The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-05-03
NOTES TO THE TEACHERS.
PUNNY MESSAGES REoEIVED AT
BROOKIYN PUBLIO SCHOOLS.

p,o,nt- Of Parents In PickicvIlie. Slab
CITY, aud roNynsviiie-Not with .
Touch OF Sadness in Them.
Quite a row was raised In a Brooklyn public
school a few days ago by an angry father, who
threatened TO smash n teachers nose because
the teacher had misunderstood a note. Here Is
a copy of the note that caused the trouble:
NY DEAR MISS BLASK-My son Louis has been so bad
In his books that l desire you to treatise him for con.
duct and lessons II possible to do so after school hours.
Please be so kind and 'bllge his father
JAcoB CUtLESHocKER-
The teacher read the note carefully. She had
Taught school so long In the Pickleville district
that she believed herself fully capable Of COM
pretending the meaning OF Mr. ullenbockers
note. She argued the matter with herself. Little
Louis report card showed that he had only
attained o. per cent. as the months average.
His conduct had boon marked poor"
B treatise him." said the teacher. - his
father means chastisc him after school hours"
Then she began the work OF chastisement.
Louis was kept in after the other boys had been
dismissed. The teacher gave him a severe lee
ture. and ordered him to study at home. Then
she threatened to whip him IL he did not do rs
he was told. She had also kept him in the class
room while the other boys were enjoying the re-
cess hour, and Louis was compelled to stand
with his face against the wall while he listened
to his comrades romping in the playground.
When Louis father got home from work that
night he questioned his son about the note.
Louis explained that the teacher had scolded
him, turned his face toward the wall. and kept
him in school after the class had been dismissed.
Cullenbockcr was very angry when he heard
his sons tale of woe. He had been very careful
in writing the note, and had copied 1t over three
times. He had taken the trouble to look up the
meaning Of treatise" in n dictionary, and he
concluded that " TO treatise meant to talk to
and explain, and to teach by discourse. He
wanted the teacher to take particular care Of
the boy. and see that everything was fully ex-
planned to Louis, whom he considered q very
good boy. But the teacher had turned Louis
face toward the wall. She had been accus-
toned to getting queer notes from PicklevillA
parents, and Of deciphering them to suit herself.
But in this case she had made a grave mistake.
and when Mr.. Cullcnbocker got through telling
her what he thought OF her he said:
If you talk back to me III smash your nose.''
The teacher, of course, knew better than TO
"talk.back" to an angry Pickleville parent. She
npologiacd for her noses sake, and Cullerbocker
went away declaring that II she ever dared to
turn Louis face toward the wall In the future
there would be a vacancy in that school. In
speaking of the matter the teacher said:
Il think there ought to be some guarantee
against the RllllnR OF teachers In tne llCRlcNllIe
district. It's worth a teachers life to cross
some OF the complaining parents who rush to
the schools for the purpose of doing the punch
ing act. They come in and declare that their
boys are the only good ones in the city, and that
awful will happen IL their boys ARE
harmed. Tho notes they send are aften pre-
served for the amusement of the school princi-
pals. This man who wanted me to treatise his
son shook his fist in my face. and would have
struck me IL | dared to reply to him. lie
wouldn't give me a chance to explain how we
are bothered with queerly worded notes, and In
this respect he was like the mother OF a boy in
the second primary grade OF this school. She
created a circus here II fed days ago. Here is a
copy OF IL note she wrote:
Miss - Please give the money this month to my
girl Minnie and not 70 Fred for wv" months he got
81 Si,l per H. sf ;nt6e sn @aa ri he I iIsKsi hb not one cent Ir so s
AFTER receiving that note. a boy was sent to
Mrs. ;. with Il message explaining the meaning
OF the ninety-aye per cent: The next day the
big fuss. She said she was II poor woman. and
that she needed what little money, she could
scrape up by doing washing, When Fred earned
niuety-tive cents at school she thoughtsh II ought
to get the money. She was told that, Fred, did
lyon, then, are. keeping IL, because the law
says the Board Of Education gives out these
cents to the smart children every month
Even when she went away she refused to be-
lieve the story OF the real meaning OF ninety
five per cent"
''lllC Va ''iV 4 az k"A NAN t'hl I AAl'At =
stand superintendent MaXwclls method Of
sight reading, and the notes they send to the
teachers are amusing. Here is a fair sample:
TI.cnER-i dLnk you are a fool you want my boy to
READ when he don't no No aIfero!ts. blease teach him
some.
similar notes are received by the teachers in
the Brownsville schools. Over in Gowanus there
are many parents who object to the new course
of study in the schools. one father In the slab
City" district wrote:
Teach my daughter readin' and rithmatick and not
those new fans,td Yankee notions about cutting pa
The fact that tho " SLAB City" parents object
to clay modelling in the schools is illustrated in
the following note sent TO IA teacher in one CT
the Tenth ward schools:
Miss -: John KEN home yesterday wild his clotho,
c e., ,I va y iRGd' y. t nr Shi you ngt nim TO work
wrlte NJ nan GArriGs IN, Hod; nm, Goa knnws | h"v
ing JOINS coat. II he comes home ike this aylnI in
Mrs. Or
Hero Is one from n Brownsville mother who
objects to physical culture:
Miss BRowN You must stop teach my Lizzie nsical
sn1 neris yer rraIlh hh nEorS mt sums more
jump. MRs. CANAvowsKY.
The number OF parents who object to the tenn
greater than, the number or DIRECTORS 70 any
other class OF study in Williamsburgh. Here is
copy Of n note sent to n teacher in the Stage
street school:
Miss -: My boy tells me that when I trlnk beer
der overcoat yrom my stummack gets to thick. Please
be so KIND ana don't intervene In my d fa%G' HIi af9lr.
Here Is a sample on the same subject sent to a
teacher In the Maujer street school:
DEAR TEACHER: You should mine your own biz.
MISS an not tell Jake he should not trink bier. SO
he III he thinks the bier an he thinks II yen wen
bill rains i ded. if you interfer some moro go on
the bored OF euCatiOn. VS..
In this school the teachers are often compelled
to listen, 20 long arguments on the excise ques-
ton, and the parents who call around TO Hrgue
greatly excited when told that the chill
dren, are taught, not to taste alcoholic liquors,
One little boy told his teacher that his mother
had given him orders to get up and leave tho
class room during the hour for discussing the
alcohol question. The teacher told the boy to
his mother To call around ut tho school
house. She did not come, but wrote this note:
TEArHER; John says you want to see me. havea
bier saloon and min" children ,HlEness IL good In
morning an Att'uoOn. How can | Gomez
Some of the notes Of excuse sent to the school
teachers ar" very funny. Here Is n sample
from Slab city, written on Monday. when Bar
circus parade was the street attraction
In brooklyn:
TEAcurE; Place excousis Mickio ho went to see tho
BAnnums. Mrs. CASEY.
Here is one which has a touch Of sadness In III: