The hair
of his head had that sunny tinge 80
much admired to-day, and when rubbed
down with a tallow candle, as was his
wont to dress it, was SO smooth and
straight that the boys believed that the
flies slipped down it and broke their
legs. His eyes were dark and fierce,
and hid under the cavernous receeses
made by his bu-hy red eyebrows, seemed
to watch like evil spirits over his pre-
cious nose. The nose was a ruby nose,
bottle in shape, and when Bangs was
angry, which appeared to bo all L4e
time, it glowed like the headlight of a
locomotive. His mouth was finished
without lips, and resembled slit in q
piece of sole leather.
My early experience gave me a dis
taste for the whip in schools. But am
far from siding with the sentimeptalists
of the present day who advocate kind
ness and moral suasion. The easier
teachings-not the best, but, in fact,
the only ones-are those of the rod,
that gave us realizing sense of pain to
the body, and drilled us into patience
and selfdenial.
Boys are of two sorts-good little boys,
who die young, and bully boys, who can
not be killed.
AS the last named only live to be
men, instead of being transplanted into
angels, it is we'll to discipline them
through the only process known to ami
mails, and that is the discipline of fear.
The old adage is not far wrong that
said, "When you meet boy whale him
for if he has not been in mischief, he
is going H."
What may have been my feelings
when suffering under the stick of old
Bangs, my objection to him now rests
not so much on his use of that instru-
ment as the beastly appearance and
character of the man. Later in life 1
was the scholar of man who was as
severe with the rod, almost, as my enc
remember him as one of the noblest of
men and the truest friend 1 ever en-
countered. Alexander Kinmont lived
and died in the obscurity of a select
school, with the generous impulses and
large, healthy brain that ought to have
secured him a high position among the
teachers and leaders of men, From that
school came boys so disciplined to study,
and so filled with the love of learning,
that they, in making their mark in the
world, lived to illustrate the beauty of
the system.
/ did not, however, sit down to write
of this, but to give in brief some of my
earlier experiences. 1t was understood
throughout the country that the boys
were iustifable in barring out the mas
ter, and, if successful, were not only
entitled to weeks recess, but the ad-
miration and praise of their parents.
Old Bangs was famous for his power of
resistance, and boasted that no school
of his had ever succeeded in conquer
ing in such attempts. On the occasion
to which L refer we had two big boys
ia school named Bill Henning and Bob
Strong. They were knotty-headed,
broad-shouldered and hard-fsted fel-
lows, who worked through the summer
for means to attend school during the
winter. Each, in turn, had been un.
mercifully whipped by the master, and
it was understood throughout the
school that the barring out of Master
Bangs was TO be punished and old scores
settled.
The evening before the general en-
gagement, Bill and Bob, our noble lead
ers, with few confederates, stole back
to the schoolhouse armed with hickory
poles. Breaking open the door, they
whitfield one end of these tough sap
Ings to point, and then hardened the
points in the fire. Then placing these
in corner ready for use, with a stou
cord, they gave orders to the boys will
ing to take part in the fight to be Oh
hand at the school house before dayligh
next morning.
At the time indicated, nearly all tn,
lads were in attendance. Some wer,
pale and trembling, others were nois,
and boastful but l observed that tn,
real leaders and reliable soldiers wer
quiet-so quiet, indeed, that one Nigh
doubt them. Men are but boys of
larger growth" said Dryden, and tina
solemn pomp of a poet, Wordsworth
assures US that the child is father t,
the man." In the animal propensitie
and tastes that survive our boyhood
this is undoubtedly true, and man
and many time since, in hours @
peril, have re-enacted the same exh
billions of character that occurred o.
that cold morning in December anon
the boys.
Our first order was to cut and carr
in enough wood to serve the garriso
during siege. This was promptly exc
cuted. Then the windoW-shutters wer
pulled to and securely nailed, the doc
closed, and desks and benches pile