The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1890-01-25


to kick or order them out, and l 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 posi-
BILE from the youthful owners Of the
other dogs.
Icould not so organize a battalion Of
ten different grammars as to act in con-
cert OH nv grammar class Of twenty pu-
pills. So I put them all on the retired
list, and tried to teach this SO called ''sci-
ence" orally. 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,
DRY takes any stronger grip on a thing
while the pupil stands. At last taught
a few with good memories to parse"
/ worked hard with that grammar class,
and was very proud of their proficiency
until found that after months OF this
drilling they neither spoke nor wrote any
better English than before.
However, lost nothing by this ex-
perience, for it helped me to the convic-
ton that have held to ever since, that
the entire grammar system and method
does very little to make one habitually
use correct language, and that taste for
reading and constant association with
correct English speaking people does q
great deal. AS for spending time in
"parsing," think it would be better to
use that force in learning the boy to shoe
horses and the girl to make bread, or let
the girl shoe the horses if she wants to
and the boy make the bread.
The labor of teaching the alphabet to
ten infants, calling them up once an
hour "to say their letters" Is, in my
estimation, greater than that Of swing
ing pick in the surface gold "diggings."
l have tried both, and infinitely prefer
the pick. 1t is not 80 much work when
you are employed with them as when
you are occupied with the other pupils.
Then these poor little alphabetical
cherubs can do nothing but squirm on
their low benches, catch flies, pinch each
other, make and project spit balls and
hold up their hands for another drink OF
water. could not let them out of doors
to play in the sand, where they should
have been, because the North American
parent would have considered himself
as defrauded Of part of his infants
schooling were they not imprisoned the
whole six hours.
Neither can you set child to studying
A or NJ or any other letter. There is not
an idea in A or b. During the two years
of my administration l wrought with
one child who never could get success
fully beyond +. Her parents questioned
my ability as teacher. Some days she
would repeat the whole alphabet cor
rectly. Iwould go home with load of
my mind. The next day her mind would
relapse into an alphabetical blank after
F. She grew to be an eyesore to me.
The sight of her at last made me sick.
held public examinations every six
months, and was careful to do all the
examining myself An interloper among
the audience invited did me great dam
age on one of these memorized perform
ances by asking simple arithmetiRl
question of the show off geographical
boy. The urchin was brilliant in dealing
with boundary lines, capes and islands,
but his head was one that mathematics
could not readily be injected into. On
the other hand, my specimen grammar
ian was as likely to describe an island as
q body of land surrounded-by land as
by water had no heart to find fault
with this poor barefooted urchin who,
when in class, was always trying to
stand on one leg, like crane, and send
Ing his right big toe on exploring scratch
ing expeditions up his left trouser. He
mad been born and brought up in an in
land country, where no body of water
was to he seen save an occasional tleeting
mud puddle; and what earthly concep-
ton could he form of the ocean and its
islands?
But the parents who attended these
exhibitions of stuffed memories were
Struck at the proficiency of the progeny,
and retired with the impression that
their children knew great deal because
they had parroted off 50 much that was
all Greek to them; and after had been
in this occupation a year | would sit in
my empty theological school house when
they had gone and try and convict my
self as u profound humbug, and one
too, compelled, in order to get a living,
to encourage and foster system which
had so much humbug in it.
The California schools were not then
graded" They were conducted on tho
Ego ~ you please" plan, sometimes so.
ing as the teachers pleased, sometimes
AZ the parents pleased, sometimes as the
pupils pleased. The parents of the youth
full brains was trying to develop into
future statesmen and presidents wanted
me to teach many things. One father
wished his son taught Latin. 1t is bring
ing extremes pretty near each other to
teach Latin and A b C's But taught"
the young man Latin as | was taught"
many things at school. | started him
to memory the Latin declen.
sions and conjugations, and then heard
hint SAY his lesson" If he got any
thing out of it l don't know what it was.
except tough work. He never reached
apy TRANSACTIONS of the classics, for sew