The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1883-03-29
rnAr .raRpYr RELL.

EDITORS NEWS: ] cannot recall the
occasion when my sympathetic feelings
were SO powerfully wrought up, as when
read the pathetic article from the
Wichita Eagle SO graphically depicting
the evils inflicted upon the COM
munity by thai relic Of barberism-the
''tsrdyn bell. All honor. say we, 10 the
phiIanthropic heart that penned such
brave words. May the oppressed aud
down-trodden ever have champions as
fearless TO plead their cause.
How absolutely preposterous. as the
Wichita man well says, this whole ,ardy
bell business is. What differences does
it make, anyhow, if one child does come
into school i've or ten MINUTES later than
another, or, for that matter, an hour or
more later: Must the whole family at
home be put to iaeonyenience, just to
comply with the mandates OF some in
significant school teacher in regard TO
prompt attendance?
The fact is, sir, sometimes am led to
think that most of our school teachers
nowadays must have been trained in
some European military establishment.
They expect US and our children 10 obey
their rules as promptly as If issued by
Bismarck himself. Let them bewarel
There is q revolution impending, and
this Wichita blast may be The first notes
calling to arms. raise the question
here for others to answer: May We not
trace many Of the evils under which sO-
eietY now groans TO this Iyranpicai
practice of ringing the tardy bell? Just
see TO what pass things have come on
our railroads. The train is announced
to Ieave-at 90; it Is hot day in BUM
mer, thermometer at SO degrees; solid
citizen, with wife aud baby goes swell
tering down to the depot, arrives there
ct :I2; the train has moved of, and the
hear:less engineer Is ringing his bell as
if In mockery ofour fat friend, and every
stroke is saying ''Tardy, sir" Now, how
easy it would be for that train and all
other trains t. wait. say IF
teen or twenty minutes, for
the convenience of the general
public, and thus save fearful wear and
tear of nerves. 1 grant that such let
ting down of the rules might lead to
startling railroad accidents and great
loss of life now and then, but il is q
question whether railroad accidents are
absolutely unmixed evils. Is not first
class disaster bonanza to the enter
prising reporter, and does it not put
money in the newsbOy's purse? Then,
people have to die anyhow and is it not
easier to die in the shock of a collision
than to live very manv days and have
those pesky bells ever ringing at your
heels, ''Tardy, sir ~
Look at the annoying practice into
which our bankers have fallen. go
to Mr.. Heritage OF Mr.. Cross and borrow
one hundred dollars for three months
The three months are up they send me a
little notice that reads in effect, Beware
or you will be tardy." In day or two
after the threeAmonths expire goto the
bank to pay my note, and I am met
with the greeting, "YOu are tardy, sir;
your note has gone to protest" find
that business men in general have fall
len into this same practice. If I write
on nay note May 1st, they insist that it
means first, and if defer to pay until
the Sd or 4th, they are ready to cry out:
"Tardy, sir" Verify, we have fallen on
unhappy times. Where shall we get re
lief? This matter of promptness, pre-
cision and accuracy, is wrung into our
ears from the heavens above and the earth
beneath. There is the sun. What an
accommodating old chap he Is.
Sometimes l retire to bed rather late
aud hope that Old Sol will just defer his
hour of rising one hour in the morning
just To square with my time. But does
he do itI Not he. For sixty minutes
he has been ringing his old bell at me
IN mockery, aud crying, "tardy, tardy,
thou sluggardr %
The need for reform is manifest. Let
it be begun in the school room. In
sIantly and for ever Danish that enemy
of childhood-the tardy bell-and in
coming days everything will be like
WortlsW OF this river, "fiostinR at its own
sweet WILL" and the elYsIum of rniver-
sal chaos will have been attained. In
the language of Othello we say, "Si.
lence that awful bell" PARENs