The Falls City tribune., 1910-04-15

Toned country school. and | 10Y say
what | know to be true, that an or.
with reasonable industry in three or
four winter terms in the old country
school, master those fundamentals
mentioned. which. under the pres
ent system takes twelve or fifteen
years of his life TO acquire and then
not at all satisfactory, in the major
been added to the modern system of
teaching, such as chemistry, botany,
philosophy, bug and snake-ology, and
kindred useless matters that the
young would be better without; but
they help to round out the system,
give employment to the teachers. and
load the minds of the students with
useless and ~burdensome tasks. and
their parents and guardians with
mountainous tax charges to pay at
their leisure.
In the early days in Nebraska, the
school facilities differed very little
from those in the pioneer days of
the other states. The first school
in Falls City was organized much in
the way | have described, by an old
fellow named Bradshaw. There was
nobody to pass on his qualifications
in any particular and the school he
opened. sometime in the fall OF
1862, was unique in character and
decidedly grotesque in its operation.
He marshaled quite a respectable
number of the youth he%reabouts, and
for some time seemed to progress
swimingly, till one day the old man
took it into his head TO get drunk
and then the very old Nick was to
pay. After getting outside of u
goodly quantity of bad whiskey he
concluded TO take a nap on one of
the benches, and proceeded todo SOL
while the children taking in the sit
uation with tolerable accuracy, pro
eeed to decorate his face, which was
large and quite fat, with some SCOT
from the stove. OF course, the riot
that followed attracted the attention
of the people on the street and
prompt investigation followed.
Bradshaw was found with a long
black streak down his nose, one over
each of his eyebrows, and one or two
under each eye and similar ornament
atoms about his mouth and upper
lip, on which the artist painted an
elaborate mustache after the French
style. The situation car better be
imagined than described. Uncle
John. as he was usually called, was
quite dignified in appearance in his
sober moments, which generally be-
came intensified as the process of
crossed. lie concluded, on being
awakened by the riot created by the
children and the entrance OF the in
yestigaters from the street, that
somebody had been taking unwar-
ranted liberties with his school, and
talked in a language that don't
care TO repeat here. 1t put an end
to the school. however, and it stay
ed ended.
| saw some of the fun towards the
last OF the performance, and al
though many years have elapsed
since,i in which | have witnessed many
other ridiculous exhibitions. a strict
adherence to truth compels me to
say that this one, as first-class com
edy. stands prominently first in the
list.
Everything in time has to have
a beginning, and that is how Il
schools commenced in Falls City.
The old man was a native of New
pectable family, often contending in
his periods of elevation that he des-
cended from one of the ancient Dutch
families that settled in New York
IN the seventeenth century. ! lnlIk
our late president puts up some such
claim on his own part. He frequent
ly made it known that his children
had asked him to make himself scarce
as he was not particularly ornamen-
tai in the circles in which they
moved. | know of my W knowledge
that he was tolerably correct in that
particular, as on a visit to New
York in 1864, at his request | call
ed on his son, whose place of bust
ness was somewhere on King street,
as / now remember it, and he told
me how the old man had come to go
west. ! found him to be quite a
gentlemanly appearing man, quite
intelligent and gave evidence OF be
ing a man of affairs in the city.