The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-08-03
The County Institute.

ing, occupied this week and next by the
Teachers Institute. were never crowded to
the extent which FREE TRADER reporter
saw them yesterday. Fully three hundred
school teachers were in attendance, the great
majority Of whom were ladies from the rural
brain developing hospitals of this great pro-
gressiye county.
In the spacious hallway are Hughes,
Beeber and Boyer. Who are theys They
are book agents. An institute without book
agents would resemble hotel butter on
which there are no flies. These gentlemen
have appropriated nearly al of the spare
tables in the building, aud upon them their
literary wares are displayed in most en-
ticing confusion. Boyer is the amiable fend
from the woolly North, who revels in school
papers and anecdotes. Hughes shouts the
merits of school books and maps for pub
fishing house. and Becker is the representa-
tive of scientific book publishing company.
The q eat feature of Beeber's tables is the
cheerful representation of a gentleman who
hos obligingly removed his cuticle. The
turning of leaf disposes Of his flesh, an
other turn discloses his principal organs of
digestion, respiration, etc. and the last leaf
discovers his skeleton. To nervous lady
this is quite entertaining, almost as much 80
as the legend which several wicked young
men have conjured up:
In Hoe SIdNo ScIRIERIs?
Bustle, rustic; absence, city. 1t is just
little hard on the ladies, SO they say, and it
is a foregone conclusion that if anyone
knows, they do. Yet it is presumed that
lady will be able to absorb as much knowl-
edge with a hustle as without that now
tatooed article.
Supt. Stockdale and his assistants, Pro-
fessors Jenkins, Brode and jolly, are busily
employed from half.past eight in the morn
ing until nearly four o'clock, and when the
first week closed last evening had gotten rid
ola great quantity of work.
Prof. jenkins has charge Of the grammat-
ical and penmanship department, Prof. Jolly
of the mathematical and historical branch,
and Prof Brode of the scientific course,
will lecture on thu effect of alcohol and
narcotics on the human system, instruction
in which is made compulsory in the common
schools by Legislature enactment. This is
made the great feature of the institute, as
all teachers must pass an examination upon
it now for the first time. In an intervlvw
with the F. T. reporter, Prof Jenkins said !:
"How will the matter be placed before the
children of the schools? Well, we will aim
to tell the truth about both alcohol and to-
bacco. A majority Of the lady teachers are
overlooking with sentiment, and we are
bringing them to understand the matter
from q scientific standpoint, in clear, con-
else manner. The books upon the subject,
gotten out by publishers after the passage
of the act by the legislature, are filled with
worthless matter that has little, if any, bear
ing on the subject, and they are avoided in
order to teach the subject in a practical
that alcohol and tobacco are not necessary
for the proper nourishment of the human
system, for the system violently rejects
them when first introduced; second, that
their use by children until reaching adult
years stunts the growth and impairs devel-
opment of the body third, that they affect
the nervous system and the brain ; fourth,
that like any of the other poisons they are
absolutely useless as food and, sixth, that
their excessive use, particularly the exces'
sive use of alcohol, breaks down the health
and impairs the mind. 1t is, of course, APP
parent to all that alcohol and tobacco have
little apparent effect upon thousands, while
upon thousands of others their injurious
effects are very apparent. The plain facts,
unbiased by prejudice or sentiment, will be
presented to the school children, but no
fixed rule, excepting this, will be recon-
mended. The teachers will teach the subject
in the spirit in which the legislature meant
it to be taught, with the idea in mind that
the children ought and have a right to know
the effects of narcotics
Inc sulJtCl Is, VI COuTne, ulluCult anu
delicate one TO handle but it is the aim of
the superintendent and his aids to emphasize
the fact that they are not called on to teach
prohibition, high or low license, or to fill
their pupils minds with the mere sentiment
al side of this question, but are expected to
teach the facts, as developed by scientific
study of the physical effects of alcohol and
narcotics on the human body and MIND.
The attendance next week will probably
reach $50 to 375, for it is imperative that
the teachers must pass an examination on
the subject of alcohol and tobacco, or their
certificates will be invalid for the future
The institute closes next Friday afternoon,
Obituary.
THOMAS MCINTYRE
Thomas McIntyre died at his rooms in the