The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-24
VIII.
~. -
THE CONFINES OF CONSISTENCY

, Copyright by Mcclure, Phillips Co.
IL UNIT LOUISE was opposed to
"a the public school.
IN Uncle Charlie said he
~ feared Aunt Louise did not
Il " appreciate the democratic
institutions Of her country.
Emmy Lou caught the
word-democratic later she mad oc-
casion to consider 1t further.
iuAunt Louise said that Uncle Charne
was quite right in his fear, and the end
was that Emmy Lou was started at
private school.
But it was not a school-it was only
a. parlor; and there being a pupil
more than there were accom-
modations, and Emmy Lou being the
newcomer, her portion was rocking
chair and lapboard.
There was not even a real teacher,
only an old lady who called one my
dear"
At home Emmy Lou cried with her
head buried in Aunt Cordelia's new
bolster sham; for how could she con-
TESS to Hattie and to Rosalie that 1t
was a parlor and a lapboard?
Upon consultation, Uncle Charlie
said, let her do as she pleased, since
damage to her seemed to be inevitable
either way. So Emmy Lou, rejoicing,
departed one morning for the gram
mar school.
Public school being different from
private school, Emmy Lou at once be-
gan to learn things. For instance, at
grammar school one no longer speaks
of boys in undertones. One assumes
an attitude of having always known
boys. At grammar school classes at
tend chapel. There are boys in chapel
still separated from the girls to be
sure, after the manner OF the goats
from the sheep; but after one learns
to laugh from the corners of ones
eyes at boys dividing line Of mere
aisle is soon abridged. Watching
Rosalie, Emmy Lou discovered this.
There was boy in chapel whom
she knew, but it takes courage to
look out Of the corners Of ones
eyes, and Emmy Lou could only find
sufficient to look straight, which is
altogether a different thing. But the
boy saw her. Emmy Lou looked
away quickly.
Once the boys name had been
Billy; later at dancing school 1t was
Willie: now, the principal who con-
Quoted chapel exercises, called him
William.
Emmy Lou liked this principal. He
had white hair, and when it fell into
his eyes he would stand it wildly over
his head, running his fingers thru it's
thickness; but one did not laugh, be-
cause of greater interest in what he
said.
Emmy Lou asked Rosalie the prin-
cipals name, but Rosalie was still
smiling backward at a boy as the
classes filed out of chapel. AfterWard
she explained that his name was Mr..
Page.
At grammar school Emmy Lou con-
tinued to learn things. The pupils
of a grammar school abjure school
bags; a geography now being a folio
volume measurable in square feet, it
is the thing to build upon it's basic
foundation an edifice Of other text
books and carry the sum total to and
fro on an aching arm.
Nor do grammar school pupils
bring lunch; they bring money, and
buy lunch-pies, or doughnuts, or
pickles-having done with the infant
pabulum of primary bread and but
ter.
Nor does so big girl as gram
mar school pupil longer confess tc
any infinite abbreviation of entitle.
ment; she gives her full baptisma
name and is written down, as ir
Emmy LOUIS case, Emily Louise Pope
MacLauren, which has it's drawbacks
for she sometimes fails to recognize
the unaccustomed sound Of that name
PLATFORM
For at twelve years, an Emmy LOT
finds herself dreaming, and watching
the clouds thru the school room win
dows. The reading lesson concern
one Alnaschar, the BARRIERS fftl
brother; and while the verses g.
droningly round, the kalsomined blu
. walls fade, and one wanders the mar
ket place Of Bagdad, amid bales o
rich stuffs, and trays of golden trim
kets and mysteries that trouble not
purveyors and Mussulman's,' enunich
and seraglios, g, khans, mosques
drachmas-one has no idea what the.
mean, nor does one care; on ever
hand in life mysteries, why not II
books? The thing is, to seize upol
the story and to let the other go.
And SO Emily Louise fails to answe
to the baptismal fullness Of her nam
spoken from the platform, until at