Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-03-05
EDUCATIONAL BUREAU
Under Direction Of KATE MARKHAM POWER.

NsN' 80 '"~N ~ AVA
Whitfield makes proud reference in his
recent report-which is, that the last
government census shows that the
white people of Mississippi are more
largely of pure Anglo-Saxon blood than
are the people OF any other State in
the Union. Our people are the de-
scendants Of those who have accom-
plished most of the great things which
have tended to the advancement of
civilization in the world, The great
est books, the greatest inventions, are
the result of Anglo-Saxon brain and
energy. 1t should cause every heart
among us to throb with pride when
We consider how high a place our
forefathers achieved for us in work
ing out the great principles of liberty
and in inauguratlng free government
"a work of greater moment and of
more enduring influence than any 9th
er of the earth's people can show.
With all this inheritance to ami
mate us and to encourage highest eff
fort we should show ourselves more
earnest than we are, and SHOULD make
greater effort to prove worthy our
great birthright. Our superintendent,
who grieves intensely because Of our
failure to do that which is in lis to do,
says: eve belong to a kingly race and
are capable of doing anything, it mat
ters not how great or how difficult.
Who can measure or estimate the
great natural power that God has put
into our children? Who can form the
least idea Of what we have lost in the
past because we have not provided
proper training for u children? Who
would dare assert that If we had,
twenty years ago, provided for the
proper education of the children, it
would not have been an investment
that today would be paying us ten.
fold in wealth, skill and citizenship?
There are few communities In the
State today, it matters not how remote
from the centers of fashion or the
great business whirl, but there are
heavenly endowed children; some, who
If they could only be revealed to them
selves through the awakening that
comes through a good country school,
would think more deeply on some
pnhinnt than ~ Ann aI,a ha, nuar
thought, and whose thoughts might be
embodied in some great book" Or, in
the remote regions, far from the mad
ding crowd" come one of the chill
dren who dwell so close to Natures
heart might learn to know her
precious, priceless secrets, and better
than that. could tell them to other
eager seekers of these beautiful truths.
Some of these, on practical matters
intent, might learn the mysteries that
lie behind invention, and so give to
the world another Edison, or Morse,
or Fulton, or Whitney. Others, of
more aesthetic taste, might find splen-
did realization Of their dreams in
beautiful pictures or statues that
would enchain the gaze of many thou
sands of art lovers, and make better
and. happier the millions who should
see their work. This State of ours
so wonderfully rich in possibilities,
needs every child among the great
hosts, and needs him with his gifts
fully developed.
To get this-or even to approach
80 nncppnn,ati on InynptIu 70 hn
wished" 1t is necessary that we pro.
vide that elementary training which
is the first and necessary requisite
for all acknowledgment. Oh, it hurts
me through my innermost heart to
think what glorious possibilities are
being lost for lack of a little encour-
agement and wise help. Why, almost
every lame on the roll of fame in this
great nation was written, first, on the
book of a country school. and deep in
my inner consciousness | feel that,
could we see with prophetic eye, we
might today read through the childish
letters forming many a name, the au-
tograph of some great artist or author,
or humanitarian. If the power is with
in them it Is coming out, of course. but
how blessed a privilege it should be
to reach forth a guiding hand and thus
spare the tender feet many cruel
bruises, hard paths, long delays and,
sometimes, cruel failures.
There is now in my mind and on my
heart a little girl-a pupil in one of
our rural schools-a school, by the
way, where the patient. capable girl
who teaches, earns three times her
salary and endures discomforts that
would paralize a city teacher, And
she does and bears all cheerfully and
wisely; and as best she can surround.
ed by such h%ardships, leads her little
charges along the pleasant paths OF
knowledge and of truth, just as thou.
sands of our underpaid girls are do
Ing today.
Talk about missionaries and mar.
tyrs! In my opinion we can find scores
Of both quietly doing their duty as
teachers of rural schools in Mississip.
pi, as / have said before. But to go
back to my artist in embryo, as is the
little maiden of whom ! speak, a child
whose serene brow and "dreamful
eyes whose mobile lips and clear
cut chin give to her face the unmis-
taxable "artist.look," whose slender,
but Strong young fingers seem shaped
to WELD pencil and brush--a child who
does her duty simply, but absolutely,
as do these descendants of one who
was 'the Puritan maid" but through
whose daily work sounds, ever, the
siren song of artistic possibilities and
over whose tasks falls the first faint
radiance from the light that never
was on land or sea"-but only in the
hopeful heart of youth, The child is
an artist born, and enjoys the beau
tiful things around and about and
above her with the genuine ecstacy of
the artist-but as yet all this Is shut
within her eager, sensitive heart and
only those who love such exquisite
natures can read the story of longing
and fear and hope, all commingled.
Had she the proper training-even
during her years as a beginner, and If
her over-worked young teacher could
take her by the hand and lead her
along the paths of beauty and under
standing and help her in the longed-
for work of learning the expression of
her art, how blessed a thing it would
be for the girl, and might be, for mil.
lions yet unborn! Why should We not
have in Mississippi a Rosa Bonheur?
Because, first, only one such artist is
given to the world in a generation;
and chiefly because we do not so train
our Common school teachers as to en-.