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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1900)
OMAHA ILLUSTRATED 3EE. .tnmmry 28 , 1000. Nebraska's Public School System Leaves from a Visitor's Notebook It wiui the last period Iti tliu afternoon of an unseasonably warm day Just tnc time when a teacher , and especially a primary teacher , does not euro for visitors. The building was nn old ono and the walla cer tainly were not the most Inviting back ground for decoration. Yet the room had a cozy liotnoltko air. The pictures wore Inex pensive , but attractive. A llttlo wash- Htand , with basin , mirror anil towel stord Iti 0110 corner , and a awing was suspended from the celling at the back of thu roiin. When wo entered Miss C. was conductIng - Ing a IcHBon In Speer work. The children at their scntfi were preparing a reading lesson and no quiet wcru they that the voices of these reciting might easily have been heaid from any part of the rrom. Thu members of the class were gathered about the tnhlo from which each had taken two blnck.s , about which ho was to make some statement : "My two blocks are equal , " bald ono. "If this block cost one dollar , this one asked Miss H. , but as no one seemed ready she turned quickly to a boy with great , soft brown eyes and said : "Durtlo , close your eyes. Now , who can tell mo the color of Ilurtlo's eyes ? " Un wont the hands and "brown , " "brown , " "brown. " came from the chil dren. TinKre Ti > Ht. "Ulglit , " Bald Miss II. "I see you are all sure of Hurtle's eyes. Charlie , you may close your eyes. " ( Charllo was a HtUe fellow with a mass of red hair and hazel eyes. ) "Now , " continued Miss H. , "who will toll mo the color of Charlie's eyes' * " A moment's hesitation , then several volun teered an answer. "Blue , " mild ono , "brown. " said another , but most of the children were uncertain. "You are not sure of Charlie's eyes. What Is the llrst thing that you notice when you look at him ? " "Ilia hair , " was the ready reply. "I wonder If you can tell mi > now when \vo .should tell the color of the hair and eyes , " said Miss II. Up went half a dozen hands. "Oh , now I see , " said one boy. "When it Is something wo would notice we toll nbjui NEBRASKA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS-HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING AT COLUMBUS would cost one-half of a dollar , " said an other. "This block Is three halves of this one " "My small block Is two-thlrdu of my large block. " "If my Hiuall block weighed ono pound , my largo block \\ould weigh four pounds" "Tell mo that In another way , " said MlsH C. "Knur Is the ratio of my large block to my small block. " "Can you tell It to me In still another way ? " A moment's pause , then , "One-fourth Is thu ratio of my uniall block to my largo block. " "Who will find the block whcHo intlo to my block IH thrco halves ? " asked Mlbs 0 and It was quickly pioduced. "Now that wo have finished our w rk , ' said Mltw C. when each child had had his turn and the class were In their HeatH , "let us have a game. " lliiNKi't Hull Came. She hung a banket above the black board and gave each of three children a largo rubber ball to tosa Into It This wai not such an easy tank as It appeared , ami It usually took Hoveral well-directed at tempts to succeed. When a ball wont Into the banket , the children clapped their hands for the winner and another child took his place. \Vhtlo they were busy with this game Miss C. produced 11 target and toy gun with arrows , which was hailed with delight. Each had a turn and some of the children Him wed remarkable precision of aim. Ono noticeable feature of this work was the qulot manner In which It was carried on Each child entered heartily Into the spirit of the play , yet never Hooinod.to forget to run lightly and laugh softly. The look of sincere regret on the llttlo faces when Miss C. announced that It was the hour for closing must have been a gratification to any teacher who sought to make her school attractive , . . . " \Vo are to have a lesson In English , " said Miss I ) , when asked what the subject- of her Fourth grade recitation was to bo. "Wo are working with exercises In visualization of person. Yesterday , " Miss II , continued to the class , "wo were to visualize a llttlo child. Today -wo will visualize our mothers. Harry may toll the first ttilng to bo done. " "I Would tell what she Is doing , " said Harry. "Why ? " asked Miss II , "llecauso It helps others to see her na I do and shows why I happened to remem ber her In that act. " "What would you toll , Emma ? " "I would toll how she looked and the color of her hair and eyes. " "In visualizing Is It always necessary to tell the color of the hair and eyes ? " Eiuma was uot sure. "Who can tell ? " NEBRASKA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS -FIRST I RABBIT. It , and If wo would not notice that wo tell about something that we would notice " "Very g. od , " said Miss B. , "and now joii may write about your mothers , " * "Tho teacher of this ncho 1 Is sick. ' said thu supuilntendeiit , "and onu of the High school girls is taking her place. 1 think , ' hu added to the clasa , "that > ou had better conduct your own reading lesson tills after noon. You may proceed as if > ou were alono. " There was a moment's pause , then a llttlo girl In a fiont seat read the llrst stanza of the lesson , John G. Saxo's poem , 'The Blind Men iiud the Elephant. " Her manner of tendering It was almost beyond criti cism and she had not much more than flu Ibhod when a boy In the back of the room slarled out. on the second stanza. "Tho llrst approached Uio elephant , and happening to fall , " etc. , placing the em phasis upon elephant. But his neatmato had looked a llttlo deeper Into thu thojght of thu poem and sotlug that each blind man was to approach the elephant In turn ho recognized the fact that "first" Instead of "elephant" was the word to rocive the emphasis , so when his companion had tin lulled he ro-tcad thu stanza according to his Interpretation of It. Itt'iiilliiur U&iK'rlnit-iitN , A voice from the other side of the cluaa started out on thu third stanza , reading with such rapidity as to obscure the thought. NEBRASKA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS SEVEN TH GRADE , PHYSIOLOGY , AT GENOA MISS MARIE HENDERSON , TEACHER. This was received with disapproval , for when she hail Ilnishoil se\cial started to give It diffeiently However , before half a dozen words were read , the place had been yielded to a little girl whose manner of reading was a decided Improvement on the ono who had preceded her. But oven this was not satisfactory to all , for ono of the boys read it the thiid time , raising ills voice at thu lines "Ho ! what have we hero , "So very round , and smooth , and sharp ? " The little girl who read the fourth stanza evidently satisfied the class , for It was not repeated. A slight pause and then one of the larger boys read the fifth. The rhythm of the poetry apparently appealed to him moro than the thought , for there was a derided tendency to emphasize the last :5RADE : AT BEATRICE STUDYING THU won ! of each lire. Again half a dozen volt es started out on the correction and again , without the Slightest confusion , the place was jleldtvl to one. So the reading was continued throughout the whole poem , some stanzas being read as many as four or five times before cadi child was satisfied. After the poem was finished the btipeilntendent took the floor and a few well-directed questions revealed that manv had looked beyond the surface of the poem , had divined the author's pur pose In writing it and had recognized the typo which the blind men represented. " \Vo do not have this kind of recitation very often , " said the superintendent , "as the best readers are most critical and take the lead In the con options , so it Is more of a help to the strong than to the weak ones. However , an occasional lesson in terests thorn and helps to arouse a spirit of competition for good reading. M-hooI Itoiini Decoration. From a glance at the room an obsarvor might have guessed something of the tastes of the teacher and pupils who spent their time there. The south windows weie filled with plants , on thu desk stood a vabo of great gohten chrysanthemums and a bawl of goldfish ornamented the work table. It was recess time and Miss S. had no Idea that she was conducting a recitation. About her was gathered a gioup of eager llttlo children , displaying their treasures. Ono little fellow , his o > cs shining with delight , exclaimed : "Oh , Miss S. , I have a web. It was my brown caterpillar with the dark brown band around him. I noticed he was lazy for two or three days. I thought he was getting ready to spin and now he has finished. I had another caterpillar Just like this and ho spun a web , too. Will the butterflies bo allko ? " "Suppose you put your two cocoons In the same box , " said Miss S. . "then wo can tell when they come out In the spring. " "I have a new web , too , " said ono llttlo girl , holding out the soft , Fllky thing for inspection , "and I'm sure It will make a new kind of butterfly. It came from ono of those big green worms that live on milkweed. They are Just the color of tha milkweed leaves. " "That Is bo wo can't find them , Isn't It , Mlsa S. ? " said one of the children , "and so the birds won't see them. " "Then what makes my caterpillar this color ? " asked a llttlo boy. "Ho is green , with llttlo red stripes. " "Where did you get It ? " asked Miss S. "From the maple trees In our yard. There are lots of them there and they are all Just llko this. Oh , now I know ! The maple leaves are green and the stems are red , so the caterpillar can hide better if he is green and red , too. " The children examined the tiny creature , a new wonder shining In their eyes , that so small and mean a thing was not too Insignificant to receive a ehare of the Cieator's thought for its protection. The bell rang and the children hurried awav to their lessons , but that the essen tial lesson of the morning had not been taught , who shall say ? The Sad Errand of a Reporter New York morning papers printed a story lecently that Billy West , the minstrel , was dying In the apartments of Pete Dailey , his brother-in-law , at Broadway and Thirtieth street. That afternoon a young man fiom the Dramatic Mirror was sent to get a sketch of West's career. Ho rang Comedian Dailey's door bell and Dailey answered the ring. "I'm after an obituary notice of Billy , " said the reporter in a low and solemn voice. "I'm sorry ho is dying. " "Yes , " said Dailey , wiping what might . have been a tear from his eye. "Poor Billy ! " " ' before he dies " said "I'd llko to see him , the reporter. "His doctors say no one is to see him , " said Dailey , In his best funereal voice. "But I really would like to take one last look t him , " said the reporter. "All right , " said Dailey , In a whisper , fol low me. " Dailey plunked a dead march on an Imag inary banjo and tiptoed through the hall , followed by the reporter. He opened a door suddenly and pointed to a man sitting at a table eating a beefsteak. "There's Billy , " ho said. f n TABLE ROCK ( NEB ) 1899 FOOT BALL TEAM.