Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-11-28

the gratitude of the people to at least put
hIn On a par with the G. A. r. or the po-
ce force of San Francisco. The pen is
migh Ter than the sword. Education is the
corne!-roae of our government. The
school-room the cradle of American hber-
ties. The resolution they claimed might
be voted down. but there were no doubt
instances of suffering by aged noble men
and women in this State to-day, that if
their cases of want and misery were
placed alongside biographical sketch of
their forty years in a school-room." there
would not, neither could there be, dis
senting vote against this resolution.
The vote taken viva voce was so close
| that q division was called for, and by 3
| rising vote it was decided lost.
AN ABLE ESSAY.
Miss f. de Laguna. one of the teachers
in the Sacramento High School, read an
eassay on The Teaching of English-How
Best to Begin 1t" as follows:
1t is the purpose of this paper to set forth in
very general way the relation Of the work in the
| lower schools in reading and English grammar
/ TO the English course in the High school. No
attempt will be made to give detailed account
of what the pupil might probably read and
study in these schools. Our literature is too
| rich, and the period of time about to be dis
cussed too extended to permit OF anything but
\ d most rapid survey of the field this afternoon.
| The study Of English has two sides one es-
| thetie and The other more decidedly practical.
| Il stands for literature and language 1t aims
| TO inspire a love for good books, and to instruct
| in the acquisition and use of the mother tongue.
How best to attain these results is the question
| that faces the instructor Of youth. A ready an
| swer suggests itself These results may be at
tanned by putting early into the hands of chill
dren the best of literature. and by training
| them in the use of good English. Do we accom-
! plish this? Is the method of instruction along
this line as favorable to these ends as it might
| be- IL other words. do the reading books and
the grammars OF the lower schools fill the re-
| quirements for strong and broad foundation?
| I believe they do rot. In themselves they are
not adequate, and they do not appear to create
/ IN the breast OF the pupil desire Tor more:
/ Less theory and more practice Children do
| not read enough: they do not write enough.
and yet the hours seem hardly long enough for
| all they have to do. A revolution should then
take place. Room must be made for more
| extensive acquaintance with books, a more ac-
curate use OF language. What portion OF the
| foundation, as it now stands, may most easily
| be removed without affecting the specific gray
/ ity OF the supeTstructure.
believe that a change may be made, where
| by children might receive the much needed in
| struction without sacrificing any vital part of
| the course of study they now pursue A promi-
nent part would have to be given up, hut only
| for the time being. Later in the school career
| the work could be taken up prohtably and with
| comparative ease.
We must always bear in mind this principle
I the greatest good to the greatest number What
course of training will be equally advantageous
| to the boy who leaves his books Tor the cash
basket or the workbench, and the boy who
pursues High School and University studies?
First let us introduce into the curriculum of
| the primary and grammar grades course of
| commemorative
greater part of all that is beautiful and true and
good in our literature, suitable for children be-
tween the ages OF six and fourteen. What
| vista stretches out before the child Men with
| the stamp of an almost divine inspiration upon
their bIOTs shall be 10 them frisnd and cOun-
selor and teacher. Never again will their hearts
| be so fresh, so impresslonable; their magma
| tons so powerful
In vain do we seek to feel in our maturer
years the thrill our childhood knew, as we
pOred over the pages of a favorite book read
ing and rereading it, until its total collapse pro-
| tested against any further service. Shall we
withhold from them this pure delight?
Washington Irving invites them to Sunnyside,
and, with his genial smile and merry twinkle
i'll his eye, gathers these little ones about him,
| these children that we love, and tells their
| "maryeing bOyhood" such wonderful tales of
his weird old Catskills, and through the stories
| runs the Hudson, ''the river that he loved and
glorifed."
Cooper would go back with them to time
when the red man wandered through primeval
| forests and their ears would be charmed with
the music and the mystery OF the "Weptof-
Wish ton Wish" and the wandering "Mohi-
cans" Hawthorne. New England's poet. soul
reserved and shy" would settle himself in
"Grandfathers Chair and tell them of the
Pilgrim Fathers, of whom il has been said
"God had sifted three Kingdoms to find the
wheat for this planting,
And then had sifted the wheat as the living
seed of nation"
But their name is legion, the men and women
who, from the nights of their genius, have
stepped down and reached out friendly hand
to the chi dren.
But coordinate with this more pleasing line
of work is the drill in the use of language
These men OF letters are to be models as well as
sympathetic friends. From them the children
must imbibe the genius OF the English language,
acquire a strong and varied vocabulary aud
learn to translate their emotions into thought,
their thoughts into language.
The memory must be cultiyated-that sturdy
little slave of the brain, who if not allowed to
grow careless through inactivity, is ever ready
TO fetch and carry for the lOftier faculties of the
mind. Many a golden thought may be stored
| away during those early years to be pleasure
all through life EmerSon's 'Titmouse." Long
| fellows Norman Baron'-scOres of poems
from our beloved Household Poets - And
when the child has become grandfather, and
the children of another generation plead with
him for story though all belonging to the
years between may be forgotten, he VIII draw
from that early treasure-house to his own in
finite pleasure and to the delight of his eager
listeners.
This may sound trivial to utilitarian ears, but
happily we can say that the most of men do not
subscribe to that creed-in heart, at least.
Then power of expression must be sought for;
the pupil need not wait until he is three score
years to give forth as his own the tales thus
learned. As soon as he has even limited
command of language. let him clOthe the
stories in his own words, retell it in its new
dress And so composition work will begin at a
very early age, oral at first, written afterwards
To be a skillful workman one must use tools,
not merely learn about them.
HE that walketh with the wise shall be
wise" The child learning to interpret the
thoughts ofothers, ends by thinking for himself
All thought is born of some foregoing thought.
1t Is inevitable that we are indebted to the past
for the good things of the present. Chaucer
drew life from the italian bards and breathed il
into Spenser; and Spenser has been the source
of most OF poetry since his time. True, it is not
our hope TO kindle many poetic fancies, al
though we do not know what child David may
stand before us tor whom the command may
come, Arise, anOint him, for this is he" But
we do hope to make thoughtful men and women
of these children, and we know there is no surer
way than by bringing them into contact with
men that think.
But, as it is, many children enter the High
School having read scarcely a line outside of
their text books. With so much that is grand |
aud ennobling and sweet, they are wearing cut
their energies on objective compliments, - ere |
strictive and uurestrictiye clauses, and all the
rest OF the tortnres that belong to the gram
NAUTICAL inquisition. And so it happens that |
boys and girls who can parse like Murrays and |
diagram like so many little Reeds and Keloggs
are almost strangers to their own language.
They look upon the dictionary as a chaotic |
mass of learning, into which they pluAsq.be- |
wildered, Selling the first thing their ey Mall |
upon and bearing it triumphantly to thu FUR |
face; and a pupil with a beautiful faith in |
Webster paraphrases, Ellen repaired to the |
beach" by ELLEN mended the beach," Her
recitation is criticised. Wonderingly, and with |
the air of one who has been the victim OF an
awful deceit, she says: Why, the dictionary |
says so"
Another offers this original solution to the |
question, What does race mean in the line |
Remote from towns he ran his godly racer"
at means family" imputing to the gentle |
clergyman the charge of running his family. |
When Mark Twain wrote his famous English |
as she is Taught, in spite of its absurdities and
seeming exaggerations he fell shor. of depict
ing the awful reality, as it is exemplifed every |
dag in English classes.
but the children have all thew can do now !" |