The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-04-26
Compulsory Education.

| itultOr OF lne tribune.
Sir: There is a l2-year-old boy that lives
near me, whose name | will not mention,
because / am perfectly sure his parents
would not like to have his name in the
paper, as 1t Is by no means a good ac-
count of him which l give you. l wish to
| tell you about him in order to prove the
great benefit that Hon. John II. F'arr's
compulsory education bill will have when
1t comes into force. This boy has kind,
| respectable mother and she tries every
way to send him to school, but, sad to say,
| he does not himself wish to learn, or obey
| his parents, and runs away from school
every day in the week. He curses his
| father and mother, goes around with bad
| companions, and has a hard, wicked heart.
| Thus he grieves his mother, so that she
often sheds tears, but he does not care for
her sorrow; and when she Furnishes him
| for his disobedience and wickedness she
is sick for the rest of the day, and he runs
\ away and shows no wish to amend.
| Now, l would like to know, what will be
the last of this boy, If he does not receive
| an education? Here's the whole truth
| in a nutshell, as found in one of our ma
| tional proverbs: "AS the tWig Is bent, the
tree is inclined" If not compelled to 80
| to school he will grow worse and worse;
| and if he lives to be a man he will be
nothing but fool and his mind will be as
a barren desert, or like a forest overgrown
with weeds and brambles Dense ignor-
ance or infinite errors will overspread his
mind, which is utterly neglected, and lies
without any cultivation whatever.
This boy also has little sister 9 years
of age following in his footsteps. "Well,"
you say, why don't their father see that
they both go to school. He is strong and
/ "a n a
obey" 1t, no doubt is his duty to do so,
but he works nights-and all day he's
| around, with his hands in his pockets,
busy watching the building of neigh
| boris barn, or advising others how to train
| up their children and educate them; or he
| has heard of some new ideas of school
| training Is some book, and is there to sug.
| gest better ideas, and doesn't care whether
| his own children receive an education or
| not. He does not believe in compulsory
education and faces the very best of men
and school teachers and tells them the
| candid truth education is all fairue"
What are we going to do with such peo-
| Pile? There are hundreds of the same kind
around Hyde Park. That's the beauty of
compulsion, they will be compelled by law
to see that their children are sent to
school; or, if not, they must suffer its
penalty.
Do l thoroughly believe, you may ask,
| that the compulsion law is going to i'm
prove and benefit children in this city?
/ do, indeed and am sure that we won't
have half the children as ignorant as they
are now. l know of a dozen families on
one street alone, wherein there are chill
dren who do not go near school, and their
parents don't care whether they do or not.
l have in mind a man living on Luzerne
street, for instance. He has five boys
working, the two youngest of which work
in the breaker. One is only . years old.
and the other a little over IL. He wants
to send them to school, but his wife makes
them go to work, so she may amass lit
tie money for herself, no matter what will
become of them In the future; and they
both are so ignorant that they cannot even
write or spell their own names.
Now, all the powers of human nature
are capable of education In every indl-
vidual. 1t is on this fact that the art of
education Is based And It is truth of
which parents should be fully convinced.
Nothing is more necessary to them than
faith in their children and what they can
do. No child must be thought too dumb
to learn anything Every childs mind is
casket of beautiful jewels-all that Is
wanting Is the key And the school Is
just the place In which to find that key.
| know myself Of hundreds in the Fifth
and Fourth wards between the ages of 8
and 13 years who never saw the inside of
school ROOM Would 1t not be better to see
these children in school learning some
thing than running the streets night and
day? ! am glad that the time has come
when these children will be compelled to
go to school, and know of a great many
mothers and fathers who feel thankful
also, and who congratulate Mr.. Farr for
his successful efforts in getting compul-
sorry education. Daniel H. Gregory.
Scranton, April %.