Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-12-30

not advocate vocational training OF
children and the other so-caIled fsms'
which go with the modern education.
do, but the trouble Is that there
are too many daughters playing the
piano and too many mothers cleaning
the floor.
THE penmanship of the American
| public today is amazing. AS govern
or l have read a lot of letters. Most
of them are typewriter, but it is
hard To read some of the written sig
natures"
This statement by Governor Ferris
| needs some additional illustration
other than given it by the reporter in
! order to place ii in a good light be-
Z fore the public Governor Ferris is
the greatest teacher Of good reading
of any educator in the state, but his
/ teaching reading does not bark back
! TO old-time teaching of ''readin." Mr..
Ferris has doubtless exceeded any
educator in Michigan in instilling
taste for good reading.
Professor Cannon Of the Edinboro
State Normal School, Pennsylvania,
and Governor Ferris gave the writer
/ his taste for good reading. This is
what | understand he means by teach
ing reading. The most powerful factor
in the education OF youth or men and
women is good reading. A taste for
good reading is a liberal education and
the person who impiants it Is the
greatest educator.
When l was boy had the humps,
measles-nearly every i'll 10 which
humanity is heir. But all this was
play to having 10 read aloud in school
Marco BoZzaris." IT will be recalled
in this poem there occurred more
strikes" than sprang up in the Up
per Peninsula and with every strike
| had TO jump and yell: Strike
till the last armed foe expires: and
then in a roof-raising voice march on
10 the next strike" What was Mar
60 striking for? 1t never occurred
10 the teacher to explain or the pupils
To ask. II just seemed TO be the
volume of yell we could make upon
each succeeding strike" Who was
Marco Bozzaris and the Turk sleep
ing in his tent" The old-time teach
er of readin did not enlighten us
OF course Governor Ferris does not
suggest that we should return to this
teaching Of readin' / remember that
after we had passed Morco Bozzarris
and the naturalization of The
Bells" another readin' horror, we were
ship-yrecked in "Seaborn SaIamis"
We had gone along nicely through
the Death Of Little Nelr without
getting acquainted with Dickens;
through THE Death OF Hamilton"
without any intimation who Hamilton
was, and all at once our readin' land
asked our readin' teacher what Sea-
born Salamis meant? She explained
that it was a kind of fish like the one
that swallowed Jonah. We must not
return TO that kind of teaching read
in. and no one expects us to do so.
"Shadrach, Meshack and Abed-
nego." however, made the most
trouble in the old time teaching OF
readin'. A poor little fellow who
wiped his nose and his tears with
coat sleeve that had seen much ser
vice in the cause was located at the
foot OF the readin' class. He COM
menced TO cry and scream He would
not at first tell the teacher, but at
last pointed with a blackened finger
at the three terrible names that loom
ed up in the stanza which fell TO him
ed him over the difficulty and the
readin' went on. Pretty soon the little I
tail-ender commenced to cry loudly
again, and the teacher did belabor (
him right. When he thought he had I
punished him enough, he said: I
What does ails you?" The little fell I
low pointed to the three Hebrew chill I
dren and said: Here comes them I
three Id follows apain
We need 10 teach reading in a way
that shall lead the youth out into the
realm OF the ideal, make them ac-
quainted with the great men, women
and movements that have made and
preserved us a nation. With such
mental associates, reading will take
its place, as it should, as the greatest
study in our schools, from rural school /
to university and college. /
State Board of Health Bulletin.