Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1886-04-16
THE PEDAG0GuT 0e YnRE.
AS Detiuerei before the last Douglas Coa,.-
fy Institute held In ROse6ssg,
IN Prof. II. j. Tobkna.

| am moved by an impressible desire
to draw aside, fora moment the cur
tain that shuts out the misty past, and
take one loving, lingering look at that
most conspicuous, important parsonage
the now fossilized, birch-shield peda-
gogue, and if possible, to seize upon
some of the more salient, distinguishing
characteristics Of that extinct genius.
commenced the study of this remark
able parsonage when / was younger by
several years than am new, when my
locks were considerably thicker, my
voice sweeter and my step moro elias
tic. Even when was beloved, cher
ubic, promising infant of eight sum-
mers, in that uneasy, enterprising, ag-
gregation called the district school.
The genus that presided over that nur-
sery was remarkable piece. Of human
ity. He was bow-legged, crosseyed,
crooked -kneed. humpbacked. and when
he looked at you he appeared to look
out from under himself, and If he had
ever possessed any Of the milk of hui
man kindness, it had long since turned
sour. He started wrong in life and
at the age of forty years had not got
"righted." Children he regarded as
the totally depraved. His face was
cadaverous, his look down-cast, and
sinister, his tread cat like, his voice
low, except when aroused by some ex-
hibition of juvenile depravity, when it
became compound of saw filing and
dog snarling. His language was ex.
pressive and impressive, being sand
wiched with such verbal tit-bits, as,
STOOL" "blockhead," s1iar" ssupstart"
etc., and made emphatic with such
phrases as "I'll smash you" .I'll jerk
you out of your boots" and sometimes
he would startle his pupils by announc-
ing his intention to "take off their
hides asserting that if he did not che
hoped to squeal" or "to scratch gravel"
Before the term closed the boys and
girls had mastered the whole vocabu-
larry, and were ready, one and all, 'sto
squeal" OF scratch gravel" in certain
contingencies
This educationof youth would often
encourage my Juvenile feet to tread the
path of fame by fondling my semi
burnt locks with his bony fingers and
caressing my ears with the palm Of
his hand till they rang with the "music
Of the spheres" Ibelieve that is what
they call it. Sometimes he varied this
slight encouragement by placing his
hand on my coat collar and adjusting
my interesting countenance to the diff
ferent points of the compass several
times in rapid succession, to my own
edi6cation and the great satisfaction Of
my fellow cherubs. l think l appre.
ciated these slight encouragements; still
my ardent nature required deep sym
pathy from my youthful companions
Now, having thus pleasantly intro
duced my subject to your favorable
attention, it devolves on me to present
to you, as learnedly as 1 can, the ETY.
mology of the word pedagsgue. ALLOW
me to caution you to keep close to m
mental heels, in following me, fol
should you once get lost in the intri
cate labyrinth through which / am
about to lead you, neither Webster
nor Worcester can help you out.
"Pedagogue" is compound word
composed of two roots with euphoni
GUS connective. You who are blessed
with knowledge Of Greek will recog
nize the Grccian origin Of the syllab
r "ped" which being interpreted sign
t fies ''boy." Ped-a-gogue, every ca
d sensitive to harmony detects the me-
n lifous euphony Of the "a" which bind
! together the two roots, sped" an,
' "gogue," forming the musical signii
can't compound. "pedagogue."
Continued on RaSe 4