The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1899-09-07
RETROSPECT TIVE, PRESENT
AND PROSPECTIVE VIEW
OF POPLARvILLE
HIGH SCHOOL.

seven years ago ne IucllitieS IOE
securing an education III Poplar
vile consisted of an old box shaped
building with two rooms furnished
with home made desks and straight
back benches. Such = school hoRse
a. one would have in mlnd after
reading that delightful poem Just
Years Ago. A school house that
every man ia pond To associate
among the most cherished memo
ries of his youth. as Bob Taylor
said in one Of his Glove letters
First Impressions are the most
lasting and the impressions para
mount in his mind are those freely
ed from q dog wood sprout
or twig of the weeping-wiilow at
the old log school honse that stood
by the hbliug spring"
How often do we, having grown
old in age and learning, look back
and picture the old school house
where we learned our ABC's,
standing there alone, surrounded
by those ma este oaks that have
sheltered us from the hot rays OF
the sun while we played our child
hood games beneath their giant
branches. We can see the stern
old master sitting at his desk with
the scepter of order In his hand and
an expression on his face that even
DOW causes us to shudder. There
are scenes that every man IS proud
of whether he lives in mansion on
q hill or in an ivy clad cottage by
the sea. He loves to sit around
his friends and, with his children
gathered about bin, tell of the
good old times he used 10 have
when he was boy at the old log
school house.
But the old log school house is
fast becoming u thing Of the past.
Like the poets blushlng milk~maid,
II v i'll furnish material for future
legendary lore. The present gen.
Grafton has no time to enjoy the
pleasure of four or FIVE years play
ing beneath the trees that surround
the log school house; or being Teleas.
ed from study by having to sit On
stool all day crowned with the
Ounce cap; or throwing paper balls,
or sticking pins ia their desk mates
while the teacher reposes peaceful
~ in the arms of Morpheus. Mel
,her have they time to walk leisureIv
arm in arm beneath the SHADY boul.
evards or up and down long varan.
das, like the pupils Of S"phocles
and ARISTOTLE of old, acquiring
knowledge BY the slow develop
meats Of time aud philosophical
reasoning.
.About eight years ago the citl-
ns of Poplarville began to discuss
Ithe necessity of building a new
school house. Iu little over a
years time the money was raised
and the building completed. The
question that next pressed itsell
before the people was the securing
of man to manage the school.
Providence or chance, call 1t by
either term you choose, directed
the steps OF a man TO our town, and
had the trustees searched TO ,he
four corners of the earth, they
could not have found man better
suited to ill the principalship oil
the school.
Tnro' the untirIng and unremlt
ting efforts Of this gentleman, Prof
W. I. Thames, Poplsrvllle now en-
joys the privileges of one of the
largest aud best equipped schools
of any town of it's size in the state
Under the skillful management OF
Prof. Thames the enrolment of
each scholastic year shows an in-
crease on an average of rs per cent.
The enrollmen: for the year 1899,
m spite of the disadvantages under
which the scholastic year began,
shows the number of pupils who
entered last year to be three hun
dred aud sixty-two.
Prof. Thames has adopted the
quickest and most through meth DDS
of teaching, and has secured a
faculty composed of the very best
talent. The school has now for the
accomn odation of it's boarding stu
denis a magnificent three.story
dormitory not over fifty yards from
the school building. There has
just been completed beautiful two
story auditorium which cost about
%, 500. capable of seating eight hun.
dred people comfortably. This
bailding is elegantly painted, and
is furnished with plain substantial
chars. The stage and scenery would
do credit to any city opera house.
In fact the Poplarville High School
IL most thoroughly equipped.
In a short while the great bell
will be heard pouring forth it's notes
that shall make the heart of every
parent, within the range of its all
ysry voice, beat with rapture. And