Arizona citizen., 1872-06-15
Build School Houses

One of the first objects to be ob-
 tained in establishing schools should
 be the erection of comfortable school
 houses, and nowhere is one needed
 more than in Tucson. The school is
 now taught ill rented house, incon-
 venient and with not capacity enough
 to hold more than one third of the
 scholars that ought to attend school.
 We have been permitted to publish a
 private letter written upon this subject.
 The writer not only makes some ex- cellent suggestions, but has manifest ed her interest in the cause by making 8 small donation. Surely if people outside of the Territory feel such an interest in this subject, we ought not to be indifferent ourselves.
 The suggestion Miss Stafford makes to the ladies is a good one, and we feel confident if they will take hold of the matter in earnest, that there will soon be no lack of comfortable school houses in the Territory. Here is her letter:
 CHICAGO, ILL, May 5, 1872.
 My Dear Brother-I have read in the newspapers of the efforts being made in Arizona to establish system of free schools. It is the keystone of strength in a republican form of government, and to it's benign in- huences we must look for the future safety of our free institutions, and the elevation of the rising generation to honor and usefulness. The privations of pioneer life, far away from home and friends, deprived of speedy con- munication, the luxuries and often the necessities of life should at best con- mand the sympathy and assistance of the government and people of the older States; but when I reflect that in ad- dition, the people of Arizona have been subjected to death and torture unparalleled in the history of any of our new settlements, and are at the same time trying to give 8 free education to all the children of their Territory, no words can express my admiration for such people, and the arm that pens islanders against them should become paralized and the tongue speeches.. I notice your greatest need IS school houses and funds to carry on schools. I feel sure that when your wants are known, that a people who send thousands and tens of thousands to instruct the heathen, will not be slow to help our own peo- pie to obtain instruction. Remember ing the acceptance of the widows mite, I am encouraged to send you the small sum of $50, which you will be kind enough to place in the hands of the School Trustees of the Tucson School district to aid in building @ school house. Brother Alfred, to whom I mentioned the subject, sends you a like sum to be given the Trus- tees of the Prescott School district. I would suggest that the ladies can be of great assistance in raising the necessary funds. by holding fairs and church entertainments, as done in the older States, with great success. I wish you might erect houses with all the modern improvements, with seats, cheerful rooms and good ventilation. It is true that some of our most talented men can recall the old log school house and the high wooden benches when their feet while they were wrestling with the big words in the spelling book. How it is given is of minor but it IS of paramount that the possibility of ac- 1uiring an education shall be brought within the reach of all, high and low, :ich and poor. With a: heart full of ;ympathy and earnest desire that God nay bless you in the noble work you lave undertaken, am affectionately 7our sister, MARY J. SAFFoRD.
 A Shreveport special, of May 20, llI No~oro1 q MT nodc,o for 1