The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-04-26

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ring. They fought in q savage, rough
and tumble way, and whe one got the
other down It was considered no 4 IS
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 t.uit.
One day tramp circus man taught
me some valuable wre thing tricks. My
favorile was d hip-lock. which invaria.
bly, brought to earth the opposite party.
The beauty of it was that when once
you raised your opponent Of his feet
you could lay him out in almost any
style you chose. He was perfectly help
less, despite his struggles, The moment
you got HIM in the ar, and then it was
delightful after literally keeping him in
suspense to lay him fiat on the ground
in any particular style that fancy sug-
gested Tbs point, however, was not
lasting, fer the boys after tumbling to
it in various attitudes generally ''tum-
BLEED to it, as the slang phrase has it,
and then its usefulne was Of an end,
Still it was always q wonderful accom-
plishment in a new school and on sever
al occasions, although / was terrible
coward, gained victory over my OPP
ponent by clinching AMI hip locking
him ami 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 q schoolmaster did boy set out
to thrash me, and that occasion / shall
never forget and / don't suppose he
ever will Their.
l taught wild schoolin a backwoods
district one winter VIXEN, physically, I
was scarcely able to teach. had had
a severe illness and was back at my
desk again before had fully recovered
my strength. Ihave often ben panied
to obsel We chat the average boy has lit
tie consideration for the weak, and my
school seemed to thiLk that because
wasn't able to give them their regular
rations of birch they might do pretty
much as they pleased and they did
One day felt that my control of the
school was gone. The noise that ] was
unable to quell kind of dazed me, as /
sat there feeling completely i'll and
helpless. ] felt that had better resign
and get into saw-mill or a boiler-mak-
er's shop, or some such occupation,
that was quieter and more soothing than
the one was in. All at once the noise
ceased and on looking up / saw that
Bill Trimmins, the biggest and worst
boy IN school, was sitting on desk
with his feet on the seat he ought have
sat on. This was direct defiance of
authority that could not be ignored.
Bill was the only son Of his father, and
Old Man Trimmins had no more con-
troll over him than / had. Bill could
have thrashed me quite easily, and |
knew it.
William said. somewhat YEARLY.
''would you oblige me by sitting down
on the seat. y
THANK you. said Bill, s'Tm quite
comfortable where am.
There was litter around the room at
this remark, which was doubtless con-
sldered the very choicest of wit.
William. | said, rising, Il will
have to punish you if you don't. take
your seat as you ought.
He grinned at this absurdity and said
well, | guess you'll never have a
better chance.
I walked to where he sat in his ele-
waited seat.
Hold out your hand
He laughed.
struck him a smart rap over the
knuckles with the ruler. This so en-
ragged him that he threw down his slate,
jumped into the aisle, and with an oath
flung off his coat / reiterated back to
the desk and he followed With all his
brayado he was AFRAID to hit me
square blow which would hsve settled
the matter there and then He was not
afraid of me personally, but / repre-
scented in way the authority Of the
district was the embodiment, as it
were, of law and order, and that indefin-
able something he was just enough
afraid Of as to hesitate about striking,
so he clinched me instead. OF course
l quite agree with you that there could
not be q more demOralizing sight for a
school to see than fight between teach
er and pupil, but there it was, and /
had not time to see my way clearly out
of it. Events had followed each other
too rapidly.
The moment Bill clinched, as they
called it, / felt he had made a m stake.
Old memories of by gone fights rose
up. and as they rose 1 elevated William
on my hip and dropped him Gathering
on the floor, much to his own astonish-
ment and that of the school,
sRise up. William, said, and hold
out your hand.
He sprang to his feet and cried:
's1ou Just try that again.
Once more we clinehed once more he
lost his feet, and once more he lay on
the floor.
There, / have accommodated you.
Now oblige me by getting up and hold
ing out your hand. y
This time he tried to strike me, but /
lodged that, ella ped him lovingly
again, and flung him at full length. He
evidently regretted that he had taken
off his coat, for the floor was Lard. He
made for the door, but lost time by 90
ing around for his discarded coat. l
reached the door first, locked it and put
the key in my pocket. Some of the
girls had begun to cry, and all the boys
sat breathless. Bill looked Hurried and
somewhat the worse foc wear.
Hold out your hand, William" /
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