Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-09-19
a. badly as his teacher srammed his

| breaking-down OF the body" and succeed
ed in saving exactly the opposite 10 wha'
he meant A constructive anatomist VOL
I unteered the sentence: Tho eyes are set
In two sockets in a bone which turns up
at the end. and then becomes the nose.
/ one of the large class that ventures 10
| give general remarks at an examination
as substitute for accurate knowledge,
/ wisely wrote the philosophical statement;
THE spine ia quite an important bone.
| Another gave the equally profound an
! swer: When you have an illness 1t makes
/ your health bad, as well as having
/ disease" The girl who wrote the follow
| ing had doubtless associated with very
selfish. graspng people THE body is
composed chiefly OF water. and nearly
one haif of il is ayaricious tissue"
A few answers relating TO other SUBJ
! jects will close my examination depart
| ment. prose tells things that are true
right along Just as they are and poetry
makes it up as you go along. "A circle
is a round. straight line. with hole IN
| the middle" Things which are equal TO
each other are equal TO anything else
| The chief products of the United states
| IL earthquakes and volcanoes" The
| rapids OF the St Lawrence is caused by
the canoes OF the Indians" I'm Austria
| the principal occupation IL gathering
/ Austrlch feathers" The two most famous
volcanoes OF Europe are Sodom ana Go
morrah." "Climate lasts all the time, and
weather only few days John Bun
van lived a life OF scantity.' John
Locke's works are full OF energy and
lack no little want of thought Julia
| Caesar was quite military-man on the
whole" by the Sale laws, no woman
! or descendant of a woman could occupy
| the throne" Columbus knew the earth
| was round because he balanced an egg
on the table" Alfred the Great regned
s72 years; he was distinguished for Letting
some buckwhest-cakes burn, and the lady
scolded him.
If anything were needed to prove the
| absolute stupidity of the simultaneous
rendition by the class OF oral statements
made by the teacher. as a substitute
for teaching. the following should be
conclusive A word with whose mean
ing the child is not definitely acquaint-
ed is merely new noise TO II. Even
IL il is familiar with the meaning Of
! the language IL Is often liable To CON
found the words used with others
! similar in sound. John. give an ex-
ample of a noun" said the teacher and
John, after meditation. gave organ
| grinder" Why" Because he's per-
son plays a thing" queen Mary mar
ried the Dolphin" Mrs Browning
wrote poetry TO the Pottery geese
| This was not complimentary to the
Portuguese. nor to the teachers method
OF teaching literature. The organs OF
| digestion are the stomach, liver, spleen,
and utensils" 1.-The heart is a comical-
shape bag" "The blood is putreiied In
the lungs by inspired air"
The ideas given by the pupils who wrote
these answers were not very Clear
Unfortunately, there are many Suphs
who are trained to repeat answers cor
rectly. and very fiuently. who have no
definite conception of the meaning OF
the words they use. Good teachers
give their pupils every possible opportu-
nifty 10 use new words, ana give theii
own ideas Of their meaning. such ex-
| ercises reveal the most extraordinary
misconceptions sometimes. What Is
guilt?" Telling on another boy" What
| is lover ITS going errands," said ut
| tle Mary. poor boy was asked
what is a gentleman fellow that
has n watch and chain" he replied,
adding. when he saw that his answer
was not perfectly satisfactory. 'and
| loves Jesus" He evidently thought the
latter portion OF his answer should
atone for any weakness In the former
| mart A Sunday-school child told her day
school-teacher that mlss,2harles aie
mon who get money" "Epicure is
man who likes good dinner" Alias
was a good man. mentioned In the Bible.
| "NediaeyaI Is a wicked man, who has been
| tempted" -
Sometimes n pupil comes nearer the
! ,rt,th than might be expected In defining
a word he does not understand, as dlu 'he
nov who wrote: "A demagogue Is yes
sci containg beer and other liquids Even
when pupils have a clear conception vi
| the meaning OF words they otteh kNs
amusing applications of them when asked
! for illustrative definitions. Write a SEN
,orca Win the word 'nauseous' in IL,
brought out the answer: rms esaihiha-
| ZION makes me feel nauseous.
| The oral answers given in class are
| ofren nnirth-proyoking The word lad
| occurred in the primary readlng' Wnat
- a Iad2v INQUIRED the teacher. A very
small girl answered: "A thing FOR court,
ing with" Give the future OF drink.
present he drinks. future he VIII De
drunk" THE plural Of pillow BOLSTER.
compare ill?' "Ill, worse. dead lhis
rocaIIs the answer Of the boy who SAID
..NIascuIine man; feminine, woman; neu-
Ter corpse.' What are the chief I'M
norts Of CANADA? "Emisrants.' DID
you ever see an elephants SKIM res,
sirr, "Where?" "On the elephant" sara
the innocent youngster. w hat is the
| difference between foot and feet one
foot is a foot. and a whole lot Of foots
,s a feet" explained the young phiioso-
/ pher.
Many people imagine that boys and girls
| are not philosophers. This proves that
they are not well acquainted with boys
and girls. They are great reasoners Win
I'm tbeir nrouer range OF thought They
think quickly and accurately so far as
,heIr knowledge extends. They get out OF
| A difficulty by their wits as II they were
/ trained lawyers. Now did that blot
| come on your copy-book, SamY' Il think
II IL a tear. Miss Wallace" How could
a tear be black. Sara?" 1T must have
! been a colored boy who dropped IT," sug-
gested the reflective Samuel. The teacher
| told her class that Charles III. was
| Ipdapaudepf I.ulI saii she