Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-15

ourselves. mathematics viii surprise us
some day by yielding z.
We can see the entire scene, the little
children in their rows, the old seats with
iron legs and braces, the big geography
books, the blackboard, the erasers, the
crayons.
Johnny Jones has a story book Sc
GREETED in the geography, and teacher is
looking for white shining stars, and so
says exactly nothing at all.
Two plus two" we enunciate, as
teacher, longing for a tiny little hour.
eve realize that "tiny little" is putting
1t on rather thick, but somehow neither
adjective by itself quite fills the bill That
is one of the beauties of verse making.
that one may crash that old iron-bound
grammatical door,
Does any little child know what two
plus two makeS?" we hear ourselves say
ing, in fine dream, in which Keats and
Shelley are absurdly mixing it up with
MuSsolini and Julius Caesar.
No little child knows.
None raises a hand.
What stupid children these arel
Surely there must be one of YOU, one
tiny little one of you. who knows the
answer. The answer is a necessary part
of this preposterouS system solemnly
called Education with a huge capital e.
plus two yields. 1t Is necessary, chill
dren, that at least one of you knows.
When one of you knows, the rest of
you may pretend that you knew. That
will satisfy the Supervising Principal.
What wild idea I have. children,
of speaking of Mr.. Smith as the
Supervising Principle! Were to write
to him with the ending Iple instead
of ipar the whole Fabric Of Educa-
ton would totter from here to Co.
lumbia University and back. Mr.. Smith
probably would foam at the mouth
and cry to high Heaven that no teacher
who could not spell would be permitted
to send you small innocents forth into
the crude world.
"Iple and Ipal would become the
Theme of the Month. Adherents of
Iple and Ipal would spring UP on
every hand. Those who were for Iple
would be against Ipal, and the Ipa1ist
would not be able to give the Iplists
leg to stand on.
"It would do feeble me no good to
give a swift kick at the stern. iron
grammar door and to insist stoutly,
after the best tradition of martyrs,
that Mr.. Smith really was, after all, a
Supervising Principle, as well as a
Supervising Principal
But maybe I would get my tiny
nour at last, children, 10 take you forth
| and show you the high, white shining
stars, the beautiful stars, that shine
without knowledge of grammar mathe-
mates or spelling. Yes, am sure
would.
"In the meantime, let us return to
plus 2. Now that have explained
! it to you, surely there Is at least one
little child here who can tell me all
about plus 2. Maybelle, don't you
remember that told you last week
what happens when is added to 2?
No? Well. Johnny. stop reading The
Radio Boys at Panama, and you tell
us, dear"
The Educational Crisis is at hand.
This is the fateful moment, ever to be
remembered in the Annals OF Educa-
ton. For Johnny Jones is about To
| break the contract forever
Two plus two" he says, in an even
voice, equals IT,
Right" you say. 1.-TWO plus two
does equal Z. The world always knew
it did. but you, Johnny Jones. are the
first in history to dare to say so.
Now mankind is emancipated!
Henceforth, plus may or may not
equal z, but we can all be sure that
it will equal something or other. God
bless you, Johnny Jonesl"