Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-02-28
PRETTY SCHOOL GROUNDS.
A Constant Object Lesson to the Eyes OF
Every Boy and Girl.


Every Boy and Girl.
For several months in the year a large
proportion of the children OF this country
spend at leas half of the hours of daylight,
for five days 4 the week, in or abuut the
S, hool-house. At the most susceptible
period of life the influence of these sur
roundings must in the aggregate e consld-
| cradle, concludes Garden and Forest. A
neat and tidy room, with simple and cheer
ful decorations, will be a constant object
lesson to every eye. A room with decrepit
furniture upon an unclean floor, and with
wa Is and ceiling broken and stained, will
teach Its lesson, too, in taste and morals,
but it will be quite different one 1t IS
due to the health OF children that they be
supplied with ibundant light and air. This
means detached building with ample open
space about it, even in the city. Exercise
is also essential TO the healthy development,
as well as to the happiness of children, and
play is the natural and spontaneous exer-
else and refreshment for both their minds
and bodies. A playground may, therefore,
| be considered necessary adjunct to every
school, Children will play wherever they
have room, but it will hardly be argued
that bare space of earth, which will be
dusty or muddy as the weather changes,
offers every advantage that children should
be able to derive from their school grounds.
II the school-room can be mado to give les
sons in cleanliness and order and taste the
surroundings of the building should be ar
ranged to enforce the same lessons.
That properly ordered school-grounds can
aid in this direction, and, besides this, be
made an important educational auxiliary in
| some branches of natural science, was the
thesis of an interesting paper read before
hA
Mr.. Leverett NJ. Chase, master of the bud
ley School, in Roxbury. Mr.. Chase argued
that the ideal school-ground should be
separated into two distinct portions -
one devoted to the purposes of an outdoor
gymnasium, and the other an area of green
sward, properly planted with trees, shrubs,
vines-in short, pleasure. garden for the
children. They should be taught that the
garden is theirs, and feeling Of RESPONSE
biity for it should be encouraged. That
this sense of ownership will engender such
q personal interest that the eXuberunt de-
| structiveness, so often manifested by school
boys, will give place to sentiment of affec-
ton, and desire to protect their shrubs
and flowers, has been proved in many in
stances. If the plants are all carefully la
beled and catalogued; if the children are
invited to aid in cultivating them, under
proper direction, they will gain much pr C
tical information as to the laws of plant
growth, and If serious attempt at system
attic instruction Uncertain branches of bot
any is connected with the care of the
grounds, many lessons which it would be
an irksome task to acquire otherwise Will
be learned without effort, and even with
positive delight From the knowledge thus
gained, and the interest aroused in
The school-gardcn, we may reasonably
look for growing love of nat
ure-an increasing appreciation of the
beauty of trees and their value If this gen.
GRAFTON of children were reared under such
Influences ours would be q land of fair gar
dens in a quarter of q century, and there
would be no difficulty in securing proper
Legislation for the preservation of our for
csts. Indeed, it is to be feared that a dis
,inctively American forestpolicy which
hall embrace in it's scope the wisest ad-
ministration of the Nations forests, and tho
most intelligent care of the farmers wood
lot, will never be adopted until the interest
ana sympathy or Jne cnllorcn are enlisted,
so that they will grow up with sound views
Ind generous sentiments as to the import
..nce of trees and forests as an element of
Ohe National welfare.
OF course grounds sufficiently spacious
d with every school-building, and in
rowded cities large eschool-gardens will not
be practicable. But there is room for a Le-
ginning everywhere. A narrow border
along the foundation of the school-house
may be made beautiful with flowers from
the time when snowdrops appear until
frost kills the latest aster. There are few
school-yards where g place can not be found
for some tree or shrub, or where vine can
not be trained so as to show it's own beauty
and hide some unsightly object. At ali
events, some house-plants can be used
10 brighten up the school-room and
to illustrate by living examples tho
elementary facts IN botany and horticulture.
One disadvantage will be that of the teach
ers and trustees who must take the lead in
This enterprise know so little themselves of
he subjects in which it is proposed to in
terest the children. The beginnings of this
reform-for genuine reform 1t will be-
will be feeble, and much honest effort will
be misdirected. Unsuitable trees and
,hrubs will often be selected and they will
be badly planted in improper places. But
the very fact that the lack of know. edge on
these points is so lamentable is the strong
est reason that beginning should be made.
The attempt will excite inquiry and criti-
cism, and knowledge will come from the
study and discussion thus aroused. Fortu-
nate are those places already provided with
teachers like Mr.. Chase, and Mr.. Endicott,
master of the Gibson School i'll Dorchester,
who, at the meeting above mentioned,
added some valuable testimony to the sound
ness Of the positions taken in Mr.. Chase's
paper.
A final suggestion made by Mr. Chase is
worth considering in other States as well as
IA A.
offered for the bestkept and most tastefully
embelhshed school-grounds.
pEmApnC or INIALrMrnnc