The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-11-05
CROSS HILL PUPIL
Laurens Scholar Ranks
Second Best.
TEN in THE Il
Merits and Derlerits
Pointed Out.
Good Work Showing Careful Instrdc.
tion-Interest is Being Stimulated
Remarkable Handwriting.

The child who wrote the compost
tion about the Chinese wins THE AD-
vERTIsER's prize. This child is in
Mrs. McSwain's department of the
Cross Hill School.
The composition on Wheat by O child
in Miss Tillman's school Is o close Sec
ond.
The composition on Beavers from
Miss Mamie Clardy's school at Trinity
and that with Joseph as the subject
from Mrs. McSwain's deserve special
mention. Two good compositions were
sent by Miss Lyde e. Milan from her
school.
Ten compositions were sent In by
the three teachers named above. The
editor of The ADVERTISER Is the sole
judge in the contest and of coursehe
may make mistakes. The decision has
been difficult to render, especially be-.
tween the 'Chinese''l aud "Wheat''
compositions.
From Miss Clardy's school another
good composition on Beavers and a
third on Trees were submitted. Two
others from Miss Tillman's grade on
Elephants were sent in. Each and all
were distinctly creditable. The eight
average far above what wa expected
from children under IL. All were neat,
all were plainly written and in all the
spelling was nearly perfect.
The teachers are requested to send
in the names of the writer's of the five
composition published. The prize Of one
dollar will then be sent to the winner.
Below will be seen the announce
mem of another contest for pupils be-
tween IA and 16 years old.
The winning compositions chief
merits are that it tells what the child
has read or heard in the writer's own
language simply and plainly, and there
are practically no mistakes in gram
mar, spelling or punctuation. Here it
is:
THE CHINESE.
In hat country known as Eastern
Asia there is q race of yellow people
known as Chinese. They have high
cheek bones, their eyes slant, and they
have fiat noses.
They say a white lady would be
pretty if her nose was fiat and if her
eyes slanted.
When a man steals only five or ten
cents he gets severe punishment. Some
times they lay him down and put his
leg on q rock and drop a large rock
weighing about thirty pounds and
mash his foot off up to his knee and tell
him he can go and steal again If he
wants to. And sometimes they skin a
man by pulling off an inch Of skin a day
and he dies from the agony. Parents
have authority to punish their own
child even to death. One punishment
for disobedience is to fasten it up in O
coffin and let it die.
They are very superstitious. When
a man dies they believe his soul goes
into the body of some animal. When
a man gets sick and is unconscious
they go where he had been the last
time he was out If they find the tiniest
insect as an ant or a fly, they take it
home saying his spirit Is in the insect
and he will get well.
They build the roofs of their houses
to slant down, then curve upward at
the caves, for they say the upper air is
full of spirits and when mt hits the
house and begins to slide down the
roof, the curve at the caves makes him
go back up in the air. They build high
stone walls right in front of the door,
for they say evil spirits will be coming
towards the house and they will hit the
wall and it will stun them and they
will go another way. When a person
dies they will not bury him until the
lucky day. And they must have a
lucky place to bury him. They pay a
Luck Doctor to tell them these things.
The handwriting of "Wheat" is the
best of all. Indeed for a child 1t Is a
remarkable hand. Some newspaper
men write round hands plain as print
(there Is none such In this ofice) and
this child's Is an ideal newspaper hand.
There are few men or m In this
town who can write better than this
youngster. The matter Of the compost
tion is excellent Practical knowledge
is well expressed There Is at least. one
"break" in construction of the sen
tence, perhaps two. Here is the com
position:
WHEAT.
Wheat is very important to man, for
1t furnishes him with bread. 1t is
planted in the fall or spring Of the
year. The ground must be well
ploughed before it can be planted. AT.
ter it is put into the ground the farmer
leaves it alone until time to harvest 1t,
which is about the first of summer Then
comes the busy time. The grain Is gath.
cred by a reaper to which are hitched
two or more horses to pull it along. AS
1t goes along it cuts the grain with q
sharp blade, then it falls back into q
a binder where 1t Is tied into bundles
These bundles are gathered up and
stacked. But 1t was not always that
people could gather wheat like this. II
used TO be that people cut 1t with a
cradle and man had to do the binding,
The farmer gathers the bundles into q
wagon and hauls them to o thresher,