The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 27, 1896, Page 16

16 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1896. ~ TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO LEARN Lunch Baskets, Eyes and Brains--What Is in Them and What Ought Not to Be in Them--Young Heads and Old Stomachs There are several stories in the Second Readers full of words of fourteen syllables and learned talk about phosphorus, carbon and nonseuse, which children read Wilh:u puzzled smile, knowing that somehow it is funny, vet failing to see the exact plage to laugh. And it is funny—that is, it would be were it not also sad. When there are 50 many simple words touse and 50 many simple, straightforward stories fitted for the thought vocabulsry of a child, it is both comic and pathetic to find in all his readers only these complicated, utterly incomprehensible masses of words to tell him which foods will make good brain and muscle and which foods will do him more barm than good. You may imagine that in this advanced age most parents know what is good food for growing frames. If such a fallacy has gained an entrance into your mind, take a peep intoa few lunch baskets and watch the fallacy flee. Children will eat any- thing when they are hungry, and when are children not hungry? They can eat what they find to eat, and seemingly without a bit of ill effect. This temporary immu- nity is the cause of much indulgence on the part of weakly loving parents, who ex- cuse what they know to be dangerous by | “Ever’ is a | “nothing ever hurts them.” big word. Perhaps the law of cause and effect is suspended in their favor, but from the doctors’ bonanza of dyspeptics I infer rather it is a case of the slow grinding of the mili of the gods. Many a woman, hollow-cheeked and yellow-skinned, will tell you of the stomach trouble which makes life one long series of denials and will wail for the lost childhood, when she could *‘eat any- thing.”” She did eat anything, and now ghe cannot digest anything. The teacher, especially the one outside of a city, has an opportunity of seeing the trash consumed daily by her children, and she bas the opportunity of lifting up her voice and her example against this slaughter of the innocents. I would not advise her, however, to begin the crusade with much hope. Parents have ideas— very decided ideas. *“Ilike rich food, and my child shall have as good as I bave.” As bad as you have, my righteous one, as bad. You like to smoke, yet you counsel your son to wait until he has his growth. You would watch the diet of your puppy or your horse to see that good growing food is given, and not such as will stunt any organ, but the child, the treasure you have snatched from God's hand, must take | his chance. Let us peep into some of the baskets and yails wiich bang on the nails in the hall or nestle so temptingly near rough little hands under the desk. This pretty basket with a ribbon run through belongs to the beloyed child of parents rich in this world’s goods. It does look good, and smells good, too, but think what this food has to do; think how many tissues have been torn down to-day in play and work; think of the constant demands of a grow- | ing body. This piece of heavy rich cake but sure | | per apple. witl give the vigorous little stomach a severe task, and what will be the good of | it after it has been digested? And this generous triangle of pie is only another piece of work for the same organ. The thin slices of meat are good, but see the bread to eat with them—yeast-powder bis- cuits soaked in butter! All that little Jennie Rich has to eat is some slices of meat. The restisa sticky mass to worry and fret her stomach. I would like to put those same slices of meat between pale- brown slices of bread; the cake I would throwaway; I would have the fruit thatis in the pie to eat witn more bread oralone, and instead of those candies I would slip in some nuts and some acid fruit, oranzes or apples, The lunch would be just as dainty, just as appetizing, and it would be food, not trash. Talke down that honest tin-pail, proud of its many dents, scars of battle, and see | what Bobby Poor has to work examples and play ball on. Isn’t it a mess? Prob- ably he put it up himself from the ghastly remains of breakfast. You need not look disgusted;itis every bit asgood for food as the other lunch we examined. These “sody”’ biscuits are not very oretty to look art, neither are the slices of fat bacon between. Bobby will eat all four, each as large as a pintcup. He made that piece of cake himself by spreading syrup between cold pancakes. It weighs 16 to1. The apples are good, but he will chew just four times You need not look further. It will be the same tune with variations. Those who can afford it will bave cake, pie or dongh- nuts (dvspepsia fried in lard); they will boil and sugar their fruit until all the healthful acid is out; they will spice every- thing spiceable, spread it with mustard and pack it round with pickles. Those who cannot afford to make these fearful and wonderful viands will come as near their standard of indigestibility as possi- ble. The pie will be tough crusted and filled with dried frait instead of mince- meat; the cake will be heavy or yellow with the ever present saleratus; the meat will be fried and greasy, and the dough- nuts will be there. Once I had some pupils whose parents were not only poor but sensible. Their children brought the best food in school. It was graham bread and butter, stewed fruit and a bottle of milk. Yet they went off in a corner and ate alone because the others twitted them or, more kind, offered them bites of pie. Hearing one day the remark that the little 8's never brought ary pie or even a doughnut I boldly con- fessed that I, the ruler of our small world, never brought either, and that my lunch was as frugal as theirs. The next day five loving little hearts besought as many mothers to put in two pieces of pie, one for the teacher, and three more parents astonished my ostrich-like digestion by asking if I bad dyspepsia. 1do not say that all children eat this trash, but far, far too many for this age. Theory in diet has a hard fight with prac- tice. Not only are there old heads on young shoulders, but old stomachs in young bodies. Itis not love which stuffs a child with sweets and spices; it is either ignorance or neglect; really a want of love, a 1ackof care. Children are building like the invalid whose tissues have been burned out by fever. You would tee the wrong in feeding him on mince pie instead of food which gives much nourishment without overtaxing the organsof diges- tion. The lunch-basket has as much todo for a schoolboy as the books he carries on his arm, and though he may feel that he is denied ‘‘good things,” later in life he will thank the poverty or the firmness which gave him a good digestion. There is much for nature to contend with in school. After she has accepted the task of conquering the lunch she sees or feels the torturing Jf poor young eyes. I wonder .how many of you sat year after year in cross lights or with light glaring into your face, I never studied in a prop- erly planned schoolroom, and I never taught in one. You know the invariable plan of a coun- try schoolhouse. It is square or oblong, has a door in front, and two, three or four Eyeglasses may look intellectual, but they are no sign of intellect. They are the sign of a lack of intellect somewhere— in building and paving, to begin with. Speaking of food for the body leads naturally to food for the mind. Ihearda man say once that the motto of the pres- ent school system is “Something new," and that if they saw nothing to progress in, teachers went back a way and then ad- vanced again. One who would in any way criticize our evolved schools can be safe only under a mantle of insignificance. Wrapping mine close about me I wonld meekly offer a few opinions. Long ago, as I sat learning by heart a list of kings, an old gentleman asked me what I was doing, *Studying history,” I told him. *‘History is a thing to be read,” he declared. “*Oh, but we havs to remember it,” I ex- plained. *Well,” gaid he, “don’t you learn in school to remember what you read?” I set him aside as old fogy, but now I see the point, and it is a serious question in my mind whether too much time is not spent in giving smatterings of all sorts of things, instead of training the mind to grasp whatever may come, Things are presented to the pupil in such an easy way. The intellectual food is boiled into gruel and held by the teacher. All the pupil need do is to open his mouth and swallow. What are his teeth for? Children do not study. Tell a child to “dig it out for himself” and you sound your knell as a successful teacher. You must explain and present the matter in such a form that it may be grasped with- out effort. The day is past when a boy would struggle two hours a day for five days with one problem and come tired and Lappy with the solution the sixth day. The teacher must explain. Since 1 have had to explain so exhaustively I have been taken back to the days when these same | THE SECRETS OF 'STEEP RAVINE Somé- Hidden Beauties of an Almost Inaccessible Ganyon on the Western Slope of Tamalpais, Deer preserves are common enough in Eongland and many of them belonging to the estates of the old nobility are famous the world over for their great natural beauty. No doubt they deserve all the praise they get, for the grand stretches of country, covered with magnificent oaks and dotted bere and there with crystal lakes, certainly are as pleasing sights as ever man laid eyes on. In America deer preserves are scarce, but those that do exist are usually found in the most picturesque parts of the coun- try. In comparison with these the Eng- lish preserves are as a city park compared to a mountain canyon. In fact, the Eng- lish deer preserves are called parks and they are stretches of land kept in the de- sired condition at great expense. Amer- ican preserves existin a state of nature and parts of some of them are not trav- ersed by man from year's end to year’s end. Where Big Game dom go. through it, as the rou_xhness] of the way makes it almost impossible to get any game. As a consequence the game is there in plenty. Z ) This spot is as wild as any in California, and certainly the wildest within several hundred miles of San Francisco. Steep Ravine runs almost due Wes.t from the top of Tamalpais in a general di- rection, but it twists and turns among the hills so that in its course it heaas for all points of the compass. The eastern or upuer end of it is near Brown’s Camp and the western end is on the beach, about three miles from Bolinas. To explore'it, it is best to go to the lower end and work up. This can be reached by walking over the hills or taking the stage road from Sausa- lito. The entrance to Steep Ravine is little different from that of any other canyon. Trees of all kinds grow close to the edge |of a limpid stream that tumbles over Is Plentiful One of the first of the many interssting sights to be seen in the canyoa is a forest of ferns. These trees, 1f such they can be called, very much resembles the Austra- lian variety, although they are really an other species, They are common enough in many parts of the State, but can sel- dom be found growing to such size as in Steep Ravine. The trunks of some of these atiain a height of three or four feet and the leaves spread out so that a man can walk under them, Each step of the way up the canyon dis- closes some new and inieresting object. Dozens of waterfalls tumble over bowlders and fill the air with music. In many places rocks the size of a small house ob- struct the way, and the trees grow so thickly overhead as t3 obscure the sun and leave the forest in a beautiful, soft semi-darkness. One really seems to be out of the world. There is not a sight nor a sound to suggest civilization. 1t takes about two hours to travel up the canyon, and at the end of the journey one is likely to fee! pretty exhausted. But the mind will be filled with visions of beautiful things passed. Silent vools with trout playing hide and seek in the depths; | things became clear to me, and I hear | again the sweet voice telling me ““trya little | longer, child; it will make you stronger | to get it yourself. What is easily learned | is easily forgotten.” It may have been | some unlikeiy problem about A and B, | yet it taught me a lesson of logical | thought and perseverance worth all the | fabulous sums invested by A and B. And | if the pleasant-ydiced teacher had never taught me one thing else, the lesson of | self-power 1 learned was an education. | The teacher does too much. With the | Stats text-books she has to do it all. Very ! windows on each side. If the bouse faces north or south, the morning sun glares in the easi windows, and the afternoon heat beats through the west. If it faces east or west the winter aiternoons are so dark the eye is strained. Children have headaches, grow stupid and hate to look at books. Parents whose children complain of head- ache might look at the room in which the day is passed for the reason, or, failing there, have the eyes examined, for very many headaches are but protests from strained and abused eyes, The October Overland will give a plan | treesand rocks covered thickly with mo hillside and cliffs rendered almost invisi. ble with a growth of ferns. One of the most beantiful sights in the canyon is a waterfall that tumbles into g crystal pool at the end of a cave. The water seems to fall from the roof of the cave, but how it gets there is not readily discovered. Of course, it is the stream that fallsdown the canyon, but the way it gets between the rocks isa little pe- caliar. Steep Ravine is such a wild place that for a schoolroom in which all the light comes from the rear, over the shoulder of the pupil. I question whether there will always be enough light in that room, but if there be, the pian is excellent. City schools and modern buildings need reform as much as do the relics of the box age in the country. Ido notsee what we can do with the buildings we have except to ma- nipulate shades with all the skill and care we possess tokeep out a glare. If any remedy suggests itself I would be pleased to find it out, for the burden was thrust on my shoulders not a year ago. Tue County Superintendent came. Stu- pendous event! He listened gravely, and was pleased to be pleased with some things, but he told me my light was bad— not my spiritnal light, but the windows. There was no need ot telling me what my tired eyes testified to nightly, but what could I do? The windows were on the north and south, making cross lights, ana after 2 o'clock the room was dim. It would do no good to unscrew the desks and move them so the light glared in their faces, and I was hardly capable of moving a two-story building, so when he advised me to manage better about light, I said meekly, “Yes, sir,”” and went along just the same. MOUNT OMALIK, IN ALASKA, ITS TOWN' AND ITS MINE. THE MINE THAT LIES NEAREST THE NORTH POLE A Wilderness of Semi-]'ropicél Vegetati few grown people can translate them into intellizible English. The result may be wonderful teachers, but such a weak, de- | pendent lot of pupils, with the teeth of their minds all fallen out from disuse. Isawina San Francisco school a class of boys 9 years old play for an hour at piling up cards to develop the fact that three and three more are six. They knew it three years ago, but it must be devel- | oped. Isaw the multiplication table de- veloped with piles of pebbles up to ten times ten. It Jooked absolutely idiotic. City children may be feeble-minded, but Johnny Rurai would how! with derision. | Once he has proven with pebbles that | three twos are six, his whole table is de- veloped and he is ready to learn it. The most a human teacher can do is to | teach a child how to learn. If she trics to learn for bim she is taking his strength | and his right from him. Like a stone that once started is hard to stop, our re- formed and evolved education is flying as | far beyond the mark as 1t once was be- hind. Orive HEvpes. on and a Riot of Fish and| Game Within the Borders of the Arctic Gircle J. C. Green of this City owns and oper- | story. He interested others, ates the gold and silver mine that lies nearest to the north pole. It is situated on Omilak Mountain, a hundred miles in- !and, and northward from Norton Sound, away up in the Alaskan wilderness. More particularly, it is not a gold or sii- ver mine, but a lead mine, very rich in lead, but carrying a large percentage of both the precious metals. The insccessi- bility of the mine has hindered its opera- tion to a very great extent, but neverthe- less Mr. Green has worked it regularly for nearly fifteen years. He calls it his bank. When in need of ready money he sails for Alaska, loads his vessel with the ore, re- turns tv San Francisco and is in the swim again. To reach the mine a course is taken to Norton Sound and Golovine Bay, then, if the vessel be a steamer, up Fish River as far as it is nayigable, and thence with pack mules to Omilak Mountain and the deposit of almost solid lead. The story of the discovery and locating of the mine and subsequent operation of itis an interesting one of adventure and strange discoveries, entailing the loss of a schooner and its crew. Along about 1880 a sailing vessel in need of something or other dropped anchor in Golovine Bay, on the north side of Norton Bound. A sailor going ashore discovered the natives making lead bullets by melt- ing ore. He inquired where they got the stuff, and they told him up among the bills. He got permiseion from his captain to go with them, and after several days returned with a sackful of heavy ore which he had dug with no difficulty off the face of Omilik Mountain. In San Francisco the-sailor met J. C. Green, who became immediately interested in his and very soon an expedition was arranged, led by the sailor. “We expected, of course, to find our mine, if we found it at all, in the midst of icebergs and climate terrors that would make the working of it next to impossi- ble,” sad Mr. Green. ‘‘As we proceeded north to the Aleutian Islands, the indica- tions all fitted to our expectations. There were icebergs and .icefields in our path such as caused us to expect a blockade at any hour. But the sailor knew better. He told us to wait until we got above the archipelago. To our surprise the further north we went after getting through 'the islands the clearer the water became, until having reached Norton Sound the con- rast was as great almost as though we bad sailed south to Hawaii. We found green hills and spreading meadows, a rank and luxuriant vegetation, clear sky and balmy air. Not only that, but we discovered subsequently that these conditions con- tinued throughout the long six months of summer. In this far northern region, as you know, the sun shines almost coif- tinuously for six months. The warm Japan current sets in toward Norton Sound, a range of high mountains serve a8 a shield against the winds of the esst, while it confines the warmer winds of the west. Upon these conditions are built this paradise in the very shadow, one might say, of the north pole. “The hottest weather I ever saw.” con- tinued Mr. Green, ““was here in the valley of the Fish River, the thermometer stand- ing above 100. This region 1s capable of supporting a large population. The soil is fertile and nature is prodigal in her prod- ucts. Game of all sorts abounds and the rivers are alive with fish, Birds of every description, from wild geese to the little bumming-bird, come here to nest. A bunter may come 1n after a day’s shoot- ing laden with ducks, geese, pheasants and grouse, while swallows, reedbirds and sandhill cranes may be seen everywhere. Immense salmon and hslibut may be caught in the streams with hook and line. Grass in the meadows grows as high as one’s head and huckleberries grow so thick that they may be scooped up by the handful. So you'see no man need starve in that region. 1 have visited the mine almost every year since 1383, and those friends who have had occasion to accom- pany me have never failed to be aston- ished at what they saw there. “It is a country full of wonders, and therefore full of interest. It 1s, I think, the newest country on tae face of the earth. What will some day be itd coal measures are now of the quality of wood. Its many volcanoes ars another proof of its recent birth. And I might cite ai\ other—the honesty and’ simplicity of the natives—the Eskimos. To a man accus- tomed to the duplicity of civilization, and of savagery as we see it in the North American Indian, this characteristic is most remarkable. The Eskimo may, as a rule, be trusted implicitly with any treasure. I have known them to work for a day without tasting food, although carrying food that did not belong to them. However, faithful and honest as they are, they are slow and indifferent in their methods, with no ambition, and do not make the best material for our purpose in operating our mine. “Iam contemplating a plan for import- ing a lot of Icelanders, as I understand the climate there is growing more and more severe, and they would think the l rezion of Omilak, eve: in winter, wasa garden spot. With them there is no rea- son why the far northern mine could not be worked in winter as well as summer. There is very little snow there, and as for cold it is not to be compared to Montana or Dakota. I have never known a man who spent any time there who was not eager to return; in fact, Iar pestered continually by applications from my men who have been up there and who fear that I may go back or send an expedition with- out them. There is that fascination that all new countries have. *‘Dark and dismal in winter? Not at all. To be sure, there is very little sunshine, but the light skit of snow that covers the ground and the beautiful and wonderfal northern lights that illuminate the heavens make it quite cheerful. In sum- mer the sun scarcely sets, and one has to keep a very close watch on the time not to allow one day to merge into the next without being aware that it has doge so. The sun seems to simply dip behind the hill, and, without being missed, rises again at the other end of the range on the hor- 1zon, “No; we have not operated the mine for two or three years, The times have scarcely warranted 1t. It isan expensive Process to pack the ore out as we have to doit, and a railroad has become a neces- sity. A railroad is entirely feasible be- tween the mine and the ship. It would not be the first railroad within the Arctic circle. There is one in very successful operation between the Gulf of Bothnia and Loffoden. “Indeed,” concluded Mr. Green, I ex- pectto live to see the completion of the railroad to Asia by way of Alaska and the Bering Straits.” -f One of the largest deer preserves in California is that belonging to the Tamal- pais Sportsman’s Club. It covers several hundred thousand acres in Marin County, stretching over the hills and mountains along the seashore from Sausalito to Tomales Bay. Most of this Jand consists of hills covered with coarse grassand a scant growth of scrub oak, but some of the canyons on the western siope of Tamalpais are the grandest in the State. Itis here that the deer nide. The greater number of these canyons are ea'y of access to zood walkers, but there is'one known as Steep Ravine that, although it is not difficult to reach either end of it, is almost impossible to any but hardy climbers. Dozens of men have gone a few hundred yards into one end or the other and then given up the task. But those able to make the trip will be well repaid, for every step of it is full of in. terest and natural beauty. Hunters sel- X (e S 3 4 rocks or spreads out in mirror-like pools he_tween mossy banks. The canyon at this point is quite wide, but a few hun- dred feet up it narrows and the whole character of it changes. An almost death-like silence hangs over this cool £reen way beneath the giant red- woods. The faint trickle of a waterfall comes from the distance. Underfaot the ground is covered with a carpet of moss, and the deposit of years of the redwood leaves that have fallen to the ground and remained undecayed, although constantly kept in a moist condition. While the hills arbund the canyon are dry and parched, within there is a con- tinual dampness caused by the fog from the Pacific condensing on the tops of the trees and falling to the bottom out of reach of the sun’s rays. Even in the hot- test part of midsummer the grouna is as moist as though there had just been a Tainstorm, : it is possible, if one will sit still about fifteen minutes, to see deer and other animals come down to drink. The deer are as timed as in any other part of the world and seem to kuow whether a person intends to injure them ornot. A man with a rifle might sit in the same spot for hours and never see one, while an un- armed person might see several. T ————r w13, Bear tracks can be found in Steep Ravine almost any day. Within the last month a young bear was seen by a party of sightseers. It looked out cautiously and the visitors got out quickly. The fauna and flora of Steep Ravine have never been thoroughly investigated, although several parties from the univer. sities and Academy of Sciences have visited the place at different times. But study here‘is slow work, even though the scientists camp all night near the mouth of the canyon =0 as to get a fresh start in the morning. Traveling is tedious, and there is so much to be investigated that before the day is hardly begun it is ended, A few reptiles of the same species as those found in the near-by canyons have en- tirely different markines. The same is observable in birds, many of them possessing peculiar markings and being much smaller in size than those found in other nlaces,