The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-04-26
OLD.TIsIE sCaOOL-TEACHING.
Reminlseenss y 81 oia Peaararns

VlD-TlALE SCHOOL-TEACHING.
Reminlscensa Of an old Peaagosue.
It is always very pleasant thing to
let bad boy bling his punishment on
himself noticed. as stood at an up
per window in large school house
where / taught, that the boys came out
the back door into he play ground as
4 they had been fired from a cannon.
They shot out one after another, and
generally landed in u convenient snow
bank. On going to the head Of the
stairs / saw the reason. The boys
jumped astride of the banister and went
sailing down the inclined plane, Jump
ing clear eT the steps, and landed, as a
general thing, ON their feet. The end
Of the banister had o newell post. and
the omen door was only few feet from
the bottom Of the stairway II was great
fun, and the amusen ent WAS increased
when big boy could rake in with his
projecting feet some unfortunate
youngster who was going down the
stairs in the ordinary way | told the
boys when school was called that til s
sort of rapid transit would have to stop.
Boys usually don't have muc
respect for the commands of q new mas
ter until they find that he means what
he Says. At the next recess 1 went to
the foot of the stairs to find out whether
they proposed TO obey me or not.
found, as | expected, that they d dn't.
= When the lads came sailing down the
banister / grasped each as he flew past
by the collar and swung himround into
the lower passageway and stood them
up one by one in a row somewhat dazed
by the whirl they got. 1t was lively
work, for the supply of boys exceeded
the demand They came from the up
per regions with lewildering rapidly
and had my hands full in every sense
OF the word as l gathered them in. At
last the news spread that the master
was at the foot Of the stairway with u
standing invitation to all slidess, and
the downpour of boys suddenly ceased.
was Just about to turn my attention to
the row of captives when / heard the
following conversation at the head of
the stairs:
Don't The masters down there. =
II don't caae.
He'll collar vou.n
I'D like TO see him do it. I'll give
him a dig wi my foot that'll double
Inn up mighty quick, you bet. Like to
see him collar me. y
The latter speaker made no attempt
to conceal the fact that he didn't give a
hang for the new master.
| stood at the foot of the stair and
waited for him. He threw his leg over
the ban ster, aud, spreading out his
feet, launched himself down toward
me. A glance showed me that
/ would be ralxed in the next mo-
ment, and would be the laughing stock
of the school; so / kicked the door shut
and stood aside. The big fellow, whose
name did not then know. came down
like whirlwind. The moment the
eade0r closed he tried to fling himself off,
but he was too late. He shot against
the door with thud that made every
window rattle, and fell back in q heap
on The floor.
helped him up on his feet, assisted
by one of the boys, and he said, feebly,
that he guessed he would sitdown for a
little while. let the row of culprits
20, and told them that an accident like
that might happen at any moment if
the door CHANGED to shut, and so after
that we had no more sliding down old
j. Grimes cellar door,
1t is seldom that school-master has
Ia hand to hand encounter with pupil;
lyet. in the backwoods l have known
such a thing to take place. once was
pne of party Of five who under took to
thrash our school master, who was a
terribly severe man. He gave me the
worst thrashing ever received. and to
This day don't know what it was for
However. thrashing never went amiss
with me at that time. / always de-
Served it, and this one | merely placed
b account, knowing there was still a
hrge balance com ing to me- But as
Eas saying. five OF us agreed to climb
u the teacher ut q lonesome place
bout half mile from the school where
b couldn't cry for help. We climbed
but alasl il was not the teacher who
nd to cry for help. He thrashed all
lie of us. He had got so accustomed
sthrashing boys that he seemed to do
quite from the force of habit.
1.-The school-boy of my day was born
Inter. Every new boy hadto fight his
Nv to his place among the boys. /
fe fought, when l went to rev
sool rs pupil, with gcod-natured
lows who happened to be the cham
hs, who had not the slightest ill-will
Nht&lo tuc, HOh " tucAs = W ecHOOl
luette demanded that we should fight,
I'VE cid. / don't suppose this occurs
NV extent ia town Schools, but, no
bf, it does in the country, where q
bw behind the school-house or a
Of woods down the road offers a
Ee fighting ground Little the
Ter will know Of these combats if
lis a stream near by where the VIC
IL .-.f 4 ~ -
noses, as an East Londoner
say. / was always coward, and
took kindly to those fellows