Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1922-02-09
CHAPTER II

Ramsey Nfilholland sat miserably In
school, his conscious being consisting
principally of a dull hate. Torpor
was little dispersed during 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 -guh-huled
Banner; but afterward he relapsed
into the low spirits and luminosity nat
ural to anybody during enforced con-
finement under instruction. No allevia-
ton was accomplished by an invaders
temporary usurpation Of the teachers
platform, a 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 a word
so easily managed In English-the.
What in the world was the use Of
having sixteen ways Of doing thing
that could just as we'll be done in one?
If the Germans had cOntented them
selves with insisting upon sixteen use
less variations for infrequent words,
such as hippopotamus, for instance,
Ramsey might have thought the affair
unreasonable but not necessarily vi
cious-it would be easy enough to
avoid talking about hippopotamus
if he ever had to go to Germany But
the fact that the Germans picked out
and the and many other little words
in use all the time, and gave every one
| of them sixteen forms, and expected
Ramsey Milholland to learn this dizzy
ing uselessness down to the last
crotchety detail, with "When to employ
Which" as q nausea to prepare for the
final CONFUSION when one didn't use
Which, because it was an Exception"
there was a fashion of making easy
matters hard that was merely hellish.
The teacher was strict but enthu-
siastic; she told the children, over and
over, that the German was beautiful
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 out of
the age when childhood Is able to re-
| ject adult nonsense.
Ramsey Milholland did not know
| whether the English language was
| beautiful or not; he never thought
| about 1t. 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
children about Germany: What a beau
tiful, good country 1t was, so trim and
orderly, with such pleasant customs,
and all the people sensible energetic
and healthy. There was Music" again
In the German class, which was an
other alienation; though 1t was the
same old "Star Spangled Banner" over
again. Ramsey was tired Of the song
and tired Of "My Country TITS Of
Thee; they were bores, but it was
amusing to sing them in German. In
German they sounded "sort o. funny"
so he didn't mind this bit of the days
work.
Half an hour later there arrived his
supreme trial Of this particular morn
ing. Arithmetic then being the order
of business before the house, he was
sent alone to the blackboard, supposed
" to make lucid the proper reply to
q fatal cOnundrum In decimals, and
under the glare and focus Of the
whole room he breathed heavily and
itched everywhere; his brain at once
became sheer hash. He consumed as
much time as possible In getting the
terms of the problem stated In chalk;
then. affecting to be critical of his own
handiwor'- erased what he lad done
and carefully wrofa 1T a.sin Affer