News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1922-02-01
CHAPTER II

Ramsey MilhOlland sat miserably In
school. his conscious being consisting
principally of a dun hate. TorpOr
was little dispersed during a fifteen
minute interval Of Music" when he
and all the other pupils In the large
room of the give B. Grade" sang re-
peatedly fractions Of what they enun-
ciated as "The Star Span-guh -hulled
Banner; but afterward he relapsed
into the low spirits and animOsity nat
ural to anybody during enforced con-
finement under instruction. No allevia-
ton was accomplished by an invader
temporary usurpation Of the teachers
platform. brisk and unsympathetical-
ly cheerful young woman mounting
thereon to "teach German"
For a long time mathematics and
German had been about equally re-
pulsive to Ramsey. who found himself
daily in the compulsory presence OF
both; but he was gradually coming TO
regard German with the greater hor-
rOr, because, after months of patient
mental resistance, he at last began to
comprehend that the German language
has sixteen special and particular ways
of using the German article CORE
spending to that flexible bit of word
so easily mn."s ed in English-the.
What I'm the world was the use of
having sixteen avs of doing a thing
that could inst Il well be done in oneP
IF the Germans sad contented them
selves with ms, y upon sixteen use
less variation. infreouent words,
such as hippop ,us. for instance,
Ramsey might =. Thought the affair
unreasonable bus not necessarily vi
cjous-it wouIu ~, easv enough TO
avoid talking about hippopotamus
If he ever had ia 70 to Germany. But
the fact that the e ,rnans picked out
a and the and many other little words
I'm use all the tln,. and, gave every one
of them sixteen rms and expected
Ramsey MilhoIlpl.l TO learn this dlzzy-
ing uselessnesS down TO the last
crotchetv detail with "When TO emnloy
Which" ms a nausea TO prepare for the
final conyulsion when one didn't use
Which because # was nm "Eyccption"
there was fashion of making eusy
matters hard that was merely hellish
The teacher was strict but enthu-
siastic. she|told the children. over and
over that the German was brautiful
language. and her face always had
glow when she said this. At such
times the children looked patient. they
supposed it must be so. because she
was an adult and their teacher: and
they believed her with the same man
ner Of believing which those of them
who went TO Sunday school used there
when the Sunday school teachers were
pushed into explanation of various
matters set forth in the Old Tesla
ment or gave reckless descriptions of
heaven. That is to say, the children
did not challenge or deny: already
they had been driven into habits of
resignation and were passing ont of
the age when childhood is able TO re-
iect adult nonsense.
Ramsey Milholland did not know
whether the English language was
beautiful or not; he never thought
about it. Moreover, though his deeper
inwards hated German" he liked his
German teacher, and it was pleasant
to look at her when that glow came
upon her face.
Sometimes, too, there were moments
Of relaxation In her class. when she |
would stop the lesson and tell the
about Germany: What beau |
tiful. good country it was. 50 trim and |
orderly. with such pleasant customs
and all the people sensible. energetic |
and healthy. There was Music" again |