Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-01-01

49, vv>rs cha text books IN English gram
mar. The large print In the former wss
word 81 explanation, until the scholar cousS
repeat the whole from beginning 70 emu.
Then be had 70 apply this yslds' 'na'yss.
tafn ,noxs 70 passlng ex IaSosed under
will relate an incident OF my own expert
s w,n I had commenced Muray's gram
mar and had gone on with great DIM
cuitv committing il to memory WIN
o,,t any definite idea Of 1t or what
NOS meant by nouns. adjectlyes, and
nronouns. lad progressed, with some
rI;mmering idea of what proceedeo, un'I
I reached the definitions OF the piupertect
ard first and second future lenses OF tine
verb, which had for one lesson. anu nnsins
No n,ore knowledge Of what was meant than
II h had been sanscrit. Briggs called out TO
me 10 saw my lesson. Finding that anew
nothing he shortened my lesson TO the
pluperfect and first future lenses. fahsd
aoain Ha shortened my lesson so as Only
to ;ncIude the definition of the piuperfect
tense. and taking me by the ear ne said
"If YOU do not say this, after TINS inst
chance, viii break your neck, you my
rascal With fear and trembling l com
nitted IL, and mover viii TO my dying Jay
forget that '.the pluperfect teuse signinss
time, not only as past but also as Pi,o, no ~
some other point of time specined IN th9
sentence" or the meaning or whicn L
do not know that even now clear
lv understand from its terms. lis
latin Grammar was Ruddiman's rudl-
ments. and his Greek grammar was Wet
tenhall's now so thoroughly obsolete tnan
their names are utterly forgotten. h,s
Latin course was Nepos. Cesar, oviu,
Sallust, Virgil. Cicero. and Horace. us
textbooks were those prepared ior .no
use of the Dauphin ~ rrs'1n Despna", cor.
in other later works and extensive notes IN
explanation OF the text. written I'D Latin.
How the Dauphin or any other person;
asneciallv nv classmates. who had n nara
tesk 10 find out the meaning or the
words of the text IN Ainsworth's due
tionary. could understand their order IN
other and different words, the meaning OF
which they could not find out unless they
found them ont by the dictionary, anu
then obtain any explanation ol La'.n a
words. in notes written IN Lain, was more
than i could imagine. His Greek course
was the Greek Testament, Acnophons
ANALYSIS. and Lucaus dialogues. lie al
lowed in translation no latitude or mean
mo and. ignoring all difference OF idioms,
rendered absolutely literally. In the pas
sage in Horace where Diana hunts WIN
many dogs. "nsita oons.' he transisteu
with much dog" "Mccee 10 cum" to
crack a joke, in Sallust. he rendered to
move jest" A. =.
Contrast with such textbooks the ele-
CANT and complete textbooks of Professor
Anthon and others, the pictorial geogra-
phits of Cornell and Guyot. and the dc
tionaries of Webster. and contrast the, log
school-house and the cruel master, and the
hard benches. hard books, and hard whip
pings of the past with the modern school,
rooms, with comfortable seats, with walls
hung with instructive and interesting
maps, with polite. intelligent. and humane
teachers, and we will have some idea how
the education of the present differs from
the education which was universal in what
are now proudly called the good ola
times"
"Donr you remember the school. Bon Bolt,
With the master so cruel and grim.
And the shaded nook In the running nroos'
Where the children went TO swim:
Grass grows on the masters grave, Ben Boi's
The spring OF the brook Is dry,
And OF ali the boys who we're school atee men
There remains, Ben, but yon and !"
WILLIAM poPE DAByEY,