The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1907-12-20
|IH[ QUESTION
OF TIE HOUR
.,s r. Andrews Replies to
''' s;uopriatendent Nesbitt.
NfAfOR THtCHILORtN
Il. ina, the VIII Of the Majority OF
'', ,ss Patrons Should be Respected
" h, the School Officials.

Fort Pierce, Ia, Dec. II, 1907.
T Eis always distastcful to me to see
", into A newspaper controversy.
sr1sssiaIIy upon Iocal matter AS this Is,
,swspaper's columns are for, the
1a "n,hhc What does the balance
I i%s county care for our little local
!,,.e | saw that it was very poor
.s',s f for an officer holding as important
!, s SHCe as superintendent Of public in
srrtion of county to rush INTO pun
!, o,;nt and advertise to the world that
!, we're having Il liltic local sqrabble
,,his community, as poor taste as It
!, him TO stubbornly refuse to restore
Ss mil noon hour when he knows that
\ action is so universally condemned
|, the patrons of this school. as evil
iospd by the signed petition of the
arents Of 1913 pupils, And right here
4 h me state that every parent to whom
4 haze pettions were presented signed
4 tsnd have no doubt that had we
/ ven able to have seen the balance of
h parents they like the others would
M have refused. In fact one not on
I me- petition, father Of five children,
anne 70 me and thanked me for having
4 published and said he would gladly
nh.
AZ nv name is the only one of the
,tsers vet mentioned in his arcticlc |
hall give a short account of my con-
,EtiOn with this movement: During
4 tAe last term of the circuit court, one
i tmy little girls attending school asked
NE to write her an excuse for being
tgdy at noon On asking why this
vas she said the noon hour had been
at to IS minutes told her to tell
hn teacher that we would write no eX-
uses for hardness unless they reached
there after the full hour was up and |
sOud see the superintendent about it,
which did that evening. and If was
ever treated in more diScourteous
manner by any public officer ! have no
recollection of it. was told many
things and given many reasons why
the noon hour was changed (none Of
which appear in his two letters in your
Nper) In fact he reminds me very
much Of the lrishman's flea, "you put
your finger on him here and he is not
mere. Corner one reason and he
has another why the school hour was
changed He told me that if we would
petition the teachers he had no doubt
they would change it back again. |
Od him did not like to petition paid
servants Of the people unless it were
nose in authority and he was the prop
sHoffeer to act ON the matter. which
Rrrefused to DO, | then minated we
could go to the school board and ha
ald 60 ahead. left and through the
press OF personal business took no fur
ner action at that time and probably
soa,d have dropped the matter entirely
Aa not, on getting off the train after
weeks absence in Jacksonville ON
BUSINESS, been Immediately informed of
'ae formal objection lodged before the
S w board that day by several patrons
aa s mat the board had refused to take
asaoa without \ petition of the major
o ~ VI the school patrons. ! was re-
ysssted to draw Il petition. which did,
S ~; circulated one myself. the others
. wl1g carried Ground by j. +. Fult2
;Mk,Cariton, Sr. These gentlemen in
' 'I. me- that it has never been their
Y ssa 10 meet with more universal
\; ;sPp !s and enthusiasm than they did
y, y mls work, ard for myself with but
S tSC exceptions, they saying it made no
SsS y to them as their children car
iasr .ne'r dinner to school, but from
'.Sang OF fairness they would sign it in
S %uss 70 help those children who went
ma, ~t,'e 70 dlnnel, as As minutes was not
'sS','Slent time. | was personally
'isa a BY nearly all for my efforts.
~, ~ not intend to deal in personalities
n r% ! mink Mr. Nesbitt a very good
I Sss N MS way and he says the most
%h., van De said about him is that he is
o vuS'ihate, - | would like to have
s1 a.,, learned scholar coin new word
T. Stubborn. does not express it.
~, ~ your issue of December 6, the SUI
III, ii,bh';; t tell us that if a majority
,s;"1 u we will cheerfully bow to the
NJ s's 11i Of your opinion and go back to
\ \ U Uu Dasls. After the parents of
\, pupils signed this petition Mr.. Carl
|" , aaa Mr.. Fultz carried it to him and
ss,.siused to do anything. "Consis-
M ity, thou are a jewel" 1t is true
= ho !" was not addressed to him, but
o "su been dallying so long we wanted
,m nc. 70 headquarters where we could
~ r asa.tentlon paid to us. Any reason
u. man would have considered this a
N.Y., s; expression of the people to
lvs h nsni ne was wrong and he would
lvs mastened to correct it, and not
ssssq a'obled over to whom it was adj
tio s. little, Mr.. Editor, on his quo
N 10 from me. drew my atten-
Aoo,p he fact that the nature of the