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Title: School-Room Humour
Author: Dr. MacNamara
Release Date: August 27, 2012 [EBook #40593]
Language: English
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SCHOOL-ROOM HUMOUR.
DR. MACNAMARA _desires to thank the Directors of the_
"SCHOOLMASTER" _for the right to use most of the stories which
follow_. _He desires also to thank his old friends, the teachers
up and down the country, whose anecdotes he is presuming to put
into print._
_All rights reserved_
School-Room
Humour
BY
DR. MACNAMARA, M.P.
THIRD EDITION
"_Faith is what makes you believe what you know to be untrue_"
TRUTHFUL JAMES, aged 10
BRISTOL
J. W. ARROWSMITH LTD., QUAY STREET
LONDON
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & COMPANY LIMITED
1913
_First Published_ _1905_
_Second Edition (enlarged)_ _1907_
_Third Edition (with picture cover)_ _1913_
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
The original Edition of _School-Room Humour_ published two years ago
gave so much pleasure to so many people that it has occurred to me that
a new and enlarged edition may prove not entirely unacceptable. I have
therefore added the best from my collection since the first publication;
and now, as then, tender my thanks to the proprietors of the
_Schoolmaster_ and to my friends the elementary school teachers.
T. J. MACNAMARA.
_January, 1907._
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
_School-Room Humour_ having proved a constant source of enjoyment to an
ever-widening public, the Publishers have pleasure in issuing a third
edition, revised, and with a picture cover, and trust that in its new
dress the little book will continue to provide amusement for a large
circle of readers.
_September, 1913._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. _Page_
A LITTLE GENERAL DISQUISITION 9
CHAPTER II.
CHILDREN'S WITTICISMS CRITICALLY CONSIDERED 14
CHAPTER III.
A BUDGET OF QUAINT DEFINITIONS 28
CHAPTER IV.
"I NOW TAKE MY PEN IN HAND" 38
CHAPTER V.
THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTY 72
CHAPTER VI.
THE FOND PARENT 89
CHAPTER VII.
LITTLE SCIENTISTS AT SEA 97
CHAPTER VIII.
A MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTION 105
School-Room Humour.
CHAPTER I.
A LITTLE GENERAL DISQUISITION.
TEACHER: "_What does B.C. stand for?_"
SCHOLAR: "_Before Christ!_"
TEACHER: "_Good! Now what does B.A. stand for?_"
SCHOLAR: "_Before Adam!_"
It is not to be denied that the life of the schoolmaster is always
exacting, usually tedious, and occasionally irritating. It is not to be
denied that long-enduring patience, untiring perseverance, and
philosophical resignation are only the first three of the many qualities
essential to success. But still the drudgery of teaching has its
compensations. And they are the more acceptable because of their rare
charm. There, in the schoolmaster's keeping, is the youthful mind. What
may he not do with it? What forgetfulness of the dreary round of toil
the very contemplation of the situation compels! And when his task is
achieved, and the finished product of his labour has passed out into the
world, with what quiet and ineffable satisfaction the schoolmaster
reflects upon the part he played in the making of men. In the days of my
schoolmastering I fell into this mood always--gently carried thence by
some beneficent ministering angel--when wearied and worried at the close
of the long day's toil; and in that mood was more balm than in many
sedatives and more sereneness than in much repose. This is the
schoolmaster's first great compensation.
But there is that other. There is the agreeable amazement that the
working of the fresh child-mind is always provoking. And in this the
schoolmaster is regularly furnished with food for pleasant reflection
and for engaging conjecture day by day throughout the whole of his
pedagogic career. "Child-study" and "Psychology" have in recent times
taken severely scientific shape, and have fallen under the ægis of
Government Departments and into Government Syllabuses. Good! But the
least observant and the least interested of all the schoolmasters of the
land, long before the Board of Education ever added "Child-study" to its
quaint if not exactly terrifying terminology, have never failed to
arrive empirically at certain broad conclusions with regard to the
child-mind which have been reached by practical and altogether
delightful daily experiences. Heaven forbid that I should unduly weary
the reader with disquisitions on these conclusions. But, at any rate, I
may acceptably rehearse some of the experiences.
Now I admit at once that very many of the artlessly amusing things which
are alleged to have been uttered by that prime unconscious humorist, the
schoolboy, are quite apocryphal. They have been ingeniously excogitated
by their unabashed and artful elders for the purpose of creating a
laugh. They used to say that quill pens survived in the office of the
Board of Education in order that the Inspectors and other officials, in
the operation of persistently trimming them, might never be without
something to do. That is absurd. There is always the profitable
preoccupation of manufacturing funny puerile answers to inspectorial
hypothetical questions. Why not? The proceeding is innocent enough. But
it _does_ tend to make one incredulous. For example, I was once told
that a London Board School child defined "_a lie_" as "_an abomination
in the sight of the Lord, but a very present help in time of trouble_."
It is possible, remotely possible. But it is extremely unlikely. Then
when I am told that a youngster described "_the liver_" as "_an infernal
organ_," I see visions of a not fully-occupied civil servant suffering
acutely from an attack of chronic indigestion which has put him badly
off his drive. So, too, when I am told that a Bristol youngster once
wrote, "_The bowels are five in number, namely a, e, i, o and u_," like
the Scotsman, "I hae ma doots!" Then there is the classic answer to the
question: "What proof have we from the Bible that it is not lawful to
have more than one wife"--"_Because it says no man can serve two
masters!_" No child ever said _that_. And belonging to the same category
is the following. The teacher asked: "If one man walking at the rate of
three miles an hour gets half an hour's start of another man walking at
the rate of four miles an hour, when will the second man overtake the
first?" The allegation is that the small boy replied: "_Please, sir, at
the first public-house!_" But I know that small boy. He is a wag, it is
true; but he doesn't wear knickerbockers.
So far as possible, therefore, I will endeavour to reject the apocryphal
in favour of the authentic, giving the former the benefit of the doubt,
of course, if on its merits the humour of the anecdote seems to condone
the illegitimacy of its origin.
CHAPTER II.
CHILDREN'S WITTICISMS CRITICALLY
CONSIDERED.
"_A focus is a thing that looks like a mushroom, but if you eat
it you will feel different to a mushroom._"--SMALL GIRL.
Of course children's witticisms are always unconscious. They have taken
the idiomatic quite literally: not quite caught our meaning; missed the
right word in favour of another that is curiously like it in sound.
Reasonably enough the idiom is extremely troublesome to the child-mind.
"The doctor says my mother has one foot in the grave," wrote a little
girl the other day in a Composition Exercise. "That is not true. _She
has both feet in bed!_" Again, if people _will_ talk about "going it
bald-headed," or about being "stony-hearted" or "iron-fisted" or
"brazen-faced," and so on, they must naturally expect young children to
accept the phraseology in its literal sense. Hence amusing
misconceptions.
Again, as I say, it is often a question of not having quite got the
right word. Having mumbled The Lord's Prayer every day for a year or so,
we ultimately get the young Cockney who is found to be rendering "Lead
us not into temptation" as "_Lead us not into Thames Station_"--a London
police court shunned of all good costers and others. So too, taught that
the Epiphany is a Manifestation, we condone readily the mistake of the
little girl who, to her teacher's complete and abiding mystification,
insisted that the Epiphany was "_the-man-at-the-station!_"
Owing its origin to the same sort of misconception is the genuinely
funny answer of the boy who wrote, "The marriage customs of the ancient
Greeks were that a man had only one wife, and this was called
_Monotony_!"
Then, again, the child-mind is absolutely fresh and alert. It is to the
adult mind as is the plastic clay to the baked brick. It is not already
overlaid with impressions; it is not restricted in its elasticity by the
petrifying effects of already-received preconceptions; it is
refreshingly new and instantly impressionable. It is because of this
that a youngster wrote: "_A vacuum is nothing shut up in a box._" It is
because of this, too, that the little girl said: "The zebra is like a
horse, only striped _and used to illustrate the letter Z_." Owing its
origin to the same freshness of view, we get the following: Two children
being awakened one morning and being told that they had a new little
brother, were keen, as children are, to know whence and how he had come.
"It must have been the milkman," said the girl. "Why the milkman?" asked
her little brother. "_Because it says on his cart_, '_Families
supplied_,'" replied the sister. Not less quaintly ingenuous and fresh
is the reply of a little chap in a Nature-study lesson. "Think," said
the teacher, "of a little creature that wriggles about in the earth and
sometimes comes to the top through a tiny hole." A small boy in a
pinafore put up his hand joyously. "Well?" queried the teacher. "A
worm," said the small boy. "Yes," said the teacher, "now think of
another little creature that wriggles about in the earth and comes to
the top through a small hole." Up went the joyous hand again. "Well?"
asked the teacher. "_Another worm!_" shouted Tommy in triumph.
The workings of the child-mind, the quaint, homely wisdom and shrewdness
that it not infrequently displays, and the pathos that--so far as the
working-class children are concerned--it so often discovers, are
engrossingly interesting. Take the case of the reply to the Inspector
who, putting a "Mental Arithmetic" question, asked: "If I had three
glasses of beer on this table and your father came in and drank one, how
many would be left?" "None, sir," at once replied a very small urchin.
"But you don't understand my question," retorted the inspector,
proceeding to repeat it. This he did several times, always receiving the
same unwavering assurance, "None, sir!" At last he said: "Ah, my boy, it
is clear you don't know mental arithmetic." "_But I know my father_,"
answered the boy.
Again, there is the instance of the little chap driven into desperation
and escaping by a wild stretch of the imagination. "Who made the world?"
snapped out a rather testy inspector years ago to a class of very small
boys. No answer. Several times he repeated the question, getting louder
and more angry each time. At last a poor little fellow, kneading his
eyes vigorously with his knuckles, blubbered out: "_Please, sir, it was
me. But I won't do it any more!_" Which recalls to me the old Scotch
chestnut: "Why did the priest and the Levite pass by on the other side,
child?" "_Because the puir man had been robbed already!_" was the reply.
Much of the school-room humour purveyed for the delectation of us elders
by the unconscious wits of the schoolroom is provoked by quaint pieces
of "Composition." Of these I give later a number. One of the most
amusing is that by a young lady in the Sixth Standard, who very frankly
and faithfully expresses her views on "Schoolmasters." She writes so
candidly, that I produce her essay here as a wholesome corrective to
professional vanity and as an acute witness to the necessity to "see
ourselves as others see us":--
"Schoolmasters are a class of people who have a tendency to a
bad temper, and who are generally armed with a cane. We have a
very good sample at our school, for we have a schoolmaster who
is, as a rule, 'better in health than temper,' especially when
we have Geography. To hear most schoolmasters talk you would
think that they never did wrong in their lives; and, of course,
they will tell you that when they went to school they never used
to talk, and they never got the stick; but whether they used to
talk in school or not I do not know. All I can say is, that they
can talk like magpies when they are outside. Well, I suppose we
must have schoolmasters, or we should all be very ignorant
indeed----."
Much fun is got out of the weird and fearfully contrived "Notes" which
teachers receive from the poorer working-class parents. I have not dwelt
much on these, as I never see one of these "Notes" without feeling more
inclined to cry than to laugh. If the State had known and had done its
duty earlier there would be less melancholy fun in these self-same
parental "Notes." I will only dare to reproduce two here:--
"Pleas Sur, Jonnie was kep home to day. I have had twins. _It
shant ocur again._ Yours truely Mrs. Smith."
The other is given in the stories which follow; but it is worth
repeating:--
"Plese excuse mary being late as she _as been out on a herring_!"
It is the fact, and it is not altogether to be wondered at, that the
Scripture lesson is a prime source of juvenile undoing. The proper names
used are so hard and unfamiliar, and the scope of the subject is so
often so far beyond the children's capacity, that the wonder is that the
misconceptions and errors are so few. Then, again, the children mostly
learn their Scripture texts and so on _viva voce_ from the teacher. Many
repetitions cause them to distort the words; and then when they come to
write them down the result is, not to put too fine a point upon it, as
Mr. Snagsby would say, startling. The classical instance is that given
in the report of the "Newcastle" Commission on the Condition of
Elementary Education in 1855. The questions were: "What is thy duty
towards God?" and "What is thy duty towards thy neighbour?" Here are the
two answers given by the Commissioners:--
"My duty toads God is to bleed in Him, to fering and to loaf
withold your arts, withold my mine, withold my sold, and with my
sernth, to whirchp and give thanks, to put my old trash in Him,
to call upon Him, to onner His old name and His world, and to
save Him truly all the days of my life's end." "My dooty toads
my nabers, to love him as thyself, and to do to all men as I wed
thou shall and to me; to love onner, and suke my farther and
mother; to onner and to bay the Queen and all that are pet in a
forty under her; to smit myself to all my gooness, teaches,
sportial pastures, and marsters, &c., &c."
One of the funniest of mistakes made by the daily verbal reiteration of
phrases neither understood nor seen in black and white is the story of
the boy who came back from a visit to an aquarium and was very
disappointed that they had not shown him "_the timinies_." After some
cross-examination the mystery was cleared up. It will be fully
appreciated if I recite the fact that "in six days the Lord made heaven
and earth, the sea, _and all that in them is_."
What I may, for lack of a better definition, describe as an oblique
method of applying what those very learned and very dull people the
Psychologists call "the Principle of Association of Ideas" is another
fruitful source of laughable errors. For instance, teach a child that
"_tigress_" is the feminine of "_tiger_"; now proceed to tell it that
_"a fort" is a place in which soldiers live_; the odds are that if you
ask it at once what "_a fortress_" is it will say that it _is a place
for soldiers' wives to live in_! So it will tell you that "_Shero_" is
the feminine of "_Hero_," and "_Madam_" of "_Adam_"! You may also get
"_Buttress_" as "_the wife of a Butler_." Certainly I have seen
"_Pedigree is a Schoolmaster_," and "_Filigree is a list of your
descendants!_"
Tell a youngster that "_an optician_" is a person who looks after your
eyes and then ask what "_a pessimist_" is, the odds are some little
gamin will reply, "_A person who looks after your feet_," or "_your
hands_," or "_your ears_," or "_your legs_," as the fancy strikes him.
Describe "_an Apostle_" and then say, "_Now what's an Epistle?_" and you
may get, "_The wife of an Apostle._" You may also get "_Primate_" as the
wife of "_a Prime Minister_."
It is very curious to note how children are attracted by Mr.
Chamberlain. He and King Edward are the two public men whose names
appear most often in their "Pieces of Composition." Such men as the
Prime Minister, the Duke of Devonshire, and even Lord Rosebery--always
popular figures with adults--have no attractions for the youngsters.
Indeed, Mr. Chamberlain provokes one of the funniest things in the whole
of the anecdotes which I have ventured to relate. "_He is a man_,"
writes a young hopeful, "_who broke out among other people_!" Isn't that
just delicious? I am half inclined to think that the distinguished
Parliamentarian who just now leads the House of Commons would utter a
fervent "Hear! hear!" were that simple and yet striking answer rehearsed
to him.
What quiet humour, too, there is in that rare definition of "_Etc._":
"_It is a sign used to make believe you know more than you do!_" Take,
again, the reason given for David's preference. Why would he rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of the Lord? "_Because he could walk about
outside while the sermon was being preached!_" Could anything be more
convincing? Or take, again, that rare new axiom that outeuchres Euclid:
"_When you are in the middle you are half over!_" Did ever the
self-evident truth stand more completely foursquare and without need of
proof?
Still again, take the reason given for putting a hyphen between _bird_
and _cage_: "_For the bird to perch on!_" Not less conclusive is the
little one's reply in the lesson on "The elephant and his trunk." "Now
my dear," says the amiable and hopeful infants' mistress, "you shall
tell me what _your_ nose is for." "_Us haves it to wipe, miss!_" Which
recalls the rough, commonsense reproof which a Roman Catholic priest
once gave a distinguished inspector who was examining a class of ragged
little Standard II. gamins in a poor town school in the western country:
"_What_, boys," he asked, "_is the function of a verb_?" Blank silence
reigned until the priest stepped up to the inspector and said _sotto
voce_: "_You are an old ass----! It's as much as we can do here to get
these youngsters to stand upright and keep their noses clean!_"
But let me without further running--and more or less
impertinent--comment try to classify my budget of anecdotes and let them
speak for themselves. I will only add to this critical comment the fact
that the stories which follow have been collected assiduously and stored
up jealously during the thirty years I have been connected with
schoolmastering either as Board School teacher, a London School Board
member, or as editor of the organ of the National Union of Teachers,
_The Schoolmaster_, in the columns of which journal most of them have
from time to time appeared.
CHAPTER III.
A BUDGET OF QUAINT DEFINITIONS.
TEACHER: "_Name the head of the English Church._"
ALFRED THE SMALL: "_The Archipelago of Canterbury!_"
I shall endeavour, as far as possible, to classify my collection of
stories. And in pursuance of this purpose I cannot, perhaps, do better
than start out with some quaint definitions.
* * * * *
WITH A RING OF TRIUMPH.--A class of infants was being taught a
recitation in which the word "battledore" occurred. The teacher asked if
any child knew the meaning. Only one child raised his hand, and, with a
ring of triumph in his voice, gave the answer: "_A door what a soldier
comes out of._"
* * * * *
"WHAT THEY CALL A WATERSHED."--Asked to write a definition of "A
Watershed" one potential Christopher Columbus wrote: "A watershed is a
thing that when the soil in part of a river stands straight up on one
side and slants tremendously the other side, the water is obliged to go
up the soil on one side and come slanting down the other side--that is
what they call a watershed."
* * * * *
A NEW VIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION.--"A Limited Monarchy," wrote a small
boy, "is a government by a monarchy, who in case of bankruptcy would not
be responsible for the entire national debt. In private life you have
the same thing with a Limited Liability Company."
* * * * *
CONCERNING THE HERETIC.--"A Heretic," wrote a practical young person,
"is one who never would believe what he was told, but only after seeing
it and hearing it himself with his own eyes."
* * * * *
NOT SO FAR OUT.--"The Court of Chancery," wrote another, "is called this
because they take care of property there on the chance of an owner
turning up."
* * * * *
SHORT TITLE AND DESCRIPTION.--"The Five Mile Act was passed," according
to one youthful historian, "by Queen Victoria to prevent loafing and
drunkenness in public-houses. People must prove that they had travelled
five miles before they would be supplied with beer and spirits. This
made people ashamed to get so drunk as before." The youthful essayist is
clearly muddling "the _bona fide_ traveller" clause with the provisions
of a much more ancient statute.
* * * * *
ROUGH ON THE BARBER.--Teacher (after class had read of St. Paul's
adventures among the "barbarians of Melita"): "What is a Barbarian?"
Pupil: "_A man who cuts hair, sir!_"
* * * * *
A NEW AXIOM.--In the Euclid lesson the teacher asked, after explaining
the meaning of An Axiom, if a boy could give one of his own. A lad
replied: "_When you are in the middle you are half-way over._" And who
shall say him nay?
* * * * *
A MEDIATOR.--"Well, John," asked the master, "what is a Mediator?"
John's face beamed knowingly: "_A fellow who says hit me instead!_" he
promptly retorted.
* * * * *
B.A.!--During a reading lesson, taken from Standard III. Historical
Reader, the pupil teacher asked what the letters "B.C." represented. On
receiving the answer "Before Christ," she ventured to improve the
opportunity by asking for the meaning of other abbreviations, amongst
which was B.A. A little girl at once said: "_Before Adam!_"
* * * * *
ETC.!--"What do we imply when we use this abbreviation?" asked the
teacher. "_It is a sign_," said a young one very sententiously, "_which
is used to make believe you know more than you really do!_"
* * * * *
"PAINTED ON THE WATER-CARTS."--"What is a Martyr?" asked the inspector.
"_A water-cart._" "A water-cart?" "_Yes, sir._" The inspector was
puzzled; but after long cogitation he recalled the fact that he was in
the parish of St. George the Martyr. This parish does its own
contracting, and the boy has seen "_St. George the Martyr_" _painted on
the water-carts_.
* * * * *
WHAT IS A ZEBRA?--A class of Standard II. in a small town in
Westmoreland was once questioned about the zebra. There seemed to be a
great lack of knowledge about it, and the young teacher strove with
heroic patience to draw some answer from his pupils. Great was the
delight of both teacher and class on receiving the following apt
definition from one of their number: "_Please, sir, it's like a donkey
with a Kendal Hornet's jersey on._"
* * * * *
"JOGRAPHY."--"Well, little boys, and what _is_ Geography?" beamed the
inspector, after getting correctly some names of rivers, mountains, &c.
No answer for two minutes by the clock. Then one timid hand is raised in
answer to the question: "_Please, sir, jography is a ball on which we
live!_" This recalls the story of the boy who was asked for a proof that
the world is round. His answer was: "_It says in the Bible, World
without end!_"
* * * * *
TRUE BOTH WAYS.--Some years ago, writes a teacher, I used to take
Standard I. on Wednesday afternoons for a talk on the subject of
Geography. I had on one occasion a magnet and a compass, and was amusing
the little ones with the magnet. They seemed to have some idea of the
meaning and use of the compass, and it occurred to me whether they knew
what a mariner was, so I asked them. No answer. After some time one
precocious very small boy ventured: "_Please, sir, it's a young man what
goes after a young ooman_." [Query: "_a-marrying her._"]
* * * * *
TOUCHING THE EQUATOR.--"What," demanded the inspector, "is the Equator?"
"The Equator," said one ingenious hopeful, "is a _menagerie lion_
running round the centre of the earth."
* * * * *
ABOUT THE STRETCHER.--A London infant school. The Raising of the Widow's
Son. Illustrations, Religious Tract Society Scripture Roll. Story told
by teacher. Pointing to the bier: "What is he lying on?" _Ans._: "A
stretcher."--_Ques._: "What _is_ a stretcher?" _Ans._: "_Wot lydies
rides on when they gets drunk!_"
* * * * *
TEN BRIEF ONES.--"The Chartists were men who compelled King John to
sign Magna Charta."--"The Luddites were shells fired by the
Boers."--"Sir Joseph Chamberlain invented fiscal policy, and
generally wears an orchard in his coat."--"By the Salic Law no woman
can become King."--"Wat Tyler was the leader of the Pheasants'
Revolt."--"The Channel Islands consist of Jersey, Gansey, Alderman,
and Shark."--"_Quid pro quo_ means paying a sovereign for goods of
the given value!"--"Poetry is when every line begins with a capital
letter."--"Parliament is a place where they go up to London _to talk
about Birmingham_!"--"The principal parts of the eye are the pupil, the
moat, and the beam."
* * * * *
SOME INGENIOUS ONES.--_Ques._: "What are Bacteria?" _Ans._: "A kind
of chair for invalids."--_Ques._: "What is meant by the term
_celestial pole_?" _Ans._: "_A heavenly perch._"--_Ques._: "Which is
the first and great Commandment?" _Ans._: "_Hang all the law and the
prophets!_"--_Ques._: "What is Lava?" _Ans._: "The stuff a barber puts
on your face."--_Teacher_ (pointing to an _oblique_ line): "What kind
of line is that?" _Scholar_: "A _hori-slant-al_ line."--_Teacher_:
"What does the abdomen contain?" _Scholar_: "The stomach, liver, and
_interestines_."--_Teacher_: "What did the doctor say about your
throat?" _Scholar_: "He said I must not eat any _solemn_
food."--_Teacher_: "Who was Guy Fawkes?" _First Pupil_: "Guy Fox was a
man who tried to destroy Parliament." (Girl's answer.) _Second Pupil_:
"Guy Forks is a man made by another man." (Boy's answer.)--_Teacher_:
"Say what you know about Columbus." _Scholar_: "Columbus saw two
blue-eyed Saxon boys in the market-place to be sold as slaves.
He turned away with his heart full of thoughts."--_Ques._: "Who
is Mr. Chamberlain?" _Ans._: "A man who broke out among other
people."--_Ques._: "What is a Bay?" _Ans._: "A Bay's a piece of land,
which the sea has washed away and made a hollow."--_Ques._: "Who were
the Lollards?" _Ans._: "The Lollards were men who used to sing in the
streets."--_Ques._: "Who was Cardinal Wolsey?" _Ans._: "Cardinal Wolsey
was a haughty prelate. He permitted his hat to be carried before him on
a cushion."--_Ques._: "Who was Cranmer?" _Ans._: "Cranmer was Archbishop
of Oxford University, and was burnt at a steak."--_Ques._: "In what
character was Mrs. Scott-Siddons painted by Gainsborough?" _Ans._: "The
tragic mouse."--_Ques._: "What do you understand by the Salic Law?"
_Ans._: "The Salic Law forbade any man descended from a woman inheriting
the throne."--_Ques._: "What are the chief mountains of Scotland?" Ans.:
"Ben Nevis, Ben Lomond, and Ben Jonson."--_Ques._: "How many senses have
we? Name them." _Ans._: "We have two senses, wrong and right."--_Ques._:
"How is silence expressed in music?" _Ans._: "Silence in music is
expressed by putting your feet on the paddles."--_Ques._: "What is a
blizzard?" _Ans._: "The inside of a fowl."
CHAPTER IV.
"I NOW TAKE MY PEN IN HAND."
A policeman passes.
SMITH MINOR, aged 9: "_I shall be a bobby when I grow up!_"
SMITH MAJOR, aged 11: "_No! my dear child. You'll never have
the feet for it!_"
The curious workings of the child-mind are nowhere more conspicuously
illustrated than in the little essays and "pieces of composition" which
they are set to write. Of course many of the children in the poorer
elementary schools possess only a very limited and very primitive
vocabulary. Hence, when they adventure upon rather long and unfamiliar
words--conscientiously trying to reproduce what they have just heard the
teacher say in the general verbal description of the story to be
committed by them to paper--they often achieve fantastic results. But
far more interesting is the fresh and original view of a given situation
which emerges. Far more interesting, too, are the homely wit and the
shrewd wisdom which these wholly delightful little efforts display. Let
these attest.
* * * * *
"IT WOULD BE WORTH IT."--"What would you do with £5?" having been set to
a class of girls, the following was one of the forthcoming replies:
"Dear Teacher,--If I had five pounds of my very own to do just what I
like with, I should go on a railway journey and pull the alarm signal
and just see what really would happen. Of course the five pounds would
go to pay the fine; but I think it would be worth it.--I remain your
loving ----."
* * * * *
MAN'S CLEVERNESS.--In a composition on Man a boy wrote, among other
things: "Man is the only animal that can strike a light, and also he is
the only animal that blows his nose."
* * * * *
WHY THEY PUNCH THE TICKET.--In a piece of composition on "A Railway
Journey" a girl writes: "You have to get a ticket, which is a piece of
paper, and you give it to a man, who cuts a hole in it _to let you pass
through_."
* * * * *
GUNPOWDER PLOT.--"Gunpowder plot," wrote a nine-year-old youngster,
"died in the year 1603. They gave Guyfawlks 100 of pounds for to blow up
the parlament. Gunpowder plot married Sir Philp Sidny. Gunpowder plot
had a battle with Guyfawlks. Guyfawlks wone the battle."
* * * * *
SHOULD MAKE A GOOD JOURNALIST.--The other day I told my class (Standard
VII.) to write me an account of an imaginary expedition to the North
Pole. Here is an extract from one paper: "At last, we reached the North
Pole. _We sailed into the harbour and went to see the town!_"
* * * * *
CONCERNING THE PIG.--Standard V. Boy: "A pig when living has four legs,
but when you kill it the butcher says it only has two, because he calls
the front legs shoulders and the back legs are called hams. Ham tastes
nice, and they boil it to eat at a wedding. The missus sprinkles little
bits of toast on it to make it look pretty."
* * * * *
CONCERNING HARES (Standard III. Composition).--"Young hairs are called
leveretts. Hairs sleep much. They always sleep with their eyes open.
Hairs have no eyelashes. Their four legs are shorter than their hind
legs. Their ear-ring is remarkably good. Hairs pass their lives in
soletude and silents. They are often hunted on horseback and by hownds."
* * * * *
ON "AN INSECT."--"An insect's body is made up of ringed segments. When
we tread on beetles we hear them crack, that is the segments. Insects
have not red blood it is a sort of white liquid squas a fly and you will
see what colour blood it has. The fly likes to lay its eggs in meat
where the maggots will have food for she must die soon and will not be
able to feed her brood."
* * * * *
THE CAMEL (by a beginner).--"Its nest is a very mean one, made of twigs,
leaves, &c. It has a large body, and it is able to carry it full of
water. It has two humps of fat on its back, on which it is able to feed
when it is hungry. Its feet are webbed, in which it is able to cross the
desert. Its air is used to make brushes which are used for painting. It
also lays eggs. It eats worms."
* * * * *
THE SALVATION ARMY (Standard IV.).--"The Salvation Army is mostly on the
street. The women in it cover up all their hair with funny sorts of
bonnets that stick out in front to keep the rain off their faces.
Sometimes they have names on their hats like sailors. They make a deal
of noise the worsed two is called captain and leftennant. They tell
people about Jesus and make collections."
* * * * *
GIBRALTAR.--"Gibraltar is a strait on the west coast of France. It is
famous for a beautiful rock. It is about one mile wide and five miles
long. The English people took Gibraltar, and they placed a great many
big guns there. There are a great many people at Gibraltar called apes.
And the other people are very proud of them because they are the only
apes in Gibraltar. It is said they came from America."
* * * * *
ALCOHOL AND THE BLOOD.--"Of what is our blood composed, and what effect
has alcohol upon it?" This was the question. The following is the
written answer: "It is made up of five million red insects and one
thousand white ones to every drop of blood. If alcohol is taken it
causes these insects to dry up and die and come to the front of the
body. Sometimes it is from this cause that people who drink alcohol are
red in the face."
* * * * *
THE ANCIENT BRITONS.--It was the first year of compulsory composition,
and Standard III. were asked to reproduce a lesson on the Ancient
Britons in their own words. One young hopeful wrote: "The acient britons
had no close on, they painted a wode on there body and it kept them a
bit warm, there chief men was called druids and my farther is one, they
call them acient britons becose it is a long time since."
* * * * *
PERSEVERANCE. [Essayist aged 10.]--"Were theirs a will theirs a way.
This is a very old proverb that has to do with what I'm writing. If we
nearly always succeed we always is getting on, but if we don't succeed,
we should try till we dose and then we should do it again which is a
very wise way to persever. People who sits down never gets on and People
who gets on dont sit down. We should all get on because it is the best
thing to do at all times. We will have trails (trials?) but we must try
again until them trails is gone."
* * * * *
TOUCHING BREAD.--The exercise was, "Write an essay on Bread." The
following was the result: "Bread is made with flour and barm and is very
useful. It is used for the people to eat and feeds them right. The bread
gets cheapper every year sometimes. The bread as raised this year. But
the people says it is getting the right weather. The bread is needed up
by men and women. It is best when the men make the bread. Some of the
women says that brown bread is good for their health. Bread is sometimes
used for bread potises. Bread is a useful food escpecially the crust.
But crust is the best for to make peoples hair curel. Bread is used for
making sop for children. The bread is made with flour, barm, and water."
* * * * *
A JAPANESE LAD'S DIARY.--This is an extract from a diary kept by a
Japanese boy who, when he wrote it, was a pupil of an English school in
China. The boy was sixteen years of age, and had been studying English
for two and a half years:--"19th January.--I was up before the school's
clock struck six. On going to the washing chamber I found that the day
was not very severe. I went to my cover (cupboard) and obtained the soap
and sponge; the water was not so cold as previous days, but as usual
when I finished washing my fingers lost sense. I dressed myself and rang
the bell at 7 o'clock punctually. At about 10 minutes past 7 Mr. A.
wanted me. He wished me to descend the stairs and command the boy (chief
house servant) to attend to him and also to see whether the fire was
made in the studio. I obeyed implicity, but just as I was descending the
stairs I caught sight of the boy, so immediately told him to go to Mr.
A.; the fire was already made in downstairs. I rang the second bell and
went into the dormitory to see all the boys. They were then all out of
beds and dressing, there was nobody late. The bell was rang at 8 o'clock
and we had finished our repast at half past. The school bell was rang at
quarter to nine and Mr. B. took us in. The head master then came down. I
learned copying, mathematics, algebra, composition. Our ball was fix by
the Tiffin time, so we blew it up and had a fine game. The school began
again at two. Shorthand, book-keeping, grammar, were the subjects of
that afternoon. At four all the scholars came out. The football was then
in the playground, attended by several boys. I joined in with Mr. A. who
sided with me. A French-school lad appeared at the gate and was
discussing with Brown. I did not know what were they disputing until
Brown called me and told that he came as a messenger from the above
school to say that they like to challenge us to play football. I thought
it would be very pleasant to have a game with them so I said we will be
able to accept the challenge. We thought it well to take Mr. A. and Mr.
B., and told them about it. The messenger went away to make enquiry
about it. I went with him and ask if they agree willingly, they told me
they should have Mr. C. if we take the above two. I came home and
diffused among the fellows that I have heard. Brown said that it would
be much better to withhold Mr. A. and B., but I gave no answer to it.
The evening came. A friend called upon me, and said that he was going to
bestow upon me his photo. I accompanied him, and was delighted at the
receipt of his image. I came home with it, and delighted to hear the
dinner-bell. At half past seven our dinner was over, and I rang the
night school-bell. All came into the studio (school) and did their work.
At nine o'clock I went up and jumped into bed to become oblivious."
* * * * *
AN ESSAY ON AN ELECTION.--During a recent District Council election a
great deal of enthusiasm was shown in this place. Two days after a
teacher gave her class (Standard VII.) an essay to write on "An
Election." The essay which follows is a complete and word-for-word copy
of the effort of one of the girls in the class: "An election means two
things. First, the voice of the people spoken by choosing the most
eligible person or persons to represent their creed, requirements, or
grievances. Secondly, an election means lies, treachery, hypocrisy,
drunkenness, anxiety, disappointment, and glorification. God save us
from having another for twelve months."
* * * * *
A HAT'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.--"Fancy yourself an old hat," said the teacher.
"Now write about yourself." Result: "I am an old hat telling you all
about me. I am trimmed with velvet, and when any one take me out the
people stand in the doorway laughing at me, and I am not pleased with
them. I dont turn sulky like some boy's and girls do when any one call
them. My hat is trimmed with green velvet, satan, flowers, cherries, and
a large hostrige feather. When I go out the cherries in my hat tieses
the birds. I was bought in a large hat shop in leeds. I was bought in a
shop down briggate. It cost more than six shillings. I think I have told
you all I know, and so I will say no more at present."
* * * * *
AT THE MENAGERIE.--"Describe," said the teacher, "in a letter to a
friend, your visit yesterday to the menagerie." Here is one of the
letters: "Dear Fred,--About a week ago I went to a manajery in our town.
The price to pay was tuppence and it was well worth the money. Their
were a great number of animals. The animals what made the biggest row
was the Kings of the beasts and a wild cat they had got. Their were a
cage full of monkeys which was doing funny tricks, some was catching
fleas and eating them. Their was a Elephant and a Kamel that give rides
for a penny. Stodgy Mathers tumbled of and made his nose bleed, he did
howl. There was various kinds of birds, such as the vulture, the Golden
eagle and kangaroo, besides macaws and other ferocious animals. There
was an horse. It had a main 13 feet long worth £10000. The man what
entered the Lions den was the tamer. He was dressed in tites. When he
went in he closed the door quick for fear they should spring out and
devour the people. He soon made the lions do whatever they like. Lions
are ferocious animals. The colour of the lion is yellow, also brown,
though some are also red. Tigers are no use only to eat up men and
called the maneater, likewise women and little babys, besides others. If
a man was to meet a tiger in a lonely forest he would never forget it.
The elephant is remarkable for its prodijous strenth. Its trunk is
useful to drink up and eating. Their was also a policeman at the door to
keep disordered people and children out of mischief. Policemen are
useful things when on duty. The colour of them is blue with a big helmet
on. In a cage up a corner sat a grilla eating, and which its teeth is
very sharp, and its claws. I saw some lepords and a zebra and a funny
lobsided thing called a giraf. I saved my penny and bought some nuts
which I gave the monkeys. One big faced fellow was so greedy he
swallowed one of my nuts whole and it nearly choked him. He rubbed his
stummick and choked and grasped for breath until the tears rolled down
his cheeks. I thought I should die laughing. Greediness never prospers.
I also witnessed a fight between an hyeena and a wolf. Wolfs is
ferocious animals. It was amusing to watch two monkeys fighting over a
ginger bread. The biggest caught the other by the tail and dropped him
on the floor with a crash on his head. I left then and went home and had
a good tea.--your respectably, ----."
* * * * *
ON GOVERNMENT.--The exercise was an essay "On Government"--after, of
course, a little disquisition by the teacher. The result:--"Our country
has a King who can't do anything but what he ought to. There were
Georges I., II., III., and IV., but there was eight Henrys. There is
also houses called the Houses of Parliament. One of these is full of
lords, called the House of Lords, but the other is only built for them
gentlemen as perhaps you have seen some of them and it is called the
House of Common. No gentlemen can get in there unless they know as he
can make laws. But the King has to look them over and see as they are
made right. These Commons are called Conservatives and Liberals, and
they try and hinder one another as much as they can. They sometimes have
sides, and then you see it on the plackards, and you can hear men and
your fathers a talking quarrelling about it. Our country is governed a
lot better than France, and Germany comes about next. Then there's a lot
of others, and then comes Persia. Our country allways comes first,
whoever you like to ask."
* * * * *
BABIES.--"Write me a piece of composition on Babies," said the teacher.
Here is a boy's effort on, to him, an obviously uncongenial
topic:--"Babys are little red things without bones nor teeth. They have
various sises, but just after they are borned, they are called bypeds;
their bones are grisle. They are 2 sects, male and female; and are also
very fat. When very young they do not have much hair; so you cannot tell
wether they will turn into boys or girls until their hair grows. They
are always asleep only when crying. They feed them on milk, or chue a
injyrubber tit, also their thum. When they are very little, they ware
pettycoats same as girls; but boys soon wear jacket and trowsers. Girls
are softer than boys, so they have to keep on wearing pettycoats,
frocks, and &c., all their lives. Some babys have to be borned, and the
doctor brings some, when the people have got plenty of money. Women and
girls go silly over babys, and kiss them all over, and say silly things.
That's why girls have dolls when they haven't any little brothers.
Everybody as to be a baby first. Once, before I can remember, I was a
little baby. Mother says, when I had my furst trowser suit on, she put
me on the table in frunt of the looking glass, and when I seen myself in
the mirrow, I screamed out, 'Take them off!' 'Take them off!' 'It isnt
me! It isnt me!' and they had to take them off. That's all I know about
babys."
* * * * *
RIVAL VIEWS.--One day, recently, a teacher gave for composition to the
boys and girls in the upper standards an essay on "Boys" (for the girls)
and "Girls" (for the boys). The following extracts represent fairly
accurately the general tone of the opinions expressed by both sides
respectively:--
_Concerning "Boys."_--"Boys are mischievous and jolly ... some are
gentle."--"They dress differently from each other.... Many boys are very
lazy."--"Most boys are very clever.... They are very clumsy and
clodhoppers."--"Some of the boys play very roughly and clumsily. They
run about and step on each other's feet.... They do not very often
agree."--"The boys talk more than the girls."--"Very few are
gentle."--"Boys are male people."--"They are not much use to help their
mothers in house-work."--"Their mothers put them nice and tidy, but some
of them go and get ragged again."
_Concerning "Girls."_--"Most girls are very shy and angry."--"They sew
and darn the boys' stockings."--"Their work is tidy and clean."--"They
talk very silently."--"They have thin, weak voices."--"Girls dress up
about mid-day, and go out, while the poor boys are hard at
work."--"Girls have a kind of false pride about them. A girl will have
feathers and flowers in her hat just to show off."--"Most of them are
tall and delicate, and they have long legs and little tiny
voices."--"Some girls have their hair frizzed up and some wavered."
* * * * *
THE WHALE (by a ten-year-old).--"The Whale is not called a fish, because
it is so big, so it is called a creature. They eat cockles and worms and
jellies, and people catches the whales with a fishing rod or a net, they
have to let the rope out so the whale dies for loss of breath. The
whales swim in shols [shoals] and they have a tarpoon at the end of
their tails, when he moves his tail, with one blow he will smash the
side of the ship. It has a very big head, and two fins or flappers, on
one side of its body. Whales got to come up out of the water on to the
land for to breath with their mouths, if he sees any people about he
will swallow them up for he has very big jar bones, and strong teeth
called whaleboners. Fishmongers catches whales an sail them. Some people
eat whales with salt and piper and bread, and some with potatoes. If you
keep a whales head under water he will die for want of breath. When they
have finished with the whale they send it adrift to get some more spern
oil."
* * * * *
A PAT ANSWER.--The following story was read to a class of girls to be
reproduced as a composition exercise:--"A gentleman was out driving in a
dog-cart with his coachman, who was an Irishman, when the horse took
fright and bolted. The coachman did his best, but it was evident that
the beast had got beyond his control. 'Pat,' said the gentleman, 'I'd
give five pounds to be out of this trap.' 'Yer honour needn't be so
extravagant; ye'll be out of it for nothing presently!' He had scarcely
finished speaking when the wheel was caught by a heap of stones at the
roadside, and both men were shot over the hedge into an adjoining
field." "Now, girls," said the teacher, "_three marks extra for the most
suitable title for this story_." Up went a forest of hands, and many and
varied, if somewhat commonplace, were the titles suggested. But a
comical twist on the face of a grey-eyed little Irish maiden in the
front row took the teacher's attention. "Well, Norah, what title do you
suggest?" "_A cheap outing!_" said Norah demurely.
* * * * *
ON SMOKING.--The following is an essay by a Standard V. boy. It was
written after a lecture by Dr. ---- on the Evils of Smoking: "Boys wish
to be manly in their ways and habbits, this is right but in some ways it
is wrong because in somethings which men does is not for boys to do.
Somethings which men does might not hurt them but it would hurt boys.
One thing is harmful to both men and boys or women that is bad language
it is a dreadful thing to hear women children and men using bad language
in all of the earth. But there is another bad habit of which boys follow
the example of men and this is a very harmful habit to boys and to most
men as well as boys. This habit is smoking with tobacco which in the
British Isle is carry on very much both with men and children and
sometimes women. Every time you go out if it is only just outside the
door you see men or boys smoking. Now when you are smoking people say
they have a stinging taste on their tongue if they only knew what this
taste is I am sure they would never smoke again for if you was to tell
them the number of gases which contained in tobacco they would
immediately take out their tobacco and pipe or cigarettes and throw them
away. For in the tobacco is a number of poisonous gases which when the
smoke is indulge into the mouth the different poisons run to certain
parts of the body, some gases go to lungs and others to liver and to the
heart and nerves and brain and sometimes it iffects the mind and
hearing. The names of some of these gases are hydrogen, prussic acid gas
and carbonic acid gas and nicotine which is the most iffectable on the
body and another of them called sulpherette carbonic gas. Smokers are
always liable to indigestion which is brought on by these gases which is
performed in smoking, besides these gases is another which is known as
monoxine. If you ask a athlette if smoking was good for him he would
tell plump no it is not for it shortens the wind and makes the muscles
feeble. Another thing it deases your body and brings on heart desease.
It is bad for a man to smoke but it is worst to a growing lad for it
injures the growth and makes your limbs shakey. Boys who smoke when they
are young never occasionully live a long life, nor never grow to height
because it shivers (_i.e._ shrivels) up your liver and bye and bye you
have none at all and then you die and it brings on cancer which is
another dead desease."
* * * * *
WHAT CONSTITUTES A GENTLEMAN. [Standard VII.]--"People sometimes think
that when men are dressed in nice clothes they are gentlemen but that is
not the case, a gentleman is a man who knows his manners. Down in the
West End and City there are great swells, but people think that because
they have nice clothes they are swells, but some are more like pigs. We
might see a tramp walking along a street who as hardly no boots nor
clothes but very likely he has his manners. A real gentleman ought to
know his manners, and also not to swear. A gentleman might be walking
along a street and meet a young lady, he would go up to her and raise
his hat, and say, good evening dear come along a me she would and when
he left her he would say good night darling, and ask her to meet him at
so-an-so."
* * * * *
THAT HALF-HOLIDAY.--A thirteen-year-old's description of a Thursday
half-holiday:--"'Pooh, talk about hot weather, I'm nearly suffocated.
This the exclamation of Fred Brown, one day after dinner. 'Why,' said
Tom, 'its Thursday. I only just thought of it. Where shall we go?' There
was silence for a few minutes, then Alf Jones said: 'Let us hire a boat
and row to Marlow, we can take tea.' A hamper was duly packed and
carried down to the river. A boat was procured, it was in rather a bad
condition, but it was the best to be had. They tossed up as to who
should steer, and it fell to Tom, who knew as much about steering as a
hipopotamus. They divested themselves of their coats and settled down to
work. All went well utell they had gone about half a mile they went bang
into some rushes, much to the anoyance of the frogs. When they looked
round for damage they caught sight of Tom's hat float calmly down the
stream. Of course the owner had to rescue it. They extricated themselves
after a while, and resumed the journey without any very terrible
accident, of course catching crabs is nothing. When they had been rowing
for about a hour in the hot sun, they thought Marlow a bit too far for
them, so they landed on an island with some nice trees on it, with the
intention of having tea. They set to work to get out the hamper from the
boat. The spirit bottle, pulled out of a heap of sandwiches, into which
it had fallen, was found to be half full of water, and the spirit gone
and everything else was thoroughly soaked. At Fred Brown's suggestion
the sandwiches were put in the sun to dry. When they were 'cooked' they
sat down to a tealess tea with good appetites. Tom Smith took a sandwich
and had a good mouthful of it, but it did not stay in his mouth long he
said it tasted like a lump of methylated spirit, so nobody had any tea.
They thought it was time to get back. It was a fairly easy time going
back, they were going with the stream. They went home and had some
supper, presently Fred Brown began to groan, when they asked him what
was the matter he said, 'I--I only dr-drank some s-spirit and water, I
th-thought it was le-lemonade, O--O.' Next morning everybody agreed that
they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves."
* * * * *
THE LION.--"The lion is the king of all animals. It is very fierce. Lion
has very big pause. It has a dark brown skin. It is got a peace of heir
on its tale and all round its next. The lion life on men and other
things. When the lion is young it is called a cube. The lion are mostly
found in woulds out in other parts of the world. There life are very
unsafe because hunter go out killed them. The lion is very useful. Its
skin is used for making firs and other thing. Its tees are very useful.
The lion is used for showes. It is used in Inder."
* * * * *
A SHIPWRECK.--"A shipwreck is an awful thing for sometimes you get wet
and sometimes you get dround and sometimes you get burnt but the last is
the worst. Once a big lyner got upset with a mortal wound in her side
but all the people was saved bar one and he got eat. Sharks and whales
feed on dead bodies and sometimes they eat them alive. We should never
eat fish what eat us because their canybals just like savages. Sailors
catch sharks with a leg of pork and a thick string which they cut up for
whalebone bone and blubber to make train oil."
* * * * *
THE CAMEL.--"He is called the ship of the desart because he runs over
the sand like a ship and dont sink in. He runs different to the horse
because he lifts up two legs on one side of his body and then two on the
other. He has about a hundred stumics and each holds about a quart so
when his master kills him he can have a good drink. His hump is made of
fat and he eats this when he cant get grass or hay. Some camels are not
camels because he has two humps and his hair dont grow all over him and
were it dont is called calluses [callosities] because it kneels down and
wears away. The Arab loves his steed better than his wife and in our
books theres a piece about him called the Arab and his steed. His master
was a prisoner and his faithful camel took him round the waist and bore
him swiftly to his morning friends."
* * * * *
THE CRUSADES.--"The crusades were a body of men women and children who
followed the red cross. They were invented by Richard the I and flocked
in thousands round him to go to Egypt and some were stricken with deadly
disease but they marched on. Then they began to lessen in number and
fell gradually under the burning sands of Egypt and laden heavy with
heavy armour. At last Peter the Hermit cited Cairo but the Catholicks
bore down on him and he retreated. After travelling about for many weary
months he joined an opera company and was afterwards buried in
Westminster Abbey."
* * * * *
ABOUT THE INTERJECTION.--"An interjection is a shout or something said
by a person too surprised or pained or frightened to make a sentence of
his thoughts. It is not quite a human language. The lower animals say
nothing else but interjections. Accordingly, ill-natured and cross
people by their interjections come very near to beasts."
* * * * *
CONCERNING ROBERT.--"Policemen are men who are employed by the
Government, to control the boys, ruffians, and all individuals which
annoy or illuse the public. The boys politely term them 'coppers,' the
burglars 'cops' or 'narks.' The cooks are very fond of him, and call him
'dear Robert,' and now they are going 'on strike' cooky will mourn, and
the uneaten rabbit-pie will go into the dustbin, and there will be quite
a gloom over the kitchens of Belgravia. There will be no kissing over
the railings, and if Bobby don't keep his eyes open Tommy Atkins will
collar the cake. Policemen must be over or a certain size, and must have
(I believe) big pedular extremities, as all policemen's feet seem to be
large. They have a fête, not foot, once a year, and then cooky gets a
day off. Then they have kiss-in-the-ring, and other games, which
introduce a mutual contraction of the Orbicularis Oris."
* * * * *
WHAT I SHALL DO IN THE HOLIDAYS.--"What I expect to do in my holidays is
the greater part of the time to mind the baby. Two years and a-half old.
Just old enough to run into a puddle or to fall downstairs. Oh! what a
glorious occupation! my aunt or Sunday-school teacher would say, but it
is all very well for them, they ought to have a turn with him. I am
going to have a game at tying doors, tying bundles of mud in paper and
then drop it on the pavement. I shall buy a bundle of wood and tie a
piece of cord to it, and when someone goes to pick it up, lo! it has
vanished--not lost, but gone before. I shall go butterfly catching, and
catch some fish at Snob's Brighton (Lea Bridge). I shall finish up by
having a whacking, tearing my breeches, giving a boy two black eyes, and
then wake up on Monday morning refreshed and quite happy to make the
acquaintance of Mr. ----'s cane." The following, written a little later,
will convince every London teacher that R.H. had practised fishing in
the New River:--"Man goes fishing, takes his rod and enough tackle to
make a telegraph wire and starts on his piscatorial expedition. He
arrives, and happy man is he if he has not forgot something, a hook, his
bait, or his float. He sits there, apparently contented; he catches a
frog or some other fine specimen of natural history, and a cold, and a
jolly good roasting from his bitter half, when he arrives with some
mackerel which he had bought at the fishmonger's. He, poor man, did not
know that they were sea-fish, but his wife did. When juveniles go
fishing they take a willow, their ma's reel of best six-cord, a pickle
jar, and a few worms, and proceed to the New River happy. When they
arrive they catch about fifty (a small thousand they call it), and are
thinking of returning home, when a gent with N. R. on his hat, and a
good ash stick in his hand, comes up. 'Ullo there,' says he, 'what are
you doing there?' 'Fishing, sir,' answer they meekly. The man then takes
away their fish and rod, gives them some whales instead (on their back).
And they return home sadder but wiser boys."
CHAPTER V.
THE RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTY.
TEACHER: "_On what occasion did Our Lord use the words,
'With God all things are possible'?_"
SMALL CHILD: "_To the woman who had seven husbands!_"
It would be a real novelty to write a book having even the most remote
reference to education without bringing this in. But lest the headline
should terrify the reader with the fearful apprehension that it is my
purpose to plunge once again into the bitter and apparently never-ebbing
waters of religious strife, let me hasten to say that I have no such
maleficent intention. In the classification of my budget of anecdotes I
find I have an abundant selection of those which have arisen in
connection with the daily Scripture lesson; and, as I have already said,
they represent the richest harvest of all. The reasons for this I have
endeavoured to set forth. It only remains for me, in submitting the
following stories, to add that no irreverence is intended. There are, I
know, some curiously constituted people who find offence in the most
ingenuous laugh if provoked by what they deem a sacred subject. I would
respectfully yet firmly adjure them not to read the stories which
immediately follow.
* * * * *
THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT--NEW STYLE.--In the first place the daily _viva
voce_ recital of the Commandments leads to quaint distortions when the
youngster comes to commit to paper what he has been saying day by day
for a year or so. Here are two startling variants on the Seventh of the
selfsame Commandments--
"_Thou shalt not kick a duckery._"
"_Thou shalt not come into the country._"
* * * * *
SOME NEW VERSIONS OF THE TENTH.--Here is a weird distortion of the
Tenth:--
"_Thou shalt not cumt thy neighbours house, thou shalt not cumt thy
neighbours wife, mornin' circus, mornin' 'oss, mornin' ass, mor anything
that is his._"
Quaint in its way, but not so fearfully and wonderfully contrived, is
the following misquotation also of the Tenth Commandment:--
"Thou shalt not covet ... nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything
_dangerous_!"
* * * * *
"THOU SHA'T NOT BOW DEAN!"--Still affecting the Commandments, though a
story of another colour, is the following:--
In a village in Yorkshire dwelt the two granddaughters of a former
vicar. These good ladies often met in the streets the children who
attended the village school. On such occasions they expected the latter
to acknowledge them--the boys by raising their hats and the girls by
curtseying. Now one sturdy urchin often disregarded the ladies, and they
accordingly spoke to his father respecting his conduct. The parent
questioned the boy, and soon found out that the complaint laid against
him was true. On being asked why he did not lift his cap, the culprit
replied, "Ah dean't think ah ou't ta dea sa. _Dean't us larn at t'
skeal, 'Thou sha't not bow dean ta ony graven image'?_"
* * * * *
IN BRAID YORKSHIRE.--The diocesan inspector was questioning a class of
boys about the story of Joseph as a slave, interpreter, &c., and
incidentally asked the following question: "What did Joseph's father
think when the brothers brought Joseph's coat covered with blood?" The
reply of a small boy quite upset the official's gravity: "Please, sir,
_he thought a coo had tupped him_!"
* * * * *
ON BREAD AND CHICKEN.--Imagine the surprise of the schoolmistress when a
little lad, in giving his version of the "Temptation," informed her that
Christ partook of _bread and chicken_ in the wilderness. Judicious
questioning elicited the fact that the young hopeful had based his
opinion upon two extracts: "_Man shall not live by bread alone_," and
"_Get the hens, Satan_!"
* * * * *
THREE EVILS.--It was the annual Scripture examination, and the inspector
was questioning a class upon the Catechism. "It was promised for you in
your baptism," said the official inquisitor, "that you would fight
against three great evils. Tell me what they are." "_My godfathers and
godmothers_," was the reply of one youth.
* * * * *
IN THE APPLICATION THEREOF.--The school had been closely questioned by
the inspector in Scripture, and at last a bright idea seemed to strike
him, for he said: "Suppose Christ came into this room now and offered to
perform a miracle for you, what would you ask him to do?" There was
silence for some moments, and then up went a hand. The inspector asked
for a reply, which was: "_Cast out a devil, sir!_"
* * * * *
A BASTE BUT NOT A BULL.--The following occurred in a Dublin school
during the Scripture lesson:--"What does the Bible say will happen to
the proud?" asked the examiner. "_Please, sir, they will become
animals_," replied one bright little chap. "Oh, that's a curious answer.
What text have you to prove it?" queried the interrogator. "He that
humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself _shall
be a baste_!" promptly replied one of the youngest of Ould Oireland's
hopefuls.
* * * * *
THE FLESH POTS.--A class was in the habit of singing at close of school
the well-known Grace: "These creatures bless," &c. Having some doubts as
to the accuracy of the words being sung by one boy, the master asked him
to repeat them. He was not a little astonished to hear recited the
words--
"These creatures bless and grant that we
_May feast on pounds of rice with Thee_."
* * * * *
OVERHEARD IN THE PLAYGROUND.--_Small lad to a friend_: "I say, Jack,
what do you think our teacher told us this morning?" "I dunno." "Well,
he said there was once a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, _and
as he was going the thorns sprang up and choked him_!"
* * * * *
SAMIVEL, BEWARE!--Inspector: "Why was Elisha sorry when the Shunamite's
son was dead?" Ingenious lad, who has just been devouring Mr. Pickwick:
"_Because he didn't like being left alone with a widow._" (Inspector
smiled.)
* * * * *
SOME UNFAMILIAR EXHORTATIONS.--Children, as I have said, often get hold
of the wrong words in prayers and hymns. For instance, one child was
heard to pray: "Forgive me all that I have done _on Christmas Day_"
(amiss this day). Another was heard to plead: "_And give us an eagle_"
(and deliver us from evil). While a third after meals repeated: "_Let
manners to us all be given_" (Let manna to our souls be given).
* * * * *
NOAH'S FIRST TASK.--At a recent Scripture examination the examiner asked
the following question in the infants' class: "What was the first thing
Noah did when he came out of the Ark?" A tiny girl put up her hand, and
on being asked, said: "_Please, sir, he buried all the drownded
people._"
* * * * *
WHY A DOORKEEPER?--Teacher: "What did David mean when he said he'd
rather be a doorkeeper of the House of the Lord?" Boy: "Because, if he
was a doorkeeper, _he could walk about outside while the sermon was
being preached_."
* * * * *
A QUESTION OF A MAIN DRAINAGE.--Subject: Scripture lesson on "The
Flood." Teacher had explained how it rained and rained until the tops of
the highest hills were covered. Pupil of inquiring mind suddenly puts up
her hand and asks: "_Teacher, wern't there no sinks?_"
* * * * *
AN ALTOGETHER UNEXPECTED REPLY.--A teacher who had given a lesson on the
Birth of Christ and the Virgin Mary was proceeding to question the
children, and asked: "Who was the mother of Jesus?" To her great
astonishment, a small girl chirped out: "_Please, m', the blessed bird
canary!_"
* * * * *
THE LITTLE "DOWN-ALONG'S" DOVE.--The inspector was examining a class of
Westcountry infants, and had asked: "When our Lord was baptised, what
bird came down on His head?" One little Devonshire dumpling at once
retorted: "_Please, sir, a little yeller-hammer, sir!_"
* * * * *
THE PART THAT NEVER DIES.--During a Scripture lesson a teacher of little
dots was greatly surprised upon asking: "What part of you is it that
never dies?" to receive from an excited youngster, "_The Holy Ghost._"
* * * * *
WHO WAS SORRY?--A class was being questioned on the prodigal son's
return. The teacher: "Who was sorry when the prodigal son returned?"
Little Boy (after deep thought): "_The fatted calf, sir._"
* * * * *
ABOUT ELI.--Teacher: "Tell all you know of Eli." Small Girl: "Eli was a
very old man, and Eli was very sick _and Eli brought up Samuel_."
* * * * *
A HOMELY VIEW.--Head mistress: "What was the first thing that the little
boy Samuel did when he got up in the morning?" Cheery little mother:
"_Please, mum, he carried up a cup of tea to Eli!_"
* * * * *
MIXED.--A small boy, who had been reading about Sir Walter Raleigh and
the Virgin Queen, in writing of Elijah, said: "As Elijah went up to
Heaven he dropped his mantle, _and Queen Elizabeth walked over it_."
* * * * *
"I BELIEVE."--"Write down what you are saying," said a teacher once to a
pupil who with others was reciting the Apostles' Creed. "Suffered under
Pontius Pilate," came out "Suffered under _bunch of violets!_" At the
little village school of Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, it was once set down
"_Suffered under Bonchurch Pilot!_"
* * * * *
"AND TO BED YOU GO."--"Tell us a story, please," said the little ones
once to their teacher on Friday afternoon. She, consenting, asked
whether they wanted a new one or an old one. "Cinderella," said one;
"Aladdin," asked another. Then from a rather heavy boy, "_I want the
tale of Citrate of Magnesia and to bed you go._" She paused in complete
obfuscation. Then a sharp little girl said: "That's wrong, governess, it
wasn't Citrate of Magnesia, but it _was_ to bed you go, _and they were
all in the fire and not burnt_." The teacher recognised the Bible
incident of _Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego_!
* * * * *
WHAT HAPPENED.--Scene: Class of infants and Standard I. Time: Scripture
lesson. Teacher, impressively (to children anxiously watching--in
imagination--the development of an old-world tragedy): "Then Abraham
having bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, took the knife in
his hand--when lo!--What happened?" Big dunce from the gallery (in a
voice hoarse with excitement and pent-up feeling): "_Hisaac 'ollered
out._"
* * * * *
BIBLICAL CRICKET.--The vicar recently came down to distribute the prizes
to the successful athletes at the school sports. In his prefatory
remarks, he mentioned that games were not unknown even in scriptural
times, and asked if any boy could furnish a text to prove this.
"Yissir," said one urchin, "our Lord said to a team of His disciples
when they was agoing to play in a cricket match: 'Beware of the _'leven_
of the Pharisees.'"
* * * * *
THE ONE THING NECESSARY.--Venerable Archdeacon: "Now, my dear children,
I will ask you a few questions in your Catechism. Which of you can tell
me the two things necessary in Baptism?" "Quite right, 'Water.' Water is
one thing, and what is the other? What! can none of you think what else
is necessary? Well, little girl, what do you say?" Little Girl:
"_Please, sir, a baby._"
* * * * *
DIVISION OF LABOUR.--The subject of a Scripture lesson to a class of
girls in Standards V. and VI. happened one day to be the Resurrection.
Whether the curate, fresh from the 'Varsity, failed to make the matter
interesting because of faulty arrangement of matter or indifferent
method is not recorded. But the girls did not show much attention while
the changes which are to come to our vile bodies were being tabulated.
So, turning to one girl more conspicuously inattentive than the rest,
the curate sharply asked: "Mary Jane! who made your vile body?"
"_Please, sir, mother made the body and I made the skirt_," replied Mary
Jane.
* * * * *
TAKING THE BONES.--A curate had been talking diligently for half an hour
to a class of school children, but their attention was not very freely
given. The subject was "The Doings of the Children of Israel," and very
special mention had been made of how they had been commanded to take the
bones of Joseph with them when they made their exodus from the land of
Egypt. Suddenly pouncing upon one boy who was particularly inattentive,
the curate said: "Whose bones did the children of Israel take with them
out of Egypt, Sam?" Sam was nonplussed for a moment, then a brilliant
idea struck him, and his answer came out triumphantly: "_Their own!_"
* * * * *
MOSES AND THE BURNING BUSH.--The teacher was one morning giving a lessen
on "Moses and his talk with God," introducing, of course, the mystery of
the burning bush not being consumed, and laying particular stress on the
reverent attitude of Moses in taking off his shoes before approaching
the sacred place. At the close of the lesson the teacher questioned his
pupils to gauge their interest, and among other queries he submitted the
following: "Why did Moses take off his shoes before approaching the
bush?" Judge of his consternation when he received the following reply
from a little fellow of eight years: "_Please, sir, to warm ees feet!_"
* * * * *
CLEVER TEACHER.--The vicar of a Somerset parish was noted for his
extremely precise enunciation. He was in the habit of taking the
Scripture lessons in the village school, and had spent some time on "The
Lives of the Patriarchs." One morning he questioned a class upon the
story of Jacob. "What did Isaac tell Jacob to do when he left home after
obtaining the blessing?" asked the vicar, pointing to a dull, big boy.
"He told un to pay the man, zur," was the response. "To pay the man!"
replied the vicar wonderingly; "what man?" "Please, zur, I doant 'zacly
remember what his other name were, _but 'twere Dan somebody or other_."
The vicar lost the point of the answer; but the teacher, with keen
appreciation, quoted softly to herself, "_Arise, go to Pa-dan-aram_,"
and she thought the boy was not wholly to blame for thinking that _Dan
Aram_ was a man, and ought to be paid.
* * * * *
ROUGH ON THE DEACON.--"Explain," said the teacher, "all you can about
the words Bishop, Priest, and Deacon." "I never saw a Bishop," wrote one
hopeful. "A Priest is a man in the Old Testament, _and a Deacon is a
thing you pile up on the top of a hill and set fire to it_!"
* * * * *
THE THIRTEENTH APOSTLE.--The question was: "How many Apostles were
there?" "Thirteen," said one little chap. "Thirteen!" repeated the
teacher in astonishment. "I thought there were only twelve!" "St.
Matthew," replied the boy, "tells us the names of twelve, and St. John
gives us the name of the other one--_Verily, that Jesus used to talk to
so much_."
CHAPTER VI.
THE FOND PARENT.
"_Political Economy is the science that teaches us to get the
greatest benefit out of the least possible amount of honest
labour._"--WEARY WILLY, JUNIOR.
There is no more universal fallacy than the firmly-rooted prejudice that
finds a comment in the old tag that "Everybody's goose is a swan." How
impregnably established is this conviction in the parental mind--when in
contemplation of the capacity of its wonderful offspring--only teachers
know. Eternal are the complaints that whilst Jimmy Miggs has been
promoted to the Third Standard "Our Willie" remains in the Second! And
brilliant is the diplomacy that is needed to make the situation
parentally endurable. Then there is the irate parent, the sacred person
of whose immaculate hopeful has been gently touched with the
discriminating hand of discreet personal chastisement. Ah me! What havoc
such an one can work with the calm serenity of the schoolroom. Strangely
enough, it is amongst the thriftless and self-indulgent minority of
working classes--those who shockingly neglect and ill-treat their
children themselves--that the teacher finds the greatest trouble in this
matter of objection even to the most moderate and wisely-administered
corporal punishment.
For myself, I hit upon an excellent expedient when the peace of the
school was suddenly ravished by the sudden and unbidden entrance of some
angry "mother." With great suavity I offered her a chair and
considerately pressed her into it. If she could be induced to rehearse
her complaints whilst still sitting down the fires of her fury would
soon flicker out. Indeed, I have never yet met an angry woman in any
walk of life who could sufficiently express her feelings whilst sitting
down. _Verb. sap._
The parental "Note" is often very amusing, sometimes abusive, and
occasionally clever and caustic. Excuses for absence, which involve a
reference to ailments with rather unspellable names are, naturally
enough, badly boggled. Rheumatism, Neuralgia, Influenza, Lumbago,
Inflammation, Diarrhoea--what tribulation these half-dozen words
represent to be sure! And what excruciating distortions the parental
note bears upon its usually rough and crumpled face. I remember
_neuralgia_ once being rendered "_real raw jaw_," which is not so far
out after all! "Very bad with _New Roger_" is not so near a shot. I also
recall a note of excuse that informed the teacher that Charlie couldn't
come to school "_because he has got haricot veins_!" This is as curious
as "_In bed with Piper's Dance_!" I have seen a "note," too, which
speaks of Mary being "_down with an illustrated throat, with glaciers on
both sides_!" And, finally, there was once the alarming case of Alfred,
who had "gone to the hospital to have some _aneroids_ taken from his
nose." But let a few of these little missives speak for themselves:--
* * * * *
A NOVEL MODE OF TRAVELLING.--The following excuse for lateness from a
Dover parent is very appropriate to a seaside town: "Dear miss, please
excuse mary being late as she _as been out on a herring_."
* * * * *
MONEY MARKET DOWN.--Here is a verbatim copy of a note received: "Tom is
not fit to come to school yet, as doctor Blight said I have to tell you
as they have _Inflamation in the Consols_. John and Harry."
* * * * *
ONE FOR THE TEACHERS.--The following note is from an irate parent:
"Willie ---- was absent From school this morning because Is mother is at
market and I have no one here to do anything as you Do know I have Told
you before know kindly state the Reason That you and all of The Teachers
was absent from school for a month without asking our leave. Mr. A."
* * * * *
"HARY AND EMENA."--Please sir hary and emena are unfit to attenion
school hary is got to go to the infirny with Exmoor and emena all over
him and not able to come I have seen Mr. Bennett." This excuse was to
convey the information that Harry and Emma had gone to the infirmary
because both were suffering from eczema, and that the mother had seen
the attendance officer (Mr. Bennett) about it.
* * * * *
TO INTRODUCE MAUD P.--A new scholar recently appeared at a Board School
with the accompanying letter: "Maud P. will be 6 years of age next
january 30th 1905 God Willen it she live she have not atended Scoole
Much as she is Never well far lange toGether she suffer with a bad feat
she have had 2 wounds an it if you like to lett she take off her sliper
an shoken you Can see it i fear it will break aut again as it is Very
read and inflamed at Night and she Complained of pain it was in the
furst place threw a kick fraw another Child at W---- P---- Scoole the
Cause kindle see she is not hurt if you plese and Not to wipe she as she
is a such a timed Sence Child ben ill so Much have rather spoilt her but
she is i trust honest and truful and laven so kindness will do ware
sharpness faile she only stain with Me to see if she Gett on all rite as
her home is 2 Miles from a Scoole at ---- her parents keep she i am her
Grandmother & Canat see Very well so i fear My riten will be hard to
read."
* * * * *
PARENTAL RAGE.--"If you please A---- B---- what made you not give F----
C---- his ticket on Friday for he had been 10 times so he ought to have
had it so if you please dont to give him it on Monday morning i shall go
farther to work with it. for i think i know more about school then you
do for i when their long before you did he as been to school all the
week so he as earnt his ticket so if you dont give it to him by fair
means you shall by foul so you can please yourself for you are not
master nor misstres yet and i dont think that ever you will be we have
to pay rates so we have to pay part for the school and it was down right
a shame that he was not put up when the others was for he is always at
school wet or fine bad or well he never stop away their was never such
teachers as you had to teach me when i went to school they know which
way to teach a child and that is more than you do if he his not put up
before long he shall go to another school for he does reading and
writing very well at home at night so by that means he must do it good
at school. so if he dont bring his ticket home with him on Monday dinner
time you can look for some body to make you give it up for it was not in
your place at all to keep it i know school rules."
* * * * *
DROPPED INTO POETRY.--The following couplet was once received in reply
to an inquiry as to the reason for absence:--
"_Grim tyrant of the powers that be,
Take note! The lad had leave from me._"
On another occasion the reply came back:--
"_George stayed away to make the hay
To please his own dear mother,
And you can take the case to law
To save all future bother._"
CHAPTER VII.
LITTLE SCIENTISTS AT SEA.
"_Gravity was discovered by Isaac Walton. It is chiefly
noticeable in the autumn when the apples are falling from the
leaves._"--LITTLE JIM, aged 10.
"_If the earth did not revolt it would be either all equal days or all
equal nights_," is the deliberate judgment of one young geographer; and
the state of mental obfuscation here discovered finds a counterpart in
many geographical answers given in the earlier days. _Sodom and
Gomorrah_ have been described as _the two most famous volcanoes in the
world_; and the Nile has been mentioned as _rising in Mungo Park_.
_Penzance_ has been spoken of as "_the place where the pirates come
from_"; and the Red Indians have been located as coming from _Red
India_. Here is a brief list of what I may call geographical "howlers."
* * * * *
IN THE GEOGRAPHY LESSON.--"The sun never sets on English possessions,
because the sun sets in the West, and all the English possessions are in
the North, South, and East."
* * * * *
"The Arctic regions are neither hot nor cold. They abound in birds of
beautiful plumage and of no song, such as the elephant and the camel."
* * * * *
"A table-land gets its name from its steep sides and flat top. It's all
right when once you are up on the top, but it's no joke getting up."
* * * * *
"The tides are a fight between the earth and the moon. All water tends
towards the moon, because there is no water in the moon, and Nature
abhors a vacuum. Gravitation at the earth keeps the water from rising
all the way to the moon. I forget whether the sun joins in this fight."
* * * * *
"What divides England from Ireland?" asked the inspector, who was
elderly and deaf. The teacher trembled with apprehension as she heard a
boy answer: "_The Land of Goshen, sir_." The inspector was obviously
pleased, and said approvingly: "Quite right! Quite right! _The Atlantic
Ocean!_"
* * * * *
Some time ago the _Stella_, a South-Western Railway packet, struck on a
rock near one of the Channel Islands. In an examination on General
Knowledge I asked the name of the rock. A boy replied: "_Rock of Ages_."
* * * * *
SOME HISTORY LESSON BLUNDERS.--Now let me turn briefly to the History
lesson and note the curious blunders and anachronisms that a modern
rendering or a juvenile misapprehension of old-world facts reveal. Let
me set out a few instances:--
"The cause of the Peasants' Revolt was that a shilling poultice was put
on everybody over sixteen."
* * * * *
"The poll-tax was to be paid by everyone who had a head."
* * * * *
"The Fire of London, although looked on at first as a calamity, really
did a great deal of good. It purified the city from the dregs of the
plague and burnt down eighty-nine churches."
* * * * *
"King James I. was very unclean in his habits: he never washed his hands
and married Anne of Denmark."
* * * * *
"Henry VIII. was a very good king. He liked plenty of money. He had
plenty of wives, and died of ulcers in the legs."
* * * * *
"Edward III. would have been king of France if his mother had been a
man."
* * * * *
"The conquest of Ireland was begun in 1170 and is still going on."
* * * * *
"The Pilgrim Fathers were the parents of the young men who took journeys
to the Holy Land in the Crusades. They had to give an allowance to their
godly sons while they were away in the East. But they never grudged it,
because it was an honour to be a Pilgrim's father."
"Sir Philip Sydney gave the last drop of water in his jug to a dying
soldier on the field of Waterloo, as was mentioned in the Duke of
Wellington's despatches."
"John Milton is the celebrated author of the excursion, and lived
chiefly in the lake country near Carlyle."
_Teacher_: "In whose reign was that palace built?" _Scholar_: "Edward
the Confectioner's."
"George I. was the son of the Electric Sophia."
"Isaac Walton was such a good fisherman that he was called 'the
judicious hooker.'"
* * * * *
IN THE SCIENCE CLASS.--Not less amusing are the mistakes which arise
during the "elementary science" lesson. Here are a few cases in point:--
"A vacuum is nothing shut up in a box. They have a way of pumping out
the air. When all the air and everything else is shut out, naturally
they are able to shut in nothing, where the air was before."
"A drug is any wholesome vegetable food for taking once in a way but not
for regular food."
* * * * *
WITH THE LITTLE BABBAGES.--"Things which are double each other are
greater than anything else."
"Circumference is a straight line round the middle of a plane."
"Two straight lines cannot enclose a space unless they are crooked."
_Question_: "If the sum of two numbers is a multiple of ten, what
relation is there between the figures in the units place in the squares
of the two numbers?" _Answer_: "(1) The same relation. (2) Ought is the
relation existing between them."
* * * * *
DOMESTIC ECONOMY.--_Question_: "Give directions for sweeping a room."
_Answer_: "Cover up the furniture with dust sheets, scatter damp tea
leaves over the carpet, then carefully sweep the room into the dust pan
and throw it out of the window."
* * * * *
The following notes are selected from the answers given at a recent
examination of girls between twelve and sixteen years of age:--"Cheese
is as wholesome as 8½ pounds of beef.--Beef is a useful article of food
obtained from different animals, such as the cow, sheep, pig, &c.--The
lean of beef belongs to the animal kingdom, and the fat to the vegetable
kingdom.--Butter is good for the brain.--Milk is called a model food
because it models the form of the child.--Without eating potatoes we
would become very delicate, because potatoes are very necessary to
sustain human life.--_Pot-au-feu_ is mashed-up meat.--_Crétins_ are
generally served up with green pea soup.--If a man lives without food
for a considerable time, say sixty days, he will die at the end of a
month; or if the constitution is delicate, he may only live for a week,
or less."
CHAPTER VIII.
A MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTION.
"_The Triple Alliance is Faith, Hope, and Charity!_"--EMMA JANE.
THE BEST SIDE.--A penny was the object in question. The children had
examined its superscription--obverse and reverse, when little Polly
shyly said, "I like this side best, teacher"--pointing to Neptune and
the shield. "Why, Polly," demanded the teacher. "_Cause you can see the
Queen riding on a bicycle!_"
* * * * *
JONAH'S PRAYER.--It was an infants' class of forty children or thereby.
The young teacher had found the way to the hearts of her pupils, and the
children quite forgot they were engaged in work. Everything she said and
did was real and right in their eyes, and her Bible stories were a
source of wondrous delight. They would not have been astonished had they
met Abraham or even some of the antediluvians in the street. The head
master, on visiting the room, found them all interested in the career of
Jonah, and told them he would come again to learn what they could tell
about the errant prophet. As he expected, he found the story familiar to
them, and so, with the view partly of trying their power of expression
and partly of witnessing the perplexity of the embryo scholars, he asked
them to tell him Jonah's prayer while he was in the whale. Words to
express their pent-up knowledge failed most of them, but one more
vigorous than the rest relieved himself thus: "_Jonah just said, 'God,
lat me oot o' this.'_"
* * * * *
"WHEN THEY'RE RUNNING ABOUT."--It is the venerable old question, "What
is a noun?" that has drawn out the hoary answer, "Name of an animal,
person, place, or thing." Of course the inspector follows up with the
almost equally antique "Am _I_ a noun?" and the little fellow tumbles
into the creaking old trap with a cheery "Yes, sir." "Are you a noun?"
proceeds the inspector, and the "Yes, sir" of the reply shows very
little loss of confidence. "Are all the boys in the class nouns?" The
sturdy little grammarian feels from the tone that someone has blundered,
and the "Yes, sir" this time has an uncertain sound. Everything up to
this point has been done in the most approved fencing style--three cuts
up and one down; all the moves are as hackneyed as in the King's
Knight's Pawn opening. It is only when the inspector is about to effect
Fool's Mate----But let me give it as it happens. _Inspector_: "What is a
noun?" _Boy_: "Name of an animal, person, place, or thing."--_I._: "Am
_I_ a noun?" _B._: "Yes, sir."--_I._: "Are you a noun?" _B._: "Yes,
sir."--_I._: "Are all the boys in the class nouns?" _B._ (a little
doubtfully): "Yes, sir."--_I._: "And are all the boys running about in
the playground nouns?" _B._ (brightening up): "Please, sir, no, sir.
_When they're running about they're verbs!_"
* * * * *
WHERE THE OSTRICH LAYS ITS EGGS.--A class was being questioned by H.M.
inspector on the ostrich. He asked the size of the ostrich egg, but
could only get "Very big" or "Very large" for answers, so he asked them
to mention something that would show him _how_ big they were. After some
hesitation, one boy put his hand up, and when asked, replied: "Please,
sir, as big as your head." The inspector laughed, and then asked: Where
does the ostrich deposit its eggs?" Again the same boy put up his hand
and looked very anxious to be asked. When the inspector said, "Well, my
little man, where?" the boy replied, "_Please, sir, in our school
museum!_"
* * * * *
"SUFFIN' RED."--In Norwich tomatoes are called by the ordinary folk
"marters." This by way of prologue. A young curate spent twenty minutes
explaining to a young class what a martyr was. "Now," said he, "what is
a Martyr?" The answer he received and did not expect was: "_Please, sir,
suffin' red what you eat._"
* * * * *
"HE HASN'T TO EAT SWEETS."--"Now, Johnnie," said a teacher, "if I gave
you a dozen sweets and you divided them equally between your brother and
yourself, how many would you give him?" "_Please, sir, none sir! Cos'
mother says he hasn't to eat sweets when he has worms._"
* * * * *
HE KNEW.--H.M. Inspector (examining village school): "What is the
opposite of a 'spendthrift?'" No answer. "Well, what would you call a
man who sends you on errands and gives you nothing for going?" Boy:
"_Parson, sir._" [Confusion of parson who was present and had gained a
reputation for close-fistedness.]
* * * * *
JACK'S PRAYER.--Little Jack's father was visiting London and
Christmastide was approaching. He had promised to bring a toy train for
his little son as a present from Father Christmas. The day that the
father was to travel Jack prayed--
"God bless papa, and bring him home safely,
_And--and--and his luggage_!"
* * * * *
UNDER A NEW NAME.--First class had taken poetry for the year from
Scott's "Marmion." In repeating simultaneously, one girl, whose
understanding of the sense must have been very hazy, amused her
classmates by repeating instead of--
"Where's Harry Blount, Fitz-Eustace, where?"
"_Where's Harry Brown which used to swear?_"
* * * * *
THE RAISON D'ETRE OF THE NOSE.--At a visit of one of the inspectors a
"chat" had been going on with the babies about "The Elephant and its
Trunk," and at the finish the H.M.I. pounced upon the accepted duffer of
the class with "Now, my dear, you shall tell me what your nose is for,"
and was staggered with the reply, "_Us haves it to wipe, sir?_"
* * * * *
A GOOD REASON.--A short time ago a teacher was taking a lesson on the
use of the hyphen. Having written a number of examples on the
blackboard, the first of which was "bird-cage," he asked the boys to
give a reason for putting the hyphen between "bird" and "cage." After a
short silence one boy, who is among the dunces, held up his hand and
said, "_It is for the bird to perch on, sir._"
* * * * *
WHY THE KITTEN DIED.--Visit of grandma--both four-year-old twins at
once: "Grandma, Ninny's dead." Grandma, surprised and sorry, "Poor
Ninny, he must have been poisoned?" Great burst of grief from both
twins. Then a sudden lull from one of them. "Don't cry, Ella; don't cry
so much! '_He died to save us all!_'" [They had been to a children's
service with the maid on Good Friday.]
* * * * *
WHERE THE SNOW COMES FROM.--The other day a master visited the infant
room during a snowstorm. He was curious to know what ideas the little
ones had of snow, and questioned them about it. One little girl of five
volunteered the information that the snow was swept out of heaven. "But
how does it get into heaven?" asked the master. "Please, sir, _the
angels scratch it off their wings_," said the tiny tot.
* * * * *
BLISS.--_Teacher_ (word-building): "Quite right! L-i-s-s spells _liss_,
and if I put 'b' in front what word do I get?" _Small Boy_: "Bliss."
_Teacher_: "Yes; but that's a new word to you, and so I must tell you
what it means. It means _peace_ or _happiness_ or _comfort_. Now make me
a sentence containing this new word _bliss_." _Small Boy_: "My big
brother had a _blister_ on his toe."
* * * * *
FOR THE PSYCHOLOGIST.--Here are four replies that well repay
consideration:--
_Antidote_: A silly ant.
_Oblivious_: Without a liver.
_Sciatica_: A sigh from the head.
_Anchorite_: A good man who anchored himself to one place.
* * * * *
WHY HE LAUGHED.--The master of a school had been much annoyed by a trick
played upon him by one of his boys. At last he thought he had caught the
offender and severely chastised him. To his surprise, the boy, instead
of resenting the chastisement, burst out laughing. The master, in a tone
of anger mingled with surprise, said: "How dare you laugh, sir? Why are
you so doing?" The boy, trying hard to suppress his laughter, said:
"_Cos, please sir, you are hitting the wrong boy._"
* * * * *
THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.--A little Yorkshire patriot of ten years gave the
following written version of "God Save the King":--
"God save are greasure King, long
leave are noble King,
God save are King.
Sened are Victoria, happy
and glory us
God Save are King."
* * * * *
A MODEST REQUEST.--It was "play-time." Wordy warfare was being waged
between two cherubic little brothers of four and five summers. As the
teacher drew near:--"Please, teacher, can Stanley play on my harp?"
cried the bigger. "Yes, I shall! Yes, I shall!" taunted little Stanley,
dancing with mischievous joy. "But, Harold, you haven't a harp," said
the teacher. "When we're in Heaven!" he muttered fiercely. "_He says,
when we're in Heaven he shall play on my harp!_"
* * * * *
NOT SO FAR OUT.--At a recent visit of H.M.I. to an Essex school the
children were saying a piece of poetry entitled "The Wind in a Frolic."
In this piece occurs the line: "_So on it went capering and playing its
pranks._" The inspector stopped the class here, and asked the class to
tell him the meaning of capering, and also the name of any animal that
cuts capers. The answers given by several boys were a kitten, a pup, a
goat, a lamb, &c. However, a very happy thought struck one small boy,
who immediately put up his hand and said: "_A motor car!_"
* * * * *
THE BEAR SONG.--_Billie_ (aged four): "Mother dear, sing me the bear
song." The fond mother casting about in her mind for the song in
question, but to no avail, began to sing from her customary list in the
hope of hitting the right one, but her efforts were cut short by the
youngster's disapproval. The mother's list of songs becoming exhausted,
she changed from song to hymn, and her efforts were rewarded when she
reached the hymn, "Hark, my soul"; but not until the third verse was
being sung,
"Can a woman's tender care
Cease toward the child _she bare_,"
did this fond mother appreciate the bear song.
* * * * *
MORE WAYS THAN ONE.--The teacher was busy at his desk, trying to
discover the error which prevented the register from balancing, when a
youngster of seven years walked forward with his hand up. "What do you
want?" said the teacher, without turning round. "Please, sir, Jock
Broon's callin' me names," was the reply. "Oh, get away!" exclaimed the
teacher, again settling to his work. He had totalled up to near the top
of the column, when the same youngster again appeared and said: "Please,
sir, Jock's doing it again." The teacher was so annoyed at the second
interruption that he sharply reprimanded "Jock," and threatened to
punish him if he again repeated the offence. Turning to his desk, the
teacher made a determined effort to discover the error in the totals,
when his tormentor again appeared. Seizing the cane, the teacher turned
to him and demanded to know what he wanted. "_Please, sir, Jock's
whistlin' it_," he answered.
* * * * *
A MIXED GRILL.--The wife of a duke is a "ducky."
A veteran is "a man what does hosses."
Coolies are "men that live in cold countries."
Mailboats are "boats that only carry men."
A husbandman is "a man with two wives."
"The first words of Zacharias on recovering his speech were: 'I am
dumb.'"
Of course it was a boy who wrote that a graven image is "_an idle maid
with hands_."
"Six days shalt thy neighbour do all that thou hast to do."
* * * * *
"_THEY_ 'AD TO DO IT."--An inspector once asked a teacher during a
lesson in Mental Arithmetic if she ever allowed a pupil to propose
questions to the children. The teacher replied that she had done so.
H.M.I. then asked, "Who would like to ask the other children a
question?" Several hands went up instantly. "Come on, Tommy." Tommy
marched in front of his class with an air of importance and confidence,
born of experience, and blurted out: "A million articles at half-a-crown
each." _Inspector_: "Well, Tommy, what do you make it yourself?"
_Tommy_: "Please, sir, _they_ 'ad to do it, not me."
* * * * *
LITTLE JIM.--Some years ago a teacher was hearing a class read the poem
"Little Jim." He had been trying very hard to teach expressive reading.
The children had been brought almost to tears by hearing the teacher
read the verse describing the death scene, when he called on a boy to
read the verse describing the return of the dead child's father. The
reader evidently trusted too much to memory, for, in all earnestness and
with beautiful expression, he read--
"He saw that all was over
He knew the child was dead;
He took the candle in his hand
_And walked upstairs to bed._"
* * * * *
AN EXCELLENT REASON.--"Who," asked the teacher, "is your favourite
writer?" Johnnie answered, "Samuel." "Why?" replied the teacher.
"_Because_" answered Johnnie, "_I like to read about him!_"
* * * * *
WHY YOU COULDN'T.--As an exercise in composition upper standards had
occasionally to write what they could upon a given maxim. The one given
was: "You can't put old heads on young shoulders." One boy gave up his
paper to the master, who, upon scanning it, found the first sentence to
be as follows: "_Of course you can't, and if you did they wouldn't
fit._"
* * * * *
SOLD AGAIN.--During the annual examination the children in the Fifth
Standard were asked to give an example of a sentence containing more
than one subject. This, the inspector thought, would constitute a poser.
Instantly, however, up rose a ragged, shock-headed "hoyden," who
straightway began to quote from Browning's "Pied Piper":--
"'Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,
Brown rats, black rats, grey rats, tawny rats,
Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,
Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,
Cocking tails and pricking whiskers,
Families by tens and dozens,
Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives,
Followed the Piper for their lives.'"
* * * * *
THE SCHOOL HOUSE WAS EXEMPT.--The master of a village school in the
vicinity of Dundee was in the habit of giving out an essay to be written
at home by the pupils of the first class. One Friday afternoon he gave
as the subject for the weekly exercise, "Local Events." At that time
scarlet fever was very prevalent in the district. One pupil of promising
parts took this fact for the subject of his essay. He dwelt on the sad
ravages which had taken place in the neighbourhood as the result of the
epidemic, and finished by saying how pleased he was that the dreadful
scourge had not visited the school house, "_for the Lord delighteth not
in the death of the wicked_."
* * * * *
A SYMPATHETIC RENDERING.--A boy in a Board School recently gave the
following rendering of the verse in the "Wreck of the _Hesperus_":--
"Then up and spake an old sailor,
Had sailed the Spanish main;
'I pray thee put into yonder port,
For I fear _the horrid cane_.'"
* * * * *
HEAVEN-SENT PHYSIC.--_The Diocesan Inspector_: "Now, my dear children,
tell me how Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed." _Sharp Boy_: "Brimstone
and treacle from heaven, sir."
* * * * *
A LESSON ON FRACTIONS.--_Teacher_ (giving lesson on fractions): "Here,
children, is a piece of meat; if I cut it in two, what shall I have?"
_Class (tutti)_: "Halves!" _Teacher_: "And if I cut my pieces again in
two, what do I get?" _Class (tutti)_: "Quarters!" _Teacher_: "And if I
again do the same?" _Class_ (half-chorus): "Eighths!" _Teacher_: "Good.
If we continue in the same way, what shall we have?" _Class_ (a duet):
"Sixteenths!" _Teacher_: "Very good. Let us cut our pieces once more in
two, what then shall we have?" _Class_: Several bars rest. Dead silence.
However, in the corner one pair of eyes twinkled. _Teacher_: "Well,
Johnny, what shall we have?" _Johnny_ (solo): "Mincemeat, ma'am!"
* * * * *
"DON'T BE AFRAID, FIDO."--A little dog was trembling with fear at the
high wind. Little Polly put her arms round it, saying: "Don't be afraid,
Fido; _all the hairs of your head are numbered_."
* * * * *
THE THING THAT THERE ISN'T.--"What is a nib?" asked a little reader of
four years. "Oh, I know!" said Dick; "_it is that thing that there isn't
when you buy a pen_."
* * * * *
A QUAINT PRAYER.--A dear little child was saying her prayers aloud
beside her mother's knee, and added a prayer on her own account: "Oh,
please, dear God, make me pure, _absolutely pure as Epps' cocoa_."
* * * * *
WHAT HE DID FOR A LIVING.--Teacher: "Now, John, what did Moses do for a
living while he was staying with Jethro?" John: "_Please, sir, he
married one of his daughters._"
* * * * *
AN OLD FRIEND UNDER A NEW NAME.--The six-year-olds had been hearing the
story of the Good Samaritan. Teacher: "Who came along after the priest?"
Willie: "_Please, miss, the fleabite_."
* * * * *
WHAT BECOMES OF THE MOONS.--H.M.I.: "You have all heard of new moons,
full moons, and crescent moons. What becomes of the old moons?"
"_Please, sir, they are cut up to make stars_," was a girl's reply.
* * * * *
CUTE!--The teacher was questioning the class at the end of the
object-lesson on the "Cat." "How is it that pussy can see in the dark?"
said he. "_Because they feed her on lights_," answered the smart boy of
the class.
* * * * *
GROSS DARKNESS.--In reading from the Bible that gross darkness covered
the face of the earth, the teacher asked what gross darkness meant. The
top boy in mental arithmetic said: "_One hundred and forty-four times
darker than ordinary darkness._"
* * * * *
A NOVEL WEAPON.--"With what weapon did David slay the Philistines?"
asked the examiner. "Please, sir," answered a child, "_the axe of the
Apostles_."
* * * * *
FAITH.--"What is Faith?" asked the inspector. "_Faith_," replied a
ten-year-old, "_is that quality which enables us to believe what we know
to be untrue_."
* * * * *
A FISHING-NET.--"_A fishing-net_," wrote an ingenious Standard III. boy,
"_is a lot of little holes joined together by a bit of string_."
* * * * *
TOO LITERAL.--Teacher (to newly-joined pupil): "What's your name?" Boy:
"Smiff." Teacher: "Where do you come from?" Boy: "I dun'no." Teacher:
"Ever been to school before?" Boy (more brightly): "Yus." Teacher: "Was
it a Board School?" Boy: "_No, brick._"
* * * * *
EXCUSED (scarlet fever is bad in village).--Teacher: "Why did you stay
away from school yesterday?" "Please sir, muvver's ill." Teacher
(anxiously): "What does the doctor say it is?" "_Please sir, he says
it's a girl._"
* * * * *
DEFINING A PARABLE.--The definition usually taught for a parable is, "An
earthly story with a heavenly meaning." At an examination one boy wrote,
"A heavenly story with no earthly meaning."
* * * * *
JACOB'S DREAM.--There is an amusing and, I believe, a true story
concerning that wonderful dream of Jacob's and the angels going up the
ladder to heaven. "Please, sir," asked one of the boys in the class to
which the story was being rehearsed, "why did the angels want to go up
the ladder when they had wings?" This nonplussed the teacher, who took a
strategic movement to rear by saying, "Ah, yes! Why? Perhaps one of the
boys can answer that." And one _did_. "Please, sir," said he, "_because
they was a-moulting_."
* * * * *
W.H.S.B.--I am told that an inspector of schools recently asked a boy
attending one of the West Ham School Board's schools what the letters
W.H.S.B. carved over the door meant, and was at once informed "_What Ho!
She Bumps._"
* * * * *
A SUCCESSFUL FAILURE.--The following amazing and amusing attempt at
composition was the actual effort of a boy who was being examined for a
"full-time" exemption certificate. The inspector had told the children
to write _in their own words_ the substance of any story they had ever
read in their own reading-books. This is what the budding "full-timer"
produced: "A Fox and a Crow in porse I well no, many Good Things are
request a Crow having venchurd a Dairy too go found a nice peace of
chease which she flew in her beek to the top of a tree. A Fox just dined
for chease felt inclined. She saw her fly." Poor chap! he had tried to
reproduce the following:--
The fox and the crow,
In prose I well know,
Many good little girls can rehearse.
I think it will tell,
Pretty nearly as well
If we try the same fable in verse.
In a dairy a crow
Having ventured to go,
Some food for her young ones to seek,
Flew up in a tree,
With a fine piece of cheese,
Which she joyfully held in her beak.
A fox who lived by,
To the tree saw her fly,
And to share in the prize made a vow,
For having just dined,
He for cheese felt inclined,
So he went and sat under the bough.
"'Tis a very fine day."
Not a word did she say.
"The wind, I believe, ma'am, is south
A fine harvest for peas."
Then he looked at the cheese,
But the crow did not open her mouth.
Sly Reynard, not tired,
Her plumage admired,
How charming! how brilliant its hue!
The voice must be fine
Of a bird so divine,
"So pray, let me hear it, now do!
"Believe me, I long
To hear a sweet song."
The silly crow foolishly tries,
But she scarce gave one caw,
When the cheese she let fall,
And the fox ran off with the prize.
* * * * *
ESPECIALLY FOR ME.--Last Christmas I was distributing the prizes at the
Upper Kennington Lane Board School. I wound up with an exhortation to
the boys to be good during the coming year. Said I: "Now, boys, see that
when I come again next Christmas I shall hear an excellent account of
you, and shall not have to be told that you have got into any trouble or
mischief. "_Same to you, sir!_" shouted the whole school with one
accord. Whether this was quiet humour or a mechanical reply to the
time-honoured "Merry Christmas, boys!" which they had taken my final
words to imply I cannot say. But I am trying to live up to the
injunction as this little book attests.
* * * * *
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.--Teacher: "Yes, children, we are animals. Quite
right. How do you know we are animals?" Tommy: "_Because it says we are
Jesus's lambs!_"
* * * * *
LOYAL SUBJECTS.--Teacher: "What did the angels sing when they came to
the shepherds?" Little One: "_God save our Gracious King!_"
* * * * *
NEED FOR CAUTION.--One morning the curate of the parish visited the
village school to conduct the usual morning service. He proceeded to
give a lesson to the upper standards on "Regeneration." He commenced by
asking the class if any of them could tell him the meaning of the word
"Regeneration," but no reply was forthcoming. It therefore fell to the
curate to define the word. He said, "Regeneration means to be born
again." Addressing himself to one little fellow, the curate said, "Now,
my little boy, wouldn't you like to be born again?" "No, I shouldn't,"
answered he. "For why?" asked the curate. The boy quickly responded,
"_Because I should be afraid of being a girl next time!_"
* * * * *
NOT TO BE BEATEN.--A short time ago a lady gave a children's party, to
which a little boy of four was invited. The next day he was giving some
account of the fun, etc., etc., and said that every little visitor had
contributed either song or recitation, music or dance, for the pleasure
of the rest. "Oh dear! Jack!" said his mother "How very unfortunate you
could do nothing!" Jack (with bravado): "Yes I could. I was not to be
beaten, _so I just stood up and said my prayers_!"
* * * * *
FOLD ARMS.--Inspector enters babies' room smiling. Inspector: "Now, all
look at me; I want you to be very good. What is it to be good?" Baby
hand rises. Inspector: "Well?" Baby: "Please, mam, to fold our arms."
Inspector: "Oh! How does that make you good?" Baby: "_Please, mam, it
keeps our bellies warm._"
* * * * *
SELF-POSSESSED.--She was four, and had just been promoted from the
babies' class. It was a "number" lesson, and the little maid was first
given three small blocks and then two others. "How many have you now?"
she was asked. "One and one make two," was the reply. "Yes, I know, but
I asked how many blocks you had now?" "One and one make two," was again
the answer. "Yes, but what do three and two make?" The little
arithmetician removed her thumb from her mouth, jerked it in the
direction of the small boys at the other side of the room, and said,
"_One o' them'll tell you._"
* * * * *
ONE REASON.--Vicar (catechising on cruelty): "Can any boy tell me what
those marvellous insects are that travel on tracks of their own making
in the woods?" Chorus: "Ants." Vicar: "Quite right. Now I have seen boys
cruel enough to stamp on the laborious ants. Should you do so?" Chorus:
"No, sir." Vicar: "Girls don't stamp on ants. Why not, Todd?" Todd:
"_Please, sir, 'cos they gets up their legs!_"
* * * * *
ROUGH ON THE SCHOOL-BOARD MAN.--Letter from parent: "Dear Miss,--Pleese
to scuse my Arry from a comin to scool this afternoon as 'e was nocked
down by a bycycle this mornin an I dont want none of them nosey old
scool bored men after me, from Mrs. ----."
* * * * *
WHY RACHEL WAS AWAY.--"Dear Madam,--Plese exkuse Rachel Abrams as she
had to go and fech her mother's liver."
* * * * *
'NUFF SAID.--A tiny tot in the babies' room was being scolded by her
teacher for having dirty hands. "You naughty girl! how dare you come to
school with those dirty hands?" With tears streaming down her face the
little tot answered, "_Pease, teacher, I ain't dot no more!_"
* * * * *
A SENSATIONAL OPENING.--Teacher giving object-lesson on "Mice" to
five-year-olds before H.M.I. introduces lesson by asking, "What animal
is it which, when you are in bed, comes out of its hole and runs about
the floor?" Five-year-old (in loud tones): "_It is the li-on!_"
* * * * *
EXCUSED.--"Plese sur mister will you escus Charlee not been to scool as
he as got no trouses and is farther wont let him come without--your
torueley Mrs. B----."
* * * * *
THE PHARISEES.--By a small Londoner: "The Fareses was a very minjy,
measley lot. One day one of them gave Our Lord a penny, and Our Lord
held it out in His hand and looked at it with scorn, and said, '_Whose
subscription is this?_'"
* * * * *
"ON SATDY."--Composition exercise by a nine-year-old: "On Satdy I do all
the work, and then I go over and do all my Ants, in the afternoon I take
Missis greens baby out in the Pram, i get a apeny on Satdy, sumtimes I
by bulls i's. On Satdy nite I have a baf and wate up for my farther."
* * * * *
THE SOUL OF WIT.--The teacher had given to each of a junior class a
simple and familiar subject for composition. For twenty minutes the
class composed, and was composed. The genius of the little group had
been instructed to write about "Our Cat." The result of his twenty
minutes deep cogitation and tremendous effort was the following essay,
almost matchless for brevity, clearness, completeness, and, moreover,
depth of pathos: "_Our cat is dead!_"
* * * * *
A BIT ON EACH WAY.--Some lads who were beginning to write composition
were told to write an essay on the horse. One lad had given a good
description of the animal and wished to write something about its tail.
He wrote the following sentence: "_The horse sometimes has a long tail
or tale._" When asked why he had written down the two words he replied
that "he thought that if one was marked wrong the other would sure to be
right."
* * * * *
THE EXCEPTION.--The Tenth Commandment, up to date, as given at a recent
Scripture examination by a lad of seven summers: "Thou shalt not covet
my nabours wife, thou shalt not covet my nabours house, nor his servant
nor his made nor his ox nor is ass nor anything but is ears."
* * * * *
SEE THAT YE FALL NOT OUT.--Down in Hampshire a curate was giving a
Scripture lesson on Joseph and his brethren. He asked the boys why
Joseph said, "See that ye fall not out by the way." A boy from a
neighbouring village, used to riding about the farm, replied, "_Cause
they had no tailboord to the caart._"
* * * * *
IT IS POSSIBLE.--During a Scripture lesson, which was being taken by a
clergyman, some boys were asked each to give a text from the Bible. One
lad said, "And Judas went and hanged himself." "Well!" said the reverend
gentleman, "that is hardly a good text," and, pointing to another lad,
asked _him_ to give a text, and the lad said, "_Go thou and do
likewise!_"
* * * * *
INDIGNATION.--The following story is an amusing instance of the way in
which boys mix their stories historical or scriptural. When asked for
the reply of Naaman the leper to the command to wash seven times in
Jordan, a boy gave the answer as, "_Is thy servant a dog that he should
do this thing?_"
* * * * *
NO ROOM FOR THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR.--A short time ago a teacher was
giving a lesson on the Birth of Christ, when she referred the class to
the 9th chapter of Isaiah, and verse 6, which reads: "For unto us a
Child is born, unto us a Son is given, _and the government shall be upon
His shoulder_," &c. Here the teacher asked what was meant by the
government being upon His shoulder. One child, holding up her hand,
said, "_Please, teacher, it means that the child Jesus will have to be
vaccinated._"
* * * * *
THE WIDOW AGAIN.--The teacher had been giving a lesson on Magna Charta,
during the course of which he tried to impress on the children the
benefits certain Articles conferred on Englishmen at the present day. He
especially drew attention to Article 20, and called upon a boy at the
close of the lesson to repeat that Article. Boy: "No freeman, merchant,
or villain, shall be excessively fined for a small offence; the first
shall not be deprived of his means of livelihood; the second of his
merchandise; and the third of his _implements of husbandry_." Teacher:
"Can anyone tell me the name of an implement of husbandry." Little Girl:
"_Please, sir! a widow._"
* * * * *
THOUGHTFUL.--Billy, an urchin of five, going to school, takes an apple
from his pocket, spits on it, and rubs it vigorously on his dirty and
ragged trousers. "Hallo, Billy! What are you doing that for?" Billy
(holding up apple and looking pleased): "_'Tis for taicher. Her wont ait
un if he's dirty._"
* * * * *
THE CORRECT THING TO SAY.--Town lad's composition on "A Half-holiday":
"Yesterday we had a half-holiday and I enjoyed myself very much. After
dinner I did the knives and forks and cleaned the windows and the boots.
Then a boy came round with a football and wanted me to go to the park
with him. But I could not go because my mother was going out and I had
to mind the baby. When she came home we had tea, and then I went to my
place and took out orders till nine o'clock. Then I went to bed and came
to school this morning. I enjoyed myself very much."
* * * * *
SUBJECT TO A PROVISO.--Composition by boy, age seven. _Time._--Morning
previous to half-holiday for the opening of Kew Bridge by the King.
_Subject._--What I shall do this afternoon. "Wen I have had my diner I
shall call for Bob Scott and his mother mite let me play tops with him
in there yard. Then we shall go on the Common to here the band, and _if
my tea is not ready I will wait to see the King go by_ and I will wave
my cap at him and I expect he will wave his at me."
* * * * *
THE RAIN AND THE UNJUST.--A smart boy's composition on rain: "Rain comes
down from heaven on the just and the unjust, but mostly upon the just,
because the unjust have borrowed the umbrellas of the just and have
forgotten to return them."
* * * * *
A SURPRISING PRAYER.--"How do we pray for the magistrates in the
Litany?" asked the Vicar. "That it may please Thee to bless and keep the
magistrates, giving them grace to execute _all Bishops, Priests, and
Deacons_," answered the unconscious boy.
* * * * *
THE "EGG-CUPS."--I had set the class, writes a teacher, an essay to
write on "Good Manners." They had to think about it one evening and
write it the next day in school. When correcting the exercise I came
upon the following: "_When you have the egg-cups it is good manners to
put your hand before your mouth and say, 'Manners before ladies and
gentlemen.'_"
* * * * *
BALAAM AND THE ASS.--The story as reproduced in a South London boy's
essay: "It was about an owld gentleman as was a-wallopin' of a donkey
and as the donkey was stupied he whached it with a stick, the donkey ran
agin a wall and squeezed the gentlemans leg and he walloped it then and
no mistake and serve it right. Then the donkey began to speak and told
him, and told him he was wicked to serve him in that ere style, and a
angel come down and took sides with the donkey and preached a sarmint to
the owld gentleman and they all went away jolly."
* * * * *
AN EXCUSE FOR LATE ARRIVAL AT SCHOOL.--The village tailor sent a note to
the schoolmaster as his son James was very late one afternoon. The
following is the effusion:--
"Schoolmaster dear don't cane the youth,
He's not in fault to tell the truth,
His mother is the greatest sinner.
She would not give the _kid_ his dinner."
* * * * *
DROPPED INTO POETRY.--The following reply, writes a teacher, was
received by me some years ago from a parent, evidently of a poetical
turn of mind, in answer to an inquiry as to the cause of his boy's
absence from school:--
"I'm full of wants and minus riches,
Truth is, William has no breeches,
I mean to buy a pair to-night,
To-morrow he will come all right.
Accept this plain apology
From, dear Sir, ever yours, E. B."
On another occasion I suspected William of truant-playing, and sent a
boy to make inquiry, when immediately came back the answer:--
"At one p.m. was sent to school,
So must have played the nick,
If thrashing truants is a rule,
With my leave, use the stick."
William is now a hard-working and well-known missionary in ----.
* * * * *
FOUND OUT.--A school attendance officer quite recently met a lad who,
instead of being at school, was wending his way to a public-house for a
pint of beer. "How is it you are not at school, my boy?" said the man of
law. "It's washing day, and I'm going for a pint of ale for my mother."
He let the boy go on his errand and walked straight to the lad's house.
"Good morning, Mrs. So-and-so. How is it your boy is not at school this
morning?" "Ah! bless you," she says, "the poor lad's ill in bed, and has
been the past two days. I'm afraid we shall never rear him, for you see
he's been delicate ever sin he was born." "Can I see him?" returned the
officer. "Certainly, if you'll wait a minute till I see if he's awake.
He's had a bad night, and I should not like to disturb him if he's
asleep." The good lady went on tiptoe to the foot of the stairs and
called out very softly, "Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, are you awake?"
Returning to the attendance officer she said, "You see, Mr. Schoolboard,
Johnny's asleep, and it would be such a pity to disturb him." Just as
she finished, in walks Johnny with the pint of beer. The old lady, to
make the best of a bad job, threw up her hands and exclaimed, "_My dear
Johnny, how did you get out? What a bad lad to get out of the bedroom
window again, after all I've said!_"
* * * * *
A TRIFLE INCONSISTENT.--An excited woman rushed into school one morning
holding a lad by the jacket collar. The moment she got inside she
shouted out, "Now, master, here's a lad that's been playing the wag
[truant], and I don't intend to leave this blessed spot until I see him
skinned. Please, master, skin him alive! _I must see him skinned!_" she
said. To make the best of a serious case, the master replied, "Well, I
don't skin till ten o'clock, and it is only a quarter past nine yet, so
you had better sit down till I'm ready." She took a seat, still holding
the lad by the collar, and he went to his desk. In about five minutes
she sent the boy to his class, and coming up to the master, whispered
very softly into his ear: "_Please, master, don't touch the poor lad,
he's so delicate, you could almost blow him away with a breath!_"
* * * * *
JOHNNY WORKED THE CLOCK.--"Plese Sir dont cain pore jonny he as been
keping the clock agoing with a stick cos is father mendid it an it wont
go now an jonny kep the clock agoing so as I would no the time so no
more as it leaves me at present. ----."
* * * * *
BLURTED OUT THE TRUTH.--A mother came with a truant one morning and
said, "Please excuse my boy, he has been ill the last fortnight." The
master said, "Very good, let him go to his class." The woman then turned
suddenly round and, seizing the lad by the jacket, gave him a good
shaking, saying at the same time, "_I'll break every bone in your
dirty carcase if I've to come again and tell a pack of lies like this
for you._"
* * * * *
THE POINT OF VIEW.--Overheard in infants playground. Little Girl: "_It's
my grannie's funeral to-day. I've got threepence halfpenny and a packet
of sweets already._"
* * * * *
A TRIFLE MIXED.--Poor Johnny had been on an errand for his mother and
was consequently late for school. His mother, in order to coax him,
prepared to write a note to his teacher explaining his lateness. The
look on Johnny's face made the mother somewhat dubious about Johnny's
going to school, and this is how the note read: "Dear Sir,--Please
excuse Johnny for being late, _and kindly let me know if he hasn't
been_."
* * * * *
SHE WAS SORRY.--A boy was absent from school. The teacher sent to his
home to ask the reason. The answer came back that he was playing
truant--sent by the mother. The next day the master made inquiries, and
found that the mother had sent this message because she did not wish the
boy's father, who was at home when the messenger arrived, to know that
_she_ had kept him at home. During this time the boy himself was hidden
in a cupboard. A few weeks after a similar occurrence happened, and a
like answer was sent to the master by the mother. The next day the boy
appeared with the following note: "Sir,--Sorry my boy was away
yesterday, but he had to go to the hospital and was kept, and I never
sent him yesterday, and _I was sorry to tell a lye like last time.
Please forgive me again._--Mrs. ----."
* * * * *
"THE LAVENDER."--"_Deer Sur,--Plese let Jon go to the lavender wen hever
he wants as he as had some metson._--Yours truly, Mrs. ----."
* * * * *
"RES ANGUSTA DOMI."--In a village school in Devonshire the master had
one morning been giving a lesson on the life of Jacob. Just as he was
concluding he asked whether Jacob was rich or poor. Some stated that he
was rich, while others held a contrary view. Eventually one of the lads
who had stated that Jacob was poor was asked for his reason, and he
replied as follows: "Please, sir, the Bible says Jacob slept with his
fathers, and if he had been a rich man _he would have had a bed to
his-self_."
* * * * *
THE POSTMAN.--"The postman has to be up erly in the morning to meet the
males at the station. Then he takes them to the G.P.O. where they are
soughted out. Then he ties up his streets in bungles, and goes quickly
from door to door, because the passengers dont' like to have their
letters delaid. On his way back, he collects the pillow boxes, and
conveys them to the G.P.O. Inside the postmen they are stamping letters.
The postman is a simple servent because he works for the goverment and
wear a uniform. He has a good time at Xmas I should like to be a postman
then. He gets plenty of Xmas boxes and can read all the picture
postcards."
* * * * *
EXACTLY.--The other week Standard V. were asked to write an essay on "My
Home." This is how one boy commenced: "Our house is in Peel Green Road.
_It is on the left side going up, and the right side coming down._"
* * * * *
ON GIRLS.--By a boy.--"There are two sorts of children, boys and girls
and of the two boys are the best. Girls cause all the rows and quarrels.
They think they are wonderful if they can get a bird's feather stuck in
their hat. They are proud and vain and are always gossipping and making
mischief. I simply hate them. They boast of what they can do, this that
and the other and a fat lot it is when it comes to the put. If there
were no girls and women in the world, it would be a very peaceful place.
They love to sit and rest. Girls do vary from day to day. On washing
days they think they are nearly killed. They would rather gossip half a
day, than walk half a mile. Its no good, they are a bad race and
deceitful. If your wife sells anything she keeps a shilling back. Girls
like to wear rings and think they are ladies. They bob their hair on the
top like mountains and wears a fringe to make us boys think they are
pretty, but aint they just deceived. The young men have a hard job to
find a good and hard working wife in these days. Girls are cowards and I
never knew one to face danger. If a cow looks at them they run and cry.
Boys go about with their eyes open and their mouths shut, just the
opposite to girls. Boys are also strong and useful while girls are
timid, frightened weak little creatures. I would not be a girl for £10."
* * * * *
"YOUR GRACE."--A certain duchess, well known for the interest she takes
in the progress of education, once visited a school in L---- and began
to talk freely to a mite in the first standard. Several questions were
put to the child, to which the latter replied, "Yes, ma'am," or "No,
ma'am." The teacher of the class was annoyed at the frequency with which
the scholar used the word "ma'am," and at last said, "You must say 'Your
Grace.'" The duchess laughed heartily when the child began, "_Lord, make
us truly thankful, &c._"
* * * * *
ABOUT A "CINMATTERGRAF."--"We had a grand cinmattergraf at school on
November 30th by Eddyston. Eddyston is America man. He invented to make
it. Cinmattergraf works very fonny. If you swing a stone round it is in
your eye a tenth of a cetend after you have stopet. If you are in a dark
room and somebody brings a light it is in your eye a tenth of a cetend.
The cinmattergraf is like a fonagrapt. It is like a mager lantin. A
cinmattergraf is eaquil to five thousand candles. The ribbing rowls off
one rowler on to another rowler. The cinmattergraf was worked by angle.
It is like a soingnmersheen. It will play any song. The cinmattergraf
talks like people. You cant understand what a gramophone says. When you
light the oxgin it not give much light. When one of the things is burken
the other blows in and it give bleu light. When the man shows the foters
he has to put the lamp out. Because if he does not put the lamp out the
pictures look shady. It is the light which helps to show the pictures.
The pictures on the cinmattergraf are only an inch big. One picture that
it showed was a woman laughting, and you could see every form her mouth
was in. When all the pictures were put together they were a quarter of a
mile long."
* * * * *
CONCERNING THE HORSE.--Standard III. boy's essay: "The horse does not
belong to the cat tribe, because its paws are hoofs. It breathes with
its gills when it is young and chews the cud just like other people.
There are many kinds of horses such as racer horses and hunters and
worker horses and little welsh ponies. A mule is a horse with long ears
and if a horse had long ears it would be called a donkey. You can see
the age of a horse if you look in its mouth. It is defensive with its
hind legs and when they kick you, you say, Woe."
* * * * *
THE RETORT COURTEOUS.--One of my boys, writes a friend, had his hair
notched in a disgraceful manner one morning, and I quietly asked him who
cut it. The accompanying note was the result: "from missus
----,--sir--as you seam so anshus to no wear my boy ad is air cut i wish
to tell you that i put im in the cole seller al larst nite so as the
rats cood nibbel hit horf and i cood save tuppence."
* * * * *
ON THE BABY.--"A baby is a man or woman as they first enter the world,
and is sometimes called a infant, and they bring plenty of joy to its
parents. Babies need much care because the bones are not strong enough
for the baby to be used naturally. When a baby is a few months old a
malecart is wanted so as to give it some fresh air, and it as to be
nursed till it can crawle about on the flour. Most women like babies
very much and wouldn't do without them. When first it is born it is very
teisey and begins to cry, and they are enough to make anyone mad. It
also needs a lot of care, for it will enhail any disease. Baby is the
pet of the family, especially mother, who if the baby is a boy he
becomes her darling boy in after years. When baby is about four years
old it is briched if it is a boy, but if a girl she remains in her same
clothes. To look after a baby is very awkard if you ain't used to it,
for they jump and kick and have to be carefully handled. It is crisined
when it is old enough to eat solid food. Some babies are very tiresome
and have to be nutritiously looked after. My father told me that he came
in a little blue box, but learned men say we came from monkeys. If the
mother trys to learn it to walk very early it will make them bandy. My
baby is a dear little thing!"
* * * * *
"To keep milk from turning sour you should leave it in the cow."--JANE,
aged 10.
* * * * *
"The Duke of Marlborough was a great general, who always fought with a
fixed determination to win or lose."--OUR SAMMY, aged 11.
* * * * *
"The name of Cæsar's wife was Cæsarea. She was above suspicion."--SMALL
BOY'S HISTORY PAPER.
* * * * *
EXCUSED!
TEACHER: "Why did you stay away yesterday, Jimmy?"
JIMMY: "Please, sir, muvver's ill!"
TEACHER: "Oh! that's bad! What does the doctor say it is?"
JIMMY: "Please, sir, he says it's a girl!"
* * * * *
FOND MOTHER: "Charley, do you know God's other name?"
CHARLEY: "Yes, mamma, we learnt it to-day. Harold be Thy name!"
* * * * *
PARENTAL NOTE: "Dear Sir,--Don't hit our Johnny. We never do it at home
except in self-defence!"
* * * * *
HEAD MASTER: "How did God bless Abraham?"
SMALL BOY (in whose home there has just been a Double Event): "By giving
him only one baby at a time!"
* * * * *
MISTRESS: "Why is a motor-car called 'She'?"
SMALL BOY: "Because it is driven by a man!"
* * * * *
TEACHER: "Now, Frank, if you are not a good boy you won't go to heaven."
FRANK: "Oh, well! I went with father in Mr. B.'s yacht, and I went to
the circus. A little boy can't expect to go everywhere!"
* * * * *
H.M. INSPECTOR: "If I dig right down through the earth, where shall I
come to?"
SMALL BOY (who has been commended at the Diocesan Examination): "The
devil and all his works!"
* * * * *
TEACHER: "What is a Mediator?"
SMALL BOY: "A chap who says hit me instead!"
* * * * *
JUVENILE COMPLAINTS.
(AS DESCRIBED IN PARENTAL EXCUSE NOTES.)
"New Roger" }
} Neuralgia.
"Real Raw Jaw" }
"Piper's Dance"--St. Vitus Dance.
"Haricot Veins"--Varicose Veins.
"Double Demoniacks"--Double Pneumonia.
"Scarlet Concertina"--Scarletina.
"Illustrated Throat"--Ulcerated Throat.
"Information of the Eye"--Inflammation of the Eye.
[AND SO ON.]
* * * * *
TEACHER: "What is luke-warm water?"
SMALL GIRL: "Water that lukes warm but isn't!"
* * * * *
TEACHER: "Now, little ones, you can take off your warm overcoats. Can
the bear take his off?"
LITTLE ONES: "No, miss!"
TEACHER: "Why not?"
DELIGHTED LITTLE ONE: "Because only God knows where the buttons are!"
* * * * *
"The anshent Britons painted themselves all over blue with the juce
obtained from the tree o nolledge of Good and Evil."--FROM HARRY'S
COMPOSITION EXERCISE.
* * * * *
TEACHER: "What is a widow?"
LITTLE GIRL: "A lady what marries the lodger!"
* * * * *
TEACHER: "What is this?"
YOUNG HOPEFUL: "A picture of a monkey."
TEACHER: "Can any child tell me what a monkey can do?"
YOUNG HOPEFUL: "Please, teacher, a monkey can climb up a tree."
TEACHER: "Yes, and what else can a monkey do?"
YOUNG HOPEFUL: "Please, teacher, climb down again!"
* * * * *
BOY (reading): "She threw herself into the river. Her husband,
horror-stricken, rushed to the bank----"
TEACHER (interposing): "What did he run to the bank for?"
BOY: "To get the insurance money!"
* * * * *
H.M. INSPECTOR: "If twenty feet of an iceberg be _above_ the water,
about how much is _below_ the water?"
JIM: "All the rest!"
* * * * *
TOMMY: "Mamma, who made the lions and the elephants?"
MAMMA: "God, my dear."
TOMMY: "And did He make the flies, too?"
MAMMA: "Yes, my dear."
TOMMY (after a period of profound reflection): "Fiddlin' work making
flies!"
* * * * *
TEACHER: "Why cannot we hear the bear walk about?"
CHILD IN LANCASHIRE TOWN: "Because it hasn't got no clogs on!"
* * * * *
H.M. Inspector was examining a class of infants on the value of money.
He held up a threepenny-piece and a penny. "Now, my children, which
would you rather have, this small piece of money or the large one?" A
little one held up her hand. "Well?" "Please, sir, the large one." "And
why would you rather have the large one?" "Because my mother would make
me put the threepenny-bit in my money-box, but I could spend the penny."
* * * * *
Tommy is in the Second Standard, and aged eight. The class was asked to
write a short letter to teacher describing their doings on Guy Fawkes
night. He began in right good style with the orthodox "Dear Miss C----."
Everything went quietly till the close. It was then that Tommy shone. He
wound up: "I remain, your loving son in who I am well pleased,----"
* * * * *
"Manners is a very good thing when you are trying for a
situation."--FROM JAMES HENRY'S COMPOSITION.
* * * * *
The essay was upon "Dreams." One boy who has a great dread of arithmetic
dreamt he was in heaven, where his teacher kept calling out, "No sums
right, stand up!"
* * * * *
TEACHER: "Well, well, James! Home lesson sums all wrong!"
JAMES: "Yes, teacher. I knew they would be. Father would help me!"
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Transcriber Notes:
Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_.
Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS.
Throughout the document, the oe ligature was replaced with "oe".
Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of
the speakers. Those words were retained as-is.
The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up
paragraphs and so that they are next to the text they illustrate. Thus
the page number of the illustration might not match the page number in
the List of Illustrations, and the order of illustrations may not be the
same in the List of Illustrations and in the book.
Errors in punctuations and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected
unless otherwise noted.
On page 9, a period was added after "CHAPTER I".
On page 19, "ithers" was replaced with "others".
On page 40, a period was added after "Standard VII".
On page 54, a period was added after "are grisle".
On page 64, "sanwiches" was replaced with "sandwiches".
On page 64, "apetites" was replaced with "appetites".
On page 71, a single quotation mark after "_Cast out a devil, sir!_" was
replaced with a double quotation mark.
On page 98, a period was added after "hot nor cold".
On page 107, a period was added after "B".
On page 119, a quotation mark was added before "is your favorite
writer".
On page 120, a single quotation mark was added after "their lives".
On page 129, a single quotation mark after "sweet song" was replaced
with a double quotation mark.
On page 132, a single quotation mark before "How many" was replaced with
a double quotation mark.
On page 148, "an errand" was replaced with "on an errand".
On page 153, "November th 30" was replaced with "November 30th".
In the first advertisement, a period was added after "Field".
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