The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1876-08-15
ALIAS. TEX AS,
PRACTICAL EDUCATION - ANOTHER
FARMERS EXPERIENCE.

sue, the comments Of n farmer upon his
sons education, and his summing up Of
the results of his boys twelve years
schooling, If not CONSUMING too much
space and time will offer you my cX-
periencc in this regard
also have Il boy about eighteen years
Of age who began to attend school when
about seven years old My boy pos
scssod all the OVERLOOKING strength and
ardor ola young, healthy and vigorous
constitution. His brain was MS active
and as clear rs that of ordinary boys,
and his hours in the schOolroom were
devoted to honest and faithful study
while with the bat and ball. and all the
games Of the play ground, no young
athlete there surpassed him. His
teachers have been grave, learned, dill
gent and conscientious mcn--mcn who
felt the great responsibilities of their
trust, and performed their duties with =
devoted carnchtness that has and ever
will command my proIoundcst graft
tudc, My boys time at school was
spent exclusively upon the elementary
branches, ordinarily taught in our
schools; such as spelling, reading writ
ing, geography arithmetic, grammar
and history. In these studies, SO far rs
have examined him. he eyinccs Il pro
iiciency that brings to my heart mex
pressible pride and joy
take an agricultural Journal and
some evenings since request Robert
(my sons namc) to take pen and paper
and write for me short article for oul
county newspaper on the culture OF
cotton, about which | thought had
some ideas gained from u quarter of Il
centuries experience, that might be
worth the publication. dictated and
Robert wrote, and when he had finish
ed | directed him to place my initials
thereto and send it to the office of ON
paper. In one week | received the pa
per and found my article printed in eX
cellcnt style, but turning to the cdito
rial pagel found these words, 1--WE pub
fish with unusual pleasure the commu
nlcation signed r. H. g., to be found
in another column II all
of our correspondents would writ,
rs clear and open n hand, and woulo
evince such perfect familiarity Will
punctuation paragraphing and the use
OF capital letters the labor of the prin
ter would be materially lcssencd.
"Ihc ideas advanced by our coTcspon
dent speak for themselves and are wei
worth perusdl. A great feeling of salts
faction and pleasure came into my
heart as read this editors kind com
ments on my boys letter, and icl
thankful that it had been his fortune t.
be taught by able teachers. On tin
same evening in question, | was musin!
by my Grcside after the labors of tn
day, and the thought occurred to M
that would try my boy in reading
brief act from Shakespeare, for thougl
n farmer, liked the book, and wa
ever charmed with the authors insigh
into human character | handed hin
n scene from the Moor of Venice an,
babe himread.
] sat there entranced. The spiri
with which that boy read, his clear an
perfect uttcrancc, every word iallin
rounded and beautiful like the col
from the mint his correct information
the wonderful facility with which l
seized upon the most subtle and ali
meanings OF the writer and gave thel
expression and life was to me the ven
essence of good reading The boy Ina
evinced " thorough knowledge of rea
ing, photography, punctuation, cmph
sis, ntonntion, and he wrote sowell tn
editors even stepped aside to comp
ment his hand but how about art
metic, the most essential of all? W,
hcproiicient in this? | would try hn
would ask him questions outside
the usual routine; such questions
would require those general answc
that demonstrate perfect llnowlcd
OF details So called him to my 81,
and said, "Rohert can YOU tell me he
surveyors and astronomers obtain Il
value Of distances between two mace,
sible points p A moments though
and the. answer came: They Concic
those points to be connected 10y a systc
Of lines, the value of which can be
rectly measured, and by these means
deducc the value of the unknown part
This problem Of distances between in,
cessible points generally resolves its,
in the end into the solution of n t
angle some parts Of which can be ,
rectly or indirectly measured and so Il
value of the unknown parts calculated
"Well, Robert is it upon this princip
that tho distance to certain stars is cs
mated H..I
tits We consider the problem Il
same as the solution of triangle
which the base and adjacent angles a
known, the star being apex of the t
angle. By measuring the angle of G
walton of the staN from two given s
tions on the eOrthS surface and {
distance OF these stations from on
other, we calculate the distance of t
stan"