The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1901-03-01
ARP ON IGNORANCE.
BARrn" rHILn>OPHER WRITES or
THE SCHOOLS AND PApERS
An Educ"tl"n IL Now Easy q Il Text Books
Arc Found by tho VIII or Winch Bring
Buck old Days.
(Heruld and News.)


There were not half as many reading
books in all our town IA ! have now
in my SIN III library Of 400 volumes
LII our scho lis wo had blue back
spelling book, Smiloy's arithmetic,
Murray's grumar, Smiths geography
and the English reader. To muster
these was considered q good old
fashioned education have on my
shelf copy Of that snmo old En-
glish reader. A good lady sept it to
mo not long ago, and | almost wcpt
over its d 'ligh'ful pages, for there
is no school book now published that
has so choice u selection of varied
r"a Ting both in prose and poetry. |
have l. TIER 'r''m an old gentleman
i Florida asking where he will find
Il little poem thai his mother taught
him and ,ine of which he has forgot
en. "lt begins" he said,
"Pity the sorrows Of poor old
man" do not know where he will
tiud it except in the old English read
or. 1t was written in 17O0 by Thomas
Moss, and was quoted by DR.. John
son and Goldsmith. Both loved the
pathetic, and nothing more pathetic
was ever written.
Pity the s"rrnws Of Il poor Old man
Wro,e trembling limbs have borne
him TO Aonr door.
Whose days have dwindled to the
shortest span;
All! give relief aud heaven will bless
your store.
These tattered clothes my poverty be-
speak;
Thes" hoary locks proclaim my
l'ngihenrd Ae RS.
And mann furrow in my grief worn
Has been the channel to q flood of
V'"l
Oh. take me to your hospitablc home,
Keen blows the wind and piercing ia
the cold;
Short is my passage to the friendly
tomh,
For | am poor and miserably old.
These are some Of the verses, and
in another occurs the line often
quoted:
"a pampercd mcnial drove me from
the door"
This copy Of Murray's English
reader was printed in London two
years before Queen Victoria was
koIn. 1t was the text book in most
of the schools when l was hoy, and
from it we got our speeches and
learned how to bow and gesture and
and give accent aud emphasis, This
book with the teachrr's aid, gave us
an idea Of elocution and how to read
impressively, aud VIII it WAS in all
our schools to day. We have good
scholars but very few good readers.
1t s rare to find u preacher who can
emphasiz" bis text on chapter or a
hymn. Every college and especially
every tn illogical seminary, should
have Il professor Of reading and
sp' aklng. | remember henring an
eloquent divi,tn preach a sermon'from
tn text, "My -in is ever before mo-"
and eu'h WAS lis uttrrance of that
l'm"u' alton of David and such his
profound and solemn rendering of
the enduring consequences of sir,
that all of his hearers were deeply
Impressed. "My Gin is ever before
rne" still rings in our memories.
| said that sixty years ago there
was some excuse for ignorance, but
nevertheless that ago and those
schools produced many very notable
men. Tue young people we're eager
for knowledge. a new book was a
treasure il the house, aud there was
moro time, moro leisure, and Solo
mon says that Gin leisure there is
wisdom"
Bnt new books are almost in tho
way. Tn y crowd us and surr ,und
liz and 9TH" cry is sill they coma"
Young peo 10 read an average Of
two or three week, and forget the
contents in month. There are
magazines in every household, and
they contain our best literature, in
structive and entertaining; newspa
pers flood the country by tho millions
The New York World boasts that il