The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1903-10-15
By Clarence II. Poe, Editor of tn Progress
sive Farmer, Raleigh, in September Revie
of Reviews.


By Clarence H. Poe, Editor of tn Progrese.
sive Farmer, Raleigh, in September Review
of Reviews.
Just now, when the princely dona-
tions of Mr.. Carnegie have given a
new stimulus to library-building in
American cities, it may be we'll to
turn our eyes to the "other hail.
the rural half,-of our population,
for although, until quite recently, no
one thought of the public library as
possible rural institution, it has
now made an auspicious entry into
this new field, and is destined to play
an important part among the twen-
tieth-century forces, rural mai! deliv-
cry, good roads, rural telephones,
ETC., that make for the uplift OF Amer
lean country life.
The need OF the rural library must
be apparent to all who are familiar
with country school methods. Read
ing is the magic key to all our store
houses of intellectual wealth; it is the
basis of all education. ''The true
university of these days." says Car
lyle, ''is a collection of books" And
it is here, of all points in its curricu-
lum, that the country school has
failed most grievously; it has not
taught the child to read, to use
books. Do not understand me to
charge that the rural school is, liter
ally and avowedly disloyal to the
first of the immortal three RS, for it
is not. But only in the narrowest
sense does it teach reading, reading
as the mere pronunciation of words
and the observance of punctuation
marks; the unlovely, mechanical side
of reading. The brighter side of
reading the country pupil does not
get; the city pupil does. Aided by
the prescribed supplemental litera-
ture, and guided by the teacher, the
child of the townsman learns to find
Joy in reading, learns not only how
to read, but actually learns to read,
to use books. If you know the
country school as the writer does,
you know the other side of this pic
ture. You know children who live
out a long school career without
learning anything of literature be-
yond the monotonous rehearsal OF
dry textbook matter. Cold, hard
facts about the boundaries of for
eign States, the dates of ancient bat
ties, the rules of the stock exchange
are regarded as matters of import
ance, but the teacher does not see
that it is better to foster a love of
reading than to teach history or ge-
ography. Or if he sees the duty, and
longs to direct the child to the beau
ties of literature, he is shackled by
the lack of facilities for such work.
Year after year there is the same old
drill in the same old readers, no clas-
sizes are studied, and there is no sup
Elemental reading to give the spice OF
variety.
1t is inevitable that children reared
in such schools come to regard read
ing not as a luxury, but as a drudg-
cry, and grow up potentially, if not
in the strictest sense, illiterate. Il
confess says Thoreau, somewhere
in his "Walden,' ''that l do not
make any broad distinction between
the lliterateness of him who cannot
read at all and the illiterateness OF
him who has learned only to read
what is for children and feeble intel
lects." How much narrower, then,
should be the distinction between
the illiterateness of my townsman
who cannot read at all and the illit-
erateness of him whose training has
been such that he regards reading
OILY as a task to be stunned? Peo.
pie everywhere are now beginning to
see the mistake pointed out ten years
ago by President Eliot in his essay
"Wherein Popular Education Has
Failed"
'"We have heretofore put too much con
| fidence in the mere acquisition OF the artf
of reading and writing. After these arts
| are acquired, there is much to be done t6
make them effective for the development
| of the child's intelligence. If his reason
ing power is to be developed through
reading, he must be guided to the right
sort of reading The school must teacf
not only how to read, but what to read
and it must develop taste for whole
some reading"
1t is to remedy just this defect thas
the rural school library has been ill
troduced into twenty-nine American
States. And though widely varying
plans have been adopted, in no othe
State, l dare say, has more rapit
progress been made or greater re
suits accomplished in proportion tt
capital expended than in North Car
olina. For this reason l may be par
doned for referring at some length tt
this North Carolina plan, which seem
to be the one best adapted to State
having a large rural population ant
| small revenue. The law as passet
by the General Assembly of 100.
provides, in substance:
That wherever the friends Or pat
rons of any rural public school cor
tribute $40 or more for starting
library in connection with the schoo
$40 Of the district school fund sha
also be set apart for the same pul
pose, while another $40 will be give
from the State appropriation, thu
: insuring at the outset at least 50
for each school library; in man
cases, of course, the patrons contrit
ute more than the minimum sum, ST.
needed to seclre the 500 from othe
sources. The county board of educs
ton then names some competent pc
l son to manage the prospective librs
~ and buy the books for it, these t
: be chosen from a remarkably wells
lected list of standard works recen
ly prepared by a committee of di
tinguished educators. The san
committee, by the way, obtaine
|! competitive bids from prominent pu
d fishing houses, thus forcing prices
: strikingiy low figures, even fer cha
sizes. The smallest Libraries ha'