Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1871-06-15
School Houses.

Under this head we copy an article
from the Maine Journalof Education, ON
the adorment of the school-room:
In many of the rural districts all over
the State are to be found old, dilapidated
scbool-buildings, located i'll some barren,
desolate place, without one single inviting
feature within, or upon the premises. In
fact, SO dismal is the whole place, that the
passer-by shulddcrs instinctively, save
when the place is cnlivened by the presence
of groups of merry children. One can
not help contrasting these unsightly, IN
comfortable, ill-contrived buildings with
the spacious and well-arranged stables in
their Immediate vicinity and he cannot
help feeling that the owners of many of
those fine buildings esteem their horses
more highly than they do their own child
rem ard still more is he impressed with
this, when he observes that the majority
of pareats look after the comfort and i'm
provement of their horses in the stable
daily, while they are never known to go
into the old. tumble-down school house, to
look after the comfort and improvement
of their children. That these things are
SO is Il lamentable fact, and only the most
persistent and long-continued efforts can
change them. e
How often has a teacher engaged to
teach a school where she knows nothing of
the circumstances. save that it is said to
be "a small easy school, and that she will
nave a nice time but upon arrival at the
place of her future labors, she sees only
one of those antediluyian school-houses,
built like q box, SO many feet square ard
so many feet deep the seats narrow and
high, the backs at right angles with them
the architecture of the teachers desk de-
scended from the dark ages glass broken
out, the stove on three legs and 4 brick,
the pipe tumbled down, or suspended in a
line initiative of the course of the Missfssip-
pi river, the pupils desks Imprinted and
~unadorncd, save by the rude carvings of
It's occupants since the time of u grand
fathers.
If it be upon the sea-shore, ships and
all sorts of marine craft predominant vi
if in an inland town, every shape of best
and bird and reptile indigenous to the re-
gion is there represented.
Now | would urge the teacher to rise
above such circumstances, and SO change
the condition of affairs, as to render them
more agreeable Do not be dragged down
to a level with the surroundings, but SO
improve them as to create in the hearts of
your pupils a love for the beautiful, as
we'll as order and taste. Straighten the
course of the Mississippi flowing through
the stove-pipe and, if it be in summon,
trim the room with evergreens and flowers.
Let all the pupils have something to do
in this work, so that each one may feel an
individual interest in it, and if any will
full boy shall persist in doing any damage
to the ornamentation of the room, the
whole school will do all in their power to
prevent it, far more than if they had no
part or lot in the matter. Trim the insight
" walls with wrcaths and festoons. Per-
baps you may sometimes violate good taste
in this, but it will be a good lesson for you.
Consult with your pupils about the arrange
ment of the wreaths and flowers, with a
view to the effect produced.