Ques.—­“Define the kinds of sentences.”

Part of answer.—­“A purgatorial sentence is one that answers a question.”

DEBATE.—­Resolved, that Arithmetic is better than Grammar.

Affirmative:  “Arithmetic is better, because without it we could not buy or sell anything, build houses, bridges or railroads, measure lands or even count.  Can a man make money by knowing the grammar?  Ain’t no sense in grammar noway.  It’s always been my experience that

     ’A naught’s a naught, and a figure’s a figure,
     All for the white man and none for the nigger.’”

Negative:  “To prove that grammar is better, take the Tower of Babble.  They built it, I suppose, many miles high, and the Lord looked down and mixed up their grammar.  So if a man was on top of the tower he would call down, ‘John, bring up the hammer,’ and John would come up with a saw.  Then he would send him down for the hammer again, and John would bring up the nails.  How much could we learn of religion, of history and the world around us, if it were not for grammar?  Would 1-2-3 tell us all that?”

But I have not left much room to tell about the good side.  Many of the papers, for neatness, accuracy and clear expression, would do credit to any children in the world.  Especially is this true of the younger pupils, who have received the training of the lower grades of the school.  One essay on Slavery, by a member of the Ninth Year Class, written in two days, contained twenty pages, with scarcely an unnecessary word, and very few mistakes.  I wish you could hear some of the sensible talks in prayer-meetings, and fervent prayers for classmates, teachers, and the kind people at the North who are trying to help them.

* * * * *

A teacher from North Carolina sends the following: 

There is not a girl in my school who uses tobacco, and that is saying a good deal.  I cannot be so sure about the boys, but none use it in school or on the play ground.

One day our grammar lesson was changing possessive modifiers to equivalent phrases, and the sentence “Washington’s farewell address” came up.  One boy wrote, “Washington’s farewell address was made of broadcloth.”

A colored minister, after reading his text on Sunday, said, “I shall put the greatest distress of my remarks on the latter clause of the verse.”

Another minister said, “At one of my stations there were men who called themselves conjurers.  One of these with his followers went to church to challenge me.  He asked me if I could cast out devils.  I told him I could, and as he was the only man in the house who had a devil, if he would come up to the stand, I would cast the devil out of him.  The conjurer abused me terribly, became so excited I started down towards him, and dared him to meet me, and he turned from me and ran out of the house, so you see if I could not cast the devil out of him, I cast both him and the devil out of the house.”