The morning call., 1892-09-25


When children. even well-grown children,
who have been book taught, write compost
tons on subjects they fail into ludicrous
blunders. The English Government educa-
ton inspectors always Gull choice Sc
lection of bluEders from exercises. and very
entertaining they are as showing how much
reading and class-drilling may be gone
through without iuIpressing the mind. In
religious knowledge, which the English are
so fond of cram ming into the pupils, the
| failures are very confusing. Moses mas
been made a C contemporary OF Napoleon the
Great, and the various accounts of Noah and
his ark ana the deluge are as puZZling to
the teacher as if they had come from the
chaotic Imagination of an Australian abor-
| igine.
But even in the affairs of everyday life the
blunders are peculiar Recently girls
| school was examined in domestic economy.
! One wrote down this: Beef is useful
article of food obtained from different ami
mails, such as the COW, sheep, pig, etc. The
lean of beef belongs to the animal king
dom, aud the fat 20 the vegetable kingdom"
Still another cautiously remarked: with
out eating potatoes we would become very
delicate. because potatoes are very neces-
saTy to sustain human life" the meaning
of the word LAWN" drew out variety OF
interesting information. One described it
as soft stuff made from ''the wool Of the
lawn, an animal in South America" An
other thought it part Of the flesh or the
COW or sheep the rib part.
Many old people could not give CON-
plete definition of ''shoddy," so intimately
| has it entered into every relation OF life, as
/ well as clothing, recommended 10 be all
| long wool. a girl described IL as "a drink
made from a mixture of ale and sugar.
Another stated it to be leather before 60
ing through the process OF making into
boots and shoes" Yet third said it was
"the flesh near the foot OF any animal"
clearly a confused conception from the
shedding" Of horses.
What is the use Of this kind Of teaching
with all the denominations of grammar
added? If it were attainable every class in
every school should go one day week into
the country under competent guidance TO
explain what Is 10 be seen during ramble
The Chicago Exhibition is TO be favored
with the presence of twin children much
more remarkable physically than were the
Slamese twins. They are girls, three and
a half years old, who hail from Orissa, in
India. They are cOnjoined face TO face by
a flexible. bOny attachment from breast TO
breast. and beneath there IL 9 vsceral con-
nection. The sympaihieS and physical
oneness OF the two are remarkable. Food
given TO one satisfies the other, and medi-
cine similarly operates upon both But still
more strange is the fact that mentally there
should be q close relationship. 4 sentence
commenced by one may be finished by tie
other. This Is a staggering fact to be eX-
planned 10y students Of cerebral develop
ment L IS much more strange than the
mlnd-readerS' tricks, and yet possibly @Sso-
cIated Herewith. As these young naidens
grow Up and receive an education carried as
far as playing duets on a piano they will
ind II hard 10 keep any secrets from each
OtheT-a dreadful thing 10 be contemplated
by tie feminine mind. The faces Of both
are pretty and Of course as Ike as two
peas.
The late sam Williams was wont to preside
at festive meetings Of the natives Of Wales
in San Francisco. and a genial chairman he
made. quite equal to the ordeal Of being
eloquent, poetic and rapturous in Welsh.
On one occasion newspaper rather scurri-
lousy professed to give his speech in full
by putting together a lot Of type in ''pi"
shape, with not a single vowel visible from
end TO end. Il was joke az which Mr..
Williams could afford to smile.
This somewhat musty story is suggested
by reading an account Of the progress Of
the Welsh FuSiliers through Wales. They
were received with a welcome at every
town, which must have consOled the men
for long absence from the lovely valleys and
mountains Of their bOyhoOd BanQuets and
their health. Que Of the places they visited
was Llanfair p. g., which typographical
appellation is said TO be the diminutive Of
much more sOnorous, meanlng-eD wrapped
word. ] give Il 10 all innocence, not having
the smallest conception Of what it means,
and believing that Ap Jones, who does, will
be able TO Pepper it well with vowels when
he pT0nounces II: "LlanfairpWll gwypg yll-
gogerychwyradrabwllty sIli0gogog0ch."
Surely that line Of topography beats any
word that Germany has invented TO reduce
science to simplicity.
There is still an immense amount Of sclen-
tifc research to Oyertake in this world be-
fore inquisitiYe man can rest cOntented with
his labOrs. According to DIR. Riley, who
was Government entomologist in The United
States. there are nine or ten million species
Of insects on this earth and only very
small enumeration has been made. The
collectors task is endless and such formid-
able collection as that made by the late
Henry Edwards only represents an insig-
uincaDt group. The question peTpetualy
arises what is the design OF this myriad OF
life with which man has so little voluntary
association a1d over which he has almost no
control. Some insects are useful To him,
but almost infinitely the greater number are
useless il they are not positive pests. The
connection in the DarwInian evolution sense
between the insect tribe and the rest OF AMI
mated nature hardly allows OF bridge be-
tween the two. The mystery of life defies
finding cut.
The thirty-six-inch refraetor of the Lick
Observatory viii not be the largest teles-
cope in the wprld should a certain 81. De-
l0ncle have his way and succeed by the
tine the next international exhibition is
held in Paris, in 1900. This instrument is
to have a length of foTty-fonr yards, and the
great cOncaYe mirror, which Is to be fur
nished by the st. Goban glass works, will
weigh nine tons, its diameter being calcu-
lated at 9 feet 10 inches and It's thickness at
1917 inches.
The first thing to be done is 10 raise the
money, estimated at 100000 francs, and
| then the very pr0blematcal task of getting
| the mirror cast may be encountered. 1t
| will be labor Of years, with possibly fail
! ure in the end. France gave the world the
| EIffel Tower at its latest exhibition. a tel
escope like this would be quite as notable
| Sad are the jokes they have been max
| ing about what may be seen with such
an instrument. Vel. it is hardly probable
we shall see the IMAM in the moon" taking
stroll after breakfast and smoking navy
! plug.
Acute is the anguish among painters in
! Europe that they can sell so little. They
paint and paint, and do good work, too, but
the public have no money for luxuries of
idea, and nothing but high-cass paintings
by eminent men find a buyer. In England
the situation is dreadful The dealers are
glutted with pictures in their cellars and
| galleries and can take no more. The times
| are dull for them, too, but having made for
tunes in the past they may be cheerful in
living on their own fat. As for the artists
| many~of them are on the borders of starva-
ton. They could make a better living as
| curbstOne artists.
Those who have the opportunity and the
! ability are glad to get illustrations to DO for
books. magazines and newspapers, but as
yet there is slender pictorial enterprise
among the newspapers of England. An
! illustration in the Times or Standard any,
| thing heYond a man OF diagram Mnnld cansa