The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-04-27
STUDYING HISTORY.
Distressing Defeu of the "Carthn giniauso
mud the Final Discontinue Of the "Ro-
maps.D

Distressing Defen of the "Carthu sininus ,'
mud the Final Discomnturc of the I" Ro-
| mans"
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 character as if he had done them
himself. This struck Barnes as 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 Immediate
ly 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. 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, says Max Ade-
Ter, Barnes ranged the Romans upon
one side of the room and the Cartha-
ginians on the other. The recitation
was very spirited, each party telling
tion. After while Barnes asked Ro-
man to describe the battle of Cann@.
Whereupon the Romans heaved their
copies of Waylands "Moral Science ="
at the enemy. Then the Cartbaginians
made battering ram out of bench and
iammed it among the Romans, who re-
taliated with volley of books, states
and chewed paper balls. Barnes con-
cluded that the battle of Canine 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 batter
ing ram and thumped couple of them
in the stomach.
Then the Romans turned in and the
fight became general. A Carthaginian
would grasp Roman by the hair and
hustle him around over the desks in a
manner that was simply frightful to be-
hold, and a Roman would give q fend-
ish whoop and knock a Carthaginian
over the head with Greenleaf's arith-
metic. Hannibal got the head of Scipio
Africanus under his arm, and Scipio, in
his efforts to break away, stumbled, and
and-tumble fight under the blackboard.
Caius Gracious tackled Hamilcar with
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 a
grand rally, and in five minutes they ran
the entire Carthaginian army out OF the
schoolroom and Barnes along with it,
and then they locked the door and be-
gun to hunt up the apples and lunch in
the desks of the enemy.
After consuming the supplies they
went to the windows and made dis
agreeable remarks to the Carthaginiaus
who were standing in the yard, and
dared old Barnes to bring the foe once
more into battle array. Then Barnes
went for a policeman, and when he
knocked at the door it was opened, and
all the Romans we're found busy study
ing their lessons. When Barnes came
in with the defeated troops he went for
Scipio Africanus, and pulling him out
of his seat by the ear, he thrashed that
great military genius with rattan until
Scipio begun to Cry, whereupon Barnes
dropped him and begun to paddle CaiuS
Gracious. Then things settled down in
the old way, and next morning Barnes
announced that history in the future
would be studied as it always had been;
and he wrote note to the Educational
Monthly to say that in his opinion th.
man who suggested the new system
ought to be led out and shot. The boys
do not take as much interest in Roman
history as they did on that day.