Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-05-02
THE HINMAN ACADEMY STRIKE
How the Boys of the Long Ago Boycott
ed Oratory.
Burdette Ii Rrooklnn EnnIa.


Burdette In Brooklyn Eagle.
These strikes by The school children are
nothing new. But they don't develop
and bring out and down the strong hand
OF the ruling power as they used to.
Among the sunny memories of my own
school days, there CLOVIS, bright and soft
as summer sunset, the picture of the
great strike at Humans, in Peoria away
back in 1853. Hinman's was the greatest
school in the West The dear old man
was superintendent of public instruction,
board of education, school trustee, county
superintendent, principal, assistant and
Ianltor. He had pleasant smile. a firm
temper and a slate frame. lie also car
red about bis person grip that would
make blacksmith wise crawl into the
scrap heap and hide itself. We used TO
have general exercises Friday afternoons
at which we were wont 10 rec te in vOcif-
er0us concert the MULTIPLICATION tables.
the states and capitals, and such thrill
ing rhetorical exercises as xviii you
walk? or rideT' and "They tell us to be
mod rate, but they, THEY-are torevelin-
pro FU-siOnw 1t wss thrilling. But af-
ter we had learned all these chants "by
heart'' and could chant them off with our
eyes shut, sold Human" Introduced an
nOvatiOn-"speakin' pieces" Upon
that we struck. We endured it three
weeks and then we determined to boycott
the whole business All the boys went
into it. Bill Smith and Hub futile, Rob
Gregg, Ed EastOn, Steve Bum. Bill Ro-
decker. Hen Keeuer and all the big boys,
too. The first boy called on to 'speak''
was TO announce the strike, and as my
name came pretty well up in the alpha
bet, stood good chance of being leader,
distinction for which / was not at all
ambitious, being of tender years and of a
ruddy cnuntenance and sensitive feel
ings. But boy named Allen, who was
called ahead of me, 6unked and said his
piece. "Hohenlinden," although we made
such suggestive gestures at him that he
forgot hall of it and broke down and cried
When was called ] refused to speak.
Beng pressed for a reason / said. in fall
tering accents. that "there WASN'T goin'
to be no more speakin'." When the old
man, with unfeigned surprise, asked me
who said so, said "all of us did" Then
he said there would be "a little more
speakin'" before the close of the session,
and so be led me out upon the rOstrum.
Then and there, nth feelings which now
dance act. had often before performed
my solitary cachuca to the lascivious
pleasure of sold Humans" slate frame,
but never had accom- nanied myself with
words. Boy like. had selected for my
piece poem expressive of those peace
full virtues l most heartily despised,
so that my performance, at the inaugu-
ration Of the strike, ran somewhat like
this:
'Oh, not for me twhackD is the rolling
(whack0 drum.
Or the (wh4ck, whack y trumpets wild
(whackn appeal. Boo hoo!
Or the cry boo hoo of twhackD war when
the twhsck) foe is come.
Or the tOwA brightly twhack0 flashing
STEEP (whack, whackD.
Icannot convey to the most vivid i'm
aginatIOn the gestures which accompa-
MED the seven stanZas OF this beautiful
poem. Suffice it to say that they kept
pace with the old mans peculiar system
of punctuation until at last, overcome
with conflicting emotions, went sObbng
to my seat and wondered why an inscru-
table providence had given to the rhinOc-
eros the hide that the eternal fitness of
things had evidently prepared for the
school boy.
But forgot my own sorrows and dried
my tears, in the enjoyment Of the play, as
my compatriots developed it. MIR. Hin
man, who had been unusually gentle and
/ selirestrained with me, lost his temper
with the boy who followed me, and there
was a sound Of revelry for the next hour.
| He shook boys until their teeth ratified so
! you couldn't hear them cry; he hit Mick
| ey McCann. the tough boy, one whack
with a skate strap and Mickey ran out
and rolled IN the snow to cool off; he hit
Jake Bailey across the thigh with the slate
| frame and il hurt so that Jake couldn't
howl-he Just opened his mouth and gasp
ed and forgot bis own name; he pushed
Bill haskell into seat and the bench
broke; be shook Dan Stevens so that his
feet didn't touch the floor for five min
utes; be ran across the room and reached
out for Lem Harkins, and Lem had fit
before the old man touched him be whip
ped the two KnOwltOns with both hands
at the same time, and the Gibbon family,
five boys and big girl, he hit all at once
with a gIrps sKippingrope and they raised
such united wall the clock stopped; he
kept the atmosphere of that old school,
room full OF dust, and splinters, and lint,
weeping, waiting and guashing Of teeth,
until his old arms ached and all hearts
wearied of the inhuman strife and wicked
contention, and then he stood up before
us ia sickening tangle OF strap and
cane and slate frame, rattan and skip
ping rope, and asked, in clear, trium-
phapt tones:
"Who says there isn't going TO be any
more speakIn' -
And the bows OF that school rose up
as one being and shrieked, in tones OF an
Cuish:
"NobOdyp'
And 1, who led that strike and was its
first martyr, 1 have been "speakln' " ever