The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-09-28

John Maitland tells about the Boys
! Brigade. He says: The Boys Brigade
is to train the boys to be soldiers; for
if an enemy was to rise the Boys Br1-
| gade would be ready to help the SOL
diers defend our country if needed.
They are expected to be obedient, or
derby and honest. If they are found
smoking or swearing they are dismiss
ed. The bonnet. the haversack, the belt
and the number of the company make
up the uniform which the boys are sup
posed to wear every drill night. In
every town in Scotland there is com
pany and in Glasgow there are about a
hundred companies.
Every year there is an inspection,
a certain place and perhaps a colonel
viii inspect them. He will tell them
which company did their drill best.
Then they will get tea and buns on the
way home If a boy We're to attend the
company that he belongs to for a year
without being absent he would likely
get a silved medal.
Sometimes the various companies go
out on march to some country village
to prepare for the inspection. Some
have different bands to lead them; some
have bagpipes, some bugles and some a
brass band. If you wish to join the
Boys Brigade, you have to pay a six
pence for your bonnet; the rest you get
free, but you have to give them in at
the end of the year. One can rise from
private to staff sergeant as well as in
the army"
lations. He says: THE school regula-
lions in this country are that every
free-born youth when he comes to a
certain age has to go to school. If he
does not go to school at this age he
must get q line from the doctor saying
he is unhealthy He cannot leave the
school until he is IA years of age or has
procured a labor or a merit certificate.
Some of the pupils do not go to school
all the time. These work the first day,
| 90 70 Sol he Tl1xv nd co IN
They are called half-timers. In most
schools the pupils can get free use of
books, or can buy them at half price
Kate Henderson writes interesting
ly: Il was very much interested with
the things you told me about your
town. Topeka must be very large
and beautiful city. What struck me
most was the churches. You have sure
~ great many churches at Topeka
and it must be very strange for the
Seventh Day Adventists to have their
church services on Saturday. 1t inter-
ested me very much when you said that
your teachers taught you music and
painting at the school
Around the district of AllOa- are
many historical places. Some of them
are BannOckburn Field, Stirling Bridge,
Falkirk and Alloa Tower. The town of
Alloa is situated near the river Forth
which is spanned by the Forth bridge
at Queensferry. This bridge is a mile
and a half long. AIloa is surrounded on
the north by the Qchil hills which are in
the country of Perth. On the west is q
great lake called Loeb Lomond. Near
it is Ben Lomond, in which the River
Forth rises. Ben is a common name
in Scotland for mountain
I'VE have not so many churches in
Alloa as are in Topeka"
Several other letters relate to the
opening of the Glasgow exhibition by
the Duke and Duchess of Fife. on May
2 1901 and tell something of the sights
at the exhibition.
The letters are all written in an odd
vertical hand. They appear old-fash-
toned when compared to the modern
business hand. The letters have been a
source of much curiosity and eagerness
to read upon the part of the scholars
here. The plan is proving an excellent
method for impressing facts about for
eign countries upon the minds of the
scholars. They read and remember
things from the letters that they never
could get in study.