6
THE SCBAKTON TRIBUTE WEDNESDAY MORNING, AFBH. B, 1896..
nsnniTE's second day
V
Staidlog Room Was Utilized Daring
the Aftenoon Scssloa.
MAXY INSTRUCTIVE LECTURES
Crk SMtaary Tableau Fsatara of
tha Aftsraooa Sasstoa-Iaursstlag
Pa para Bead by Panose
Well Kaowa Looally.
Tes,terday morning' session of the
teachers' Institute In the Young Men's
Christian Association hall was opened
with prayer by Kev. O. L. Aldrlch, of
Grace Reformed church.
The first number on the programme
was to have been a paper by Professor
Twltmeyer, of HonesUnle, on "Froebel
and His Theory of Education," but sud
den Illness prevented his being present
Livy S. Richard, editor of The Tribune,
read a paper on "Practical Composition,"-which,
by request of the insti
tute, Is printed in full in another col
umn. H. C. Shafer, cashier of the Scranton
Savings bank, read a paper on "Bank
ing Methods." It was a carefully .writ
ten and concise effort In which all su
perfluous verbiage' that might create
confusion In the mirvls of the teachers
was omitted, and which contained the
practical and common-sense facts of
that part of the banking business with
which the depositor conies in direct
contact. He urged the women, espe
cially, to acquaint themselves with the
correct way of making out deposit
flips. Not more than one woman in
fifty, he said, understands this primary
duty of the depositor. Checks should
be made out to the debit of the Bame
signature originally placed by the
depositor on the bank's signature book.
A woman may have an account as
Mrs. John Jones, and oftentimes send
In a check signed Tilllo Jones. In the
sight of . the bank. It is not known or
cared whether or not the woman is
married; but the rule of the bank Is for
a check to be signed as the account is
held. There are, however, many wo
men serving well and faithfully In the
banks cf the country. At the close of
Mr. Shafer'a paper, a recess was taken
lor fifteen minutes.
MIS8 M'MOLLAN'S ADDRESS.
Miss A. J. McMollan, of the Blooms
burg State Normal school, gave a
blackkboard talk on phonetic reading,
in which she laid special stress on
proper pronunciation of vowels and
consonants and the words they com
posed. Older persons. In particular,
should caution themselves to pronounce
correctly, that the younger and mimic
minds might gain a correct habit.
A boy's education was discussed In
two divisions, before and in school, by
Mrs. L. M. Oates and ex-Superintendent
O. W. Phillips, respectively. Judge
H. M. Edwards was to have spoken on
the third division of the subject, "The
Boy Out of School," I ut could not be
present
The afternoon session began with a
period of singing under the leadership
of C. B. Derman. Before the session
closed, every seat in the hall was occu
pied and many persons were obliged to
stand.
"Geography's Dry Bones Removed"
yaa the topic of J. B. Hawker and
which was illustrated with the stere
optlcon by H. h. Uurdiek. Mr, Hawker
said:
The iroethoils of teadilng geonraphy
adopted in some schools are not culeulated
to impart much valunblo information nor
to awaken real Interest In pupils. The
memory is often rather taxed than dis
ciplined, and the mind burdened with for
mal answers rather than trained to tuku
comprehensive and intelligent views of
subjects. Names are learned and re
peated, but no well defined and clear un
derstanding of the localities and rela
"GREAT CASH DEPARTMENT
1
Are now prepared to offer to the consumers of this county, at less than wholesale prices, the largest and most carefully selected stock of
Dry Goods, Groceries, Hats and Caps, Furnishing Goods, Notions, Carpets and Draperies, Wall Paper and Window Shades, Ladies' Cloaks, Capes
and Skirts, Boys' Clothing in Great Variety, Fresh Meat and Smoked Meats, Stylish Millinery, and every kind of goods required. We herewith
give a few prices of staples that you can compare with prices that you are now paying.. A complete price list of staples in the various departments
will be published each week and mailed to every consumer in the valley. It will pay you to visit our vast establishment, in the meantime, and ex
amine the various lines of goods offered for sale and at prices astonishingly low. Below you will find the prices on a few staple articles, and for
balance see our price list, published weekly :
GROCERIES.
Flour, Best Minnesota, Hard'Spring Wheat,
Any Brand Desired
Heal and Feed, per 100 pounds, .
Best "Sugar Cured" Hams, .
Best Side Bacon, . .
8 Bars of Best 5c. Soap, . .
1 Package, 5 pounds, Fairbank Gold Dust,
Strictly Fresh Eggs, TODAY ..
Balance in Grocery Department to correspond in
with the above.
We are offering today the most carefully selected stock of Ladies' Stylishlv Made Capes, Silk Waists and Ladies' Sicilian and Silk Skirts.
They are Stylish and beautifully made. Call and examine. We will have in place by Friday one of the finest lines of Boys' and Youths' Clothing.
You will there find just what you want and at prices to correspond with the low figures that prevail all through this vast establishment. We call
especial attention to our Shoe Department. It is vast in its proportions and will astonish you in the low prices. We are busy marking our large
incoming invoices from the most popular Eastern Shoe Manufacturers. We wish to call the attention of Builders and all in need of First Class
Hardware that the elegant store rooms, lately vacated byrMr; John C. Swift, No. 314 Chestnut street, is to be occupied by us for Hardware pur
poses, and will be stocked with a complete line of first-class goods. It is unnecessary to say further than that Mr. Charles F. Cauley, "a member
of this firm," who is known as the most competent plumber and experienced tinsmith in this valley, will be in full management of this very im
portant branch of. our business. Low estimates will be eivenl'to all who coritemolate building. Our motto is to lead in low orices and eood poods.
laKe tne ouDuroan
tive positions of different countries, to
gether with the peculiarities of each Is
acquired so that pupils frequently Irav
school quite as Ignorant, so far aa relates
to correct geographical knowledge, as
they were when they commenced.
There are plai-es, 1 bellev. where there
Is too much indiscriminate use of the
geography book in the school room. The
habit of rushing through the geography
or atlas learning a lenon one day, merely
for recitation, and forgetting it the next,
neither teacher nor pupils perceiving the
value of the study is certainly very ob
jectionable. Describing tno political di
visions of Europe and Asia before the .po
litical divisions of one's native state are
known, learning the boundaries of Penn
sylvania ere the pupil has sufficient prac
tical senoe to describe the boundaries of
the school house or the town in which he
lives these and similar upsettings of nat
ural order, may, indeed make a showy
class may win praise from an undiscern
lng visitor, but they surely do not give
useful knowledge or discipline of mind to
the learner.
Is it strange there are dry bones in the
teaching of geagraphy when the hundreds
of happy ways in presenting its varied
subjects are not resorted to by the teach
er? Adhere strictly to the text of the
book your geography Is cold and exceed
ingly unpedagoglc, too. Separate it from
tho study of history you have robbed it
of half Its life. Supplement It with no
books of travel you would destroy the
locomotion and renown that footprints of
Cooks and Livingstones combine. Com
bine it with mispronunciation of geograph
cal words and you have long ago ended
your career as a successful teacher ot
geography. The question may be asked,
"What shall the teacher do to acquire the
needed auxiliaries for the work'.'" Have
vou no membership card from the public
library? (let one. Have you no Scran
ton city directory book with city map, or
a Truth, Republican, Tribune or Times
almunac on your desk? Clet them, if our
worthy superintendent's recent list of
questions has not necessitated them there
ulready. ,
Have you no globe or alias or the world?
Note the want on your requisition blank
for supplies every quarter until the board
of control shall hear you by your repealed
calln
Have vou no clay or sand molding table?
Tho superintendent of repairs will make
you one.
Have you ever taken your class for a
walk or outing farther than the school
vard gate to the loot of the mountain, to
its summit, to the mills, to the breaker,
to the court house, to the beautiful parks?
Do so, leaving till Inst your visit to tlio
many parks, lest you be disappointed and
return to your class room with a lecture
prepared on "Fresh Air Kconomy."
At last, renew your subscription for
your educational Journal and then petition
the school board for a magic lantern, pe
tition hard; a "golden gato" awaits you.
BEAT'TIFUL PENNSYLVANIA.
Dr. J. T. Kothrock, the stnte forestry
commissioner, gave an Illustrated ad
dress on "Beautlf'tl Pennsylvania," the
address delivered by him In this city
several weeks ago under the auspices
of the board of trade. It was an urgent
appeal for the preservation by the state
of Its woodland and a condemnation of
the laws which permit the selling of
woodlands for unpaid taxes and which
grant charters to sporting clubs whose
memberships are usually composed of
non-resldcnts of the state.
A scries of gracefully executed Greek
statuary tableaux was given under the
direction of Miss Anna E. Ktinkle, ot
this city, a Shakespearean reciter of no
little merit, and a graduate of the
Philadelphia School of Oratory. The
participants were Misses Eva Short,
Grace Rose. Sarah A. Jones, Millie
Wormser, Alice Evans, Anna Munson,
Claudia Williams, May Monies, Ella
Osland, Miss Durkln and Julia Pettl
grew. Today's programme is as fol
lows: WEDNESDAY, 9 A. M.
Invocation.
Music.
A Knowledge of English Implies Whnt?
Dr. Urumbaugh
Reading, an Exact Science,
.Miss McMollan
Development of Civic Virtues in School,
Professor Twltmeyer
History Dr. Winship
WEDXSEDAY, 2 P. M.
Music.
"Hcrburt" .' Dr. Do Garmo
Children's Rights.. ..Professor Twltmeyer
Great Commercial Routes,
. Dr. Brumbaugh
THE UNION CASH STORES OF
T
U
75
9y3
6y3
25
19
12
iar at scranton. it
1
ON PRACTICAL COMPOSITION
How the Pablic Schools, Caa Make
Better Writers.
PRESENT FAULTS POINTED OUT
Text of a Paper Bead by Livy S. Richard
Before the City lastitate at Y.
M. C. A. Ilall Yes- .
terdai Forenoon. ,
The purpose of written language, I
take it, should be to convey and not, as
Talleyrand said, to conceal thought.
In certain kinds of composition it is
permissible to convey thought with
fancy trimmings, as one sometimes
garnishes the food that one places on
one's table. . Thus In poetry, it is
proper to put the thought in such a
dress of language that It will delight
the ear and please the sensibilities as
well as appeal to the Intellect. The
same Is true, to varying degree, with
what newspaper workers none too rev-J
erently call "fine writing, for an ex
ample of which take some of Mr. Rus
kln's elaborate prose. In which the
sharp point of thought Is often Im
bedded Inches deep In a sweet-smelling
bouquet of words.
Not every table, however, is able to
afford garnishes with Its meat and po
tatoes: and If all were, what would be
the value of garnishes? For the most
of us, certainly for the great majority
of the pupils that come under your
tuition In the schools of Scranton, the
needed thing Is tp learn how to employ
written words so ns to carry the
thought straight and true from the
thinker to the render, without any loss
In transit. In these busy days, with a
million new things crowding upon us
from every direction, it Is not economi
cal and it is not fair either to waste
words nr to cause readers to waste
time. The need of the da', especially
In our Fchnols, Is for tho teaching of
the most effective ordinary use of the
English language, both in speech and
in written discourse.
Speaking theoretically and without
experience whatsoever as a teacher of
the young, I should say that the bane
of most teaching of composition in the
schools consists of this: That tho
thing is gone at as if It were some for
midable task requiring special qualifi
cation and necessitating special awe.
The pupil thus lifts his pen with nerves
a-tlutter, reaches for his subject mat
ter In a scared sort of way and evolves,
with natural but needless pains, an
artificial expression not unlike the pic
ture of baby when first consciously
posed before the mysterious camera.
There is rarely that hnppy smile ns
when baby is at play all unconscious
ot tho "snap-shotter"; nature is made
to look unnatural, stiff, primped up
and awkward. The uppermost consid
eration Is not the thing to be said, but
the way of Its saying. The pupil loses
sight of the subject in the manner of
Its treatment; the kernel of truth is
lost in the chaff which ought snugly
and smoothly and without conscious
effort to enclose it. These, I know, are
generalities; I appeal to your mem
ories as teachers for specific Instances
in evidence.
If the pupil be not scared by the for
midable formalitv of the composition
exercise, he may possibly be made
vain by it. I have known meek boys
and girls who, awny from pen nnd pa
per, are fairly modest and bashful, yet
who never reach the writing desk
without being seized with great and
gorgeous ambitions. Their quill does
not content Itself with the prosy
things of earth; it wants to ride the
Btars. Fearlessly it sets forth, a regu
lar Don Quixote of a quill, charging
wildly at phantoms, and mayhap get
ting sorely worsted, now and then, by
Atlantic A Sheeting, 4-4, 5c. per yard or piece.
Pacific Extra Sheeting, 4-4, 5 y2c. per yard or piece.
Pecolet A Sheeting, 4-4, 4$c per yard, good value.
Lock wood's Sheetings, 9-4, 17c. per yard.
Lockwood's Sheetings, 10-4, 19c. per yard. .
Nameless Sheeting, 10-4, 12c per yard, extra value.
Fruit of the Loom Sheeting, 4-4, 7c. per yard,
Hill Muslin Sheeting, 4-4, 6c. per yard.
First Prize Sheeting, 4-4, 434c. per yard, very cheap.
Best American Indigo Prints, 5c. per yard.
Best Amoskeag Ginghams, 5c. per yard.
Our line of Domestic Fabrics is large and prices are
lower than ever.
$3.85
Cents
Cents
Cents .
Cents
Cents
Cents
prices
passes by our, vast stores, All purchasing
the windmills of grammar, syntax and j
rhetorical formula; but for all that sin
cere, hopeful and impetuous. A writer
of this stamp is a likely specimen.
There are hopes for htm. He needs a
friendly curb; a kindly trimming and
pruning; a series of gentle but ideter
mlned introductions to the inestimable
guardian angel called common sense.
Put sufficient weights on this sort of a
writer to keep him down to the level ot
ordinary, every-day human affairs;
turn his enthusiasm for the beautiful
children of his vlvldl fancy (into a
saner relish for the equally beautiful
truths of the real world of nature and
of humanity which surrounds him,
and you will be in a fair way to add
something of value to the literature of
your time; at least, you will get read
able English.
Sometimes teachers meet with a
third kind of pupil which I trust is
scarce in Scranton. This pupil Is neith
er scared nor ambitious, but simply
sullen. He either cannot write or will
not; and for practical purposes the one
condition is equivalent to the other.
Upon such a pupil It is useless to waste
much time. Better look to the willing
ones. Some persons are fated to be
literary ciphers.
For all kinds of pupils at the begin
ning of the composition' work I should
recommend the divesting from the ex
ercise of all unnecessary appearances
of formality. I am not so sure that it
Is a wise thing to try to teach a room
ful of punlls to write in unison, at a
certain time, always the same, day af
ter dny. It seems to tie that this un
varying routine begets in course of
time a kind of stiff and stilted formal
Ism In the writers, a mechanical tem
per. If you please. Now of all things
to be abhorred in composition, surely
the mechanical temper Is the worst.
When It gets to a point where one who
writes feels that he has to write, bo
much every day, or week, or yenr,
whether there be in him anything
worth placing on paper or not, then
heaven pity, first that writer, and next
his readers. Possibly I speak on this
point with something of the bias of un
usual experience unusual, I mean, to
the pupils who attend the schools. The
demands of dally newspaper work of
ten necessitate what we call space
filling; and when one's bread and but
ter depends upon one's filling a fixed
space, six days a week, be the mind
dull or keen, there Is reached a condi
tion of practical composition which, I
take it. Is not within the limits of the
preent discussion.
The suggestion Is tenatlve; but I be
lieve It would be worth while for each
pupil to be made first to talk his thought
on a given subject, before putting It
to paper; and then asked to write it
down Just as it was spoken, or very
nearly so. This. I know, might be dif
ficult to do In the school room, but In
many cases It could be done by enlist
ing the aid of the home. The advant
age of this plan would be that the
written message would not then come
to be regarded aa something essentially
different from the spoken message; nnd
we should have compositions as plain
and as understandable as talks are.
When you say a thing you generally
say It bo It is understood. The words
tit naturally into place. They go as
far as the idea goes, and no further;
they do not leave the idea stranded.
It should be the aim of the schools to
get that kind of straightforward, lucid
and sufficient thought-transference
done with words written as well as by
means of words spoken. Whatever
methods or artifices will conduce to this
end should be employed; whatever in
terfere with this purpose should be dis
carded. You, as practical teachers,
should know better than I how tti find
ways and means in your special and fa
miliar department of work,
I want to confess, at this potnt, that
although something of a practical writ
er myself In the sense of having a good
deal of writing to do, such as it is
I have never bothered my head much
vsu-v
DRY GOODS.
about rules ot granunar or of rhetoric
Not that those rules are bad things to
know. The knowledge of them Is like
the knowledge of the railway schedule
when one wants to go on a Journey. It
facilitates matters to know when the
right train goes and how to get on the
right train Instead ot the wrong one.
But for all that, the train schedule
should not be made the chief consider
ation in traveling. It is, at best only
a useful accessory. The paramount
thing is to know where you want to go
to and what you want to go for.
Applying this homely simile to the
writing ot English, I would suggest that
it is well not to be too severe when the
pupil mixes tenses or rhetorical figures;
when he sprains the parts of speech or
does unconscious violence to the shade
of Llndley Murray. This, to be sure,
Is a bad thing to do; but In the great
day, when human accounts are bal
anced for the Is't time, it will, I trust,
be reckoned a venial sin compared with
the writing of structurally proper sent
ences which have In them only faint
st'restlnns of a meaning, only the pale
ghost ot a murdered idea.
Let it never be forgotten that this Is
an age when people like to get results.
The teacher who finds favor with the
knowing ones in a community is not
necessarily the teacher who knows the
most about the science ot pedagogy;
about Pestalozzl, for example, who died
years ago, or Colonel Parker, of
"Quincy method" fame, who lives way
out in Chicago; but the teacher who
can take the crude pupil, let us say
right here in Scranton, In his raw ma
terial stage and with due diligence turn
out a tolerably well finished product
fit for the substantial duties and re
sponsibilities of every-day life. Such
a teacher is a jewel, be her method this,
that or the other. Such a teacher does
not teach composition on the principle
that the boy must fit the boot; she tries
to get a size of boot that will fit the
boy; and she is careful, too, to see that
the sharp pegs which the grammatical
and rhetorical boot-makers are wont
to leave sticking up through the soles
are smoothed down so as not to maim
tho foot and give the lad a wild desire
to shake boots altogether and hoof it
barefooted.
By this time I trust you will see my
point, that, when all Is said, the Idea
is the thing:. Put that always first.
Never let a pupil begin a composition
until he knows what he wants to say.
Discourage aimless writing. Do not let
the Inexpert pen try to blaze a path as It
goes along. There are enough mature
cranks In tho world to supply all the
necessary side cuts to beatitude or per
dition. Keep the young literary trav
eler on familiar ground. Don't let him
feel that writing is a different function
from talking; that It is not worth while
to write down the things that one talks
or that one hears; that, somehow, com
position Is a strange thing, a thing:
apart. Make it an easy, a familiar, an
almost unconscious thing, a thing as
easy, when there is something to be
written, as It is easy to speak when
there is something to be said. To be
sure, cultivate originality; but I would
not do much of that In special connection
with composition exercises themselves.
That should be a permanent aim, all the
day long. That should be one of the
solemn and everlasting missions of the
teacher, twenty-four hours to the day
and seven days to the week. In com
position, when you get the pupil to the
point where he can lift his pen to pa
per without more ado than he would
purse his lips to frame a spoken sent
ence, the originality that is in him, that
you, as teachers, are divinely commis
sioned to nurture and develops in him,
will come to tho front, in English that
can be read without tax upon the read
er's guessing faculty.
And, now, a word about style. At
some point or other In the progress of
the pupil through the schools, the ques
tion of style will probably present It
self. If It does. Ignore It Above all
things, don't try to cast the pupil's
DUNRflORE, LIMITED,
Best
Best
Best
Best
Best
Best
Best
Best
Best
Best
Best
Best
Best
Best
from us will be allowed street car fare.
manner of expression la a set mold. I
repeat, let style alone. It Is physically
given to no two ot the billions ot hu
man beings upon the face of this earth
to look precisely alike; and In much the
same fashion It should be the sovereign
privilege ot every one to lorm and cher
ish his own literary style. Given the
thought, the style will come. When
ever you see a writer trying to force his
words to fashion themselves on paper
In a certain fixed way, after some par
ticular model, classic or otherwise, you
see an unfortunate, who deserves to be
pitied. What la In a man will come
out, not forced, according to formula,
but spontaneously, of Its own sweet
will, and the freer it is In coming the
better it will be when It gets out. I
have no patience with the teacher who
thinks that style Is a thing of rote, rr
that Shakespearea are to be made by
putting diagrams on the blacxboard.
If a pupil has a thing to say, let him
choose the manner of its saying. How
ever else you may feel in duty bound to
bend his plastic mind to the stereotyped
forms of the school room, I beg ot you
allow him that one freedom, untram
meled. Sorry, Indeed, are the samples of
style-copying that reach the eye of the
editor of literary manuscripts. Like a
needle in the hay stack Is the contribu
tion to the newspaper or the magazine
which betokens fresh, honest, uncon
scious originality in form no less than
In substance of expression. Delicious
to the wearied taste of the professional
reader of manuscripts is the story, the
poem, the essay or the descriptive piece
which goes to its mark aa swift and
straight and true and withal with as
little fuss as the arrow that Is shot from
the bow. When you put that kind of a
manuscript before the editorial optic
you make the heart glad.
Yet such manuscripts ought not to be
scarce. The gift of telling a thing on
paper with as much brightness, spice
and absence of self-consciousness aa
one Is wont to tell it when speaking
chattily with the tongue, ought not to
be so rare aa It is. Perhaps some ot you
read the letters from London which
Miss Kaiser used to write for The
Tribune. They were nothing much
to brag of, according to formal
standards. They probably took a
good many more liberties with
Goold Brown and Professor Hart
than one would care to take if sending
In an essay as an examination paper.
But there was a charm about them that
carried you along. You didn't stop to
apply the measurements ot grammar
and rhetoric and all that. You just
gave yourself over to them and let syn
tactical propriety go where It listed.
Why? Because they were written Just
like a clever, jolly young woman would
rattle them oft If talking to a group of
friends. That fine gift of being natural,
of being easy, of being fluent without
affectation or redundancy, in short, of
writing English as If to write were no
trick at all but simply the most matter-of-course
thing In the world. Is what we'
editors find to be scarcer among the
graduates of our common schools than
teeth in hen's mouths or white diamonds
In culm dumps; and to a large degree
we charge you with being responsible
for the deficit.
There was a time, many years ago,
when our chief writers were school
bred m.n. The era of the New England
goup of Lowell, the finished scholar,
critic and poet; of Emerson the trans
cendent seer; of Whlttier, sweet bard
of simple ways, to whom nature re
vealed her beauties at first hand; of
Longfellow, rich in human sympathy
and ripe in classic lore; of Hawthorne,
of Ripley, of Dana, of Thoreau this
was a time when American letters took
their inspiration from the universities;
a time when not to have been a son of
Ell or of Cambridge almost meant for
feiture of one's literary birthright. I
am not sure that I can give a sufficient
reason for the fact that this condition
no longer exists; but that it does not
exist can be established by a very brief
STORES."
1
FRESH MEAT DEPARTMENT.
Porterhouse Steak, ,
Sirloin Steak, 2 2
Round Steak, I
Choice Rib Roast, :
Pork Sausage, .
Kettle Rendered Lard, ?
Chuck Roast, . . ; '
Home-made Bologna, ?
Boiling Meat, . .
Leg of Lamb,
Stew of Lamb,
Loins of Veal,
Stew of Veal,
Pork Chops,
THIS DEPARTMENT WILL ALWAYS
survey ot the field of contemporary let
ters.
Who are the men that today reach
and grip the American ear? Are they
college bred? Aa a rule, no. Howell.
pernaps the roremost of our American
writers of fiction, learned his trade of
authorship in a country printing shoo,
teamed it by dally practice with th
tools of the writer's craft Bret Hart a.
marx Twain. Walt Whitman. Joaquin
Miller. Hamlin Garland. Eueena Field
all these reached their level with
small or no aid from the higher schools.
iranK Stockton. Hopkinson Smith,
Marion Crawford. Nelson Page. Robert
Earr, and that young realist, Stephen
Crane, gained their renown without
debt to the pedagogues, mot of them
by steady work In the literary tread
mill. Whitcomb Riley had no schooling
at all; Frank Stanton had little, and
that promising genius cut off in hia
bud. Richard Itea!r. owed the colleges
nothing. Carry this Inquiry further
h"n 1 here have time to, and you will
rind that the same rule prevails.
There are brilliant exceptions, of
co"r8: in the cos of Bailer
Aldrlch, Watson G. icier. Clatenc
Stedman and some others of per
haps less renown; but they prove
rather than cancel the rule. I have
no hesitancy whatever in expressing
the belief that as matters now stand,
the pupil who expects to become a
practical, every-day writer, who ex
pects to gain a livellhoood with the
pen, either In pure literature or In the
by-paths of Journalism, had better not
run the risk of a college education, un-'
less he take time somewhere between
the beginning and the end ot his school
period and the nearer to the beginning
of it perhaps the better to acquire by
practice a good working ttse of the
Queen's English, so good that the mech
anism of education will not afterward
crush it and leave him, at graduation, -a
helpless pedant In style.
The trouble Is, as I have already
sought to point out, that In the routine
processes of the schooling, the very
fundamental requisite of literary suc
cess, that natural ease In the writing
ot thought which makes the writing
as natural a process as the thinking.
Is neglected. This requisite may be In
born in the few; and these can never
be wholly spoiled. But In the great
majority of us It has to be skilfully and
patiently developed; and before you
teachers in the public schools, who re
ceive the future men and women ot
our land In the first stages of their
search for practical knowledge and In
the very Infancy of their dormant cap
abilities, Is the duty of so trulnlng
the young Idea that It may write clean-,
cut, straightforward, pleasurable Eng
lish. HELPING MS FATHER-IN-LAW.
"Son-in-law," he said, as he called him
Into the library and locked the door, "you
have lived with me now for over two.
years."
"Y-yes. Mr."
"In all that time I haven't asked you at
penny for board."
"N-no, sir."
"In all your little family quarrels 1 have
always taken your part and decided in
your favor."
"A-always, sir."
"I havo even paid some of your bllli."
"Y-you have, sir."
"And in every way helped you to get
alonit."
"Y-you have been very kind, sir."
"I have tried to be, my boy, and I think!
you appreciate It."
"M do, sir."
"Then the small favor I am going to asK
will no doubt be granted."
"It will, sir."
"Thanks. Kindly tell your mofher-ln-law
that the seat cheeks for the French
ball, which she picked up In my room this
morning, were dropped out of your pocket,
and we'll call It square!" Truth.
Alow sofa Philosopher.
"Thirst Is a funny thing," said Dismal
Dawson, looking dreamily through the
windows of the barn loft at the floating
clouds. "Too much of It kills a man,
whilst Jist about the proper amount If it
is about that makes life wortli llvln'."-.
Indianapolis Journal.
S
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BE KEPT UP TO DATQ
convincing.
P. J. HORAN, -Chairman.
P. D. MAN LEY, Treasurer.
JOHN E. SWIFT, (Secretary.