Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-06-12
EDUCATIONAL MATTERS THEN AND NOW

|
VXTHEN was a small sirl we had no ex-
Nv tras in schools. Books were not
W abundant and the teacher had to be
paid by the patrons of the school. This pay
proposition was not huge, by any manner Of
means, and the teacher was in the habit of
boarding around--for economys sake. We
went early and stayed until nearly, or quite,
| five in the afternoon. There were no steel
pens in any part of the country. The teacher
had to shape pens out of goose quilts, and as
most of the farmers had flock of geese there
was no scarcity Of goose quilts, and the teach
er always kept a weIl-sharpened knife so she
was likely to be known as an expert in fash
! ioning pens from goose quills. Hence came
| the name of "pen-knife." Do you know of
any better reason for calling q small knife a
lPen-knife?
| Ink was not plentiful mean the ink sold
in the country stores. The Plain folks pre-
pared common ink from the oak balls that
were plentiful in those days and uncommon
scare in these later days The juice expressed
from those acrid oak balls was red in color,
but it could be blackened by adding a little
copperas, and all the pioneer people were ia
miliar with the virtues of Copperas in various
combinations. 1t was disinfectant, a dye,
and good as hog medicine, and plentifully
cheap.
Each pupil had his own ink bottle, also his
own pen. A writing platform generally
erected against the wall, slightly sloping
| down in 'front.' and you might sit on high
stool or stand on your feet iefore the rudey
constructed writing desk. COPIES were
"set" by the teacher. Some epigram, like
EVIL communications corrupt good manners
was written at the top of a sheet of paper, and
the pupil must fill out the page, line by line
before he was provided with another epigram
as a writing text. good "handwrite' won
merited compliments, and properly so, be-
cause all deeds, wills, contracts and convey
ances had to be carefully written by hand in
the courthouse and in church conferences and
elsewhere.
[ have in my possession still some hand
that is as legible as the printed text in book
or written by Al typewriter. We had con-
tests for the best handwriting Judges
scanned the copybooks without knowing tie
writer's and I shall never forget how happy
was made when I once won handsome
small Bible when, only eleven years of age
because my copybook was accounted worthy
of a, prize in large class of girls near my
own age. We had three contests, those
younger and those older than myself were adj
judged at the time and constituted a
part of the exercises. States and slate pencils
figured largely in the long ago, and to my
mind they were helpful There was no chance
to dodge or sneak in arithmetic, when the
teacher had all the arithmetic books brought
up and piled In a heap beside his chair, and
the sum had to be worked out then and there,
whether you liked it not, and without any
help from anybody, anywhere.
But it was the spelling that counted, and
we had rival teams; when one side failed the
other side took it up, and vice versa.
In these latter days it is no uncommon
thing to hear grown-up people say, ooh, l