The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-02
The Consolidated School House and
 Good Roads.

G0od hoaoS.
 By I. A.. Holmes, Chapel Hill. N. c.
 Every fair-minded man desires to give to his children and the children of his neigtbors better advantages than he him. self enjoyed. And wherever good roads make 1t possible 1t is entirely feasible now to substitute for the little school house of one room and one teacher consolidated school house with half dozen rooms and half dozen teachers. The school house of one room and one teacher was good. and we are here in bodily presence to testify to that good: but the consolidated school house or nalf a dozen rooms and half 6 dozen teachers Is vastly superior. and we want 10 secure that for our children and the children of our neighbors.
 It doesn't cost as much to build a school house of half a dozen rooms as 1t does to build six school houses Of one room. Six teachers working together can do vastly better work for the children than one single teacher, teaching every thing from the cradle to the voting age. The salaries of the teachers in the con- solidated school houses of half . dozen rooms are no higher than they are in the single school houses with single room. consolidated school house? They. are carried in wagonettes, that in cold cli- mates are heated by a stove, and amply provided with laprobes to keep the chil- dren warm. There Is no Tear or lack of ventilation. because every wagonette in the world is amply ventilated. The wagonettes take all the children within a radius of nine to ten miles every day to the school house, and take them home again.
 forty children of different ages in one school. so that the community spirit is an impossbility among them because of the diversity of age and because of the diff ference in attainments, hundreds of chil- dren can gather into this consohdated school house, and class spirit, community spirit thrives and good teaching abounds.
 But what could you do with the con- solidated school house In this State? In counties like Mecklenburg. Wake. Gufi- ford, Forsyth, Durham and few others where there are several miles of maca- damized roads, this system would work well; but in a great majority of our coun- ties. the wagonettes could not get two hundred yards down the road.
 It takes a two-footed beast, called a child. and very active one at that. to get over the roads at all to any school in most of our North Carolina counties during the winter season.
 Let us go 6 step further. The day Is coming, surely. when not only will we have the consolidated school house. but wife will live in the school building. or in one close by. The library and reading room of the school will be the library and reading room of the neighborhood. And I know country people too well not to know that many of them are hungry for good literature and cannot get 1t.
 This consolidated school house will be a lyceum where people will gather. There will be lectures. there will be even some 'Ioafing around the consolidated school house. Men will not go to the country store to swap lies. will not go to the barroom-that is. not all the time; they will sometimes come to the school house, to the reading room. the talking room and the lecture room.
 But when will we in North Carolina have consolidated school houses? Not un- til we have good roads. They talk about free text booksl am in favor of free text books, but tell you here and stake my professional reputation on the state ment, that free text books are trifle compared with good roads and the con- solidated school house.
 So that we cannot separate these twin sisters of civilization; cannot conceive of one without the other. Educate the people and they will build good roads; build good roads and the people will educate themselves. The two proposi- tions are therefore merged into the one question. Education and Good Roads"