Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1896-03-06
EYES AND NO EYES.

ARABIAN uerVlSn tndt not oHiy ouSht ~
to be introduced into all our public
schools, as perhaps 1t is, but pertinent
| ly commented on by the teachers
| Though narrated of a man who could
neither read nor write, 1t shows what
an admirable practical education can
be had by any one who knows how 70
use his own eyes, and then to reason
on what he sees.
Somewhere on the desert, the dervish
anne upon two travellers, evidently
ooking for a stray animal You have
ost camel have you not?"
Yes"
was he NOT blind in his right eye
and lame in left legg'
| yes
"Hai he net lost front tooth?"
| Eyes"
And was he not loaded with honey
on one SIDE and wheat on the other?"
Yes; and, as you have seen him. you
can no douaG put us on his track."
II never SAL your camel" replied the
dervish.
"a pretty story, when you have told
all about him. You have stolen the !
jewels that were part of his freight.
So they seized the poor fellow, bound /
him and carried him before the eadi or /
Judge.
Things looked rather black for the
dervish. Happily, however, the cadi
was q man of sense, and said: You
must explain how you came to know
so much about a camel you insist you
have never seen"
II own" replied the dervish, that
there has been some ground for sus-
picion, But ! can find ample scope for
even in a desert. / knew
that I had crossed the track Of a
strayed camel because | saw no mark
of human footstep on the same route;
I knew the ANIMAL was blind in one eye
because it had cropped the heritage on
eli only nf the n9fh. | nPrpGiVHQ |
1t was lame In one leg from the faint
impression that particular foot mad !
made on the sand; concluded 1t had
lost a tooth because a small tuft Of I
1erbage was left uninjured in the CEN {
.er of each bite. Finally, as TO the bur-
len of the beast, the busy ants in c
'ormed me that it was corn on one
ide, and the swarming flies that 1T was
loney on the other" No wonder the S
ensible cadi acquitted on the spot so a
hrewd an observer and so logical
d
One of the most starting incidents in Ii
ii literature an incident never forgot !
en- from childhood days to old age is
hat of Robinson Crusoe on his desert v
,land suddenly lighting on
HUMAN FOOT PRINT n
! the sand The enormous implica- r
ons of hope or terror involved in such
perception are what make the heart nj
every reader beat with wild emotion. =
Crusoe had seen the savage first and -
lie footprints afterward, it would have pc
,oiled all. Now, that every object that -
In be encountered is full of Signifi- ~
lnce to an observing eye and reason co
e mind is a truth about which too -
any educators are singularly blind.
lildren shut up to mere book knowl- ca
ge get utterly vague ideas from TT
hat they read. The modern use of pic
res, of course, helps greatly. But DO
ctures are as nothing to the objects ge
What does a child really :,
Ike in Of the vegetable world who III
es not distinguish at a glance the dis
k the elm, the ash, the maple, the ~
rch, the beech. So with the birds. So loi
tn the rock strata. So with the Nj
boomers, sloops, briggs, barks, ships. mn
wv blurred and monotonous the
rid he lives in apart from these in no
itely varying perceptions! Here are ella
) data from which alone he can ;.
NV any sane conclusions. Would olc
) children could take walks with the tio
abian dervish, and have him show a.
I'M how to use their eyes, and then to lio'
NV conclusions. Under his teaching, be
IN the desert would be the best of aft,
FOOLS.
Naturally, parents want their chill anC
N to read and appreciate the best 7
nature. But what is the unfailing
tracteristic of the best literature? any
S that it's writer's, whether in poetry Car
prose, have so keen an eye for the ;,
1lications of truth, beauty, instruc- DIV
l and inspiration bound up in all the not
ects about them. If the children do tba
know these objects, all the beau
il imagery. all the pat illustrations. wht
the delicate humor of the situation, al
lost on them. For ages the wisest
ed to see that the related positions pee
he rock strata all around them were al
,1ne a'g Sf 'nT ro names reveaIins the Joh
)le story of creation. Here, with ther
geance, was stray camel of crea- Loo,
/, here were sermons on stones"
sleepy ones, as in many pulpit, ing.
sermons Inspiring enough to keep the
Congregation wide awake Loi
inson Crusoe's footprint of a saw oen'
suddenly and startlngly transfig- factt
into the footprint of the Almighty. .;o.,
he teacher. then, is the parent, wor- ''oi
of the name. who does not try to BILE,
Iulate in the mind of the child the I;cor
epton of just what the Arabian der ii~'''
learned through his own eyes of ocra
lvisible camel in the barren desert? ated
said a father to his little
who could not read. hand me the Be
hing paper" There were two news 70 q
rs lying on the table, one of which
little chap selected Are you sure cow
is today's?" are r
es, siri''
ow do you know it?" party
smelt it, SIR, was his answer. upon
r such as an old one does not have. woul
was dodge even the father was mucf
iaht He That has a nose i let him m quest
| and reason on it, was the little lows
VS. philosophy. The dervish would obo,.
patted him on the head
of the
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