The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-05-18
A Good Idea illustrated.

BARNES, the schoolmaster in SUBURBAN
town, read in the Educational Monthly
that boys could be taught history better
than in any other way by letting each boy
in the class represent some historical
character and relate the acts of that char
acter as if he had done them himself.
This struck Barnes as mighty good idea,
and he resolved to try it on. The school
had then progressed so far in its study of
the history of Rome as the Punic wars,
and Mr.. Barnes Immediately divided the
boys into two parties-one Romans and
the other Carthaginians, and certain of
the boys were named after the leaders
upon both sides. All the boys thought it
was big thing, and Barnes noticed that
they were so anxious to get to the history
lesson that they could hardly say their
other lessons properly. When the time
came Barnes ranged the Romans upon
one side of the room and the Carthagin-
ians on the other The recitation was
very spirited, each party telling about its
deeds with extraordinary JUNCTION. After
while Barnes asked a Roman to de-
scribe the battle of Gamma. Whereupon
the Romans heaved their copies of Way
lands Moral Science at the enemy. Then
the Carthaginians made battering- ram
out of bench and jammed it among the
Romans, who retalliated with a volley of
books, states and chewed paper balls
Porpoc oopnlnlaI tbot ho 1attlo IF r,p,o
had been sufficiently illustrated, and he
tried to stop it; but the warriors consid-
cred it too good thing to let drop, and
accordingly the Carthaginians sailed over
to the Romans with another battering-
ram and thumped a couple of them in the
stomach. Then the Romans turned in
and the fight became general. A Cartha-
ginian would grasp Roman by the hair
and hustle him around over the desks in
manner that was simply frightful to be-
hold, and Roman would give tiendish
whoop and knock Carthaginian over the
head with Greenleat's Arithmetic. Han
nibal got the head of Scipio Africanus
under his arm, and Scipio in his efforts to
break away stumbled and the two Gener-
ais had a ougn-and-tumble fight under
the blackboard. Caius Gracious tackled
Hamilcar with a ruler, and the latter in
his struggles to get loose fell against the
stove and knocked down about thirty feet
of stove pipe. Thereupon the Romans
made grand rally, and in five minutes
they ran the entire Carthaginian army out
of the school-room and Barnes along with
it, and then they locked the door and began
tohuntupthe apples and lunch in the desks
of the enemy After consuming the sup
plies they went to the windows and made
disagreeable remarks to the Carthagini-
ans, who were standing in the yard, and
dared old Barnes to bring the foe once
more into battle array. Then Barnes
went for policeman, and when he
knocked at the door it was opened and all
the Romans were found busy studying
their lessons. When Barnes came in with
the defeated troops he went for Scipio At
ricanus, and pulling him out of his seat
by the ear, he thrashed that great military
genius with rattan until Scipio began to
cry, whereupon Barnes dropped him and
began to paddle Caius Gracious. Then
things settled down in the old way, and
next morning Barnes announced that his
tory in the future would be studied as it
always had been, and he wrote note to
the sducationa! Monthly to say that in his
opinion the man who suggested the new
system ought to be led out and shot. The
boys do not now take as much interest in
Roman history as they did on that day
Philadeiphia Bulletin.