The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-11-17
The Late Master Of the Boston Latin
School.

lie LuIe udSltT vi UIt DUStUH AuOlu
School.
A stranger entering the great hall at
the top of the Latin School building,
where the first class always had their
desks, would get theimpression from the
tall, muscular, and bony figure that glow
cred upon HIM with penetrating eyes
through pair of gold-bowed spectacles
that the master was a most stern, forbid
ding man; and his impression would
probably be deepened if he were to catch
the master hearing a class recite, his
head partly bent and turned to one side,
and the question coming forth in gruff
voice, curt and, very likely, snappish
Certainly Mr.. Gardner was not loving
man at first sight. 1t happened to one
and so to know it personally only as
st-class boy under Mr.. Gardner's charge,
for he had sole care of these boys. His
initiation was little dismaying. The
tall master stood before him, eying him
as if he were some specimen for his cab
met "Well, boy, have you grit?" came
the words-short, summary, and to the
point. The boys stumbling answer was
of little account. He had been shot on
presenting himself, and was not likely to
forget the winged words that had pinned
him to the school A years experience
gave him an opportunity to see this
master in other aspects, and to look be-
hind the gruff manner which made one
of the tenderest of men to seem churlish.
= His very oddities seemed to en-
force the lessons he taught. Who was
likely to forget a diagram which the
master drew on his own coat sleeve?
Who that has studied Caesar under him
will forget the model of Caesars bridge
with which he illustrated that ponS
GSinOrun? Did he wish to enforce some
nice point in pronunciation-and nicely
was a characteristic of the scholarship
he demanded-he would perhaps sing,
delightfully."- regardless of musical effect,
line from "Robin Adair,"
What's this dull town, Tommy?
or tell some quaint anecdOte or story
His memory was magpies nest OF queer
bits, but every one was put to some cap
ital use. Nothing came amiss; in Illus
tration of some point, he gave some adj
x :
and his modes of punishment were as
various as the offenses. One class had
behaved, as he thought, in a silly, child
ish fashion. He sent out for some mus
lin and confectionery, and drawing out
the housewife" which he kept in a
drawer of his desk, made up little bags
of candy, which he presented to each
| boy. One urchih in the first class, who
had been tormented by his neighbor in
recitation-a teasing fellow-tinally lost
his temper as his hair was twitched rather
harder than before, and slapped his perse-
cutors face. 1t was at that moment only
that Mr.. Gardner looked up. There!
there" said he. Lets have public
exhibition. We must all see this per
Torrance. Boys, 90 up on the PLATFORM
and up they went to the great stage at
the end of the room. Now, W,
you pull HIS hair" and the first of
fender enjoyed second twitch, And,
H, you slap VS. face" which
was done, when the boys were allowed
to come back, crimsoned with mortified
ton.
Such stories might easily give the in
fed, merely eccentric, man; they arr
but haphazard illustrations of his odd
individual ways. Through his teaching
and discipline ran a broad current o.
patient, unwearying attention and study
to make the most of every boy, and many
a lad, given over as hopeless Ounce by
undermasters, has been saved by DR.
Gardner for manly, studious life. He
surrounded the boys with every obtaina
BILE aid IN their work. The school Ii
brary, belonging to the Latin School AS
ISOLATION, was enriched by his efforts
and the great school-room was made
beautiful and useful by the apparatus
which he gathered there. "By his per
sonal exertions," says DR.. Dmmock,
" the Latin School acquired probably the
largest collection of pictorial and other
illustrations of Roman and Grecian topog
raphy and antiquities possessed by any
institution in the country; comprising
paintings, rare and old engravings, models
in cork, casts from the antique, the best
foreign mural maps and plans, casts of
medals, antique coins, specimens of mar.
bles from ancient ruins, and hundreds of
photographs of Italian and Athenian
views and statuary. But these were not
merely placed upon the walls: they were
used by him in the instruction of his
classes, and no recitation was more in
teresting to visitors from Europe, as well
as from this country, than those in which
the boys, after giving an outline descrip-
ton of Rome or Athens, would proceed
to different parts of the room, pointing
out the different localities upon the maps
and pictures, or giving from the models
details of the buildings. Their know
ledge came directly from him-from no
text book, save brief manuscript of his
writing; and one of his pupils told me
that he found this outline, learned in his
school days, of more value to him in
Athens than all the guide books that he
had. And yet DR. Care ner was never in
Athens or Rome. Horace b. Scudder, in
Harper'S Magazine.
The Mission to Sitting Bull.