Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-03-01

even O &C o m m n
school" when tho situation was offered
me in little Tuolumne county mining
camp. l said 30 70 my old friend, Pete
H., who had secured me the position.
well" said he, after reflective pause,
'do you retain a clear recollection of the
twenty y-six letters of the alphabet For,
II you do, you are equal to any educa-
tional demand this camp will make on
you"
1t was reckless camp" No phase
Of life was viewed or treated seriously.
They did walk their horses to the grave
slowly at funeral, but how they did
race backi
II was legally necessary, however, that
l should be examined as to my ability by
the school trustees. These were DR.. D.,
Bill K. q saloon keeper, and Tom j., a
miner. Imet them in the Justices Office.
The doctor was an important appearing
man, proud, pompous, well dressed and
spectacled. He glared at me with an ex-
preston betwixt sadness and severity. !
saw he was to be the chief inquisitor.
expected from him searching examine
ton, and trembled; It was years since I
had seen school book. I knew that In
geography was rusty and in iustio-
matics musty.
Before tha deqteA spelling book. The
doctor opened it, glared on me leisurely,
and finally said: "Spell cat" did 80.
"Spell hat" spelled. "Rat," said the
doctor, with look Of explosive fierce
ness. and in tone an octave higher. I
spelled, and then remarked: "But, doc
tor, you surely must know that I can
spell words of one syllableT' ~ DON'T"
he shouted, and propounded "mat" for
me to spell, with an increase Of energy
In his voice, and 30 went on until had
90 spelled long enough to amuse him and
the other two trustee trifers. Then he
shut the book, saying: "Young man,
you'll do for our camp. wouldn't teach
that school for %, 900 year; and there
are two boys you'll have for scholars
that advise you to kill, il possible, the
first week. Let's all go over and take q
drink"
My school house was the church, built
and paid for partly by the gamblers and
partly by the good people Of Jimtown-
"for the use of all sects" ON Sundays,
for educational purposes ON week days
Twas shut up in that little church six
hours day with sixty children and
youths, ranging from 4 to 10 years of
age. In summer 1t was q f1ercely hot
little church. The mercury was always
near 90 by noon, and sometimes over
100, and you could at times hear the
shingles split and crack on the roof Of
the cathedral. A few years of interior
California summers suns will turn un.
painted boards and shingles almost as
black as charcoal.
The majority Of my pupils parents
being from New England and North
America, they brought and carried into
effect all their North American ideas Of
education. The California summer heat
is, think, unfit for educational pur.
poses. 1t Is too hot to herd sixty rest
less children together six hours day.
They proved this in several cases. Some
fell sick suddenly. Some tainted. But
this made no difference. The school
went on In all its misery. sent faint
ing child home one day, and tho father
returned with It an hour afterward. He
was fierce, and said he wanted his child
kept in school when he sent it to school.
This was in California's early days.
Ny scholars were tho children of the
Argonauts, and in some cases had come
out with them. There was then no regu-
lar system of text books. Publishers
had not commenced making fortunes by
getting out q new school book system
every three years.
My scholars came, bringing a great
variety of school books. They brought
pixies Arithmetic" which had come
over the plains, and "Smith's Geogra-
phy," which had sailed around Cape
Horn. Seldom were two alike. But the
greatest variety lay in grammars
There was regular museum Of English
grammars, whose authors fought each
other with different rules and called the
various parts Of speech by different
names. accounted for the great vari-
ETY. Of grammars on the supposition that
It Is or was the ambition Of large pro-
portion Of schoolmasters to write work
on grammar before they died and say:
II have left another grammar to bless
and confuse posterity."
Besides bringing grammars, most Of
the boys brought dogs. Dogs Of many
breeds and sizes hovered around the
school house. They wanted frequently
70 come In, and did often come in, to
sneak under the seats and lay themselves
at their masters feet. had frequently
to kick or order them out, and noticed
that whenever q dog was chased out he
would take the longest road to get out,
and under as many seats as possible, in
order to receive as many kicks as posi-
BILE from the youthful owners OF the
other dogs.
could not so organize battalion OF
ten different grammars as to act In con-
cert on my grammar class OF twenty pu-
pills. So put them all on the retired
list, and tried to teach this 80 called "sci-
ence" orally. I chalked the rules on the
blackboard, az well as the names Of the
different parts Of speech. made my
scholars commit these to memory, stand
ing, although will not argue that men,
ory takes any stronger grip on thing
while the pupil stands. At last taught
Q few with good memories TO ''parse.~ :
Jworked hard with that grammar class,
and was very proud Of their proficiency
until found that after months Of tlIh
drilling they neither spoke nor wrote any
better English than before.
However, lost nothing by this ex'
! perisnce, for it helped me to the convic-
ton that ! have held 70 ever :ipcei thA!