The record-union., 1892-06-14
THE COLUMBIAN SCHOOL EX-
HIBITION.

hlb111ONs
The RECoRD-U UNION has already pre-
sented an outline Of what is proposed in
the matter of the National Columbian
Public School Celebration, but the SUBJ
ject is one worthy of still further ex-
animation. The Columbian year celebra-
tons involve so much of educational
value, that it is proposed to engage the
schools of the land in local celebrations
as auxiliary to the Columbian Exposi-
ton.
To that end the American Superintend-
ents of Education have selected an Ex-
ecutive Committee to direct the move
ment and prepare uniform and fitting
programme for common use. They have
wisely resolved that to attain success in
this movement they must enlist the good
offices of the press as the medium of
reaching the people most directly and ef-
fectively. 1t is gratifying to note that the
press has responded in the proper spirit,
and that some sixty or seventy of the
leading Journals of the Union have given
the proposition their hearty Endorsement,
while a hundred or more papers less
generally known have joined with them.
1t is proposed that this school celebra-
ton shall take place October 18th next,
and to a certain extent be uniform
throughout the Union, that it may be of
high educational value in a historical
sense, and of infinitely greater worth in
a patriotic sense. It is a scheme Of en-
lightened patriotism that will serve as a
most valuable lesson in American his
tory, and will teach patriotic duty and
devotion to the 100000 pupils in the
public schools of the United States in a
manner that will leave an ineffacable i'm
preston.
The idea of the Executive Committee,
of which Francis Bellamy of Boston is
chairman, is to present the schools of the
Nation on the 18th Of October, the ami
versary of the discovery of America, as a
proud fruit of four centuries of American
life. The idea in its realization will
make the public school the center of
national demonstration, the like of which
has not been seen in all our history. So
fully and heartily have the educational
authorities in all the States and Terri
tories entered into the proposed scheme
that its success may now be deemed as
sured.
The plan, so far as outlined, is to have
at every schoolhouse from Maine to the
Gulf and from the Atlantic to the Pacific
tlag-raising on the morning Of October
18th next; this is to be followed by a
simple but impressive service of song,
Grafton and readings. Then is to follow
an afternoon or an evening celebration
in which adults of the whole school dis
trict may take part, with the children as
the central figures throughout.
While an official programme is to be
provided by the Executive Committee,
yet each school is to be at liberty to
ampIfy it at will, as its resources will
permit, and where it is possible it is in
tended that there shall be in connection
with the afternoon celebration a pro-
cession or some kind of semi-dramatic
manifestation.
The movement has begun thus early
because so many schools go into vacation
IN June and July, and it is desired that
prior to that each school shall name a
local Committee of Arrangements. In
August or September early Mr.. Bellamy
viii send out the official programme, and
by October 18th all can thus be in readi-
ness. The National Executive Commit
tee in charge of this whole matter con-
sists, besides Mr.. Bellamy Cchairman) OF
Boston, of John w. Dickinson, Secretary
of Massachusetts Board of Education:
Thomas B. Stockwell, Commissioner OF
Public Schools of Rhode Island; W. r.
Garrett, Superintendent of Public In
struction Of Tennessee; w. c. Hewitt,
superintendent of Michigan Educational
Exhibit at Worlds Fair.
This committee calls attention to the
fact that the Nation now has 1.oo0. .oOC
more of children in public schools than
the United States had of population in
1880. That the occasion named is fit-
ting one to impress upon these youths
the value of the heritage that is theirs
their duty to prove loyal to the Republic
and to free institutions, and the appro-
priateness of celebrating by fitting cere-
monial the four hundredth anniversary
of the discovery of America. The COM
mittee asks that the subject be taken IN
in each school, and that by vote the local
committees be chosen, one-half of the
membership to consist of adults, and
that the report of the election be sent tc
the Executive Committee, which viii
then put itself into communication with
1t, and in due time supply the suggested
programme. At least one number in this