The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-12-08
oLDES-TIME SCHOOLS.


Oliver Optic. In the Bostonian-
AS a rule. the schoolmaster OF fifty or
sixty years ago was a different character
from the one required by the public senti-
ment Of the present day. He was not
brute. as some insisted upon calling him.
though sometimes his discipline was brutal.
and was such as would not be tolerated in
our day. For exampl., have seen a Bos-
ton master. over sixty years ago. require
a boy to get down upon his hands and
knees and crawl the length OF the school
room, hardly less than one hundred feet in
length. while the master followed him close
ly and pounded him with his rattan the en-
tire distance. Yet this man had the reputa-
ton OF being just and upright man; and
I have no doubt thar. outside OF his school
room, he was worthy OF his reputation
Years after he ceased TO be teacher he
died. and Boston papers recorded his de-
mise with brief paragraph OF eulogy. This
person who had probably been a pupil of
the deceased. and he "hit back" even at
dead man. and he wrote what he knew to
paper a rejoinder, in which the writer was
as unstinted In his praise as the other nad
been In his blame. One of the critics had
other upon the other side: and over three
score years and ten, more than twenty OF
them as teacher. convince me that both
The mission OF the teacher was first to
subdue and overcome his pupils, II he
could not do this, he was not fit for his
place. Fully charged with the prevailing
sentiment OF his time-that he must conquer
the boys and break down their spirit, If
they had any-his first care was to make
an exhibition of his pugnacity, and thus
awe his scholars into state OF subsection.
against those who might presume TO break
through the well-established rules of the
SCHOOL Perhaps one OF the most heinous
or these rules was whispering, and more
boys suffered on the palms and fingers of
their hands for this Offense than for any
other. Ii Is not necessary TO enumerate the
peccadillos of three score years ago, for
they were about the same as they are to-
day. and every man who went 10 school In
his younger days knows them all. Failure
70 learn the lesson OF the day was very
common corporally punishable offense
As boys We used to think the teacher
whipped the scholars because he enjoyed it,
but the boys were as far wrong as the mas
ter himself have never been in favor of
the abolition of corporal punishment, but l
where ~ could be done. AS the farmer can
raise nothing but white beans in a gravelly
school, as rule. from ignorant and vicious
families, in which the appeal TO high mo-
tives is hardly known, and blows rain upon
the children from morning to night. There
are schools I'm Boston where corporal pun
tshment Is unknown, because Ii Is not ne
cessary. There Is as much different between
others as there is between the worshipers
of Back Bay church and that portion of
the population that people the slums of the
city.
I went to a public school In Boston for
the first time early in the year 1880. 1t was
the Adams school, then in Mason street,
where the rooms Of the school committee
are now located. The double-headed sys-
tenn was then IN vogue, under which two
masters were employed In each school, one
in the grammar Department and the other
In the writing department. Zach Of them
was assisted by q man. and no females
the last twenty years read the report of
subcommittee Of the School Board. pre-
scented in the earlier days. recommending
very strongly the employment of lady
teachers, not because this change would
improve the schools, but because il would
would disgust many Of the reformers OF the
present day. The change was not made
then. but Ii was adopted at a later day. /
primary schools established in 1918 were al
ways in charge of females and under con-
troll of a separate committee till 1885, when
It was passed over to the School Board.
When / went TO school for the first time
the writing master was an old man. and he
He always wore a long calico dressing
gown His intrument OF torture was a cow
hide, the but end of which was the 'big
tor" He walked about his room with his
two doctors" under his left arm in readi-
ness to be taken with his right hand when
occasion required, and II was seldom at
rest for any length of time. II his couple
of professionals had received fees for their
services they could not have bought up no
end OF corner lots when land was cheaper
than 1t Is now / had not been in the
school long before he happened to march by
my seat in the front row. Down came the
little doctor" over my shoulder and I
writhed with the pain of the blow. "Ha,
whispering. eh?" with as much fury as
though had stolen his pocketbook. I did
not know then that IL was a heinous crime
to whisper. was only eight years old, and
knew nothing OF the rules of the school.
At the present time not only is the tone
the teaching has been improved in even a
greater ratio. The school committee has
reduced the amount of corporal punishment
In a great degree. whether to a minimum
am not able to say. think that boys go to
their schoolrooms without fear and trem-
bling now, and that the instruction has
ceased to be as mechanical as 1t was sixty
years ago. or even half that time.