The Scranton chronicle. (Scranton, Miss.) 1897-19??, 1904-02-27

rougher walls. and the toughest sort
/ of roof, minus even a nretense OF
! ceiling. For windows, they use holes
i In the wall which, In time of rain are
! closed by drawing a shutter which Is
made of rough plank. hung on leath-
er hinges" Just such houses as these
must our grand pioneers have built.
except that massive, we'll seasoned
| logs were then used and, in many In.
/ stances. still stand, where now we use
| the hastily sawed. unseasoned boards.
/ which Immediately begin to draw
| away from each other-whether in dis
gust or from the laudable desire to let
! the air and sunshine in to coquet with
the lads and lassies of course We can
not say.
The fact remains that the picture
as drawn above. is an excellent like
ness OF many OF our rural schools
schools by the way, In which some of
our brightest children sit. and whore,
thanks to the pure grit of the young
teachers and the simple life and clear
brain of the children, our great men
and women are getting their start in
life OF course the children can do
nothing and the poorly paid teacher
very little, TO improve the houses.
though in some districts | know II to
be fact that the teacher has been
the largest contributor to the erection
of a more comfortable building than
the one which they had occupied.
Once built. she continued the good
example by buying appliances and
aids to study, but In this, | regret TO
say, she had monopoly.
There Is one thing, however, that
the children can do, and | earnestly
hope that the parents who read, these
columns will encourage and discuss, In
the home circle. the subject OF beautl-
flying the grounds about the school
house. It is not as though the chill
dren had the barren wastes OF the
Southwest to deal with. or the tree
less stretches of the Northwest.
Neither have they the granite hills,
nor rock.ribbed fields of the North
east. They have right at their feet
the garden spot OF our beautiful land.
and they can do so much to add to It's
beauty and thus learn from the work
much that will benefit them and
brighten their surroundings, We are
now making ARRANGEMENTS with q
company in Boston by which we hope
to inaugnrate the systematic work of
: | DeduI14inB Iuldl htIoOi anu
grounds In all parts of the State, Of
fering prizes, etc. for the various de-
grees of attractiveness achieved, and,
! generally. rousing the children to a
sense of their great privileges and
possible pleasures.
On the subject of school houses Su-
| perintendent Whitfield has many good
things to say in that report which is
/, ! 90 ft.It Of ~ aa a tg If
meat. Among them is this:
at Is impossible to maintain good
schools in uncomfortable houses, and
1t will be impossible to have the
schools that we ought to have so long
as our houses are rs uncomfortable
as they are Our school houses should
not only be comfortable In cold and
hot weather. but in their construction
the laws of heating, ventilation and
lighting should be observed. Our
school houses should not only be com
Portable, and from a sanitary point
we'll constructed, but as far as possl
Bile they ought to be made attractive
II does not cost any more to construct
building of good architectural fea-
lures than IL does r. construct an un-
slightly house containing the same ma.
terials The educational value of q
beautiful house cannot be calculated.
Its refining influence soon becomes
manifest In the children's adoption Of
higher ideals.
81 think there should be a law
passed requiring TIE State board Of
education TO have prepared number
Of plans for up-to-date school houses,
and to require that every school that
builds a new school house adopt one
of these plans If T. desires TO partic-
ipate in the public fund.
II do not think that money could be
better expended than for the State to
make an appropriation for school
houses as an encouragement to the
patrons of the schools to build new
school houses No appropriation
sholud be made to ? district except on
condition that the district raise the
larger part of the p'oney This would,
furthermore, encourage the permanent
location OF school houses"
Training School,
/ believe | am correct In the state
ment that our own is, with one ex-
ception, the only State which has
failed TO make some provision for the
great mass of its rural teachers--the
advance guard Of prosperity and cul-
ture, wherever II forges It's difficult
way for, In my humble opinion, this
State owes more TO her country school
teachers than she does to any other
one class of her citizens--more, even
than to the preachers and the press
She must be preacher as well as teach.
er, and in too many instances she Il
the only link connecting her pupils
with what Is best In the press. have
believed for many years that large
percentage OF our country schoo
teachers ought to he given the saiasJ
Of missionaries in addition to wha
they earn as teachers, and a few O.
} them deserve monuments as high ant
as pure and as everlasting as tina
lonely, snow-clad peak that stand
sentinel In the far north of californii
Shasta, the beautiful mountain. Blu
greatly as value and highly as | ap
preciate the work of the countr,
school teacher in Mississippi, realfz'
the need of better advantages for her
, and join my voice In pleading thai
! she, too, may have the privilege OF .
training for her work.
. We Need Your Help.