Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-01-18

L offered him my pie plant for 1t, l
would joyously have parted with all
mine for half of his; 1 offered to
throw in some marbles a white ally
and four commoners; l coaxed him,
/ badgered him, and l would have
threatened him only / was afraid to.
Nothing / could say or do ever in
6uced him to let go of any portion
a stingy bite of it. / was too honest
TO steal it, too poor to buy it even
had it ever been in the market, and
l could not get trusted for it, so the
case was absolutely and utterly hope
less / never liked that boy. Even
at this late day, after so many years,
/ still think he might have let me
had just one bite.
Our studies at Mr.. Russell S
-chooi were all elementary, as be-
~ Il children of our age; we were
onfyxxr \ get ready, as Mr.. Russell
was caf ri to remind us on every
fitting oeshx on, for greater things
later on. were Just entering
upon the most onderful times in
the worlds history and we would
do well to get good ready for what
ever lay before us; we would have to
know a great deal more than our
fathers, because so much more would
be required of us, and so we were
spurred on from day to day, by the
inspiring words and the jealous ex-
ample of that good man who earned
for himself two shillings and six
pence a week, Or whatever the mod
est charge for our tuition might
have been. But alas! his oft re-
peated advice so kindly intended,
was lost to a great extent, / am
afraid, upon most Of us because of
its very frequency; it became to us,
dd ndusedm dd hoe and ad every
thing else that was disagreeable.
The prevailing sentiment among
those embryo British citizens, whose
homes were to be their castles, in the
not distant future, was that we
didn't care to know any more than
our dads. What was good enough
for them was good enough for US,
end right there we planted our hob
nailed shoes, feeling that we could
not do otherwise. But it must be re-
membered that we were very young.
Our chief was, on the whole, an
excellent teacher and a humane man.
He was by no means unduly given
to the rod when we consider the
times in which he lived and flourish
ed, which was essentially wallop-
ing age. OF course, he found 1t
necessary to use his cane quite fire.
quently which to his younger pupils
was an instrument of terror, though
/ am inclined to think it had a
wholesome influence on the warlike
kids of that day, who very early
came to think that the highest proof
of manhood was to be found in their
pugnacious propensities which were
very carefully nurtured and prac-
ticed.
1t was virtue to stand up like
a man and give and take what was
coming to us. To be sure we were
required to commit to memory that
wholesome advice given by the poet,
for the good of all beligerent young
sters and had we at all times fol-
lowed 1t. many hard fought battle
would never have occurred. 1t be-
gan in this way:
LET dogs delight to bark and bite,
For God has made them so;
Let bears aud lions growl and fight,
For tbs their nature to:
But, children, you should never let
Your angry passions rise;
Your little hands were never made
TO tear each others eyes"
hd'C uiSllhCJ TeCOlleCllOH Oh
having once, at least, passed under
the rod. Four of us boys who ate
our dinners on the school grounds,
conceived the brilliant thought one
fine summer afternoon when the sun
was shedding his golden rays warm
and bright overhead, the trees all
clothed in their summer verdure, the
song birds making melody In the
hedge-rows, the bees busily hum
ming and gathering honey from the
flower gilded glebe; when all nature,
In a word, seemed to be beckoning
us away from the little stuffy school
room and its droning lessons to the
green meadows where the cowslips,
daisies, buttercups and primroses
grew: where the air was made
fragrant with acres of sweet-smelling
violets which are found in such
abundance all over England, and
which to me are the loveliest of all
the flowers that grow. We were not
strong enough to resist the tempta-