Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1892 — Queer Use for an Ear. [ARTICLE]

Queer Use for an Ear.

In the old days in Western Pennsylvania, when people had little money to pay for .teachers, and could spare their boys but little time from the work of the fields, school “kept” almost incessantly during the few weeks when it was in session, with no Saturday holidays and very brief recesses. At o'nc little schoolhouse among the mountains an old-fashion-ed Irish schoolmaster was once employed, who kept his boys grinding steadily at their tasks, but gave them permission to nibble from their lunch baskets sometimes as they worked. One day, while the master was instructing a class in the rule of three, he noticed that one of his pupils was paying more attention to a piece of apple pie than to the lesson. “Arrah, there!” said the master; “Jack Bales, be listening to the lisson, will ye !” “I’mlistening, sir,” said the boy. “Listenin’, Zs it!” exclaimed the master; “then it’s listenin’ wid one ear ye are, an’ atin’ poi with the other!”—San Francisco Argonaut. Thebe are 3,064 languages in the world and more than 1,000 religions.