People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1893 — CORRESPONDENCE. [ARTICLE]

CORRESPONDENCE.

GOODLAND. Oats 27(5:29. Corn 33@34. Dr. Humston was in Brook on a business trip the latter part of the week. The grand jury was in session at Kentland last week but Goodland did not have many visitors before that august body. Three or four new cases of measles are reported in town within the last week. Mr. B. F. Butler, our new 7 Pan Handle agent, has moved in to one of J. W. Wilson’s houses near the C. & I. C. depot. Will Flat and Mr. Michaels, of Jasper county, have moved to Goodland. The express messenger on the C. & I. C., LaCross division, has moved his family from Brazil to this place and occupies property in south Goodland. About a week or ten days ago all the section men on the C. & I. C. between Momence and Brazil between Goodland and LaCross struck for a dollar and twenty-five cents a day. This has been their wages since last fall until a few days ago the company proposed to redut e them to 11.15 and last Thursday the company sent out a lot of “scabs” from Chicago to take the place of the old men, but did not meet with any success at it, from the fact that all the hotels and boarding houses along the line refused to board them on any terms. A number of the men w r ere put off the trains when they attempted to get back to Chicago, and othei’s slept in depots and box cars and with the rest of their unfortunate com-

panions walked through cold and rain, without anything to eat, back to the World’s Fair city. A railroad as contemptable as this ought to have their road-bed sunk at least two feet under the level of their right-of-way when spring opens. Prof. Davis spells homely, “hornly.” He only omitted the letter, “e,” that is all. People that live under glass roofing should not throw stones. Do you see the point, Mr. Davis? Mr. James, the livery man, sold some half dozen horses at public auction, at his barn, last Saturday. VYe have been informed that our public schools will close April 18th, instead of May 27th, as was at first reported. Mr. Rue Hough, a former resident of this place, was on our streets shaking hands the latter part of the week.

To an unbiased spectator it looked as though there was a little dirt in the awarding of the prizes to the contestants last Saturday night at the spelling school. A man that has no more judgment than to award the first prize as he did had better go to the Hawaiian islands and weigh sugar for the natives as his judgment -would be brought into dispute less than here. A school boy that has graduated from the primary department would know that if two persons were spelling for a prize and both of them missed the same word that neither of them would be entitled to first prize. But the. man that missed the word last was awarded the first prize, and the one that missed it first was given the second. We ask for an appeal to a higher court. A man by the name of Prof. Davis, and now occupying the position of principal of the Goodland high school heads an article in last Saturday's Herald something like this: “Ripping Jack the Ripper.” This Professor, or we might say “the man of destiny,” who has just risen from an obscure teacher in a country school to a professor in a graded school iike Goodland ought to be a condemner of “lads” instead of a protector of

some of this worthless work in our public schools. If our memory serves us right this professor taught a country school near the little town of Wadena, in Benton county, just before he [was made principal of the schools at this place. The professor had “fads” at that place which resulted in his occupying the school room alone for the last four or six weeks of his term. Empty seats and a large school room occupied by but one person began to be a little monotinous for the taxpayers, after the first three or four weeks, and a committee headed by such men as Amos Hoganbaugh called upon Trustee Barce and begged him to relieve the gentleman of his perilous position as they supposed he must be getting very lonesome. But Mr. Barce, it appears, under the law was unable to do anything and Prof. Davis was allowed to draw his pay and practice his “fads” alone. The professor (?) (the reader will observe we use a question mark after “professor, ” but do this because his brother, once editor of the Kentland Enterprise, did the same thing and w r e suppose he ought to know where the punctuations belong in his name) attacks our bad grammar, our bad spelling and even our looks, while he is greatly surprised that the Pilot company allows such mangled manuscript to appear at all. What surprises us most is that anyone else is allowed on earth while the professor is here. O! say, Mr. Davis, what about those few sentences that were written on the blackboard a few days ago, by yourself, in which you put the capitals at the last of the words instead of the first? Have you forgotten the time, sir? If the readers desire any farther explanation of the “sadist” we would respectfully ask them to call on or address Trustee Barce, of Union township, Benton county. Jack the Ripper.