The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1883-10-17
For the r. M.-Hous~hold.
Raising Chickens Before they are
a aE Matched. ahol1 q /

There has recently been some talk ip
the Household about the helpless stu
pidity of some people in mathematics
Does not the fault lie more IN the mode
of instruction and i'm the application sof
the pupil than in the; talent besto xeip
In an experience of fourteen. years of
teaching in different schools and locali-
ties, found that a child that could learn
anything could learn arithmetic. But
found some pupils helplessly dull be-
cause their minds were ,yhopelessly
dwarfed by careless teaching and study
ing. A modest, self.possessed, wen
dressed girl of about eighteea. once en-
tered school in which vas teaching
After the principal had examined and
dismissed her he sent for me- Take
her to your CLASSROOM, he said, ''but
she can enter none OF your regular
classes " ''Does She know nothing:'
asked in suri rise, for | had been at
tracted by her appearance. Absolute
IL nothing" he replied, ''and she has
been in school all her liIe.' l put her
in simple addition. and after several
months of hard work we reached loug
division. and there | gave up. 1t was
perfectly iucomprehensibe to her. She
tried To learn. but it was too late. In a
school OF one hundred. she was ALWAYS
the most lastefully dressed girl, and her
manners We're pleasant. Here, thought
X the mothers training stopped, the
rest was left to careless teachers.
Ii fell To my lot once to examine a
new girl | asked her if she could
tell me what proper fraction was
She very promptly gave me the correct
answer | asked her then to give me
an example. She seemed not 10 under
stand. repeated the question. and af-
ter little hesitation She said. "a dog
can run | was much puzzled to know
why she gave tins instead "l any other
absurd answer but after further eXami-
nation | found she had been studying
AN English Yrammsr, III which the
question Give an example, often oc-
Cured. the answer being always SEN
tencc ot some kind | put hei to study
ing English grammar too. because she
insisted on it, but She never got as far
as dog ran rHn.
| knew another girl, who. on leaving
school. told her tlicn,ls that She expect
ed 10 be married soon. Why" said
one, you are not ready to marry. Ii
the market man tells you his chickens
are l24 cts. each. YOU can't tell how
much YOU ought to give him for three.
What will you do in such case 2"
Raise my own Chickens was the
ready reply. | am sure that girl could
have learned arithmetic if she had start
ed right.
Thi. reminds me Of a little incident
that occurred the other day in district
school not far of. A boy went up to
the teachers desk with history in his
hand, and asked her what B. &. meant
She explained that 1t was an abbrevia-
ton for Before Christ. and that it was
pretiXed to certain dates 10 distinguish
them from those with A ID. prefxed.
And now" she continued "can YOU
tell me what a. ID. stands for!"
= Y es m; After the Devil" he replied
without moments hesitation, and
with a serious air.
Are any membcrs of the Household
teachers: If not, | fear | may seem
prosy. But let me say one thing more
while we are talking of schools and
scholars. and then | will have done
What | am going to say may be set
down a. educational heresy. but | will
say it nevertheless. English grammar
as it has generally been taught, ought
to be root. d out OF cur preparatory
schools. With the present system of
text books. its place is amongst the
higher studies, and it is study for ma
ture minds and intellects. A child can
do almost as much with Buffers Anal
ogy a. he can with most of the gram
mars that | have seen used. Seven
wears | conscientiously tried to teach
children English grammar. and seven
years / conscientiously didn't try. and
were | to t. ach seventy times seven
wears longer. | would not voluntarily
put child to studying English gram.
mar. And now | have done.