Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1885-09-24
NOTES OF THE DAY.


a prominent educator of Brooklyn, are
SO practical as so be of general appllca-
ton: 1t is a curious fact that many
city boys reach the end of the school
course without being able to tell what
monkey wrench is, or describe cross
cut saw, or define the uses OF a turning
lathe, while p ston, a steam box, or q
throttle valve are all far beyond their
ken. They can, however, tell the mum
Der of eleme atary sounds in the lam
guage and the significance of the whole
cluster OF diacritical marks, all OF which
Joon fade out of their minds.
In ito limited time that the state has
the privilege of teaching children in
The Twelfth ward, it seems absurd to
proceed with them with the circum.
stance that marks the work in the
schools on the Hill, where the children
will stay twice as long. Yet this is the
present system. To change it means
the risk of a demagogic cry OF one
SCuOOl iOI Iuo liCu anu "hObhSA 'Vi WV
poor. Accordingly, the poor suffer.
Some liberty should be allowed
to principal to suit o
education he directs to the ne essi-
ties of those under his care, that the
boy who must be bread-winning at
twelve shall not be despol led of yalu-
able time in ascertaining to shade the
fourteen sounds of the vowel A.
COMMENTING upon the fact that there
is one insane person to every 5O0
Americans, and that the ratio has great
ly increased in the last thirty years, DR..
w. B. Fletcher says that an apparent
cause is the popular change of opinion
regarding the treatment of insanity.
Fifty years ago, to be sent to an insane
asylum ostracized one as completely as
term in the penitentiary. That is all
changed, and brief residence in an
asylum is no more detrimental to social
standing than visit to Hot Springs or
Florida. DR. Fletcher does not regard
our system of education as Il notably
exciting cause of insanity. The evi
dence is rather to the contrary, the
great majority of the insane coming
from the ranks of the ignorant, where
nature has supplied little mental power
TO begin with, and art has done less.
The doctor is also in sympathy with
the belief that the use of alcoholic lev
erageO and narcotics is not, in itself. a
prime cause of insanity.
LIEUTENANT TAUT of the United
States Navy, who has gone up the Con-
go to Stanley Pool, does not share the
enthusiasm about that region of the
great African traveller, from whom the
Pool is named. A short time ago the
Lieutenant was at Cape Sabine in search
of Greedy and he finds very marked
CaSuged IN the temperature. Tie
thermometer has risen several degrees
above zero since then. Sickness and
death are the principal occupation OF
the inhabitants on the Congo. One
grave yard at Stanley Pool. he says, is
filled and they have opened another.
Those who believe these expeditions
''picnics" should take look at the
graveyards along the river When the
white traveller is not sick with fever,
he has to take care of the other white
men already there who are.
The United States Supreme Court
has decided the. law of Michigan I'M
constitutional which imposes a tax of
$500 upon the business done in the
state by wholesale liquor dealers from
other states. The object of the law
was to equalize the burdens imposed
by the state tax law upon the liquor
business in the state. The prosecution
was begun against an agent of Chi
cago firm in Grand Rapids, The court
fined the agent according to the law.
The sentence was unanimously affirm
ed by the Supreme Court of Michigan
but overturned by the Supreme Court
at Washington. 1t is of considerable
practical interest to the wholesale
liquor dealers of Michigan since they
have to pay from $500 to $500 tax,
while their outside rivals are thus left
free.
A returned missionary crit cises the
Chinese for their stubbolnness in refus-
ing to accept the blessing of Christian
civilization, and regards their refusal as
an evidence that they are either bad or
stupid. Oh, yes, certainly. the Chinese
are iDexcusable. A Christian civiliza-
ton which shoots down fit of their de
fenceless countrymen in cold blood,
loots their houses and village, and
manifests toward them many other evil
dences of its divine origin is a beauti-
full thing, and no one but pig-tailed
heather would refuse to accept such
blessing. Nevertheless, it seems to u'
that this returned missionary ought to
work awhile among the gentle hood
lums of the Far West.
BISHOP WALDEN of Cincinnati, has
become property holder in Washing
ton Territory in rare manner. While
he was holding a conference in Tacoma
l,;e .osu.oo. -. o,,1;stoJ l., n m afrort o..