Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-05-03
Bob BurSiette's Baby.

Time flies, and the boy is learning to
talk so that other people can understand
HIM.
"If you would let me have him one
MONTH" said the pleasant voiced and
pleasant faced SchOOlmiStrcSS who
came down here from up river last
week, ~ could break him of that care
less habit OfSpcaking."
Just because the boy had asked his
stern, dark. browed father:
"Poppuls, whurS Is mines !itfin pole
vsu eakin' mama UNI day"
Which 10y Interpretation Is, a. the
pleasant voted Sch0Olmi>trcsS would
have taught him 10 say:
Father, where l. my tiShing-rOd OF
which YOU were spCakingtO my mother,
with reference 70 purchasing il for me
nj some time in the indefinite future"
And her little serene highneSs shook
her head amt said no; he was losing his
baby talk and learning to speak
English too rapidly as it was. The
pleasant face Ot the schOOimIStreSs
wrinkled up into an interrogation
point.
"SchoOlmistrcSs, the jester said, ION
all matters of education your ShapelS
head is not billy; it is a. level as new
mOwn lawn, but you don't want to
teach the baby grammar, and you don't
want him to speak good English. You
want him To be baby, andyOu want to
encourage him to indulge in baby talk.
In the years to come, when the pudgy
little fists will dig great tears out of the
blue ewes, because the boy can't remem.
Der i'm lust what points there should ana
must he exact harmony between the
verb and the subject; when he l. conf
dent that he will die before he can re-
member how many fellows beside 'ad,
ante, con, i'm or inter are followed ~
the acrusative; when he knows the
world will stand still Tor just two hours
after school il he can't recall that all
examinations in something or other take
the what you may call it after some kind
of things; when he is 50 trusting and
has 50 much confidence in Mr.. Davies
that he is not only willing but anxious
To accept his statement that the sum OF
the three angles of q triangle is equal to
two right angles, without going to the
board to prove his truthfulneSs by de
mOnstrati0n: along in those days the
memory of his baby talk will come back
to IL like sweet music. He will have
trouble enough with the English Ian
guage and all the appurtenanceS there
unto appertainiug 10y and by"
NO" he responded i'll answer to q
silent inquiry of the pleasant. faced
schoolmistresS, "lfe does not know his
alphal 1t, thank heaven, and he shall
not be- bothered with it. Yes, he has
alphabet blocks, and knows all the let
terS on them and many preposterous
stories about the pictures. Oh yes, he
can count; hear him now count the
pebbles he brought home from the
beach, 'One, free, seven, free, seven, ten,
free, five, seven, free Certainly he
can count; by a system fhiS own, too,
which is more than most people have.
Don't make Il prig of the baby
SchoolmiStreSs. From the day on
which they are six years old they must,
under the 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 he and do, and suffer So
cial and educational surveillance. And
| claim that at least six years OF the life
of a man or woman should be free-free
as the air; free tOtalk rs the brook runs,
with untrammelled musical prattle and
babble. Why, here, few weeks ago,
came Il melancholy looking child about
four years old, and in my presence and
hearing pointed to me said to his
mother:
"Ma'am, of whom is that gentleman
talking"
Poor little prig! My heart bled for
him. That afternoon took the boy
down by the target and taught him to
saw, 'Ma'am, what is dot man speakln'
YOU about" and reconstructed his gen
eral grammar on the same easy basis,
and-look me in the eye-if that boy
didn't tan up like 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 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 te
school until he's through being baby,
and we know, schoolmistreSs, that hes
the happiest baby that ever mangied
grammar