Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1895-10-30
A RIZONA JOURNAL-MINER
UPPER VERDE ITEMS.
Excerpts. Observations, Interesting News, Electra, From the
 Aerde Valley.

Excerpts. Observations. Interesting
 News, Electra, From the
 Nerde Valley.
 UPPER VERDE, Oct. 22.- Regular correspondence. l-I am going to say for the relief of those concerned, and to satisfy inquirers, that 1 do not know the party who was killing fish with dynamite. was not close enough to recognize him. 1 simply told about it because l like to tell things-it makes people more care ful. Some persons can keep a secret, and some cannot. I belong to both classes.
 There were visitors from Prescott in our valley last week-Dr. Miller and wife. l understand they visited all the Aztec runs of any conse- Quence. | have worn out lots of shoe leather, in that way, myself. Poor, old Aztecs! They immortal ized themselves more by quitting the scene of action than they would have done by remaining. The same can be said of a great many indi- viduals. There is a great deal of curiosity manifested in regard to these people who seem to have dealt chiefly in ruins. 1 have a curiosity to know what they think of us if they know of it-prowling around their deserted homes, digging into their graves and carrying away their bones, scattering their remains to the four winds of the United States. I do not think it right. l believe the golden rule was written for every body. An ardent admirer of such things once brought and laid upon my mantelpiece the frontal bone of a dead Aztec-quite dead 1 think. I do not think he could have been a highly cultured specimen while living; but his forehead, while a trife less intellectual than mine, was far the more highly polished of the two. l used to wonder how he liked it, having his forehead on exhibition all the time. was very glad when the amateur collector took the bone down to Tempe and magnanimously bestowed it upon the museum of the Territorial Normal school. One of my neighbors had two Aztec legs hanging up at his house which he dug out of a grave in the Red rock country. shouldn't like that if 1t were |, having my l. bones hung up that way; and if 1 knew anything about it there would be hard feel ings lover there.'
 Our valley is suffering a special affiiction of sickness just now. Mrs. Marshall is still confined to her bed with cancer pr. Carrier is very hopeful in regard to her cure.
 Grandma Hawkins still fingers, although quite low.
 Our neighbor, Mrs. Kicker, is so very i'll that her physician fears the worst.
 MT. Dudley Nichols has also been quite sick.
 Our farmers are getting in their last crop of hay, and those who are so fortunate as to have a crop of beans are harvesting them.
 Your correspondent was over on Oak creek a few days ago and found pandemonium reigning in school matters. Perhaps 1 had better not gossip ab ut it. will say, in jus tice to the teacher, that the trustees stand by her. Why ''in the tunket" can't people raise Cain over some thing else besides school matters? Why will parents do their own chil- dren a hurt, just to gratify petty, personal spite? I'll turn gray and lose another tooth thinking of this some day. Our young lady teachers have a hard time in some of the rough districts of Arizona. Boys from 15 to Is years of age are old enough and ought to have pride enough to act like gentlemen. If a boy isn't gentleman at that age he never will be. and that's all there is about it. The reform school IS the place for growing "toughs," and well bred children should not be subject to their hurtful influence. 1 have always thought that the safe side was with the teacher. It is rarely the case that a teacher Is at fault, as 1t is to the teachers own interest to keep peace with scholars and parents. l never get to talking on this subject but 1 long to say something that will stick deep and stay there. Those who know the young lady teacher on Oak creek say that she is a very estimable char acter. I used to be a teacher my self, when l was young and hand some; but that was long, long time ago when scholarship wasn't so much a requisite as it is now. You'd never suspect it from the kind of English I write, but it's so all the same. This accounts for the sym pathy 1 always feel for the teacher, especially if she is young and pretty, and the trustees are all old bachel- oTs.