Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-06-22

gratulatOry addresses at the close OF the
session were made by Rev. DR.. Sears, Rev.
DR.. Manly and Maj. Il. NJ. Bell. The
musical exhibition was very good, the re-
markable contralto voice OF Miss Belle
Gillock, being marked feature of it.
On Wednesday Of last week we again
got an hour or two to visit the Academy
and this time found Mrs. Dillon examining
her classes. Hers may be called the Junior
department of the High School. There
are 40 scholars, averaging Is years. 6
months, who looked cheerful and bloom
ing with health. The room was neat and
airy and decorated with flowers and ever
greens, which hung everywhere there was
place to hang them; even the stove-pipe
wore laurel wreath. When we entered,
Prof. Ladd was examining the school in
mental arithmetic, putting complicated
questions in denominate numbers and
fractions as rapidly as he could talk, which
were answered as fast as put, and with as
tonishing accuracy. We next hear some
English grammar. It was smooth sailing
over the articles nouns and pronouns.-
Then came something a little tougher:
':What are cardinal, ordinai and multiple
cative adjectiVes? Define unipersOnal and
auxiliary verbs. What are the coordinate
forms Of conjugation? Satisfactory an
swers were given to all Of these questions.
OF course. each one did not answer every
question put-children cannot learn every
thing at once-but there was some one
found to answer all of them, till Mrs. Dill
lon wanted to know what an adjective
element was. This was a stumper for the
girls side Of the house. Mrs. d., in an
| injured tone: 81 am surprised you cannot
tell what an adjective element is" We
were not surprised they couldn't tell, and
wondered how many Of the cold folks" in
| the room could answer the question, but
we were surprised when one of the boys
spoke up and gave the proper answer.
Parsing came next. MI. Ladd suggest
ed q plain sentence to be written on the
board, but Mrs. Dillon knew what her
children could do, and wrote, 'Whoe'er
amidst the sons Of reason, valor, liberty
and virtue, displays distinguished merit is
d noble of natures OWL creating" Now go
ahead, boys and girls. They did so ahead,
analyzng and parsing every word in it.
They then went on to history, in which also
the school seemed perfectly at home. Such
questions as ''What is the oldest town i'll
the United States? Where was the first
settlement in Virginia? Who founded
Boston? Who settled Providence? Who
were the presidents of the United States,
and the terms Of each? Settlement of
New Orleans, &C., were asked in rapid
succession.
The history Of Bacon's rebellion was
rapidly and correctly sketched 10y Willie
Lee. the settlement Of jamestown by Fan
nie Bayly. the narrative of John Smith and
Pocahontas by Lille Asst, and & touch of
politics. also in d clear account of the Mis-
souri, Compromise by Willie Miller, the
| origin of Mason's and Dixon's line by I'M
boden Hudson, with It hundred otherques-
ton on every subject embraced in United
States history found correct and prompt
answers. But the girls would slip up some
times on dates, then the boys delighted to
correct them.
In elocution we had the debate in Con-
gress between Webster who was PERSONA
ted by Sandy Burkholder and Hayne by
Willie Miller.
After some fine singing by the whole
school there was an interesting historical
dialogue by six girls all dressed in white
and looking their sweetest. These were
Agnes Gambler, Mollie Foster, Louella
| Graves, Hennie Gushing, Lille Asst and
Maggie Morton after which ''God save
the Queen" and other pieces were sung
beautifully by the whole school, and here
the girls came in strong while the boys fell
, behind. There were some remarkably
! sweet voices and q few years hence Staun-
| ton will be indebted to DR.. Brown for furn-
| ishing the choirs Of our churches with
worthy successors to the fine singers we
now boast of, for in this room alone there
is material for half q dozen good choirs.
The exhibition concluded with humor-
! GUS and well acted piece, Reading the
WHIP in four characters, Swipe's, (Thos.
Ogg,) Currie, (Tom kinney,) Ellington,
! (Arthur Woodhouse.) and Squire Drawl,
/ (Arthur Morton.) There were several
good maps drawn on the board, one Of Aus
tralla by Mollie Foster was especially no
ticeable Oh account of it's fine execution.
Prof. Ladd then congratulated the schoI-
ais on their progress ami good behavior
and said in his daily visits during the SEES
slon he had the best opportunity to observe
the thoroughness with which they had
been taught. He complimented Mrs Dill
lon highly for her self-sacrifcing devotion
60 her school, for the discipline, order and
neaGness which she always maintained
There was nothing superficial about her
system of teaching, she really taught what
she claimed to teach, the strongest evil
dence Of which was the advancement of
her school from year to year. We have
only given the exercises in these two rooms
as sample of what the Public Schools are
doing for Staunton, being the only two
that we had an opportunity of visiting.
The Others were doubtless az entertaining
and the scholars as well advanced in their
several departments and we regret not be-,
ing able to respond to the kind invitations
of Superintendent and teachers.
PROGRESS OF TIE Y. NJ. G. A.--1he
question OF the removal Of the Y NJ. c.
A. rooms was finally settled by the Direc-
tory adopting a resolution agreeing as a
compromise to pay the sum of $50 for the
year, upon which terms Maj. Bagby, the
owner of the premises, consented to re-
lease them from the responsibility of hold
ing the premises for another year. On Sat
urday night last forty-four new members
who applied were elected which, with forty