Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-03-01
The Two Bridges.


Sir Edwin Arnold contributes an article
| entitled The Two Bridges to The
School Bulletin and New York State Eu-
ucrational Journal. 1t reads like ro-
nance and is well worth the attention of
parents and teachers who have stupid
| children to tram.
| one afternoon there came to the gate of
my school in Egbaston the boy 1 consid
cred the most stupid in all my classes.
He was tall and ungainly, though good
| looking; very shy and silent; docie and
| respectful enough, but always behind
with some of his tasks, and, const-
| quently, forever at the bottom of his
| form; the sort of lad no master troubles
himself about. | must confess | hau
| given up all idea of making anything cut
| of him, at any rate as regarded certain
important lessons-a helpless, dull, I'M
| willing profitless dunce-so 1 imagined,
| and SO / had reluctantly come TO treat
| him.
| day pretty girl, year younger, wno
| explained that Trotter wanted badly to
| see me, but did not dare venture alone;
and so, being his friend and living with
his mother, she had accompanied him.
Possibly that made me more indulgent tc
the hulking, stupid, silent youth; for
| there were great, bright tears in the girl
blue eyes, and she held the big nervous
fellow by the edge OF the coat if Shc
feared he would run away from shame
and fright. And when she softly relate.
how good a boy he was to his mother
and how hard he worked to learn his
| school tasks. and how miserable he be-
| came at his repeated failures and his
perpetual i2nominy at the bottom of tie
form, and how all important il was that
| he should pass a forthcoming eXamiiia
| ton on which his future bread and meat
would depend, and that she had accord
ingly persuaded him TO come to me, and
now desired very ardently to make me
understand that Trotter was burning with
a 1taSira win good nDluIDnS. and
| that she and her mother thought he
could not be really stupid, because there
We're other lessons outside of geometry
and what not, which he always did wei,
| and he had, moreover, invented two or
| three remarkable improvements for
steel rolling factory.
So | made the poor lad speak for HIM
self; and then he ruefully explained how
| he had never for one fieeting moment I'M
derstood any atom of Euclid, or why it
was written or taught at all. with other
special difficulties in his courSe-certain
subjects being all the time, as | myself
well knew, easy enough TO him. TIE
truth was he was no more stupid than
| the average "Brummagen" boys. He
was a proud silent, well-meaning lad
| who had been vilely. taught at the begin
| ming; for teaching is a fine art, and very
few really understand it. -..
His humility and earnestness melted
me. as well as the tears in the blue eyes
of his little friend. | sent her home and
made him stop to tea. and that afternoon
we tore up Euclid by the roots: We d.
verted ourselves of all false terrors in
spired in young minds by that ancient
| name; we went behind the old Alexar.-
drian geometry, and found him out i'll
his plans. his purposes, his beginnings,
his fallacies, and his merits.
| told Trotter not to be ashamed of any
little personal difficulties, since Kin.;
Ptolemy had boggled like himself at the
| foot of the Asses Bridge and had
asked Euclid one day. in Alexandria, if
Tnnld m "a a ga 70
which the ancient mathematician replied
| that there is no royal road to learning"
But there is Trotter.' | said. "a very
| broad and good Kings highway, by
means Of which nothing is difficult, moth
| ing abstruse 1t was just as easy to learn
| the binOmial theorem, or Persian Or
Sanskrit, or Euclid or navigation. o.
chemistry, as il is to NOW grass or to
shear sheep. The secret is to be rightly
taught or to teach yourself rightly from
| the beginning making sure of every step
| taken, and bearing in mind that mo
| learning is very simple, and that most
school books do their very best to rem
der 1t obscure and SenseleSS.
Well, with that we built up Euclid for
ourselves. Trotter came to me privately
every day, and we attacked that fatal
proposition on the first book as Napoleon
did his enemies at the bridge of Arcola
We surveyed 1t. We made colored sections
of it so that he ended by knowing all its
intricate triangles We mapped out ami
| marked its angles and lines, SO that We
came to be able to prove the theorem by
colors or numbers just as we'll as by lcL-
tiers. We worked out deductions and COR
ollaries from it, until like kind of geo
metrical Chaplain Junction or the big
railroad bridges, one over the other AZ
Birmingham. we had all sorts of supple
mentary propositions built over it ami
under IL.
And. as he grasped the raison de'etre of
Euclid, his terrors changed to pleasure
The lad became the finest demonstration
h. nl n far
etry.
Well that was one bridge As | was
crossing Canada, many and many n year
afterward in the new and wonderful re-
gion which extends between Vancouver
and Winnipeg, we came upon .'iunc-
ton" and right upon very important
ceremony, the opening of a very remark
able bridge, built over most impetuou,
understandable river and connecting in
most momentous manner for commerce
and intercourse the sister states Of
great province. We had to stay over
night at the station. and decided to be
present at the inauguration of the new
bridge.
Having received a polite invitation to
attend, | repaired to the experimenting
engineer of the district. in order to OF.
tain some particulars of time and place.
lnQuiring at the door j was told that
the experimenting engineer was for thu
moment out, but his wife, whose name |
did not catch. would see me- Looking
al
casual manner | saw to my astonishment.
among pictures of various kinds. q. PHI
tographc view of King Edwards school
al Birmingham. and close beside ii the
fifth proposition of the first book of Eu- :
clid with the angles and triangies done IN
divers colors, and underneath il written,
My First Bridge" Near at hand was a
truly superb picture. of the new Canadian
bridge in all its glory of iron and timber,
with the rushing forest born river moe |
uousiy whirling ice slabs and slags be- |
meath its wide arches; while in the cor |
ner | read the words very neatly in |
scribed. MY Second Bridge"
Just then the door opened and thers. |
came in the incest. brightest. most open |
faced matron that can be imagined lead |
ing handsome boy Of 10 or u years by |
the hand In an instant, after all these |
years we recognized each other She |
was the very same girl with the blue eyes
who had brought Trotter up to me in his I
deep woe about Euclid; and Trotter-nona
other than the melancholy Trotter-was
the great and glad mechanical hero of /
the occasion. the triumphant engineer |
who had SPAWNED the Red River with his !,
-.s1 .-1 HNI