The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-08-24
Burdette's Baby.
From the Burlington Hawkeye.

lime lies, and the boy 1H learning TO
talk so that other people can understand
him.
eff you would let nae have him for
about one month";" said pleasant.
voiced and pleasant-faced school-mis-
tress who came down here from up the
river last week. IT could break him Of
this careless habit of speaking"
Just because the boy had asked hia
etern dark-browed father:
"Poppnls, phurs is mines fiffin pole
you peakin' mama um day?"
Which by Interpretation is, as the
pleasant-voiced school-mistress would
have taught him to say:
rather, where is my fshily-rod, of
Mhich you were speaking to my mother
with reference to purchasing it for me
at some time in the indefinable future?"
And her little serene highness shook
her head and said no; he was losing his
baby talk and learning to speak English
too rapidly as it was. The pleasant face
OF the school teacher wrinkled up into
an interrogation point.
all matters of education your shapely
head is not hilly; it is as level as new
nown lawn, but you don't want to teach
the baby grammar, and youfdon' want
him to speak good English. You want
him to be baby..and you want to en-
courage him to indulge in baby talk. In
the years to come, when the pudgy little
lists will dig great tears out of the blue;
eyes, becarse the boy can't remember
Ill just what points there should and
must be. exact harmony between the
dent that he will die before he can re-
member how many fellows besides s'ad.
ante, con, in OF inter" are
followed by the accusative;
when he knows the world will stand still
for 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 be is SO
trusting and has SO much confidence in
Mr.. Davis that he is not only willing but
anxious to accept his statement that the
sum Of the three angles of a triangle is
equal to two right angles, without going
to the board to prove his truthfnlness
by demonstration; along in those days
the memory Of his baby talk will ccme
to US like sweet music. He will have
trouble enough with the English language
and all the appurtenances thereunto ap-
pertaining, by and by"
No." he responded in answer to
silent inquiry of the pleasant faced
schoolmistress, s'he does not know his
alphabet, thank heaven, and he
shall not be bothered with it. Yes,
he has alphabet blocks and knows ali
the letters on them and MANY prepos.
ferrous stories about the pictures. Oh,
yes, he can count; here him now, count
ing the pebbles he brought home from
the beach, one, free, seven, free seven,
ten, free, five, seven, free; certainly lie
can count, by system OF his own, too.
| which is more than most people have.b
Don't make prig of the baby,
school-mistress From the day on which
they are six years old they must, under
the school system Of the state begin to
| study, and sit up straight. and behave
properly, and speak correctly, and from
that time until the grave hides them
speaking, they be, and do, and suffer,
| under social and educational surveill-
ance. And claim that at least six years
/ OF the life OF o man or woman should be
| free; free as the air; free to talk as the
/ brook runs. with un-trammelled musical
prattle and babble. Why, here few
| week ago, came q melancholy looking
child, about four years old, and III pres
| ence and hearing pointed to me, and
| said to bis mother:
Mamma, OF whom is that gentleman
speaking?"
Poor little prig! My heart bled for
| him. That afternoon I took the boy
down by the target, and taught. him to
say, Mamma, what is dot man speakin'
to you about?" and reconstructed his
general gralninsr on the same easy basis
and-luok 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, Ii an
apologetic tone, for he had done an un-
usual amount cf preaching that day,
"you see,. we haven't a very broad ex-
perience in training children; we haYe
! for, but we're bound he shan't % Is
school until he's through being q baby.
and we know, schoolmistress, that he's
the happiest boy that ever mangled
| grammar