Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-01-07
The Farm and the School.
Continued from First Page.)

log but one local director, or trustee, In
each sub-distTict, whose duty it is to see
that fuel, janitors, SC. are furnished to
the schools Of this district. 1t also pro-
vides for central high school in each
township, to which the pupils OF the
higher grades of all the schools OF the
township may be sent. and also for q
township superintendent OF instruction,
who shall have charge of the high school
and shall have the general supervision OF
al the advantages of graded system of
schools within the reach of every fami>
ly of the State.
County supervision is also strongly
advocated by some. and possesses many
advantages over our present system.
Ohio for many years held a place of
honor among the States Of the nation In
matters of education; but some of
her sister States have far outstripped
her in educational progress. And as a
result statistics show larger per cent?
age of illiteracy in our own Ohio than In
many of the newer, but more enterprls-
ing States Of the West The people OF
Ohie are proud of the intelligence Of the
masses and boast of their noble system
of public schools but there is little to
boast of in an illiterate population OF
over IOO, ,O00-4O,OOO of whom (enough to
i ill all the school Offices of the State,
and three times as many as are necessa
~ to carry a State election), are voters
| who are not able to scratch ticket and
insert the name of the man for whom
they wish to cast their ballots. Yes, We
fare proud of our public schools, but
they are far from being what they ought
to be or what they might be under prop
er management. The system under
| which our schools are now managed
/ mas admirably served the purposes for
which it was created; but it has, in some
respects at least, outlived the day of its
usefulness. and if we keep pace with the
| educational progress of the times. ii
| must be laid aside and something better
supplied as substitute.
| But the revision of the school system
is by no means all that our schools need.
First and foremost We need corps OF
active, energetic and efficient teachers
who are qualified, mentally, morally, and
i for knowledge.
And l may say here that probably the
| chief cause of there being SO few COED
teachers in our country schools is the
| fact that the remuneration, in most
cases is SO meager as not to afford suf
1 icient inducement for men and women
of real excellence as teachers to remain
10 the profession, or for those who are
not already thoroughly qualified for the
| work to 90 to the expense necessary TO
| prepare themselves properly for making
a business of tcacnng. But this state
g dnaIrs is largely owing to the care>
lsssness, indifference, or sel6shness Of
those who employ them.
| IL school boards think it a matter of
economy to employ teacher because
his services are cheap, they may expect
/ 10 have q cheap school in more senses
than one. This matter of remuneration
has more to do with the kind of teach
ing that is done in our schools than any
other one thing. Whenever the teach
er's salary is sufficient to support him
self and family without having to resort
to some other business during the sum-
mer vacation, We may expect to have a
superior class of teachers, and not till
| then.
1t may be asked why persons who are
not competent to teach are granted GER
tifcates? 1t is simply because the schools
must be supplied withteachers of some
sort, and if sufficient number of those
who are are thoroughly qualified do not
make application, certificates must often
be granted to those who are but poorly
prepared TO do the work required OF
| them.
1t is natural. however. for US to feel
that what was good enough for us in our
school days, is good enough for the ris-
! ing generation. And some of Us seem
to think tnat high degree of mental
culture is Incompatible with the oceupa-
ton of the farmer-tbat in his narrow
sphere he must necessarily be narrow
minded. But a glance at the worlds
history reveals the fact that many of its
noblest heroes and most famous states.
men owe their strength of body and
mind, their energy and push, to the in
vigorating influences of farm life.
| Every nation has its Cincinnatus, and
ours has more than one.
| The country has ever been to the hero
4 sacred retreat, to the poet a classic
and, where the forests Te-echo the songs
Of birds, the valleys are covered with
lewing herds, the fields all clad in their
mantle of green, the quivering sunlights
silvery sheen are tokens of peace Ind
plenty.
The monotonous life of the farmer is
not all prose; to him who is willing to
see and hear his life is not lacking in
| poetry. Burns was able 10 set the poetic
side of the farmers life, and many of his
best poems were produced while follow
ing the plew.
4 {a nrlv hu hnr that thnnnhf ga
be made healthy, and only by thought
that labor can be made happy"
Men are wanted in every department
of life, who are earnest, active thinkers.
AS we learn to work by working, so We
learn to think by thinking. There is no
reason why the farmer should not be as
good thinker as a preacher or law
yer. We cultivate the powers of the
body by use, and the same way we cult
vate and strengthen the faculties Of the
mind. Practice makes US what we are
mentally and physically. Even what
are known as natural endowments" are
often only the result Of long practice and
untiring energy. What makes the gs-
Mus in poetry and art is not natural en-
dowment above that Of his fellows, so
much as the power of push.
Let the farmer boy think while he
works, and he shall soon be able to real
iZe that
His "are the hands whose sturdy labor brings
The peasants food, the golden pomp of kings"
His field "the page whose letters shall be seen,
Changed the sun to words of living green;"
And he ''the scholar whose immortal pen
Spells the first lesson hunger taught to men,"
Then
''Clear the brown path to meet his couters
gleaml
Lol on he comes behind his smoking team,
With tolls bright dewdreps on his sunburnt
brow,
The lord of earth, the hero of the ploughl'
The late Gen. Toombs, of Georgia, de-
clared in an interview had with him be-
fore his last illness that, in his opinion,
"the status of the negro is not material
ly changed by emancipation. 1t cannot
be changed. The superiority of the
k.e H. f-sa -