New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-01-04
THE RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS.
"REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNALIST.
by CHARLES T. coNGDON.

PEDAGOGUEs AND POLITICS.

"
PEDAGOGUES AND POLITICS.
THE OLD PUBLIC sCHooLs-THE DAYS OF THE ROD
JOSEPH LANCAsTER-DANiEL WEBSTER IN
COURT-wENDKLL PHILLIPS IN FAIRLY LIFE
THE DAYS OF PRESIDENTS JACKSON AND VAN
BUREN-rHE MASSACHUSETTS DEMoCRAcY-THE
RICH AND poOR-DR. oREsTEs A. BRowNsoN-
GEORGE BANCROFT.
1t is customary to speak Of the public school sys
TEN of Massachusetts, coeval with the founda-
ton of the Province The Bay State orators usually
take that view of It, in well-chosen language. on
public occasions. But the educational methods OF
all New England are mostly of modern growth. The
original schools, of which the Rev, Warren Burton
has given a clever account in his " District School
as il Was" were cheapy managed and OF limited
curriculum They taught arithmetic. reading.
writing and spelling, with little grammar. In the
country their sessions by no means covered
the whole year; they were shabbly housed.
and a master was employed only during the
Winter months. If there was a Summer term, III
was confded to a schoOl-ma'am." But between
1920 and 1880 great improvements were made, es'
peclaly in the large towns In our own, the schools
were graded and the influence of joseph Lancaster
was observable at this time in experiments de-
signed to test the value of his mOnitOTal pan Lam
caster was a Quaker whom / never saw, but OF
whom | heard q great deal sald-an Engsbmah
who came to this country, and who died In New
York City IN 1888. lie was always in trouble, gen.
orally OF the pecunary sort, for he had no more no.
ton of managing money than Nh. skmpole. lie
got rid oS great sums which were raised for him In
England. Canada and the United states. lie was
expensive IN his habits of life. and have been par
ticulariy told that he a great eater. Ills plan
of making the advanced pupils teach those OF
smaller requirements is not at present much es-
1,,4t - root Oisa i'm is
first school was Lancastran, and what partlcu-
larly admired in it was its total abstinence from
corporal punishment, which Lancaster regarded as
n device of the devil himself with its whole fearful
apparatus of canes COwhdes. feTules and birch
rods But there was iustiGatiOn enough nthe next
seminary which attended, though II was kept by
Quaker How he reconcilcd the principles OF
George Fox with his continual assaults upon our
tender persons, never could make out. NO such
cruel punishment is now known; 1T would not De
tolerated the police and the courts would put
stop to it stemly. Ii may be mentioned as a matler
of history. The correctional system which our
teacher adopted was something like tins; lie wouiu
begin the morning school by reading chapter In
the Bible to which listened with more PAIN than
piety for we knew what was to follow. He would,
after lie had finished the reading. take from his desk
a paper containing the names of yesterdays repro
bates These he called up, one by one, ana VsOr-
ously ferued. The cruelty of 1t was not so mucn III
the blows though they were severe enough TO occa-
sion great deal of bowling, but in the iealiul
suspense in which he kept u.s. for nobody knew
whether his name upon the condemned lst OF
not For mere boys, it almost as bad as the rack
for men. When | came to read III Montague oi
"tbe ontcres of lads under execution, and
the laundering Of pedaeo2ues drunk Win
fury.D | recognized at the truth OF
the nicture I: and have often wondered whether
Orbilius the plagosus schOOlmaSter of Horace, bad
as hea w a hand as ours. Charles Lamb tells the
story of a school mate who pleaded. when Ola
BOYER was about to torture him for not learhlh|
his lesson that he had been suffering from
lethargy y; one of our boys when asked why ne
refused TO come up and he logged mpudenily re-
piled that lie had the lapstone fever "a COM
plant not mentioned in any medical dictionary.
The master immediately treated the patient after
method peculiarly his own, and ehected peIleoV
cure in about thirty seconds
II was during my school days that first saw and
heard great man, known afterward The Ex-
pounder of the Constitution" and characterized by
his more enthusiastic admirers as tie God-hke"
In some respects be was not unlike some OF the
GODS mentioned I'm Lempriere's Classical Dlction
ary but the title was not fortunate one. and his
political opponents made graceless jokes upon IT,
When / first saw Daniel Webster he was about
fifty wears old and in the full perfection of that
manly beauty which made him Of all the
public men Of his time, the noblest model
for sculptors, and the fttest subject Tor
painters, before the art of pOrtralturo was
so nearly lost He had not then been broken by
disappointment nor bowed by hard work. Every
movement of his imposing figure, every glance of
his eye, every expression of bis countenance' be-
trayed a consciousness of power and of uDdauntcd
confidence in his own intellectual abilities. He
was employed In q somewhat singular case. and
came to our town to argue II. young man OF for
tune who had killed himself by hard drinking, had.
before his death, given number @! promss0ry
notes the payment of which was disputed by the
executor for whom Mr.. Webster was retained.
The trial created great public interest, and the
courtroom was cTowed TO repcton. MI Webster
was at that time the most popular man IN Massa-
chnsetts: his noble speech In the Senate, made iii
IS3O-perhaps the noblest which he ever uttered
was still freshly remembered. believe that there
WAS nothing which he could then have asked of his
ieIlow-citizens in his adopted State. which they
would not gladly have granted him-either Office,
money or the most complete Difference to his opin-
ions When be is charged with arrogance and with
a spirit of dictation, / think that this should
be considered. The feeling which led Massachu-
setts solitary and alone, to give him her electoral
vote in 1885, changed very slowly, but alas! very
surely, questions came up which tested 50
severely his craftsmanship and political integrity.
But at the time of which am writing he was the
idol of the Massachusetts people,, SO INV chance OF
!. getting into the courtroom to hear his argument
was limited; but his of getting in to make 1t. at
one moment did not to DO much better. l
was lust behind him, and remember how L gazed
with reverence at the two brass buttons upon the
back of his blue coat recall nothing of his argu-
ment save one effective point which he made.
witness for the plaintiff. who was also partner in
the alleged conspiracy defrand the maker OF the
notes, had been compelled to admit under Dir. Web