The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1894-10-13
How to Advance Rar.l Taste.

been made In late years, In n
places, to popularize rural life through
the public schools. Tree planting. on
Arbor day, is in course Of experiment,
and flower growing and gardening
have been suggested, and pract,ced oc-
~,asionally. But no large results have
been reported-nnd never will be under
The present system of giving the bulk
of the summer to vacation.
Summer Vacations Considered.
This system of closing the country
schools in Juno and r~eopening in Sep
tember has been acquiesced in, but
-eally, it is hard to see any weighty
reasons for 1t in the rural districts.
Summer heat is not a continuous factor
in summer life, and even when it is
very hot children are quite as well off
In the modern school building as
Mt home, or at such places as
country children frequent in sum
mer weather. We're the schools
kept open ut that season for at
least four or five hours a day there
would unquestionably be a fine chance
to instruct them in such details OF rural
~ornamentation as they generally fail to
receive at home. and a love for country
life instiIled that city temptations
could not easily overcome.
What's District School Park Would Do.
One great difficulty, aver yet, to
combat is the want Of land wherein to
grow flowers. vegetables, hedges,
trees. or grass, and to lay
out walks and groves. Land is
cheap enough, but to set apart an acre
or two for school purposes strikes tho
average patron as nero waste and nom
sense. But under a wise teacher, who
is something of n landscape gardener
as we'll as n teacher. it would be a very
practical matter. Nothing is so want
Ing in country life rs cultivated TASTE
the taste to appreciate the beautiful
when seen. or to mako a land
scape beautiful In the minds eye
nnd then to develop it before the phys
ical eye Every country school house
ought to stand in the midst of n beauti-
full little park planned by some expert.
but the work done largely by the chill
dren and kept in order by them the year
round. Once taught how, they would
delight to do It. and the taste for it
developed ut school would be sure
to find expression at home when
ever there was serious occasion for it.
A Reminiscence to the Point.
The writer car remember Il teacher,
over half n century ago. who, under
standing child nature and loving rural
life himself, obtained the use of a few
rods Of land adjoining the school house
and made n little garden of it to the
intense delight OF the pupils and his
own pleasure. But what a little Eden
he might have made OF hat spot, II he
Ind had two. or three, or five acres
under his control, in which to
plant trees, flowers, everereens,
hedge of evergreens to inclose
1t. fruit trees here and there,
and shady arbors. and had been able
to make ns all feel hat this was n per-
manencc-the property OF the district,
kept up for the good Of the children. a
thing Of beauty for them to enjoy
while life and memory lasted. But
a'ns, one short summer ended the
dream; another district bid for his
service much moro than nv district
would think of giving, with their
views of liberalitv. and he went away
amid n flood of tears snch MS CAV and
light hearted children seldom shed.
The Work Easily Mastered.
There is nc mystery about a school
honse park hat would puzzle bright
children very long. Flowers they love
from the start; fruit. perhaps even
nor than flowers: weeds they hate
when they know their nature and Of
flee; trees they admire for their impos-
ing presence and majesty, md the
green velvet of a rich lawn turf they
would treat as gently as mothers
Garnet If only trained to appreciate
its wondrous beauty. As to hedges and
screens. and low trained and we'll
trained evergreens, there is
a concentration of modest beauty
about them that appeals to a sensitive
nature with something like spiritual
power. Awaken the admiration or
love for these. and the city's enticine
temptations will have small seductive
power over them. Even il they lenve
the country at maturity. n tic is formed
that will be likely to bring them back
at the first opportunity. In any case,
country life will have n tinge of enjoy
ment to which thousands are now
strangers. looking upon it as a sort OF
wide omen prison they can not we'll
escape from.
An Object Lesson In Rural Life.
A schoolhouse park, well cared for
by children, teachers, and others who
love it, would exert an incalculable in
fluence on rural taste. Now, tens of
thousands, even of grown people, have
never seen a we'll kept park, and tho
dreary bnrrenness of multitudcs of
rural homesteads, and the anxiety of
the younger occupants to get away
from them, attest the necessity for
them. They would be object les
sons to revolutionlze rural
life and taste. What the
pupils learned there of flowers, trees,
plants, and landscape setting thew
would e%ndeavor to reproduce at home,
drawing parents into lit in spite Of
themselves. And that is exactly what
is wanted. Country life, to be salts
factory, must minister to some other
taste than that of bread winning-even
that poorly supplied. A foolish idea
prevails tina beautiful grounds are UNI
%attainable except to the rich. The in
struction obtained through tho
echoolhouse park and garden
would dispel that idea. and
awaken an interest in amateur
rural adornment that would rescue
the country from threatened d%epopula-
tion.
1t is the homo and school to which
we must look for the advancement OF
society in morals and taste. Make
them what they should be, and the
lest is easy. This suggested improve
ment in school methods involves no
question of se~ctarinnism, and no large
amount of cost. In many cases
the land would undoubtedly b given,
and such work as the children could
not do-under proper supervision, of
course-would furnish employment to
the poor laborers of the district, while
the proximity of a beautiful little park
would enhance all values near it.