Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-04-20
Another Letter on the Subject.
FORT WORTH, Ten, April IS, 1881
Editor Gazette.


| Editor Gazette. ~.
Judge Piner is great man. His comnu-
| nicatiOn on the Sth inst sets this question
| forever At rest. | am glad that in his inter
esting and elaborate autobiography, he told
US something about his father. Otherwise
some of Us might have supposed that he
had sprung directly from the brain of Jupi-
ter. And if he had only known how it
would humiliate me to be informed that my
humble name had never before fallen within
the range Of his great optics, / feel sure he
would have spared me that pain. | suppose
that now having succeeded in bringing my
self to the notice OF that prodigious gentle
man, ought TO be ready to die happy. But
l am not. There is one thing | want to find
out first. That is, how the Sages who live
cover the creek and up the hollow and
wear such legends as colonel" Judge
and squire prefXed TO their name, can
come to town and get interviewed in the
paper, and then have the gall" TO upbraid
anybody else for seeking newspaper noto-
riety
The Judge SAYS he knew how the great
body of Texas teachers stand on the text
book question. He also expresses great
affection and high esteem for the noble
profession 1t is passing strange that he
was not as careful at first to exhonerate the
many of that NOBLE profession as he was
to blame the few
IOut OOI pays llle FHcLttltldu III
differently, anyhow. He hardly seems de
cided what to do. He starts out apparently
to deny the correctness of the interview, then
suddenly wheels about and tries to justify
it. Perhaps he thought he might want to
be interviewed again some time. So he
lets the newspaper man of lightly and turns
the full force OF his pent-up thunder loose
upon the school teacher" One thing
seems certain. While the Judge" is not
willing to say that THE GAZETTE's report is
exactly correct. he evidently saw the report
as published and thought about q cOrrec-
ton, but declined the idea 1t was not
necessary because he is Il private citizen,
forsOoth-and-(Oh Judge, Who does it
hurt but few teacherS!") His main
object seems to be to make it appear that
his language does not include all the
teachers nor the majority of them. II is
true that he said few teachers. = but If
the reader will take the trouble TO look up
that famous Interview, ne viii find, think,
that nowhere in it does the Judge try to
blame anybody but the teachers for this
bill. The entire odium is cast upon them
He draws no contrast between the few
teachers" and the majority of them. He
does contrast a few teachers with the
people \ few teachers are trying to
''manipulate' the measure through. The
legislature is eXhOrted to look to the
interests of the people rather than the
WISHES OF Jile 'JeW lCicuSrS.' Inc Judge.
has probably heard the lawyers say that it
is sometimes necessary to look at the con-
text in order to get the meaning of word
Looking at the whole interview, the obvious
force of few as there used is not to sepa-
rate 4 small number of teachers from
the main body of teachers, but
to separate the teachers as a class from the
main body of the people The teachers
are designated as few in comparison
with the people" It is done by way of a
sneer, Just as they are said to think them
selves the embodiment of wisdom and
learning by way of ridicule. 1t is all in
the same high strain of swelling scorn.,
This will De perfectly clear TO any person
of ordinary intelligence who will trouble
himself to read the full interview OF
course, if the Judge did not use this Ian
guage, he is not responsible for it.
The Denton statesman next grows angry
and gets red in the face because l spell 1t
ledge He should remember that whom
the gods would destroy they first make
mad, >" and keep his temper. The Judge"
them grows wise, in his own estimation and
thinks l am not smart. Another wise man
has said ''Seest thou man wise in his own
conceit, there is more hope for fool than
for him. or words to that effect. 1t has
also been said that pride goeth before a
fall
AS the Judge draws to a close, he ap-
parentIy wants TO be real ugly. In my
former communication, l said that it is
popular to abuse the teacher. The Judge
says l do not believe the statement, nor
does anybody else. OF course this is a
matter of opinion and any attempt to raise
an issue of veracity about it would be pitt
full indeed. I am willing for an enlight-
ened public to decide between our contrary
opinions on this subject. My statement is
q matter of common information and COM
mon remark. The Judge" probably has
observing faculties of too refined an order
10 take in anything SO common, and may
not, therefore, know it.
But l hope he will not try to brow-beat.
Let US not, my dear Judge" resort to hard
names. have heard that it is . confession
Of weakness.
You will notice, Mr. Editor, that have
quit spelling it ledge because the
Judge did not seem TO like it. Having |
made this ample concession to the gentle |
mans wounded dignity, l hope he may re- |
gain his serenity of mind and be able to |
proceed in more peaceable mood.
W. II. kINBROUGH |
NoTE-This reply was left at THE GA |
ZETTE building q week ago, but the editors |
did not get it, and it had to be rewritten. |