Arkansas weekly mansion., 1884-03-15
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OID-TIME SCHOOL-TEACHING.

himself l noticed, aS stood a an mp
per window in a large school house
here taught, that the boys came out
tn. back door into the play or Dund rs
if thcy had been fired from cannon.
They shot out one after another, and
generally landed in a convenient snow
bank. On going to the head of the
stars | SAW the reason. The BOYS
Jumped! aStriCc of the ban stcr and went
sailing down the inclined plane. Jump
inr clear oil the steps. and landed. as a
general thing, on their feet. The end
Of the banlster had 10 newel-post. and
the open door was only a fey feet from
tine bottom of the stairway 1t was %reai
tUn. and the amusement was incrca~ ed
when big boy could rake in with his
projecting feet some unfortunate
Noungster who was going down the
slai : in the ordinary way. l told the
boys when school was called that TN ;
sort of rapid transit would have To stop
Boys usually don't have muc 4
respect for the commands of n new mas
ter until they find that he means what
he saws. At the next recess L went to
the foot of the stairs to find ont whether
they proposed to obey me or not.
found, As | expected, that they dn t.
When the lads came sailing down the
baniStcr | graspcd each a he flew past
by tho collar and swung him rou.d into
the lower passa%cway and stood item
up one by one in row somewhat dazed
bv the whirl they got. 1t was lively
work. for the supply of boys exceeded
the demand They calLe from the up
per REGIONS with ewildering rapidlty
and had nv hands full in cVcr> ne
OF the word as | gathered them in At
last the news spread that the master
wa>at the foot of the stairway with Il
standing invitation to all Slile">, and
the ,lownpOur OF boys suddenly ceased.
was Just about t. turn my attention to
the row of captivcS when L card the
following conversation at the head OF
the stairs:
don't. The masters down there
81 don't care.
'.Hr'll collar YOU
..I',' like to see him do it. III give
him dig wi h my foot that'll double
h IN up mighty quick, you bet. Like TO
see him collar me-.
The latt T speaker made no attempt
TO conceal the fact that he di int give n
hang for the new master
| stood ut the foot of the stair and
waite for HIM. He threw his leg over
the ban Ster, and. spreading out his
feet launch / himself down toward
me, \ glance showed m that
! would ne Tiktu III Illt HtNI mo-
mrnt. and would he the laughing stock
of the school: so | kicked the Goor shut
and stood aside. The tig fellow. who's :
name | did not then know. came down
like n whirlwind. The moment the
door closed he II ID to fling himself oil,
but he was too Ia,r. He shot against
the door with thud that made every
window rattle, and fell back in I heap
on he floor.
helped him up on rs feet, assisted
by one of the bows. and he said. fcebly.
that he guc s-cd he would sit down for Il
little while. let the row of culpre,
90, and told them that an accident Ike
that might happen at any moment if
the d' or ciIanced to shut, and SO after
that we had no more sliding down o,d
Grimes cellar door.
Ii is seldom that a schoOl-mastrr has
a hand to hand encounter with n pupil;
vet in the backwoodS | have known
Such thing to take place. ! once WAS
one of Il party of five who under took t.
thrash our school master, who was Il
terribly severe man. He gave me the
worst lhraShing ever received. and to
this dav | don't know what it was for.
However. thrashing never went ami>s
with me at that time. | always de-
served it, and this one | merely placed
to account. knowing there was still Il
large balance coming to me. But as
was saving. five of us agreed to climb
on the teacher at Il lonesome place
about half mile from the school where
he couldn't cry for help. We cl mbed.
Bui alas, it was not the teacher who
had to cry for help. He thra>hcd all
five of lis. He had got - accustomed
to thraShing boys that he seemed to do
il quite from the force of habit
he school-boy of my day was Il born
fighter. Every new boy had to fight his
way TO his place among the boys.
have fought, when | went to n rev
school as Il pupil. with good-natured
fellows who happened to be the cham
puns. who had not the slig ghtest ill-wilI
towards me. nor to them. But school
etiquette demanded that we should fight,
and we did. | don't suppose this occurs
TO any extent in town schools, but. no
doubt, it does in the country. where a
hollow behind the srhool-hOuSc or 4
piece of woods down tie road offers Il
secure fighting ground. Little the
teacher will know of these combatS if
there is 4 stream near by where the vic
tor and yanquis:cl can wash their
bloody noses. as an Last I6ndoncr
would saw. | was always a coward. and
never took kindly to those fellows
"whose fist was ever ready for knock
down blow The bows of that far off
time had no idea of the rules of the
ring. They fought in savagr. rough
and tumble way, and when one got the
other down it was considered no Il s.
honor to pound away at him till he
cried enough At this cry the boys
generally pulled the upper savage of if
he didn't quit.
Cne dav tramp circus man taught
me some valuable wrestling tricks. My
favorite was n hip-lock, which invarla-
bly, brought to earth the opposite party.
The beauty of ii was that when once
YOU raised Your opponent OF his feet
YOU could Law him out in almost any
stvle YOU chose. Hew perfectly help
less, despite his struggles. The moment
YOU got him in the Il l.. and then 1t was
delightful after literally keeping him IN
suspense to Law him flat on the ground
in any particular style that fancy sug-
gcsted. This point, however. was not
lasting. for the boys after tumbling to
it in various attitudes generally .'tum-
bled to it, as the slang phrase has it.
and then its uSefulne : was ut an end.
Still it was ALWAYS Il wonderful accom-
plishment IN a new school and on sever
al occasions, although | was terrible
coward, 1 gained a victory over my op-
ponent by clinching ami hip-locking
him and then pummeling him in such
rapid succession that the fight was over
before he thought it had begun.
Although boys will fight like, tigers
among themselves, it is rare that one of
them summons up courage enough to
attack their common enemy, the teach
er. Only once in my varied expert
ence as a schoolmaster did boy set out
to thrash me, and that occasion shall