The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 23, 1902, Page 14

THE SUNDAY CALL NEWSBOYS CLADSD LINCOLN NIGHT 5C #00L From Spelling to Rlsc Proper Re- zgnd y dowr e. Th vs came xt-books, seen in second The 1 to overflowing be we would or more of room thmetic f the etic the old Sacra- agreed upon as movement ‘took’ wgregated punish- scussions nced to burn ns a regu- lor Ge g 5o ed. Here biec were taken up, 1 cl Gov- ial national occasion the teacher of ol district challenged m tch. y min While they used to put nd when thg affair ed. I was e us prestige sted to teaci a pri- at. After the first cased and 1 again on my hands than the i accommodate. The st t by an old retired uld ol the boys, f the firs X the tru ect me master of the pub- uld get a teacher’s certifi- ers’ examinations irs. The red tape these latter days ac- annual teachers’ exam- s were not then in evidence. The Supesictendent of the county lived five miles cut of town on a farm. So I got a team and érove cut there. When I ar- yived I was 1Qld that the other exwminer se days Their TezCher. er on. The Su- d me and com- simplest qu ked me w interest law apparently not sa serintendent turned said: ‘I think it of y further with the exam- shire for he third 1 have k. (I was surprised, as I had thought so far.) school at the most difficult one in want a man that ter proceed,’ said the ¥ not noticed an néent then t ‘What did you do before you I told him that I le to examine and w us th your permis nt him a first s0 ended the ex morning 1 v Dutch t and e public schools of s the pupils had driven awa rmer teacher, much interest s to my fate, and I suddenly found the center of attention. “If 1 live to be 2s old as Methuselah and teach to the n, I shall never forget t week of school at Dutch Fiat. The larger boys had banded themselves together and had planned not to attend at first, till theygeouid find out how the school was conducted; then they were going to come and ‘run the new teacher out.” When the four leaders came school were armed with small clubs up r sleeves. They were big fellows, all stronger than I They looked at me sneeringly and immediately proceeded to violate the rules. I told them to remain in at recess, but the ringleader got up and s=aid he guessed he would go out when ke chose. I knew the declsive mo- ment had come. I was standing beside the desk with a blackboard pointer in my hand. The next instant I swung around and hit him on the head and lald' him prostrate on the floor. One of his com- panions attempted to come to his rescue, but I served him in the same manner. The rest became alarmed and kept quiet. This apparently brutal lesson had the most salu effect. Not a sign of oppo- sition was manifest during the remainder 6f the term, and the parents came and thanked me for my prompt action and red me that they would stand by me. “Singing was introduced into the school d it pleased the people of the town so much that they insisted upon getting up 2 singing schocl. A committee was ap- pointed and the class was to meet three times 2 week and I was appointed teacher at §i0 a month. The first night I went to the school with dire misgivings. When I zirived an overflow meeting was held on the outside of the schoolhouse; the in- terior was so crowded. They raised a cheer when I took my place and that gave me courage. Many had never sung a note, while a large number had belonged to advanced singing societies in the East. So we determined to divide the class and give the first hour to the beginners and the last hour to the advanced class. The interest kept up all winter and culminated in an invitation from the Methodist church asking the school to act as a chotr. So when I left Dutch Flat to go to the American River district I left my singing school installed as a chofr. “Our first Christmas entertainment in the American River district so pleased the Ppeople that they determined io ralse funds enough to buy an organ for the school; 80 they gave an entertainment and dance to secure the necessary money. S&me of the people drove over ten miles in the pouring rain to attend. The School Trus- tees, together with others, went to Sacra- mento to pick out the organ. One of the Trustees knew absolutely nothing about music. He went to have a say in the se- lection by virtue of his position. “Professor Yanke, as the boys called him, or Mansfield as he is better known, was asked to play on the different instru- ments. After he had played several tunes ke concluded by playing ‘Home, Sweet Home." The tuneless Trustee turned to him and asked him if he would not play some old familiar air such as ‘Home, Sweet Home.’ The professor was dis- gusted, but the committee was convulsed with laughter. “In the early "i0's a State examination was held at Marysville known in peda- gogical histery as the Marysville —ex- amination. John Swett, then State Su- perintendent, conducted it. This exami- nation had more of the officlal air about it. But compared with .the present form, it was still quite primitive. The spelling examination consisted of 100 misspelled words siven us to correct. It was a test calculztcd to catch, rather than to show the applicant’s knowledge. Only three out of the thirty-three who took the ex- amination passed and I was fortunate to be one of them, thanks to the rigorous study the miners had forced on me. “‘Another instance came up when my heart welled in gratitude to the members of my first little evening school. While I was teaching at Sacramento all the Re- publican teachers were dismissed by the then reigning Democratic officials. Within six weeks my friends, among whom wete some of the old boys, came to the front. 1 was reinstated, nor would they leave un- til a $25 increase in my salary was agreed upon. ¥ “I am very proud of some of the boys who were under my instruction, among whom were Timothy Hopkins, W. H. Crocker, Charles F. George, the Carolans and Hamiltons, McDonald’s old pupils say of him that he always managed to get the community interested in the school. Ife called the Placerville Iigh School to order In the basement of the Methodist church. The pupils sat on old pews and put up with all kinds of privations and makeshifts until their books arrived from the States. Dur- ing the first term he succeeded in raising money enough to purchaze maps, charts FORTY YEARS EXPERIENCE BOOR KEEPING CLASS AT THE LiNCOoLR MGHT SCHO0. \_4__// and scientific apparatus and $500 as a nu- cleus for a new building. At Sacramento, where he taught for ten years, In conjunction with C. H. Cum- mings, he was instrumental in having the beautiful Sacramento Grammar School erected. . “You must have witnessed a great rev- olution in methods of teaching in forty vears,” I sald, as I followed this pioneer pedagogue through his thirty-six class- rooms in the Lincoln Night School. & “Yes,” he sald, “things have changed mightily in school methods in the last forty years. The profession of school- teaching has kept abreast of the times and right in the line of progress with the other professions. ““The old method of teaching, though not so, attractive, still had some advantages over the new. Constant repetition fixed the facts in the minds, although the knowledge was more limited. Now the education of the young covers a larger area arnd the sturdy first principles are lost sight of. Little folks study botany before they know their multiplication tables. i “But this generation needs a different kind of education from the last. “The map is constantly changing and extensive reading only enables one to keep LINC oL TPGRT_OSCHOO0L PE -WRITING (i CLASS AT THRE For the Last Twentl Years Has Baen Principal cf the Lingeln Evening School With Tis Sixtegn Hundred Pupils. up with the times. The schools used to give a straight, stereotyped education. Now it s broader and more general. “I used to attend a geography class in the East, where we would sing off the countries of the world and thelr capital cities to a nasal tune, while the master kept time on the map with his pointer. ‘What a sight that would be in a modern school! “I found when I began to teach that to many of the pupills New York simply meant a black dot. They could draw beau- tiful maps, but they didn't mean any- thing. “The smartest boy in my geography class up at Dutch Flat always thought of California as green and Massachusetts as yellow, because they were so colored on the map of the United States that hung on the wall. “I asked him once where British Amer- fea v He answered, ‘It Is on page 63." T explained that that was merely a pic- ture of the countr; Then I asked hi to bound British America. ‘Can’t do it, sir. It is all over the page. “The present method of teaching geog- raphy encourages a lad to read of these countri their people, their history and their literature. “In spelling, I used to line my class ap In front of my desk and the words were spelled by syllable. It was often a race to see who could jabber the fastest with- out getting a thick tongue. To spell Con- stantinople would call forth an effort like this: C-o-n, con; s-t-a-n, stan, Censtan; ti, Constanti; n-o, no, Constantino; p-l-e, ple; Constantinople. “And a great change has come about In the writing, too.” ‘We were in the room where the foreign- ers learn to write English. The teacher was giving a writing lesson and they were copying the plain round letters. “We used to think that good writing meant fancy writing and a great deal of time was wasted getting spiral curves on the capital letters. The test of good writ- ing to-day is its legibility. The fancy curves take time and are confusing. We have cut them all out and we make each letter as severe and plain as possible.” There were four rooms of foreigners learning to read and write our language, 133 bookkeepers and a class of 152 plying the typewrlters. The basement is given over to a large class In architectural and mechanical drawing. The newsboys’ room is made up of little shavers who swear they are 14 but who don’t look a day over 10. But the law says one must be at least 14 to attend the evening school, so they accommodate their age to the law. A little chap that lives out at Sunnyside und sells papers down town eats his din- ner down town so he can be in time for school. He gets home at 10:30 p. m., but rain or shine he never misses a night. Many of the architectural drawers are carpenters in the day time. “This work enables me to understand the directicns on the plans better,” said one. “It helps me a lot with my work. I know what they are talking about. He was draw- ing the front and sideelevation of a eot- tage. “Some time I hope to be a master mechanic or a contractor or an architeet. I don’t know which just yet.”” The boy beside him was absorbed In ge! ting the exact angles on his page of doors and windows. Apprentices at the Unlon Iron Works and apprenticed boiler makers compose the mechanical drawing class. A ehecik valve, a head steck for a speed lathe, a cross scction of an engine, a gate valve, a bevel gear and pinion, a section of stone and brick work were criticised by the teacher a=d corrected by the busy work- ers. The bookkeepers get a sealed set of transactions every night. They don't know ahead any more than a business man knows what exchanges in merchar dise and money he will be called upon t make. They post their books, balance their accounts and count their specte coin that i hed as capital. Their ex > pression 1l whether v have struck a balar bankrupts look more puzzled than real bankrupts. The ssful ones look like conquerors. There is an and dogged de- tensen: termination about these faces that is typi- cal of th ht school—an ‘“‘every mo- ment counts” look, that is not in evi- he more le ¥, more aristo- nteresting as a lares Mr. McDonald. ‘cause I'm on she said regret- Those four yo are waiters here till late, Just coming in They can’t be come when they “I seldom go into a store, of ce or ware- house,” said Mr. MeD “without shaking hands with a mer pupil, and it is generally an official or one of the proprietors, for a lad that has grit enough to work by day afd study by night has the ability to rise above his mors pleas- ure-loving fel “As an example: A car conductor en- tered the fou de, went through the grammar course and was admitted to the medical college. He Is now one of our prominent physicians. “Another, looking into the office, was in- vited in. He was a Syrian from Damas-\ cus. He asked leave to enroll. He sald he had heard of the school only three nigkts previous, and it seemed too good to be true. He had prowled about for two nights. When he was satisfied that adults attended he mustered up courage. He made much progress and went away up in bis position. He speaks English well and Is an interpreter for his countrymen. He prevailed upon twenty of them to come to the night school. ““A seafarer, who came without his al- phabet, by Intense application read through three readers in nine months. At the end of that time he bade his teachers 800d-by and took his fourth reader on a voyage to the other side of ¢ atlon, to absorb its conte “A man from the Azores was well edu- cated in his own langus t on account of his ignorance of sh had to take a position as.a laborer in a brickyard. He came" to school, and I b never seen such an example of persistency. He was here when the « emed and was th last one to leave. He is now foreman of the brickyard.” Many of Mr. McDo their children to their girl who went to th her son, who th gr en route. or d's ex-pupils bring former teacher. A night sehool bri boy, and many a An teacher, “for ° of the grandchil- h near the n boundary line—Mount 0 metres in heig! 4949 and Mo latitude ude In 135 degrees of s s been called Mount McKinley. Its altitude is 6199 metres or 20,226 feet, and it will probably remain un- ed 1or many years owing to its re- moteness and to the inherent difficulties of the ascent,