Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1895-03-18

changeably with the higher depart
ment. And so, of a set of maps, il
either department had them; but ii
would be better if both schools we're
furnished with their own maps and
globes.
The teacher of the primary depart
ment thinks she needs (and she is
right in her idea) some supplemental
ry reading. in the shape of little books.
containing short stories, in short
words. There would be a charm to
the little folks, in the occasional
change from the dry primer or first
reader, to these supplementary stories
that would materially aid in the mat
ter of learning to read.
The school in the Kidder neighbor-
hood has a small globe. The teacher
says larger one is needed. This
school is without anything in the
shape of map, and it's blackboards
are simply execrable. They reach to
be sure all around the room but out
of all this imposing spread of black
! board only a few square feet in a
corneris so painted that the whitest
crayon can leave upon it a fairly dis
| tinguishable mark. Black boards so
smooth that the crayon slips over
them as though they were creased, are
/ in the school-room, an unmitigated
nuisance, and a serious harm, as
! they waste both valuable time and
patience. There is paint made es-
pecially for black boards, which forms
kind of stating. 1t should be used
on every black board in town. Com
mon black paint for this purpose is
not much better than so much grease.
! The schools at Morrill, Hill, in the
Ware neighborhood and at Brighton
all need maps and most of them globes.
Regarding condition of school hous
es. most of them are in fair repair,
but the Burton Hill house needs some
plastering. Inside the school houses,
of the Kidder neighborhood and at
Brighton paint and whitewash are
sadly needed. These school-rooms
are altogether too funereal in their
aspect. A bright, we'll painted, well
kalsomined schoolroom is an educa-
tor in itself. Children and youth,
whether their home life is in the man
sion or the howell, should spend their
school life in such school rooms, and
it should be considered a part of their
education (and by no means an unim-
portant part) to help in the matter of
keeping them neat and tidy, by re-
framing from the time honored school
boy recreation of whiting the seats,
scratching the paint, and defacing the
walls
The floors of some of the school
rooms would be warmer to the schol-
ars' feet, and certainly more conducive
to their health, we're there less ven
tilators beneath them. We have eel
lars beneath our dwelling houses, not
only as places Of storage for our tur-
nips and potatoes, but to shut out
the frost, and TO keep warm our floors
and, in addition, we carefully bank
our cellars against the winters cold.
A house without cellar or banking
would scarcely be considered habi-
table at all, during the long winters.
And yet, with the thermometer at
twenty below zero, our children must
sit for six hours daily, with their feet
on the floors of uncellared, and even
of unbanked school houses. Would it
be strange if their health should suffer
in consequence? 1t should at least be
SOMEBODY'S business to see that the
school houses are all carefully banked
before the setting in of winter. And,
to build in these days of common
sense, and in this cold climate, a new
schoolho without q good cellar
under it, would be an inexcusable bar
barism.
The attendance of scholars during
the second term, and the first half of
the third was up to the average. But,
in all the schools, during the latter
half of the third term, the attendance
I was greatly diminished by humps,
whooping cough, rough weather, and
other causes too numerous to mention.
In conclusion let me exhort you
| to place just estimate upon your
! common schools. To value them at
| their true worth and to make the most
of them. Whatever may be the re-
spective merits or defects of the dis
trict and town systems, the latter is
here at present. Make then the most
of it. Let citizens, parents, and all
concerned, be ready to second the di-
rectors in "devising liberal things"
for the benefit of your common
schools. You cannot spend money
more wisely than for that which will