Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-06-14
OLD-TIME sCHOOL-TEACHING.


1t is always a pleasant thing to
let bad boy bring his punishment
on himself. i noticed, as stood al
an upper window in q large school
house where I taught, that the boys
4 came out the back door into the
playground as IL they had been
fred from u cannon. They shot out
one after another, and generally
landed in a convenient snow-bank.
4 On going to the head of the stairs
saw the reason. The boys jumped
astride of the banister and went sail.
ing down the inclined plane, jump
ing clear off the steps, and landed,
as a general thing, on their feet.
The end OF the baaister had no
newel-post, and the open door was
only a few feet from the bottom OF
the stairway. 1t was great fun, and
| the amusement was increased when
a 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 this sort of rapid transit would
have to stop. Boys usually don't
have much respect for the commands
of q new master until they find out
that ne means what he says. At the
next recess l went to the foot Of the
stairs to find out whether they pro-
posed to obey me or not. l found,
as expected, that they didn't.
When the lads came sailing down
the banister grasped each as he
| few past by the collar and swung
him round into the lower passage
way and stood them up one by one
| in row somewhat dazed by the
whiri they got. 1t was lively work,
| for the supply OF boys exceeded the
demand. They came from the up
per regions with bewildering rapid
fty, and / had my hands full In
every sense OF the word as gather
that the master was at the foot of
the stairway with a standing invita-
tion to allsliders, and the downpour
OF boys suddenly ceased. ] was
just about TO turn my attention to
the row of captives when i heard
the following conversation at the
head of the stairs:
"Don't. The master is down
there"
81 don't care"
"He'll collar you." 5a...-
'I'd like to see him do ii. I'll
give him dig with my foot that'll
double him up mighty quick, you
bet. Like TO see him collar me-"
The latter speaker made no at
tempt to conceal the fact that he
didn't give hang for the new mas
ter.
stood at the foot of the stair and
waited for him. He threw his leg
over the banlster, and, spreading
out his feet, launched himself down
toward me. A glance showed that
/ would be raked in the next mo-
ment, and would be the laughing
stock of the school so 1 kicked the
door shut and stood aside. The big |
fellow, whose name l did not then !
know, came down like whirlwind. |
The moment the door closed he |
tried to fling himself off, but he |
was too late. He shot against the |
door with a thud that made every |
window rattle, and fell back in a
heap on the floor. 1a,a ...T
i helped him to his feet, assisted !
by one Of the boys, and he said, fee
bly,, that he guessed he would sit
down for a while. 1 let the row OF
culprits go, aud told them that an |
accident like thai might happen at |
any moment il the door chanced to
shut, and so after that we had no |
more sliding down old Grimes eel
lar door.
1t is seldom that school master
has a hand to hand encounter with |
pupil yet, in the backwoods
have known such a thing to take
place. / once was one OF a party of
five who undertook to thrash our
school-maSter, who WAS 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 deserved it, and this one |
merely placed to account, knowing /
there was still large balance COM
ing TO me. But as / was saying,
five of us agreed to climb on the |
teacher at lonesome place about
half mile from the school where
he couldn't cry for help. But alas
it was not the teacher who had to
cry for help. He thrashed all five !
OF US. He had got so accustomed |
to thrashing the boys that he
seemed to do it quite from the force
Of habit.
The schooi-boy of my day was a
born fighter. Every new boy had
to fight his way to his place among
the boys. i have fought, when i
went to a new school as a pupil,
with good-natured fellows who hap
pened to be the champions, who
had not the slightest ill-will toward
me, nor | to them. But school eti-
quette demanded that we should
fight, and we did. / don't suppose
this occurs to any extent In town
schools, but, no doubt, 1t does In
the country, where hollow behind
the school-hOuse or a piece of woods
down the road offers secure fight
ing ground. Little the teacher will
know of these combats If there Is a
stream near by where the victor and
the vanquished can wash their
bloody noses, as an East LOndoBer
would say. | was always coward,
and never took kindly to these fel.
lows "whOse fist was ever ready for
a knock down blow" The boys of
that far off time had no idea Of the
rules of the ring. They fought in
rough and tumble way, and when
one got the other down il was con-
sidered no dishonor to pound away
at him tilt he cried enough At