Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1872-04-23

conduct the examinations, and an
other TO attend to the office work and
make out the report.
SCHOOL HOUSES.
A great many schoyl.houses are
rendered very uncomfortable aud in
convenient, and in many cases, COM
paratively useless, yet with the same
outlay Of money, they could have
been rendered comfortable and con
venient, and part Of the building
within, and every portion Of the
space, could have been made very
serviceable; and the rooms could
have been 80 constructed and ar
ranged as 10 be beautiful places for
the pupils and teacher TO occupy
But those school-h0uses have not
been thus constructed and arranged.
The trouble arises just here: When
school-houso is to be built, or when
it has been built and it is to be fin
ished and arranged within, the chin
ney to be located, the opening for
ventilation TO be made, the stove to
be set, the teachers desk, and plat
form to be placed, the amount Of
blackboard to be decided upon, the
distance from the floor or platform to
the bottom of the blackboard to be
named, the kind of seats and desks to
be chosen, the arrangement Of them
and the way they shall face to DO
specified, etc, etc the builders con-
salt farmer Thompson; or blacksmith
Jones, or merchant Thomas, or law
yer Smith, or saddlor Ludwick, or
saloon~keeper hulse, or mason Barns,
Orwell, really, any person except
an experienced school teacher, for
bis opinion in the matter. And of
course, the person whose advice is
sought guesses at what would be
best, and gives directions according
to his ideas concerning the matter
Now it is notorious fact that in re-
lation to any matter, it is possible
for Us guess right just once, but it is
very probable that We shall guess
wrong many times, hence in the
particulars enumerated and in many
others, we very frequently find that
great mistakes have been made and
the consequence is that pupils and
teachers suffer, and the school can
not be what it should be. Now, SO
long as | may be county suPerinten-
dent, | shall feel very grateful to
school officers of districts about To
build school-houses, if they will let
me know the time and place Of meet
ing at which they are 10 determine
the location, position on the plat Of
ground, size, shape, and internal ar
rangement Of the schoolhouse, to be
built. If they will do this | shal
meet them even though | have tC
ride. nights and Sundays TO do sc
(and this | can do feeling that | am
not. breaking the Sabbath, yet know,
ing that | am injuring my HEALTHY
and | promise them that my coming
shall pay them for their trouble Of
notifying me of the time and place OF
meeting not because my judgmenl
in general is any better than their:
or even as good, but because this il
my business, and if | have not given
it sufficient thought to render ms
better capable OF giving advice il
relation to school matters than one
who sells goods or works in iron OF
tends the farm or does any other
work not pertaining to schools, why
then | am not fit to be county super
intendent aud some one else who Il
fit should be chosen, aud this work
should be given him TO do. As il
row is 10 many places, much money
is used in this direction and com.
paratively little benefit is derivec
from the investment.