The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-10-25
by the vote of an intelligent nation
for at least eight years.

L
say about them if / were ruling. These
| public schools should give good, thor
| ough education, such an education as
Tom, who is going to be business
| men, needs, and such an education as
| Dick, who is going to be a carpenter,
will require, and such an education as
would be a benefit to Molly, whether
| She is going to be the wife of an hon
| est man. or whether she will be forced
| into the worladay world. There should
| be scholarships for higher education,
| but children who do not need 1T, who
| gain no good by it, who are helped in
no way at all through it, should not be
| given a, so-called education formed of
| scraps of this ''ology," tatters of that
ism" and vague suggestions of some
| other ''osophy" There should be less
examining given and more knowledge
gained. Then the average girl of fifteen
would write a better letter than she
| does to-day; She would spell better;
say what she had to in clear way,
| and her handwriting would be an
honor to her class. She shouldn't take
| the wrong change in a shop, because
she couldn't calculate rapidly, and she
shouldn't lose her interest in strange
country because she knew nothing
about it geographically
More of spelling and less of chemis-
try: more of plain arithmetic and less
of algebra; more of geography and less
of literature; and more grammar and
less of geometry, would be my idea of
public school education. Fewer books
and greater ability on the side of the
teacher to make a better scholar. The
teacher who has to study from night
to night to keep up with her class, is
entirely too common. Then, / do be-
lieye if the proper education were given
there would be healthier children, few
er children wearing spectacles, and
fewer children burdened with books
which they are forced to study at
home.
MORE ROOM FOR PUPILS.
Nowadays, the mother is obliged to
teach, that is, if she is a loving mother,
and the average child ambitious and
hopeful, gives all her day and the
greater part of her evening to her
school books. And this is wrong. Then,
too, / do not believe that Mary Robin
son, whose father makes a large in
come, has any right to be at the public
school, and so assist in crowding out
children who can afford to GO TO no
place else. The teachers say, naturally,
1--WE give the preference to those chill
dren who are polite, well-dressed, and
who come of nice people! The teachers
are only human; but Catherine Smith,
who lives in side street, whose clothes
are shabby. whose manners are not
good, whose people are not over nice,
wants that education which the State
pays for, and the preference should
be given her. Let Mary Robinson's
father pay for her education; let him
assist in supporting one of the many
gentlewomen who earns her living by
teaching. You can't pick up a news
paper without reading about children
who are crowded out of the schools,
and it is the deizens of Squalid alley
and not of Monmorency place that
knock in vain at the school door
Surely, the cry of the children is
going up to-day, as it did so many
years ago, but it is the demand for
know ledge for knowledge of the pro-
per sort aBl 'r knowledge given pro-
perly. | am MOI d ntjmentalist.
/ never believed that the cravings of
the stomach were satisfied by a beauti-
full picture or a bunch of flowers: no
body's kept warm by bit of painted
glass, and pains are not soothed by an
illuminated poster; but do think that
crime will be made less when the world
knows more and has it's knowledge
made easy to it. / said / was going to
preach sermon--I never dreamed ii
would be political one; but, then,
am one of those who get up and speak
as the spirit moves me. / couldn't
write a sermon and read it, as many
preacher does, but, then, unlike the
preachers, feel what I say and it
comes less from the brain than from
the heart.
VALUE OF THE VOTE.
But what are you going to do about
it all? Your vote is poor thing, but
still it represents you. Make it voice
the proper opinion, and you know per-
fectly we'll how it should speak for you.
On the other side of the water the
laborer gets very little hire. IF you
let in, under low tariff the manu-
features of those countries where the
worl1ingman has hard life, a miser-
able death, and pauper's grave, you
can expect low prices to prevail and
low wages as a natural sequence. The
country is prosperous when the prices
I'm the markets are reasonable and
good money is demanded for good
fabrics. The women who try for suf-
frage would be doing more to help their
country if they would stop their
screaming and spend their money not
at bargain counters, not at shops
where goods are undersold, but at those
shops where fair wages are paid, and a
just price is asked. The good laborer
has right to demand good pay.
1t seems to me that / have found
text. But it's at the end instead of at
I1ar - 10
taken from any book. It's like the
material used for my Sunday coat
of home manufacture. And it's this:
Give justice to the American worker,
and let the American dollar represent
one hundred cents" I'll hurrah for
that, and you join in and add your
voice to that of Bah.
WHEN SALLY SANG FOR ME.
When Sally sang her songs for me, in