[Sidenote: Misunder-standings]
Prudence and Rebecca started to school together. In fact, even before
the beginning of their school days, they could have been seen playing
together, in the sandpile in Rebecca’s yard, sliding down the cellar
door in Rebecca’s yard, swinging in Rebecca’s swing in the barn. So it
was that they came to school ready-made friends, and were chums during
the first year.
With the beginning of the second year, however, Miss Bunthy noticed a
decided change in the attitude of the girls towards each other. No
longer would they come to school with locked arms. No longer would they
sit side by side during recess as they had done formerly. Then their
hostility broke into open battle. Prudence came running to Miss Bunthy
one recess crying, “’Becky hit me, she did!”
“What made her do that?” asked the teacher.
“Well, just ’cause I wouldn’t give her a piece off of my orange.”
The offending ’Becky was brought into the room and severely reprimanded.
Then later, “Prudence took a sheet of my tablet paper and didn’t give it
back.” This from ’Becky at the close of school one day.
The next morning Miss Bunthy gave a little talk about paying back small
obligations, and watched to see if Prudence returned the borrowed sheet.
Noticing that she did not do this, Miss Bunthy asked her to stay in
after school.
“Why didn’t you give Rebecca the sheet of paper you took from her
yesterday?” she asked Prudence in a confidential manner.
“’Cause her mamma borrowed our clothes-line and never gave it back. My
mamma had to buy a new one.”
“Well, but that doesn’t excuse you, Prudence. You must be fair and
square with ’Becky, and your mothers will have to settle their own
disputes.”
The next evening after school, before the children had time to reach
home, Miss Bunthy was in Rebecca’s home explaining about the
misunderstanding between Rebecca and Prudence, and its cause.
She learned that the matter of the clothes-line was an oversight on the
part of Rebecca’s mother, who, being very sensible, took the correct
view of the affair, and remedied it very tactfully.
Prudence and Rebecca again played together.
[Sidenote: Spite]
(2) _Spite between brother and sister._ It is only once in a great while
that a village or city first grade teacher may have two children from
the same family together. However, it is common to have brothers and
sisters together in rural schools. Because of poor home training, two
sisters, two brothers or a brother and sister may be antagonistic
towards each other. Perhaps no better word can describe their attitudes
than the word spiteful. This may spring from various sources, which, in
the end, matter little. It is the teacher’s aim to have such children
become amiable toward each other. Again it can not be unwise to teach
such children that it is not right for them to dislike each other. Such
instruction must be given in an affectionate manner.
A very good way to treat two children that are antagonistic toward each
other, is to lead them into fascinating school work. Another method is
to ask the two children to do some work for the teacher. Whatever the
teacher asks them to do she must be careful to supervise. The teacher is
to displace hostility by coöperative activity.
For example, a teacher may have some papers to sort, the erasers to
replace or some other trivial piece of work to do such as opening three
or four windows. She may say, “Come, children, let us open these
windows. You open that one, and you that one.” Whatever method she uses
to distract their minds from each other, she must continue it long
enough for the children to have forgotten their antagonism.
(3) _Quarreling while going to and from school._ By this time the
thoughtful teacher will have said, “Pupils are easily kept from
quarreling at school, but what about going to and from school?”