The daily critic., 1890-09-25
BAD BOYS CAUSED IT.
NEW LIGHT ON THIS BUILDING OF
TIE SHIP" AFFAIR.
During Analysis Of tho Metaphors the
Boys suic kered and Dfd All rney
could 20 Enbarrats tho
Girls and Teachers

During Analysis Of tho Metaphors the
Boys snictcred ana Dfd All rney
could 20 Embarraw tho
Girls and Teachers
TheNcw York WORTH hastensto make
known the fact that Principal James
/ Cusock and other teachers in the Brook
lyn public schools have been misrepre.
scnted They have not pronounced
Iorgfe.Iow ln immoral poet Neither
do they charge with immortality that
beautiful poem The Building of the
ship"
But this doesn't alter the situation
which Is extremely unpleasant TO the
teachers and the good little girls ia the
graduating classes Of the grimm
schools The whole blame rests on the
bad little boys in the same classes 7
is Tie custom at he beginning Of each
tenn 10 furnish the graduating classes
with selections from the writings Of
/ standard authors for class reading and
critical analysis The last selection
contained The Building Of the Ship
| and other poems 1v LOnefellow. For
a time all went we'll Ia the progress
| of The poem describing the building Of
q ship there is the story Of a courtship
/ and marriage The two themes supply
/ the poet with ap interchange Of meta
/ phors, and closely following the giving
/ of the bride 90 the husband comes the
/ giving Of the ship to- the sea. Here is
/ where The bad little boys eXerted their
/ prerOgatives and the difficulty began.
] V'H.. 1fr.e d.
| their opportunity describe the launch
ing Of the ship, and are these;
/ And lol from the assembled crowd
| There rose shout prolonged and loud
That to the ocean seemed to say
"Take her, q bridegroom, old and gray
Takc her TO thy protecting arms,
| With all her youth aud al her charmsM
How beautiful she IS, How fair
! She lies within those arms. that press
Her form with many O soft caress
or tenderness aud wa'chful care
The good little Girls read these lines
/ with full appreciation Of their beauty.
/ but when the bad little boys read them
| they bungled the verse In order to give
| undue significance to the figures EN-.
| ploycd. When The little girls we've
called upon 10 analyze the poem and
explain these figures, the boys snick.
| cred The beauty OF the idea and the
| verse was forgotten and only the mis-.
/ ChiCyCus purpose Of the bad little boys
remembered.
! The result was embarrassing. The
| use Of the superlntendenCs selection
/ was compulsory. and p thorough
| analysis Of the poem was rruuircl.
/ The teachers OnduavOTed 90 skip tightly
| over Tie troublesome lines, butthe btl
/ little boys were too sharp for them.
| They showed that these lines not only
] contained 'lu climax OF the poem hut
were CXcCilcd by no others for beauty
! u thought ard expression. Incorrigi.
| DE little hOyg. boys who had uscvi.
| uusiy Stunned poetry developed iatu
| iUrpIUsillc critics 10 finally became
| plain that thp boys were 90 % c6usuiraey
| lo Keep The class analyZing The Build.
Ing Of the ship for the rest of the
| term
The teachers went 20 Superintendent
Maxwell and asked him 10 Withdraw
The building Of the Ship The
| superintendent who knew nothing
about the conspiracy. was amazed and
I Tie teachers thcTCupon got before the
I pubic IN most uuenviable and ridicu-
I luus lighi-in The light Of declaring
Longfeliow 10 he on immoral poet
but these Brooklyn grammar school
boys will have 10 be brought 10 a rgali.
z0iiou of the error of their ways. The
poem, The Building of the Ship" Is
one of the landmarks OF modern liter
aiure. When The proposition 20 with
draw II from use in the public schools
was mentioned TO II. w. Glider, editor
OF the Century Magazine" together
with the reason why, he looked aston.
ished AZ first and then took his pen and
wrote the following, which Il will DO
Brooklyn grammar school boys no harm
10 reflect upon.
II seems 10 me that Il would De thou
sand pities 30 strike out from the list of
pleccsi which are not only read, but studied,
IN our public schools, one Of the few really
hne aud inspiring poems Of patriotism
which our young nation cLerishes. More
over consider the passage referred 10 one
Of the uoblest IN the whole poem. and I
think that the 'mOraln Of this very pas-
sage Is one which our young people need
tohaYe particularly impressed upon them
Ia order 10 make lhem good men ana
Bomen-that is good citizens.
No less person than President Abra-
ham Lincoln, when the life of the nation
vas threatened. found consolation, hope
AAA hAAA AZ an AAAN AAANa Win WHICH Tue
poem closes;
Thou, too, sail on o SHIP Of State,
Sail on, O uion, strong aud great
humanity with an its fears,
N.th on the hopes Of future years
Us hanging breaihless on thy fate.
We know what master laid thy keel,
What wOTkmen wrought thy ribs of steel
Who made each mast and sail aud rope,
What 4uFils Taugr what hammers beat.
ln Ntlr q forge and what a heat
Were shaped thc anchors Of thy hope
teaT rot lgCl sudden sound and shock
'Ils oi the wave aud Not -he rock
iis bui the tapping Of the sail.
Aud not rent made By the gale,
lu spite uf rock and tempest roar
lu spite Of false lights ON the shore
sail on uor fear 10 breast the sea-
And tlis Is ihe poem which the bad
/ lille hOys Of Brooklyn grammar schools
would have eXpuuged from the list Of
class studies by reason Of their misc0u-
duct
ANA hs was Right
Ef1H n Sal FEFErise1 fgg17HaE
Senator Saunders, Of Montana SETS
higher money value On his newspaper
than most men DO Before the North
en Pacific RaiIT0sd was opened be
used "a nav : IIT "a vgar f4r fna ygaaE-It-