The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-05-17

The proverbial school-Doy is thou

l L ne DIONtIUlttl SCIlOOl-DOi Is IROuOnf
to know everything; and he often knows
a great deal that is highly original, and
that is known by no one else. Those
replies to Mr.. Narnon's questions NAV
| be paralleled by various other exam
pies thatare equally founded upon facts.
| The inspector who objected to children
being taught to read from books in
which are such sentences as ''Is a cat q
rat? A fat cat sits on a sod and mods
at men' was pleased to give q lesson on
| kindness to animals, and the effort in
| writing an essay on the cat resulted in
this: every one has heard of whit
tington and his cat 1t was at the
| Theater ROYAL" While the ESSAY on
the horse was this: The horse is use
full to take men toward and away from
the enemy" BY the way, according to
Mr.. Mundella, when 3 child was asked
by an inspector to define "a steed," and
the answer was "a horse" he was told
that he was wrong, and that steed
was ga horse in notion" Perhaps
the proyerbial school-boy was not aware
of that!
When asked at Preston to explain
Pope line, Content to breathe his ma
tive air. the school-boy defined native
air. as 1.-THE air OF his own cad" at
Chester, being asked to state the rea-
sons that made Magma Charta necessa-
ry, he replied somewhat incoherently,
1.-The increasing deposition of succeed
! ing Kings" In Sussex, being asked TO
give an explanation of constaS H~ ssl
riodical winds, he answered: "Hurri-
canes. gales, tempests and ZEPHYR
AT Westminster being equestedto para
| phrase Macbeth's ''Canst thou not
minister to mind diseased?" he did so
by writing, Doctor, can You fulfil the
duties of your profession in curing a
woman who is distracted?' Being
asked: ''Where is Turin?' he wrote,
''Tureen is the Capitol of Chiner; the
people there lives in burds nesteS, and
has long tales.
The proverbial school-boy might be
able to answer the most puzzling ques-
tons given to him by his examiner; but
the real school-boy will often, in his
replies, travel beyond the region of
facts, and boldly plunge into sea of
speculation. Three instances shall
suffice in reference to Scripture knowl-
edge; and they are all said to have been
written by Metropolitan School Board
pupils in answer to questions put to
| them by government inspectors. ''WhO
was Moses?-Ile was an Egyptian. He
lived in bark maid of bullrushes and
he kept golden cart and worshipt
braizen snakes and he het nothin but
qwhales and manner for forty years.
He was kort by the air of his ed while
ridin' under the bow Of a tree and he
was killed by his son Absolon Us he was
hanging from the bow. His end was
peace 'What do you know of the
patriarch Abraham? HE was the father
/ of Lot and had few wives. Wun was
calld Hismales and tother Haygur. He
KEEP wun at home and he hurried the
tother into the dessert where she be-
came a pillow of salt in the daytime
and pillow of fire at mite Write
an account of the Good Samaritan.-A
certing man went down from jerslam
to ierriker and he field among thawns
and the thawns sprang up and choked
him; whereupon he gave tuppins to the
boast and said tax care on him and put
| him on his hone hass. And hepast I've
| on the bother side"
My remaining examples are culled
from the blue book of 92S pages, issued
by the Government Council of Educa
ton few years since, and they arr
therefore to be accepted as authentic,
| need not take up space by giving the
questions to which the following re-
plies were given: "Soiar time is the
time indicated by the moon" ''The
equator is an imaginary (2) which
passes through the center of the earth
and terminates both ways" The
heavens that we see arc hollow: plain
inference that they enclose a sphere"
1.-The sun has an annual motion up and
down" ''Eclipses of the sun and moon
are partial from the speed at which the
bodies are going" ''Solar eclipses are
annular because of the regular and uni
form motion of the moon, and when the
earth 5 motion is regular to correspond
with it. u" 1.-The rOtundity of the earth
is its movement. The proof of its ro-
tundity is vegetation, how some trees
are slanting in different parts of the
world; again. when riding in train,
trees, etc, appearing to go in q con-
trary direction to Yourself is convincing
proof that the earth isround." Watch
closely the heavenly bodies and we find
u belt of pale light nearly dividing the
heavens into two parts the stars are
more numerous in this part; reason
the earth bulges out"
These answers We're given by the
more advanced pupils; and, on the
testimony of Mr.. Mundella, such ques-
lions as these We're given by Her Males
| tvs inspectors to small children in
Standard ": ''What is the use of fire.
Hies?" ''What is the character OF the
despotism by which India is gov
erned?" If any answers were made to
these questions they have not been re-
corded. But--to wind up this paper
acre is q question, with its answer.
aiken from the report of Rev. G. SSeele
1t Preston. Describe the state of En-
gland under the Heptarchy." People
had three meals q breakfast din
ner and supper. They retired to rest
N state of nudity and laid on a bed
Of straw. The SaXons We're eminentlv
social. When they drank, they would
out their tumblers together, very often
accompanying it with a kiss, and tell of