Sharp County record., 1881-09-08
ChiIdren's Rights.

proceed at once to glance at that
which more nearly concerns us proies-
rights in the schoolroom
due them from us teachers.
A little fellow gets his twenty mar
bles, 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
.he morning y ou don your first sealsSin
cloak or your spring bonnet. Ho! his
hand comes in contact 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 90.
His little heart beats like a trip ham
mer, for he fears their loss. " Bring
me those marbles-give me all you
have.n o! what a trial. All? why tley
are his fortune, their value cannot pe
told, but there is no appeal; no matfer
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, gunhn
hand, and the law will protect himin
it, for things of less value to him. His
sense of Justice is keenly wounded, apd
he will never have quite right feeling
towards you, and many hours will be
lost brooding over the loss. | hage
heard of boy who in a similar cFe
rushed home to his father with urg lat
for him to get policeman imnle-
diately TO go 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 kindly that as he has comic ~ 10
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 efectual, sekd
them by a schoolmate or carry theIh
yourself to the father or mother. |
know order must be kept, but better
your patience tried little than the
seeds of injustice planted IN the fertile
soil of the boys heart. have right
to deprive the boy in kindly way of
the knife that would mar the desk, bE
not to keep it over night if it is posi-
BILE for me to return it. | fear the
practice is quite general of thus keep
ing articles which seem trivial to the
teacher, with scarcely thought of the
child's rights in the matter.
The children have right to pune
tual observance of school hours. have
no right to a minute that properly be-
longs to school time, nor haveI right
to keep them one minute after they
should be dismissed, for any conven-
ience of mine. How do we feel on a
hot Sunday if a long-winded minister
keeps us until ten minutes past twelve
for his sixthly and seventhly? l doubt
the profit of ever keeping scholar
after school hours to learn a lesson,
Who can learn while in sour, discon.
tented frame, or if he does get smat-
tering of the subject so as to blundeI
it and 60 grumbling home, viii
be do as much work next day for it? (
will not entirely Danish this as a me&, %
of elpaiel. ,asRt, Attt-sEoctia1 r
occurrence.
The children have a right to be conn.,
Portable. | have known a teacher keep.
a 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.
| say, let them be as comfortable as pos
sible consistent with healthful attitudes
of body. They have a right to fire.
quent change. Did you ever try to be
Niobe Or Cleopatra in tahleau, or sit
for your pictureP If so, you have
learned to dread the former and to bless
the instantaneous process of the latter;
and don't make classic tableaux of your
scholars and think you are keeping splen-
did order. Itell you it is splendid tor
ture. They have q 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 society. They have right
to their own self-respect, and to a treat
ment from us which will not take this
away or detract from the respect OF their
mates. in years and in knowledge they
are our interiors, but this gives us no
right to insult them, tyrannize over
them or neglect them. In innocence,
in earnestness, 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.
In case of accusation they have right
to fair and impartial hearing. do
not suppose we can all, for lack of time
and perhaps other reasons, always re-
sort to Bronson Alcott's trial by jury
of the peers of the accused, but he has
an undeniable right to be heard in his
defense, and to offer any proper testi-
mony in his case. o, well do | remem-
Der these words of doom: 81 don't
want to hear one word i know you are
guilty" and then the rattan. How lia-
BILE we all are to allow our feelings at
the moment to carry us away, to think
under the irritation caused by the pres
ent offense. "Why, l am constantly
by this fellow; he must be made
an example Of" Last April I heard the
venerable and respected Francis Coggs-
well, Superintendent of the Cambridge,
Mass, schools, tell this: He was in the