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

held public exnmiilstinos every sis
months, and was careful 81 10 M tlte
examining myself. An int. topper lJpdng
tho audience invited did me great da.n.
age on one of these memorized ng foflu.
ances by asking a simple arith.a,iIe3i
question Of the show of geogral lhiell
boy. The urchin was brilliant in deai.uv
with boundary lines, capes and islanda
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
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 q crane, and send
ing his right big toe ON exploring scratch
ing expeditions up his left trouser. He
had been born and brought up in an in
land country, where no body Of water
was to be seen save an occasional fleeting
mud puddle; and what earthly concep-
ton could he form Of the ocean and its
islands?
But the parents who attended these
exhibitions Of stnffed memories were
ss-~ok ur the proficiency of the progeny,
and retired with the impression that
they had parroted off 50 much that was
all Greek to them; and after had been
In this occupation year would sit in
my empty theological school house when
they had gone and try and convict my
self as profound humbug, and one,
too, compelled, in order to get living,
to encourage and foster system which
had so much humbug In it.
Tho California schools were not then
graded" They were conducted on the
"go rs you please" plan, sometimes 60
ing as the teachers pleased, sometimes
as 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, I started him
committing to memory the Latin declen-
sions and conjugations, and then heard
hint "say his lesson" If he got any
thing out of 1t l don't know what it was,
except tough work. He never reached
any translations Of the classics, for sew
erai reasons.
Another father was annoyed because
I exercised his son mathematically in
what, in those days, were called vulgar
fractions" II don't want" said he, ''my
son to have anything to do with frac-
tions, anyway. They're no use in biz
ness. Ennything over half cent we
call cent ON the books, and ennything
under 1t we don't call nothin'. But /
want Thomas to be well grounded in
'tare and tret.'"
So grounded Thomas In "tare and
tret." He grew up, took to evil ways,
and was hung by o vigilance committee
in Southern California. A
boy who stammered very badly was sent
me. Twas expected to cure him. Five
or six Of my pupils were Mexicans, and
spoke very little English.
One Of my hardest trials was a great,
stout boy, so full of vitality that no could
not remain quiet ut his desk. could
not blame him. He had force enough
inside of him to run steam engine. It
would have vent in some direction. But
it would not expend itself In learning
lessons" He would work his books into
a mass Of dogs ears. His writing book
was ever in mourning with ink stains.
His face was generally inky. His ink
stand was generally upset. He would
hold pen as he would a pitchfork. Ho
seemed also to give out his vitality when
he came to school and infect all the 9TH
ers with 1t. He was not a regular scholar.
He was sent only when it was an ''of
day" on his fathers "ranch." In the
scholastic sense he learned nothing.
But that boy at the age Of Is would
drive his fathers two horse wagon,
loaded with fruit and vegetables, $50
miles from California to Nevada over the
rough mountain roads of the Sierras, sell
the produce to the silver miners Of Aurora
and adjacent camps, and return safely
home. He was obliged in places to camp
out at night, cook for himself, look out
for his stock, repair harness or wagon
and keep an eye out for skufking Indians.
who, If not .'hostile," were not saints.
When it came to using the hand and the
head together he had in him "go,"
"gunption" and executive ability, and
none of my "teaching" put 1t where 1t
was in him either. He may have grown
up unpublished" but he is one OF the
kind who are at this moment hiring
polished and scholarly men to do work
for them on very small wages.
do not despise polish" and "cult-
ure," but is there not an education now
necessary which shall give the child
some clearer idea of the manner in which
it must cope with the world in few
years? The land today is full Of couture"
at ten dollars a week. Culture gives
polish to the blade. But it is not the
process which makes the hard, well tenn
pered steel.
The "smartest" boy in my school gave
me even more trouble than the son of the
rancher. He could commit to memory
as much in ten minutes as the others
could in an hour. and the balance of the
time he was working of the Satanism
with which he was filled. His memory
was an omnivorous NAV. II would take
in anything and everything with the
smallest amount Of application. Itwould
have required two-thirds Of my time To
feed this voracious and mischieyous lit
tie monster with books for his memory
to devour.
But he was not the boy to drive team
through wild country aud dispose VI