The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-01-10
Not All Pleasure.


"If have entertained one complaining
parent at this desk, have entertained Il
hundred and without exception they have
all made the same identical remark: Mary
or Johnnie, or whatever the name may be,
lis very nervous childP
"If any one should ask me what I con-
slider the greatest menace to the country,
should unhesitatingly answer, nervesl
That is If | am to believe what | am told
by the parents of the coming generation
Sonnet mes | think must have II school of
freaks, because am confidentially inform
ed by two-thirds of the parents, who Of
course ought to know, that their individ
ual progeny is of a very peculiar tempera-
ment.
"Once in awhile we have visit from
complaining parent of the masculine gen
der. We had one the other day He was
stern and pompous.
"'My daughter tells me'-that's always
the opening-'that one of the teachers
made some very cutting remarks to her
yesterday. She was very much distressed
and was unable to sleep last night. Now,
there is just one thing about my daugh-
ter. She has a very peculiar temperament,
and she cannot stand sarcasm. She is very
sensitive, and if she cannot be treated with
kindness | shall remove her from the
school
'If he 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.
'tBut that is just the way with parents.
They interfere when IL ey should not, and
when you ask them to interfere they have
'nothin at all to say I've had mothers
come here and roll their eyes to heaven as
they declared that they must believe the
scholars story rather than the teacher's
because they had never known their child
to tell lie.
"a few years ago had boy who would
simply dance up and down and howl if
anything did not suit him. And | had an
other who would lie down and pound his
head on the floor if his will was crossed.
Imagine such pair III a schoolrooml They
would demoralize any so of the best be-
haved children you could get together.
The first week that | had these twin stars
l celebrated the discovery of my first gray
hair. The wonder is that / didn't turn
white in single day. When Frank was
quiet, John was dancing and bowling like
a wild Indian, and when John settled
down from sheer WEAKNESS, Frank was
humping his head on the desk or the floor.
Occasionally they both broke loose at the
same time. Then | sat still and wondered
if there was a shotgun in the building.
"The second day | sent notes to the two
women who had the awful responsibility
of being the mothers of those two wild an
imals. Wednesday morning came. So did
Frank and John. But the mothers did
not put in an appearance / really didn't
blame them. I'm sure I should have
drowned myself rather than appear and
answer to the charge of having such chill
dren. But l smothered my feelings of
pity-that is, Frank and George did it for
me with repeated bowls and thumps
sent two more notes, but Thursday and
the wild animals came and still no moth
ers. The notes that night were commands,
and Friday morning two complacent, com
Portable danes appeared in such close COM
pany with Frank and George that could
not mistake the fact that they were the
presumably unhappy mothers.
~ had expected to see women worn and
haggard, as was fast getting to be. But
these two careless creatures took my
breath away. | stated the case to them,
however. They laughed rich, unctuous
laughter, which made me want to dance
up and down and howl as Frank had so
well taught me it could be done 1t seems
that Frank s father had cheerful little
habit of stamping around and swearing
in thunder tones whenever anything dis
pleased him. Consequently Frank 8 moth
er had always said that he was just like
his father and had let him rage like the
most abandoned heather. And as for
George, he, too, was just like his father,
who, when he recovered from spree which
had absorbed all his wages, would pound
his head against the wall to get even with
himself.
al went to see those two women the
next day, and | labOred with them till the
| going down of the sun before | could con-
vince them that they ought to check the
bowling and humping resemblance of
those boys to their respective fathers.
"As for children themselves, they al
ways select time when their parents are
present to show off their teaching in the
most unfavorable light. / remember that
one time | spent all of one afternoon in
explaining the punctuation marks to my
pupils. The last thing put on the board
was quotation marks, and | wrote out the
definition and had the school say it over
and over. The next day there was to be
an examination, so was particularly care
full. In the morning the quotation marks
were still ON the black board, SO Ireviewed
the pupils a little. They said the defini-
tion word for word: Quotation marks
show that the words they inclose are tax
en- from some other author or speaker
thought they would remember it till they
were 100, if they lived that long. The
trustees came, and the parents came, and
the examination was begun. Finally
asked the class to explain the meaning
and use of quotation marks. They looked
blank-perfectly blank-all but one boy
who hoped up and down, he was SO anx-
ious to tell
"'Well, JohnnieY' said.
"'Quotation marks show that the words
are taken from some other liar or speak
erp shouted Johnnie in triumph
Everybody else shouted, too, and
well, perhaps didn't hear from Johnnie's
mother laterl In another school j had
girls about Is or 10 years old, and in cor
nection with their rhetoric was having
them read selections from Shakespeare
One mincing little miss brought me note
from her mother one day, in which i was
requested to excuse Mary from any classes
involving study of Shakespeare. She did
not want Mary's morals to be contami
mated. Oh, it's factl ! assure you'll It's
| oil Iii, foil .f til