Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-11-29
WHAT IS THE USEi
A Protest Against Some of the Things
Taught In Schools.

What's the use Of making Il mans talk
80 ornamental that vOu don't know what
he mears when he's done speaking
What's the u>r Of forty pounds Of Orna-
mer.t to "A carriage except to make it
Lesy.eI tC draw
What II tn sun is ninety odd millions
u miles from the eaTthy Who is the
ga.uei or loser by it, What state would
A mans mind be in were it thought
necessary, in order to he educated ~ TO
know how far we are from 10000 other
stars Would life he worth living If we
had to keep posted on the distance of
every star a. soon as the astronomer had
calculated il, What do we learn things
for. anyway To have them i'll case
they're wanted Would You carry
a pump in your trunk because yOu
thought you might want il some time Oi
otherl Or learn MI the ropes in a ship if
yoL ueVe: expected 10 go to sea- II you
are going 10 New York you study the
routs tc New York You don't care.
theL to study the route to Omaha. When
went &c school I learned things | never
had any use fer. They put pumps in my
trunk 70 PACK about all my life. Is any
bOly the happier tOr showing that Colum-
bus discovered America in 1892 Will the
a IANN AtAlSt VI inns -tA you lllip SbtAtlN VI
a government office or credit for a weeks
noarG1 Is it ornamental. Does it polish
YOU or veneer or make YOU more respect
ab!e9 Well, where is the good of it, any
wav2 | would pause for reply if the
train could wait. ! have pCndered over
this problem for years.
The fact secFlS to me to be about as
valuable as p,mp in my trunk packed
nl, for ] find rlNrSaif in
place where they have no pumps. What
did they educate me fors To think |
could get no water unless had pump,
though the Mississippi flowed past my
door and bushels Of tin dippers were lying
along the banks What profits it TO me
that Tennessee is bounded on the north
by kentucky Has this fact made my
morals or digestion better or worse'
They told me- when a child at school,
that | should find out the use OF these
things when | grew up. Well, grew
up. But | never found out; | think now
they lied. l don't believe they knew
what they were talking about. | spent
three years Of my boyhood learning what
states were at the top and what were at
the bottom Of each other. | think now
the time was better spent when played
hockey" and fished in the otter pond.
Why was | taught IN the ''speller and
definer' that the meaning of illus
trious' was famous, and when l asked
the meaning of famous was told it was
to be illustriOus' Was this fair? Was it
any wonder that q good boy should turn
his book into nest Of dogs ears and
catch flies for living In school when
treated thus What moral garbage they
used to sweep into our heads in those lit
tie odorifcrous red school houses! One
incentive given us was that any boy
might become the president o. the United
States. Now the position is hardly re
spectacle and not near as profitable as
that Of a bank cashier or New York
alderman. The president is only boss Of
the rotary office machine. Were not we
taught that we should be beggars II We
didn't get our lessOns' Didn't the boy who
wouldn't get his lessons and couldn't
turn out the richest man when he grew
up: Didn't he commence as rum swil-
Ter and end by filling an honOred con
gressman's gravel Isn't the smart boy of
the school, who did get his lessons, and
went through college and became q pro
lessor, now starving in a publishing house
making more school books on $40 per
week. Isn't life hard enough and heavy
enough without packing the burden of
such lot of lies on a poor boys back TO
trOt through the weary world with
Prentice Mulford in San Francisco
Chronicle.