Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1875-06-18
Letter from Unity.

I
Pooesville supposes, a heavy taxpayer and
can say with Logan, with reference to my
children in the public schools, mot one. -
! Being a taxpayer, however, gives me the
Prioiiege of expressing an opinion AS to how
my money shall be spent, as well as being
school teacher makes it incumbent upon him
10 defend the system, / believe, Mr.. H., am
| somewhat in the position of employer ia this
case, and | regret that you would debar me
the right Of CHANGING over the job AS part
owner of The mill, will you not allow me TO
say how it shall be run, whether or not have
any grist in the hopper?' J am very easily
pleased and am wholly devoid Of eagerness-
calm rs "A statue-only patience and fUrbear-
ance have res trained me thus long Oh this issue,
the pent-up murmurines Of discomfort being
heard on every side. In reference TO quarrel
| ing with my wife, your Imagination doubled
itself there as | am an old bachelor, but Mr.,
! H., pity your poor wife from the bottom Of
my heart, as am fully satisfied you could
never have so well described the situation I'M
| less ''y0u had 6een HGe y0HTSef" Give up
wit and turn your attention to Mrs. Caudlel
! expressed no dissatisfaction If the schools
were kept open all The year, | merely contrast
ed this system ut best with another. | said
open half the year was Il waste, | did not say
open all the year was waste. Your penchant
seems not exactly TO distort facts, but you
take step further. Always quote man
correctly, especially when YOU have it directly
| before you in black and white. Now, Mr.. H..
| it w0n'i do to disagree with YOU all the way
through as Won were so complainant as to
agree With me quite often. submit that the
education OF all The children in the county OF
proper age is immense iob-all the taxable
property OF the county sold at public auction
with nine million dollars worth of borrowed
Government bonds poured by he tax commits
missioners into tie Golfers Of the school COM
missioners would never effect this ohjectat the
present mode of procedure. Why Because
the records OF The schools show such slim al
tendance rs torender partial education only
possible, while there many scholars of
the proper age who DO not attend al all. To
educate all children under this one.sided sys-
TEN is truly, Mr.. H., an immense job, about as
| great rs one of the labors of Hercules that Of
cleansing the Augean stables, where three
hundred oxen had been confined one hundred
years. Do you think, Mr.. Hercules, that you
are consuminaling this education Ifso, so
among the graduated boys and girls Of fhe
county and ask few questions. You will
| find boys and girls Who have irhered through
and through the arithmetic, who will stand
with their mouths wide open-thundcr struck
if you ask should the third Of six be three,
what will the fourth Of twenty bc2 Accom-
plishcd grammarians, who cannot write an
order TO a grocery store correctly, and French
! Plownan's daughter julie.
This system is one-sided bargain anyhow.
The taxes must come, but there is nothing 10
compel the children to receive the benefit Of
them. If you force money for laudabe de-
| sign, then compel the needy to accept in good
faith Mr.. Hercules, do not know anything
al out ans teachers OF the old regime failing to
glide anyW here, but This 90 know, ''it
such men rs mentioned were to glide into
/ eyp sch in Tho Npul1 make n
marked iinproS emeut in many places.
presume you never demonstrated the Pohs
Asinorum. II SO, you would never arrive al
I your conclusions via short cuts. To say that
the teachers OF The old regime depended wholly
upon the number and attendance OF their
scholars is amusinely ftllacions. Allow me
to enlghien you. Under thai plan teacher
would not accept a school unless the neigh
| borhood signed him sufficient number II
they signed him twenty-five scholars, At three
dollars per capita per quarter, he received his
| seventy FIVE dollars whether they attended ten
or seventy five days in that quarter. lie pro-
cured his number lelore he commenced, then
attendance never disturbed him. Suppose you
commence your term with forty scholars, aud
at the end OF the term your roll shows an at
tendance (average) of fifteen scholars does not
| this materially lessen your prospective salary.
! DO not the salaries Of teachers vary from three
hundred and fifty TO FIVE buHdr,d dollars
Do not number and attendance produce this
variation 7 regret your statement tctssiia
| ted SO long an explanation, especially when
the truth was papable.
Now Mr.. Hercules in reference 10 Capt
Anderson; you need not be alarmed and run
so fercely to his rescue. He has signed your
| certificate and do not expect he will revoke
it, He is all that would wish him kind
| hearted, conscientious and commendabe in all
/ fhipOs | nj mirr and nrIIfreriufp Ia i'm nlufb
as any man in the County. The paragraph in
my former letter attacked the manner which
the law contemplate in making teachers
said or intended to shy that he, ms the symbol
Of the law, was knd-hearted, meaning how
easily the law made Il teacher, the only requi-
site being his cnpahilty to answer few ques
! tons in orlhogfaphy grammar, arithmetic,
geography, etc. To illustrate further horse
thief may become a teacher if he can run this
! gauntlet, and the law is too kind hearted to
suppress him ! used Capt. A as the represent
tatve Of the law, for which lie is in no wise
responsible.
You say that Capt Anderson can always
distinguish between real proficiency and su
per6cial gloss2 Who said he couldn't2 In
quire of him how often in his travels over the
county he has to make this distinguishment
and my word for it, his answer won't be what
Writ made Logan say Many lime, like the
boy with pain under his jacket, lie has
grnncd ard bore it. You speak OF vigilant
trustees You may have them up there on
| the banks of the Potomac, but they are not
down here on the water shed of the Patuxent
and liawhngs rivers. One OF them asked me
| the other day who was trustee Of that school?
| Why, said |, yon are. Several others inform
ed me that they had not been in the district
school house but once in FIVE years, hen they
/ went to attend a magic-lanlern show. /
speak the words of truth and soberueSs-far
| iect Would, as Hercules charges, that the
cause of my complaint was nothing more than
eagerness to find Gdult. ! have the real edn-
cation of the children Of my county aud State
at heart. ! am battling for principle alike
essential TO church and State-the fundamen-
| tai, uuwrtlen law of human society--a prin-
| ciple closer allied TO American liberty and its
perpetuity, than was he sacred fame upon
| Roman affairs famed by vestal virgins TO the
appeasement of physiological gods. antago-
nize any system that seeks to disembody the
quintesence of this principle which is effective
and efficacious only in its purity and when once
developed in It's true strength is really the pal
ladium of our Larcs and Penaies-the guar
dian genius of our household gods, ard a
sweeter and mightier panacea for our national
woes than any C9saric arm panoplied with
oppression, or the devastating tread of a brig
and general on his march to the sea.
A PRoFITABLE ADVERTISING JoB-The Wash
ington correspondent of the New York Trib-
une states that the total amount of the bill
for the publication Of the delinquent tax list