The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-07

tressed and was unable to sleep last
 night Now there is just one thing
 about my daughter. She has a very peculiar temperament, and she cannot
 stand sarcasm. She Is very sensitive
 and if she cannot be treated with kind
 ness I shall remove her from the
 school
 If he only would! But he won't. As : for notes, we have them of all kinds.
 The mothers send advice, complaints,
 threats and excuses until the capacity
 of our Wastebaskets is taxed to the ut-
 most.
 But that is just the way with par ents. They interfere when they should not, and when you ask them to inter- fere they have nothing to say I've had mothers come here and roll their eyes to heaven as they declare they must believe the scholars story rather than the teachers, because they had never known their child to tell lie.
 "A few years ago I had a boy who would simply dance up and down and howl if anything did not suit him. And l had another who, would lie down and pound his head on the floor if his will was crossed. Imagine such a pair in a school room! They would demoralize any fifty Of the best behaved children you could get together. The first week that l had these twin stars l celebrated the discovery of my first gray hair. The wonder is that didn't turn white in single day, When Franl was quiet John was dancing and bowling like a wild Indian and when John settled down from sheer weariness, Frank was humping his head on his desk or the floor. Occasionally they both broke loose at the same time. Then I sat still and wondered if there was a shot gun in the building.
 The second day I sent notes to the two women who had the awful respon- sibility of being the mothers of those wild animals. Wednesday morning came. So did Frank and John. But the mothers did not put in an appear ance. I really didn't blame them. I'm sure I should have drowned myself rather than appear an answer to the charge of having such children. But smothered my feelings of pity-that is, Frank and George did it for me with repeated howls and thumps. I sent two more notes, but Thursday the wild ami mals came and still no mothers The
 
 Friday morning two compacent, com fortable danes appeared in such close company with Frank and George that I could not mistake the fact that they were the presumably unhappy mothers
 T had expected to see women worn and haggard, as I was fast getting to be. But these two careless creatures took my breath away. I stated the to tln,, 1o,y rich, unctuous laughter, which made me want to dance up and down and howl as Frank had so we'll taught me it could be done. It seems that Franks father had cheerful little habit of stamping around and swearing in thun- der tones whenever anything displeased him. Consequently Franks mother had always said that he was Just like his father and had to let him rage like the most abandoned heather. And as for George, he, too, was just like his fa- ther, who, when he recovered from a spree which had absorbed all his wa ges, would pound his head against the wall to get even with himself. I
 q went to see those women the next day, and I labored with them till the | going down of the sun before I could | convince them that they ought to check the bowling and humping resemblance | of those boys to their respective fa- thers.
 ''As for children themselves, they aI- | ways select time when their parents | are present to show off their teaching | in the most unfavorabe light. l re- member that one time I spent all of one afternoon in explaining the punctua- tion marks to my pupils. The last thing I put on the board was quotation | marks, and I wrote out the definition and I had the school say it over and | over The next day there was to be an examination, so I was particularly careful In the morning the quotation marks were still on the blackboard, so reviewed the pupils little They said the definition word for word: Quo tation marks show that the words they inclose are taken from some other au- thor or speaker I thought they would it till they were 100, if they lived that long. The trustees came, and the parents came, and the examination was begun. Finally I asked the class to explain the meaning and use of quo tation marks. They looked blank--per- fectly bank-all but one boy, who hop ped up and down, he was so anxious to tell. Well, Johnnie??' I said. "'Quotation marks show that the words are taken from some other liar or speaker!' shouted Johnnie in tri- umph. Everybody else shouted, too. and , well, perhaps I didn't hear from John nie's mother later! In another school I had girls about fifteen or sixteen years old, and in connection with their rheto- I cic was having them read selections from Shakespeare. One mincing little miss brought me a note from her moth- er one day, in which I was requested to | excuse Mary from any class involving a study of Shakespeare. She did not | want Marys morals to be contaminat- ! ed Oh, it's fact! I assure you. It's ' Ill right for poets to talk of what is nome without mother! But l can ell you that school without a mother | would be blessing to teachers. As for 6 ne, my next position shall be in an or 2 )Ean asylum 4
 An Insurance Deal. Boston, June 6.-It was learned to- A lay that the Merchants and Manufac- | A