The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-03-30
ID ;:j)llj|I|11 IL: II'IIl|I'III u (jNljSbl).
TOO MUCH t..RE..EnTss TALKING.
Contsmp: Fer Ess.ntials.


ours IS fall . schools, and he well
knaWn Pierian spring runs Ike m!il.
race eyer,y where There are public
schcois,the pride Of tie nation,--
~nriyate schools. ;arocIilal schools, de-
Gotniaationai schools, secular schools
training schools, art schools, CONNER
sla schools, academies, colleges. semi
IarIes, Institutes and institutions. We
have teachers OF all ages, slzaa, ey:urs,
sexes, capacities, sorts and conditions
We have Gerry laws, labor laws, COM
pu.sory-educatlon laws and truant
laws,-al tending to the improve
nent OF youth in manners and morals
ana naeiltals. We have books by the
million, and time and place and OPP
portGnity ior studying than.
Way, then, do lailIions ct old and
young SO about saying, i knowed,"
~ have aaw,""i haye went" "them
things" "nle and you," it's him." II
SEEM" "He was? If one goes into
& grocery store, the clerk, young man
OF good dress ana address, Will very
probably say We sent them potatoes
I'D, OF / lnowad it wasn't ready" or
"You was right about them CRACKERS"
The pretty clerk in the dry goods store
IS quite as sure TO cay; "There's cool
ness between he and T." or Him and
! went calling last night" OF ave
haven't any more OF those kind" Or
'STha price has raised" Even the
seminary girl will not question "be-
tween she and IT, and she will say it
with glib Innocence, as if Lindley
Murray had no grave in which to
turn.
Yet the majority OF these people are
able to read and write, and most of
them read hooks and newspapers. But t
they meyer see in print such language |
as they use, and if they did they wouij |
in many Instances be among the first |
to note the glaring errors. |
Now, wherein does their education
lack? What sense OF theirs Is duIled
SO that they cannot perceive the error
IN themselves? The answer is plain i
1t IS the result OF carelessness, due to /
neglect In childhood and youth.
What are teachers Tor if not to make
practical application OF their teachina2f
How many OF them are careful that
the scholars in their charge speak cor
rec;ly? How many of them correct
the errors CT speech which thew must
constantly hear from the children in
their keeping? How many are simply
content to teach the theory of correct
expression as it is set forth in books
and to neglect utterly its practice in
daily conversation? If growing child
rem were carefully directed by their |,
it would necessarily follow ]
that inaccuracies would be minimized. |
and children, without knowing why or
needing to know why would sneak
correctly. AS result OF such traln-I
ing present conditions would no longer
exist.
Why, for example, does some mem
Der OF Congress, when he makes hi>
hrst appearance in Washington.
gain national note by eating with his
knife, rather than by some great piece
Of statecraft? Why does he get into
The newspapers by reason of wearing
tour-in-band tie with dress suit. rs-
her than by wearing crown of laurel
md OF bay? Why has he such un.
;outh stable Manners" and WHY does
at his wife know enough to under
Wand the simple code OF practice in
use among people accustomed to mod.
.rA social methods?
These things are we'll known, to every
eacher, and why are the children not
aught to exercise the faculty of obser-
'ance-and not to neglect those .imnle
aenities which go so far to make life
'leasanter to live and the practice OF
which would so often save men and
women from pain and humiliation d
t is repeated that these are not mat. \
ers OF so-called CULTURE" and that
hlldren are not instructed in them ia
I1e tn tho coro1ncer>e, - -.