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 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
U C 
 
DIARY 
 
 OF A 
 
 Western Schoolmaster 
 
 J K STABLETON 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 
 CHARLESTON ILL 
 
 J H MILLER Publisher 
 
 AINSWORTH & COMPANY 
 
 378-388 Wabash Avenue 
 Chicago III 
 
LB 1037 
 .S78f 
 
 I THE LIBRARY 6V 
 
 Two Copies Reosived 
 
 OCT. r?i 1902 
 
 0UAS8 ^ leCBT Mo 
 
 "i- I- "] - 1 
 COPY S. 
 
 Copyrighted 
 BY J. H. MILLER. 
 
 1900. 
 
 Becktold 
 
 Printing & Book Mfg. Co., 
 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction 5 
 
 Chapter I — Joe 11 
 
 II — Tim 19 
 
 III — Clark 31 
 
 IV — John 37 
 
 V — Tad 44 
 
 VI — Sam 48 
 
 VII — Mark 59 
 
 VIII — Dick 65 
 
 IX — Chap 71 
 
 X — Will 78 
 
 XI — Harry 82 
 
 XII — Tom 86 
 
 (3) 
 
CONTP]NTS. 
 
 XIII — Henry 93 
 
 XIV — George 99 
 
 XV — Nim 103 
 
 XVI — Nate 109 
 
 XVII — Al and Walter 120 
 
 XVIII — Wash 126 
 
 XIX — Rex 131 
 
 XX — Carl and Some Other Boys . 133 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 For the past fifteen years most of my time has 
 been given to teaching in schools where I have had 
 to deal with many boys from twelve to twenty years 
 of age, boys in the adolescent period of life. The 
 study of these boys has been full of interest to me ; 
 and while I have made no great discoveries, my 
 faith in boys has increased an hundredfold and my 
 respect and love for them has grown more and 
 more. 
 
 Not long ago I visited a school of bright young 
 people full to the brim, just as they should be, 
 with animal life and spirits ; but a glance told me 
 that for real educational work the school was a 
 failure. I was interested and at the close of the 
 session had a long talk with the teacher in charge. 
 It was an eighth and ninth grade room. How I 
 pitied those young people. The teacher told me 
 
 (5) 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 there was not a boy in the room but ought to be 
 sent to the State Reform School. He knew all their 
 bad points, hut had failed to discover their good 
 qualities. Again I pitied the young people. This 
 teacher (?) had been in charge of that school for 
 eight years, and all the time the boys had been 
 going to "the bad." The people said Mr. A. 
 was not much of a teacher, but such a good man 
 and his father-in-law was an influential man on the 
 board of education ; so Mr. A. held his position 
 year in and year out. 
 
 How many such persons are posing in our schools 
 to-day, who by their very goodness are blighting 
 the lives of the boys of the communities where they 
 are employed! Better far for the boys if these 
 persons could be i^ensioned outright and " living " 
 teachers put into their places ; teachers that have 
 unbounded faith in boys ; teachers that have re- 
 ceived a baptism of modern educational spirit and 
 believe it their duty to study the boys and the girls 
 even more carefully than their arithmetical problems. 
 
 Then, too, I have seen that other teacher, a 
 college graduate, holds a high grade certificate, 
 keeps perfect order, is said to be a fine disciplin- 
 arian, but the boys never pass beyond her room. 
 Where is the trouble? No one blames her, she is 
 an excellent teacher, so say the people. The fact 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 is she neither understands nor appreciates boys. 
 She is too exacting. Boys are loose-jointed at this 
 age, mentally and physically. She thinks they 
 ought to step with the same smoothness of move- 
 ment as girls ; they cannot do it, try they ever so 
 hard, and they do not know why. Their legs are 
 too long or something is wrong, and their hands are 
 only inconvenient appendages. Yet they walk after 
 a manner and use their hands after a manner, too. 
 Their blackboard work looks more like the work of 
 " scrawlers " than ever before, and the teacher 
 wonders why they are so careless. Did she but 
 recognize the fact that these boys are entering a 
 new state mentally and phj^sically, and that this un- 
 certainty of all they do is the uncertainty of their 
 new condition of life, instead of nagging them she 
 would smile and console herself with the thought 
 that soon, with a little patience on her part, they 
 would again become acquainted with themselves 
 and be able to do better than before. 
 
 The mechanical movement of this school is beau- 
 tiful to look at, but there is no soul in the work, no 
 longing on the part of the teacher to be help- 
 ful to those that so much need an uplifting 
 friend ; no careful study of the life of each boy, 
 mentally, jAysically, and socially, to be able to 
 reach the secret springs of action to call forth the 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 good ; but, on the other hand, the teacher is glad 
 when some real cause comes for a boy's dropping 
 out of school. I say real cause, for did not the 
 cause have semblance of reality she might lose her 
 position. But did you ever stop to consider how 
 very few are the real causes for boys leaving school 
 before they have received some good from the 
 higher grades ? This teacher does not cast a single 
 lasso of interest about the boys to bind them to 
 school, so they drift away. 
 
 With superintendents who are in close sympathy 
 with boys and are ardent students of boy life, and 
 the right kind of principals and of teachers in the 
 higher grades, our high schools would be full of 
 boys, and the girls, too, would still be there. It is 
 not a question of male or female teachers, but a 
 question as to who are such students of boy life as 
 to try to understand them in this evolutionary period 
 and to work in accord with the laws of their being. 
 
 This transitional period comes to all boys, but no 
 two are affected in exactly the same way. We 
 should not expect it. " Unity in variety " is the 
 law of nature as well in the physical and mental 
 development of boys as in the leaves and flowers of 
 the field. We may, to some extent, understand 
 " the unity," but " the variety " we must refer to 
 some probably unknown psjcho-i^hysiological cause, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 and not mistake it for the inspirations of the devil. 
 After fifteen years of work with boys, I am con- 
 vinced that His Satanic Majesty has but little in- 
 fluence over them at this age, and that when he does 
 the teacher is too often his chief executive. 
 
 That man or that woman who can look right into 
 a boy's heart and by a mere glance of the eye make 
 the boy feel that he or she is his friend, is a power. 
 I do not understand it all, but I do know that the 
 eye is a mighty instrument for good, probably be- 
 cause through it the soul of the teacher beams forth 
 in jDcrfect sympathy with the soul of the boy ; the 
 boy trusts ; and the teacher trusts, directs, and with 
 a strong hand controls. Yet, while there are 
 teachers that seem intuitively to understand boys 
 at this age, there is really less intuition than at first 
 appears. These teachers are students of child-life, 
 hour by hour, day by day, — yes, year by year, 
 they are studying the boys. Ask one of them about 
 some boy and you will be surprised to learn that 
 the teacher knows him in his environments, knows 
 him in his inherited tendencies, knows him in the 
 peculiar workings of his mind. 
 
 No greater blessing can come to a boy at this 
 age when he does not understand himself than to 
 have a good, strong teacher who understands him, 
 in part, at least, and has faith in him for the 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 unknown quantity, and is willing, day by day, 
 patiently, firmly yet kindly, to lead him till he is 
 able to walk alone. 
 
 The following sketches are from my own experi- 
 ence, not one fictitious character among them. If 
 they fail to reveal the spirit that should character- 
 ize school work, they are not worth the telling. 
 
 J. K. Stableton. 
 Charleston, Illinois. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 JOE 
 
 Some time ago while talking with a man of great 
 financial ability, a man who for a number of years 
 had been one of the leaders in every great financial 
 enteri3rise in his city, I was forcibly impressed by a 
 remark of his. 
 
 He said: "I have no education." "I gradu- 
 uated from our city high school, but my grades 
 were poor and I have not improved since." " I 
 don't know anything." I looked at him. Keen 
 financial sense, accurate judgment, wonderful 
 powers of concentration, and indomitable energy 
 were all his. I thought to myself : " You may not 
 Possess a literary or a scientific education, but you 
 are educated in no mean way ; by contact with peo- 
 ple and things you have gained an education that is 
 
 (11) 
 
12 DIARY OF A 
 
 no more one-sided than that possessed by many who 
 pose as scholars." 
 
 The man who has learned much and learned it 
 well, in the laboratory of real life, has an educa- 
 tion not to be despised. That business training 
 gives mental strength must be recognized in dealing 
 with those young persons who have been out of 
 school a year or two, regularly employed in busi- 
 ness of some kind, and who wish to enter school 
 again. The mental strength may not be in just the 
 same line that school develops ; possibly different 
 brain cells are brought into activity or the activity 
 may be of a very different kind from that induced 
 by school work. 
 
 I am more than half inclined to believe that we 
 are unfair when we make so much of manual train- 
 ing and laboratory work in school — and I think we 
 do not overestimate the value of these — when we 
 magnify that training and minify the training re- 
 ceived in the shop, the office, and the store, the lab- 
 oratories of business life. 
 
 If, as is now said, school is not a training /or life 
 but a training in life, we as teachers must more 
 generally recognize the fact that valuable mental 
 training may be acquired outside of the school 
 room, and when young people wish to re-enter 
 school, use common sense and place them where 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 13 
 
 they riglitly belong. Too often they are sacrificed 
 to a false idea of " keeping up the grade of the high 
 school." 
 
 Joe was a messenger boy and general " roust- 
 about ' ' at the town depot ; delivered messages ; 
 took the mail bags in a hand cart to and from 
 the depot; cleaned and filled the depot lamps; 
 in cold weather kept the fires going ; in fact, did 
 all the odd jobs that in such places always fall to 
 the willing worker. 
 
 He was about fourteen years of age, and of 
 such size that the cart filled high with mail bags 
 almost hid him from view. His soot-begrimed 
 face was overshadowed by a full forehead across 
 which were two or three deep wrinkles that gave him 
 an old look. His brow was generally crowned with 
 a rimless crown, or acrownlessrim, owing to which 
 had been left him in his last encounter. His prom- 
 inent nose and cheek bones were more than off-set 
 by a pair of black eyes that hghted up his whole 
 countenance or snapped fire like flint if the occasion 
 demanded battle. He was so bright and quick 
 that the men about the depot were continually 
 pinching him, and punching him in the ribs, or in 
 some way tormenting him just to see him fight back. 
 I always speak to boys, so when I met Joe at the 
 depot I spoke to him, and we were soon acquainted. 
 
14 DIARY OF A 
 
 He had been out of school more than a year when I 
 first met him. All this time he had been employed 
 there and was considered by the agent in charge the 
 most capable and trustworthy boy ever in his serv- 
 ice. Joe's mother was a widow and it was neces- 
 sary at this time for him to help make his own 
 living. 
 
 One evening I was standing on the depot platform 
 when Joe came up to me and said : " You are going 
 to have exercises at the high school to-morrow ; the 
 boys have been telling me about them." There 
 was a wistful look in his face as I replied: " Yes, 
 can't you come up and hear them ? We would be 
 glad to have you visit us." "I'd like to hear 
 them, but I'm afraid I can't leave here," said he. 
 
 Then his eyes beamed forth as if he were think- 
 ing of the dearest scheme of his life, and looking 
 me full in the face he said: " O, but I'd like to go 
 to your school." 
 
 " And I'd like to have you in our school," I 
 rephed. 
 
 " I can't go now, but maybe I can some day," 
 continued he. 
 
 We talked a few moments longer, then I returned 
 home thinking what a pity it was that Joe could 
 not be in school. 
 
 This was in November. In January I was out 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 15 
 
 of town a few days, and when I returned home the 
 principal of the high school told me that Joe had 
 come to school the day before, and, instead of go- 
 ing to the seventh grade or the eighth to finish his 
 work there, had asked to be permitted to sit in the 
 high school until I should return, saying that he 
 believed I would let him enter the high school. 
 His class that he had dropped out of in the seventh 
 grade was now the first year class in the high 
 school doing ninth grade work. 
 
 The principal was somewhat amused at the boy 
 but permitted him to wait to talk with me about 
 his work. Joe made known his wish to me. I 
 asked him if he thought he could do the work. 
 " I'm sure I can; I've been trying it," said he. 
 *' O, but I'll work if you will let me stay in here." 
 
 I looked at his intelligent face. I thought of his 
 business record at the depot, and of his ability to 
 work ; that he was strong physically and quick 
 mentally so that he would not be injured by a little 
 extra work. I told him that he might try it ; that 
 I, too, believed he could do the work ; that it all 
 depended on himself whether or not he remained in 
 the high school. There was no question in my mind 
 about his holding his place. I knew he could do it. 
 
 A few weeks after he had entered the class, one 
 of the boys made the remark at home that he did 
 
16 DIAKY OF A 
 
 not think it fair that Joe had been permitted to go 
 into the same class he was in when he left school, 
 after being out more than a year. " Does he do 
 the work?" asked the boy's father. "Yes, he 
 does it as well as any one in the class," replied the 
 boy. " Then he is just where he should be," said 
 the father, who was not only a well educated man 
 in the school sense of the term, but also a man of 
 fine business ability. 
 
 Joe completed the high school course and grad- 
 uated, one of the best scholars in his class. He is 
 to-day a prosperous young businessman. Had I 
 placed him in either the seventh grade or the eighth, 
 I fear he would have made life a burden to his 
 teacher, and, possibly, yes, I would better say 
 probably, would have dropped out of the school 
 again within a few months. 
 
 There are many boys who have been out of school 
 a year or two who would gladly avail themselves of 
 our high school privileges were it not for the fear of 
 being placed too far back in the grades to make up 
 work before being permitted to try the higher studies. 
 
 Some of these boys have been compelled by home 
 duties to leave school to work ; others, boylike, 
 have been seized with a passion for making money, 
 and, after two or three years of steady business, 
 realize their need of more thorough school training ; 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. ' 17 
 
 yet only a few of these enter the high school. Most 
 of them that enter school again go to some private 
 school or academy, where they are given a chance 
 to try what they can do without basing everything 
 on the amount of school work they have already 
 done ; schools where their maturity of mind is taken 
 into consideration ; schools where their ability to do 
 is recognized whether it comes from training in 
 school, work-shop, office, or store. 
 
 Our public high schools owe more to these young 
 people than they ordinarily give them ; and we 
 superintendents and high school principals ought to 
 consider it a part of our business to become 
 acquainted with all such young persons in our midst 
 and to bring them into our schools. We need not 
 fear their lowering our standard of scholarship. 
 
 In many cases the parents of these boys are not 
 capable of counseling with them, and after they 
 are out of school a year or two they lose touch with 
 their teachers, so that when they begin to feel that 
 they are short in their preparation, they have no one 
 with whom to advise, and so drift on. 
 
 If, however, the high school principal or the 
 superintendent, comes into contact with these young- 
 people, and shows an interest in them, he can easily 
 advise them of the possibilities the high school 
 brings within their reach. 
 
18 DIARY OF A 
 
 Thus many of them can be given an uplift that 
 will place them in a world of new activities. But 
 this can only be where we follow a sensible plan in 
 adjusting them to their places in school, Ability 
 to do, and 7iot " What grade work have you done," 
 must be their test for entrance to the high school. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 TIM 
 
 I remember first seeing Tim, a boy ten years of 
 age, just ready to shed his knee pants, a beautiful 
 boy to look at, and with a spring in his movement 
 that so attracted my attention that I turned around 
 to give him a second glance. 
 
 He was in the seventh grade, and from almost 
 the first day manifested an unruly disposition. 
 His idea seemed to be that no one should control 
 him. He had been elsewhere to school, and was 
 familiar with most of the mean little ways of annoy- 
 ing a teacher and disturbing the school. He began 
 by telling the boys that his teacher did not dare to 
 whip him ; that she would better not touch him, 
 and continued in this way until it became evident 
 that unless he showed a different spirit he could 
 not long be tolerated in the school. When he 
 
 (19) 
 
20 DIARY OF A 
 
 made a disturbance, if his teacher spoke to him, he 
 would fly into a violent passion, and become very 
 disagreeable to deal with. 
 
 I talked with his teacher about him and finally 
 decided that probably the best thing for him and all 
 concerned would be to give him a strapping. 
 
 His mother said, " I can do nothing with him at 
 home, if you can make anything out of him, do it, 
 and use your own judgment as to the means 3'ou 
 employ." I studied his case until I felt confident 
 that physical pain would have a very beneficial 
 effect on him. 
 
 A few days after I came to this conclusion, the 
 seventh and eighth grades were passed into the 
 high school room to spend an hour. As they were 
 returning to their respective rooms Tim created dis- 
 order in the ranks by interfering with those in front 
 of him. I at once stepped up to him and hurried 
 him into an office at the end of the hall. He 
 fought, tried to bite, screamed, threatened, and 
 dared me to punish him. His face was pale with 
 rage, and he seemed like one crazed with anger. I 
 held him until he had spent his force in fighting, 
 and then strapped him. That brought him to his 
 senses and he quieted down. We had no more 
 trouble with him for some time. 
 
 After this I was always careful to be as pieasant 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 21 
 
 with him as though we had had no trouble ; and he 
 was polite and gentlemanly toward me. Still his 
 old disposition was there, restrained only by fear of 
 another strapping. For two years we held him in 
 this way, once in a great while having to punish 
 him. 
 
 He was quick to learn, in fact, talented, but all 
 ordinary means failed to awaken the rigbt spirit in 
 him, and the fear of bodily pain alone held him 
 back from being unbearable in school. 
 
 Out of school, he was rough, but very nidustri- 
 ous, always busy at something. This industry was 
 a good quality, yet his language and manners were 
 such that very few had much use for him. My only 
 hope for him was that by holding him in school, the 
 regular work of the school and the discipline would 
 " in time establish in him better habits of living and 
 thinking. 
 
 Had we sent him away from school, or to the 
 state reformatory, no one would have found fault ; 
 but I felt then as I feel now, that the public schools 
 are not only for those of regular habits, but also to 
 help those that most need help. 
 
 Tim passed from the eighth to the ninth grade, 
 and was now under the care of another teacher, one 
 of the best I have ever known for most scholars, but 
 too sympathetic and tender for this boy. She was 
 
22 DIARY OF A 
 
 sure when the term opened that she could so win 
 him that he would cease to be as he had been and 
 become a pleasure. I was not so confident but 
 said nothing to lessen her interest in him. Every- 
 thing went well for a time, but only for a time, then 
 he began to try her. She worked hard to get along 
 with him, and did more than teachers would ordi- 
 narily do to make him feel her interest in him, but 
 to no purpose. 
 
 One day, a few minutes before the noon nour, 
 she said she would like me to be near at noon as 
 Tim had remained out of the room over time and, 
 from his actions, he was doing so just to annoy her 
 and assert himself ; that she intended to detain him 
 a few minutes after school to finish the work he 
 was escaping by remaining out over time. 
 
 At noon she asked me to please come to her 
 room ; then, in the presence of the boy, she explained 
 the situation. 
 
 Tim stood at the blackboard in a violent passion, 
 a deathly pallor on his face, and, instead of writing 
 the work neatly on the board, was scraping and 
 marking just to give vent to his anger. I spoke to 
 him and requested him to place the work on the 
 board as directed. 
 
 He snarled and said that he would not do it ; 
 that he was going home, and that no one could 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 23 
 
 make him do it. I stepped up to him, caught his 
 hands in mine, and holding him in front of me with 
 his back toward me, asked the janitor, who was 
 near, to open the office door and get me the strap. 
 Tim kicked at me, bit at me, and raved in words it 
 would be out of place to mention here. 
 
 I held him, as I had done on a former occasion, 
 until he had tired himself out raving and fighting, 
 then I applied the strap. I used it severely, but 
 not brutally. He became tired of it and said, " If 
 you will quit, I will do any thing you want." I 
 asked him if he could and would go to his room and 
 place the work on the board as his teacher had di- 
 rected him. He replied that he would do it ; and 
 he did it. This was the last conflict we had with 
 him. 
 
 The next year he was under the care of still 
 another teacher. I feared she would have trouble 
 with him, but she did not. His former teacher had 
 been too sympathetic with him, had appreciated his 
 good points, and had let him know it. He could 
 not stand this. He had not yet reached the stage 
 where it was safe to let him know that his good 
 qualities were appreciated. The teacher who now 
 had charge of him knew every good characteristic, 
 and also knew that he was too weak to be treated 
 with anything but rigid justice ; that no expression 
 
24 DIARY OF A 
 
 of interest or sympathy could be given ; that he 
 must be held strictly to his work. She had no 
 trouble with him, or nothing of a serious character. 
 
 One day, while at the black board, he placed a 
 piece of chalk on the floor and crushed it beneath 
 his feet. The teacher saw the act and quietly told 
 him to take an eraser and a piece of paper and clean 
 up the dirt he had made. He looked a moment, but 
 there was no uncertainty in the eye of the teacher, 
 so he obeyed. Without any one else's knowing 
 it, she detained him a moment at noon and told him 
 never to let such a thing occur again. This was 
 the only trouble that, in three years, came between 
 them. He became one of the most trusty boys in 
 the high school. 
 
 Up to this time it had seemed a question as to 
 how he might finally shape his course, but now we 
 had great hopes of him. Patrons of the school 
 often remarked that their children said Tim had 
 become one of the best boys of the school. All 
 knew what he had been, and in reply I could 
 truthfully say, '' Yes, he is one of the best." 
 
 At the end of this year it was necessary for him 
 to stop out a year to work. He told me what he 
 was compelled to do, but said that he could not give 
 up the idea of some day finishing his high school 
 course. He was sorry to leave his class, and we 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 25 
 
 were sorry to have him leave. There was no dan- 
 ger now in letting him know he was appreciated ; it 
 did him good. 
 
 He went to his work, but he was not forgotten. 
 During the yem, when his class was invited to my 
 home to spend an evening, Tim was remembered. 
 If anything of unusual interest was going on at the 
 school he was invited over for the afternoon. Often 
 he would come of his own accord to my home to 
 spend an evening. Thus the bond of sympathy was 
 strengthened and his interest in the school was 
 maintained. 
 
 The following September Tim waa in his place, 
 but with another class. He was so happy to get 
 into school asjain that he lost no time in lamentiuo: 
 the fact that he was entering a class that was once 
 below him. 
 
 What a pleasure he was this year! His mind, 
 always bright and active, seemed more alert than 
 ever. 
 
 Now and then he could have a day or two of 
 work in an office, and he was always excused for 
 it. There was no danger of his losing anything ex- 
 cept the class instruction, and the work gave him 
 the means to keep himself neatly clad. He never 
 failed to prepare the lessons he missed, and was 
 ready to recite them whenever his teachers wished 
 
^ 
 
 26 DIARY OF A 
 
 to hear him. Often when he knew he could have 
 work, he would prepare his school lessons in ad- 
 vance, and at the close of school in the evening 
 would say that he would like to be excused the next 
 day as he had work, and that he had prepared the 
 advance lessons and would recite them before going 
 home if his teachers preferred. 
 
 Thus a year passed without a break on Tim's 
 part, and no one now thought of his doing anything 
 but what was strictly right. His standing in the 
 high school was as good as the best, and outside of 
 school his conduct was no longer what it had been ; 
 he was a gentleman. At home his mother said he 
 was like a different boy, and his people were very 
 proud of him. 
 
 Thus he continued till within a year of graduat- 
 ting when the summer brought new conditions. 
 The drouth blighted the crops, and the financial 
 stringency of the times made those who had not 
 other resources than their daily income from labor, 
 wonder how the demands of the coming year were 
 to be met. Tim's parents felt the i^roblem was one 
 they needed to consider, and after talking and 
 planning as best they could, they could see no 
 other way than for Tim to drop out of school and 
 work. This seemed more than he could well stand. 
 He could not help it, but broke down and cried. 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 27 
 
 His mother cried too, then she said he should go to 
 school ; they would manage someway ; that come 
 what would he should finish his high school course 
 that year. 
 
 This last year he passed in a most satisfactory 
 manner and graduated in June, respected by his 
 teachers, fellow-classmates, and the people of the 
 community. 
 
 I knew his family and connections well. His 
 mother was an excellent woman, and at the time I 
 first became acquainted with the family was living 
 with her second husband, Tim's step-father. I 
 also knew his mother's father and brothers. Her 
 father was a man of more than ordinary intellectual 
 ability, but strongly passionate, and until late in 
 life had made use of intoxicants. His sons, Tim's 
 uncles, were much like their father. One of them, 
 when in a passion, was a desperate man ; as a result 
 of his wrong-doing he had served two terms in the 
 State penitentiary. Another had an almost equally 
 quick temper, but ordinarily was a kindhearted 
 man, yet a man whom it was not best to make 
 angry. That same tendency to fly into a passion 
 that at first was so noticeable in Tim was char- 
 acteristic of his uncles, and had interfered much 
 with their best interests in life. 
 
 Since Tim o^raduated he has been an industrious, 
 
28 DIARY OF A 
 
 trustworthy young man, respected and honored by 
 all. 
 
 A little incident that occurred two years after he 
 graduated throws some light on his own views of 
 himself. It was nearing the close of the school 
 year and the high school alumni were preparing for 
 their annual meeting. The committee on program 
 had assigned Tim a place as one of the speakers. 
 As he had been teaching, the committee requested 
 that he would relate some of his experiences with 
 corporal punishment. He was witty, and the com- 
 mittee hoped to hear something funny ; but imme- 
 diately on receipt of the notice of his subject Tim 
 called at my home and asked me if I thought the 
 committee remembered what a time he himself had 
 had when I first came to superintend their school. 
 " For," said he, " you had to punish me as you did 
 to bring me to my senses, and it was a blessing to 
 me. You did the right thing, but I do not like 
 even to think how I was at that time, so I believe I 
 will ask for another subject that will recall nothing 
 but pleasant memories." 
 
 I had learned that in rare cases physical pain 
 would bring a boy to his senses when too angry to 
 stop to reason. I tried this on Tim and found it 
 true with him. After I made this discovery I con- 
 sidered his case in this way. He had probably in- 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 29 
 
 herited a tendency to fly into a passion and had 
 been permitted to do much as he pleased. His 
 street education had also been against him. He 
 had a fine intellect, possessed unusual power to 
 concentrate his mind, and was very industrious. 
 He was now at the critical period in life when he 
 was more apt to give way to anger than at any 
 other time. If by any means we could control the 
 objectionable features in him and at the same time 
 develop his intellect and cultivate his better nature, 
 his better self would gain the ascendency, he would 
 learn to govern his temper, and make a valuable 
 citizen. But, if left as he was, he would be ruled 
 by the play of passion and possibly become a worth- 
 less member of society. I asked myself the question 
 whether it were not better for me once in a while 
 to give him a severe strapping and thus make it 
 possible for him to be under the educating influence 
 of the school, rather than to send him out into the 
 street, or perhaps to the vState reformatory. 
 
 I answered it thus : there might be, and doubt- 
 less was, something other than corporal punishment 
 that would bring about the desired result, but I had 
 not been able to find it, and it was my duty to ad- 
 minister that which I knew would be helpful to the 
 patient. This is the spirit in which I resorted to 
 corporal punishment. 
 
30 DIARY OF A 
 
 From this short sketch of Tim and our work 
 with him you cannot easily see how much thought 
 was given to his case. I studied him from every 
 possible standpoint. I have given you only a 
 faint conception of the facts as they actually were. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CLARK 
 
 In the year 1885 I was elected principal of a de- 
 nominational school in one of the Western States. 
 In this position the management of the boys fell 
 largely to me. 
 
 Among the boys that entered the fall term of 188-, 
 was Clark, about fifteen years of age, short, heavy- 
 set, with a round face, thick lips, a big mouth 
 easily set into a grin, large, dark brown eyes, a 
 heavy suit of jet black hair, and at first a rather 
 pert manner in his general make-up. While his 
 features were none too regular, a kind word or some 
 little attention brought a bright light into his eyes 
 and his whole face beamed in a happy smile. 
 
 Clark was in the lower classes, so that it was some 
 time before I became much acquainted with him. 
 On Halloween night a number of the boys engaged 
 
 (31) 
 
32 DIARY OF A 
 
 in some sport which it became necessary for me to 
 consider the following day ; and in straightening up 
 the affair, I had private talks with a number of 
 them. Clark was a visitor at my office. He came 
 to see me just after noon and was much excited and 
 very uneasy. I soon found he had done noth- 
 ing to which I could object. He cried as if his 
 heart would break, and said that if his uncle who 
 had sent him there should hear of his having been 
 up before me for disorderly conduct he would be 
 taken home. That evening, after I was through 
 with my work, I called at the house where Clark 
 was boarding and invited him to take a walk with 
 me. 
 
 As we walked along he told me the story of his 
 life. This was what I desired to know. His 
 father and mother had died within a few months of 
 each other, leaving three small boys. Clark, then 
 five years of age, was the oldest. There was but 
 little property, so the boys were left to the care of 
 relations. The youngest was taken by a grand- 
 mother to another State ; the two older ones fell to 
 an uncle, who gave them a home, or rather a place 
 to stay, but his manner toward them was such that 
 the younger had gone, they knew not where. 
 Clark feared his uncle very much, and said that if 
 he did wrong his uncle punished him severely ; if 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 33 
 
 he did right there was never an encouraging word. 
 This and much more he told me of himself, his 
 home, and his people. I have become acquainted 
 with his people since then, and know he told me 
 the truth. 
 
 While talking with him I was careful as to what 
 I said. I advised him to look at the other side. 
 Boys often get such notions into their heads when 
 the facts are exactly opposite ; then, too, a poor 
 home was better for him than no home at all, and 
 his uncle had manifested some interest in him or he 
 would not have given him the opportunity to attend 
 school. 
 
 He told me farther that he and the principal of 
 the local school could not get along together ; and 
 as his uncle wished to be away from home for some 
 months he had sent him to us to be cared for. 
 Thus we talked together for an hour, of his home, 
 his people, his conduct at the home school, of what 
 was expected of him with us, of the friends he 
 would have in the teachers ; and when we parted, I 
 knew I could help the boy to a better life, and his 
 happy manner told me he felt that I was his friend. 
 
 He was with us three years ; he was not always 
 perfect in his conduct, but he was always true. 
 He was a jolly-hearted, high-spirited boy and some- 
 times made little ' • breaks ; ' ' but his intentions 
 3 
 
34 DIARY OF A 
 
 were always good. He trusted me implicitly and 
 made me his confidant in all things. I trusted him 
 also, and the bond of friendship between us became 
 very strong. 
 
 Once the woman with whom he boarded called to 
 tell me she could not keep him longer as he was too 
 disorderly, too loud, and she thought he ought to 
 be sent home. I listened patiently to what she 
 said and promised to talk with him. 
 
 I knew he was not intentionally disorderly, but 
 so full of life it was hard for him to keep himself 
 within bounds. He was in good health, very 
 strong physically, and of an impulsive, hilarious 
 make-up, and just at the age when he was least 
 able to control himself, and I did not wonder that 
 his Boise was sometimes more than the woman could 
 silently endure. 
 
 I told him of -the complaint, at the same time 
 explaining what I thought of his conduct, and re- 
 quested that in the future he take care to give vent 
 to his effervescing spirit out of doors, and not allow 
 his fun to disturb others in the same house. There 
 were no more complaints. 
 
 When I became acquainted with Clark's uncle, I 
 saw the secret of his trouble with the boy. The 
 uncle intended to do right by him, but was a man 
 born with a narrow, selfish soul, that could not well 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 35 
 
 take into his affections anyone beyond his own 
 family ; and while he gave Clark a place to stay and 
 looked after him quite closely, his heart was sealed 
 against the boy, and the boy was starving for love 
 and S3mipathy. Clark was impulsive and warm- 
 hearted, an affectionate boy that could scarcely 
 live without an intimate friend. The uncle failed 
 because he withheld the one thing the boy needed. 
 
 At the end of three years Clark dropped out of 
 school and went to one of our large cities to earn 
 his living. The little money left him had been used 
 in sending him to school and now he must try life 
 for himself. He had secured a position through a 
 friend, but knew no one in the city. I felt anxious 
 about him, and during the first six months I wrote 
 him regularly once a week. I knew he needed a 
 friend, and in return he told me all his little " ups 
 and downs " that mean so much to a lonely boy. 
 Then as he had become somewhat acquainted, I 
 wrote less often ; but to-day, after ten years have 
 passed, the letters still come and go. He is a pros- 
 perous young business man in that city and the 
 bond of friendship between us is as strong as ever. 
 
 Do not think I take the credit of Clark's doing 
 well to myself ; far from it. There was good in the 
 boy. I did my best for him at a time when he 
 needed a friend. Sympathy, firmness, and honest 
 
36 DIARY OF A 
 
 dealing will do much to help a warm-hearted, im- 
 pulsive boy, who can so easily go astray, across the 
 uncertain age to good, strong manhood. 
 
 It pays to study a boy, to know him as he does 
 not know himself. I admit it takes time ; but he 
 whose soul is imbued with the spirit of the Great 
 Teacher will find time for the work. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 JOHN 
 
 In September 188-, John entered our school, 
 a Western denominational school. He was fifteen 
 years of age, of medium height, a slender but well 
 formed body, rosy cheeks, a peculiar dark, almost 
 black eye, and jet black hair always nicely kept. 
 At first sight he was called a fine-looking boy, in 
 fact, rather handsome ; but to me there was some- 
 thing strange in his walk that seemed to indicate a 
 weak trait in his character. As he walked he car- 
 ried his head slightly forward ; this with a certain 
 vibration of the body gave me the impression of the 
 sinuous movement of a snake. 
 
 He seemed to enjoy school and did good work ; 
 was bright and quick at learning, gentlemanly and 
 attentive : his conduct was all that could be 
 desired. 
 
 (37) 
 
38 DIARY OF A 
 
 Soon, however, I heard some of the boys remark 
 that John was the biggest Uar in the school ; but it 
 was a number of weeks before anything came to me 
 by which I could judge for myself. 
 
 One morning about the eighth week of the term, 
 he failed to put in an appearance at his classes and 
 sent me word by one of the students that he had 
 mumps. I did not think he was sick and sent him 
 word to be at my office at the close of school in the 
 afternoon. 
 
 It happened that I was called away from my 
 office just before school closed that afternoon and 
 when I returned, the president informed me that 
 John had been in to see me and that he was badly 
 stiffened up with mumps. 
 
 I asked if he examined John to see if he really 
 had mumps. 
 
 He replied that he had made no examination but 
 took it for granted as the boy was well wrapped up 
 about the neck and face. 
 
 I was still of the opinion that he was playing off 
 so sent him word to call at my office before school 
 the next morning. He came, stiff-necked and a 
 big scarf coiled round and round his neck and 
 face. I unwrapped him, straightened up his head, 
 told him be was cured and that he could remain for 
 the morning work. 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 39 
 
 He was completely taken by surprise, not expect- 
 ing anything of the kind. I asked him why he had 
 done as he had ; what his object was. He replied 
 that he wanted to be out of school a few days and 
 took that plan. He looked me straight in the eye, 
 his eyes slightly squinting and said, •" I lied about 
 it and don't know why." 
 
 I talked with him, not a long lecture, but a few 
 words to try to find something on which to work, to 
 make an impression ; but found nothing. 
 
 He never disagreed with an^i:hing that was said 
 and was always sure that he would not do so again, 
 but the very next occasion he was as untruthful as 
 ever. Still he was kind-hearted, obliging, and 
 possessed many good qualities. 
 
 At Christmas we were tempted to send him home 
 to stay ; his class work was good but his word could 
 not be depended on and we had about given up 
 hope of correcting him in this respect; finally, 
 however, we decided to try him till the close of 
 the year. He came back and remained with us to 
 the close of the year in June. 
 
 As I knew him better and studied him more 
 closely, I found he never hesitated to tell an un- 
 truth even when discovery was certain. There was 
 something really pitiful about him in his untruthful- 
 ness, a helplessness that was hard to understand. 
 
40 DAIRY OF A 
 
 When talking with the bo3^s he was untruthful with- 
 out knowing it, but sometimes his words showed 
 considerable j^lanning. 
 
 In the afternoon of Decoration day of that year, 
 I was just leaving the cemetery to go to a friend's 
 when one of the boys came to me to know if I had 
 seen John, saying that John had received a letter 
 to come home at once as his aunt Carrie was dead. 
 I asked the boy if he had seen the letter. He said 
 that he had or he would not believe it. 
 
 When I returned to the college, John met me at 
 some distance from the building, the corners of his 
 mouth drawn down, his eyes full of tears, and told 
 me that his aunt Carrie was dead and handed me 
 the letter. I invited him into my office, then read 
 the letter. It was as follows : — 
 
 " Dear John, your aunt Carrie died in Washing- 
 ton last week ; will be buried here Thursday. Tell 
 Prof. Stableton to send you home on the first train. 
 " Your Uncle Charley." 
 
 After reading the letter I looked at John and told 
 him that he had written the letter. It was not his 
 handwriting, but I felt without question that it was 
 his own work. He rose to his feet, so indignant 
 that he could scarcely control himself, and asked 
 me if I thought he would be so little as to write that 
 letter. 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 41 
 
 I told him that I thought he wrote it, aud in the 
 morning would send a telegram to his uncle and 
 prove that I was right. He said, " All right. Pro- 
 fessor, do it, aud you will find I am telling you the 
 truth this time." 
 
 I requested him to call at my office early the next 
 morning to go with me to send the telegram. 
 
 The president said he thought I ought to send the 
 boy home at once. 
 
 I said "Never," that if his people would put 
 such a boy into my hands and then write him 
 instead of writing me, he could not go home, no 
 difference who was dead ; that I knew they would 
 write me, and that it must be the boy's own work. 
 
 The next morning John was on hand. I asked 
 him to bring the horse and buggy from the barn 
 and call me at the office window. In a few moments 
 he drove up and we started for town. As we were 
 driving along I inquired of him which one of the 
 men in the post office had given him the letter. 
 
 He told me, adding, "Professor, you will find 
 that I am telling the truth this time." 
 
 I almost wavered in my opinion and said that we 
 would go to the post office first. I left him in the 
 buggy, and went into the post office. No letter 
 had been given him. I returned to the buggy. 
 
42 DIARY OF A 
 
 and as we started off I said, " John, where were 
 you when you wrote that letter ? ' ' 
 
 He rephed, " I was in my room." 
 
 " What made you do it? " I inquired. 
 
 He answered, " The Devil." 
 
 Then I said, " I think he did," and we drove 
 back to school. 
 
 He seemed greatly relieved and went right to 
 work. I did not punish him, — said but few more 
 words than I have given above. I had done all 
 that I could to help him, but to no avail, and knew 
 that no words of mine could make an impression on 
 him at that time. 
 
 As he had told a number of the students they 
 didn't cease until the end of the year to inquire of 
 him about the funeral. When the year closed, he 
 left us to return no more. 
 
 The next I heard of him he was in the state 
 reform school ; at the present time he is serving a 
 term in the state penitentiary. 
 
 These facts concerning his people I gathered ; his 
 mother was a cultured. Christian woman and her 
 people were of like character ; his father, a man of 
 moral worth, and of high standing in his commu- 
 nit}^, died when John was a small child. After his 
 father's death John fell to the care of his mother 
 and an uncle who give him his way in everything. 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 43 
 
 Even before his father's death he was a petted 
 child whose every whim was humored as he was 
 thought very bright. His father left him well 
 provided for financially. 
 
 While I do not think that I did him any good, I 
 did hold him in check for one year, and outwitted 
 him in almost every instance. This was all I was 
 capable of doing and it required no little tact. I 
 admit failure in his case. I have studied him very 
 closely and compared him with many others since 
 then and have one or two possible solutions that I 
 might offer but will not. I have given the facts as 
 I observed them. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 TAD 
 
 I have always taught in co-educational schools 
 and know how great care must be exercised on the 
 part of the teacher, and how necessary a perfect 
 confidence between scholars and teacher is, in order 
 that there may be nothing but what is proper in the 
 daily mingling of the sexes at the age when the 
 sexual passions are developing. 
 
 That some boys and girls "fall in love," so to 
 speak, is just as natural as that children exposed 
 to the measles take the disease. The problem that 
 concerns the teacher is how to nurse them through 
 the sickness. 
 
 Whenever I see boys or girls physically developed 
 
 beyond their years, yet mentally backward, I feel 
 
 that they must be carefully guarded for a few 
 
 years until their minds catch up with their bodies. 
 
 (44) 
 
AVESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 45 
 
 Sometimes it happens, even where the mind develops 
 equally with the body, that the young people have 
 received a physical inheritance which makes them 
 extremely susceptible to the influence of the opposite 
 sex. With these two classes teachers need to keep 
 in touch. They are not evil in that they are so 
 easily affected by the opposite sex, but may easily 
 be led into wrong and must be protected. 
 
 If the teacher holds the full confidence of the 
 boys and fully comprehends the situation, they will 
 pass through the experience in safety ; the same is 
 true of the girls. I have never in all my teaching, 
 found a case of ' ' falling in love ' ' that any ordinary 
 so-called school discipline could cure. 
 
 Tad was almost seventeen years of age when he 
 entered our school, a denominational academy. He 
 was the son of a Methodist minister. His sister, 
 two years younger, entered school at the same time. 
 Tad had always been accustomed to the society of 
 young people so it was no new thing for him to 
 meet young girls and be in their company. 
 
 He was always ready with his work and was 
 pleasant though quiet in his manner. He had been 
 in school only a few weeks when I noticed that a 
 certain young girl seemed the center of attraction 
 to him ; but I thought it would be a thing of short 
 duration and probably not take his mind from his 
 
46 DIARY OF A 
 
 work. I was mistaken ; to use Samantha Allen's 
 expression : ' ' Love had come to him and it was 
 going hard with him," so hard with him that he 
 was falling short in his work. I knew him too 
 well to sa}^ much to him, but waited. I felt sure a 
 change would come soon. 
 
 In the meantime his sister wrote home that Tad 
 was so interested in one of the girls that he could 
 not study. The father wrote Tad a severe letter 
 condemning him for letting the girl take his atten- 
 tion. This enraged Tad. He wrote his father a 
 sharp reply, then called at my office and told me all 
 that had occurred. He was deeply in earnest ; 
 said that his father had no right to send him such 
 a letter, that he loved the girl and intended to marry 
 her some day. 
 
 Now was my time. I asked him if he wanted to 
 marry her right away. 
 
 He said : " No ; but some day." 
 
 " Some day you will be of age, then no one can 
 hinder you from marrying her," said I, and added : 
 " For the past month you have been losing ground 
 on account of this affair ; it is time you quit worry- 
 ing and go to work ; you must fit yourself to take 
 care of her when you do marry her." I told him 
 to love her all he wanted to but to be a man and 
 not a foolish boy. 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 47 
 
 This relieved him. He soon settled down to 
 work and before the end of the year he had ceased 
 to care for her and she no longer cared for him. 
 
 All this time we guarded them carefully that they 
 might not be placed in any uncertain relations, but 
 did nothing that they could interpret as an attempt 
 to break their friendship. 
 
 Had I bitterly opposed the boy or openly or 
 privately upbraided him, there would have been no 
 confidence between us, and under such conditions 
 I should not wish to be responsible for results. 
 While vigilance is necessary, no amount of vigi- 
 lance will make up for a want of confidence. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 SAM 
 
 Sam was thirteen years of age when his people 
 moved to our town and he presented himself for 
 admission to school. He was very large for his age, 
 with a well-formed body, good shapely head, light 
 brown hair, honest gray eyes, and a face set in a 
 continual grin. The grin was the weakest appear- 
 ing thing about him. As I became acquainted with 
 him, by talking with him, watching him, and con- 
 ferring with his teacher about him, I learned that 
 Sam was a boy with almost a man's body, but with 
 a child's intellect. 
 
 His father and mother, his older brother and 
 
 sister were excellent people. But within only a 
 
 few weeks after coming to town he had established a 
 
 reputation as the loudest boy on the streets, a wild, 
 
 (48) 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 49 
 
 " harum-scarem " tough, whooping and yelling 
 whenever opportunity presented itself. He thus 
 lost the respect of the community and was given a 
 standing in accord with his conduct. He was so 
 boisterous and loud at times on the streets that many 
 believed him half crazy. 
 
 At school the conditions were unfortunate alike 
 for Sam and his teacher. She had formerly been 
 one of the most successful teachers in the school 
 but this particular year she was in such poor health 
 that she was almost hysterical, and could stand but 
 little that grated on her nerves. 
 
 Sam's face was never free from a grin, and he 
 was restless and ill at ease. He never seemed to 
 study, yet made a fairly good showing in his work. 
 He was not wholly to blame, as he needed a steady- 
 nerved teacher, while his teacher needed rest. But 
 it was a case where the superintendent was power- 
 less to make a change before the end of the year. 
 There was no other room for the boy and the teacher 
 could not be removed. 
 
 Sometimes the teacher cried when talking of 
 Sam, he worried her so ; not so much by what he 
 did, but because his grinning face and restlessness 
 were a continual irritation to her. I advised her to 
 give him a seat in the part of the room where he 
 could be least seen, and to quit worrying about him. 
 4 
 
50 DIARY OF A 
 
 But under the conditions his year in school was far 
 from satisfactory to me or to any one else. 
 
 When farm work began in the spring he told me 
 he had secured a job on a farm and was going to 
 work. I did not discourage him in it, but encour- 
 aged him to be ready for school again in September. 
 I thought it best for him to work off some of his 
 physical energy, believing that in the coming year he 
 could make up all he would lose under existing cir- 
 cumstances ; for no one could doubt that the nerv- 
 ous state of the teacher affected him unfavorably 
 and that his peculiar condition was an irritation to 
 her. 
 
 In September he returned, larger, stronger than 
 ever, but still boyish. He made me think of a big 
 English mastiff pup, overgrown in everything ex- 
 cept his intellect, and always ready to play. 
 
 His teacher this year was a steady-nerved woman, 
 who came nearer understanding him . He did well 
 in his work for a few weeks and then began to lag. 
 The teacher labored hard , but no effort on her part 
 could keep up his mental activity. She became 
 discouraged with him and finally asked what she 
 could do or what else she should try. She said 
 that to make him do the work of the grade would 
 take more time than she gave to a dozen ordinary 
 pupils. 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 51 
 
 I said : ' ' Let him alone if he does not bother 
 you ; let him do what he can when given only the 
 attention due him, if you can do it without his dis- 
 turbing you and the school." I said further that 
 he was developing so fast physically that he seemed 
 to have no vital force to furnish mental power, and 
 that when he quit growing his mental powers would 
 probably strengthen. 
 
 As he did not bother her or the school, she took 
 my advice. Of course he did only part of the 
 work of the grade. 
 
 Again, when the neighboring farmers wanted 
 help for the spring work he dropped out. I favored 
 it, thinking he needed something that would give 
 him freedom to stretch his rapidly-growing body. 
 However, I never let him think that I thought there 
 was any question about his returning in September. 
 I took quite an interest in him and he knew it. 
 
 That summer, whenever we met, we had a little 
 " chat," and incidentally his attention was directed 
 to school. 
 
 When September came he began almost where he 
 had begun the year before, thus taking two years 
 for the grade. While he was still boyish and 
 " grinny," there was a marked mental development, 
 and he did fairly good work. Sometimes he was 
 
52 DIARY OF A 
 
 very trying and had to be plainly reminded of his 
 place and work. 
 
 The farming fever caught him again a few weeks 
 before the close of the spring term. His peoj^le 
 were in very moderate circumstances financially, and 
 as I knew every dollar he earned went to the home, 
 I thought this in itself an education of great value 
 to such a boy. 
 
 Before he left I had a talk with him about his 
 school standing and explained how important it was 
 that he should not miss more than was necessary ; 
 that the next year he would be in the second year 
 class in the high school, and he would not like to 
 fall behind there. After we had considered his 
 school work and the necessity of his having a place 
 for the summer to earn money, I told him to come 
 to school every day that he did not have work ; that 
 I would rather have him in school one-half or one- 
 fourth of the remaining part of the term than to 
 have him miss all of it. 
 
 This pleased him. He went away feeling that he 
 was still a part of the school. This was just what 
 I wished. He was in school about one-fourth of 
 the remaining time, and when the term opened the 
 following year he was one of the first in his place. 
 
 Sam was now under the care of another teacher. 
 This teacher and I had talked over his case, and 
 
WESTERN SCHOOOIASTER. 53 
 
 decided that he was now capable of doing good, 
 heavy work, and that he must do it. 
 
 Sam knew the teacher was in sympathy with 
 him, yet at the same time he knew that she 
 would put up with no short work on his part. 
 He complained sometimes that she was hard on 
 him, but when asked if he wished to be allowed 
 to do as he pleased, and then take two years for 
 the work he was capable of doing in one, he 
 would put himself to the work with renewed in- 
 terest. 
 
 His teacher often said that had she a dozen 
 like Sam she could not teach. Not that he meant 
 to be ugly or disagreeable, but he was still so 
 grinny and restless that it drew on a teacher's 
 strength just to hold him day by day steadily to 
 work. 
 
 This year closed, and it was by far Sam's best 
 year's work. In mathematics, particularly, he 
 was showing much strength. 
 
 When Sam had been in the high school two 
 years he had tamed down on the streets, in fact, 
 was much changed, and the j^eople remarked that 
 he was becoming a different boy. I never failed 
 to speak a good word for him, and felt safe in 
 predicting that he would come out right if given 
 time. I talked to him freely of his conduct out- 
 
54 DIARY OF A 
 
 side of school, and he willingly listened to what 
 I said, though it was often only a short time 
 until he did something rude or rough ; but notwith- 
 standing this, he was gaining. Sometimes when I 
 spoke strongly in his favor some one would ask me 
 what I could see to give me faith in him. I did 
 not always try to exjDlain, but said to give him time 
 and it would be seen that there was cause for my 
 faith. 
 
 One day his mother said to me that they had been 
 scolding him at home when he told them to ask me 
 about him, — that he knew I would not say he was 
 all bad. It pleased me to know that he realized 
 that I appreciated the good that was in him, for his 
 realization of this was a strong factor to help him 
 on to better things. 
 
 Two years more and he would leave the high 
 school; but a new trouble beset him. He " fell 
 deeply in love " with one of the high school girls. 
 
 We guarded them carefully at school and gave 
 no opportunity for their being together except in 
 the presence of a teacher. They began to meet 
 regularly on the way to school and to walk to school 
 together. This would not do, so I talked to them 
 privately, explained that it would cause unfavorable 
 remarks about the school, and asked that it be not 
 indulged in. I said for them to happen once in a 
 
WESTERN schoolmaster: 55 
 
 while to meet just as others did would be proper, 
 but the " happenings " must not come too often; it 
 would not do for people along the wa}^ to see them 
 regularly walking to school together. After this 
 there was no trouble. Once in a while they met 
 and came together, but not regularly as before. 
 They tried to do as I wished, although it required 
 effort for them not to ' ' happen ' ' along about the 
 same time. 
 
 It surprised me to see the amount of excellent 
 work which they did when 1 knew all the circum- 
 stances. At the girl's home was trouble ; her 
 parents forbade her having anything to do with 
 Sam. They talked and reasoned with her, threat- 
 ening to send her away. 
 
 She was not to be moved by such measures ; she 
 and Sam met of evenings, walked the streets, and 
 they were laying themselves open to unfavorable 
 comments. Sam thought her parents were unkind 
 and mean to her, and so did she. 
 
 One morning her parents talked so plainly to her 
 that when she started to school she left a note 
 which stated that she would not be treated so any 
 longer and was going to leave home. 
 
 The father found the note soon after she had 
 gone to school and went to the high school to see if 
 she were there. She was in her place. Sam was 
 
66 DIARY OF A 
 
 there too. I was at one of the other buildings 
 when the father called. He asked to see the prin- 
 cipal, and informed her of the note and their 
 trouble with the girl at home. 
 
 When the principal told me what had occurred I 
 determined at once to see the father and try to 
 influence him to deal with the young people in a 
 different way. He was only driving them on, and 
 serious results might follow. 
 
 That evening I called to see the father. He was 
 glad to talk with me, and said that he and his wife 
 were at a loss to know what to do next. I told 
 him I had been watching the young people very 
 closely and could see but one thing for him to do, 
 that was to quit opposing the boy and the girl and 
 treat them no longer as little children, but as young 
 people worthy of some consideration ; to look the 
 matter squarely in the face and make the best of 
 it ; that while the boy was not the one he would 
 choose as a companion for his daughter, he would 
 not be able to prevent their doing as they pleased ; 
 and it would be better for him to send the young 
 man word to come to their home the following even- 
 ing and to talk with him. I advised that he tell 
 him he could keep company with his daughter, but 
 that he must come to her home when he wished to 
 see her ; that he could oo with her to church and 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 57 
 
 other public places ; then to ask them both to be 
 guarded about being on the street as they had been, 
 that in everything their conduct might be above re- 
 proach ; to talk plainly, yet kindly, to them. If he 
 did this, I believed the affair would die out ; but if 
 it did not, Sam was full of energy, and there was a 
 great deal more good in him than he was given 
 credit for, and the day might come when he himself 
 would not be ashamed to own Sam as his son-in- 
 law. 
 
 The father said I might be right and he would 
 act on my advice. I also agreed to have a talk 
 with Sam and tell him what had passed between 
 the girl's father and myself, and to advise him as 
 might seem best. 
 
 The following morning I had a long conversation 
 with Sam and gave him in detail all that we had 
 said. He smiled and looked a little ashamed. At 
 first I told him I wanted to talk with him about 
 something that he might think did not concern me, 
 but I believed that when I was through he would 
 not feel offended. 
 
 He understood me and said to go on, as anything 
 I had to say would be right. He was much pleased 
 at what I had done, and said that he had already 
 been invited to spend the evening at the girl's 
 home. 
 
58 DIARY OF A 
 
 I counseled him to be a man in the affair, and if 
 he cared anything for the girl, and I knew he did, 
 not to do anything that would reflect on her or him- 
 self, either ; that the way they had been doing was 
 hurting both of them ; that above all things he must 
 lay aside all ill-feeling he might have against the 
 girl's parents. I explained why he should not 
 wonder that they were not much in his favor ; that 
 they knew how boisterous he had been, and like 
 many others, thought him worse than he was, and 
 that the parents' feelings were perfectly natural ; 
 that he must j^rove to them now that he was worthy 
 their respect. 
 
 He left my room smiling, feeling that I had cham- 
 pioned his cause better than he could have done it 
 himself. 
 
 And now, after several years have passed, no one 
 has any cause to regret the arrangements that were 
 thus made. They both remained in school two 
 years and graduated. Sam's last two years' work 
 was fine, and he was a good scholar when he grad- 
 uated. He is now a teacher. The sentiment in the 
 town has largely changed in his favor. He is rec- 
 ognized as an upright, honorable, energetic young 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 MARK 
 
 Mark had a thin, pale face, shoulders cramped in 
 upon a hollow chest, and a body and limbs whose 
 clothing never suggested the outline of a muscle ; 
 restless and inattentive, but not unusually dull. 
 He was childish, sometimes so childish that it 
 seemed to indicate mental weakness ; yet in his 
 studies he was only slightly behind those of his 
 own age (thirteen) and was doing fairly good work. 
 However, it required no little effort on the part of 
 his teacher to keep him from idling away his time. 
 He would, if permitted, spend hours playing with 
 nothing more than a string and a bit of paper ; not 
 interrupting those about him, but frittering away 
 the hours in play so simple that it called forth no 
 activity of the mind. 
 
 His fourteenth year was but a repetition of his 
 
 (59) 
 
60 DIARY OF A 
 
 thirteenth, except that his childishness was more 
 noticeable. His physical condition was unchanged 
 and growth seemed almost checked. This year he 
 finished the work of the eighth grade. He was not 
 the poorest in the class neither was he one of the 
 best. 
 
 During his fifteenth year, he was less able to do 
 mental work and was more frail physically. 
 
 During his sixteenth year, he was very sluggish 
 mentally and physically, and as much a child as at 
 thirteen. He could not take all the regular studies 
 of his grade, so his work was lightened, but still he 
 could not do it well. He was very weak during 
 the spring term ; and so sluggish that he would 
 sometimes unconsciously fall asleep even while 
 trying to listen to a class explanation. 
 
 This unfortunate condition was not the result of 
 any personal habits, as he was carefully guarded in 
 this respect. He seemed to have come to a point 
 where it was a question whether or not his vitality 
 could carry him farther. 
 
 His father now decided to give him a year of 
 freedom from school or restraint of any kind, in 
 hope that he might gain physical and mental 
 strength. Mark spent the year just as he pleased, 
 visiting, hunting, reading, lying around doing 
 nothing, with no aim, no ambition. An idle listless 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 61 
 
 year ; probably a profitable year to him for it 
 seemed he could do nothing but rest. 
 
 In the fall of his eighteenth year he again entered 
 school, but, while somewhat improved in health, 
 was not capable of doing a full year's w^ork. The 
 first half of the following summer he did nothing ; 
 was without interest in anything. 
 
 "Past eighteen years of age," said his father, 
 ' ' and a mere boyish boy ; he will never amount to 
 anything." 
 
 The father was not now so patient as formerly 
 with Mark, and upbraided him for his worthless- 
 ness. One day at this time, the father said to me : 
 " My wife and I have lost all patience with Mark 
 and to-day I told him he was nothing but a block- 
 head, and never would amount to anything. We 
 cannot understand why he is so worthless." 
 
 I counseled him to be careful or he might do his 
 boy great wrong ; that for some reason the physical 
 and mental development of the boy seemed arrested ; 
 that upbraiding him for what he could not help 
 might so discourage him as to ruin him forever ; 
 that what he most needed was sympathy, and an 
 expression of faith in him to help him to keep up a 
 cheerful frame of mind ; and that these should come 
 from his home friends ; that there was yet time for 
 the boy to make a man. 
 
62 DIARY OF A 
 
 The father in reply could only express a hope 
 that I understood Mark better than he did and that 
 my faith in the final outcome would prove to be 
 well-founded. 
 
 Several weeks later, just a few days before the 
 opening of the annual session of the county teachers' 
 institute, Mark called on me to ask me what I 
 thought of his attending the county institute and in 
 the course of our conversation told me that he had 
 decided to teach a country school that fall. I was 
 pleased to see him planning to do something and 
 encouraged him to attend. He was present every 
 day, wide-a-wake, ready to catch every suggestion 
 that fell from the lips of the instructors, and very 
 happy in it all. I looked at him, no longer a boy. 
 The rounded muscles, the full chest, such as had 
 not seemed possible, and the bright eye ; the vigor- 
 ous thoughts of early manhood, told in no uncertain 
 language that be " had been born again," and was 
 a new person mentally and physically. " When I 
 became a man I put away childish things," was 
 literally verified in his case. 
 
 The father met me one day of the second week 
 of the institute and said that he wished to thank me 
 for so awakening his son. I laid no claim to the 
 " awakening " power. The boy was changed from 
 no effort of mine. 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 63 
 
 The faith that I had had in Mark was not born 
 of intuition but was the result of the observation 
 of a number of somewhat similar cases. Mark's 
 apparent development was completely arrested for 
 several years ; and then in a few weeks the wonder- 
 ful change was accomplished. Yesterday a boy, 
 to-day a man. 
 
 I have no explanation to give. Mark's and one 
 other case that I will relate, have suggested a 
 question : could their labored and long-delayed de- 
 velopment be due to inherited constitutional weak- 
 ness ? There were strong indications of tuberculosis 
 on the mother's side in the case of Mark. Could 
 it be that an inherited weakness made it hard for 
 the body to gather force to accomplish the great 
 change of puberty, and so caused the existing con- 
 ditions ? 
 
 I only ask the question. This much I do know : 
 teachers cannot too carefully deal with such j^oung 
 people. The disappointment of parents too often 
 shuts off sympathy at home, and teachers, looking 
 upon them as weaklings physically and mentally, 
 hope only for them to drop out of school. Young 
 teachers, especially, look upon such cases as hope- 
 less objects on whom it is a waste to spend time. 
 We who are older and have observed and studied 
 these things have seen too many miracles wrought 
 
64 DIARY OF A 
 
 by the new ' ' psycho-physiological birth ' ' to treat 
 in a slighting manner any of these that so much 
 need attention. 
 
 When Mark was twenty-five years of age, he 
 filled a responsible business position and was quite 
 a literary student, devoting a few hours each day 
 to a chosen line of study. He was far superior to 
 many of the boys who in their teens outstripped him 
 in the race. As his father expressed it, " There is 
 no young man in our community the superior of my 
 son ; he has no bad habits ; is mentally and phy- 
 sically sound ; and is a clear-headed business man." 
 
 The causes of such arrested development properly 
 belong to the work of specialists in other lines ; but 
 the plain, practical, uncommon common-sense plan 
 of teaching and training these j-oung people must 
 be sought out by the teacher. 
 
 Into this problem three factors must enter ; first, 
 we must not lose faith in the possible outcome ; 
 second, we must win and hold the confidence of 
 these boys ; and, third, we must not discourage 
 them nor cause them to lose the little faith they may 
 have in themselves. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 DICK 
 
 Dick came from one of the best homes in the 
 community, a home where the children were dearly 
 loved by both parents ; a home where every possible 
 care was given to the physical and mental welfare 
 of the children ; yet it was a home where there was 
 lung trouble on the father's side, and in which 
 tuberculosis finally made its appearance. 
 
 Dick attended school regularly from six years of 
 age to twelve. Then, on the advice of the family 
 physician, he was permitted to do as he pleased, go 
 to school or stay at home. He was not sick, but 
 weak, and needed to be in the open air. He was 
 too deeply interested in school to give it up entirely, 
 so was made welcome in school whenever he felt like 
 being there, even though he were present but half 
 the time. 
 
 6 (65) 
 
GO DIARY OF A 
 
 Dick had never been quick at learning, and hence 
 was not so well advanced as most boys of his age. 
 His parents were sensible in this regard, and did 
 not wish him " pushed " along for the sake of keep- 
 ing with neighbor boys of his own age. They were 
 in close touch with the teachers, and talked freely 
 with them, and thus aided much in dealing with 
 Dick. Without the co-operation of parents such 
 cases become very annoying. 
 
 From twelve years of age to eighteen was a try- 
 ing time for Dick. A part of this time he was 
 physically unfit for the school-room, and his mind 
 was much as his body ; yet he was never willing 
 to drop out of school entirely. The family phy- 
 sician said that Dick w^as constitutionally weak, 
 and might or might not grow stronger. 
 
 Dick was one of the best of boys in his inten- 
 tions, always trying to do just the right thing ; but 
 he was restless, and could not study without mak- 
 ing a noise. Often when he became too restless, 
 his teacher would send him on some little errand, or 
 give him work at the blackboard ; anything to bring 
 his muscles into plaj^, and thus rest him. He never 
 suspected that the errand, the work, or whatever it 
 might be, was simply a means of quieting him. 
 
 If he went out to run or play at violent exercise 
 of any kind, he was so wrought up for the next 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 67 
 
 half-honr after he came in that he could do nothing 
 but fidget and grin. Some days he would be 
 grinny, almost hysterical, ready to laugh at any 
 little thing that happened, and scarcely able to stop 
 laughing after having once begun. The only hope 
 at such times was to center his attention on some- 
 thing of interest, and thus quiet him down. 
 
 In his seventeenth year he developed more rapidly 
 in mental power, but along with this came a peculiar 
 nervous state. He would sit atone end of his seat, 
 swaying his body backwards and forwards from his 
 hips as a fulcrum, rubbing one hand on one knee, 
 unconscious of everything around him, all the while 
 doing good mental work. If not permitted to sway 
 his body thus, he accomplished but little. Some 
 such movement of the body seemed absolutely neces- 
 sary to mental activity. 
 
 Do not misunderstand me, he had never been 
 encouraged, or even permitted to study in this 
 manner ; but now he could do no mental work 
 unless some part of his body were in motion. As 
 his manner became very annoying to those about 
 him, he was given a seat in the rear part of the 
 room where he could be seen by but few and was 
 permitted to study even though somewhat noisily. 
 
 During the first half of his eighteenth year, he be- 
 gan to be recognized as one of the best thinkers of 
 
68 DIARY OF A 
 
 his class, but he was still a boy with the instincts 
 of a boy ; but the year brought him great changes, 
 and by the end of the year he was fast taking on 
 the indications of early manhood. 
 
 As this change came about, much of his restless- 
 ness disappeared and his whole manner greatly 
 improved. The young children that were com- 
 panions for him the first half of the year were 
 dropped and he sought those nearer his own age. 
 
 Dick graduated from the high school when past 
 nineteen years of age, fairly strong physically, a 
 young man of good average ability, and of more 
 than ordinarily good, common sense. 
 
 From twelve years of age to eighteen the parents 
 were filled with greatest concern for him, and the 
 mother would often say when speaking of him: 
 " Poor boy, what will become of him." The 
 father was more hopeful, and said that he himself 
 had developed very slowly and so he would not lose 
 faith in his boy. 
 
 There were at least two years in the life of Dick 
 and also in that of Mark, when many teachers 
 would have ' ' worked ' ' them out of the high school 
 and felt that they were ridding the schools of weak 
 ones that were not worth the time given them. I 
 say would have " worked " them out. 
 
 I will explain : last year, in talking with a high 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 69 
 
 school principal in one of our large cities, he said 
 that they had a great many enter their high school 
 who were not very strong mentally, and that they 
 got rid of them by putting on such a pressure of 
 work that the weaker ones were glad to leave the 
 school ; and thus the teachers were saved much 
 trouble, and the standard of the graduates was 
 kept very high. I have no doubt that Mark and 
 Dick would have been " worked " out very early in 
 their high school courses had they been under this 
 principal. 
 
 I do not, object to putting a fair pressure of work 
 on high school students. I would just as soon hope 
 to learn to skate by sitting on the ice as to hope to 
 get the intellectual power that comes from high 
 school training by sitting in the high school. 
 
 The man who is hauling coal and has two teams, 
 one of heavy draft horses that can draw two tons 
 at a load, the other of ordinary horses that can 
 draw but one, does not load up his lighter team 
 with two tons and thereby make it impossible for it 
 to do anything ; but to the heavy team he gives two 
 tons and to the lighter team but one ton, and both 
 work equally well. While it is true that it will take 
 the lighter team twice as long to haul the coal, yet 
 when the coal is hauled it is just as well hauled as 
 if the heavy team had hauled it. 
 
70 DIARY OF A 
 
 So the wise high school principal will not strive 
 to ' ' work out ' ' these weaker ones by giving them 
 the work that only the stronger ones can do ; but 
 will try to know the ability of each one and then will 
 give such work as each can do, and do well, all the 
 time trying to interest more deeply everyone in the 
 work of the school. 
 
 The boy that can carry but a part of the work 
 this year may be stronger next year ; but, even if 
 he is not, in the fable of old it was the tortoise and 
 not the hare that won the race. 
 
 We superintendents and principals are not ex- 
 perts in unfolding the futures of the boys at the 
 high school age. We must work carefully. We 
 would better' give opportunities to ten boys that 
 fail to develop, rather than to "work out" one 
 boy that might develop. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 CHAP 
 
 I wish to give sketches of three boys that for 
 some reason I associate together in my mind ; three 
 boys, in every way so different from each other, 
 each with snch a strongly marked individuaUty, 
 that they were interesting studies to me. 
 
 Chap at thirteen years of age was a perfect 
 dynamite bomb. Muscle and brain were both sur- 
 charged with energy. He did nothing by halves ; 
 lessons and manual labor were both put through 
 with a vim that was delightful to see. No one in 
 his grade ranked above him ; no boy could curry a 
 horse and hitch him to a buggy more quickly than 
 he ; no boy could swing onto a broncho and skim 
 over the prairie more gracefully than he. The 
 rough, wild life of the cow-boy, suited him. An 
 old sombrero, a blouse, and a pair of overalls held 
 
 (71) 
 
72 DIARY OF A 
 
 op by one suspender, an old wagoii with a broncho 
 team to drive at break-neck speed, and he was 
 happy. 
 
 Yet when occasion demanded. Chap could be a 
 perfect gentleman. He simply bubbled over with 
 life. A hip, hip, hurrah! and away on a broncho! 
 This high, wild life, was a safety valve for his sur- 
 plus energy. 
 
 Thus far in Chap's school work he and his 
 teachers had gotten along well. Sometimes like a 
 frisky colt he needed to be reined in, still he and his 
 teachers were always on good terms and happy in 
 the work. But now as he passed to the ninth 
 grade, new conditions met him, and he himself was 
 reaching a more dangerous point where fun seemed 
 worth more than all else. 
 
 The ninth grade teacher this year was inexperi- 
 enced in the work, but having had two or three 
 years of college training, was supposed to be in her 
 educational qualifications the best prepared of the 
 applicants for the position. When I found that it 
 would be necessary to place her in charge of the 
 grade, I feared the results. 
 
 She was of a gentle unsuspecting nature, and her 
 voice lacked that decision so essential to good dis- 
 cipline in the grammar and early high school grades. 
 
 Conditions were thus unfortunate for Chap. He 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 73 
 
 was ready to detect any weaknesses on the part of 
 his teacher and to make the most of them. All 
 went well for a short time, when the trouble began. 
 
 Chap was a leader, and so sharp and cunning 
 that he could shoot shot, or scatter a handful of 
 snapping match heads, or with a quivering move- 
 ment of his legs shake the floor, and yet escape de- 
 tection. He was proud of the standing he was fast 
 gaining among the pupils for bringing disorder into 
 the room. Even the best were "falling from 
 grace " and joining his standard. Children are 
 born " hero-worshipers." He showed what he 
 thought of his teacher one day when he said, " Miss 
 vShort is a fine lady, but she's too good to teach 
 school ; why, she can't even boss me." 
 
 His disorderly conduct at school had a bad effect 
 on him at home, and while he had never been easily 
 controlled at home, he now became so restless, al- 
 most defiant, that his parents were much concerned. 
 
 A word as to the home, while not strictly a part 
 of this story, throws side-lights on the boy. Chap's 
 mother was an excellent Christian woman of more 
 than ordinary strength of character. The father 
 was a man of good intentions and very active in 
 what he took to be his line of duty, but he did not 
 cultivate the friendship of his boys. As Chap came 
 to the critical period in a boy's life the father was 
 
74 DIARY OF A 
 
 far from him. In talking with the father one day 
 he said to me : " I am kept so busy with my busi- 
 ness and church work, that I do not have time to 
 keep up acquaintance with my family. I scarcely 
 know them." 
 
 I felt that what he said was unfortunately too 
 true, and I wondered what would be the outcome 
 of such neglect. I do not question his intentions, 
 but I seriously question his wisdom. 
 
 Now, when Chap so much needed to feel a real 
 fatherly love and friendship, there was no strong 
 cord to hold him. The father could help the 
 teacher but little in managing the boy. 
 
 After a few weeks a change was made in the 
 teacher of the ninth grade, so that the remainder of 
 the year was much improved. Still the year as a 
 whole was not one to interest Chap, and as spring 
 came on he grew restless, the school-room was too 
 narrow for him ; he longed for the freedom of 
 unrestrained out-door life. 
 
 At the opening of school the following Septem- 
 ber, Chap was ready for whatever was to come, 
 work or fun, no difference so there was plenty of it. 
 Luckily for him he was now under a teacher that 
 knew him and felt herself equal to him whatever 
 might come up, a teacher who appreciated and 
 admired his vigorous life. 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 75 
 
 Chap respected her from the first. There was 
 that something in her very presence that com- 
 manded his respect. To refuse her request never 
 entered his mind. During the entire year he was 
 never reproved. . He seemed happy, and often, as I 
 looked at him, he made me think of a prancing colt 
 at the end of a rope held kindly yet firmly in the 
 hand of his master. 
 
 The teacher that knows now to let such a boy 
 prance just enough to keep him in good spirits yet 
 holds him from breaking away, is a power for good 
 with the boys of this grade. The whole future 
 school life of many a boy depends on who is his 
 teacher at this time in his life. 
 
 Chap had once been one of the best declaimers 
 in his class, but now he was too self-conscious to 
 do well, so he was excused from declaiming. He 
 had been a good penman from the time he began to 
 write; now, while his writing was still good, the 
 lines were irregular and somewhat careless looking. 
 He was not upbraided for becoming careless. His 
 enlarging muscles were a little unruly; time would 
 give him complete control of them. A little 
 patience on the part of the teacher was all that 
 was needed. 
 
 A year passed and there was not an un- 
 certain stroke in Chap's writing ; his self -con- 
 
76 DIARY OF A 
 
 sciousness had left him and he was glad to declaim 
 again. 
 
 Chap is interesting to me chiefly as a boy where 
 there seemed to be at no time any lack of either 
 mental or physical activity. He never seemed to 
 relax for a moment. If be were not studying, 
 energy was not wanting, but simply diverted to 
 other channels. When he knew he must study, he 
 could center his attention on the subject before him 
 and be oblivious to everything else about him. 
 
 Chap studied less out of school than most pupils, 
 or he could have finished the high school course in 
 a much shorter period than four years. 
 
 At eighteen he graduated from the high school, 
 vigorous mentally and physically, and with energy 
 that promised much for his future. 
 
 This boy, with a bold, daring spirit, every nerve 
 and muscle throbbing with intense life, needed a 
 teacher that could appreciate that this vigorous life 
 was in itself good ; that could make the boy feel 
 that she was not suspicious of him as one who 
 would do wrong, and at the same time one who 
 would cause him to understand that fun could not 
 go beyond bounds in her school. 
 
 He had a contempt for a gentle, unskilled teacher 
 that thought that boys ought to be too good to have 
 fun by interrupting a school. He believed that a 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 77 
 
 boy would have fun even if he had it by making 
 sport of the teacher. Helplessness on the part of 
 the teacher did not appeal to him in a very strong 
 way, or as he said, " I did feel sorry for her but it 
 was lots of fun to see the boys and girls all laughing, 
 and the teacher so helpless she couldn't do any- 
 thing." 
 
 Some may say that boys ought not to be so. All 
 I can say is the Lord made them, He knows ; and 
 the teacher must take them as they are. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 WILL 
 
 Will bad beeu a fair-skinned, white-headed lad 
 up to the age of fifteen when he suddenly changed 
 into an " almost " young man with a delicate com- 
 l^lexion, light hair, and shapely body that indicated 
 physical health and strength. He was fond of the 
 same sports that Chap was fond of but not in the 
 same dashing, reckless way. 
 
 The change from a boy to a young man came 
 over him just as he entered the high school. Always 
 slow mentally, he now became slower than ever, 
 and so self-conscious that but a word made his pink 
 cheeks crimson. 
 
 He was painfully slow but stuck to his work with 
 a perseverance that was worth more than mere in- 
 tellectual quickness. I sometimes thought were I 
 (78) 
 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 79 
 
 in his place I should be strongly tempted to give up 
 the idea of a high school education. One thing 
 was in his favor, after he once learned a thing it 
 was his so that when a subject was completed he 
 often knew much more than many who had done 
 much better than he in the recitations during the 
 term. He was never absent from school, never 
 failed to be present at a recitation and thus kept 
 the lessons connected from day to day. 
 
 Will was fortunate in his home, father and mother 
 both deeply interested in him and in close touch 
 with him. The father, in particular, gave him 
 much of his time, was companionable with him, and 
 held his confidence. 
 
 Both parents were sensible people, and I could 
 talk freely with them. They understood their boy, 
 knew how slow he was in his work, and believed 
 that it was his peculiar way of developing and did 
 not fret and worry because he was not other than 
 he was. 
 
 There had been a time when he was in the lower 
 grades when they thought that possibly the teacher 
 was at fault, but they visited the school and found 
 that the boy was slow from no fault of the teacher. 
 From that time on they held him to his regular 
 school work at home and thus supplemented the 
 work at school. They knew how to hold him to 
 
80 DIARY or A 
 
 his work and yet not do his work for him and thus 
 weaken him. 
 
 This home study, rightly directed, was the thing 
 that made it possible for him to pass from grade to 
 grade year after year. He was so strong physically 
 that his parents had no fear of injuring him by 
 requiring this regular home-study even at an age 
 when children ordinarily should not study out of 
 school hours. I doubt if he would ever have 
 entered the high school had not such care been 
 given him. 
 
 In his high school work his parents were not dis- 
 gusted with either boy or teachers but said that as 
 long as he was working faithfully and interestedly, 
 and making a medium standing in his class, they 
 were satisfied. 
 
 The second year in the high school was almost a 
 repetition of the first. His habits of application 
 formed in the lower grades, were now his stay. In 
 this laborious way he completed the high school 
 course, the last two years not, possibly, quite so 
 slow as the first. 
 
 I have seen many boys of this slow mentality, if 
 I may so call it, drop out of school because of lack 
 of co-operation between parents and teachers. 
 Parents, unwiUing to believe that their boys are not 
 so quick at their work as most other children, are 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 81 
 
 too often ready to la}- the waut of advancement to 
 the slackness of the teachers and after a time to be- 
 come prejudiced against teachers and permit the 
 boys to drop out of school. Such bo3^s are safe 
 only when parents and teachers have such an un- 
 derstanding that they can counsel together concern- 
 ing the best interests of the boys. 
 
 When parents ask why their boy does not advance 
 as some other boy, or why he seems to be the poor- 
 est in his class, there is only one thing to do, state 
 the facts if the boy is unusually slow ; but state 
 them very carefully or offense will be given. That 
 a boy is slow does not necessarily imply that he 
 does not possess a good mind. Early York cabbage 
 planted in May head out in June and the heads 
 are the size of a quart cup ; but Flat Dutch cab- 
 bage planted in May head out in November and 
 the heads are the size of a half -bushel measure. 
 
 There are other heads that grow the same way. 
 
 6 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 HARRY 
 
 Harry was the seventh son and had he been 
 the seventh daughter, the old saying that the 
 seventh daughter is gifted, would have been veri- 
 fied in this case. He was a beautiful, little, red- 
 headed fellow of eleven years when he entered 
 the high school ; so boyish-looking, and yet so 
 manly, that he at once won the admiration of the 
 whole school. 
 
 He seemed made of finer clay than most children ; 
 a body that a sculptor might vainly try to repro- 
 duce ; a gracefully poised head ; and a clear gray 
 eye from which peeped forth a soul all alive to 
 higher things. 
 
 He cared less for a broncho than either Chap or 
 Will, but enjoyed base-ball, skating, and other 
 manty sports. At home Harry was a student no 
 . (82) 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 83 
 
 less than at school, yet no one could call him a 
 book-worm. 
 
 When Harry stood up at the side of some " six- 
 footer " to recite, he looked diminutive, indeed; 
 but when he had finished reciting, he had so 
 thoroughly treated the topic that no other member 
 of the class could add thereto. Did some pupil 
 eighteen or nineteen years of age fail to recite, the 
 little fellow was ready to fill in the break. Not 
 offensively putting himself forward, not in a bigoted 
 way, as if proud of his own strength, but so uncon- 
 sciously that no one ever thought of being jealous 
 of him, though he far surpassed them all. 
 
 He was never called to account for improper con- 
 duct. Were you to ask what we did with such 
 a boy, my answer would be that we directed him 
 in his studies and left him to himself. 
 
 From year to year Harry grew as an ordinary 
 boy, physically not at all beyond his years, and 
 when just past fourteen, still in knee-pants, grad- 
 uated from the high school as fine a scholar as ever 
 went out from the school. When I say he was not 
 at all developed physically beyond his years, I do 
 not mean that his physique was not what it should 
 be for a boy of fourteen, for he had fine physique 
 for a boy of his age ; in fact, he was one of the 
 best specimens of physical vigor in the class. 
 
84 DIARY OF A 
 
 After graduating from the high school, Harry 
 spent one or two years as delivery boy for a store, 
 then entered a university, where he is a student 
 to-day. 
 
 Some may say he graduated from the high school 
 too young, that he was pushed, and should have 
 been held back. 
 
 I do not think so. Did you ever walk with a 
 person who walked so slowly that it made you tired 
 to walk with him ? Then you ought to appreciate 
 something of the irksomeness of marching four 
 years lock-step with those who can take only one 
 step to your two. The nerve-wear that comes from 
 holding some boys and girls back is equally as in- 
 jurious, it seems to me, as that which comes to 
 others from unduly pushing them forward. 
 
 It is true Harry did the work of the school in a 
 much shorter time than most boys and girls require, 
 but I fail to see why he should not when he could 
 do it with no undue effort on his part. I admit 
 that he is an unusual case, an extreme one, if you 
 wish ; but what was right in his case is right in 
 every case, that is to know the boy and try to give 
 each individual boy the work that seems best suited 
 to him. 
 
 This is my object in bringing these three cases 
 together, to show that the school work, so far as we 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 85 
 
 were able to judge, was suited to each individual 
 boy's needs. Will, the slow one, was not found 
 fault with for not possessing the same mental pre- 
 cocity that marked Harry, but his industry and 
 perseverance were so appreciated, even though his 
 progress was slow, that he never felt himself one 
 whit less worthy than Harry. Chap, while not 
 precocious, possessed w^hat I have called, possibly 
 incorrectly, a vigorous intellect, but lacked that 
 stick-tuitiveness and dogged perseverance that in 
 Will amounted to almost genius. The work of no 
 one of these three could have been exchanged for 
 that of one of either of the others without a serious 
 misfit. 
 
 All three of the boys are to-day in higher institu- 
 tions of learning and so far as I am informed of 
 their work are as markedly different as when in the 
 high school. 
 
 This fact presses itself home to me more and 
 more, that teaching is after all a hand-to-hand, in- 
 tellect- to-intellect, heart-to-heart contact with in- 
 dividuals, and that in all this direct work a good 
 grain of common business sense must be exercised. 
 Classes are necessary in the movement of school 
 work, but the teacher who stops short of a knowl- 
 edge of individuals must remain more or less a 
 failure. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 TOM 
 
 Tom came to us at fifteen years of age, a tall 
 angular boy, a large Roman nose, one eye slightly 
 crossed, very uncouth in his manner, awkward and 
 ungainly in his movement. His home was in the 
 country, eight miles from town. The first year he 
 was with us he rode a broncho back and forth, 
 morning and evening. Of a number of boys in his 
 father's family, he was the only one that aspired to 
 an education. 
 
 He had been in school but a short time before we 
 discovered that he had a keen intellect. He was 
 always prepared with his lessons. The scholars 
 soon gave him the recognition due to superior intel- 
 lectual strength, and, unpolished country boy that 
 he was, he was treated with deference by all. 
 
 One year in the high school greatly improved 
 (86) 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 87 
 
 him. His hair, his neck-tie, and his shoes were no 
 longer ' ' unknown quantities ' ' but had passed from 
 the X, y, z, to the a, b, c, of his equation ; and his 
 manners were more changed than his dress. 
 
 He was in the high school three years. He not 
 only did the three years' work and did it well, but 
 he also read a great many valuable books from the 
 library. He was always improving his spare mo- 
 ments with a book. He read more good books than 
 any other member of the high school, during the 
 three years he was a member of the school. 
 
 During the last two years he was in the high 
 school, he worked for his board and lived in town. 
 An elderly couple gave him a home for doing their 
 chores. It was a good home, the work was light, 
 and he had plenty of time for study. 
 
 In a high school where there are many of only 
 ordinary ability, it is, to say the least, rather inter- 
 esting to meet such a one as Tom. One who seems 
 to take in great " chunks " of information and to 
 digest them as easily as if they had been ground to 
 meal. 
 
 He made himself felt in almost every line of 
 school work. In the debating society he was a 
 leader, and developed considerable ability as a 
 speaker. He made use of every available means to 
 improve himself. 
 
SS DIARY OF A 
 
 Thus busy at work he moved along till the latter 
 half of his senior year. Coming from the country 
 and not being a member of any of the little social 
 cliques that so often cause jealousies among town 
 girls and boys, he was the recipient of honors that 
 otherwise might have gone elsewhere. Now was 
 the time for electing the valedictorian for commence- 
 ment. His class-mates by unanimous vote elected 
 him to the position. 
 
 He had prepared his oration, and the close of the 
 term was near at hand. What was my surprise and 
 disappointment to have a friend come to me and tell 
 me that Tom had been guilty of forging a check a 
 few days before. He had forged it at one of the 
 banks on the old gentleman with whom he was 
 living. 
 
 The friend could not give me the particulars, but 
 thought I ought to know it as it was known by a 
 number of persons and was fast spreading over the 
 town. 
 
 '' What ought I to do! " was the question that 
 came to me. I must decide quickly. If true, I 
 could not feel that it would be right for him to hold 
 the position of highest honor on commencement 
 evening. 
 
 I soon decided that I would go to him, tell him 
 what I had heard and ask him to tell me what had 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 89 
 
 been done. I was sure he would trust me as a 
 friend, and that whatever mistake he had made or 
 wrong he had done, he would talk with me and that 
 thus I could help him to do what would be best 
 for him and best for all. 
 
 Humiliated, almost crushed, with tears streaming 
 down his face, he told me his story. The old gen- 
 tleman with whom he lived had money in one of the 
 banks, and when he wanted some for use, would 
 have Tom fill out a check, take it to the bank and 
 bring him the money. Tom had done this often, 
 but one day the temptation came to write the check 
 for more than the old gentleman wanted and keep 
 out a part for himself. As he did most of the old 
 gentleman's business, it would never be discovered. 
 He yielded to the temptation and kept out the 
 money. 
 
 This was several weeks before and no one had 
 suspected that anything was wrong until the old 
 gentlemen's son came to visit him and in lookino: 
 after his father's business at the bank, found one 
 check that did not tally with its stub. 
 
 This called for an investigation. Tom confessed, 
 made good the amount, and was forgiven and re- 
 tained in the home. This is the story as given me 
 ])y Tom and I found it to be true. 
 
 I felt sorry for him, could forgive him the wrong- 
 
90 DIARY OF A 
 
 doing but could not prevent the humiliation that 
 must necessarily follow. Could he, should he be 
 permitted to hold the prominent place on the class 
 program after having committed such an offense? 
 Would it be for his good even if others were not 
 considered? I felt it must not be. 
 
 I told him as kindly as I could that I thought it 
 would be in place for him to tender his resignation 
 as valedictorian of the class ; that he could write it 
 out and I would present it to the class ; that I would 
 interview the members of the board of education, 
 some of whom had already heard of what had hap- 
 pened, and ask them to grant him the privilege of 
 graduating ; and that since he had made restitution, 
 I would sign his diploma, hoping that this one 
 wrong would prove a lesson-. It was hard for him, 
 it was no easy task for me, yet I could see no other 
 way. 
 
 His class-mates were called together, the mat- 
 ter was laid before them. I told them how I felt 
 and what I thought ; asked them to consider it 
 carefully, with a kindly feeling for the offender, 
 then to tell me what they thought would be the 
 right thing to do ; that not only their actions but 
 mine too would be largely governed by what they 
 thought. There was no ugly spirit in the meeting, 
 all felt that they must help render a decision and 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 91 
 
 that they must not make a mistake. They accepted 
 his resignation and elected another to the place, but 
 they did it in such a way as not to make him feel 
 that he was cast off. 
 
 I interviewed the board. All felt that his offense 
 was a very serious one for a bright young man of 
 eighteen, but as it was his first, so far as we knew, 
 they granted my request in his behalf. They were 
 willing to give him every chance to redeem himself. 
 
 Commencement night Tom sat humiliated while 
 another filled the place that had been his, but his 
 stepping down won for him a sympathy that made 
 all kind in feeling toward him. All felt that he had 
 had justice tempered with mercy. 
 
 Probably the story is not worth the telling ; but 
 teachers who have not been through similar experi- 
 ences, do not know how heavily such things draw 
 upon one's sympathies, and how difficult it is to deal 
 justly and yet so wisely that no violence is done to 
 any one's sense of right. Here is where many 
 high school principals and teachers fall short ; they 
 do what they believe to be right, but for want of 
 tact and a close sympathy with the scholars, they 
 are not able to look at the offense from the stand- 
 point of the girls and boys, and so fail to meet the 
 requirements of the young people's sense of 
 justice. 
 
92 DIAKY OF A 
 
 After graduating, Tom taught country schools 
 for a few years ; built uj) a good reputation as a 
 teacher of ungraded schools ; in all his dealings, 
 conducted himself as a man of honor ; saved his 
 money, entered a higher institution of learning, 
 from which he graduated with honor, and is to-day 
 a promising young man in professional life. 
 
 Whether or not I dealt wisely with him, you must 
 judge. He trusted me through it all and we are 
 still warm friends. 
 
 This instance and a number of others coming 
 under my observation in which boys of his age 
 placed in responsible positions where they handled 
 money for other persons and were not strictly 
 honest, have caused these questions to come into 
 my mind : "Is there anything in the peculiar condi- 
 tion of boys' minds at this age that renders many 
 of them more liable to yield to the temptation to 
 steal than at other times? *' "If there is, will it, 
 too, be of a transitory nature like most of the ex- 
 periences of adolescence, and if not permitted to 
 develop itself by indulgence, in time pass away 
 without leaving any permanent effect on the 
 character ? ' ' 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 HENRY 
 
 Henry, a large, raw-boned boy of nineteen years 
 of age, presented himself at the high school one 
 morning at the opening of the spring term and 
 asked to be received with the privilege of taking 
 certain studies he had selected rather than the reg- 
 ular course as he was to be in the school one term 
 only. I saw at a glance that he was selecting those 
 studies that would fit him to take the teacher's 
 examination, and as I was glad to have him inter- 
 ested in school granted his request. 
 
 He settled down to his work with a determination 
 that meant the mastery of every lesson ; but day 
 after day as he sat and worked or even when recit- 
 ing there was something of a distressed look about 
 him, a kind of a stern, hard-set expression in his 
 face that made me pity him. I could not look at 
 
 (93) 
 
94 DIARY OF A 
 
 him without f eehng that he was alone in the school ; 
 that outside the work there was no pleasure for him 
 there. In fact, so stern and set was his face that 
 he almost repelled any advances that were made. 
 
 Most of his recitation work at this time was 
 under one teacher and his manner of reciting was 
 such that she felt that he was always questioning 
 whether or not she knew her work. Finally one 
 day in mental arithmetic, after she had explained a 
 problem he spoke out very abruptly and said that 
 the solution was not«correct. She, without seem- 
 ing to notice his disrespect to her, simply asked the 
 class to please look over the solution very carefully 
 before the next day as she was sure the solution 
 was a correct one. Henry scowled and looked 
 more forbidding than ever but said nothing. 
 
 The next morning before school was called, 
 Henry spoke to the teacher and said, " You are 
 right in your solution of that problem, I know you 
 are right. I was wrong but I have studied it until 
 I understand it now." 
 
 From that time on he presented a different atti- 
 tude toward the teacher ; he had all confidence in 
 her so that she instead of being annoyed b}^ him as 
 she had been, was glad to have him in her classes ; 
 but he was still the same unhappy, stoical looking 
 young person as he sat at study in the assembly 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 95 
 
 room, and in nothing did he seem to have any part 
 with the other scholars. 
 
 I made a number of attempts to talk with him, at 
 first to no purpose. He was in school several weeks 
 before I knew much more of him than that he was 
 an unhappy-appearing, hard-working country boy 
 who rode a pony to and from school morning and 
 evening. Finally one of the school-boys told me 
 that Henry was one of a large family of boys and 
 that he had served a term in the State Reform 
 School. This explained, or seemed to explain 
 Henry's peculiar manner and also the fact 
 that the other scholars paid but little attention 
 to him. 
 
 My interest in him was now deeply aroused and 
 I determined to come into touch with him in some 
 way. 
 
 As the weeks went by he improved in his work 
 so that his teacher often commented on it and said 
 that he was such a student that he ought to finish 
 the hisfh school course. When I saw how he could 
 do the work, I too felt that he should try to arrange 
 his work with a view to completing the course. I 
 had a long talk with him, told him of the good 
 reports of his work and after he opened himself up 
 and was interested in talking with me, told him that 
 if it were at all possible he ought to plan to be in 
 
9n DIARY OF A 
 
 school until he could complete the high school 
 course 
 
 " Why, I have never thought of such a thing," 
 said he, "I am too old." '^ How old are you? " 
 said I. " I'm nineteen years old, and I could never 
 be in school three years more." " No ; I can't do 
 it," said he. " But you ought to and you would 
 like to if you could? " continued I. 
 
 He admitted that he was really enjoying school 
 and that he would like to complete the course if 
 such a thing were possible, but thought he was too 
 old. 
 
 I knew his mind was opening up to the possibil- 
 ity of the thing and that he must have a little time 
 to think it over, and that I must not try to force 
 him to a decision, as he did his own thinking. 
 However, I saw that he was much pleased to know 
 that we cared to have him become a member of the 
 school looking forward to graduation, and his face 
 brightened. 
 
 I could now talk with him and made it a point to 
 cultivate his acquaintance. Before the close of the 
 term he said to me : "I think I'll take your advice 
 and stay in the school till I graduate, I'll be pretty 
 old when I get through but I'll know a little some- 
 thing and I do like the school." 
 
 By the close of the spring term he had eptablished 
 
AVESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 97 
 
 the fact that he was a good student and this in itself 
 gained for him a certain respect among the other 
 students ; but his stoical, forbidding manner, and 
 his having served a term in the state reformatory 
 kept him from mingling freely with them. 
 
 The following September Henry was again in his 
 place in school, anxious to arrange his work with 
 a view to completing the course. This year he 
 worked so faithfully, accomplished so much, and 
 was so honest and upright in all his ways, that he 
 fast won the high regard of the entire school ; and 
 when he entered the debating society and proved to 
 the boys that he was a match for their strongest 
 debaters, he quickly became a leader and was 
 selected president of the society, which position he 
 filled with honor to himself and to the society. He 
 studied parliamentary law and as president held 
 everything strictly to that law. The fact, that he 
 had been in the state reformatory was now for- 
 gotten in the Scriptural sense of the word. He 
 was respected for loliat he luas. 
 
 The last two years he was in school he was presi- 
 dent of his class, an honor that he rightly deserved. 
 It is true his abrupt manner always clung to him, 
 the want of early refining influences could not easily 
 be overcome, but notwithstanding this, all knew 
 that he was every whit a manly man and as such he 
 7 
 
98 DIARY OF A 
 
 held their confidence. He was a power for good 
 in our school. One strong, rugged character, capa- 
 ble in every way, always standing for that which is 
 strictly right, is one of the best influences that can 
 be brought into any school. 
 
 After he graduated from the high school he taught 
 school a few years, saved his money and then took 
 a course in a higher institution of learning, and is 
 to-day a valuable member of society, one whose in- 
 telligence and education give him influence in the 
 community where he lives. 
 
 It is not so much icliat the boys study when they 
 enter school, I am willing they should choose what 
 they like best, anything to get them interested ; but 
 it is of great importance to thoroughly arouse their 
 Interest and to lead them to study what will give 
 them as rounded a course as possible. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 GEORGE 
 
 George entered our school a month after it opened 
 one fall term and took up the work in the Freshman 
 class without difficulty, except in the Latin. This, 
 at first, gave him trouble but by the end of the 
 second month he was as good as any in the class. 
 
 He was past eighteen years of age and had never 
 before attended other than an ungraded country 
 school. He was large and strong, and possessed 
 an excellent mind. But notwithstanding his fine 
 physique and bright mind, he did not at first pre- 
 sent a very attractive appearance for he was clad in 
 very plain, coarse clothing that indicated that the 
 closest economy was necessary for him to be in 
 school at all. 
 
 The first time I talked with him he told me that 
 it was uncertain how long he might be in school as 
 
 LofC. (^^> 
 
100 DIARY OF A 
 
 his people had just moved into town and were not 
 yet decided as to how long they might remain. 
 
 He became deeply interested in his studies and 
 was able to do, and did do well, almost twice as 
 much work as any other boy in the same class. This 
 was in part, at least, due to his being two years 
 older than most of those in his class ; still he had 
 an excellent mind and a vigorous body and was 
 willing to bend every energy to his school work. 
 
 The weeks went by quickly for him and soon it 
 was the first of March, and he was beginning to 
 think of spring work. He had no choice, tvork he 
 must, and that just as soon as he could secure a 
 place on some farm. 
 
 During the year we had often talked of his school 
 work ; but now I felt that I must help him to see 
 how it would be possible for him to continue with it 
 until he could complete the high school course, even 
 if it were necessary for hhn to cut short the school 
 term at both ends. I asked him if he ever thought 
 of completing the high school course. 
 
 " No," said he, "I have never thought it possi- 
 ble. I am always a month late entering school in 
 fall and am compelled to drop out early in the 
 spring, so how can I hope to finish the high school 
 course, even if we continue to live in town? " 
 
 " Very easily," I replied, " with your habits of 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 101 
 
 study, your mature mind, and strong body, and 
 with a set determination to finish the course, I knoio 
 you can do it. If you will but try to do the work, 
 I will see that you have every opportunity while in 
 school to make up what you have missed by being 
 out a few weeks in the spring and the first month 
 in the fall. I am sure you can do it." 
 
 George was pleased and said, " I never thought 
 such a thing possible before. I'll do my best and 
 every day I am not working I'll be in school." 
 
 He, soon after this conversation, began work on 
 a farm and was not again in school until a month 
 of the following fall term had passed. When he 
 again entered school he was thoroughly alive to his 
 work. In some studies there were many lessons to 
 be made up before he could gain anything from 
 the recitations ; in others he could begin the recita- 
 tion work with the classes and later make up the 
 back work. Thus he began, earnestly, vigorously 
 working to bring up the back work, and in part of 
 the work preparing and reciting the advance lessons 
 with the classes. — It is almost wonderful how much 
 work a good, strong fellow can do when he is work- 
 ing for a definite object. — But little help was given 
 George, yet long before the time for him to drop 
 out of school again he was fully abreast of his class. 
 He was strong in the class. 
 
102 DIARY OF A 
 
 Thus he worked year after year until he gradu- 
 ated ; the last spring, however, he remained in 
 school until the close. 
 
 The very fact that he did so much of his work 
 with but little attention from the teacher, made him 
 independent, self-reliant, willing to do the tard 
 parts as well as the easy, and when he graduated 
 he was recognized as one of the most scholarly 
 members of the class. 
 
 It pays to help boys to see the possibilities that 
 lie within their reach. We teachers in all our work 
 ought to remember that the schools are for the boys 
 and not the boys for the schools. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 NIM 
 
 Nim's early history so far as an3^hing is known 
 of it is this : when but six or seven years of age he 
 was taken from the streets of New York City and 
 with a number of other boys sent to Kansas where 
 homes were found for them among the farming peo- 
 ple of that State. Of his parents he remembered 
 nothing, and the records of the society that sent 
 him to his Western home give no clue to their 
 identity. 
 
 It was Nim's lot to be adopted by a farmer who 
 lived on the border line of the rainless district in 
 western Kansas, a farmer who each year found it 
 harder and harder to make ends meet and, finally 
 for the sake of a change, if not with the hope of bet- 
 tering his condition, moved to the valley of the 
 Platte in central Nebraska. 
 
 (103) 
 
104 DIARY OF A 
 
 Here he rented a farm and worked hard to make 
 a living ; but the sweat of his brow scarce earned 
 his bread ; one year the drouth parched his crops 
 and the next they were destroyed by hail. 
 Thoroughly disheartened by such a life, he became 
 ill-temj^ered, and Nim found it impossible to live 
 peaceably with him and many unpleasant scenes 
 occurred between them. 
 
 The farmer finally decided that he would send 
 Nim to the state reform or industrial school, 
 when Mr. Stone, a gentleman from our town who 
 owned a ranch near Nim's home, offered to give 
 him a home for a time, at least, on his ranch. 
 
 Nim was fourteen the spring he went to Mr. 
 Stone's ranch to work and all the summer long he 
 worked on the ranch and lived pleasantly and hap- 
 pily with those in charge of it. 
 
 In September, he came to live with Mr. Stone in 
 town that he might be in school, a better school and 
 a longer term than he could have in the country'. 
 Mr. Stone clothed him as neatly as any of the boj^s 
 and treated him as kindly as though he were his 
 own son, nor permitted him to miss a day of 
 school. 
 
 Nim was a fine-looking boy, bright in mind, and 
 attractive in manners, and soon entered into the life 
 and spirit of the school. He began in the seventh 
 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 105 
 
 grade and at the close of the year was promoted to 
 the eighth. When school was dismissed for the 
 summer vacation Nim went to work on the ranch. 
 In September he returned to school. 
 
 This second year passed with him as the first. 
 Mr. Stone was very careful not to permit him to 
 loaf about the town when not in school ; before 
 school of a morning and after school of an evening 
 he had his chores to do, and after these were at- 
 tended to he was required to give his time to the 
 preparation of lessons for the coming day. I do 
 not mean that he was allowed no time for sports and 
 play with other boys ; he had his full share of time 
 for recreation and improved it too ; but I mean 
 this : Mr. Stone systematized Nim's work and play 
 so that a year in school meant a year of earnest 
 effort and improvement. 
 
 At the close of this year he was promoted to the 
 high school. He Avasnow sixteen years of age. 
 
 On account of sickness in his family Mr. Stone 
 found it necessary to spend a year in another 
 State. As this broke up his home he could not 
 look after Nim as he had done the last two years. 
 
 Nim, now sixteen years of age, began to shift 
 for himself. He secured work in the country and I 
 knew no more of him until a week or two after 
 school opened the following September, when I re- 
 
106 DIARY OF A 
 
 ceived a note from him telling me he was working 
 for a certain farmer and that his job of work would 
 be completed within a few days and asking me to 
 please help him find a home in town where he could 
 work for his board and attend the high school. 
 
 It happened that just a few days before this 
 Mr. Kane, a friend of mine, had asked me if I 
 knew of any boy that would like to work for his 
 board and attend the high school, so I wrote Nim 
 to come see me at once, that I thought I could help 
 him. He came and through my influence secured a 
 home in one of the best families in the town. 
 
 His work was light, a cow to milk morning and 
 evening, a horse and buggy to take care of and as 
 there was never a rain in the winter season, it took 
 but little work to keep a buggy in good trim. He 
 was treated as one of the family, was given his own 
 room, heated night and day, in fact, was better 
 situated for his evening study than half the students 
 of the high school. Of Saturdays Mr. Kane gave 
 him work on the farm and paid him full wages for 
 the same so that Nim could have his own pocket 
 money. 
 
 The first month Mr. Kane was delighted with 
 Nim and Nim was equally pleased with his new 
 home. But before the end of the second month 
 things were changing. Mr. Kane said Nim was 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 107 
 
 staying out late at night, and at school we were not 
 satisfied with his work. 
 
 I talked with Nim ; he admitted that he some- 
 times remained out in town later than he should but 
 thought he could quit it, and would try to give 
 more time to the preparation of his lessons. But 
 there was improvement only for a few days then he 
 was out at night and behind in his work at school. 
 
 I said to Mr. Kane that he ought to tell him 
 what he could and what he could not do, as Mr. 
 Stone had done, that I believed Mm would obey 
 him ; but Mr. Kane was a Southern man, and said 
 that he had once been able to " boss " colored peo- 
 ple but he could not command white persons about 
 his own home ; that if he had to ' ' boss ' ' the boy 
 as he had once " bossed " the " darkies " he 
 would rather not have him about the place. 
 "But," said he, "I cannot turn that boy out of 
 my home while he has no place to go and we like 
 him very much, but we know he is not doing right." 
 
 At school Nim was not accomplishing what he 
 was capable of doing simply because his time out- 
 side of school was so taken up with other things. 
 
 Spring came, Nim secured work in the country 
 and left school for the last time. Had Mr. Kane 
 held Nim with the same firm hand that Mr. Stone 
 had done, he might, in time, have come to the 
 
108 DIARY OF A 
 
 point where he could see for himself what was best 
 or he might have resented it and done worse than 
 he did. I am inclined to think a strong hand 
 would have been a blessing. 
 
 I knew him for two years after he left school. 
 He was the same Nim, a handsome fellow, liked by 
 all who knew him, but never developing any real 
 independence of character. When the Cuban war 
 came on he enlisted in the army and since then I 
 have heard nothing of him. 
 
 I do not know that our interest in him did him 
 any lasting good ; it placed him within the reach of 
 a high school education but he failed to improve 
 the opportunity ; had he been willing to make good 
 use of his time, he could have had a home at Mr. 
 Kane's until he graduated from the high school ; 
 but it seemed that when he realized that he was 
 responsible to no one outside of school that he was 
 not capable of directing himself to his best inter- 
 ests. And yet, all considered, his early life, his 
 unpleasant boyhood, is it to be wondered at that he 
 failed to make the most of himself when freed from 
 restraint ? 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 NATE 
 
 I had been in charge of the schools at G but 
 
 a few days when one of the teachers asked me if I 
 had made the acquaintance of Nate, as she put it, 
 the " thorn in the flesh " to the last principal. 
 
 I replied that I had not or, at least, not in an 
 unpleasant way. Nate had been in school from the 
 first day but had done nothing to attract my atten- 
 tion other than that his general bearing had marked 
 him as one of the leaders among the boys. His full, 
 high forehead, his high cheek bones, and strong 
 lower jaw, that seemed to close with the clinch of a 
 vice, and his clear gray eye, that seemed to pene- 
 trate whatever it was turned upon, gave the im- 
 pression of an unusually strong character. He was 
 about fifteen years of age at this time and had three 
 years of high school work before him. 
 
 (109) 
 
110 DIARY OF A 
 
 In the grammar grade he had been the acknowl- 
 edged leader in arithmetic and English grammar. 
 A problem that Nate could not solve was a rare 
 thing and he prided himself not a little on his ability 
 to deal with almost all of the little knotty questions 
 that came up in the study of grammar in the high 
 school ; that is, he could cite authorities on most of 
 these points thus showing an intimate acquaintance 
 with most of the grammars accessible to the school. 
 The other scholars stood somewhat in awe of his 
 accomplishments in these two lines of study. In 
 other work he was above the average until he came 
 to algebra ; in this for a time he fell far short. 
 
 The teacher who had charge of Nate's algebra 
 class was a good teacher in some things but in 
 algebra accomplished nothing. The class finally be- 
 came so discouraged that I made a change and took 
 charge of it myself. Although bright boys and girls, 
 they had come to think algebra was a little beyond 
 them and were wilhng to give it up. Day after 
 day I worked to overcome the deadening effect of 
 the former teaching and gradually they became in- 
 terested and willing to believe they could learn it. 
 Day after day we drilled carefully on the simple 
 process of factoring until most of them felt a cer- 
 tain confidence in themselves and were glad to try 
 the more difficult problems without so much as a 
 
 I 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTEK. Ill 
 
 suggestion from me. But Nate sat with his teeth 
 firmly clinched together fully decided that he could 
 not learn and therefore it was all a waste of time 
 for him to try. In fact, he had so fully convinced 
 himself that he could not learn that he would not 
 learn. 
 
 I permitted this to go on for several days hoping 
 that his sense of pride would be aroused by seeing 
 the others becoming independent in their work, but 
 he was not to be so moved. One evening I detained 
 the class after school to give them a drill on a more 
 than ordinarily difficult case in factoring. Nate 
 took his place at the board but failed to follow the 
 dictation. At first, I did not apparently notice his 
 stubborn manner but susjorested to him what to do 
 just as pleasantly as though he were putting forth 
 every effort. He followed in a heartless way with 
 no attempt to understand the process I was teaching 
 them ; he was closed against everything that had to 
 do with algebra, for, as he said, he knew he could 
 not learn it. 
 
 Finally he became so angry from being out-of- 
 heart about it that he broke out in words and said : 
 " I can't learn algebra and I'm not going to keep 
 on studying it either. I loon't do it, Pm going to 
 quit.'' 
 
 I waited a moment, the class looked amazed. 
 
112 DIARY OF A 
 
 then I said in as pleasant a manner as though he 
 had said nothing out of place, " Nate, you are going 
 to learn this case of factoring before you leave this 
 house this evening, and you might just as well 
 begin at once." " I know you can do it and you 
 must do it.'" 
 
 He turned again to the black-board, angry and 
 humiliated, more from his discouraged feeling than 
 from anything else, I thought, the tears streaming 
 down his cheeks, and closely followed as I dictated 
 problem after problem, I standing where 1 could 
 see that he did the work just as I dictated. I was 
 determined to hold him to the one point for an hour 
 but what he should learn it. 
 
 I called on different ones to explain the problems 
 as they solved them, and before the end of the les- 
 son called on Nate. I gave the problem, he solved 
 it, and explained the process. Then I asked him 
 if he understood it. He replied that he did, and 
 that he could solve any of that kind. 
 
 That was all I cared for from him for the even- 
 ing. The fact is, that a good part of the hour 1 
 devoted myself specially to him, holding him to 
 the one thing by sheer will force, the others of 
 the class working with very little attention from me. 
 
 After we were through I smiled and said to Nate 
 that it did him a great deal of good to get so angry, 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 113 
 
 and asked him what he supposed would have hap- 
 jjeued if I had gotten out of humor, too. This 
 was asked, not tauntingly, but in a pleasant, 
 friendly manner, that he and the class understood. 
 All laughed, and we parted in good humor, and the 
 work for the day was ended. 
 
 That lifted Nate out of the " slough of despond," 
 and never again did I help him with a jiroblem 
 in algebra, and ever after he led the algebra class 
 with perfect ease. 
 
 I knew he had the power to do the work, and 
 that in some way he must be made conscious of 
 it ; that if I could but center his mind on the 
 process and have him follow it a few times from dic- 
 tation, and quit thinking for a moment that he 
 could not do it, he would see through it instantly, 
 and he would become conscious of his ability to do, 
 and would put forth the effort. 
 
 When I saw him so agitated I felt that then 
 was my time, not simply as some one might say 
 to "break his will," 7Wt this, but to calmly, and 
 pleasantly, hold him to performing the process until 
 his mind, highly excited as it was, should grasp the 
 fact that he was doing the very thing he w^as 
 saying he could not do. 
 
 After completing algebra he was in my classes in 
 plane and solid geometry, and trigonometry. He 
 
114 DIARY OF A 
 
 was a fine student in all this work, and never in 
 need of an explanation from any one. I remem- 
 ber once in the trigonometry class that no one 
 could solve a certain problem the first day it was 
 given, but no one was willing to have it explained. 
 " We can work it if 3'ou will give another day," 
 said the class. I gave the day, but the problem 
 was still unsolved. " Give us one more day and 
 some of us will solve it without your help," said 
 the class. Another day was given. 
 
 Before school the next morning Nate came into 
 the high school room smiling and said, " I've solved 
 it. I was sitting down at the barn last evening and 
 thought it out while there. I've just worked it in 
 my head, but I know it's right. I'll put it on 
 the blackboard for you to see it." Without a book 
 he stepped to the blackboard and rapidly worked 
 out the problem. It was a difficult one involving 
 the solution of a number of triangles but he had so 
 studied it that he drew his figures and worked out 
 the required results just as quickly as he could use 
 the chalk. He was the only one that solved the 
 problem without helj^. 
 
 When I first began work in the schools at G , 
 
 the boys had no pride in their school, no school 
 spirit. A perfectly lifeless routine affair. This I 
 knew must be changed, that we must have such 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 115 
 
 strong class work that the boys would realize they 
 were getting something for their time and that there 
 must also be something other than lessons in which 
 they could be interested and feel that it in a special 
 sense was theirs. 
 
 Without discussing the good of declamatory con- 
 tests in themselves I have learned that as a means 
 to an end they are an excellent thing. A good 
 declamatory contest rightly managed begets a school 
 spirit that is most healthful. 
 
 I determined to close the term with a public 
 declamatory entertainment. But then came the 
 question how to induce the boys fifteen or sixteen 
 years of age to speak. In a school where there has 
 been no speaking, this is a serious question. Be- 
 fore announcing publicly to the school what we 
 were going to do, beginning with Nate I took the 
 boys privately one at a time, explained to them 
 what I wished to do and asked their help. 
 
 I talked with Nate, stated that I would like to 
 give a declamatory entertainment at about such a 
 time and would hke him to be one of the speakers. 
 
 " But I can't speak " said Nate. " That's true, 
 Nate, but you can learn to speak and you would 
 like to do that, I'm sure." "Father is a good 
 declaimer and I would like to learn, but I am 
 afraid I couldn't do any good" said he. "I'll 
 
116 DIARY OF A 
 
 tell you what I'll do, Nate, if you will agree to try 
 to help me out in this, I'll find a piece, drill you in 
 speaking it, and then if you think you cannot 
 speak it well enough to speak it in public, I'll 
 excuse you from speaking it." "Is that fair? " 
 "Yes, it is fair," said he. "Well, you talk it 
 over with your father to-night and tell me in the 
 morning if you will do it" said I, "but don't 
 speak of it to any of the other boys until we have 
 decided what we shall do." 
 
 The next morning Nate told me that his father 
 was pleased with the idea of his trying to speak 
 and that I could count on him. 
 
 Then I carefully selected another boy somewhat 
 of a leader, and gave him the same explanation of 
 my plan, and finished by stating that Nate had 
 already pledged me he would declaim. This was 
 enough, he would do what Nate would do ; I could 
 count on him. 
 
 In this way I j^roceeded until I had my program 
 completed. Then I announced to the school that 
 at such a time we would give a declamatory pro- 
 gram and read the names of those w^ho expected to 
 take part. It was a surprise to the school and 
 awakened great interest. 
 
 I selected, or aided the boys in selecting, decla- 
 mations and for several weeks gave my spare time 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 117 
 
 before school of mornings and after school of even- 
 ings to training them to speak. They took great 
 interest in trying to do their best, and the close 
 companionship this drilling them brought about 
 between the boys and myself was of the greatest 
 value to us both. 
 
 In all this work Nate was the one that uncon- 
 sciously to himself and the others helped me to 
 bring about the desired result. He was no longer 
 a " thorn in the flesh " to the principal but rather 
 a ' ' spur ' ' to the school to press on to better 
 things. 
 
 Do not think I mean to say that Nate was a per- 
 fect model in deportment. He was a strong-willed 
 boy and sometimes let his boyishness lead him to 
 do things that were not strictly in accord with the 
 disci j)line of the school, but he was always easily 
 brought to proper conduct by an appeal to his 
 sense of honor ; he was manly through and through. 
 
 Nate's habits of study were different from most 
 boys ; he would sit in the high school apparently 
 gazing around the room, a smile on his face as if 
 bent on mischief and waiting his opportunity ; and 
 yet all the while his mind was occupied with some 
 difficult point in a lesson. If it happened to be a 
 problem in mathematics he were thinking out, if you 
 were to watch him for a few moments, you would 
 
118 DIAKY OF A 
 
 see him take up his pencil and figure rapidly for a 
 short time. He was putting in form what he had 
 been thinking out, and generally he was sure of the 
 result before he made use of his pencil. 
 
 I remember one teacher whom he annoyed very 
 much at first by this habit. She said to me : 
 " Nate doesn't study to do much good while I am 
 in charge of the room but spends most of his time 
 looking around ; now and then he figures a little but 
 not long at a time." 
 
 This was before I knew him well so at her re- 
 quest I spoke to him about his spending so much 
 time looking around the room when he should have 
 his mind centered on his lessons. " But," said he, 
 "I am studying when I'm looking around; I'm 
 thinking out my problems and then afterwards I put 
 them down. Don't I always have my lessons? " 1 
 had to admit that I heard no complaints of his not 
 preparing his lessons. As we knew him better we 
 found that he was all the time at work even when 
 apparently gazing around the room. 
 
 Most of his school work he prepared during 
 school hours, except his mathematical problems. 
 These he often carried in his mind and solved them 
 while eno-ao-ed at other work. 
 
 His parents were wealthy and took great delight 
 in their children. At home Nate exhibited quite a 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASIER. 119 
 
 liking for mechanical work and the father, to en- 
 courage him, fitted up a room for a shop and sup- 
 plied him with whatever tools he called for. Before 
 he graduated from the high school, Nate was a fine 
 gun-smith, an expert in repairing locks, guns, and 
 bicycles. During the last two years of his high 
 school course, his mornings, evenings, and Satur- 
 days, were given to this kind of work. He often 
 made a day's wages after school of an evening. 
 This work in no way interfered with his school 
 work. 
 
 During the three years Nate was in the high 
 school he was one of the most loyal, helpful high 
 school boys I have ever known and his leadership 
 had a marked influence over the younger boys. 
 These boys who have the faculty of leadership are 
 a great blessing to any school if they are wisely 
 turned in the rio^ht direction. 
 
CHAPTP]R XVII 
 
 AL AND WALTER 
 
 There had been no fighting among our high school 
 boys on the way to and from school for almost a 
 year, when one noon I was much surprised to learn 
 that two of the best boys in school had engaged in 
 a fist fight with a large boy from one of the gram- 
 mar grades. 
 
 It happened in this way: Al and Walter were 
 walking along when the grammar grade boy came 
 up to Al and spoke in a manner that made Al very 
 angry. Quick as flash Al resented the words and 
 instantly they were fighting. The grammar grade 
 boy was as old as Al and a better trained fighter, 
 so Walter at once stepped in to help his friend. It 
 was on one of the public streets of the town and as 
 (120) 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 121 
 
 usual attracted a crowd and caused a great commo- 
 tion. 
 
 I felt heartily ashamed of the whole affair. Such 
 things had once been so common that no one took 
 much note of them, but now that we had gone almost 
 a year without anything of the kind, this seemed all 
 the more disgraceful to the school ; but while I was 
 ashamed of it, I was in no way out of heart over 
 the break in the good record we had been making. 
 Such breaks always come ; the only problem is to so 
 deal with them that in the end good lessons may be 
 given the school and the possibility of such occur- 
 ences in the future lessened. 
 
 I hastily considered the matter that I might have 
 some plan of action mapped out in mind to present 
 when school opened for the afternoon. I knew 
 everyone was anxious to know what would be done. 
 
 We opened school as usual. Without attracting 
 any attention the boys were quietly requested to pass 
 to my office, where I met them. They were both 
 humiliated at what they had done. There had 
 been time for their tempers to cool and they could 
 see how unfortunate their conduct was for them- 
 selves and for the school. 
 
 I said to them that once fiffhtino; had been so 
 common on the way to and from school that people 
 living on the school street lost all respect for the 
 
122 DIAKY OF A 
 
 school ; that for almost a year there had been no 
 trouble of any kind and that the change had been 
 so marked that the people of the whole town felt 
 proud of it ; but now a break had been made that 
 would take us a year at least to live down ; that the 
 fight had lessened the respect that the people had 
 for us and also put before the younger boys an 
 example that would make them feel that they too 
 could get mad and fight on any provocation ; that 
 while we could not help what had been done, we 
 must try to prevent like happenings in the 
 future. 
 
 *' And now, boys," said I, "you say you are 
 sorry you engaged in the fight, and I believe you 
 are and am willing to forgive you ; but the evil 
 effect of this wrong doing on yourselves and on 
 others, I cannot so easily clear away." " In the 
 first place, there must be some punishment con- 
 nected with this that will cause you to stop and 
 think before giving away to unruly tempers ; in 
 the second place, the other boys of the school must 
 see that wrong-doing on the part of leading boys in 
 the high school meets its just deserts as quickly as 
 with any others ; this, I know, you will say is 
 nothing more than fair." 
 
 " What that punishment should be, I do not 
 know." " I will not be hasty in this, neither will 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 123 
 
 I take it on myself alone to decide, but will ask you 
 to tell me what you think it should be ; you under- 
 stand the offense and I am sure will try to put a 
 just estimate on it, so you may think it over until 
 to-morrow morning, when you will report to me." 
 
 The next morning they met me in my office but 
 said they could think of nothing to suggest ; for me 
 to make the punishment whatever I thought right 
 and they would abide by my decision without any 
 complaining. 
 
 In the meantime I had not been idle but had 
 weighed the offense trying to take every circumstance 
 into consideration ; Al and Walter were two of my 
 most trusty boys in the high school ; Al's quick tem- 
 per was the only thing that ever gave him any trouble 
 and on this occasion there was some provocation ; 
 Walter had never before been reproved for anything ; 
 they were two boys whose high school records for 
 the year had been as clear as such records can be ; 
 they had shown a willingness to submit to whatever 
 I required and to do it in a pleasant spirit ; there 
 had been no self-justification. 
 
 I said to the boys that I had one solution to offer ; 
 if it did not meet their approval, we would try to 
 find one that would. My solution was that from 
 that day on until such a time as I saw fit to 
 relieve them, they should not come to school or go 
 
124 DIARY OF A 
 
 home from school with the other pupils ; they 
 should remain at home until the last bell began to 
 ring, then come to school down one of the back 
 streets which I designated ; that when school was 
 dismissed at noon and evening they should remain 
 in their seats until all others were gone, then go 
 home by the back street ; and that in order that all 
 might know that the offense had not been passed 
 over I would explain to the school what they were 
 to do. 
 
 The boys said that they were willing to follow 
 out this plan. Before we dismissed school that 
 noon, I talked to the school of the fight. I said 
 nothing unkind of the boys, I spoke of their al- 
 most perfect record in the past, and of how proud 
 we all felt that fighting had so long ceased to take 
 from the good name of our high school ; and that 
 while we all felt that the fight had hurt us, we must 
 try the harder to guard ourselves against such 
 things in the future. The school was with me in 
 sympathy and so were Al and Walter. Then I 
 explained what we had agreed upon and asked that 
 the fight and everything connected with it be drop- 
 ped as a subject of conversation. 
 
 I heard no more of it. Al and Walter kept their 
 part to the very letter for two months, without a 
 sour word, or an unpleasant look. 
 
I 
 
 WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 125 
 
 At the end of the second month I said : ' ' Boys , 
 you have regained in every way your place in the 
 school, and you are free to go and come with the 
 others." 
 
 I was in the high school several years after this 
 but fighting among the high school boys was never 
 again clothed with the semblance of respectability. 
 
CHAPTER XVIIl 
 
 WASH 
 
 Shortly after I began my work in the schools, 
 
 I discovered a boy in one of the seventh grades , a 
 colored boy of about fifteen years of age, who was 
 very irregular in attendance, the mother always 
 writing an excuse for him noth withstanding the fact 
 that when he was not in school he spent much of 
 his time in the neighborhood of the school appar- 
 ently loafing. 
 
 After consulting with his teacher I was convinced 
 that there was no good reason for his being absent 
 so often and I decided that there must be a differ- 
 ent arrangement and such "excused" truancy 
 stopped. 
 
 A day or two later he was absent from school 
 again. That day, soon after school opened at 
 noon, as I was going from the building in which his 
 (126) 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 127 
 
 school was located, I happened to look down a b}'- 
 street and saw my colored boy peeping out of a 
 door of a planing mill to watch when I should be 
 out of sight. I said to myself " that boy will from 
 now on either be in school regularly or spend his 
 time elsewhere than in the neighborhood of the 
 school house." 
 
 The next morning he was still absent. I went to 
 see his mother. I talked to her about Wash and 
 his school work ; how important it was for him to 
 be there every day, how much he could do if he 
 were only regular in attendance. She seemed 
 pleased that I took so much interest in him but 
 finally said : ' ' Well, Wash. , he don't like his teacher 
 and he don't like to go to school, so I let him go 
 errands for me. He's not playing truant, he's 
 goin' errands." 
 
 " But Mrs. T ," said I, " You cannot afford 
 
 to work so hard to support Wash, and have him 
 spend most of his time loafing around the streets. 
 He could do your errands and still be in school all 
 day. You and your girls work very hard ; Wash, is 
 better able to work than any of you, and if he is 
 not going to be in school to do any good, he had 
 better get a job of work. Where is he now? " 
 *' O, he has gone down town to get me a spool of 
 thread," she replied. 
 
128 DIAIIY OF A 
 
 1 told her what I knew to be true, that Wash, was 
 doing some things while loaring around that would 
 get him into trouble and that the best thing for her 
 to do was to help us hold him in school or j^ut him 
 to work. 
 
 But there was nothing to be gained by talking 
 further with her for she finally said that as he 
 didn't like his teacher she couldn't make him go to 
 school. (He had an excellent teacher.) 
 
 I left her determined that, while she could not 
 help me in the least, I would find some other way 
 to get that boy off the streets and away from the 
 neighborhood of the schools if I could not get him 
 to attend school regularly. 
 
 As I passed down the sti-eet I met one of our 
 city officers, one who had been quite active in help- 
 ing me enforce the compulsory attendance law ; I 
 said to him that there were two or three boj^s, 
 beyond the compulsory age, hanging around the 
 neighborhood of the Central School that I would 
 like to compel either to attend school regularly or 
 go to work. I then told him. of Wash. 
 
 He knew the boy only too well and was informed 
 as to his conduct, which had not been of the best, 
 by any means. " I'll send him to the reform 
 school if he does not attend school regularly," said 
 he, and he meant it. " May I go and tell his 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 129 
 
 mother that you said you would send Wash, to the 
 reform school if he does not attend school every 
 day? " I asked. " Yes, go and tell her, and if he 
 does not change his course at once, I'll send him 
 there in a hurry." 
 
 I did not wait to inquire on what grounds he 
 would commit the boy but I knew that he thought 
 that he had all the evidence necessary. I lost no 
 
 time in delivering the message. " Mrs. T ," 
 
 said I, "Mr. R sent me to tell you that if 
 
 Wash, did not at once enter school and attend regu- 
 larly, he would send him to the reform school." 
 
 " Law goodness," said she, " we don't want him 
 to go there shoah." " No," said I ; " you do not 
 for if he goes there it will be a long time before you 
 see him. The best thing for Wash, is to get him 
 into school at once and keep him there." " He'll 
 be in this afternoon, shoah," replied she, " and 
 he'll be there all the time." 
 
 I knew that Wash., as well as his mother, would 
 
 be frightened when they knew that Mr. R had 
 
 made such a threat. 
 
 Wash, came to school that afternoon and was 
 regular in his attendance to the close of the year. 
 
 Here was a w^ell-meaning but weak-willed mother, 
 a mother with no control of her boy. This was the 
 cause of his truancy. Whether or not the medicine 
 9 
 
130 DIARY OF A 
 
 was properly administered, I know not, but I do 
 know that it at least stayed the ravages of the 
 disease in his case. 
 
 All this was done kindly, so that the family feel 
 that I am their friend even though they must bend 
 to my will in school affairs. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 REX 
 
 Rex was about ten years old and was working in 
 a broom factory when school opened. When we 
 found that he was not in school the truant officer 
 called at the home to inquire about him. His 
 mother said that he had work and that she thought 
 it was her place to say whether or not her boy 
 should go to school ; that she did not believe in a 
 law that took the control of her boy out of her hands. 
 As he did not immediately put in an appearance, I 
 went with the truant officer to see the mother. She 
 said he had quit work but she did not know whether 
 or not he would go to school. 
 
 I knew from her strong face that if she said Rex 
 must go, he would go. I talked with her trying to 
 lead her to see the importance of her boy's being in 
 school, appealed to her pride that her boy should 
 
 (131) 
 
132 DIARY OF A 
 
 have the same show to get along as her neighbor's 
 boys who were in school, and then kindly but 
 firmly insisted that there was no question, the boy 
 must be in school at least four months, the com- 
 pulsory limit ; and I said that I hoped that she 
 would not make it necessary for me to go to further 
 trouble to enforce the law. 
 
 She agreed to send Rex the next morning but 
 said after that we would have to take charge of him, 
 for he did not like to go to school. I knew when 
 she said he would be there the next morning that 
 he would come, but I also knew that she did not 
 expect him to be there every day. 
 
 Rex came the next morning and for a number 
 of days. Then he was reported absent, and the 
 truant officer looked him up and brought him to 
 school. 
 
 An incident happened at this time that gave me 
 almost complete control of him, and thus far has 
 saved all trouble. A thieving man employed Rex 
 and another boy to steal the brass trimmings off of 
 a locomotive that was being dismantled, and to 
 carry them to a place where he dared take posses- 
 sion of them. He gave the boys a few pennies for 
 their work. The theft was discovered, the man and 
 the boys were arrested, and there was talk of send- 
 ing the boys to the reform school. The man lay 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 133 
 
 ill jail three months. I investigated the affair, 
 and knowing all felt that it would not be right to 
 deal with the boys too severely. I made a plea 
 privately in behalf of the boys, asking that their 
 parents be instructed that the boys must attend 
 school regularly or they would be sent to the 
 reform school ; that the sentence should not be 
 executed so long as the boys attended school every 
 
 My request was granted, the sentence was stayed, 
 and they were permitted to remain at home during 
 good behavior. 
 
 The boy that played truant plays truant no more, 
 and the mother sees to it that he is in school. 
 Among " her class " she is one of my strong sup- 
 porters in enforcing the law she once tried hard to 
 evade. My words in favor of giving her boy an- 
 other trial won her to my side, and made her feel 
 that I was a friend, and not simply trying to take 
 away her rights. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 CARL AND SOME OTHER BOYS 
 
 Carl was twelve years of age ; a bright, sturdy boy. 
 His mother had died when he was six years old. 
 For several years after his mother's death he lived 
 with his grand-parents. They became tired of him, 
 as he was too self-willed for them to control. Then 
 his father took him to live with him. The father 
 and the boy lived and kept house for a number of 
 weeks in a single room. The father is an honest, 
 hard-working man. As he told me a few weeks 
 ago, he would get up in the morning, cook their 
 breakfast and eat his own while the boy was still 
 asleep. The father is a teamster and is engaged in 
 hauling hay from the country. After he left in the 
 morning he saw no more of Carl until noon, when 
 they ate dinner together ; then he knew no more of 
 him until evenino^. In the evening the father would 
 (134) 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER 135 
 
 often go out in town, and Carl, left to himself, did 
 the same. Do you wonder, that with such home 
 conditions it was a difficult task to hold him regu- 
 larly in school ? 
 
 Frequently he would be reported absent. The tru- 
 ant officer at first had trouble to find the father, but 
 when he did find him the father was much worried 
 about his boy, for he wanted him to be in school 
 every day. We not only notified the father but the 
 police as well, so that they would bring Carl in if 
 found on the street. But for some time he was 
 more than an equal for his father, the police, and 
 the truant officer. Before school time in the 
 morning he would take a dog or two and " skip " 
 to the country to hunt rabbits. 
 
 One evening his father whipped him very severely 
 and made him promise that he would go to school 
 the next morning, but it seems the dogs and 
 rabbits had a greater influence on him than the 
 whipping, he went hunting. 
 
 1 talked with Carl, cultivated his acquaintance, 
 and tried to find out why he was so determined to 
 be out of school. All he would say was that he 
 liked to go to school bad days but would rather go 
 hunting good days. 
 
 He was not an unpleasant boy in school, the only 
 difficulty was to get him into school. The fact 
 
136 DIARY OF A 
 
 that he always went to the country made it hard f or 
 the truant officer to catch him. 
 
 I reahzed all the time that what the boy needed 
 was a home where some one would look after him. 
 I finally learned that he had an aunt in town. I 
 saw her and told her that I thought a good home 
 would do away with the boy's truancy. She finally 
 agreed to take him into her home, although she was 
 not really able to do it. He lived with her for a 
 number of weeks until his father moved from our 
 town, and as long as he was with her he never 
 again played truant. 
 
 While working with this boy and studying his 
 case, I felt that one great need of the State to-day 
 is parental schools, accessible to districts outside 
 of the large cities, where habitual truants whose 
 home conditions are such as to render it almost 
 impossible to keep them in school, could be sent. 
 Schools where truants could be sent and no stigma 
 attach itself to them for having been there. Places 
 where there would be no suggestion of a criminal 
 class. 
 
 One afternoon four boys were reported absent 
 from school. Before the day was over the truant 
 officer brought word that the four boys were spend- 
 ing the afternoon sunning themselves down by the 
 railroad just outside the town. They were seventh 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 137 
 
 and eighth grade boys. Some one had seen them 
 and notified the officer. I did not ask him to bring 
 them in. I knew they would come of their own 
 accord in the morning, and that would be the best 
 time to meet them. They were not habitual 
 truants. 
 
 The next morning they were in school. I sent 
 for them to come to my office one at a time. The 
 first that came was fourteen years of age, and a 
 good fellow. I asked him why he was out of school 
 the afternoon before, how he happened to be out. 
 He told me the whole story. One boy had dared 
 the others to stay out of school and he couldn' 
 take a dare. I then asked if he did not think we 
 would find it out. He said he knew we would but 
 he did not " like for the others to back him down." 
 He then said, " Give me a good whipping, I ought 
 to have it; so just give it to me; " and he was 
 ready to take it. 
 
 I talked with him a few moments longer and 
 tried to place a just estimate on the offense and not 
 to magnify it so that he would think he had com- 
 mitted an unpardonable crime. Then I told him I 
 would let him know in the evening what the punish- 
 ment would be. 
 
 One after another I interviewed them. Each 
 one told me what I knew to be true ; no one tried 
 
138 DIARY OF A 
 
 to excuse himself, and each one said that he had 
 done wrong and ought to suffer the penalty what- 
 ever I thought it should be. 
 
 The one point I aimed at in my talk with them 
 was to be just, neither underestimating nor over- 
 estimating the offense. When boys know that we 
 are just, and our sense of justice must be from a 
 boy's point of view largely, there is little difficulty 
 in settling troubles with them. 
 
 In the evening I met the four together and sub- 
 mitted what seemed to me the proper thing to do ; 
 not to whip them as some of them had suggested, 
 but to let them remain thirty minutes each evening 
 until the time lost should be made up. I asked them 
 if they thought it fair or if they could suggest a 
 better arrangement, saying that I should be glad to 
 have them do so if they could. They said it was 
 all right, that they would be glad to settle it that 
 way. 
 
 I did not pledge them not to do so again, but 
 said to them pleasantly as we parted: "Boys, I 
 hope you will try not to get us into this kind of 
 trouble again." 
 
 Theirs was only a sporadic case of truancy and 
 I do not know but that it proved a real good ; it 
 brought the boys and myself into closer touch ; I 
 saw more real worth in them than I had seen before. 
 
WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 139 
 
 and as they left my office I could but admire the 
 real manliness of the boys notwithstanding their 
 faults. 
 
 Three years ago when visiting a school in an east- 
 ern city I happened to step into a fifth grade room. 
 I had been there but a moment before I felt the 
 harsh, forbidding atmosphere. You know you can 
 feel such things even before understanding the 
 cause. The teacher's voice was harsh and rasping 
 as a file. Presently she turned to me and said : 
 " Do you have many bad boys in your school? " 
 "No," I replied, " very few." "We do," con- 
 tinued she, " they are most all bad!" Now I 
 think that if a boy is ever justified in playing 
 truant it is when he has such a person for his 
 teacher. 
 
 Sometimes I have transferred a boy from one 
 teacher to another in the same grade, for the sake 
 of giving him a teacher who could so interest him 
 that he would cease to play truant. This is a sim- 
 ple but very effective means of preventing truancy 
 where the cause is weak parental authority at home, 
 and a teacher at school who fails to strike the 
 proper responsive chord in the boy. 
 
 In all I have said of these boys and truancy my 
 one aim has been to bring out the thought that we 
 must treat each individual case on its own merits. 
 
140 DIARY OF A WESTERN SCHOOLMASTER. 
 
 and that to do this, there must be a clear under- 
 standing of the causes. It pays in smaller cities 
 and towns for the superintendent to become per- 
 sonally acquainted with those who have a tendency 
 to truancy. Often, if he is a man of warm heart, 
 his words do more, much more, than the words of 
 the teacher toward interesting the boy in his school 
 work. We, superintendents and teachers, and in 
 the larger cities principals and teachers, should 
 know the home conditions in such cases to have 
 the sympathetic support of parents where it is most 
 needed. We cannot handle people with tongs and 
 di'aw forth the proper response. We must under- 
 stand and appreciate, from their point of view, the 
 life they live to be helpful to them. 
 
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