Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-12-19
WHOLE NO. l84S
Country Schools.

Daring the winter months in rural
districts, many children who have
been kept employed on the farm
throughout the busy season will have
an opportunity to attend school. 1t is
the duty ofparents to see ethat this oppor.
tunity Is not neglected. 1t is acknowl.
edged on all hands that the great need
of the agricultural community at the
present day is higher and more gen.
eral education, and no chance of at
tanning this should be suffered to pass
unimproved. Not only should all the
children, therefore, in every neighbor,
hood attend school whenever possible,
but care should he taken that nothing
should be done to proven them from
deriving the greatest measure Of bene-
lit from their attendance. The selec-
ton Of competent teachers and the
preservation of their legitimate author
ity and influence are essential 10 this
end.
The school hours in the country are
generally somewhat longer than in
cities, yet in the latter many skilIful
| physicians advocate their curtailment
Country school-houses, however, have
a decided advantage over those in
most Of our cities, in that they are, as
4 rule, better ventilated and less
crowded. Moreover, the open fields
and unpolluted air afford abundant
opportunities for healthy exercise, de-
MED to those whose lot has been cast
amid bricks and mortar. tits import
ant, however, that this exercise should
not take the shape OF imposed chores
after school hours. If parents Only
reflected on their own juvenile days
and on the discomfort and repugnance
to which such extra duties give rise
in their own breasts, there would be
much less Of this pernicious practice.
Nothing tends more to make children
dislike school and neglect its advant.
ages than the consciousness during
their attendance at it that the end of
schoo, means the beginning Of labor.
1t is this work, work, work, trou
the gray of the morning until often
after cleaning that disgusts the boys,
and girls, too, with farming life, aud
sends them, on the first opportunity,
thronging to the cities, where their
days labor, however hard, generally
closes In time to allow them, before
bedtime, few hours Of rest or recre
alton. Grownup people can appre-
ciate the advantages of constant toll
though among them it is tar too
common in the country-but children
can only see its hardships, and with
their own untlmely experience Of
these, and the toilsome existence of
their own existence before them, what
wonder is it that they rebel against
SO unattractive a career. and quit
farming so soon as ever they can, or,
if obliged to remain, sink hopelessly
into the ancestral rut and plod on
without spark Of life or ambition ?
We mention the following subjects as
we'll worthy the farmers considera.
ton
l. Employ teachers who are capa,
ble Of teaching and who love to teach
and pay them for their work.
=. The daily sessions, morning and
afternoon, should not be longer than
five hours together.
Impose only light work, if any, up
on children after school hours and PER-
nit them, in all innocent ways and as
far as possible, to enjoy themselves in
accordance with their own desires
without any parental interference
whatever. Rual New Yorker.
"Recently,' says Belinda, "a young
miss IN my presence tried on ten pairs
OF boots without fit, and between her
desire for Il perfect one and the prayer
of the clerk for none at all, there was
a prospect Of her passing the afternoon
that way. l could not blame the fell
low for she was a beauty, but was
shocked at the abandon Of the lady.
do not now wonder why positions
in such stores are desirable and very
scarce, especially in these days when
there IS so much wickedness. 1t takes
me long while to get at what l in
tended to say, but l have reached it
at last. | think it is very improper
for young girls to sllow young men to
fit their boots they should do it