Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1894 — OLD-TIME SCHOOLS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OLD-TIME SCHOOLS.

HOW GRANDFATHERS’ IDEAS WERE TAUGHT TO SHOOT. Hie Temple* of Learning Sixty Tears Ago —The Guides Up the Hill of Knowledge—His Rod and HU Spelling-Book-Former Not Spared. The Old Teacher. r To the majority of young people of the pretent generation the old-time school and schoolmaster are absolutely unknown,says the St. Louis Globe-Dem-ocrat. The present system of education is, it is true, an evolution, but the process has been so rapid that the well-lighted, well-warmed and every way comfortable and convenient t chcol-roomcf-lhe present has little resemblance to the loghouse, with its one room and utter absence of ct mforj,, from which the school of to-dav may be said to have sprung. During the first third of this century school houses were tolerably abundant, but as the majority of the people lived in no great degree of comfort, they did not deem it necessary to provide their children with any sunerfluities. nor to establish the school in any better edifice than that owned by the majority of those who lived in the district and patronized its educational establishment. Generally, therefore, the district school house was of logs, or, at best, of boards, and built by the common labor of the community. But then, as now, what was everybody’s business was nobody’s business, and as the whole district was interested in keeping the school house in repair, nobody did # the work, and in course of time, and generally no ‘ long time at that, it fell into a condition not far removed from ruinous. The ’’master,” being employed cnly by the term, and feeling no particular interest in the building, generally forbore to complain, lest his patrons should conceive that he was “stuck up,” so made only such repairs as were absolutely neceseary. When a log rolled away, leaving a large hole in the wall, he and some older boys filled it with mud; if the house were frame, and a board

cracked or a knot fell out, he nailed a bit of board from the end of a flourbarrel, or a barrel-stave, or a clapboard, or a shingle over the aperture to keep out the wind during his term of office. When the log that had for a generation done duty as a step gave out he shoved a large stone into position, and *»thuß, little by little, the house got old and shabby." Its grounds were always spacious, for the pupils generally had all outdoors to play in, there being, as a rule, no inclosing fence, a fact always greatly to the advantage of strolling swine, that, when the house had a floor, as it sometimes had, formed a comfortable nest underneath for the sake of the shelter and warmth, and often, by their “noisy disputes as to which should have the inside place in the pile, disturbed what little pretense of order existed among the pupils. The school house was located as near as possible to the center of the district, but always close to a spring, as fresh water was a necessity, for no toper that ever beat a barkeeper out of the price of a drink ever sported a thirst half so vigorous as that which existed among

the pupils of a district school on a warm spring afternoon, and two of the boys "were always daily deputed to make trips to the spring for water. In the winter time wood was a necessity equally great. It was supplied by the

patrons of the school, each taking his tarn in sending round a load which, in the form of cordwood, was dumped on the ground immediately behind the temple of knowledge. It was chopped Into sticks of convenient length by the big boys and carried in by those of less

advancement, a roaring fire being deemed one of the necessities of educational progress. And so it was; for most of the pupils were compelled to walk a considerable distance in order | take their daily dose of bircli and edu- | tion, and much direct warmth was needed. No anthracite stove for them, with its slow, even radiation; what they wanted was a heat that was almost enough to form a “crackling" on one-half of their bodies, and if, at the same time, the other half was froezing, that fact was regarded as a dispensation of Providence against which there was no remedy. When the master was a man he was

often some farmer’s son of the neighborhood who, having ambition above that of his fellows, had determined to “read law 7 ’ or to study medicine, and resorted to school teaching for the purpose of suporting himself until fitted for the practice of his profession. Women teachers were not in favor, there being a prevalent idea that they were not strong enough to thrash the boys as the boys ought to be thrashed, and so were relegated to the teaching

of summer terms, which were attended only by little boys whoso big brothers were at work on the farm, and little girls whose oldor sisters were at home helping their mothers in the housework. The main reliance of the neighborhood in an educational line, however, was some old fellow who had come down from a former generation as a teacher, and who, like Goldsmith's pedagogue, with words of learned length and thundering sound, could amaze even the old farmers of the neighborhood and cause them to

assign him a place of honor onlv a little* lower than tnat reserved tor the circuit preacher, who, once or twice a month, came round to eat their chicken and administer a dose of gospel. These hoary guides up the hill of science were always highly honored for their ability to preserve order in their educational institutions, which they did by an unsparing use of the birch. “Spare the rod and spoil the child" was a maxim forever on their lips, and no child ever spoiled on their hands for want of its observance.

A thrashpole about six feet long stood constantly in the corner of the room to be appealed to in extreme cases, but for ready usd; a lighter weapon was always in hand. They were choice in selection. Peach tree switches were rejected as being too

Kmbsr: a good stout birch, or In default of it, a plum switch, would coll around the legs of the offender and extract the most ear-splitting veils and howls, without, leaving much impression on the cuticule. This instrument of torture was applied on any provocation at all. on the theory that anvthing the youngster did deserved a thrashing, and that if -he had not done anything he might at any moment do something and-thus deserved,*on general principles. to be trounced anyhow. Thrashing, therefore, was his main hold for securing not only the respect and ol>edience but also the affectionate regard of his pupils, but in facetious

moments he would sometime# devise milder punishments, such as standing in the corner, sending a boy to sit among the girls, or a girl to sit among the boys, a proceeding that was certain to cause the sheepish sufferer much anguish of mind and resulted in hiding the face behind the upraised elbow, a gesture that hasonot yet passed out of use in our schools. There were no “frills ’ on the old pedagogue’s learning. He taught the three Rs —reading, writing and arith-metic-—"otherwise and more frequently known as “ciphering.” In the early days of this century, artificial appliances for educational purposes were few in number, and if every two of the younger pupils, the abecedarians, as they were called, had a spelling book, the supply was deemod quite adequate. Spelling was done by a primitive method—a distinction was made between the capitals and the small letters, the former being designated as “big.” In spelling Aaron, for example, the

pupil was taught to say “Big A, little a, r-o-n, ron, Aaron.” The final letter of the alphabet was designated as izzard, sometimes contracted to zed. When a vowel of itself constituted a syllable that fact was stated in the .spelling, according to the formula, “a,

by itself, a,” but rapidity of pronunciation and the natural course of abbreviation soon shortened this to “a bissel pha,” so that in spelling acre, for example.” the general oft'oet would bo, “a bissel pha, c-r e, ker, acre. ” In over, this performance would be varied to “O bissel pho, v-e-r, over.” The crowning event of the day was the spelling class, participated in by all the members of the school save the smallest. In this field parade of his force, the old schoolmaster lined up all his pupils, male and female, causing them to toe the mark made on the clap-boards composing the floor. This was for the purpose of securing discipline, and with a long wand in hand he would zealously watch the line while giving out the words to be spelled, occasionally administering a smart tap to an offending toe that transgressed by crossing the limit. The words were “given out” from the spelling-book or dictionary, if the teacher had one, and were >spelled in turn by the pupils, who went up or down according to their success in spelling. Rigid rules of procedure were laid down. The word must be pronounced clearly after tne master had given it out, and each syllable must be religiously repeated, with idiotic precision, after it had been spelled. Not only so, but with each, every preceding syllable must also be conjoined or the result would be a “miss,” no matter whether the word had been correctly spelled or not; Thus, “Constantinople, C-o-n Con.s-t-a-rr stan, Constan, t-i ti, Constant!, n-o no, Constantino, p-l-e pie, Constantinople!” The competition incited by these spelling matches was very hot, and as there was usually some small incitement besides in the way of honorary mention or occasionally over a prize at the close of the term, the interest was generally intense.

Arithmetic was "Wnght frofii one boot:, the teacher’s. ..Each pupil who had advanced so far ‘provided himself with a half quire of common letter paper. This was folded in half and sewed at home by one of sisters. The teacher announced the rule under which the e camples, or “sums" as they were called, were to-be performed, and each pupil w tote thefwords as directed by the master. After the rule had been clearly written at the top of a page the “sutos* under that rule were also given out ana in turn placed in the manufactures book.' At the conclusion of the term each pupil thus had his own arithmetic, that 1 is, as far as he had gone, for classification was almost unknown, and in a'nchool of twenty pupils forty classes were bv no means uncommon W riting was done from a copy set by the master, the writing or copy books being of the same nature a* the arithmetic folios. The home flock of geese was plundered for pens, and when the feathers were brought to the school by the pupils, they were manufactured into pen# by the ready knife of the master, before whom always lay a pile of pens that “would not write,” and consequently needed immediate attention. Progress in “ciphering” seldom went furth or than the rule of three, and the opiijioh among scholars as to the merits of arithmetic in general was very aptly expressed by a bit of doggerel: ,v.

Multiplication Sf a vexation. Division is as bad; The Rule of Thiee It puzzles me, And practice makes me mad. The school day began when the master got to the htiuse in the morning and ended at about “twq hours by sun,” in order that the bovs might have time to get home, feed the stock, water the horses, ~ond milk before night. “Turning out the master” was practiced even in better communities, as a recognized method of obtaining a holiday, ar.d on such occasions the oldest boys went early to school, entered and barred the door against the pedagogue until he made.terms. The old-time mqtba’ls were rough and ready, and the people of the present smile at their simplicity, but they made sturdy inen and women, who knew little l of books, but had an immense stock of health and self-reliance. They had a small supply of manners, too, for in many of these schools the teacher made a specialty of deportment, and, every boy as be left the school for pome was expected to turn round in the door, make a bow to the teacher, say “Sarvent, sir;” make another to the pupils, with “Sarvent, ladies and gentlemen. ” after which he took his departure. Besides, the “boarding round” done by the master brought hijn in contact with most of the families of the district, and gave them the benefit of hipjsuperior wisdom and culture. The old school is supposed to. Lave passed away, and the old teacher'to have become extinct, but the supposition is far from correct, for in many country districts of the West and South tho conditions of educational life are by no means so far removed from what "has been described but the people would recognize the picturOpfind there are many still young who could claim the oldtime school as identical, in most particulars, with that in which their young ideas were first taught to shoot.

WATER FOR THE SCHOOL

THE FAVORITE PUPIL.

A SEVERE PUNISHMENT.

ABCED ARIANS.

“A HARD SUM”

TOEING THE MARK.