for t \)e gmtttg. 
THE STORY OF A DISTRICT SCHOOL. 
A COLLEGE BOY’S DIARY. 
(Continued.) 
I stopped the game while it was loudest. It 
was getting far too rough, and I saw no rea¬ 
son why it should continue. The scholars took 
my interruption very much to heart. They 
appeared to think that it deprived them of one 
of the best portions of school lif^. There were 
many si,Uleu inutterings and head-shakings as 
I broke up the circle. 
The afternoon passed slowly away. An 
examination of the various classes developed 
some curious facts. Dozens of the scholars 
could tell the length of the Amazon River or 
the bight of the Rocky Mountains, but not 
one could name all the townships in the county 
or give the names of the oOuutias immediately 
adjoining it. Several of the boys oould spell 
through the spelling book with their eyes shut, 
but when it came to writing the words that 
rolled olf their tongues so easily, they made 
the most ridiculous blunders. The best reader 
appeared to be the loudest shouter. Reading 
was purely a physical exercise. The same 
muscles were brought into play in shaking the 
sense out of the book that would be used in 
beating a human foe. Arithmetic appeared 
to be the favorite study. The scholars figured 
steadily at the “sums” in their well-worn 
books. As to the principles governing the 
“rules” which they repeated so glibly, they 
knew almost nothing. They were well satis- 
lied that three multiplied by live necessitated 
the placing of 15 nelow the liue as an answer. 
The book said so, and that settled it forever. 
Why or how this result was reached was an¬ 
other matter which had nothing to do with 
them. Thu educational system had been 
burned upon the altar of Bear Creek with the 
result of driving all the volatile elements iuto 
the air and leaving nothing but the ashes. 
These ashes must be planted again before a 
perfect growth could be secured. 
I found that thelast half hour had generally 
been devoted to spelling und writing. Alter 
a careful search 1 fouud but two writing 
books m the entire school; 1 found that, there 
had never been more than six or seven. When 
I came to examine sum. of the writing I could 
well believe this. 
When I called for the first class in spelling, 
two-thirds of the scholars rose ami ran eagerly 
to form themselves in a long line at the side of 
the room. There was some little contest for 
the head, which I at last quieted by rang¬ 
ing the scholars according to size with the 
smallest at the bead and the tallest bo , at the 
foot. This arrangement did not give the most 
complete satisfaction for it brought my little 
friend of the morning to the head, where I 
found she was sure to remain, while it sent, 
the dunce of the school to the foot, a position 
from which he found it impossible to extricate 
himself. 
I was not long in discovering that much of 
the enthusiasm that clustered around fU*ir 
Creek education was bound into the spelling 
book. The dull faces grew bright with eager¬ 
ness as the long words cut ga.-hes in the long 
liue of spellers and shuffled them about like 
the cards in a pack. Even the poor dunce 
at the bottom of the line dickered with hope 
when “triangle” gave him the chance of Ins 
life to go up five. Rut an evil-spirited “y” crept 
on to his tongue and spoiled his chances. There 
was a great deal of excitement about the spell¬ 
ing, but there seemed to be very little prac¬ 
tical good. T det u’lmnpd to combine the 
writing and spelling by causing each scholar 
to write the lesson on the slate. I told them 
this without thinking that in so doing I struck 
at one of the cherished traditions of Bear 
Creek. 
The effect of the days’ skirmish was evident 
at night when I dismissed school. .Several of 
the scholars, Mullio Brawn among them, 
packed up their books preparatory to taking 
them home. 1 supposed at first that this was 
done with a view to home study, but I was 
greatly disappointed. Mollie Brawn appeared 
as spokeswoman for the malcontents. She 
thrust her head in at the door and shouted: 
“ 1 can’t learn nothin’ fruru no scch teacher 
as you be, an’ 1 aint cornin’ agin. I’ll tell my 
Pa too!” 
After this explanation, she turned and ran 
with all her speed. The cover of the great 
dinner pail fell off, but she did not stop. I 
saw her at last far up the road, still running. 
After the others had gone, Edith Bell, the 
little girl whoso seat Mollie had usurped, came 
and tried to make me feel better over the 
desertion: 
“I’ll bring my sister tomorrow” she said. 
“Mamma will let her come,.I know, when I 
tell her what a nice teacher we have this 
» 
^Viuter 
As I was preparing to lock the door of the 
school-house, I noticed a little boy come cau¬ 
tiously out from behind the wood pile where 
he had been hiding. I recognized him at 
once. He had given his name as Johnny 
Billings. Ilis clothes were ragged arid seemed 
to have been cast off by a dozen different peo¬ 
ple before they fell to him. A great mass ot 9 
almost white hair stood up straight all over 
his head. His cheeks were red. but his eyes 
were dull and grey, He looked as though 
some one had taken him by the head and 
pushed him dowu into his boots, and that when 
he came back to his old form the springs had 
broken and left him stunted. 
This little fellow hurried up to me in great 
excitement. He caught hold of my coat in 
his eagerness, and his dull eyes looked up into 
mine, with an expression that I have seen on 
a dog’s face before now. 
“Say toucher,” he asked earnestly, “when 
do Sunday come in the middle of the week ’” 
LETTERS FROM THE COUSINS. 
had one last yea r^.that weighed 3V£ pounds. 
Hoping this will not reach the waste basket, I 
will close. Yours truly, 
Chickamauga, Tenn. John holm. 
[I am glad some of the family enjoyed the 
seeds any way. Too bad you could not keep 
the animals out.—u. m.] 
Dear Uncle Mark: I like to read the 
Cousins’ letters. I have some flowers. I water 
my flowers every day. I have a little black 
dog; her name is Pearly. I have a kitten 
named Snowball and a pet horse and cow. I 
am a deaf and dumb girl 15 years of age. I 
have two sisters and one brother. I go to 
school at the Deaf and Dumb Institute at Ful¬ 
ton, Mo. It is a nice school with about 200 
pupils. We have not had any rain here for 
about four weeks. We are not going to have 
much corn. From your friend, 
Warreusburg, Mo. elsie lamb. 
[I am very glad you can take so much plea¬ 
sure fropi the flowers. We have a great many 
things to be thankful for, after all, haven’t 
Dear Uncle Mark: I have been reading 
the letters from the Cousins in the Rural 
ever since Pa has taken it. I would like to 
join the Y. H. C. if you will let me. 1 am 12 
years old, and live on a farm of 160 acres, in 
Dakota Territory. We have lived in Dakota 
four years, and like it very well. I have seen 
two blizzards; they were not very bad. I 
have four brothers aud two sisters. We liav e 
13 head of cattle, four mules and 19 pigs. We 
planted the Garden Treasures but they 
did not do very well it was so dry. We 
had green peas and ripe strawberries June 12. 
We picked two bushels of gooseberries. We 
will have a few Snyder blackberries this Fall 
which were sent to us to try, and our black 
currant hushes were black with fruit. We 
have a line grove, of young trees on our home¬ 
stead of many different kinds which are doing 
well with us so far. The melon seeds which 
you sent have done well. We have thrashed 
our flax but not the other grain, and our flax 
weut 14 bushels to the acre. Although the 
drought was so bad our crops are extra good. 
A part of this letter was written in June. 
WALTER THORNBER. 
Iroquois, Kingsbury Co., Dak. 
[Yon took a long vacation in writing this 
letter. Glad the blizzards were not very bad. 
1 guess most of us would like to see a mild 
blizzard just to see how it looked. —XT. M.] 
Unole Mark; I wrote to you once before 
and my letter was put in the waste basket, but 
I was not discouraged. I would like to be one 
of the Cousins—may I join? Pa has taken the 
Rural for almost 26 years; and I always en¬ 
joy reading the Cousins’ letters. Pa gave me 
the Garden Treasures. I planted them and 
most all of them came up. Our Alusku ]>eas 
were very nice. We live on a farm and have 
lots of cows, so of course we have lots of good 
milk to drink. We milked IS cows this Sum¬ 
mer, and sold our cream. We have horses 
too, about a dozen 1 guess. When it is muddy 
I ride a horse te> school, and when I get there 
I let her loose aud she comes home. Well I 
guess this letter is getting too long, so I will 
have to close for fear you will put it in the 
waste basket. From your uiece, 
Freeport, Ills. anna weaver. 
[Yes, you are now a cousin. 1 guess you 
take good care of your horses, so they are 
glad to come back home. 1 like milk too.— 
U. M.] 
Dear Uncle Mark: I promised to write 
and tell you about that hen that hatched one 
chicken and lost it. I set her on 11 Guinea 
eggs; she hatched four of them. The noise 
that the little Guineas made was so different 
from the chickens that she was afraid of them 
and would not brood them at all. Finally she 
went into a corner and died. Now, what do 
you think caused her death? 1 have a melon 
that weighs 11 pounds; 31 inches around 
lengthways, 25 inches around it in the middle. 
I have an ear of the Angel of Midnight Corn 
II inches long. It has eight rows, having 52 
kernels in a row. Your nephew, 
Ktrkdale. jamks stevkns. 
[Too bad about that hen, I’m sure. Perhaps 
her heart was broken to think her children 
had frightened her. I will enter the melon 
and corn for the prize.—u. m.J 
we?—XT. M.] 
Our parrot has become very tame indeed. 
I told you how he fought when we first caught 
him. He was savage enough for a time, but 
when he found that we did not want to hurt 
him, he began to feel better. By treating him 
gently and patiently we have him now so that 
he will stand on our bands aud make himself 
at home anywhere. This shows what kind 
treatment will aocomp'ish. If we had poked 
sticks at the parrot, aud plagued him, he would 
be savage even now r . 
We had a little black-and white-kitten 
named Clover. It was a very bright little 
thing and we thought a great deal of it. It 
was just getting large enough to jump about, 
and play. We have a big dog that is some¬ 
thing like an old bachelor. He doesn't like 
children, whether they are human boys and 
girls, or little cats or dogs, or chickens. He is 
a very selfish dog: he wants his own dish and 
always feels angry if any animal comes near 
him while he is eating. Poor little Clover came 
running up to the house the other day, just as 
the dog was eating his breakfast. The little 
eat did not know what a selfish dog it was. 
She thought everybody was just as happy aud 
full of play as she was. She went dancing up 
to the plate to see what the dog was eating, 
without thinking of stealing anything. The 
old rascal caught her by the neck, gave her 
one shake and threw her away, dead. We ull 
felt pretty bad over that. The dog got. a good 
whipping and was glad to run off ami hide in 
the barn. Ho has lost some good friends by 
his cruelty. Now, you see what comes of be¬ 
ing quirk tempered and selfish. I have seen 
selfish children try to keep things away from 
their playmate's. When the others come near 
they will sometimes strike at them. Suppose 
they should strike some friend in the eye and 
put the eye out. Such things have been done. 
Don't kick and bite or strike people. Dogs do 
that, and you are not w illing to be called dogs 
I hope. 
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