Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-12-02
WHAT Is THE uSEl
4 Protest Against Some of the Things
Taught In Schools.

4 Protest Against Some OF the IhinSS
Taught In Schools.
What's the use of making mans talk
so ornamental that you don't know what
he means when he's done speaSing1
What's the use of forty pounds of Orna-
ment TO q carriage except to make IL
heavier to draw
What if the sun Is ninety odd millions
of miles from the earth, Who is the
gamer or loser by it, What state would
n mans mind be in were il thought
necessary, i'm order to be educated" to
know how far we are from 10000 other
stars2 Would life be worth living If we
had to keep posted ON the distance OF
every star rs soon rs the astronomer had
calculated it, What do we learn things
for, anyway To have them in case
they're wanted2 Would yUu carry
a pump in your trunk because you
thought you might want it some time or
other. Or learn all the ropes in ship If
YOU never expected to 20 To sea? If you
are going to New York you study the
route to New York. You don't care,
then, to study the route To Omaha. When
/ went to school | learned things | never
had any use for. They put pumps in my
trunk to pack about all my life. Is any
body the happier for knowing that Colum-
bus discovered America in 1892: Will the
knowledge OF this get you into society or
q government office or credit for weeks
board? Is II ornamental? Does it polish
YOU or veneer or make You more respect
ablc2 Well. where is the good OF it, any
way? / would pause for reply II the
train could wait. | have pondered over
this problem for years.
The fact seems to me TO be about as
valuable as pump in my trunk packed
about for fear may find myself in some
place where they have no pumps. What
did they educate me fOrI To think j
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 Kentuckys Has this fact made my
morals or digestion better or worse!
They told me, when q child at school,
that / should find out the use OF these
things when grew up. Well, grew
ND. But never found out; think now
thew lied. | 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. l think now
the time was better spent when played
hockey" and fished in the otter pond.
WHY was l taught in the "speler and
definer' that the meaning or illus
trious" was famous, and when asked
the meaning Of famous / was told 1T was
10 be ilIustriouss Was this fair3 Was IL
any wonder that q good boy should turn
his book into a nest OF dogs ears and
catch flies for living in school wheh
treated thus2 What moral garbage they
used to sweep into our heads in those lit
tie odOriferous red school housesl One
incentive given us was that any boy
might become the president OF the United
States. Now the position Is hardly re-
spectacle and not near as profitable as
that of n 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
ups Didn't he commence as a 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 a pro-
lessor, now starving in 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 poor boys back to
trot through the weary world with
Prentice milford in San Francisco
Chronicle