The Topeka state journal., 1902-12-31

decorated with beautiful pictures. A
library of good books was placed in
the school room. The school board
bought new desks. painted the school
house, fenced the school yard. and the
teacher and pupils planted it with
flowers and vines. The school house be-
came the social center of the neighbor-
hood. This little woman in whose heart
throbbed the message of education COM
menced teaching the school for twenty
five dollars month. She taught the
school five consecutive years, receiving
fifty dollars Der month during her last
year. and then like Little NeH,' sur
rounded by the singing of birds, perfume
OF flowers and smothered SObS or ch1i-
dren, men and women, she graduated
into the angel band on the other side.
And John? John graduated at the head
of his class in the University of Mich
igan, and his commencement address
won the high place of orator of his class.
THE work in this school room led me
to make county experiment. The
county of which was commissioner of
schools, Oceana, was organized into LEGAL
teachers and patrons associations, each
having lecture course The lecture
courses were so arranged as to cover
geogra aQhically the whole county, ana
the expense of the lecture course was
borne by the districts in the lecture
circuit.
Our next step in rural school expan-
SIGN was to establish a library in each
district, the books being kept at the
school house A convention of the
teachers, school officers and patrons
was called to meet at the county seat TO
deliberate upon needed improvements
for the schools 1t was a grand meet
ing and enthusiasm was away above
par before noon- I had prepared, and
at the proper time submitted, graded
list of books which was to constitute
library for the districts suitable for all
pupils in the school and the people in
the neighborhood. In this list certain
books were designated for each grade
in the school and this list was adopted
rather recommended-by the meeting.
The next problem to solve was how to
raise the money to pay for the books
recommended for the district library.
The difficulty in this direction was more
seeming than real. I asked each district
to purchase and own it's library, and
raise the money by socials, lectures, and
proper means whereby the people could
get together socially. In not so very
long a period of time every school dis
trict in the county had a library of ex-
cellent books. which were read by pu-
pills, teachers and patrons, and by no
means the least benefit came through
holding meetings to raise money to pur-
chase books. While the intellectual ex-
pansion and growth in literature and
entertainment that the books brought to
the country folk was great, am inclin-
ed to believe that the social benefit
growing out of the neighborhood meet
ings was greater. Men and women
came together to work for the accom-
plishment of a common end. The ideal
for which they were working beautifed
their lives. widened their horizon FIRE.
quent meetings taught them that they
had common joys, trials and sorrows.
AS the work went on the rural folk
found that something clean. sweet and
inspiring had come into and softened
the hard lines of their lives. The mas
tiers in poetry, fiction, biography and
history had taken up a permanent resi-
dencei in their lives. Coming frequently
to the school houses. they began to see
that the school grounds, the school
buildings, the school rooms looked mean
and unclean, and for them to see was to
act. The school yards were planted
with shade trees, vines and flower beds;
the school houses were painted, the
school rooms papered and adorned with
beautiful paintings These school
houses became the social culture centers
of the neighborhoods in which they
were located. Starved narrow environ
ed lives blossoned here into beautiful
and useful woTnanhood and manhood"