The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1915-07-16

and a Bookstore Chat.
Forty school weeks mean forty Fri
day afternoons Forty Friday after
Moons mean to the pupils In some
schools near New York forty hated
piece speaking occasions.
what" asked the boy of Smith APP
person, pater, shall l speak next
time?"
''Why not recite Richard III. to his
troops at Bosworth field?' Apperson
answered confidently. There's piece
with lots of slam and go to it. Or
there is 'Spartacus to the Gladiators.' !"
"Who was he, Spartacus?'
Don't you know who Spartacus
was? Look in your Fifth reader. 1t
tells all about him there
Not in my reader" insisted the boy.
"Not in Mr.. Apperson looked
stumped, but he pulled himself togeth-
err "How about Freedom Shrieked
When Kosciusko Fellr" he asked.
Got that in your reader?"
mo, sir
And My Name Is Norval on the
Grampian ltillsg"
'.The Grampians are In Scotland,
believe, but who was Norval and why
the limitation 20 his name?' the boy
asked.
Hum. And that Midnight In His
Guarded Tent when the Turk Lay
Dreaming of the Hour Got that in
your readerY'
mo, sir
What kind of reader have you got?"
Smith Apperson demanded. Once
more. Does the Deep and Dark Blue
Ocean roll on through any of the pages
of that expurgated edition they've
palmed off Oh you for a readerf"
''Well, there is something about the
ocean"
Good; we've saved the ocean. How
about i Give My Hand With My Heart
In It?"
"Pshaw! Everybody knows that
piece"
Yes, yes; then there is something
besides waste paper III chat reader.
Does it by any chance cry TO you from
its pages to Strike for Your Affairs and
Your Fires!
mo. sir.
my mistake" Smith Apperson ex-
claimed. Il asked you about that piece
before. It's great one too. used
to get 1t off regularly twice term,
and when didn't do it some other
boy did Never Il piece day came
round but some one struck out for his
affairs and his fires III get you u
copy of the kind Of reader | used to
have.
Mr.. Apperson Went the next day into
a downtown book store. known 10 him
as place where, if they did not have
book they would get it for you if il
was 10 be had
Il want copy of McGuffey's old
Fifth reader said he.
$50 do r. replied the owner of the
store, who knew Apperson well I'll
buy gross Of them at good price
Scarcely a week goes by that do not
have a call for that book or for some
other old school book"
How" asked Mr.. Apperson, how
do you account for it?"
'Well, it's this way" said the pro
prietor a father asks his boy some
thing about what he himself had stud
led at school thinking probably, tC
test him. The boy fails TO give the
correct answer or says he never took
it in his grade. The father looks into
the boys book or books and finds, as
perhaps in your case, that the stories
In which he delighted are not includ
ed In the reader editions of today
Then he comes here TO get a schoo
book that is what he calls real schoo
book
For instance, only a few days age
q man came In for an old geography
He said the book his boy studied was
absolutely of no account, historically a
least.
"'What do you mean, history in {
geography" asked.
"'Why,' he replied, i asked my boy
about the isthmus of Darien, and he
had never heard of such a place; didn
know there had ever been anything o1
the sort. OF course he could and die
tell me all about the isthmus of Pana
ma, but Darien wasn't in his geogra
ply. Now, | want that boy to know
there was an isthmus of Darien, and
don't want him to have to take hi:
fathers word for it. Give me an ole
geography, one OF about thirty-fivt
years ago.
'I couldn't fill the order Old schoo
books are rare. Everybody wants them
some to renew memories Of their you'll
by reading over the old pieces, Others
because they want to show to theil
children what they had TO 60 through
when they themselves went to school
"Webster's Speller, Sanders Reade
and McGuffey's Reader are the partic
ular books which seem 10 stay in tn,
memories of the old boy and the ole
girl. But | can't sell them because
haven't got them"
''Then / reckon I'll have to Civ,
young Harry Smith Apperson my bes
information and belief, as lawyers say
about how Freedom shrieked wher
Kosciusko FELL and so forth"
Precisely, as you say."-Nsw Yorl
Poat