The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1892-01-20
THE SCHOOL AND THE FARM.
An Address Delivered Before the
Farmers County Institute at SOM
erset. January 9, 1892.
ny ]. n. BERKEy.

/ esteem it an honor to be permitted 10
address this body Of representative farm
ers upon the mutual interests ofthe school
and the farm. Ineed not say TO you that
am not here 10 discuss with you the
means and methods Of successful sgricnl-
ture- There was time-some fifteen or
eighteen years ago-when, as a farmers
boy, I knew from a practical experience,
the Use Of the scythe and the hoe, the
grain-cradie and the fail when We used
To gather strawberries from the open field
and grapes IN the wild wood. But now.
as hear you talk 50 freely and intelli-
gently about the use and the economy of
commercial fertilizers, the silO, the steam
thresher or the self binder, 1 must con
fess that such as these are but cuTiosities
10 re, and am in no sense competent
TO discuss their merits. Although =
young man yet, am ready 10 admit that
50 far as 3 knowledge Of practical farming
Is concerned, I should be q veritable Rip
Van Winkie among you-at least twenty
years behind the age. Probably 10 de-
partment Of American labor has made
more decided progress within the last
two decades than that Of farming, and
therefore only be who has kept his hand
70 the plow, and has maintained a place
in the front rank OF husbandry, has any
right to tell the farmer the Lou. aud the
,rfg, and the riat of bis business.
The school in It's development and pro-
gress mas, We believe, kept pace with the
farm. While we cannot show the results
Of improved methods Of mind culture as
yea show the improvements in field
.ggri) culture and while this IS not the
time nor the place TO compare the work
and the worth of the schools past and
present. yet, We believe that all who are
intimately acquainted with their history
and present condition, are ready 70 sub
scribe 10 the statement that our common
schools are moving onward and upward
as rapidly as the means At their command
viii permit, and are meeting more and
more the demands made upon them for a
practical education.
am not here. however, 70 discuss the
theories and principles Of pedagogy, 70
advocate free schools, or to consider the
best means and methods for their sue
cessful management. As intelligent citi-
zens you already know the value of
good education, and as friends Of the
common schools you recognize in them
not only the safeguards Of the future
commonwealth, but a blessing to every
home, rich and poor. As for principles
and methods Of school work, these be-
long properly TO a convention Of teachers
and SC hool officers, as those who know
the nature, the conditions and the needs
Of successful work in the sehoolroom.
Assuming, then, that the school and
the farm have each mysteries Of manage
ment and methods of work peculiarly
their own, and that both have kept pace
with the progressive spirit Of this won
derfuI age, let US consider here only their
Common interests, their reciprocal needs,
their mutual heIpfulness.
Under our present system Of popular
education in Pennsylvania, the schools
are essentially what the people want
them TO be Temporarily, or individual
ly they may be better or worse, but as a
whole they are the expression Of public
sentiment. Teachers and directors, as
the chosen leaders Of the educational for
ces, may discuss theories, improve the
methods, and strengthen the manage
ment, bat if they would make substantial
and lasting progress in the schools, they
must reach out for the hand Of public
sentiment TO sustain their advancing steps
and secure the cooperation Of those for
whom they labor to make their work re-
ally effective The schools Of any dis
trict, therefore, are the index 10 the es-
innate TIE people put upon their use and
value. Some time ago my attention was
called to a family Of nine children, living
on farm, but none Of them had ever
attended school, although living within
a mile Of "a schoolbouse. The father de-
clares that he can make his living with
out an education, and his children must
do the same. The eldest, young man,
cast his fiIst ballot recently, bat could
not read it. Some years ago a Kind friend
gave one Of the children a book and urg-
ed him to 20 to school. While the M
schoo.ed father was away from home, he
started TO school, and delighted with the
prospects Of gathering knowledge from
books, appealed 10 his father for encour-
agement at the first opportunity, only 10
have the book torn from his grasp, lock
ed up, and his bright hopes ruiely blast
ed. In the same district know men
who give their time and money gratuit-
ousIy TO the improvement Of the schools
and many more who advocate more CON-
Portable school houses, better qualified
teachers, and more efficient schools And
50 all along the line, from one Of these
extremes to the other. We find the vary
I ing estimates Of the Use and the value Of
a common school education TO the boys
and the girls who attend the schools and
the actual or fAneisd returns to the tax
payers who maintain them
The question which you as farmer
have a right to ask in any department o.
your work, is, Dos q Payg The sam'
question applies with equal force t.
school support and management. Doe
it pay to make the school house as com
Portable and attractive as a well-ordereC
home ? Does 1t pay to employ tsache
at forty or fifty dollars per month, whel
We can secure one for twenty dollars
| Does il pay to send the children to schoo
when there is work for them at home
/ Does It pay. in the truest sense, 10 spen'
the ehildrens' legacy in the school room
instead Of planting it N broad acres, o
laying It away in government bondse
we can answer these questions rightly
first FOR ourselves, and then help ou
reighbors and friends to answer then
then and only then viii We bring on
schools up to the plane they have rish
+ to occupy in the economy Of progress an
the question Of how 70 use the i've mn