Chapter XXI

CAPTAIN GILDROCK ARGUES AGAINST HIGH-SCHOOLS.

The next day was Sunday; and Captain Gildrock insisted that all the students should attend church, and refrain from all work and play. Those who lived in Genverres were allowed to spend the day at home. No excursions on the river or the lake were permitted, and no scholar was allowed even to get into any of the boats.

On Monday morning the actual work of the school was begun. The study-hours were from nine till twelve in the forenoon. The two gentlemen who were to teach in the scholastic department had arrived, and promptly at the hour the school was called to order.

“Now, my lads, we are ready for work,” said the captain on the platform. “I am told that you can all read, write, and cipher. You have some knowledge of geography and history. I dare say, some of you have studied Greek, Latin,

“Can’t good scholars be good mechanics?” asked Bolingbroke Millweed.

“Certainly they can: I don’t object to any amount of scholarship,” replied Captain Gildrock rather warmly. “You have been to the high-school, Bolingbroke; but all that you have learned will not prevent you from becoming a first-class mechanic. On the contrary, your education will be a great help to you.”

“That is just what I thought,” added the graduate of the high-school.

“For two or three years an exciting question has been under discussion here in Genverres,” continued the principal, turning to the two instructors. “I have taken the practical side of the subject, and I don’t believe in sending all the boys and girls to the high-school. When our fathers here in New England planted the schoolhouse by the side of the church, I don’t believe they meant a high-school.”

“Of course not: such an institution was unknown

“That must be all they meant; but there has been progress in education, as in every thing else, since their time,” added Mr. Darlingby.

“I rejoice in the progress as much as any one can,” retorted the captain vigorously. “But I believe there is intemperance in the matter of education as well as in eating and drinking. The first business of life, in an enlightened or a savage state, is bread and butter. In other words, a man must get his living before he does any thing beyond that; and the greater part of our population can do nothing more than get a living. Do you believe that, boys?”

The boys did believe it, though none of them had ever given much attention to social and political economy. It was plain enough that the first duty of existence for every person was to support himself.

“But some are born rich,” suggested Corny Minkfield.

“Then their means of support are provided,

“But what they learn in the high-school is a direct help to them in all the business of life,” suggested Mr. Darlingby.

“Boys and girls spend their time from fourteen or sixteen years of age, till they are eighteen or twenty, in learning Latin, French, German, literature, the higher mathematics, and such branches, when they might learn a trade, or obtain a knowledge of business. When they graduate, they don’t want to learn a trade, work on a farm, or do manual labor of any kind. They look down upon such occupations. They want to be clerks, if they are boys, or marry wealthy men, if they are girls. They must do something, if any thing at all, that is genteel.”

“There is a great deal of truth in that statement,” added Mr. Bentnick. “Boys don’t stay in

“I had a curiosity, when I was in New York last spring, to inquire into the salaries paid to clerks and salesmen in dry-goods stores,” continued the captain. “So far as I could obtain the information, the average was not above ten dollars a week. Of course, some got two or three thousand dollars a year, or even double these sums; but I found that a great many young men worked for five or six dollars a week, and some for even less. Good mechanics earned from ten to thirty dollars a week.

“Why, a common laborer got from six to twelve dollars a week. While mechanics and laborers were in demand, there were multitudes of counter-jumpers, and other persons who wanted what they called genteel occupations, who could get nothing to do. In a word, our institutions of learning have fitted too many for the so-called higher grades of employment.”

“But sometimes the mechanics and laborers are out of work?” said Bolingbroke.

“They are, for it sometimes happens that overproduction shuts up the shops and manufactories.

“My father don’t believe in high-schools, and would not send me to one,” said Phil Gawner.

“Never mind what your father believes: make up your mind yourself, and have your own opinions, my lad. Now, boys, the studies you are to pursue here are those which will fit you to become good mechanics. But I hope you will read and study as long as you live. What I intend to do is to fit you out with a business that will enable you to earn your own living.”

Miss Fatima Millweed was present with the

“Now, my lads, a few words more, and I shall leave you to your instructors. The studies you will pursue are all practical ones,” said the captain, taking the platform again. “The principal branches will be drawing, natural philosophy, chemistry, geometry, and book-keeping. Geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar will be taught incidentally. Before you graduate, there will be a course in botany, geology, and zoölogy. At one o’clock you will all assemble in the shop, and make a beginning in the mechanical part of your education.”

The captain left the platform, and left the schoolroom. Mr. Bentnick was the chief instructor, Mr. Darlingby being his assistant. He proceeded to organize the classes in the studies the principal had mentioned. He made such rules as he considered necessary, but they were not very stringent.

The boys were divided into two classes, according to their attainments. Ten were found who had made considerable progress in the four principal studies, and these were the first class. Mr. Bentnick proceeded to give them a lecture in chemistry. It was conversational, and the instructor soon found where to make a beginning in the science.

At the same time Mr. Darlingby began with the rudiments in the second class. The pupils were provided with text-books, and lessons assigned for the next day. A start was made in geometry in the same manner, and by that time it was noon. At quarter past twelve the dinner-bell rang; and all hands, including the family, the instructors, the pupils, and Miss Millweed, seated themselves at the long table. It was a sociable meal; and no one seemed to be under any restraint, though the boys behaved very well.

Mr. Darlingby had something more to say in favor of high-schools, in which he had been a teacher for several years. He wanted to know if Captain Gildrock believed that the higher branches should be taught at the public expense.

“I think the expense is the least important part of the subject,” replied the principal; “but I will answer the question. I do not believe that high-schools should be supported, as a rule, out of the public taxes.”

“You are very radical in your opinions, Captain Gildrock,” added the instructor.

“Let us look at it a moment. There are two thousand scholars of all ages in the public schools of Genverres. Not more than one in five of them will ever reach the highest class in the grammar-school. The other four will leave school, and go to work: their parents need them, or what they can earn. But the parents of all those who fall out of the schools by the way are tax-payers. Some are only poll-taxes, but a few of them pay on their little lots of land and houses. It costs about five times as much to educate a pupil in the high-school as in the elementary schools. The parents of four-fifths of the scholars can’t afford

“But the safety of our institutions depends upon the education of the people,” replied Mr. Darlingby.

“Does it depend upon a college education? Why not insist that every person should be a graduate of a college, and that no person could be moral and upright without having a college degree?” added the principal.

“There is reason in all things.”

“You draw the line after the high-school, and I before: that is the only difference. It would be as just to support the colleges at the public expense as the high-schools. The education that preserves the State is not French and German, Latin and Greek, chemistry and physics; but it is the education that distinguishes the immigrant who cannot read and write from the farmers and mechanics of this country. It does not include a high-school training.”

“Then, if a poor man’s son or daughter, with a taste for learning, wants an education, he shall

“You have struck the weak point of my argument, sir,” replied the principal. “I would have scholarships provided by the State for such pupils.”

Dinner was over, and the company left the table.

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