The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-12-18

IN auuition 10 mucn Inat was nonsense,
! learned Il deal that | should be loath
10 part with. The pleasure that | de-
rived from The words of Emmett, Han
cock. Adams, Webster, ami Seward. it
would be difficult to describe. His
boyhooi lacks something who has no
plcasurcable recollection OF ''Hohen-
linden" 1.-The Death of Napoleon"
''Ihc Burial Of Sir John Moore" ''The
Battle of Waterloo" and The scores Of
other selections that, twenty-five years
ago. constituted the stock pieces in u
schools. No amoun of ridicule over
the awkwardness of the tyro, nor fings
at the arrogance of the boy who has
learned TO do his part passable. will
overcome the fact that every time the
boy essays a part that il is difficult for
him, and accompanies his undertake
ing. he is gaining confidence in himself.
an ability To face an audience, and at
h same time keep his wits about him.
Perhaps some of us have seen Sol.
Smith Russell in his mirth-provoking
rendering OF ..Bingen on the Rhine"
III the small boy. While | have
laughed loud and long at this. | have
at the same time thought that there
must nave been u time when Mr.. Sol.
Smith Russell himself was rs awkward
and bashful as the lad whom he de-
lineated.
But all this | have thought a means
to an end simply. | should think it the
height of folly for u person to carry his
determinations no further than the learn
ing and reciting. In learning he will
have gained strength for more acquire
ments, and he is all the time storing
his mind with that which may on occa-
sion prove exceedingly useful to him.
Over and above all, he has rs Il rule ac-
CURED the ability to keep his feet and
his wits at the same time. A gentle
man, returning to the school where a
large part OF his boyhood was spent,
said: ii can forgive all the shortcom-
ings OF this room save one,-the fact,
that the master excused me from my
regular part in determinations. Again
and again, in my subsequent life, |
have seen the time when | would have
given thousands to have the confidence
in myself that my mates acquired in
this very room while speaking their
pieces. | begged of and was excused"
With this memory by HE, ! have very
rarely excused any pupil not incapita-
ted by some defect OF the vocal organs.
SCIENCE IN ENGLISH MIDDLE-CLASs
SCHOOLS.
Various Royal Commissions have
made inquiries and issued
dations in regard TO our public and en-
dowed schools. The commissions of
1861, 1864, 1868, and 1873 have ex-
pressed the strongest diSapproval of
the condition of our schools, and, so
far as ~science is concerned, their state
is much tho same rs when the Duke of
commission in 1873 re-
ported in the following words: Con
sidering the increasing Importance of
science TO the material interests of the
country, we a not but regard its al
most total exclusion from the training
of the upper and middle classes as
little less than Il national misfortune"
No doubt there are exceptional cases
and some brilliant examples of I'M
provement since these words : were
writton, but generally throughout the
country teaching in science Is a nano
rather than u reality. The Technical
which reported last year
can only point to three schools in
Great Britain in which science is fully
and adequately taught. While the com
gives us the consolation that
England is still in advance as an indus
trial nation. ii warns us that foreign
nations, which are not long ago far be-
hind, are now making more rapid pro-
gress than this country, and will soon
pass 1t in the race of competition I'M
We give increased attention to
science in public education. A few of
the large towns, notably Manchester,
Bradford, Huddersiield, and Birming-
ham, are doing so. The working-class-
es are now receiving better instruc-
ton in science than the middle classes.
The competition of actual life asserts
its own conditions, for the children of
the latter find increasing difficulty in
obtaining employment. The cause of
this lies in the fact that the schools for
the middle classes have not yet adapt
ed themselves to the needs of modern
life. sir Lyon HaUair, m foputar
Science .Nonthty for -,occmdcr.