Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1895-10-10

WORK am uolnP, tnOuBn lear III IL
not appreciated in some quarters"
1t was now John Whitford's turn to
be disagreeable.
mo, sir" he interrupted, San, If
you'll excuse me for saying so, you are
on FOOLS errand that is likely to
end with more kicks than ha'pence.
What do passed. o. rough miners
want wi readin' an writin'? You
don't educate COW or it would
be disconnected with q clover field.
call it flynn i tn face of Provi-
ance their pastors an masters Besides,
the bosses won't stand it, There's a
bitter feelin' against you already, an,
mark my words, if you go foolin' around
much more with your night schools an
literary clubs an fal-lals, you'll find
Oretown too hot place to hold YOU"
"Perhaps so; but meanwhile will do
my duty"
This word duty appealed to the old
soldiers best instincts, and in a more
modified manner he continued:
eyes. duty's duty, an England ex-
poets every man to do his duty, which
also l suppose this United States of
America likewise demands; but, sir,
there's an overdoin' of even ones duty.
A ship captain asked my captain to
send royal marine to holystone a
deck. No, SIR says he. The sailors
have their duty, an the royal marines
have their duty; an the duty of the ma
rines isn't to do the duty of the sailors
He was tried by a court-martial and
they did their duty an acquitted him."
VERY good, but"
"Your duty is to teach the boys an
gals. There's nothin' in your commits
sion about drillin' squad of adults in
letters an fggers, an pot-hooks an
hangers. So you just stick to your or
ders an let others do likewise"
81 know you mean well, my friend"
said Grey, YEARLY; "but you do not
understand the question. You have
old world notions. The prosperity of
this great land is an illustration of the
good policy of educating the masses
Right here in this northern peninsula
of Michigan, where crude English
thought is dominant, we are behind
the times. Where would the United
States have been if such men as Wixon
and the other members of our school
board had been at the head of it's af-
fairs?"
"Well, I'd mind my own business, if
was you an let"
"Set me the example, Mr.. Whitford.
Mind your own affairs and you will
not get beyond the depth of your
understanding"
With this dignified rebuke the young
man left the room, and Mrs. Whitford
solaced her spouse with the suggestion
that those who played with edged tools
often cut their fingers.
This night school was sore bone of
contention in Oretown.
A little more than year ago the
bosses ruled like feudal barons, and
now their sway was threatened by a
whippersnapper of boy who had come
among them, nobody knew whence nor
cared, and by this and other such base
means had alienated the allegiance of
their vassels, who were actually be-
ginning to dare to think for them
selves.
And thus 1t came about.
There was barn-like building which
had been used as saloon and dance
house, but had attained such evil repu-
tation that the by no means fastidious
morals of Oretown were shocked at it's
gross orgies, and by popular consent it
had been closed.
The process of ejectment had been
in accordance with the custom of the
locality. A mob of Infatuated women
and mischievous boys had gathered one
evening and CLEANED out" the pro-
prietor, smashing his furniture and
fixtures and pouring his liquid poison
into the gutter.
On this ruin Of vice and squalor
Frank Grey built his great work of So
cial reformation.
With his own hands he tidied up the
rough tables and chairs, and boldly an
nounced that he would, without re-
enumeration, teach adults reading,
writing and arithmetic three evenings
a week.
The local journal gave the powerful
aid of the press to the enterprise in
this bright paragraph: 1.-The young
man who sings the ruler at the Ward
schoolhouse is opening night school
for adults. Guess he'll have. his hands
full before he's got through"
The minister refused to cooperate
with him, the storekeepers laughed at
him, the bosses treated him with open
ridicule.
But the class grew-from five to FIVE.
and-twenty; to forty, to hundred.
till at last he had to close his doors
against the crowd of applicants
1t was mutual aid association, those
who could read and write a little help
ing those who could not. "No swear
ing" and mo tobacco" were the only
written rules; while the class kept its
own order, and absolute order, too, as,
for instance, when Mike Donovan, the
rough of the place, made wager that
he would break up the school one even
ing and proceeded to use insulting lam
guage to the teacher, dozen strong
hands sent him crashing through the