The Press., 1890-04-10

@83 my ability to teach
 ~ even "com m on school when the situation was offered me in little Tuolunlne county mining camp. said so tony old friend, Pete H., who had secured me the position. Well" said he, after 8 reflective pause, "do you retain clear recollection of the twenty-six letters of the alphabet? For. if you do, you are equal to any educa- tional demand this camp will make on you:
 It was a 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 back!
 It was legally necessary, however, that should be examined as to ny ability by the school trustees. These were Dr. D., Bill K., a saloon keeper, and Tom J., miner. met 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- pression betwixt sadness and severity. saw he was to be the chief inquisitor. l expected from him searching examine tion, and trembled; it was years since had seen school book. I knew that in geography was rusty and in matie- matics musty.
 Before the doctor lay one thin book. It turned out to be Q spelling book. The doctor opened it, glared on me leisurely, and finally said: ''Spell cat." I did so. "Spell hat" Ispelled. "Rat," said the doctor, with a look of explosive fierce ness. and in a tone an octave higher. spelled, and then remarked: 'But, doc- tor, you surely must know that can spell words of one syllable?" t'I don't," he shouted, and propounded ''mat" for me to spell, with an increase of energy ill his voice, and so went on until I had so spelled long enough to amuse him and the other two trustee trilers. Then he shut the book, saying: "Young man, you'll do for our camp. wouldn't teach that school for 5000 a year; and there are two boys you'll have for scholars that I advise you to kill, if possible, the first week. Let's all go over and take drink'
 My school house was the church, built and paid for partly by the gamblers and partly by the good people of Jimtown-
 5, for educational purposes on week days.
 was shut up in that little church six hours day with sixty children and youths, ranging from to IS years of age. In summer it was fercely 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, l think, unfit for educational pur- poses. It is too hot to herd sixty rest less children together six hours a day. They proved this in several cases. Some fell sick suddenly. Some tainted. But this made no difference. The school went on in all it's misery. I sent faint ing child home one day, and the 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 Californias early days My scholars were the 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 a new school book system every three years.
 col,1>l variety of school books. They brought "Pikes Arithmetic" which had come over the plains. and Smiths Geogra- phy," which mad sailed around Cape Horn. Seldom were two alike. But the greatest variety lay in grammars. There was a regular museum of English grammars, whose authors fought each other with different rules and called the various parts of speech by different names. l 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: "I have left another grammar to bless and confuse posterity."
 Besides bringing grammars, most of the boys brought dogs. Dogssof many breeds and sizes lowered around the school house. They wanted frequently to come ill, 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 I noticed that whenever 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 possi- ble 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 l put them all on the retired list. and tried to teach this so called ..sci- ence" orally. chalked the rules on the blackboard, as well as the names of the different Darts of Snapch n,ada ,nA