Evening star., 1897-01-30

Difficult Lesson.
who have progressed to middle life, re-
auire very careful handling, in order that
their sensitiveness in the matter of their
lack of education may not be touched. The
ness so much, yet the teachers are careful
to refrain from criticism If they are slow
t, learn.
The zeal and attention which these night
school pupils devote to their school-room
work during the two hours from Z to 8
o'clock in the evening, when the classes
meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fri
days, could not possibly be emulated by the
lively and less mature children who attend
the day schools. To The Star reporter. who
visited the night class at one of these
schools a few evenings ago the profound
interest of the pupils in their studies, and
their apparently eager desire to learn
quickly and thoroughly, was a revelation.
No Time for Play.
Night school students don't have any
time to throw spit balls or to daily with
pea shooters, even if they were so inclined.
for it is straight business and no play from
beginning to end. If the pupils at these
white night schools were not so absorbed
in their studies they would probably find a
good deal of interest in inspections of each
other. 1t was a curious thing to see a
stolid-faced Chinaman, who had appeared
promptly on time with his paper primer
stuck in his wide sleeve, sitting at a desk
beside young German man, with forid
face and blond pompadour hair. who had
been a non-commissioned officer in the Ger
man army and knew Goethe, Schiller and
Heine by heart, but who, for all that, was
absorbed In the same English primer that
the celestial was stolidly coming. Curious
ly enough, as the teacher told the reporter,
the Chnaman was learning English a good
deal more rapidly than the young German.
In the same class was young Frenehman,
employed as correspondence clerk in a
local wine house. who knows the language
and literature of his own country thor
oughly, picking out words from the same
first reader that was being diligently
perused by young Japanese lad, who
works during the day in a Japanese import
ing house. One of the teachers was devot-
ing particular attention to a Russian of
middle age, an eX-librarian of a Moscow
institution of learning, who knows all of
the languages of continental Europe thor
oughly, and who is just now having the
greatest difficulty of his life in trying to
gain knowledge of English.
Some Puxzling Words.
There were three good-looking young
French women who were brought to this
city to act as maids for well-known society
ladies, and these seemed to be getting along
splendidly with their English. They were
laugh" and enough" and through u
and know" and knot" and commented
humorously to the teacher in their OWE
language on the odd formations and the
many superfiuous letters in English words
One of the teachers said that the foreign
young women pick up English much more
rapidly than the men from other lands, but
that they do not learn the language so sys-
tematically and never quite master the En-.
ma
ticular attention to the short lecture which
the male principal of each of the night
schools gives at each session on United
States history, physics or some othel
branch simply treated. Learning English
at one of the schools is an expert German
stenographer, who makes 1t practice tt
phonetically jot down, verbatim, the prin
cipalS lecture and who then, with the ai(
of dictionary, endeavors to tranScribe I
into English. His teacher says that th'
results of his efforts in this line are weirt
| III the extreme.
1t would seem to be an herculean task t.
| take colored men who have seen as man,
as fifty summers and teach them how t
| read and write the English language will
| a measurable degree of correctness, whel
at the beginning of their instruction the!
have not the slightest idea of the relativ
meaning of the letters A. and c. Ye
| this is being done in many cases ever,
year, and the teachers say that the task /
not so hard, after all. The night class a
1
1 is the largest of the colored night classes
| and here the adult attendants are in tn
| majority.
| Learn With Difficulty.
| The pupils go about their studies with
/ good deal of solemnity, and ask the teach
| ers a good many questions, especially IN
| younger colored women, who appear I
learn with great difficulty. The student
| in the colored night schools are trifie les
| quiet during school hours than those VIII
| attend the white night schools, fact du
| in some measure to the satisfaction an
| enjoyment which the colored pupils can
help but exhibit when they have success
fully mastered such a difficulty as spellin
| Cat, cat, or properly adding up . and
| The young coloIed women who teach thes
| night classes do their work admirably, an
/ exhibit degree of good-natured patienc
/ that Is astonishing.
/ 'Whaffor is cat done spelt with a C.?
inquired young colored woman of he
| teacher in the hearing of The Star maj
| Cat, sat, ain it? A, b. C-see-see-
doan' see no X in C. K-a-t-ain' tha
/ right. teecnuh?" 1t required quite a iit:l
time and patience for the teacher TO col
| vince the young serving woman that tn
| letter C has various sounds. When til
pupil finally saw through the problem, ST
| was very happy over 1t, and smiled wit
| broad blandnesS.
During the past two or three years
great many young white men and wome
have availed themselves of the chance
| learn shorthand and typewriting witho:
expense at the night high school II
stenographic and typewriting room Is II
| busiest, and necessarily the noisiest, roo
in the school, for the clicking of thirty-fi,
| typewriting machines, each being indu
| triousIy hammered by the transcribers
| shorthand notes, produces a sound like tn;
| of an immense telegraph receiving roor
The class in drawing Is composed large
| of young women, who are endeavoring
qualify themselves for admission to Il
| regular art schools. q
Municipal Gas Plant.
] Narv yDr1