THE BATTALION
13
carried himself gracefully, and had a
pretty shaped, long, wide top head
with almost a Grecian face. He was
plainly dressed, and I think was bare
footed. His hair was brown and cut
short; his skm was clean his teeth
were pearly white, and even his fin
ger nails were trimmed and clean.
You could notice the temple throb
from the active brain, and even in his
play, there appeared nothing vulgar
or rough. Miss Jennie waited until
he was near us and said. “Come here
Tipton, this is my Greenville friend of
whom I spoke to you.” “Howdy, Tip-
ton,” “Howdy, Professor.” “Tell me
your full name?” “Tipton Denton, sir.”
“Miss Jennie has spoken of your
fine progress, and I have ridden out
to see how you have profited by her
accurate teacning.”
“I will do my best, sir, to prove
that Miss Jennie is a splendid teacher,
and you must know that if any one
has been at fault, the failure belongs
to me.”
School was called, and a slip ot
paper was handed to me, stating that
in English, the pupil spelled correct
ly, read well, analyzed and passed un-
derstandingly, and had some know*'
edge of rhetoric. That in Latin he
had been over his beginner’s book;
some Grammar and exercises, had read
four books of Caesar and two books
in Virgil. In mathematics he had
completed arithmetic, algebra, geom
etry, plane and spherical trigonometry.
Had been over an elementary physics,
an elementary chemistry, had read
some general history, but was well
posted in the history of the United
States and particularly so in the his
tory of Texas. Boys think of this, and
think of my astonishment on trying to
realize this boy’s work. A poor orphan
boy—a bare-footed cotton picker, way
out in the country, remote from what
we term the refinements of town life.
Free from the curse of the saloon,
and bawdy-dens, free from cigarettes
and the beer glass—his help-meets a
pious Christian mother, and a zeal
ous Christian young woman—for his
teacher.
But brains and pluck—what a com
bination? Did you ever stand close
to the railway track; hear the big en
gine as it pants and throbs, see the
long loaded train way down the track,
and ask yourself the question, can the
engine pull that load? The cord tight
ens—a sharp shrill whistle startles
you, the dark smoke begins to pom
from the stack—the big drivers turn
and your doubt is removed. Open the
gate, and let that horse on the track—
pure blood is in his veins, his wide
open nostrels, and fiery eyes attract
your attention. Sound the gong, and
he is gone—flees—half mile, mile,
two miles, four miles, is it possible—
yes, to do or die, is the motto he runs
under. Donkeys, should stay off the
railroad track, ana scrub ponies are
better in the barn lot with the cows.
That boy stood in the floor, answered
clearly and accurately questions in
simple and compound proportion,
percentage, partial payments, square
root, cube root, tables of weights and
of measures. Defined co-efficients, ex
ponents, highest common factor, least
common multiple, fractions, factoring,
simple equations, radicals, quadratic
equations, logarithms, solution of
higher equations—worked problems in
plane and solid geometry, deduced
trigonometrical formulae, and showed
a comprehensive knowledge of the
same. His acquaintance with English
analysis and sentence making was