The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-01-27
CHAPTER u

was n little dispersed during fifteen-
minute interval of Music wheh NJ
and all the other pupils In the large
room of the give Il. Grade" sang re-
peatedly fractions of what they enuh-
ciatcd as "The Star Span-guh-huIied
Banner: but afterward he relapsed
into the low spirits and animoslty nat
nral to anybody during enforced con-
finement under instruction. No alievia-
ton was accomplished by an invaders
temporary usurpation of the teachers
platform. brisk and unsympathetical'
ly cheerful young woman mounting
thereon to teach German"
For long time mathematics and
German had been about equally re-
pusive to Ramsey, who found himself
daily in the compulsory presence OF
both: but he was gradually coming 10
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 cOrre-
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 well be done In onef
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 bun not necessarily VI
cious-it would be easy enough to
avoid talking about a 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 AfilhOlland to learn this dizzy
ing uselesSneSS down to the last
crotchety detail, with "When to employ
Which" as nausea to prepare for the
final CONFUSION when one didn't use
Which, because II was an Exception"
there was fashion Of making easy
matters hard that was merely hellish.
The teacher was strict but enthu-
siastlc; she told the children, over and
language. and her face always had a
glow when she said this At such
times the children looked patient; they
supposed IT must he 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 AlilhOliand did not know
whether the English language was
beautiful or .not} he never thought
about it. Morg$r. though his deeper
inwards hated ~SefThan" he liked his
German teacher, and 1t 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 beau
tiful, good country 1t was, so trim and
orderly, with such pleasant customs
and all the people sensible. energetic
and healthy. There was "Muslc" 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 IT'S Of
Thee; they were bores, hut II 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
ly to make lucid the proper reply to
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
handiwork, erased what he had done
and carefully wrote II again. After
That. he erased half of IL, slowly re.
traced figures, and stepped back as If
to see whether perspective improved
their appearance. Again he lifted the
eraser.
Ramsey Milholland ="
"Ma'am?"
Put down that eraser!'
"1es'm. just thought"
Sharply hidden to get forward with
his task. he explained In a feeble voice
that he had first to tie shOestring
ana stopped to do so, but was not per
mitted. Miss Ridgely tried TO stimu.
late him with hints and suggestion:
round him, so far as decimals went.
mere protoplasm, and, wondering how
SO helpless a thing could live, sum.
inoned to the board little Dora Yocum.
the star of the class whereupon Ram.
sey moved toward his seat.
stand still, Ramsey! You STAY
right where you are and try to learn
something from the way Dora does
H."
The class giggled, and Ramsey stood
Dut learned ,tning. His conspicuous.
ness was -endurabie, because all of
his schoolmates naturally found more
entertainment in watching him than
III following the performance OF the
capable Dora.
Instructed to watch every figure
chalked uD by the mathematical 49,