SIDELIGHTS ON COUNTRY LIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 108, 10 May 1927, Page 6

SIDELIGHTS ON COUNTRY LIFE.

(By DOMINI BffiCH.y

"Country allowance!" eaye the armchair critic, thumping his fist on the Chesterfield. "What do teachers want next? Country allowance, of all things." •11 Thirt y milee from nowhere, way back in the hills, the new school teacher and his youn" wife were nearing their latest district. ° "Yes," eaid the coach driver, "things have been moving here lately. A native cut his throat last week. Silly chump! See that house there? That's the place. That other house was robbed the week before. What! Police? Xo—thirty miles the nearest. It's not a bad show, though. Oh yes, goods are a bit dear here; freight, you know' Lonely? Well, yes, it may be a wee bit." What a beginning. The schoolmaster wondered what he had brought his wife to. Still it was a lovely day, and the young couple kept'up each other'a spirits by pointing out pretty spots. At last they arrived, but alas, no furniture The carrier had not arrived. They slept on the floor that night, and the next, with a rug above and a rug below, still cheerful, for the beddin« was certain to come soon. & Monday came, and school. The teacher viewed his scholars with as much interest as they viewed him. Fifty little nuggety countenances gazed at him with wonder, not unmixed with awe. He tried his best to look kind, but that furniture had not arrived. It did later in the day. Things settled down, and though the work with fifty nippers" from primers to standards was 1 hard, he did not complain, even when he found children of fifteen or so in the baby class. Little faces did we say? Well, mostly so. Now, one day a dental nurse arrived. She viewed their teeth, and extractions were the order of the day. Nurse was trying to persuade a little Slav maiden to have a molar pulled. "Come, I promise not to hurt you," said the nurse. This convinced the child. Nurse pulled but the tooth was stubborn. She strained, and' the offending to th came out with a jerk. The child of nine got up, took the tooth to put under the mat, and as she slowly retreated through the door,said with her he. t over her shoulder: "You ! You did hurt." A few days later the teacher noticed that very often, as the children went near one of the girls, they placed their hands suggestively round their throats, as if strangling themselves "Why do you do that?" he asked. "Oh!" was the replv 'It was over her that the chap cut hia throat*" What a lovely atmosphere for children! She was about fifteen, and still in the primers, but fortunately she left soon afterwards. Another day a pakeha parent came along. There were some pakehas at the school. He was greatly concerned over toothbrush drill. Did the teacher have it? The last teacher said it was compulsory. He refused to allow his children to do toothbrush drill. He was not going to allow his children to have their brushes borrowed by a native with consumption. He paused for breath and the teacher quietly took the wind out of his' sails by saying that he did not take toothbrush drill. But worse was to follow. Some weeks later a health inspector arrived to inspect the natives "Roll up your sleeves," he said. "Ah! Hake, hake —very contagious; no good sending them home You will have to treat them." And so he did. The Department supplied ointment and disinfectant, and every day the teacher held his "itch" parade. They stood in a row while he doled out the fluid, which they nibbed raw on their arms, scrubbing it with a nail brush. Then they washed it off with cold water, and applied lard and sulphur. Some of the sores were too bad for lard and sulphur—too bad even to describe. For these the nurse-teacher supplied zinc ointment. Meanwhile, the very sight of their troubles made the teacher itch all over. The last heard of him he was still marching qn. Some of his pupils were away with measles, some with mumps, some with chickenpox, and some with ''flu," while the remainder coughed and sneezed their way through the school day. The teacher gargles his throat, uses carbolic soap, and hopes for the best. Would the critic like hie fob? "Country allowance ?" did y OS fl«a W&& About ma. Illuminated '*** . -.—