Oxford eagle., 1902-06-12
MISSISSIPPI MATTERS
NOTES OF PAST AND CURRENT EVENTS.
By KATE MARKHAM POWER.

~ &V3 wv Nv o<vs eOs ~ ~
1t is a prophecy of good times
coming in schoolhouse and college
hall when we read in the State ex-
changes each week that this or that
one of our grand army of teachers
will give a part of the summer va
cation to study along special lines
at the great training schools and IN
tellectual centers of our country.
The efforts-oftentimes the sacri-
fces-that these vo"r- -,eo and
el-
/ ,zsr tIrcn worK prese their
deep interest and honest intentions,
and thus they cannot be commended
beyond their deserts. We note in
the Columbus Commercial, just now
before us, that half a dozen of the
teachers from the Industrial College
leave this week to begin the sum-
mer's work. Some go to New York
for special instruction; others for
the summer term at Pratt Institute,
and two for Boston, where they will
take up the summer course at Har-
ward. Of course, there are Others
who will leave home later, to under
take similar work. As is the case
with this splendid faculty, so it is
with most of our other institutions
of learning, which are sending their
teachers forth to learn as well as to
teach. This is a great thing for the
substantial growth of our schools.
1t not only keeps Mississippi
abreast of the times and gives her
thousands of students the very best
that may be had, but it keeps the
teachers alert and eager to learn all
that others in like position know,
and gives an enthusiasm to the in
terest with which they keep up and
sometimes forge ahead of these great
schools at which they study.
From Cuba has so often come the
story of the love those people bear
for one of our own splendid sons
that we feel it due him and his State
to give our readers the benefit of
what the Cuba Post, Havana, had
to say of his recent departure from
Cienfuegos, where he had been vir-
tually in command, for his 'Ihome,
sweet home" The Post says.
"Capt. Barker, who has been sta
toned at this place and at Cienfue-
gos for the last three years, was
given grand banquet here last
night, ON the eve Of his departure
for the United States.
"The banquet was attended by the
very best and most influential men
of the city, and toasts were proposed
and given praising the captains
many qualities, until he was forced
to call halt.
"The people here will never forget
Capt. Barker. He came here when
all the country was impoverished,
and he saved many lives by his
prompt and energetic interest in
the welfare of every one at the time
when people were at the point of
starvation all around him.
'To use the words of several at the
banquet, he will always live in the
hearts of the people of Sagua."
Numerous exchanges throughout
the State are urging upon the peo-
pie the necessity of raising pork and
corn enough this year to make them
independent of the packers and
grain dealers of the East and North.
If this could be done Mississippi
would not care snap about the
trusts and combines" that have
raised such-a furore of late. If our
farmers, big and little, would
combine" with each other in one
mighty effort to have their smoke
houses and granaries at home mo
matter how small that home may
be) and trust" kind Mother Nature
to smile on their efforts and supple
ment their labors throughout this
year, we are sure that all the other
combinations and trusts might roar
and rage up and down in the land
without disturbing the even tenor of
the way of the happy home-makers
in our beloved State.
We learn through well-lnformed
writers that the imported stock food
mixtures and Western shelled corn
that our farmers have fed to their
stock this spring and lateA he win
caused the death of hsands
of mules and horses in East Missis-
sippi. The use of these foods was
necessitated by the short corn crop,
and the result was in many Instances
fatal. The only profit in the deal
was that accruing to the grain men
in the North and the railroads that
brought the heavy loads down
South" TO thin out the ranks of our
horses and @ules.
The smodel" truck farm just out
Of Aberdeen is shipping splendid
crop of snap beans from two acres.
There are. besides the "snaps.n five