The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-02-18
EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND PROG
RESS.


Of which we have already referred
Another opinion is SO unusual to com,
from a northern source that we bott
copy and approve OF ii. 1t says:
If the domestic service schools rec
commended by the head Of Tuskegee arr
founded, W. are OF the opinion that the
less they teach of anything beyond
the three RS. outside of culinary and
other household accomplishments. he
better servants they !iIl turn out. But
the best school of domestic science,
north or south, is ..hau conduc. ed by
generations Of competent mistresses OIL
the home and while We are improving
the raw material of service 1t Is well
to give equal attention 10 the captains
OF domestic industry Ito transfer a
figure from the department Of ecOno-
mics to another.) With the growth
of the genius OF nome makin among
American women will come. we trust
the amelioration, If not the solution. OF
the servant question.
The supposed solution or the negro
question and the white mans problem
is not so easy and open as MANY sup
pose. The environment. the varying
conditions in the south. the different
HABITS and conduc OF negroes. the ten
dency TO bad in so many. and the lazi-
ness and unthriftiness of a considerable
part Of the whole max the problem a
very difficult one to deal with. 1t is
easy for Booker Washington and his
northern admirers. including Roosevelt
to indulge opinions and suggest cure
ais" but the wisest. most experienced
most thoughtful and ubserVant people
in the south fully recognize the diff
culties and Instructions that lie in the
way Of solution. That noble, gifted
English author. John Ruskin, WHOSE
writings contain so much e wisdom
and beauty, in his Praetirita. said this:
And finally. in this case and many
more, l have verys clearly a~scertaineC
that the only proper s. hool for work
men is of the work their fathers bre5
them to. under masters able to do bet
ter than any of their men. and with
common principles of honesty and the
fear of God to guide them"
Is there not wisdom and insight IT
the thought presented? What he
thought might apply at home and meet
the needs of British toilers n may ap.
~ tAAo AZ NHN AA|A 80 80 10 Tin
south, and to both races. When "com-
mon principles Of honesty and the fear
of God to guide them are realized then
the problem of labor will be nearer its
completion and fuldllment. The capac-
ity OF negroes vary much as in other
races. You cannot make a silk purse
@out Of a sow's ear. to quote a Spanish
proverb. nor can YOU make excellent
mechanics out Of most negroes. But
you can by proper training add to their
efficiency and desirablehess in service
In Germany. in Sweden. in Belgium.
In Switzerland. in Russia and in Great
Britain and Ireland there are establish
I'd schools to teach truck farming or
gardening. Sweden has two or three
thousand such schools. Mr. c. B..
Smith. who is attached to The expert
ment station of a German common
school with a garden whites Of Belgium
that 1.-THE prosperity OF the rural popu-
Iation. which is derived chiefly from the
extended cultivation of truck gardens.
must be attributed primarily to the
school gardens n the extensive
knowledge of horticulture among thH
people"
He mentions that around a German
village near Cologne the whole region
IS farmed 'intensively,' and "vege-
tables alternate with orchards and
occasional strips Of grain or forage
plants. The school is what is known
as a peoples school'-the common
school of GERMANY. In this school.
which is attended by four hundred pu-
pills and taught bv sIX teachers. as in
all others in this province. two hours
of instruction weekly III fruit culture
gardening and general farming during
the last two years of the course is re-
CURED"
He gives information at length. In
the south such schools for both races
would add TO it's prosperity and their
usefulness. It is freely admitted in the
north that the public school system in
that great section Is a failure, and a
scholarly northern writer. Nj. George
r. Stetson. writes that this failure sis
confessed by the oldest and most ex-
perienced educators" Mr.. Francis A.
Walker. of the Massachusetts Institute
OF Technology, says:
Popular education must be made
more sensible, practical and useful The
housewifery arts must be taught to
girls in schools, and there the boys
must learn to use the han and eye
and brain"
The best housewives in the world
could be found in the south prior to the
war. and among the first ladies in the
land. We know now women as well
born as any women in all America who
can discharge every duty and respon-
sibility appertaining to a nome, who
would surprise a French o and put
to shame the most boosted servants in
all the north. The best schooling posi-
BILE In the past was under the eye and
practiced skill of the admirable moth