The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-02-14
OLD-TIME TEACHERS.
How knowledge Was Acquired
When Luke Sharp Was a Boy.
In Those Days the Wise Instructors of
Youth Considered the Rod a Chief
Factor in Education-Striv-
ing to Get Even.

How little the youth of the present
day know about rudiments of education
as they We're acquired by US veterans in
the olden time! 1t appeared to me when
was boy that the teachers knew every
thing. A more accurate knowledge OF
the world and of humanity has led me
since to believe that / was mistaken.
presume that we were pretty hard lot,
but still, as | think of the punishments,
1t seems to me that the teacher of that
day rather overdid the matter of whiu-
ping. The first teacher at Bruceville
was a lady, and as near as | can
remember she was very easy with
US. The second vas a man, and
l 2have very little recollection OF
him except that he was very hard
on US. l remember once that he grabbed
me by the hair of the head and ierked
me over to the other end of the school
room and showed me into the bottom of
his desk, which was tall, pulpit-like
structure with sort of cupboard under
meath. In this cramped position l re-
NAMED during the forenoon, and the
teacher went off at noon, having locked
me in there and forgotten all about me-
1 will do myself the justice to say that
the moment l found l was alone there,
l braced my back against the back of
the cupboard and promptly kicked out
the door. bursting the lock and smash
ing the panel, and thus escaped. Pub
lie opinion was rather divided at the
time as to whether / was justified in do
ing what | did or not. But there was
no division of opinion about the thrash
ing ] got for it from the teacher in the
afternoon. l think a fuss would be
made about such thing as that nova
days, but ! kept still, both about the
locking up and about the whipping
afterwards, for fear should get another
at home.
The most brutal thrashing ever re-
ceived, l do not know to this dav what
it was for. / was sitting in the school
room in which the desks ran entirely
around the room and we sat on benches
facing the school wall, while the large
space in the center was occupied by a
big box-stove and the classes that were
recltlng. Of course have missed MANY
a thrashing which 1 ought to have re-
ceived, but on this occasion was quiet.
ly attending to my work. when the
teacher with wild. ungovernable fury
came over to my side and began lam
basting me over the head and shoulders
with long hickory pointer, which he
punished pupils with.
1t never entered my head to protest
against this sort of treatment or to ask
any impudent questions as to what it
was for. | merely covered my head
with my arms and was beaten there
until the pointer went into splinters.
Then the teacher, apparently relieved,
went back to his desk, and that was the
end of it. This teacher is at present,
understand, minister in a village
within one hundred miles of Detroit.
have often thought that it was my duty
still 10 take day off, some time when
business was slack, and 60 down and ask
him what that thrashing was for
When we got our third teacher in
Bruceville, who was also a man, we
found him no less severe than the Sec
ond one. In fact, think he was even
more so. He had harder row to hoe,
perhaps, than another teacher would
have had, because we all knew him. He
lived couple of miles back from the
village on his fathers farm and he used
to walk in and back again every day.
One day he set four of US standing on a
bench with Ounce caps of paper on our
heads. 1t must not be thought that this
ignominious position was the only pun
ishment, because each of the four had
been thrashed until the teachers
strength gave out. He merely added in
suit to injury by setting US up on the
bench. While he was engaged in teach
ing class, with his back toward us, the
following awful plot was concocted: 1t
was agreed that the leader of the con-
spiracy, who was boy couple of years
older than myself, should cough when
the teacher was walking past US, and as
soon as he coughed we should Jump from
our elevated position on top of the
teacher. 1t was estim ated that the i'm
petus of the jump would be such that
the teacher would be borne to the
ground, and as we knew the rest
of the pupils would not interfere, we
agreed to thrash him within an inch
of his life, and then break for the tall
timber 1t was arranged-aS well as we
could arrange such momentous matter
in whisper-that when we escaped to
the woods we should take up the reput-
able life of pirates or highway robbers,
or some such profitable and indolent ex-
istence as that, and never afterward re-
turn to civilization, unless it was at the
head of a fearful band who would burn
and destroy the village. However, it
was agreed that these little details
could be left until afterwards, when we
met in the forest which surrounded the
village. The great thing was to attend
to present matters, and overcome and
pummel the teacher. Duty first and
pleasure afterwards. When the teacher
finished with the class that he was en-
gagged with he was in the habit of walk
ing around the school with his arms be-
hind him and switch in his right hand,
and as he went he showered admonition
and blows with equal indiscrimination
AS he passed US the big boy gave
q cough and / made wild leap on the
teachers back. Unfortunately, or fort
unately, as the case may be, the other
boys backed out at the critical moment.
1t was probably better that they backed
out there than that they should have
dunked while we we've pirates and high