The Washington times., 1902-06-22
Strange Views of Life
Displayed in EXarnina-
ton Papers.
A SKETCH OF THE PRESIDENT
"Rulcr Of the United States"-George
Washington, Only Man Who Never
Told "One Lie"-Sad Decline of
Residence.

The close of the public schools dur
ing the past week has brought to light
some curious and interesting facts re-
garding the work of some Of the pupils,
Following precedent, the majority OF
the composition and examination papers
Of the students, particularly in the
graded schools. were given back to
them. In this way they are enabled to
keep such of their work as they consid-
er especially good, and at the same time
profit by their mistakes. which. in most
cases. have been corrected by the teach
ers. Careful perusal of a great many OF
these papers brings to light some very
curious and quaint contortions OF his
torlc;tl facts on the part Of the young
sters. also some most wonderful ex-
amples Of the student comprehension
of the English language.
Not only have these instances where
the kings English" was murdered and
well-known facts contorted past all rec
ogn,tion occurred in the graded schools,
particularly in the lower grades. They
are TO be found in the compositions and
examination papers OF high school
pupils as well.
While the bringing to light of a few
misconstructiOn of facts-is not meant
in the slightest as a criticism of the
public schools of Washington, or their
methods, it demonstrates most clearly
some OF the thousands of utterly absurd
and ludicrous ideas the pupils place up
on paper and turn in as the result of
serious effort. Let a high school boy or
girl-the average student-get an idea
firmly fastened in his or her head, and
the utmost difficulty is experienced in
dslodging it. No matter how far
fetched or incorrect the idea, only the
most diligent and prolonged efforts of
the teachers will remove it.
English as 1t Sometimes Is.
The majority of the interesting and
ludicrous twistings of the English Ian
guage are to be found in the cases of
the second, third and fourth grade pupils
who are told good many facts by the
teacher and then left to their own re-
sources to write the facts into a COM
position. The results of this work from
the second grade pupils are especially
interesting. They have mastered the art
of penmanship just sufficiently at that
stage of their education to make some
most laughable freaks of chirography
and their knowledge of the language is
he oil nff INr-o .sa-, fi,,,r 10
write a composition upon some subject
which the teacher has told them, the
children are trained in memorizing as
well as in writing.
In looking over a mass of papers
which were returned to the pupils last
week, some samples of misguided genius
and youthful ignorance were discovered
that were positively worthy of gold
frames.
The following. the work of small
boy who had been told to write what he
of talk his teacher had
given the class on President Roosevelt,
is a fair sample of hundreds of similar
specimens:
The President.
THE President is a great man and he
lives in the White House where George
" tAaN lolLiti VI LiS IoIulis
lived and he is the ruler of the United
States.
THE President. his name is Theodore
but they call him Teddy
HE was colonel in the war and led
the soldiers up the hill at the battle of
San Juan and killed the spaniards He
made them surrender and won the fight
without losing his life. but he was shot
through the hat and knocked off The
President writes books besides the
President. He is very popular and he is
very much liked by everybody. but them
that do not like him because he has
different politics.
When tho president he lives in the
White housc he has a great many po-
licemen standing out on the porch 10
guard him and keep MIN from get killed
There are some people that want to kill
Teddy and they are called Anarchists
He goes cut to ride mis- horseback every
DAY and like It very much ana policemen
90 after him to keep him from get shot
II he was TO get shot he would not be
president his vice president would be
The next.
"The government Is divided into three
parts. The congress, the president and
he judges. The president he is the head
Of all and when congress it sends him a
law TO sign he cannot sign and il is not
a law. lie gets $4,000 q year when he
works hard for four ~ears and this is his
salary because ne is O brave man and he
was q colonel In the army. He was also
The governor OF New York City before he |
was the president and he was a cowboy
1n big farm out west IL was a very big
arm and he kent the Indians from steaI
he cows and sheep.
When he got into a fight he beat the |
speniards and he got lot more cowboys |
ought the war.
Some people say there should be two |
lresidenta because be does TO much work |
or one OF him and one could shake |
lands with the crowd of people that /
,ome 10 see him every day and the other |
PRESIDENT could shut in his Office and |
10 his work without bother. Some cow !
)oys come TO see Teddy that was in the !
Rough Riders and he see them and |
hi Ie hands for he like them and say |
hey his brothers. He wears eye glasses I
ometincs anl is q strong man because
ie Is rot afrd.c of anything
Tine president has Z steamboat whi III |
: ida yacht and he goes sailing when
.ver he gets read-. He can travel on
he steam cars for nothing because he
q 2 grea: man and the conductor do not
fent his money"
Another pupil of the second grade.
rtth an even more limited comprehen-
ion of her mother tongue, was the au-
hor OF the following humorous essay
lpou the farther Of he country"
George WASHINGTON wcs the ONLY ma n