The Coconino weekly sun., 1895-02-21
SCHOOL, CHURCH AND PRESS.


 The schcol, pulpit and press are tho unofficial, spontaneous institutions of civilization. Its merits are measured by their excellence. They are the bar" ometer. thermometer and wind gauge by which our moral meteorology is registered.
 The schools of Arizona wore founded with the first settlement of the terri tory. The foundation is ample and the model perfect. The opportunities tor common school culture are as ac- cessible and their scope as satisfactory here as in any part of the union. The country school is up to the severe standard of New England excellence, ,ud the town systems offer facilities ,nexcelled for liberal culture.
 The thoughtful parents planning migration and the foundation of new iome always ask first. "What are the school facilitesP" Here. under the ,fts and eudowments relating t, edu- 'ation, is the ample foundation for tn common school, the origin aud source If that fundamental knowledge which is absolutely necessary to contented md prosperous life, and which in all cases is the thread to be followed into ampler learning and upward to the highest attainable culture.
 The tlnkle of the school bell follows the g o'clock sun across the territory from the eastern boundary to the western border that slopes into valleys If the Golden State aud all along rise the chaste walls of institutions of earning and as the sun slopss to the vest the future rulers of Arizona, aud iu part the nation, troop from the ,choolhouse door homeward, and as 4 o'clock rings along. leaping the merid- aus of longitude like a race-horse taking the hurdles. this army marches, .hod or shoeless, still in Its discipline md brain and brawn girt with the lopes, the happiness and the great less of all the future. Beardless sol llers, brave in theiJ innocence, strong in obedience and discipline, the con- uon school trains them fop the evolu- tions of life's battle, and its work Is iobler than the tactics taught at Wool vich or West Point.
 The people of Flagstaff are to be congratulated, and may justly be proud of the reasons for such con- sratulations, on their public school. rhe building stands on high. slightly rise of ground south of the Failroad md west of the busy part of the town, 1t is large aud commodious and is divided into three rooms to meet the demands of the three school grades oI departments. E,ch department is presided over by lady teacher. The regular attendance is about hundred scholars, some of whom are far ad. vanced and proficient. #
 The banner of the cross ww first borne to Arizona 800 years ago by the devoted padres who came as mission aries to the Indian tribes. The story is full of fas ,ination. It's points ar, glowing with national warmth of tn ( spanish character, suffused with re- igious zeal that ooguted itself happy 1 iu the discovery of obstacles and tn, presence of danger. The story of the spanish missions has been told many
 ines, but it's interest Is not exhausted Dy repetition. All through Arizon;
 tand the mission churches, many O
 hem more than hundred and some two hundred years old. their adobe walls defying the abrading blows o time, to winch many newer and more pretentious structures have yielded The missiou fathers brought with them wheat, the olive aud the vine, for brea and wine and oil are the elements ID sacrament and ceremony dear to the believers heart. So it comss to pass that the three leading products of our soil upon which now our populati or depends for support, were planted first by holy hands and consecrated to use in the mysteries which are around the lintel of that low door by which W, enter immortality.
 Following this venerable establish ,ncnt, as other people and other creed were lead to the new land, came al the communions, and with them to tn, ltferent pulpits such strong men as lre always in the front. And now the Catholics. Methodists and Presbyterian. have handsome churches in Flagstaff