Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 September 1874 — Letter from Laporte. [ARTICLE]

Letter from Laporte.

Laporte, ]sD.,Aug. 24, 1874. । Editors Rensselaer Union: I Would you like a line from this | part of the world ? If so I’ll inform Imy friends and pupils of my present ■ whereabouts through your ' paper. lam visiting in the family jof my cousin, Mr. 11. L. Weaver, [ a banker' of this city. To night | (.Monday) I am sitting by an open window, looking far out over housetop and steeple; over moonlit walks shadowed by waving maple boughs; over shaven lawn and fragrant flowers bedewed by’ fountain’s sparkling spray; out over that, to the average Laportean, street of streets, Michigan Avenue.' The afternoon was spent in listening to words of. wisdom which fell from the 'ijis of the different professors who were called upon to occupy the stand from time to time, and enlighten the school teachers ol this county as to the best methods of imparting instruction to the youth of the land. A lecture was on docket for this evening, but; upon a truthful plea of fatigue, I was excused from attending, and am here resting and writing, while cousin Rfoyd, who was to have been my escort, is stretched upon the drawingd-oom sofa reading the N(;w York daily papers. Well, this is infinitely more comfortable than listening for a couple of hours to some long-breathed professor, who considers it his duty to occupy just so mucin tSitte with

his remarks^ which, ten to one, are all about hots xVC should care for the health of our pupils by securing perfect ventilation in our school rooms; first by the admission of pure air from above, and allowing the foul, worn-out element to escape “through” an opening in the floor. And that we are accountable to “Gaud” and “payrents” for the deformed spines and crooked limbs of the “childrin” entrusted to our care. I cannot just think so; for poor teachers have to put up with school rooms as they are prepared by “payrents” and trustees, and if floors arc not provided with the proper openings required for the escape of foul gasses, we cannot supply the deficiency by knocking out pieces of flooring with the fire shovel, for fear of having our heads ventilated in tho same maimer by th e tr ust ee s. ' ' ' -

I am appointed Ciitic of the Day for to-morrow, and oh, "hat shall Ido ! for there’ll be almost two hundred teachers and professors, and I know I’ll be so badly frightened that I shall only be able to tell those who are called to speak not to lean so heavily across the corner of the organ else they’ll wear out their store clothes, for which I will be rewarded with a well-bred (?) stare, as they wonder what it is my gawky business? 1 But as the world’s motto seems to be, attend to your neighbor’s business, and let your own alone, I will but float with the popular current. Told “Jeems” O’Brien, the’ County Superintendent, that I* could not acceptably perform the task, but he said he’d risk it, sc I’ve,good security for my note.

There semis an almost incessant' sound of passing trains upon' the different railroads this evening; a distant band adds sweet strains to the starlit enchantment without; a banjo serenade gladdens the heart of a dusky sister not far off; a troop of cats are rehearsing for a concert upon the roof of a porch near by ; and while all is tuneful’ but myself I will leave youy to bemoan the gross partiality of iwusifeV unjust goddess. Yours Scribblingly _ ■ CEL lA-WILKIN6ON. P. S. ’Tis said that a woman’s letter is incomplete without a postscrip, so here it is: This morning a fire broke out in the mammoth wagon factory of Studebaker Bros., Bft South Bend, and this evening’s dispatch shows a loss oT $300,000, with an insurance of only $125,000 in forty different companies. C. W.