The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-06-02

they are now managed and run, they are q
sham, with no system, no grade, nor even {
head These schools assume more the lower
order Of private schools than any other com
parlson can make which means simply INC
good at all" q mean here the so.called pub
lie schools, and not the academies and col
leges, which are quite numerous throughout
the state)
Their public schools are this and nothing
more Any one pretending TO be qualified
school teacher can open school, and by the
influence Of some political friend receive
from the state one dOliar and fifty cents pei
month for every pupil attending his school fol-
five months IN the year That is what is
called public school IN Texas, And the
best Of them are no better than, and many
not half rs good as, the poorest schools which
aGorn the cross roads and highways Of our
country districts.
was surprised, IN reading DR.. uarris's
ably written letter on Galveston, that "thC
city has numerous and very excellent
schools" This is Il mistake, and can safe
ly say that in "the city of the Gulf they
have been playing tricks upon travellers
| was told the same thing, but as schools are
are in my line of business, when | went to
hunt them up found them non est There
is but one public school in Galveston, and
that such as | have described before, and
taught by a gentleman named Quinn, in the
upper part Of the city.
During my visits 10 some of these schools,
| was surprised at the class who pretended to
be teachers. have been in nearly every
school IN twenty-five or thirty states, and
think can "tell a school marin from black
board" but in all my travels | never saw
any to equal Texas school marin. But let
US drop the curtain, for 81 can not say love
them" Suffice 1t that they mistook their 70.
cation-thcy should be on farm hoeing
corn or milking COWS rather than teaching
the young idea" Most Of them are Of the
"blue blood" of the Sunny South, and are for
ever harping about their long and noble line
of ancestors, and how happy they were "befo
the wah," but since the wah," they are
"poo.ah and sooner than starve or be bur
den to their friends, they really condescend
to accept situation as common schOolteach-
err "tho' it is something they never thought
they would have TO do
Let me here state that in Louisiana MIssis.
lsippl, and nearly all the southern states,
school teachers are thought nothing of, sim.
ply because they are school teachers, and are
aecer admitted into society
The greatest trouble with Texas and all the
southern states,-at least Louisiana, MISSES.
ippl and Alabama,-is the lack of good well
water, tor, as the "old red ribbon shooters
sing il:
There is nothing go sooa
For the youthful blood
AS the bright and cpetklins water
With very few exception, there are no wells
harder TO get than champagne. 1t is not to be
had, and am sure there are thousands of
people in the state who have never tasted a
drop OF clear spring water.
Galveston has no wells nor are there any
in that section of the state. At San Antonio
there are springs, but the water is so impreg-
mated with lime, that it would require cop.
per.hned stomach to drink it.
In all the southern cities the first Thing
about the houses that attracts the attention of
a Nortlerner is the immense tanks or els.
terms for holding rain water. Most of the
peopeihave two, especially in Texas, for
while they are drawing oat of one, the i'm.
purities of the other are gradually evaporat
ing. Most Of them are allowed to stand for
three months before using, but this only in
few cases. In Western Texas it rains once in
about every six months.
Another great want IN that country, to the
surprise of all northern vislters at first, is the
lack of pure milk. One would suppose that
in Texas, above all places on earth, milk
would flow like water, and that every pud.
muddle was ba,htGb OF pure milk, Con-
densed milk seems to be their favoriie
even to the "bottlefed kids" who draw the
rubber nipple. 1t was not until within a
few years that such thing was known as to
milk COW in Texas, and Is only done now in
few of the northern towns of the state. Their
butter is all imported from the north and in
many places would pass Tor very poor lard
And that which beats ell, is the tough and
poor steak. whether it is their "blarsted zig.
norance in the ways of dishing up these
things or not cannot say.
As regards tie health of the state DR.. Har-
RS, in his letters, has shown the mortality in
the state as compared with other states This
was thoughtful on the part Of the Doctor, and
must have cost HIM great deal oftrouble. Yet
it Is a well known fact that tropical climates
and countries are not as healthy as temperate
People do not live TO that good old age Of
tour score years and ten in warm climates