The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1910-07-27
Educational Department.
By c. c. Justus, Beaver Dam, Ky.
mIOsYNCRAsIES.


ton and imitation; who was a strict
conformist in all the minuti@ of the
high school regime. Apart from his
"modus operandi" in his scholas-
tic exhibits, he had such a personal
ity in the home and on the farm as
to stamp him as one of the most
unique men of his day. He was then
a middle-aged man who owned and
operated a good farm. Like Blue
Jeans" Jimmy Williams, of Indiana,
who defeated Benz. Harrison for
Governor, this teacher-farmer wore
his blue jeans on all important oc-
casions. He was heavy-built and
grave in expression, standing with his
large pant legs turned up, so as to
show a circle of domestic lining like
the bands of Orion. His voice was
deep and resonant, ending with a
nasal twang. He commanded his
friends as he did his mules-with
the ring of austerity, the menace of
command. He sometimes manifest
ed kind of superiority over his fell
lows. On one occasion a neighbor
nailed on four shoes to black, rest
less mule. When the tiresome task
was ended, Prof. Willis said: well,
Mr.. Jones, am very much Obliged
to you. When it comes in the ways
| will do as much for you This
same Willis had no idea but that
Mr.. Jones was glad of an opportuni-
ty to be thus honored by deed per-
formed and commentator received.
Willis was a stickler for regular
habits of eating and exercising. All
others were necessarily wrong. He
sat at table one hour on all occas-
ions. Whether in harvest or thresh-
ing, planting or gathering, he must
eat the full hour, so that he might
live long upon the earth. He was
Yirile Scotch-Irishman in heredity.
Me said to my father in a stroll over
We pasture fields: We'll, Mr.. JUS
tus, forty years from now we will
be going over these hills with our
gray locks fiuttering to the breeze"
Soon after his teaching career he be-
came chairman of the County Court.
His financial settlements are still in
teresting relics in the archives of the
county. He wrote fine round, spen-
cerian hand; every letter was full
and complete to the last curve. He
had his own time and when done 1t
was like the tabled lone boss shay"
complete in every part.
The great Mecca of old age and
gray locks did not come to this alb
normal parsonage. He died after a
short illness of typhoid fever. 1t
may not be cruel to say that Mrs.
Willis never manifested any symp-
toms toward matrimony. She rear
ed and educated her two daughters
fifteen miles away in a college town.
Some one suggested she was averse
to trying a second venture lest she
nnQ al uOul-uSldihSi at NhC NAhhSi
table.
Education in the ordinary cannot
change the ideas of the brain. You
may add all the lustre you will to
the persimmon tree; it will be a per-
simmon still.
Sometimes these freaks come In
forms of speech. A Mr.. Branson,
whose second marriage took him to
Missouri, was a teacher and after
wards a farmer. His son is now a
pedigo-theologica teacher of no
mean proportions. The senior Bran
son was born to classical language;
he lived in circumlocutions. The
writer, when a small boy, sat with
open mouth and radiant face for
hours by a winters fire in awe of
his big words. He said to father, in
substance: "Mr. Justus, woman
Intercepted me as to prosi of the
meanders terminating in Athens, but
| was not tantamount to equivalent"
Again referring to the aptness of
children to learn, Branson said: "The
physiological appearance of the head
represents the phillipigentliness of
the brain" On being asked If he
would have sugar in coffee, he re-
piled: The sanguane of the sugar
knocks off the egolaverality of the
coffee; therefore l take mine adj
cute" Apart from this idiosyncracy
if you will pardon the big word
Branson was not unlike the great
mass of sturdy, energetic citizens.
Departing from these purely men
tai, come to some cases of the
rather physical. We saw a man once
whose dress was in a class to itself.
He had farm, large family, an
honorable past but he was an lido"
in dress and adaptations. His winter,
fall and spring suit was completed
with jacket of coon skins with tails
dangling about his waist. He drove