Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-02-02
THE STRIKE AT SCHOOL.
fAs Scholars Started the Movement bus
q Didn't Work,


u Didn't Work.
These strikes by the school children
are nothing new But they don't de-
velop 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 Humans was the
greatest school in the west The dear
old man was superintendent of public in
struction, board of education. school
trustee, county superintendent, princi-
pal, assistant and janitor He had .
pleasant smile, q firm temper and .
slate frame. He also carried about his
person a grip that would make black
smiths wise crawl into the scrap heap
and hide itself
We used to have general exercises Fri
day afternoons, at which We were won't
to recite. in vociferous concert, the multi
plication table, the states and capitals,
and such thrilling rhetorical exercises as,
"Will you WALK! or RIDE and They
tell Us to be MODERATE, but THEY.
THEY-are to revel in pro-FU -sion!" 1t
was thrilling. But after we had learned
all these chants "by heart" and could
chant them off with our eyes shut,
"Old Hinman introduced an innovation
-"speakin' pieces" Upon that we
struck. We endured it three weeks, and
then we determined to boycott the whole
business. All the boys went intosits Bill
Smith and Hub Tuttle, Bob Gregg, Ed
Easton, Steve Dunn, Bill Rodecker. Hen
Keener. and all the big boys. too. The
first boy called on to speak" was to an
nounce the strike As my name came
pretty well up the alphabet. | stood a
good chance Of being leader, dis
tinction for which was not at all am
bilious, being of tender years and of q
rudy counteLance and sensitive feeling.
But boy named Allen, who was called
ahead of me, funked, and said his
piece, "Hohenlinden," although we made
such suggestive gestures to him that he
forgot half Of it and broke down and
cried. When ! was called refused to
speak. Being pressed for reason.
said. in faltering accents, that there
wasn't going to be no more speaking"
When the old man with unfeigned sur
prise asked me who said SO, | said ..aIl
of us did" Then he said there would be
"a little more speakin before the close
of the session, and so he led me out Of
ings which now shudder to recall, l
did my first song and dance act had
often before performed my solitary ca
chuca to the lascivious pleasing Of ''Old
Hnmans slate frame, but never had /
accompanied myself with words. Boy
like, had selected for my piece poem
expressive Of those peaceful virtues
most heartily despised, SO that my per-
Torrance at the Inauguration Of the
strike ran somewhat like this:
Oh, not for me twhsck y is the rolling twhack3
drum
Or the (whack whack trumpet wild (whackD
appeal tBoohoo
Or the cry tboo-hooD OF (whack y war When the
(whack } foe IL come,
Or the tow0 brightly (whack , flashing steel
twhack, ~hackD
| cannot convey to the most vivid
imagination the gestures which accom-
panied 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 sobbing
to my seat and wondered why an in
scrutable Providence had given to the
rhinoceros the hide that the eternal fit
ness of things had evidently prepared for
the schoolboy.
But forgot my own SORROWS and dried
my tears in the enjoyment of the play,
as my compatriots developed it, Mr..
Human. who had been usually gentle
and self restrained with me- lost his tenn
per with the boy who followed me. and
there was sound of revelry for the next
hour. he shook boys until their teeth
ratified so you couldn't hear them cry;
he hit Mickey 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 tho
thighs with the slate frame, and it hurt
so that Jake couldn't howl-he lust
opened his mouth and forgot his own
maine. He pushed Bill Haskell into q
seat and the bench broke: he shook Dan
Stevens 20 that his feet didn't touch the
floor for five minutes: he ran across the
room and reached out for Lem Harkins
and Lem had tit before the old man
touched him. he whipped the two knowl-
tons with both hands at the same time,
and the Gibbon family-tive BOYS and
BIZ giri-he hit all at once with the girls
Skipping rope, and they raised such a
united wall the clock stopped. He kept
the atmosphere Of that old schoolroom
full OF dust and lint. weeping, wailing
.hu sndsiliiis OF t"etn until his Old arms
ached and all hearts wearied of the in
human strife and wicked contention, and
then he stood up before us in sickening
tangle of strap and cane. and slate frame
rattan and skipping rope, and asked in
clear, triumphant tones:
who says there isn't going to be apv
more speakinT
And the boys Of that school rose UP as
one being and shrieked in tones Of
anguish:
"NobOdYr-R ] Rnrrlettn