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About The Falls City tribune. (Falls City, Neb.) 1904-191? | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1910)
Reminiscences of a. Wayfarer The Evolution of Schools. Those best Informed on the sub j> <t,or who think they are,tell us that iti' U and women, that is, human kind, are what heredity and environment happen to make them. This, in a measure is doubtless true, but not < ntirely so. The inexorable law of heredity operates with invariable un ■lormity in all the multitudinous ram ifications of sentient life where • .er found in the cosmos, and is just a uniform in the lower orders, and hi the vegetable kingdom. Evolution, in the opinion of many may change the order of nature, in tact they claim it has done so, in Die slow procession of the ages, in Hie case of man and some others of Me animal species; tint the claim, it .s*'eins to me, is based upon proofs of no substantial value whatever. I.a viarrk and Darwin contend that man descended from some arborial animal, some animal whose habitat was in the woods,—monkey it is said, but as there are still about as many mon keys iti the world as there ever were, e doubt obtrudes itself upon the mind that those animals ever parted with any of their nature to make a superior breed and still retained the integrity of their original nature, dur ing the flight of iinmeasureable time. Descent from any other animal of the lower orders, would do as well— much jiearer the truth maybe, if we sny from some one not remotely re lated to the hog. But il is not for the purpose of dis issing tlial question thitt I mention it, but rather to say that the laws of heredity are as fixed and changeless as the stars in the heavens. What we call heredity is merely a continuation of anticodent life, the same kind of life we came into, mak ag every one of God’s children on earth, more links in an everlasting chain, reaching backward in time to the beginning, whenever that was, and to continue till the original pur pose of man’s creation shall be ac complished. it is not an inhheril ance in any proper sense, but it is one of the determining forces in hu enn characti r and human destiny. Environment is what is meant by the surroundings of the individual, the conditions among which and un der which, he is born, brought up or jerked up. to the life he lives while in the world; the good or had—most ly bad—influences that attend him on his journey, and which make for bis success or failure in a moral and material way. With wlmt nature has g.ven him.and his surroundings have left him uncorrupted, lie must make his way as best he may; but without another aid, which is not generally taken into account,—education, the chances are an hundred to one Chases Dirt Avoid Caustic and Acid Use Old Dutch Cleanser This handy, all-'round Cleans er is entirely free from caustic, acid and alkali; it is hygienic, cleans mechanically,not chem ically. It is not only the safest, but also the easiest and quickest ! cleanser ever discovered for Cleaning, Scrubbing, Scouring, Polishing It is the only cleanser to use on milk pails, pans, separators and on all cooking utensils. Use it for all cleaning through out the house. How To Clean Windows The Best Way—Sprinkle Old Dutch Cleans er on a cloth or sponge, just dampened sufficiently to hold the powder, without dusting, and apply to the glass, rubbing briskly. Then polish with a dry cloth and a very little Old Dutch Cleanser. If the above directions are followed excellent re sults will be secured with less work than by ordinary methods, or with other articles. 10 against ultimate success. What I mean by "success" 1 will try to ex plain later on. My notion in that respect is probably somewhat differ ent from many others. 1 therefore add a third element to the rule of the wise ones—education. And that I may not be misunderstood. 1 remark that 1 do not use that word in its popular sense, namely, the education that people get from what is written in hooks and taught in the schools. That is the smallest part of the real human educaatlon that is received by the individual, from the moment of birth to the moment of death. It may be urged with some real plausability, that this element includes much of the other two, and I am disposed to think it does, but there is still a distinctive difference. Books are merely the record of the experiences and thoughts of others in times precedent, but as men were before books, the education 1 refer to, made them possible. Language and thought, preceded all others which, coupled with the art of writing by which they might be made intelli gible to others, the education of the schools came into vogue. Environ ment forms the character, not the schools, and the best education man ever received is not from the text books of the schools and the great institutions of learning so called, but from the vast and inexhaustable cur riculum of nature of which man Is a part, and with which he is constant ly in contact as he passes through life. What he gets from books are valuable aids in properly understand ing the things he meets with, be cause others have traveled the same road and met the same things and studied them, and their recorded conclusions serve as milestones on the broad and never ending highway of existence. But unless the way farer thinks for himself, the edu cation lie gets from books is a mere | parrot accomplishment--a dull re peating of what somebody else has said or written. None of us needs a guide to teaeli us ignorance, as at the outset of life nature furnishes us with a tolerable supply of the kind without ulterior aids, in the shape of teachers, though I have frequently thought that some of our university students have been to a school where they do that kind of educational stunt, for they have returned more jolter-headed, if that were possible, than they went. The new-rich and the old-rich, as well as the no-rich, are equally anxi ous that their offspring shall have the best their means will procure, if for no other consideration, than the name of having gone through some educational mill. The unimportant fact, that in the process they have received no real practical education to speak of, cuts no figure so they come out with a diploma. That takes the place of everything else, and fills to repletion, the measure of their ambition. It. is prima facie evidence of a university education and that is enough. It is another evidence of the controlling force of fashion. For all that, it must be set down to their credit that they are proud their children have been in the classic shades of some imposing in stitution of learning and have its authority for saying they graduated from it, though the very diploma that certifies to the fact, is couched in a language the student in many cases knows no more about, than he does of the Choctaw. Hut I like those simple people, if for no other reason, than that their chief desire was, to give their ehild j ren advantages they never had tliem j selves. Something over forty years ago, it folk to my lot to assist in founding one of the many state universities that abound in our groat, republic, and though I have been in the city where it stapds hundreds of times, ( I have never been inside of it, nor am I conscious of the fact that 1 ever wanted to be. It was a mat ter of pride with till of us that a generous general government had given us out of its great, bounty, man broad acres of the public domain as a fund out o/ which to build it. II was our tribute to a growing educa tional fad that lias become general. At tlie same time, and located in the same city, we provided for two other institutions as necessary as the j other, and in a way educational too |—black flowers of our advanced and (advancing civilization—a penitentiary and a hospital for the insane. They are all there now. and then some, in other cities.—full to the brim and I running over,—their inmates, stu dents if you please, are all drawn from the same population, and more coming. The impelling cause that fills these finishing institutions -for none of them are primary in any (sense—inheres in the social fabric and have their loots and sources in | the republics of the homes of the : people. A little less for costly churches. costly high schools, costly universi ties, and a little more for the amel ioration of the condition of the un numbered proletariat whom law and custom as old as the race itself have made poor, ignorant and degrad ed, tile less use the community will have for its jails, prisons and penitentiaries—for the animal man must be fed, clothed and housed, and he will acquire the means to those ends honestly if he can by force or otherwise if lie must. Whoever lias read, or will read, tho history of the French Revolution may know all that is necessary on these propositions, and what lias once happened in human affairs, uu der like conditions will happen again. Society cannot be Judged by its highest types, but by its lowest. A cable is no stronger than at its weakest point. It must be taken in its entirety, and as a whole It is no stronger than its weakest place; and the same thing is true of hu man society, it is no better Ilian its worst and most vicious elements. A house cannot be raised by beginning at the top. It must be raised from its mud-sills, and then the whole house will go up. A little more of the spirit that was breathed upon the world in au older day in those words that will never fade from the memories of men while the world stands, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me,’’ and a little less of the loud praying Pharisee, will do something towards destroying the distinction of caste and insure a more equitable distrib ution of God’s bounties among men to the manifest advantage of all The real education -reformation per haps—of the world will never he complete until every man in it, at all times, and under all circumstan ces lias an equal chance in the bat tle of life with every other man. As things now stand—however much men deny the fact- the laws govern the poor, while the rich and the power-1 fill, made so by customs that have grown into usurpations, govern the laws. However, this is not. exactly germane to my present purpose, but [ may resume the subject at another time. Il is characteristic of our Anieri <an people never to do anything without overdoing it. This will hold good in every social and business re lation, and it. is just as true in our moral and educational relations. From no system of schools at the beginning of the Nineteenth century, we have little else than schools and systems of schools at the be ginning of the Twentieth century. Seventy years ago there was no gen eral common school system west of the Wabash and east <>t the Mississ ippi. There were schools of a sort, hut they were purely private enter prises. A tramp teacher, self-styled of enurse. would visit a given neigh borhood or settlement, as the phrase was thmi, and organize a school in thi way: 11 <• would go from house to house in a radius of a couple of miles or so, from the school house— there was nearly always one in each neighborhood, and ascertain how many scholars each family would subscribe, at the rate of $1! or $:>>.->0, j to be paid for each, for a term of three months,generally in the winter.! If he could get from twenty to twen ty-five or more with his hoard thrown! in lie would stay a while at one house and then at another till he made the rounds of all his scholars’ homes, and so continued to do till th<» end of the term—it was a go, | and the school became a fact. Two or three of the oldest and generally most ignorant men in the community were selected, hut not in pursuance of any law, as school directors, and ihey were the supreme authority in everything pertaining to the school.! from judging of the qualifications of I the teacher, down to the minutest and most trivial detail of the business. The teacher was required to be suf ficiently learned to teach reading, writing and arithmetic, and if he happened to be able to leach a little grammar it did not detract, from his qualifications to conduct the school, anti this was the curricu lum of the people’s colleges, the common school, and it remains un altered to this day,'even in Ne braska. For the masses no other education al advantages are possible, and in very truth no other in needed, or is used in the every day practical af fairs of life. If the student wants something more the means of its ac quisition are always at hand. There is room for the scholar everywhere, but the disposition and ability to he one must exist in the student him self, and for those ho is dependent on heredity and environment - amd brains. But everybody cannot tie scholars, nor Jo they want to he, but all should have a fair knowledge of the four fundamental branches of an ordinary English education to fit them for the duties of business, and for the enjoyment of literature, ag reeably to taste and capacity. The Greek scholar is no more effeeient as a bank clerk than one who got his entire education in an old fash lolled country school, nnd I now say what I know to be true, that an or dinary bright and healthy hoy could with reasonable industry in three or four winter terms in the old country school, master those fundamentals mentioned, which, under the pres ent system takes twelve or fifteen years of his life to acquire and then not at all satisfactory, in the major ity of eases. It is true much has been added to the modern system of teaching, such as chemistry, botany, philosophy, hug and snake-ology, and kindred useless matters thill the young would be better without; but they help to round out the system, give employment to the teachers, and load the minds of the students with useless ami burdensome tasks, and their patents and guardians with mountainous tax charges to pay at their leisure. In the early days in Nebraska, the school facilities- differed very little from those in the pioneer days of the other states. The first school in Fails City was organized much in the way 1 have described, by an old fellow named Ilradshaw. There was nobody to pass on ills qualifications in any particular and the school lie opened, sometime In the fall of lXti2, was unique in character and decidedly grotesque In its operation, lie marshaled quite a respectable number of the youth hereabouts, and for some time seemed to progress swimingly, till one day the old man took it into his head to get drunk and tin'll the very old Nick was to pay. After getting outside of a goodly quantity of bad whiskey lie concluded to take a nap on one of (lie benches, and proceeded todo so; while the children taking in I lie sit uation with tolerable accuracy, pro ceed to decorate his face, which was large and quite fat, with some soot from the stove. Of course, the riot that followed attracted the attention of tlio people on the street and prompt investigation followed. Bradshaw was found with a long black streak down his nose, one over each of his eyebrows, and one or two under each eye and similar ornament ations about his mouth and upper lip, oil which the artist painted an elaborate mustache after the I'Tencli style. The situation can better be imagined than described. Bucle John, as he was usually called, was quite dignified in appearance in bis sober moments, which generally be came Intensified as the process ot elevation by the use of whiskey pro gressed. lie concluded, on being awakened by ilie riot created by the children and the entrance of the in vestigators from the street, that somebody had been taking unwar ranted liberties witli his school, and talked in a language that I don't care to repeat here. H put an end to the school, however, and it stay ed ended. I saw some of the fan towards the last of the performance, and al though many years have elapsed since,in which i have witnessed many other ridiculous exhibitions, a strict adherence to truth compels me to say that this one, as first-class com edy, stands preeminently first in the list. Everything in time has to have a beginning, and that is how >ur schools commenced in Kails City. The old man was a native of New York, and was one of a very res pectable family, often contending in his periods of elevation that he des cended from one of the ancient Dutch families that settled in New York in tlie seventeenth century. I think our late president puts up some such claim on his own part. He frequent ly made it known that his children had asked him to make himself scarce as lie was not particularly ornamen tal in the circles in which they moved. I know of my own knowledge that he was tolerably correct in that particular, as on a visit to New York in 1864, at his request I call ed on his son, whose place of busi ness was somewhere on King street, as I now remember it, and lie told me how the old man had conic to go west. J found him to be quite a gentlemanly appearing man. quite intelligent and gave evidence of be ing a man of affairs In the city, lie inquired about his father, and showed some interest in tin old gen tleman's w< ifarc. Sohie years after wards I received a letter or two from him. making similar inquiries touching the fortunes of his father. One I call to mind just now, addressed to mo about the time of old man’s death, which occurred in the fall of 187b. The son forward ed money hero to pay the funeral expenses and otherwise manifested the usual interest of a son in a fatti er. The latter is at rest in the old cemetery to the west. 1 am not cer tain I could point out the grav< . but inclined to think it doubtful. How ever this may bo, he sleeps as peace fully among the forgotten dead in that neglected spot, as he would if entombed among his ancestors oti the banks of the historic Hudson. He is entitled to a monument for/ he was Kails City's first school master. —Eat Sowle’s Candy. tvER httVE LIBRARY FRIGHT? i Awful Feeling That Sometimes At tacks People Asking for Books in a Strange Place. “Library fright Is an awful feeling," said the librarian. "It attacks people who go Into a strange library to look around or rest for a few minutes and are told that In order to enjoy the hospitality of the reading room they will have to ask for a book and make at least a pretense of reading. "1 have had library fright twice my self. My first attack was In tho Con gressional library in Washington. I wanted to read there for a few min utes, just to be able to say afterward that I had read there. Used as I was to handling books, 1 couldn't think of even the dictionary when It came to making a choice. After a few minutes of hopeless floundering ‘Table's His tory of Kngllsh Literature1 came Into my mind I had no desire on earth to look at Table's Kngllsh literature then ;or at any other time, but 1 give you my ward 1 couldn't think of any other book to save my life. "Another time In a library right here In town I was stricken with a islmllnr panic and after stumbling through the catalogue In a dazed sort of way I asked for ‘David Copperfleld’ •- Copperlleld, mind you, that I had [read forty eleven times and kuew by heart A person who has never ex perienced library fright cannot tniag ,tne how foolish and helpless the suf ferer feels."- Exchange. FLOWER CARPETS IN SPAIN Religious Festival That Callfe Forth Most Remarkable Floral Displays. Once a year rleli Spaniards have a real "flower-strewn way” prepared for them That Is when the Corpus Chrlsti festival Is held and beautiful flower carpets are laid In the streets of Villa Orlava. Tenerlffe. All the richest produce of the fertile gardens of the island is brought into use in weaving the most wonderful Moor coverings in tlie world. Often the patterns are elaborate, es pecially those designed for old Span ish families, who place (hem in tho street before their houses, and thus gain local estimation according to the value of their floral display. Not only are the ordinary blooms known to gardeners used to make tho design of carpets, hut also some rare flowers and grasses growing only In the Canary islands. The slopes of the peak of Tenerlffe, hearing layers of lava from tin* now dormant volcano, are rich In these unusual forms of floral beauty Killed by Curiosity. There Is an African Insect, (ho larvae of which prey upon ants. Tho larvae puts Its head into a small hole in the ground and quivers its tall quickly. The ants come near to ex amine the novel object, and, goaded by curiosity, go loo closely, when sud denly they nre seized by Ihe forceps or graspers with which tho tail Is fur nished, and Hius nre killed. Not only do insects and I lie lower animals un derstand Hiai the curiosity of their victims may lie employed as a snare for them, lint humnii being understand and act upon Hie same principle. Many young men and young women have been ruined by adopting the ap parently harmless course of "going to seo what it was like.” Inertia of the Nerves. The researches and experiments of a French scientist have led him to the conclusion that the cerebral nervous system Is incapable of perceiving more than an average of seperate Im pressions per second. After each ex citation of Hie nerves a period of in ertia follows, lasting about one-tenth of n second, and during this period a new impression cannot he made. Ac cording to the inv stigaiions of tills scientist a person cannot make more than ten, or at the most a dozen, sep arate voluntary movements of any kind in a second, alt hough the muscles, independently of the will, are capable of making as many as HO or 40. Of No Use. “When 1 was your sip'," said the man to his little son." I was the best behaved boy in town. My parents would not allow me to play in the street; they made me keep rny face washed and my hair brushed; they compelled me to be well mannered at all times, and 1 was sent to bed early every night and awakened early in the morning. My parents trained me to be a model, obedient, polite boy. Why can't you be like 1 was at your age?" "But, papa," answered the lad, "what would lie the use? It doesn't seem to have done any good in your ease." At the Reception. "I understand, Miss Aramlnta,” said tlie professor, “that you are in elined toward literature.” "Yes," said the blushing spinster. "1 wrote for the Bugle Magazine last month.” "Indeed! May 1 ask what?" asked the professor. ‘1 addressed all the envelopes for the rejected manuscripts," said Ara mlnta. proudly.— Harper’s Weekly. The Boss of the Place. "Yes,” said the determined man, “when that waiter resented the small ness of my tip 1 took the case to the proprietor of the restaurant.” "And what did the proprietor do?" “lie gave the waiter some money out of his own pock' and apologized 10 him to ritaving wh i customer." COMING! TO FALLS CITY, NEB. The Eminent Physician on Chronic Diseases Will Visit Our City Wednesday, April 20th And Will be at The Union Hotel un til 5 p. m.,One Day Only. Dr. Pot (erf. president o( the staff of (lie Hoston Electro Medical Insti tute, is making a tour of the state. lie will give consultation, examin ation. and all the medicines necessary to complete a cure FREE. All parties taking advantage of ttiis offer aro requested to state to their friends tiie result of the treatment. Cures DEAFNESS by an entirely new process. Treats all curable eases of catarrh, throat and lung diseases, eye and ear, stomach, '<ver and kidneys, grav el, rheumatism, paralysis, neuralgia, nervous and heart disease, epilepsy, Itriglit's disease and disease of tho bladder, blood and skin diseases, and big neck and stammering cured. Piles and ruptures cured without detention from business. Asthma cured in a short time. if you are improving under your family physician do not take up our valuable time. The rich and the poor are treated alike. Idlers and curios ity seekers wilt please stay away. Our time is valuable. Remember, NOT A PENNY will bo charged for the medicine required to make a cure of all those taking treat ment iliis trip. Office hour 9 a. iu. Positively married ladies must bo accompanied by their husbands. Re member tiie date. Wednesday, April 20th At Union Hotel Falls City. Neb. C. h. MARION auctioneer. Sales conducted in scientific and busi nesslike manner C. H. MARION Falls City, Nebraska HARNESS Best Harness on earth is made at Wachtel's. Saddles. Whips. Etc. Everything for the horse. Repair ing and Oiling. Phone 384. WACHTEL DR. C. N. ALLISON IDEIN'FIS'F Phone 24H Over Kichardson County Bank. FALLS CITY, NEBRASKA DR. H. S. ANDREWS General Practioneer Calls Vnswered I>ny Or Nigfct In Town or Country. TELEPHONE No. 3 BARADA. - NEBRASKA CLEAVER t* 5EBOLD INSURANCE REAL ESTATE AND LOANS NOTARY IN OFFICE EDGAR K. MATHERS 13 ENT1ST Phones: No?. 177, 217 Sam i.. Waul Building Office Removed to Tootle Block 6th and Francis Sts. DR. W. S. F AST ST. JOSEPH, MO. Sju'cml at font inn to M I'DKTN !.. HNRFAIj Dim* ttWriw* of WOM I.N J\n*l I’HlIiDRIN R R. ROBERTS IDEUSi'FiS'F Office over Kerr’s Phurruacy Offici Phone 200 Residence Phone 271 WHITAKER The Auctioneer Before arranging date write, tele phone or telegraph, my expense J. G. WHITAKER Phone* 166-131-2161 Falls City, Neb.