Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1890-01-30
OLD-TIME TEACHERS.
How knowledge Was Acquired
When Luke Sharp Was a Boy.

How knowledge Was Acquired
When Luke Sharp Was Boy.
In Those Days the Wise Instructors of
Youth Considered the Rod Chief
Factor in Edueation--striy-
ing to Get Even.
How little the youth of the present
day know about rudiments Of education
as they were acquired by us veterans in
the olden time 1t appeared to me when
was a boy that the teachers knew every
thing. A more accurate knowledge of
the wsrld and of humanity has led me
since to believe that was mistaken. l
presume that-we were a pretty hard lot,
but still, as thi2k of the punishments,
1t seems to me that the teacher OF that
day rather ove,.did the matter of whip
ping. The, first teacher at Bruceville
was - lady, and as near as | can
remember she was very easy with
us. The second was man, and
/ rhave 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 jerked
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 re-
manned during the forenoon, and the
hteacher went off at noon, having locked
me in there and forgotten all about me-
i will do myself tho justice to say that
the moment found | was alone there,
1 / braced my back against the back of
tire 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 day what
lu1it 22as for. l Twas sitting in the school
which the desks ran entirely
be room and we sat on benches
Q school wall, while the large
the center was occupied by a
Dig box-stove and the classes that were
recitingl OF course / have missed many
Ia thrashing which ought to have re-
ceived, but on this occasion was quiet
attending to my work, when the
acher with wild, ungovernable fury
lme over to my side and began lam
lasting 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 il
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 thai it was my duty
still 30 take day off, some time wheI
business was slack, and go down and ash
him what that thrashing was for.
When we got our third teacher il
Bruceville, who was also man, W.
found him no less severe than the sec
ond one. In fact, T>think he was ever
more So He had harder row to hoe
perhaps, than another teacher would
have had, because we all knew him. HI
lived couple of miles bach from th'
village on his fathers farm and he use'
to walk in and back again every day
One day he set four of us standing on ;
bench with Ounce caps of paper on ou
heads. 1t must not be thought that thi
ignominious position was the only pun
ishment, because each of the four ha'
been thrashed until the teacher
strength gave out. He merely added in
suit to injury by setting us up on th'
bench. While he was engaged in teach
ing class, with his back toward us. tn,
following awful plot was concodted:
was agreed that the leader of Ae con
spiracy, who was boy a couple year
older than myself, should cougN he
the teacher was walking past us,
= soon 2f be coughed we should jump
katsd position on top of
e. Minated that the il