The daily Alaskan., 1907-02-18
The Coed System
tOrigiual. ]

l
 in the midst of T sheep raiSinG county in the far west. Miss EBrding was the daughter of those whS had been wealthy in the east Her father had died insolvent. but. forr1GAtely fer Rose, he had given her a college edlca- ton. The laws of supply and demand work the same in educ&Eoa as aGy- where else. Where there iS the moss ignorance there is the graatest need for teachers. At any rate, Kiss Hard. l Ing received an offer In Montana arc accepted it. She was SCrpsised to mo ] her scholars of mixed aSLs, ranging from ten to tweuty-siS yedHa old. Be' she had no difficulty in arranging her classes. for the oldest schoIEf knew 10 more than the youngest %ut IL was hard work. Rose had taSsh prizes ID college and was fitted 9 instruct young people of advanced scholastic az talnments in the sciences,
 One morning while she rSAS trying 70 teach her scholars how to spell yacht and such other words ~ he English language as arc sisai.cd farthest from their sound sAceG herder rode up to the SChoohouse Geo- and asEed If any one had seen flock of sheep In the ueighborhood. Miss Harding nut the question to her scholars, and all answered in the negative. While this was being done the sheep herder was resalins his eyes with the sight of the refined and coue!y Miss Hard ing. Such a sight. especially at that time, was not usually to be had h that region. and the herde- evidently did not propose to let the opportunity slip.
 Say. miss" he said. do you think you could drive any iRrnin' into my noddle:"
 The teacher looked at him scrutiatz- ingly. He did not look at all stupid, though be might not even know his letters.
 "That would depend upon what help you would give me in the matter,
 The young man threw himself from bis horse and. hanging the reins to hook screwed to the cabin for tbe pur- pose. went in and took position in the spelling class"
 Fire away. schoolmarm,' he said
 "Spell the word salt"
 "S-o-lt"
 'Try again
 "S-O.u-l-t."
 ''Try again"
 ''S-a-u-l-r."
 "Once more"
 "S-a-w-l-t."
 There was a smile on the teachers face. Although her new scholar was evidently more unteachable than any of her other scholars the lines of his face were entirely unlike theirs. There was something incongruouS in his lg- norance and his physiognomy.
 Teacher" said q gawk of twenty three. "I kin tell you how to larn him how to spell it. Tell him if be gets 1t right next time he kin kiss the purjyest gal in the room
 There was a shout of approval of this proposition. but Miss Harding de- murrcd. However. since her scholars would have it So. assuming that the purtveSt gal" meant those among the scholars she reluctantly consented.
 .Vcrv well" she SaiI. try again
 "S-a-l-t." suappeL the herdcr and ad- yanced to ta,,e his reward of the teach CT. Em<hing a rosy red she ordered him back. telling him that she was not Included. There was an uproar among the scholars und much pouttng among the girls, for tue herder. since he could not kiss the teacher, would kiss none ! of them
 You have struck vital principle in pedagogy" said Miss Harding to the 1 berder, There was a twinkle in her eye. Perhaps it came from a sus- plcion thal he knew how to spell the word salt from the beginning. Some day you may be d teacher yourself and can introduce your Stimulant among the co-edS"
 The herder looked at her scrutiniz- Ingly. as if he suspected some covert meaning in her remark.
 '"What'S cO-edS:' he asked.
 "I once liStcued to a very interesting lecture on the subject by young pro- lessor. Larued Etoa. When you learn to read I'll give you a copy of it taken from magazine in which il was pub llShed."
 This, especially the mention of the name Larued Eton, had q marked ef- feet upon the herder. Her words "when you learn to read' were spoken In a satlrical tone. Even the thick headed scholars got an idea that there was some game going on between their teacher and the herder. Dropping lis western way of speaking, tue latter said:
 q fear the plan would not he allow ed in the coed system of the more con ventional east"
 "I marvel" she replied, that one who cannot spell a word of one Sylla- ble should know the meaning of a word of two-co-ed."
 "I don't. l once thought l understood the word coed. but lately l have con cluded that my principles were entire ly wrong. l have today discovered that