Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1911-12-23

y school in which you can ar
rive when you like, learn what you
like, talk when you like. laugh when
you like, do as you like
Is this a schoolboy's dream? No. it
is a school right here in New York
city. Its students are ordinary chill
dren, Just such as you meet every day
in the streets or see In the pubic
schools; las teachers are men and
women who differ from ordinary men
and women only in their ideas about
how boys and girls should be taught.
To be specific, the school is at No.
1O4 East Twelfth street 1t was start
ed by the francesca Ferrer associa-
ton. 1t is supported by voluntary con-
tributions It's teachers are Mr.. and
Mrs. John R. Coryell and its director
is Bayard Boyesen, who until recently
was a professor of Columbia un1ver-
sity, says the New York World.
School having opened one morning
recently-opened not with the ring
ing of bell but simply through the
arrival of Mr. Coryell and some of the
pupils-a small seven-year-old boy, pro-
duced pudding stone" from his
pocket, showed it to Mr.. Coryell, said
his father had told him it was sand
stone, and asked Mr.. CoryelPs opinion
The teacher said 1t was "conglomer-
ate"-so called because it was a jum-
bled up mixture of lot of other
stones, fused together by heat.
The boy asked how it had got the
heat. This opened the way to a lesson
in geology and physical geography
Some of the other children were in
terested; some of them not. Those who
were listened In silence; those who
were not did something else or talked
among themselves
His System of Teaching.
Mr.. Coryell traced back the changes
in the earth, told how their history is
known, described the animals, birds
and plants that lived at the success
stve periods and of which traces are
now found in the form of fossils
1t was not a lecture. He simply an
swerd questions. The boy who had
brought the stone led all the way in
the voyage through the ages, and Mr.
Coryen merely acted as guide. Some
of the other boys followed part of the
way, but one by one they ceased to be
interested and turned away to other
things that interested them more
The little inquirer, however, grew al
most excited with interest And when
were standing on the edge of the Arc
tic ocean, to the north of Siberia, as
sisting in the work of cutting from the
ice the body of a mammoth that had
been standing there frozen in for tens
of thousands of years. On the way
they had formed the acquaintance of
many extinct beasts with names as
formidable as their pictures.
Tho iOurnev had led over cavora1
lands They had spent the greater part
of the time in Siberia, and this in
VOWED few words on the geography,
history and government of Russia No
information was given that was not
sought by questions.
knowledge CleverIy InstilIed.
little girl brought to school q
piece of kindling wood to which a
small fan-shaped fungus still chung
she had never seen anything like II
before, nor had any of those tene
ment jewellers among whom she lived
The children crowded around as she
exhibited the strange object and ask
ed what it was.
Mr.. CoryelPs explanation led several
fthe children to seek further in
formation about funguses Some Of
them asked if they were not poisonous
One wanted to know why SO man,
Italians had been poisoned by them
early in the fall. Mr.. Coryell said thai
this was because at home in Italy the,
had been in the habit of eating a fun
gus which was quite harmless bu
that looked almost exactly like one
found here in America that was dead
ly poison.
As they were talking about wood .
boy said that some one had told hin
that paper was made from wood, blu
ne did not believe it. The teacher de
fcribed hiw wood is ground into pul,
and pressed out into paper. and h,
added:
And l have a necktie made O
wood"
A chorus asked him to show IT I,
them The following day he wor
the cravat, one of those of woven WOO,
nber that SO closely initiate silk. H
took 1t on and passed 1T around tn
class The little fingers felt 1t and tn
curious eyes scrutinized it closely.
The teacher explained how If wa
made He went on to tell of otbe
strange uses for wood and paper. Tha
the latter is pressed into car wheel
seemed to strike the children as onl
less extraordinary than that the TO,
mer should be made into neckties.
Methods of Mrs. coryeH.
A group of small children sat aroun
Mrs Coryen at table PLAYING
game She had distributed brass ring
among them and asked them To Sc
Who could make the Drafffast r~.e4ar