Newspaper Page Text
THE STANDARD AND EXPRESS.
By SMITH, WIKLE & CO.]
Written for the Standard X Express.]
EDUCATIONAL PAPERS.
BY MIHH A. C. 8 AFFORD.
mo. m.
PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS.
For sometime I was connected with
large Female Schools at the West,
whose Principals believed in public
examinations; and having been year
ly victimized, under protest, to a
custom which had its origin in a less
enlightened period of popular senti
ment than the present, I take the
ground, from personal observation,
that those displays in girls’ schools
have an injurious tendency.
Against public examinations for
boys I have not one word to say.
They have to go forth as they grow
up and contend with manly, victo
rious self-con iidence amidst the
roughest elements. They must lift
their voices on the world’s highway,
al>ove its bustling throngs, and u lit
tle seasoning before hand is not amiss.
For our girls a different sphere is
ordained. The busy-fingered lives of
most women, though they may I*3 fill
ed with “cycles of thought,” are veiled
and silent. The ministry by which the
daughter saves her mother from fa
tigue, the wife lessens the cares of her
husband, the neighbor shows her
kindly feeling, the thoughtful spirit
breathes the blessing of her gentle
presence around the sick and sorrow
ful, is a quiet ministry. The work of
the patient toiler for bread, whilst
subjecting her to “ the grind of the |
hard and actual,” usually removes
her far from the places where great
audiences congregate.
The slender limit of woman’s bodi- j
ly strength, the exquisite and easily I
crushed vitality of her mental na- j
ture, her refined moral organization, i
seem perpetual protests against her
quavering out learning, law, or gos
pel, to promiscuous crowds.
Why, then, during the brief period
of their education, in the days when
their flensibilitlts are most shrinking
and tender, force girls to come for
ward in public once a year and de
liver lectures in miniature in answer
to the questions addressed to them ?
Should they, a few years later, ven
ture to speak from the rostrum, keen
sarcasm would be liberally darted at
them, and they would be severely
blamed for doing the same thing, on
ly on a larger scale, which they were
once taught to think very commend
able.
One reason that female lecturers in
fest certain sections of our country
and in wailing conventions pipe the
wrongs of woman, (themselves work
ing the worst wrong to their sex,) is
that in those sections girls are accus
tomed during their school-life to
much of this public parade.
Women argue that if, in their timid
years, it wag not only considered
right for them to speak, but thought
positively disgraceful if they failed to
do so; that surely the original
thoughts of maturer age have a bet
ter claim to l>o ventilated than the
memorizutionH of the scliool-giri.
I have seen young girls in a first
examination their faces tremulous |
with a kind of agonized “ stage- j
fright” and aflame with blushes, I
Whilst their voices came in gasps as
they choked down the “ pure wo
manly” in t heir natures to go through
their parts.
I have seen the same girls two or
three seasons later walk out on a
stage with perfect nonchalance and
most assertive air, and recite topics
or read essays in the presence of hun
dreds without flinching, evidently
delighted to show off their learning
and charms.
Said a learned man and flneorator
who was present at a “splendid ex
amination,” so called, in a celebrated
Institute:
“ Miss S ,It almost takes my
breath to see the confidence of those
young ladies. I have often address
ed thousands, but to this day I have
not acquired the utter unconcern
some of them exhibit. Can’t your
President see the miserable w orkings
of his plan ? As somebody says, ‘ the
material world, with its hardness and
impudence,’ is coming on his girls,
and their simple, sweet, child-nature
will be lost forever.”
It is not asserted that such effects
follow' such exhibitions in every case,
any more than that every person
who has the small-pox is pitted, but
tvs in nine cases out often pock-marks
are left, so, the legitimate tendency
of public examinations is to mar the
subtile modest charm of a truly girl
ish nature.
It is generally admitted that these
examinations are no tests of scholar
ship.
Often the best scholars, owing to
that timidity which plays upon every
fine-strung fibre of an intellectual na
ture as if it were a nerve, increased
by the study with which they have
overworked their brains, fail almost
completely, whilst a poor scholar
possess; 1 of self-confidence will show
off the little she does know to fine ad
vantage. Again, a pupil of quick
mind who has been deficient in ap- i
plication will frequently cram just
before an examination till her mem
ory is “stuffed full of scholastic
straw,” which she then draws out
with the utmost readiness.
Teachers are sometime's astonished
at the brilliant show made by schol
ars who have not been very studious.
The Yankee’s explanation is perhaps
true, “ It's faculty, —that’s it; them j
that has it has it, and them that
hasn’t—why, they’ve got to work :
and not do half sc* well neither.” j
And, for my part, I am not disposed
to encourage a faculty to appear well
on nothing, at the expense of modest
merit.
“Examinations are incentives to
study,” urged one of my Principals.
Granted, but they are amongst the
owest. The fear of failure, the de
sire to eclipse one’s classmates, the
envy aroused if one is surpassed, are
very foreign to the cultivation of
that amiable, unselfish spirit which
“ Seeketh not its own, is not puffed
up.”
The grand motive to stimulate a
scholar arises out of the belief that
God, who created the mind with its
wondrous capabilities, expects us to
improve them for Him, that some
where in the distant world where one
star differs from another star in glory,
higher homes await those who on
' earth consecrate their intellects to
him. “In the dim, daily walks of
j life, the noblest impulse is God’s im
j pulse, God’s reminder to the soul of
something better to be obtained.”
j Then, to the pupil should be held up
j the desire to honor and please her
i parents, to qualify herself to become
jan om vment to society, and the
i minor motives of obtaining good
! marks upon her school record, etc.
Surely these are sufficient. For one
j sluggish pupil aroused to study by
I the dread of an examination, there
] are ten active ones quickened into
; feverish excitement, having the same
i effect mentally as strong drink has
bodily, and the knowledge thus ac-
I quired is in an exceedingly ferment
, ed, undesirable state.
Another evil connected with these
1 things is waste of time. Weeks be
fore hand everything points towards
examinations, there is an unnatural
strain on the faculties of the pupils, i
and ghosts of lessons haunt their very
dreams. lam sure there are very
few teachers who would be so dis-;
honorable as to “ make individual
, assignment of questions and topics i
i and drill the pupils on them prepar
atory to examinations.” Conscien
tious teachers employ no more time '
than would be necessary to review a j
whole class thoroughly over the
studies completed during the year,'
and try to impress the understanding !
and memory not for one day only, ;
hut for all life.
Yet despite of every precaution the
i scholars labor as for dear life, and on
the day for which they have worked
o hard, are hurriedly questioned on a
j few topics and dismissed before they
| have done even these few justice,
j “Do make each girl my something
I and get through,” I have heard a
Principal say to a teacher wiiilst ex
amining classes of twenty and thirty,
on such branches as Astronomy and
Chemistry, and I never knew him to
give more than twenty-five minutes
for recitation in the most advanced
studies. Once he allowed fifteen
minutes to a large and well prepared
Rhetoric class to cover the ground
gone over in ten months.
He boasted that in his school of 210
girls, examinations could be “ finish
ed up to the satisfaction of all con
cerned in two and a half days.” Such
things are mere shams and nuisances,
cheating with the husk of education
when the kernel is lost.
A celebrated teacher says of exam
inations, “ They tend to encourage
haste rather than thoroughness. If
pupils have been able to answer a
few questions from different portions
of the hook, it is deemed sufficient,
and yet they may do this w ithout
thoroughly understanding a single
rule. Too much importance is at
tached to the amount passed over,
too little to the manner in which it
has been done.”
“ Ido not believe in examinations,”
remarked a gentleman, “but they
make a show and advertise my
school, and the public like them.”
If the public has such a taste, it
ought not to be encouraged, but in
truth the great common instinct is
lightning-like in detecting anything
like clap-trap, and the farce of learn
j ing, while it amuses for a season,
will not long be countenanced.
And what a motive to present to a
young girl, “ You will make such a
show if you succeed!” It is the
key-note to a life of folly, which it
might be safe to lead did there not
stretcli beyond its three-score years
and ten an eternal existence where
show and deception are inadmissible,
llad not every parent rather that a
daughter should be trained into a se
rene, loving woman, with well-bal
anced nature, ready to mingle with
self-respect and dignity amongst the
bread-winners of earth, equally
ready to be the cheerful, busy, house
wifely keeper of some happy home,
than have her made showy, vain, so
craving the stimulus of excitement
i that sometimes she will fairly loathe
the quiet routine of a sheltered life?
“ Would you do away entirely
with examinations ?” No ; I would
only substitute in place of public dis
plays thorough private examinations
; on the various studies, conducted on
the system of writing, thequestions to
be selected without reference to those
in the text-books, whilst the answers
can be examined by parents, and by
'competent committees, if theteaeh
! ers so elect. This written system has
been adopted by a majority of the
best schools in America and Europe,
and has borne well the test of expe
rience.
In the old way, an absurd effort
was often made to have it
appear that every scholar knew
everything in the books when, on
the contrary, every teacher knows
that in daily recitation some pupils (
are uniformly perfect, others only ap- I
proximate to this grade, and some
seldom reach it. The same thing
must be expected in a review, and
written examinations show what a
pupil does not, as well as what she
does understand.
With this written method let there
be combined oral reviews in some
studies similar to those held in the
school week after week, and let these
be open to parents, and any friends
of education particularly invited by
the teachers. The child’s dearest in-!
terests belong to the parents, and
they have a right to be present. In
deed, could their interest be awaken
ed to the pitch of visiting a school
informally and frequently, they
would get a better insight into the
way their children are taught and
managed, than they could possibly
obtain otherwise, and their presence '
would cheer the teachers and stimu- i
late the pupils.
Let it be distinctly understood that
parents are always w’eleome in the
schoolroom. But a teacher should
have too much resjiect for young la
dies committed to her care to drag
them into unseemly publicity to the
' endangering of that retiring grace
that tan no more be restored than
you can bring back the blush to a
withered rose, or the dew-sparkle to
a long-plucked lily.
Nor is it her place to “ furnish ex
citement In a mild form, in place of
the theatre or cirt*usnor, because
she is obliged to earn her bread,
forget that she has the instincts of a
gentlewoman and forego her birth
right.
A gifted woman, who had been
martyred to public examinations,
once wrote a “ Teacher’s Examina
tion Song,” a parody of the “ Song of
the Shirt,” by Thomas Hood. A few
stanzas from this will point the mor
al of my essay:
i *‘ With a voice piping and shrill.
| Standing atone in a crowd,
A woman performed that unwomanly t-.uk.
Speaking in public aloud.
Talk, talk, talk !
All tremulous, flushing, and faint.
Questioning now with a querulous tone,
And now with a weary plaint!”
“Talk, talk, talk’.-
M id a crowd whose gazs never flags,
And t„lk, talk, talk !
’Till the heart’s like|a hunted stag’s !
It’s oh ! to be a nun,
in some cloister lonely and drear,
Whose “listers’’ can speak to never a one,
If thi» is woman's sphere !”
“Talk, talk, talk!
’Till the tongue begins to twist!
Talk, talk, talk!
’Till the eyes look out through a mist.
Ask, and question, and prompt,
Prompt and question anew,
Until in a Cretan maze I am lost,
And seek in vain for a clew.”
“ Oh! men with careless hearts!
Oh! men who listen and stare,
’l'is not a machine that grinds out words,
A woman’t soul is there.
Talk, talk, talk!
All dazed, bewildered, and blind,
Reaching at once with a double voice,
The heart as w r ell as the mind.”
“ But, why do I talk of hearts,
Wlieu almost 1 loathe my own ?
Would I could harden ts human flesh
Change it to flinty stone,
Change it to flinty stone,
Because of my flushing cheek;
O, God! that man should be so strong,
And woman’s heart so weak!”
“Talk, talk, talk!
Will this task never be o’er T
And what are my wages f—a breathing sport,
A right to live, —no mor e.
A blazing hearth, a happy home,
A father, a mother dear,
E’en dreams of these would my heart appease,
Where but shadows fall cold and sere.
So, with a voice piping and shrill,
Standing alone in a crowd,
A woman periormed that unwomanly task,
Speaking in public aloud."
HO. IT.
! CONTRAST BETWEEN CRAMMING AND
TRAINING.
This subject was barely touched in
j the first of these papers, and it de
serves a more extended notice, for
many persons have no other idea o
education than Is expressed by that
word cramming. Quantity, not qual
ity, is their test of scholarship, and
pupils at the age of eight or ten years
are expected to study a quantity of
things, from Latin Grammar to small
treatises on science, which it would
be wonderful if their poor little tired
i brains could receive without injury.
Sometimes they are encouraged, nay,
urged forward, by mistaken parents,
against the better judgment of teach
ers who would fain discountenance
undue pressing, believing in Nature’s
teaching,—“ First the blade, then the
ear; then the full corn in the ear.”
On the other hand, there are schools
more like stuffing machines than
; aught else, whose teachers deliberate
ly adopt this cramming process
which represses childhood and dwarfs
youth, who do not recognize as a re
ligious truth that God has joined
mind and body in such close union
that to injudiciously force the one is
|to stunt or kill the other. Many a
| pupil spends her after days in “ a long,
pale twilight of suffering” from
; dyspepsia or liver complaint contract
i ed in the atmosphere of some intel
lectual hot-bed, yclept a schoolroom.
A teacher who kept a few boarding
pupils boasted complacently that from
early morning till late evening, With
a brief interval, she pinned down said
pupils to study, that after tea she set
them at it again for several hours, by
candle-light, herself presiding over
them to see that they concentrated
their attention on their books, and
she roundly asserted that this was the
way to make children learn—the only
way.
It seemed to me that she was re
enacting the “ murder of the inno
cents” in her school-room, and might
put over its door as a suitable motto,
“ Leave all hope, ye who enter here.”
Oh, woman, great was your igno
rance of the simplest laws of mental
and physical development!
Too much care cannot be taken of
the health of girls during the period
of their education. It has been well
said that, “ as the boy is father to the
man, so the girl is mother to the wo
man, and the woman is mother to us
all,” and no system can be too strong
ly condemned which tends to send
forth with half-furnished minds in
feeble, nervous bodies, those who will
be “ the heart of the world, and who
will mould forever the natures, hab
its, and lives of those to whom they
belong.”
In a leisure moment I lately glanc
ed through an old friend, “ Dombey
A Son,” wherein the immortal Diek
| ens in the story of little Paul has so
strongly pictured the evils ofthissys
-1 tern aspracticedat “ Blimber House,”
(and at hundreds ot such schools for
girls and for boys, in America as well
as in England,) that I transfer it in
this connection as a perfect expose of
all these humbugs.
“Dr. Blimber’s establishment was a
great liot-house, in which there w as a
forcing apparatus incessantly at w T ork.
All the boys blew before their time.
Mental green-peas were produced at
; Christmas, and intellectual asparagus
all the year round. Mathematical
gooseberries (very sour ones too) more
common at untimely season, and from
mere sprouts of bushes, under Dr.
Blimber’s cultivation. Every des
cription of Greek and Latin vegetable
was got off the driest twigs of boys
under the frostiest circumstances.
Nature was of no consequence at all.
j No matter what a young gentleman
was intended to bear, Dr. Blimber
made him bear to pattern somehow’ or
other. This was all very pleasant
and ingenious, but the system of forc
ing was attended with its usual disad
vantages. There w r as not the right
taste about the premature produc
tions, and they didn’t keep well.
Moreover, one young gentleman, with
a swollen nose and excessively large
head, w ho had “ gone through” every
thing, suddenly left off blow ing one
day, and remained in the establish
ment a mere stalk. And people did
say that the Doctor had rather over
done it with Toots, and that when he
began to have whiskers he left off
having brains.”
We pass over several paragraphs
until we reach the Dr’s, daughter and
CARTERSVILLE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY MORNING, APRIL 18, 1872.
assistant, to whom his constant in
struction about the little boys was,
“ Bring (hem on, Cornelia, bring (hem
; on.”
“ There was no light nonsense
j about Miss B—. She kept her hair
1 short and crisp, and wore spectacles.
I She was dry and sandy with working
in the graves of deceased languages,
f None of your live languages for Miss
| Blimber. They must be dead—stone
dead —and then Miss B dug them
up like a Ghoul.”
Next is the male assistant, “ whose
occupation it was to bewilder the
young ideas of Dr. Blimber’s young j
gentlemen.” Said young gentlemen
were “ prematurely full of carking 1
anxieties. They knew no rest from i
the pursuit of stony-hearted verbs,<
savage noun-substantives, inflexible
syntactic passages, and ghosts of exer- j
rises that appeared to them in nightly j
visions. Under the forcing system a
young gentleman usually took leave '
of his spirits in three weeks. He had |
all the cares of the world on his head
in three months.
He conceived bitter sentiments
against his parents or guardians in
four; he was an old misanthrope in
five ; envied a blessed refuge in the
earth at six ; and at the end of the
first twelve months had arrived at
the conclusion from which he never
afterwards departed, that all the fan
cies of the poets, and lessons of the
sages, were a mere collection of words
and grammar, and had no other
meaning in the world. But he went
on blow, blow, blowing, in the Doc
tor’s hot-house all the time; and the
Dr’s, glory and reputation were great
when he took his wintry growth
home to his friends.”
To this school, where “ nothing hap
pened so vulgar as play,” Paul Dom
bey is brought a delicate, dreamy
child, and left by his father with the
desire that he shall “ learn every
thing.” In compliance with this ;
desire he is placed under the care of
Miss Blimber, whose sensibilities are
shocked when she finds that he is act
ually six years old and does not know
his Latin Grammar.
On a dark, rainy morning she
brings him up to “ a cool, little sit
ting-room, with some books in it, and
no fire. (But Miss B—, was never
cold, and never sleepy.)” “ His at
tention is devoted to a little pile of
new books,” which Missß—, informs
him are his. “ All of ’em ma’am ?”
said Paul.
“ Yes,” returned Miss B—, “ and
Mr. Feeder will look you out some
more very soon, if you are as studious
as I expect you will be, Dombey.
“ Thank you ma’am,” said Paul,
and then he is directed to read over
all that is marked in these various
books, before breakfast. “ Don’t lose
time, Dombey, for you have none to
spare, but go down stairs, and begin
directly.”
He takes his books, but, “ There
are so many of them, that although
Paul put one hand under the bottom
book and his other hand and his chin
on the top book, and hugged them all
closely, the middle book slipped out
before he reached the door, and then
they all tumbled down on tho floor.
Miss B—. said, “ Oh, Dombey, Dom
bey, this is really very careless!” and
piled them up afresh for him ; and
this time, by dint of balancing them
with great nicety, Paul got out of the
room, and down a few stairs before
two of them escaped again. But he
held the rest so tight, that he only
left one more on the first floor, and
one in the passage: and when he had
got the main body down into the
school-room, he set off up-stairs again
to collect the stragglers. Having at
last collected the whole library, and
climbed into his place, he fell to
work.” After breakfast, he “ fol
fol lowed Miss B—, up stairs.
“ Now, Dombey,” said she, “ how
have you got on with those books.”
“ They comprised a little English,
and a deal of Latin—names of things,
declensions of nouns, exercises there
on, and preliminary rules—a trifle of
orthography, a glance at ancient his
tory, a wink or two at modern ditto,
a few tables, two or three weights and
measures, and a little general infor
mation. When poor Paul had spelt
out number two, he found he had no
idea of number one; fragments
whereof afterwards obtruded them
selves into number three, which slid
ed into number four, which grafted
itself on to number two. So that
whether twenty Romuluses made a
Remus, or hie, haec, hoc was troy
weight, or a verb always agreed with
an ancient Briton, or three times four
was Taurus a bull, were open ques
tions with him.” “ Oh, Dombey,
Dombey,” said Miss B—. “ this is
very shocking.” Now, she sends
him away to learn his lessons one by
one, “ Perfect yourself in the day’s in
stalment of subject A, before you turn
at all to subject B. And now take
away the top book, if you please,
Dombey, and return when you are
master of the theme.” And thus the
child was kept laboring till dinner.
“It was hard work, resuming his
studies, soon after dinner; and he felt
giddy and confused, drowsy and dull.
But all the other young gentlemen
had similar sensations, and were
obliged to resume their studies too, if
there were any comfort in that.
It w r as a wonder that the great clock
in the hall never said, “ Gentlemen,
w r e will resume our studies,” fbr that
phrase was often enough repeated in
its neighborhood. The studies went
round like a mighty wheel, and the
young gentlemen were always stretch
ed upon it.
After tea there w r ere exercises again,
and preparations for next day by
candle-light. And in due course there
w T as bed; where, but for that resump
tion of the studies w'hieh took place
in dreams, were rest and sweet for
getfulness.”
Poor little Paul! we can almost see
the childish form perched wearily at
his tasks, and hear the murmurs of
the other young gentlemen whose re
lations “ urged on by their blind van
ity and ill-considered haste,” the re
doubtable Blimbers. For the parents
were in fault too. “ Thus, when Dr.
B— said that Paul made great pro
gress, and w’as naturally clever, Mr.
Dombey was more than ever bent on
his being forced and crammed.”
“ Such spirits as he had in the out
set, Paul soon lost of course. But he
retained all that was old, and strange,
and thoughtful in his character: and
1 under circumstances so favorable to
I the development of those tendencies,
j became even more old, and strange,
• and thoughtful, than before.” Days,
| months, passed. “ Miss B— had al
ways brought him on as vigorously
las she could : and Paul had had a
hard life of it,” which gradually wore
! him down until one evening “ his
I head which had long been ailing
j more or less, and was sometimes very
heavy and painful, felt so uneasy that
night that he was obliged to support
J it on his hand. And yet it dropped so,
that by little and little it sunk on his
| friend’s knee, and rested there, as if
i it had no care to lie ever lifted up
j again.”
After that night Paul studied no
! more. “ His liberty lasted from hour
to hour, and from day to day; and
i little Dombey was caressed by every
one,” even by Miss Blimber, “though
she was a Forcer.” They took him
! home at last, and there the gentle,
loving life faded away forever. Next,
“ The feathers wind their gloomy
way along the streets, and come with
in the sound of a church bell. In
this same church, the pretty boy re
ceived all that will soon be left of him
on earth—a name. Alt of him that
is dead, they lay there, near the per
ishable substance of his mother.”
The Blimbers are not all dead yet,
and if their cramming system does i
not always force their victims into
the grave it does train up a set of
priggish, obtrusive, conceited people,
to add to the bores whose name is le
gion, for they are many.
Take in contrast to this too true fic
tion, a bona fide picture of a German j
school as described by an eye-witness.
“ Each child is classed according to j
ability and proficiency, and not age.,
The following are the subjects taught j
to all the children in the elementary
classes : Religious reading, writing
and counting, mental arithmetic, writ
ing to dictation, singing, grammar, j
repeating prose and poetry by heart,
drawing, natural history, botany and
geography. Os course they are not
taught all at once, but the children
are brought forward in them gradu
ally. By the time they are in the
highest class, and about to leave the
elementary school, tlieir proficiency
is something surprising. Two years
ago I had the pleasure of attending
one of tlieir examina tions, and I must
confess that, with some experience, I
have never seen such proficiency ex
tended so widely, and given so thor
oughly and with so little appearance
of cram.”
“Itis an excellent feature in this
teaching that it is good and brief.
The children are active all the time,
but not fatigued. The teaching is
over at eleven o’clock in the morning,
for the most part. All the rest of the
day may be spent at home and in
help to their parents. They go to
school at seven in the morning, have
one hour of religious and three hours
of active secular teaching, and then
school is over. The teachers are all
the time fresh for work, and so are the
pupils.”
“ As to the instruction given in this
school, I venture to say that it is of a
very high order : the method strength
ens the mind, imparts knowledge,
and makes learning a pleasure. The
way in which arithmetic is taught
may be taken as a test and example.
Arithmetic may be the driest and
most irksome part of education. Only
give children the multiplication table
o learn by heart and repeat by rote,
only give them long pages of figures
to add and long sums in division to
do, and you may fill slates and hours
with dreary drudgery, sending away
yourscholarsdull, stupified, worn out.
The teaching of figures in the German
school is all life, earnestness, eager
ness, and even fun. There is no for
mality in it: the master inculcates no
rules, insists on no tables, does noth
ng by rote. The children have to
create their own rules, make their
own processes, invent their own
short-cuts to knowledge. To learn
to reckon, the children have to count
their fingers, or tell the number of
children on each bench, or the num
ber of panes of glass in the windows
of the school-room, or the number
of books on the shelves of the
library, or the number of steps
each can take in the length of the
room. To learn to multiply is no
work of memory there: it is seen
to be a happy short-cut to save addi
tion. Then the teacher practices the
pupils in the transactions of ordinary
life—imagines a purchase of apples
and chestnuts, and requires the chil
dren to calculate what will be the
price of such a quantity, and how
much change he should get back for
a coin, —the whole class being called
into consultation on each item of the
amount, and a great deal of fun being
got out of the incidents of the bar
gain.”
No “intellectual green fruit” is
plucked under such a training, no
Blimbers commit the cruel sin of un
naturally stimulating an already ac
tive brain.
“ Treat young people like young
trees, —remove all bad influences and
encourage all good; give them plenty
of earth and sun, freshness and dew,
and then let them alone.”
To do otherwise, is to be like the
little child who after he had planted
his seed dug them up to see if they
were growing, replanted them, and
when the green shoots did appear
tried so hard to make them grow fast
er that he killed them: all.
A gentleman died recently in
Buckingham county, Va., who own
ed at the surrender of Generel Lee
twenty-two negroes. Twelve of them
left him, but the other ten remained
with and worked for him until the
day of his death, taking for their
services just as much as he
chose to give them. At his death, to
show his appreciation of their service
and his gratitude, he gave them his
farm, on which they can all live com
fortably.
FINALLY SETTLED.
Tnereis a point which has long
vexed us, and we are gratified that it
has at last been fully and satisfactorily
settled by Prof. Agassiz. He says:
“ I am satisfied, since I have exam
ined the temocaris peircei, that trilo
bites are not any more closely related
to the philopods than to any other
eutomostracse or to the esopods. In
reality, the trilobites are like tomoea
ris, a synthentic type, in which
structural features of tne tetradecapo
ds are combined with characters of
entomostracte and other peculiarities
essentially their own.”
This is what we have been looking
for.
Agricultural Department.
iOMBlU: AND MA.\IFACT!RE.
I From the Plantation.
Why not ? Why send our raw ma
terial over railroads for a thousand
miles, paying freight, insurance, prof
its to middle-men, and have it re
turned with a repetition of the same
expenses, when, by the investment of
a small amount of capital by each
consumer, he can get as good products
and retain in his pocket, as clear prof
' it, all that the railroad and insurance
offices and mid<jle-men and manufac
turers make? Under this heading
our able contemporary, the “ Tennes
see Agriculturist,” makes some perti
: nent remarks:
“We believe,” says this journal,
“ that if a few enegetic, practical men
in each county of our State would
take hold of this matter, our com
monwealth would soon be dotted all
over with manufacturing establish
ments. Cotton factories are not the
only establishments that we need; for
we have an immense amount of na
tive material in our everlasting hills
and forests that need to be manufac
tured, and establishments lor that
purpose would pay handsome divi
dends. The field is large, the re
ward rich ; and yet, it is scarcely occu
pied.
“ A general movement in the man
ufacturing line would infuse new life :
and energy into our people; an impe- j
tus would be given to the develop
ment of all our industrial pursuits;
any further needed capital would flow 1
in upon us instantly in abundantly ;
satisfactory quantities; immigration, j
and that of the most desirable class, ’
would fill all our waste places, ana j
our State would soon blossom as the ;
rose. This is no overdrawn picture, I
but one eminently within our reach, i
and every way practical. We hope it ;
may claim the attention of our peo
ple, for we may sit “all the day idle”
until our days are ended, and refuse
to put our own hands to the handles,
and we will never move one peg to
ward what our greatness and pros
perity would be, if we would but util
ize all the forces at our command,
and do what we can within our
selves.”
CLOVER—HOW IT ENRICHES THE LAND.
From the Live-Stock Journal.
We are afraid of clover. We are
afraid to raise it largely; afraid to
feed it extensively, especially as a
main feed; and afraid to plow it un
der.
This is wrong, very wrong; we are
constantly losing by not growing
more clover. Losing in many respects.
Clover, if we could only impress the
fact on the general farmer, is a plant
that draws from the atmosphere and
enriches the land. Other plants do
this; but clover more; it has to do
with the most vital and important el
ement in manure, nitrogen, the very
thing that is the rarest and most diffi
cult to obtain. It improves the soil
by its roots alone, the crop is used for
other purposes; this, even if a seed
crop is taken. How much more ben
efit then, if a whole crop is turned
down, containing so much nitrogen?
And you have the manure without
working for it. The plant works for
it for itself and for you. We get its
strength from a free source, the at
mosphere, the great storehouse that
gathers from ail sources, but most
from the negligent farmer.
And you can make this plant work
for you on a poor soil. A little ma
nure applied on the surface will do
this; and if a plenty of seed is sown
there will be a thick set. Then it
needs but a chance with the atmos
phere, and plaster will aid this greatly.
There will, with warm showers and
winds, be a growth almost surprising.
It will be dense, finer-stemmed, and
or ivngtii, impending somewhat
on the season. Cut this when it be
gins to lodge, which will be about
the time when the blossoms appear,
and then will be avoided all rot or
mildew, consequent on long, coarse
lodging, and the yield will surprise
you—two and a half or three tons, and
such hay is not made from any other
plant. And the second crop will be
nearly or perhaps quite as good as the
first, the past year it was better —a
heavier yield—on account of the show
ers.
The Sandersville Georgian tells
what an old farmer of that county
“knows about” ground-peas, as fol
lows ;
We heard an old farmer, the other
day, giving his experience in the cul
tivation of the ground-pea. Said he,
I planted an acre of good, productive
land in them. They grew finely and
were easy to cultivate. In the fall I
turned my pork hogs, one hundred in
number, upon this lot. The first day
the hogs went all over the lot, as if
looking for the best. I had arranged
a trough in one corner of the lot near
a well for the purpose of supplying
them with water. After eating their
fill the liogs came to the trougli for
water, and near this made their beds.
From the first day they commenced
rooting for the peas near the trough,
and thus advanced day by day, going
only as far as was necessary to obtain
a full supply of food. Upon this lot I
fattened this one hundred hogs thor
oughly. After killing my pork I
turned my stock liogs upon the lot,
and upon eating the remaining peas
they all became fat, some of my
breeding sows so much so that I fear
ed they would never be of further
service as such, and I converted them
into pork also. He remarked that he
gave his hogs no corn at all, and the
consequence was his bacon and lard
were too soft. A little corn should be
given a short time before killing so as
to harden the fat.
THOmiITS FOB TUB MONTH OF APRIL.
From the Southern Cultivator,
“ Time and tide wait for no one.”
Man may procrastinate and delay,
but the forces of nature neither slum
ber nor sleep—night and day they la
bor incessantly, accomplishing their
allotted tasks. This it is extremely
important to bear in mind, at this
season of the year. Time just now is
exceedingly precious. Land is liable
to dry off so rapidly, that difficulty
may be found in getting seeds to ger
minate, if not put promptly in the
ground. Last season, it will be re
membered, the late plantings of cot
ton, in many localities, did not come
up until June. Moreover, it is im
portant to get the planting of cotton
completed and out of the way as
quickly as possible that the corn may
receive its working before the cotton
comes up and demands attention.
A FALLIBLE CEMENT.
A correspondent of the “ Scientific
American” finds the followingreceipt
good: *
“ I have used the compound of gly
cerin, oxide of lead, and red lead, for
mending a large cast-iron kettle that
has been fractured across the bottom
by allowing water to freeze in it, with
the happiest results. It takes some ;
little time to dry, but turns almost as
hard as stone, and is fire and water
proof. For mending cracks in stone
or cast-iron w are, where iron filings i
cannot lx? had, I think, it is invalua-'
ble. ;
My method was as follows: I take
litharge and red lead, equal parts,
mix thoroughly and make into a
paste with concentrated glycerin to ;
the consistency of soft putty, fill the i
crack and smear a thin layer on loth
sides of the castings so as to complete
ly cover the fracture. This layer can
be rubbed off if necessary, when near
ly dry, by an old knife or chisel.
“If this will be of any service to
the readers of your valuable paper
they are welcome to my experience.” 1
PLANTING OF COTTON.
As soon as it is warm enough—say
from 10th to last of April, according
,to latitude, elevation, Ac. Cotton
■ should be planted. Roll the seed in
i a little Peruvian guano, mixed with
; plaster; this will start the young
plant strong and vigorous, making
iit “ stretch” up well; the importance
j of this at the first working every far
mer knows full well. As much of the
* ease and success of cotton culture de
pends upon the first working being
done rapidly, and at the same time
well, a good cotton planter that will j
distribute the seed in a straight, nar- I
row drill, should be used by every !
, farmer. The “ massing” of the seed ;
when sown by a planter, enables the
young plants to force their way, j
j should a crust have formed on the
land, and the saving of hoe work is
great, as the plow can run very near
!to a straight line of plants. Don’t be
too economical of seed—better have 1
too much than too little. Where a
; planter is not used, we prefer the old
■ method of covering with two furrows I
|of a bull tongue, and knocking off,
i with a hoard scooped out in the mid
l die.
TYPICAL TREES.
For gouty people—the ache corn.
For antiquarians—the date.
For school-boys—the birch.
For Irishmen—the och.
For conjurors—the palm.
For negroes—see dah.
For young ladies—the mango.
For farmers—the plant’in.
For fashionable women—a set of
firs.
For dandies—the spruce.
For actors—the pop’lar.
For physicians—the syc-a-more. •
For your wife—her will, oh.
For lovers—the sigh press.
For the disconsolate—the pine.
For engaged people —the pear.
For sewing girls—the hemlock.
For boarding-house people.—’ash.
Always on hand—the pawpaw.
For whom was this written?—yew.
ITEM FOR FARMERS.
An experienced farmer says that in
preparing his seed-corn, he soaked it
over night in blood warm water, and
in the morning poured off the water
and put one gill of kersene to every
bushel of the corn, in it. He declares
this method a sure preventive against
loss of seed by birds • lie also believe
that it hastens germination and pre
vents ravages by cut worms.
RETURNED TO LIFE.
From the New York Sunday Dispatch.]
It is only within the present centu
ry that the law has required, in case
of murder, the finding and identifi
cation of the victim. Previous to
that, if a man disappeared, and his i
absence could not be accounted for, |
the person on whom suspicion rested j
could be arrested and hanged for the j
alleged crime. A most extraordina
ry case, which occurred during the
war between England and France at
the beginning of the present century,
first called particular attention
to the singular law, and was ulti !
mately the cause of its being replaced I
by the statute as it now stands. The !
story is substantially as follows:
Two Englishmen, uncle and neph
ew, took up their quarters at a wel,l j
known inn in Portsmouth, close to j
the pier. They were well received
by tne landlord, for they had plenty
of money in their possession. The
uncle, whom we will call William,
suggested to his companion, who
shall be called Robert, in the hearing
of the landlord, that they should
hand their money to their ‘ host for |
safe keeping. Robert objected, and
proposed that they should keep it on |
their persons. This was agreed to.
At night they occupied the same
twin ciii\l Hici r.wmo Latl irtn
was an old fashioned irregular buil
ding. From their bedroom the two
men could enter a long passage which j
ran along the end of the house to the
pier. They went to their room to- ■
gether about eleven o’clock at night. I
Next morning Robert entered the j
landlord’s room with a hurried, anx- !
ious air, and asked the landlord i
whether he knew what had become
of his uncle. The landlord said he
did not. At the same time he ob
served to his horror that the hands of
Robert were stained with blood. The
landlord arose and suggested that
they should go to the bed-room to
gether. They did so. On entering a
terrible spectacle met the landlord’s
gaze. The clothes of the bed, which
had evidently been occupied by two
persons, were stained all over with
blood. The outside pillow was satu
rated with it. The floor by the bed
side was stained with it. The wash
basin and the stand were also bespat
tered with blood. On the table lay a
large jocketley or sailor’s knife, the
handle and blade all bloody. Drops
of blood marked the floor from the
bedside to the door which opened
upon the passage referred to. The
landlord told Robert the ease was
very suspicious, and that he must
place it in the hands of the authori
ties. He did forthwith. Robert was
arrested. On being Searched his sh irt
was found to be bloody. Blood
stains were discovered in the passage
from the bedroom door to the water’s
edge where apparently there had
been a struggle. On Robert were
foudd the purse and papers of the
missing man.
Robert, who manifested coolness
and presence of mind, told the fol
lowing story : After his uncle and i
himself had been in bed a short time !
the former, who lay on the outside,
complained that his nose was bleed- j
ing. He leaned over the side of the i
bed. Presently lie got up and went j
to the wash.stand. He used water i
freely, but in vain. The bleeding I
still continued, and so violently that i
the men both became alarmed. Rob
ert suggested the application of cold
iron to the back of his uncle’s neck.
He took his jack knife out of his
pocket and applied it accordingly. In
attending to his uncle his hands and
shirt were stained with blood. As
the bleeding still continued, William
dressed himself and said he would go
out at the side door and walk on the
pier in the cold morning air. Before
doing so he handed his pocket-book
and purse to his nephew to keep un
til his return. Robert fell asleep af
ter his uncle left, and was astonished
i when he awoke in the morning to
find that he had not returned. Rob*
i ert was indicted for murder. All the
circumstances were against him. The
I jury beleived that William had been
murdered and his body carried down
;to the water and Hung in. Robert
was convicted and sentenced to be
hanged and he was acordingly in a
few days.
Two years afterward the missing
man returned. He confirmed every
word that his nephew had uttered in
his defense. When William reached
the pier on the night of the supposed
murder he turned to the left, and had
only gone a few paces when he was
pounced upon by a press gang. He
was overpowered and carried to a
boat, and in an hour found himself j
on board a British sloop of war in
Southampton waters. The vessel
was getting under way. In her he j
remained for three months without
a chance of writing to his friends. I
Then the ship was captured by a j
French frigate, and \\ illiatu spent ;
twenty months in a French prison.
On his release he returned to Kng- j
land to find to his horror that his be
loved nephew had been hanged as l
his assassin.
The Ripley (Tenn.) News says:
“Happily for our country, politics
has lost its charms for the people of
the South, and the best talent of our
section is engaged in the promotion
and pefection of the best system of
forming.”
NOTICE to FARMERS!
1 Your attention is respectfully invited to the
Agricultural Warehouse
OF
ANDERSON & WELLS,
ATLANTA, - - GEORGIA,
*
DEALERS IN
GUANOS,
FiUD END GARDEN SEEDS, i
FARM WAGONS, REAP RS,MOWERS
WHEAT THRESHERS AND PLOWS,
Ami General Agents for
PENDLETON’S GUANO COMPOUND,
Ca*h, SG7 per ton of 2000 lbs; credit
to Nov. Ist, #75 per ton of 2000 lbs.
“FARMERS’ CHOICE,”
Manufactured from Night Soil, at Nashville, !
Tonn.; Cash, $45 per ton; Credit Ist Nov. SSO. ;
And nil other kinds of Implements and Ma- !
chincry, which we sell as low as any house in I
the South. Call and see us.
til may 35 ANDERSON X WELLS.
CARTERSVILLE
SALE AND LIVERY
S T A B L E.
k r THE OLD STAND Established twenty
ii years ago, it being in fifty yarda of ttiv*
Bartow House, a commodious Hotel, kept hv
J. T. Guthrie. I have been in the I.iverv busi
ness for Fourteen Years and all I ask is, that
the citizens and traveling public will give me a
call, and find me anil the veritable
JACK STACK
at all times ready to furnish
SADDLE AND HARNESS HORSES,
HACKS, CARRIAGES, BUGGIES
and everything necessary in a First-Class Sta
ble. ami ready for trade at all hours, SWAP,
SELL or BUY.
jnne 30,-tf. JOE BRITT.
BARTOW HOUSE,
CARTERSVILLE, GEORGIA,
J. T. Guthrie, Propritor.
IS now in thorough repair, and fully prepar
ed to entertain all who may call. The rooms
and furniture are Wept in the neatest order, and
the Tables supplied with the best the Market
affords. No pains or expense will be spared to
render all guests of the House comfortable.
A NEAT BAR
la kept, in rear of Office, where fine Wineei
Brandies, Champagnes, Cigars, ete , c»n always
be tout'd o*ts
LA Vi SHE & HAYNES,
ATLANTA, GA.
Have ox hand and are receiving
the finest stock of ihe latest styles of
DIAMOND & GOLD JEWELRY
wiii-h mro for the
FALL AND WINTER TRADE
Watches of tho best makers of Europe and
America.
AMERICAN AND FRENCH CLOCKS';
STERLING and COIN SILVER-WARE,
And the best quality of
SILVER PL TED GOODS,
At prices to suit the times. Gold silver & steel
SPECTACLES TO SUIT ALL AGES.
Watches and Jewelry repaired by Competent
Workmen. Also Clock and Watch Makers’
Tools and Materials.
sep 13-ly
IPoelcet and Table
KNIVES and FOURS,
SPOONS, CASTORS, RAZORS,
SCISSORS, CARVERS, ETC., ETC.
CROCKERY, CHINA, GLASSWARE,
NOW ARRIVING
DIRECT FROM EUROPE !
I
Diamond Oil,
AT
M’BRIDE & Co’s
j
MERCHANTS!
i
Consult your Interest
J Save freight and ruinous breakage by buying
i from
McBRIDE & CO.
i
READ THIS.
Atlanta, March I, 1872.
| We, the undersigned, commissioners for the
, “ Atlanta Hospital Association,” have selected
j prizes lor distribution from the splendid stock
; of Me Bride ft Cos. Ticket holders can see these
j beautiful prizes at Mcßride ft Co’s store.
Z. H. ORME, M. I).. 1
.1. F, VLEXAX I)KR, M. D VCom.
E. S. RAY, M l). I—
j We oiler real imducemeut* in Fruit Jars
[ Do not buy till you see our Jars. They are the
i best and cheapest in the market.
nov»o—tf.
AG X OY
GEORGIA LOAN ft TRUST COMPANY
D. W. K. PEACOCK, AGent.
ARTERSVILLE, GEORGIA.
OFFICE in the. Store-room of A. A SKINNER
A CO.. Main Street.
, Money received on Deposit.
| Exchange nought and sold,
j Advances made on Cotton and other l*i< duce.
I dec. o-sw
VOL. 18-NO. 41
The Western Antidote !
McCUTCHEON’S
CHEROKEE INDIAICBITTERS.
This highly valuable Icdiau Remedy it
too well known, whentTer ii bat Lc«n used,
to require special notice.
Those who are unaoquaiuted with its wan
derful operation upon the system will find
it a certain remedy in all 1) sense* of the
Kidneys, Bladder and Urinary Organs. It
is very usefitl in Rheumatism, l.iver Com
plaint, Ague-Cake Dysentery anil other
complaints. It warms the stomach and
bowels; cures Colic and Obstructions of the
Breast; sustains excessive labor of both bo
dy and mind; ottres the Biles, promotes thu
Appetite, assists Digestion; prevents uu
pleasant dreams and frights; strengthens the
judgment; oures Nervous, Asihuietical and
Hysterical Affections; removes all the dis
orders of weakucs and debility ; purifies the
Blood; cures Neuralgia and Dispepaia, to
gether with most Diseases peculiar to Fe
males.
Old and young, male and I'emale, have l>»eu
greatly benefilted by its use, as hundreds o.
letters from all parts of the United Stataa
will certify. Let those who are unac
quainted with McCctuhbok'i ‘"Cherokee In
dian Bitters,” before saying this is too
much, try a bottle, and all who do so will
unite in testifying that the half has not been
told.
Cherokee Indian Biltert possesses an Ener
gy which seems to communicato new life to
the system, and renovate the feeble, fainting
powers of nature. Its operation upon the
tissues of the body docs not consist in affect
ing the irritability of the living fibre, but iu
imparting n sound and healthy stimulus to
the Vital Organs.
It strengthens substantially and durably
the living powers of the animal machine: is
entirely innocent and harmless; may bead
ministered with impunity to both sexes, and
all conditions of life.
There is no disease of any name or na
ture, whether of young or old, male or fe
male, but that it is proper to admiu : ster it,
and if it be done seasonably and persover
ingly it will have a good effect. It is per
fectly incredible to those unacquainted with
the Bitters, inerav,„ v _ .
thy action is often in the worst case restor
ed to the exhausted organs of the systkm ;
with a degree of animation and desire for
food, which is perfectly astonishing to all
who perceive it. This Medicine purifies the
blood, restores the tonic power of the fibres,
and of the stomach and digestive organs;
rouses the animal spirits, and substantially
fortifies and reanimates the broken down
constitutions of mankind.
Indians are the most healthy of the human
race. They take an abundace of physical
exercise, breathe pure air, and live on sim
ple diet. When sick, they use no mineral
poisons, but select roots, herbs, and plants
“from the great drug store of their Crea
tor.” McCutoheos's “ Cherokee Ixdias
Bitters” is a combination of these vegeta
ble substances which render it entirely in
nocent to the constitution of the most do’i
cate male or female. The wonderful power
which these “Bitters” are known to pos
sess in curing diseases, evinces to the world
that it is without a parallel in the history
of medicine, and afford additional evidence
that the great benefactors of the country are
not always found in the temples of wealth
nor the mazy walks of science, but among
the hardy sons of Nature, whoso original,
untutored minds, unshackled by the forms
of science, are left free to pursue the dio
tates of reason, truth and common sense.
Since the introduction of this remedy iu
o the United States, thousands have been
raised from beds of affliction whose lives
were despaired of by their physicians and
pronounced beyond the reach of medicine
MeCutcheon's “Cherokee Bitters” has
driven the most popular medicines of every
name, like chaff before the whirlw ind, from
every city, town and village where it has
been introduced, and is destined ere long to
convince the world that the red man's rerti-
I edies are the white man's choice. For dis
eases peculiar to the female sex there is
nothing better. Old and young, male and
female, have all been greatly benefittedr by
its use. Hundreds of certificates, from all
parts of the United States, which are eu:i
tled to the fullest confidence, speak of it iu
the most favorable manner. These are no
only from persons who have been cured by
it, but also from some of the most eminent
physicians and druggist who have success
fully tested it in their practice, and volun
tarily offer their testimonials in its favor
For sale by all Dealers.
SreciAL Notick.— Merchants and drug
gists doing business at a distance from the
railroad, when ordering my “Cherokee In
dian Bitters,” will please state the depot to
which they have their goods shipped, by
|so doing, I can sometimes supply their
wants much earlier.
Address all orders to
K. H. McCUTCHJEON,
Marietta, Ga.
Who alone is authorized to manufacture
the original and genuine.
oct 16 —ly