Even though I have not seen everything, I’m getting close. And this is not only way too funny, it is another example of things you really can’t just make up.
Hat tip to GruntDoc for this one. And he’s right: it’s weird that this is set in a convenience store. I can’t quite figure that one out…
Martha sent this to me. I have to be honest; with a Bachelor's degree and considerable education above and beyond that, I’m not confident that I could pass this exam if it were given to me.
What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895
Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
8th Grade Final Exam:
Salina , KS – 1895Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie,''play,' and 'run.'
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. For tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft.. Long at $20 per metre?
8.. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent..
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a ReceiptU.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.Orthography (Time, one hour)
[Do we even know what this is??]
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane , vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks
and by syllabication.Geography (Time, one hour)
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete.
Gives the saying 'he only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?! Also shows you how poor our education system has become and, NO, I don't have the answers!
I hate to say it, but I have to agree with the original sender about these last statements. Sure, things in our society have changed over the last 125 years, but does that mean the quality of education had to?
We celebrated Thanksgiving at my house a day late this year because of my work schedule and my kids’ being with their mother that day. It’s always been a point I’ve insisted on that my kids get to see their relations on Thanksgiving (aunts/uncles/cousins) whether or not I’m with them. Now that they’re both adults for the most part it’s more interesting to hear about the interactions with those other family members. From what my son told me this year was no different. After they had dinner they had the obligatory touch football game. He told me that he was incredibly sore the next day. I’m not surprised…
We had the typical Thanksgiving meal: roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, etc., etc. There were 6 of us for dinner: Martha and me, Jon and his girlfriend, and Kerry and Scottie. Nancy begged off because she’d had another commitment; she’d been at the house but it was late when we ate (nearly 8:00 last night) and I knew she had another place she needed to be at. She’s going to have dinner with us either tomorrow or Monday, and I suspect it will be the last solid food she enjoys for a while as she is having her tonsils out Tuesday.
Today I’m dealing with the aftermath of too much turkey. The upset stomach, indigestion, and other things that go along with a huge late meal and not much sleep last night. I’m better now than when I got out of bed this morning, but I don’t expect I’ll be eating much today.
I don’t know what the rest of the day will bring, but I’m going to do my best to take it easy. I have studying to do plus I have a report I have to write. So I am going to work towards getting some of that done before the world explodes later.
Although I’m working this holiday, I still have much to be thankful for. I’m thankful that I’m alive and healthy, and I’m especially thankful for the love and support of my wife, my family, and my friends. As many of you know that the first part of this year was a challenge for me, I’m grateful for all of the kindness many people – both friends and strangers alike – showed me. This means more than any of you can ever imagine.
As the title of this post says, I am definitely not this eloquent. I can’t come close, in fact. What follows is my friend Fr. Don’s Thanksgiving homily. He has given me permission to repost his homilies as I see fit. And as usual, his thoughts are definitely worth sharing.
The best part of Thanksgiving following Mass, of course, was always ‘making the way to Grandma’s house’. Both grandmothers made the best deserts. Some years it would be a cream-cheese covered delicious strudel. Memere made the best thick-frosting chocolate cake with homemade French Vanilla ice cream. Thanksgiving Miracle #1 was the amazing abundance of food that came out of a single oven...the best of meat, veggies, homemade bread and all that stuffing makes for a race to leave the table, gorged.
Miracle #2 was the amazing transformation that took place on the way to Grandma’s House...full bellies readied, in seemingly no time at all... instantly...to devour huge slices of something delicious. Then, the tryptophan and serotonin kicks in. Then, the countdown to Christmas. THAT was Thanksgiving...for a kid. Most of us are not kids. Kids can be forgiven and should be, for their understanding of thanksgiving: food glorious food and people who lovingly prepared it. But, we can’t remain as children forever!
Fortunately, there’s a grown-up sense of Thanksgiving. It’s a tribute to modern medicine that we know very little about leprosy. In Bible times, it was the most feared disease in the world. It was deadly, incurable, hopeless. Feared so much, that anyone suspected of having the disease was banished from society. There was no cure for leprosy till 1873, just 136 years ago. That’s amazing in itself, how serious it was from Biblical times till 1873! The Rabbis of Jesus’ time said that curing leprosy was like raising someone from the dead.
Without rehashing the gospel, there are two miracles contained within it. The first has to do with what it is written in the Book of Leviticus. Leprosy’s first major symptom was the appearance of white hair. Leviticus gives specific instructions concerning the diagnosis and treatment of leprosy. White hair was always considered a danger sign. The person inspected would be quarantined for seven days. Afterwards, if the infection had disappeared, the person would be readmitted to society. If not, the person was diagnosed as having leprosy and banished. Leviticus 13: "The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose. He shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp." Complete banishment!
Miracle number one occurs on the frontier between Samaria and Galilee that Jesus meets the lepers. There were and still are no major cities in that area. Most of the towns resemble poor ghettos. Where else could they go? The Jews didn’t want them, neither did the Samaritans. Jesus sends them to the priests. The priests wanted nothing to do with them either. Here’s a colony of lepers joined by common misfortune and misery. The last part of verse 14 says that "as they went they were cleansed"....not before, not after but during their journey. That means that when they left to go to the priest, they still had leprosy. It even seems like Jesus was helpless, passing them off to the priests.
Miracle number two: the act of going was an act of faith. It didn’t matter how they felt about it. God honored their going in spite of their doubts. That’s tremendous insight for us.Our faith moves mountains when our faith moves us. When Jesus said, "Go show the priest", He was really saying, "Act as if you are already healed", a great piece of advice! So many times we pray and pray and nothing seems to happen. But when our faith–shaky though it may be–finally moves us to action, God honors it and the answer begins to come. Why? Because faith is belief plus unbelief and acting on the belief part.
So many of us are trapped by the curse of passive religion. You know what that is, don’t you? It’s the view that says trusting God means letting Him do it all. So we pray, "Lord, I need money," but we refuse to go out and look for a job. We pray, "Lord, help me lose weight," but we refuse to start exercising. Passive religion uses God as an excuse to do nothing. Trusting God does not equal doing nothing. Remember, the ten lepers were healed as they went. When they arrived, they had no trace of disease. Our faith moves mountains when our faith moves us. That’s miracle number two.
The question remains: "Where are the nine?" They got what they wanted and left. Jesus performed a mighty miracle for them and they said, "Thanks, Lord, I can take it from here." They’re like children who eat their fill and then run away from the dinner table without a word of thanks. "We’re full now. Let’s go out and play and then have dessert." I think this is a real sign of sin in our world, having so little sense of what God has done for us. Often we don’t love the Lord very much or feel grateful for His blessings. We might say it in two different ways: 1) Gratitude is the highest duty of the believer and the supreme virtue, the fountain from which all other blessings flow. 2) Ingratitude is a leprosy of the soul. It eats away the inside, destroys our happiness, cripples our joy, withers our compassion, paralyzes our praise and renders us numb to all the blessings of God.
Someone recently told me: "In many ways, having cancer may be the very best thing that ever happened to me". Cancer itself is blessing, but God often uses such afflictions as vehicles that teach us things we never knew. Faith often deepens. Through any affliction, not just disease, we discover what matters most in life. It’s not just saying ‘God, it’s in your hands’, as if God is always expected to do ‘stuff’ for us. Having disease is not a path we would choose, but, it is path that can help us to realize that many of us go through life saying: "What have you done for me lately, Lord?" And, the Lord replies, "If only you knew."
So much of life is about figuring out we’re not in charge and figuring out who is. Ten were healed that day. Are we living with the nine or with the one? Praise is a choice. We praise grandma for her cake. If we don’t, next year we might not be so blessed. And, a thankful heart is also a choice. We choose the way we live. The one who returned to give thanks chose not to forget what Jesus had done for him. The secret of a thankful heart is a conscious choice not to forget what God has done for us. Hopefully we learn sooner than later, that we can’t leave the table without a grateful heart! Thanksgiving begins when we sit down and gaze on all we have, not when we run from the table just to get more.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Dr. Wes Walczak was one of a kind.
He had a reputation for being an excellent medical doctor. Clinically, he was extremely astute, and he had a quirky ability to figure out what was going on rather quickly when dealing with a sick patient. This gift he had undoubtedly saved a number of his patients’ lives. At least that is what has been said, but I believe it.
I personally did not know Dr. Walczak well, but I did see him from time to time at the Elliot Hospital emergency department. He would often come in if one of his patients had been transported to the ED to work with the attending doc or the hospitalist on behalf of his patients. It was a hallmark of his that many people who were his patients really appreciated. And the few times I spoke or interacted with him were positive. I found him to not only be professional in how he did his job, but I also thought he was a nice guy. Maybe a little strange, but hey – who isn’t?
He was an avid hiker, and he reportedly knew the Presidential Range in the White Mountains well. Unfortunately, sometimes even if you know a place well it has a nasty way of reminding you who is really in charge.
When he hadn’t returned Saturday from a day hike, his wife notified authorities and a search was initiated. Rescuers found his body Sunday morning at the Tuckerman Ravine headwall. The pitch in the area of the headwall is reported to be quite steep, and it’s suspected that he fell.
He was 62 years old.
Rest in peace, Dr. Walczak.
Wieslaw Walczak, MD
Physician
Hiker
Healer
I am disappointed.
Last week I submitted a shift bid request for two non-weekend days on a Newton 911 truck. The shifts are scheduled to go into effect on January 1 of 2010. This morning, I got a telephone call with a counter-offer from my boss. He asked me to take a Wednesday 911 shift in Newton and to stay in Boston on Saturday.
While I understand the concept of operational need, I wasn’t terribly excited about the offer. My issue – just to be clear – is not that I necessarily wanted to work 2 911 shifts. While I would have been happy if I’d gotten what I’d asked for, that wasn’t the point of the exercise.
The whole reason I bid on the shifts was to get off of weekend coverage. And while I bid on a Wednesday shift as an alternate choice, it was my last choice, not my first. And I made sure my boss knew this when I submitted the bid request.
On the phone he tried to tell me that it was a compliment to my abilities to be asked to stay on the Saturday coverage. Truthfully, I’m not sure how much I believe that statement; after all, it is business and he has a job to do, and I do understand that. He said what he said, I think, to try to soften the blow. He also told me that if every medic that bid on shifts (I’m pretty sure most, if not all of the Boston-based medics bid on shifts) were put in the shifts they wanted he’d have nobody to cover the BI contract; I understand that as well. But it seems my choices were pretty limited when they were put into this context: either I could accept the new schedule or not. And not accepting the new schedule would likely put me at the back of the line, in terms of anything coming up in the future.
You’d think that after being in this schedule for coming up on 18 months I’d be released from working on a weekend day. Trying to get coverage on a Saturday is nearly impossible if it’s needed. So I don’t even try anymore…
The thing that bothers me most about all of this, though, is that changing my current schedule by one day disrupts everything else that I’m doing. I’ll have to work out a different night in Goffstown plus I’ll have to register for A&P II on Friday again. I wasn’t planning on that, certainly; I really wanted to do a different class day. But that’s not going to happen, I think.
I did accept the shifts, and when I did this he told me he’d see what he could do to get me off of Saturdays once everything has settled out with Newton when the contract goes into effect.
The only thing I can say is that anytime I’ve needed anything I’ve been able to get it. To management’s credit, they’ve been able to do that for me, so I can’t complain too loudly. But I will hold my boss to his word on finding a weekday shift for me in the future. After all, I am doing them a huge favor by staying in Boston on Saturday. I just hope they realize how huge it is.
To fallen soldiers, let us sing,
Where no rockets fly, nor bullets wing,
Our broken brothers let us bring
To the Mansions of the Lord.No more bleeding, no more fight,
No prayers pleading through the night,
Just divine embrace, in eternal light
In the Mansions of the Lord.Where no mothers cry and no children weep,
We shall stand and guard-
though the angels sleep,
All through the ages safely keep
The Mansions of the Lord.
"The man who will go where his colors go without asking, who will fight a phantom foe in the jungle and mountain range without counting, and who will suffer and die in the midst of incredible hardship without complaint, is still what he has always been, from Imperial Rome to sceptered Britain to democratic America. He is the stuff of which legions are made. ... His pride is in his colors and his regiment, his training hard and thoroughly, and coldly realistic, to fit him for whatever he must face. ... And his obedience is to his orders. He has been called UNITED STATES MARINE."
~T.R. FERENHOCH, 'THIS KIND OF WAR'
Happy Birthday, Marines.
Semper Fi.
