The Red Cloud chief., 1881-11-17
Child Cultar.

Well, time flies, the summer 10 nj.
mos; over. the mackerel have come up
the hay and are biting like poison. b
ferns are growing old. and the boy 10
Learning TO talk 50 tia, other people
can understand him
III you would let me have him about
one month" said the plea santvoiced
and pleasant-facei school-mistreSs who
came dosn here from up river last
week. Il could break him Of tina, care
less habit Of speaking"
Just because the boy had asked his
stern. dsrk- browed father.
.Poppuls. whurs is mines fiffn pole
you peakin' mans UNI day.
Which BY Interpretation IL. as the
pleasant voiced school mistress would
have taught him o say 10:
Father. where is nv fishing-rod of
which you were speak n to nv mother.
with reference to purchasing IL for me
nj some time in the indefinite future?"
And her little serene highness shook
her head and said no: - was losing his
baby talk. and learning 10 speak In.
glish too rapidly IS il was. The pleas
ant face Of Observation-Disclosures wrinkied
up into an interrogation point
-.School-mistress.' the Jester sad.
ION all matters of education your
shapely he q is not hilly: il is as level
as a new-mown lawn. But you don't
want ( o teach the baby grammar. and
you don't want him 10 speak good En-
glish. You want him TO be a baby and
you want TO encourage him 10 indulge
in baby talk. In the years To come,
when the pudgy little fists will dig great
te rs out of the blue eyes because ,he
boy can't remember in just what points
there should and must be exact har-
mony between the verb and the subject;
wien he is confident that he will die be-
fore he can remember how many fell
lows beside lad, ante. con. in or in
ter" are followed by the accusative;
when he knows the world will stand
still for Just two hours after school If he
can't recall that all Examinations in
something or other take the what you
NAV call IL after some kind of things;
when he is SO trusting and has so much
confidence in Mr.. Davies that he is only
willing but anxious 10 accept his state
ment that the sum of the three angles
of a triangle is equal to two right an
gttS, "iAhoub G'bue W Nv bpaA W
prove his trulhfulness by demon
%stration; along in those davs the
memory of his baby talk will
come back to us like sweet mu-
sic. He Will have trouble enough
with the English language. and all the
appurtenances thercuntO appertaining.
by and b.. No." he responded, in an
swer to a silent inquiry of the pleasant
faced schoOl-misiress, "he does not
know his alphabet. thank Heaven. and
he shall not be bothered with il. Yes,
he has alphabet blocks and knows all
the pictures Oh them and many prepos-
terous stories about the pictures. Oh,
yes. he can count; hear him now.
counting the pebbles he has brought
home from the beach: zone, free,
seven. free. seven. ten, free. five, seven.
free certainly he n count, by a sls-
tenn of his own. too. which IS more than
most people have. Don't make a prig
OF the baby. schoOl-mistress. From the
day on which they are six years old
they must. under the school system of
the States. begin to study. and sit up
straight. and behave properly and
speak correctly. and from that time
until the grave hides them, they live
and speak and act, verbally speaking.
they be. and do. and suffer. under social
ami educational surveillance. And |
claim that at least six years of the life
of man and woman should be free; free
rs the air; free to talk as the brook
runs. with untrammeled musical pratt
tie and babble. WHY here. a few weeks
ago., came a MISUNDERSTANDING child,
about four years old, and in my pres
ence and hearing. pointed to me. and
said to his mother:
MAMA. of whom is that gentleman
speaking?'
Poor little prig. My heart bled for
him. That afternoon | took that boy
down by the target. and taught him 10
say: INA ma, what is dat man speak
in YOU about" and reconstructed his
grammar on the same easy basis, and
look me in the eye-if that boy d dn't
tan mp like a Young Indian in two DAYS.
and he gained seven pounds in three
weeks.
You see," the Jester concluded. in
an apologize tone, for he had done an
unusual amount of preaching that day,
'.you see. we haven't a very broad ex-
perience in training children; we have
only one chick to cluck over and
scratch for, but we're bound he shan't
go to school until he's through being i
baby. and we know, school-mistress,
that he's the happiest baby that eve
mangled grammar. -BnrdeHe, in the
HaUkeye.