Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-09-09
long drawn out. AS to the newspa-
per reports that "peoRage" exists In
the state as a systematic institution,
they are bosh.
A HUNDRED NJ YEARS OF SCHOOL
ROCKS.

In the make of school books, we
seem to have made considerable ad-
vances over the idea of our fore
fathers in the school book making
business. In a recent article by DR..
A. E. Winship of the American Jour
nal of, Education, there is some inter
esting comment upon the ideas OF
then and now. DR.. Winship says:
Reading some of the extracts from
the books out of which our grand
parents got their learning, one won
ders what kind Of beings they were
that prepared the text books of that
day.
The arithmetics, for instance,
abounded in horrors and unpleasant
suggestions: a..
IF nine cats killed eighteen birds,
how many has each killed." .ync p,
''If a cat divides -four birds be-
tween two kittens, how many will
each kitten have"
"a skunk went into a barn, where
he found three nests one had seven
eggs, another eight, and another
eight, and another three; from each
nest he ate two eggs. How many did
the skunk eat?''
some hundred and nineteen per-
sons died from drunkenness IN New
York and 127 in Philadelphia. How
many in both?'
"a man had seven children; two
of them were killed by the fall OF a
tree. How many had he left?"
"Three score and ten kings had
their thumbs and their great toes
cut off and gathered under the table
of Adonibezek. How many thumbs
and toes we're under AdonibeZek Ia
ble?''
"a human body, If baked until all
the moisture is evaporated, Is re-
duced in weight as 1 to 10. A body
that weighs 100 pounds when living
weighs how much when baked?"
< Surely here is dish of horrors
to set before the tender mind OF
childhood In search of knowledge.
!. These examples are taken from
arithmetics in use at late as 1910.
Examples on lotteries are common.
Hardly a page fails to furnish prob
lens based on beer, ale, wine, rum
gin or brandy. No other commodity
was in such universal use in arith-
metics as intoxicating liquors.
The horrors spread to other text
books. The geographers reeked with
blood Indian massacres were COM
mon. Selling female. slaves furnish
ed an attractive subject for illustra-
ton. Bull fights and burnings at the
stake figured literally. The books
were filed with silly things to learn
and horrible things to see; the Ian
guage was grandiloquent to the point
of absurdity. For instance" Every
thing inashe universe is systematical,
is combination, affinity, and con-
Enection. The beauty of the world Is
founded. in the harmonious diversity
Of The beings that compose It; in, the
number, the extent, and the quality
Of their effects, and in the sum OF
happiness which it Is capable of at
fording." Meaningless verbosity
could scarcely go further. +
Wolves killing antelopes; the nor.
rors Of, an earthquake, with death
and human anguish crudely but hor-
ribly portrayed; q boa constructor
killing horse and man, q widow
being burned on the funeral pyre OF
her late husband; a human being pre-
pared for sacrifice in religious serv-
ice in heather land, with nearby
piles of skulls to commemorate for
mer similarity suspicious occasions;
these are the subjects chosen to IL
lustrate a geography in common use
seventy-five years ago.
Truly progress has been, made in
the preparation of school books since
these horrors were omitted. - T..