Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-03-01
LIKE CLOCK WORK.
SCENE IN THE PLAY
GROUND OF A COLoREO SCHOOL.

ATLANTA GA Cor. Inter Ocean. ]

AtldIltd ANfd' N'i ih't' 'tt'ii.l
"When | strike this bell, ," said Superintend-
ept Doty, of the Morris Street colored school,
when was inspecting his branch of the
public school system of Charleston the other
day, "the noon recess is over, and every one
of our l, 400 boys and girls is in duty bound
to become motionless preserving whatever
attitude he may happen to be in at the time
of the bell stroke. You may be Interested to
watch the effect
So saying he struck a button. The loud,
sharp note of an alarm- ell responded to the
pressure, and l stepptd quickly to the win
dow.
The assortment of gro5esque positions to
be witnessed below bs.gars description.
Here a boy had n ball IA sed in midair, while
over wonder stood anoth,r II lad with hands
extended ready 10 catch the ball. In one
place some youngsters were playing at leap
frog. There a couple of lads were locked In
a seeming death grip, having been caught by
the signal in the act OF wrestling. In one
place an automatic game of tag was illustra-
ted In another a girl had her arms ex-
tended in the process of rope-skipping.
"Pompeii without the debris, l remarked.
This is of course only a feature OF the
discipline which we try to preserve" ex-
planned Mr.. Doty. "Once rang this pre-
liminary signal and then walked leisurely
from window to window to see how it had
been obeyed. From the last window dis
covered lad literally standing on his head
with his feet resting against the fence,
where he had been for two or three minutes.
l rang the second bell in haste, and from
that day prohibited the fine art OF posing on
the head. But that incident illustrates the
prompt and iron-clad adherence to the very
letter of the law which is cultivated here.
This second stroke of the bells forms the ell
tire school into PROFESSIONS
A third stroke and as if by magic or by
machinery doors flew open in every part of
the large room. Still another stroke, and
in marched the files, a class at a time.
through each opening. Every boy and girl
was exactly in line, the distances between
pupils was invariably uniform, and there
was graduation of heads in each class ac-
cording to the height of the pupils. During
the exercise of whole hour that followed
there was not the slightest deviation from
rigid military order. Never head turned
once, never hand stirred to rub a tickling
ear or nose. and never a suggestion OF mis-
take occurred in the complicated evolutions
Of the hour.
After all the classes had in some inexpli-
twenty monitors marched up, ten on one
side of the principals desk and ten on the
other These class monitors submitted their
| reports Only two had failures to chronicle,
and those failures were of the smallest posi-
bic Importance, amounting to lack OF sufi
| cient promptness in obeying the first bell.
Are these children really alive" l said
| under my breath. 1T all seems like some
| ingeniously contrived mechanical puppet.
| show on a vast scale"
| And vet there was no bored, automatic
expre7sIon on the bright faces before me.
| Evidently the pupils reveled in the very
rigidity of the discipline to which they were
subjected. l think perhaps the personal
magnetism of Superintendent Doty had
something to do with securing such superb
| system Certainly | never saw anything in
the north which even approximated the
| matchlesS discipline of these Morris street
colored children. The effect was beautiful
beyond nv power to express.
| Il will order special exercise in singing,
said Mr.. Doty. But he didn't say anything.
| More bel-tapS, and more doors flew open
| more child en- filed into the hall from the
| ad Joining recitation rooms, and the room
was full A single verse followed from each
of half dozen selections, embracing t {
| chief STYLES of classic music. Here again
everything went like clock-work There wa:
no announcement of the piece to be sung save
that involved in the opening bars as played
on a piano; and every darky lads voice wa:
heard, as also every girls, while all eyes
were fixed irrevocably straight ahead, and
all hands were clasped and motionless OF
the edge of the desk in front
| In company with Mr. Doty then took {
cruise through the building.
The same unalterable system was evident
| everywhere. Sometimes l would think
Surely we viii take this room unaware
and discover some impropriety.' But W,
never did. Every class preserved strict mil
itary order in passing to and from recita
| tion-rooms, while if it was a writing class
the pen was invariably between the thuml
and index finger of the right hand, which
hung at the side, and the copy-book and ink
wiper were carried in regulation fashion b,
the left hand, and left arm being bent
Even the primary rooms, with THAR 80
| tiny inmates, We're models of order, tn
little ones being in amphitheatres and ga
leries. Indeed, Mr.. Doty says the secret .
his discipline consists in beginning with tn
primary department