Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-07-30
EDUCATIONAL BUREAU
Under Direction Of KATE MARKHAM POWER

have been growing straight and strong
and happy, said to me, with pride. Il
can pow up every bit of this land
myself, of evenin's, and me and George
Ga neighbor) can fetch the fertilizer
in the cart and work it in ourselves"
quickly grasped his hard little hand
and thanked him (to his intense con.
fusion) and to the children, as TO me-
am sure there came a breath OF
sweetest odors and flash of glowing
colors, as we saw, through Hopes
clear glasses, our beautiful school
grounds. But, alas! for our visions
and dreams! The little lad had
scarce finished speaking when his
father, good, but an Ignorant man,
laid his heavy hand on the rounding
little shoulder and In a voice big
enough to frighten most of us, said;
Go slow, boy, If there's any time
lyln' round loose evenin's you can
take your plow up in that hill patch
and get a move on you They's plow.
in enough in the fields for my boys
to do. 'thout this sort O foolishness."
The patient little teacher glanced
at me then and | understood at last
why she had seemed Indifferent. Aud
tho willing little lad-my heart achnd
for him, and tried to make MY
fingers pressure on the dropping
shoulders tell him how gladly | would
have helped him, II might, to pillow
that hill patch"
| wonder If parents realize how 1t
hurts when a chlld's hopes and dreams
arc bruised by the hand that God
meant to be, of all, the greatest, ten.
derest one!
But to return to tho point from
which | am prone to wander Tue
man who considered Improvement Of
house and grounds foollshness' is
trustee of the school, and Ia, with the
aid of four little sons under II, MAX.
ing each year fine crops. And his OK.
ample Is considered good, so all the
other patrons do as he does, and the
faithful teacher must sit In an empty
room whenever a good day for work
land they are so many) comes around.
At the best, her school Is run only
few months, because the big" (N
children are put In the crop and the
little ones cant so alone This is a
cruel hardship to children and teacher
alike The children's brains suffer
and the teachers purse, since they
are paid in some counties according
to the average daily attendance. And
this, by the way, seems a strange law.
The teachers do their best but only
the majesty of the law, rigidly en-
forced by busy "truant officer will
ever force some parents to take their
children out of "the crop" and put
them in the school.
This average business makes me
think of a queer state Of affairs on
the place of a relative Of mine in
Jefferson county. There Is a school
for white children on one side of this
place and 1t keeps the little teacher
on the rack all the time to make
Ter average" | know her to be one
Of the best teachers in the State, and
her interest In her work and in her
pupils never flags. Both patrons and
pupils love and appreciate her. but
more than once she has failed to
make her average" and her small
salary, therefore, grows smaller. Her
pupils "have to work" and frequently
cut of the twenty-five enrolled fifteen
will be absent.
On the other side Of this big plan.
taton Is a negro school, with an en-.
rolment of close on to ninety And
that teacher never loses a cent
of his salary because he doesn't make
MS average His daily roll shows
an average attendance of eighty.
And they arc the laborers who make
tho cotton and corn Of our State The
difference lies in this, as Mr.. Whitfield
says, we must give our children better
tools with which to labor than we
ever had. This fact most of our white
people seem to ignore But 1t Is
beaten In the brain land seems to
spring UP in the hearD Of every negro
Parent, by preacher and teacher alike.
until they think they are committing
an objectionable sin by keeping "ary
chile way frum school" | must con-
fess that this close attendance does not
seem Of advantage to some Of them,
oven remotely, but it Is the desire on
the part of the parents Of which we
speak. Would that the superior race
mad half the reverence for "schoolin
that anmates the breast of the rudest
darky.
There would then be no need for
Bulletins" or Educational Bureaus"
and Mississippi would grow into y
paradise fer teachers.
Memory recalls just here political
Tor, to be correct, politic) friends
ADVICE about "treading on my road
ers' toes but moments thought re-
assures me- for | know beyond be.
yond all question that parents and
patrons of the class | am here be.
wailing will not take time from the
grass in the crops just now to reaG
about what Parker Is saying or tho
latest discovery of charbon or the boil
weevil, even, so anything about
"schoolin Is safe from their eyes.
But yau kind friends, who chance to
be their neighbors-won't you hep
their children and the children of gpn.
orations yet unborn by striving con-
tinually to make better the schools Of
Mississippi, so that our young men
and womer may have the best of tools
with which to do Life's work, and may
understand the use Of the most deli.
cate and intricate OF them? You can
do this great work at so little cost
to you, but It will, like the bread
upon the waters" return after many
days, with countless blessings In Its
wake,
-s------
Patient feel dopey all the time.
| don't know watts de matter wld mo.
Doctor-Is your occupation seden.
tary? Patient don't ketch onter
dat. I'm a streetcleaning contractor
an. Doc tor--Ah! What you need Il
exercise.-F Philadelphia Press.
She-You say you are unlucky az
cards. He-Very well. you must
be lucky at love, | suppose?' "I am;