The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1897-01-13
TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.

The following article is clipped
from the Carolina Teachers journal,
and is inserted this week because OF
its general application to so many;
BUTTERFLY STUDENTS.
In every school there is small
floating attendance of students who
like butterflies, stop to sip little
while, then float away.
There are various causes for this
some to be pitied-some 10 be con.
demmed, but all unfortunate. Health
breaks down and the student leaves
tc rccuperate. Parents get in strait
ened circumstances and they usually
begin to curtail expenses in the very
place where the least degree OF econ
omv is the last degree of extravas-
ance. If the parent is really in dis
trcss it is the Christian duty of the
teacher to extend help. The teacher
who has never attempted to help a
poor deserving boy through school
has missed one of the sweetest e1-
periences of professional life. If you
want future generation to rise up
and call you blessed, hunt up few
bright children who are thirsty for
al education, but who lack the means
to get it.
There are other butterflies al
school however, besides the poor
and the sickly.
There is the sixteen year old Miss
who has drifted into society and
wants to quit school She usually
quits after Christmas. In small
towns parents could wisely and prof
itably adopt rule to permit "socia-
bles" only on Friday nights. Job
never tried to manage sixteen year
old school gil gil iiSaffecteS with matri-
monial microbes. Poor bthterfy girl.
1t is to be hoped that her husband
will manage her better than did the
poor bedeviled professor. :.
Then there is the bright bog who
has received a business offer. During
fall, some greedy merchant picks out
your best boy in school and offers
him a job. The boy concludes that
it is more important in life to fill the
pocket than to FIJI the head. He
quits and il after years repents in
sackcloth and ashes. There is law
against decoying your negro laborers
from the cotton field, bat what can
be done with the merchant who de-
coys your best boy from school?
There is one consideration. If the
boy did not have sense and manhood
enough to resist the enticement, he is
not the best boy. He would have
been the best had be stayed.
To reduce the percentage of but
terfy students teachers should try to
educate pupils and patrons to right
thinking on this line. A private
talk with a scholar will often save
him from the ruinous consequences
of deserting his books. 1 believe too
it is good idea to require students
to make formal application for a
discharge from school. Generally
the scholar folds his tent like the
Arab aud silently steals away. A
patron ought to have more respect
for a teacher than to stop his chill
dren without notifying the teacher.
Let US think now and then OF the
pretty butterflies who frightened our
class rooms for a few brief months
and then fitted away. Some of them
are our best friends. They realize
their lost opportunities. They speak
regretfully Of the vanished past. So
here's lack to them and better luck
to their children.-Henry>S. Hartzog,
Johnston, S. C.
Let all the teachers Of the county
remember that they are enrolled as
members Of the Clarendon County
Teachers Association, and that If they
don't attend they are missing oppor-
tunities that would prove very bene-
hcal to them.
The regular meeting for January
will be held at the Manning Collegi-
ate Institute on Saturday January
Both, 1897. Strive to be present.
E. J. BROWNE,
President.