The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1884-05-10

room, seized AtklnS Dy the cVdar anu
ierked him into the center of the aisle,
and with vigorous shove sent him
headlong forward towards the platform
with q speed that taxed his agility to
keep his feet. /. whirled him around
facing the pupils and cried:
3 '.Atkins, who wrote that sentence on
the WALTZ" t
oil did, SIR"
.sOf course you did. Now I'm going
to reverse Johns plan. / am going to
concentrate on your shoulders the pun
ishment that the down East schoolmas-
ter distributed over the whole school.
Go to my room, sir. !" .-.a.s--.--s-.
30, Mr.. Jones, I'll never, never do
so again.
II know you won't. Go to my
room.'
1 believe that fiogging. like every
thing else, if done at all should be well
done. don't believe in dress parade.
/ scarcely ever had to whip boy twice,
on the same principle that the lad said
lightning didn 'tstrike twice in the same
spot-because it didn't need to. When
it became necessary for boy to have
Ill lnlcEflCW Will fkiC III ny AOOAA5 hC
rarely forgot the circumstances. l
always taught school on somewhat
free and easy manner. allowed ample
opportunity for free speech and en-
couraged it, and never laid any claims
to that infallibility which many teachers
quiQkato detect humbug, and teacher
never loses prestige with them by adj
hitting that he doesn't know every
thing. Although the incident have
alluded to consumed the greater part
of a valuable forenoon. never thrashed
another boy there, and when asked
the pupils afterward who did any par
ticular thing. some one instantly sprang
to his feet and said:
II did, sir"
A PALPABLE HIT.
Although boys have many noble
qualities if they are rightly brought
out, yet regret to say that my expert
ence of them convinces me that most
boys are cruel and tyrannical. Nothing
delights scholar-a big boy-so much
as to bully teacher. 1t is the height of
a boys ambition. Haven't 1 done it
hundreds of times myself? Next to
that, the domineering over small boys
is source of deep and lasting delight.
One January took my place in a
new school, and / was panied to notice
that the smaller boys were mercilessly
snow-balled by the big lubbers who
lorded it over both school-room and
yard. So well established was this
tyrannical rule that l found the poor
little beggars were afraid to answer my
questions about the matter even when
privately put. Consequently, although
l like to encourage manly sports, was
forced to forbid snow-balling entirely.
As it was early in the session, and as
the big boys had been in the habit OF
assisting in the government of the
school, and as their ideas on the subject
of snow-balling were not in accord with
mine, and as it had not yet been settled
who was to run the school that year, l
need hardly state that the order was
not obeyed. Next noon went into the
yard as soon as school was dismissed
and found large pile of snow-balls
heaped up like cannon-balls at fort.
They were most cruel missiles, having
been dipped in water at the forenoon
iutCt HitSSiOu anu dilOWCu W Hdlucu ia
the interim. ] picked one up, intend
ing to bring it in with me and show the
utter barbarity of fiinging such balls.
"Who made these snow-ballsp" /
asked small boy.
Casting a frightened look around him
he answered under his breath:
Jim Higgins, SIR"
Jim was the biggest and worst boy in
school, and thought that if it came to
a tussel between us, as felt it inevita-
bly, would. there was every chance that
Jim would get the best of me. l make
no bones of the fact that was afraid of
him and had endeavored quite unsuc-
cessfully to propitiate him during the
week that school had been going on
At this moment Jim entered the yard,
squeezing SNOWFALL with his hands
between his knees after the manner of
boys who want to make hard one.
He was making for his pile when he
noticed me standing by it, when he
stopped, Strengthened up and looked at
ME a moment as If he hesitated whether
to drop the SNOWFALL or brazen it out.
The silence and the eyes of the whole
ScnOol Oh uiH oraceu rulm up anu nc
cried:
"Master, gimme leave?"
Certainly"
With movement like lightning he
flung the SNOWFALL directly at my
head. ducked like a flash, but the
ball took the rim off my hat and plas-
tered it against the neighhoring fence.
l had been no SLOUGH of snow-baller
myself in my youthful days, but never
flung ball with such vengeance as
that. l sprang erect and said:
"Now it's your turn" and sent my
ice bolt ut him as if it had come from
cannon. He ducked, of course. but
had calculated on that, and the ball hit
him square on the ear with thud that
made my heart stand still. He flung
his arms over his head and fell back
against the gate by which he had Just
entered. His face WAS male and he