The Opelousas courier., 1897-09-04
OPELoUsAs, La, Aug. %, 1897.
To the Editor of COURIER,

Don Qul&Djc Gc Ida AutlstAI'uoAs
mounted on his own ''burro," the rem
nant of his pefferian whiskcrs, heavlng
in %yirtuous and billowy agitation upon
that manly breast, erstwhile pierced by
! many a ball-fish balls, the usual peck
snifiian smile suffusing complacently
his classic features, wreathed iii a frame
Of Durham cigarette smoke, after a
RipyanwinkIian sIumber of nearly two
months, has awakened, placed his lance
in rest, and charged the Windmill with
the usual result-the mill remained IN
stu and the Wind escaped.
Seriously speaking, it is not my in
tention to enter into the merits or de-
! merits of his delayed attack upon the
officers and members of the School
Board we the shoulders Of two of the
honored teachers of the High School,
| recognize his right as II member OF
the School Board to ventilate him
self on school matters, while cues
tioning his good taste in resurrecting
his recent discontinue, at the last
meeting of the Board, when he failed
even oreceive a second to his motion
to remove two OF the High school
teachers and was unanimously sat tom
orr by the members of the Board. s
| will say this, however, admitting
for arguments sake, that what, he says
about the reports OF Profs. Shatfer and
Harris is true, in spite of the fact that
Professor ShGDer prirdteiy compliment
ed Mrs. Mayer. and that Prot. Harris
priuately compHmented Mss Ealey, it is
submitted with all due Difference to tue
opinion OF these gentlemen, that ladies
who have been teaching iii educated
communities, competent to judge, the
one when both The Professors were in
their swaddling cloths, and the other
when they were tyfos i'll b science OF
pedagogy, are not quite as incOmpe-
tent as the learned member of the LIST
Ward would have the public believe;
that same public has seen and appre-
ciated the results IN days gone by, Of the.
labors of these two ladies in education
al fie!ds-ttey remember gratefully
that when, the ta~X-burdened parish was
too poor TO provide buildings for the
town schools, these ladies came to the
rescue, provided school houses, gratis,
and wore out the best part of their lives
in the thaDkless occupation of teaching
the young ideas how to shoot, and for a
monthly pittance, that more betitted the
wages Of a "cOrnfeld niger" than a
decent remuneration for educated, re-
fined and Christian women The pa
U1pbo vi III St'Si 'tbNN hS Gt'fS
to appreciate the valne of having their
children trained by women OF charac-
ter, who while not neglecting the
usual round of duties, leave upon the
plastic minds Of their pupils that i'm
press of more value in the formation of
character than the dry technique of the
school room. | question, therefore,
whether the abortive attempt OF MIR.
Sandoz meets the unqualified approba-
ton Ut all unprejndlced and right
thinking men," The public endorses
the wisdom of the Board in retaining
these two teachers and after the very
clear and emphatic denial on the part
of Messrs Fontenot and Frazee at the
last meeting OF the Board in which they
specifically denied being at any time a
party to the effort Of Mr.. Sandoz to re-
move these two teachers. Mr.. Sandoz,
if not convinced that he must have
misconstrued their views on the
subject, should at least have had the
good taste not to reopen the subject,
at this late day, by a disingenions at
tempt to lead the public to suppose that
Board were guilty Of duplicity, in lead
ing him to believe that they were par
ticeps cyiminis, to the effort at removal,
and that when the time for action came,
they hunked the*facts brought out at
the last meeting of the Board do not
bear out the assumption on the part Of
Mr.. SandOz, if the latter has not sufi-
Gent tact to accept gracefully the as
sertiOn of Messrs. Fontenot and Frazee,
that any conversation which they
might have had with him on the sub |
ject was wholly mi%sconstrued by him,
then Mr.. S. is determined to force the
issue by bringing the question down to
ono of veracity, between himself and
Messrs. FOnten0t and FraZee, leaving
the public to judge. So far as the re-
port Of the Trustees arc concerned,
they nerer reported directly against
Mrs. Mayer or Mss Ealey', although
Mr.. Sandoz himself was one Of the
Trustees, and the author of the report ;
in fact, one of the Trustees declared
he never for a moment imagined
any such construction would be
upon the report he signed, but
lchich "a written by Trustee Sandos,
who was doubtless quietly laying the
mud stills OF an argument to he used by
the member OF the School Board 'FRONT.'
the LIST Ward.
So far as the individual action of Mr..
Iuilbeau was concerned, as we'll as
NAV VI stS hDSio VI IA DUuluA
know that he and they were Influenced
by the highest motives, and by ii sense
II justice; they remembered that Miss
Hiida Mayer, whose discipline was per-
Fect and against whom nothing was
was removed to create Il vacan-
", and they did moi propose to ~re-enact
his policy on the ipse DIRT of the mem
Der from Opelousas, taking the broad
correct view, that it was q parish
and that no one member should
rave more voice in the appointments
han the others.
As / have already remarked, admit
ing for arguments sake that the ad-
7erse reports of the principals are cor
'ectiy quoted. / submit that perhaps
they might have been in error.
Ne are all liable to err, and they are
rot infallible right here | call to mind
he fact that when Mr.. Jackson was ap-
Prof. Harris threatened to re-
ign, rather than accept him as an as ,
upon looking calmly and dis
must evidently have discovered that,
perhaps, in his eagerness to advance
he interests of the High School, he had
done Mr.. j. an injustice, as
D his late reports he raises no further
objections against Mr.. jackson. IL lie
FRED in this instance, he ma hayeI
fred in his estimate Of Miss Ealer and
drs. Mayors Ii he really reported the
after unfit for any department, the
,nblic disagrees will, him, aud thel
soard Iery properly ignored his report.
am convinced that Prof. I'll. never
imagined that his report would be
made the text for the trade Mr.. San
loz launches against two of the most
a = nnofnnt md hast olnanfol 4anala.