The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-12-03
NOT A HAPPY LOT.
THAT OF TEACHER IN NEW ToRK
PUBLIC SCHOOL OR kINDRRG 4 RTEN.

| Wort - Little Liars spd Thrtr Tales
The life Of a school teacher" said one OF
them the other day. is not oil roses For a
long. sharp. cmnipresent thorn let me com
mend you to the average parent particularly
the average mother one mother can make
| more trouble in a school th anitwenty children.
| III l have entertained one complaining
parent at this desk have entertaineI n hun.
dred. and without exception they have all
| made the same Identical remark; Mary or
| johnnie. or whatever the name may be. is a
| very nervous childr
If any one should ask me what 1 consider
| tho greatest menace to tho country | should
unhesitatlngly answer. nervesl That lie. II |
| am to believe what am told By the parents Of
the coming generation. Sometimes think
must have a school of freaks because i'm
| conndontially informed by two.thirds OF the
parents, who OF course ought to know. that
their Individual progeny is OF q very peculiar
temperament
u" Susan is a peculiar child II you do not
get along with her IL Ia because you do not
understand her.'
" Understand lddlestloksi I understand
Susan well enough to know that she Is un-
utteraby lazy and Just clever enough tn count
on her mothers blind Partially. Once in a
while we have visit from the complaining
parent of the masculine gender We had one
Ny daughter tells me- that's always the
openingl that one OF the teachers made some
very cutting remarks to her yesterday. She
was very much distressed and was unable to
sleer last night Now. there Is just one thing
about my daughter She has very peculiar
temperament. and she cannot stand sarcasm
She is very sensitive, and II she cannot be
treated with kindness shall remove her from
the school,
I" IL no only would But he won't. As for
notes. we have them OF all kinds. The mothers
send advice. complaints. threats. and excuses
until the capacity OF our waste baskets Is
taxed to the utmost. On Friday afternoons
we generally have special oxerclses The
pupils recite their pieces and real compost
tons One aiternoon by way 4 variety we
Ing one OF the girls brought mo this note:
&" DER Miss IT We don't want Maria taut potash
uns. You are padc to teech her rithmetck. reading
and spelling, and that's all
Poor Maria liked the 'potashuns' better
than she did tho 'rithmetlck. and It had been
sort Of levor to urge her to effort in the latter
sni alter t% hfs
was finally granted limited indulgence in
:" But that Ia Just the way with parents. They
interfere when they should not and. when
you ask them 70 interfere, thoy have 'nothin'
at all to saw I've had mothers come here and
roll their eyes to heaven as they declared that
they must believe tho scholars story rather
known thcir child to tell q liz. WV
My child is absolutely truthful they will
say cay: mud look yon straight IN The eye lust n.it
Ono time two girls. who wore in my room
wanted 10 be excused from coming in the AZ
ternOon. one OF them had "A wIitten excuse,
but the other had not.
Why do you want to Rop 1said to the girl
who had no excuse.
We'll. must GO to the funeral
What tun-ral|
Your brothers! When did he dep
" Last night.'
49, And is to be buried this afternoon?'
Il asked her what had been the matter with
seemed pretty strange story. 80 l said that
would send note to her mother and see
minute tho assistant teacher called me back.
The cir wanted to speak to me,
" Well. Julia, said, what Ia H.
please. ma'am. said Julia. with very rod
face; : don't think mother knows tho babys
Now, here was a case in which was quite
willing to hav"th parent Interfere. | sent for
the, mother. and all she IA was. oh. well!
Julia didn't mean any harm.
a few years ago | had boy who would
simply, dance w and down and howl il any
who would lie down aud pound his head on
the floor II his will was crossed. Imagine such
alize any nifty 81 the hest behaved children YOU
could get together. The first week that had
tnSIT twin sIrs SEEIeDratsd the d,sSoyeTy St
turn white in n single day When Frank was
quiet; John was dancing and bowling like
wild lndian, and when John settled down from
sheer wcariness. Frank was humping his
head on the desk or the floor Occasionally
| Just sat still and wondered II there was a
shotgun in the building.
women who had the awful " r"sponsiSilIty we "i
being the mothers Of these two wild an mails.
NHednefd4y morning came; So did Frank and
pearance. ] really, didn't blame them. I'm
sure should have drowned myself rat her than
such children. But smothered my feelings
OF pity. That Is, Frank and George did IL for
two more notes. hut Thursday and the wild
animals came and still no mothers. The notes
tia, TIA night were commands and Friday morn
neared in such close COMPANY with frank and
George that could not mistake the fact that
had expected to soc women worn ana
haggard as ! was fast getting to he. But
away | stated the ease to them. however.
They laughed. rich. unctuous laughter. which
made me want to DANCE up and down aud howl
done II seems hat Franks fnther had q
cheerful little habit OF STANDING around and
mother had always said that he was Just ike
abandoned heather. And as Tor George. he
too. was lust like his father, who when he re
his wages, would pound his head against the
wall to get even with himself
went to see those two women the next
day and l labored with them TIL the going
down of the sun before | could convince them
that they ought to check the bowling and
humping resemblance OF those boys to their
respective fathers.
" As for children themselves. they always
select time when their parents are present
To show on their teaching in the most uniayOT.
able light | remember that one time | spent
all Of one afternoon In explaining the punrtua-
tion marks to my pupils, Tho last thing put
on the board was quotation marks. and IwTots
out tina definition and had the school say il
over and over, The next day there was to bo
an examination SO was particularly careful.
In the morning the quotation MARKS were still
on the black board. sD | reviewed the puplls n
little They said the definition word Tor word:
Quotation marks show that the words they .
enclose are taken from some other author or
speaker thought they would remember Ii
TIL they were n hundred. II they lived that
long The trustees came and the parents
came and the examination was begun. Finally
l asked the class to captain the meaning and
use OF quotation marks They looked blAnk
perfectly blank All hut one hoy who hoped
up and down, he was So anxious to tell. !
- Well JohhDier | said.
'UuOtHtiOn marks show that the words are I
taken from some OF her liar or speaker! shouted
j Johnnie in triumph.
aly. eh,,taH