Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1881-09-10
NORTHERN TRIBUNE.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1881.


abused, their rights from the state, pro-
coed at once to glance at that which
more nearly concerns us professionally
their rights in the schOOlrOOm due them
from us teachers.
A little fellow gets his twenty marbles,
his first stock, and in his first pocket.
He can no more keep his hands from
that pocket, ladies, than you could avoid
peep in your mirror the morning you
don your seal-skin cloak or your spring
bonnet. HO! his hand comes in con-
tract with those little spheres so smooth
and beautiful. What kind of one is it,
he wonders, red or blue? He must see,
and not skilled in the art of pOcket-using,
out come half-dOZen and upon the
floor they go. His little heart beats like
a trip hammer, for he fears their loss.
Bring me those marbles-give me all
you have" Oh, what a trial. All? why
they are his fortune; their value cannot
be told, but there is no appeal; no matter
how tenderly the little fingers linger
over the last. which he is sorely tempted
to lie about and save. He knows he
ought not to have dropped them, but how
incOmmensurate the fault to the penalty.
Why, they are his property, and later in
life he will fight gun in hand, and the
law will prOtetct him in it, for things of
less value to him. His sense of Justice
is keenly wounded, and he will never
have quite right feeling towards you,
and many hours will be lost, brooding
over the loss. have heard of boy
who in similar case rushed home to
his father with urgent request for him
to get policeman Immediately to 90
and recover his property.
But shall we not take away playthings
if used in school to the injury of order?
Yes, in proper way. Tell the little
heart that he has come to school to study
and not to play, you will keep them for
him-nOt take them away from him
until he goes home; or, if you fear this
will not be etfectual, send them by
schOOlmate or carry them yourself to the
father or mother. know order must be
kept, but better your patience be tried
little than the seeds of injustice planted
in the fertile soil of boys heart. have
a right to deprive the boy in kindly way
of the knife that wOuld'mar the desk, but
not to keep it over night if it is possible
for me to return it. fear the practice
is quite general of thus keeping articles
which seem trivial to the teacher, with
scarcely thought of the child's rights
in the matter.
The children have right to punct-
ual observance OF school hours. have
no right to minute that properly be-
longs to school time, nor have a right
to keep them one minute after they
should be dismissed, for any convenience
of mine. How do we feel on a hot Sun
day If lOng-winded minister keeps us
until ten minutes past IL for his siXthly
nd To- I
keeping scholar after school hours to
learn lesson. Who can learn when in
a sour, .discOntented frame of mind, and if
he does get smarting of the subject SO
as to blunder through it and go grumb-
ling home, will he do as much work next
day for it? would not entirely Danish
this as means of punishment, but
would make it rare Occurance.
The children have a right to be COM
Portable. l have known a teacher to
keep class standing with toes on a
crack for twenty minutes, heads upright,
hands by sides or folded calmly over the
chest. Try it yourself, my dear friend, if
you who have done this are here, and see
how you like it yourself. l say, let
them be comfortable as possible con-
sistent with healthful attitudes of the
body. They have right to a frequent
change. Did you ever try to be NiObe or
Cleopatra in tableau, or sit for your
picture? If so, you have learned to dread
thelfOrmer and to bless the instanta-
neOus process of the latter; and don't
make classic tableaux of your scholars
and think you are keeping splendid order.
l tell you it's splendid torture. They
have right to be treated as ladies and
gentlemen, to just the same courtesy
and pOliteness you would exact from
them or expect from your equals in So
ciety. They have right to their own
self respect, and to treatment from us
which will not take this way or detract
from the respect Of their mates. In
years and in knowledge they are our in
feriOrs, but this gives no right to insult
them, tyrannize over them or neglect
them. In innocence, in native ability, in
promise of usefulness, they may be far
our superiOrs, and by and by some of
them may soar far above us in the wheel.
/ know good old lady up in New Hamp-
shire whose whole stock of pride lies in
telling how she whipped little boy who
has since been hOnOred with the govern
Orship of his state and various other
high dignities. How much her birching
had to do with his getting the postmaster
general-ship, etc., do not know, but like
the mother of Gracchi, she continually
produces him and says, Behold my
Jewell" In case of accusation they have
a right to a fair and impartial hearing.
do not suppose we can all, for lack of
time and perhaps, other reasons, always
resort to Bronson AlcOtt's trial by Jury
OF the peers of the accused, but he has an
undeniable right to be heard in his de-
tense, and so offer my proper testimony
in his case. Oh, well do l remember
these words of doom: Il don't want to
hear one world know you are guilty."
and fha raffan li.l L. L..