The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1904-07-30

h@ N.Y. ~ % n.y.
can plow up every bit Of this Ian
myself, of eyenin's, and me and Georg
"a neighborJ a fetch the fertilize
In the cart and work 1t in ourselves.
| quickly grasped his hard, little han,
and thanked him Ito his intense cor
fusion) and to the children, as to me
am sure there came a breath 0
sweetest odors and a flash of glowing
coiors, as we saw, through Hope
clear glasses, our beautiful schoo
grounds But, alas. for our vision.
and dreamst The little lad hat
scarce finished speaking when hi!
father, a good, but an ignorant man
laid his heavy hand on the rounding
little shoulder and in a voice bi.
enough to frighten most OF us, said:
go slow, boy, if there's any time
lyin' round loose eYenin's you car
take your plow up IN that hill patch
and get a move on you, They's pillow
in enough in the fields for my boys
to do. 'thont this sort o. f%oolishness.'
The patient little teacher glanced
at me then, and | understood at last
why she had seemes indifferent. And
the willing little lad--my heart ached
for him, and tried to make my
fingers pressure on the dropping
shoulders tell him how gladly / would
have helped him, if | might. to pillow
that Hill patch"
| wonder if parents realize how it
hurts when a child's hopes and dreams
are bruised by the hand that God
meant to be, of all, the greatest, tsn.
derest one!
But to return to the point from
which | am prone to wander. The
maj who considered improvement of
house and grounds "foolishness'' Is a
trustee of the school, and is, with the
aid Of four little sons under IA, max,
ing each year fine crops. And his ex.
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 a
few months, because the big 90
children are put in the crop and the
little ones can't go 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
tc 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-
by a busy 'truant officer" will
ever force some parents to take their
children out of the crop and put
in the school.
This average" business makes me
think of a queer state of affairs on
place of a relative of mine in
Jefferson county. There is a school
Tor white children on one side of this
5lace and it keeps the little teacher
IN the rack all the time to make
er average" | know her to be n
# the best teachers in the State. and
Ter interest in her work and in her
never flags. Both patrons and
PUPILS love and appreciate her, but
more than once she has failed to
make her average" and her small
therefore, grows smaller. Her
have to work. and frequently
ut of the twenty-five enrolled fifteen
will be absent.
On the other side of this big plan.
alton Is a negro school, with an en-.
ollment OF close on to ninety. And
hat teacher never loses a cent
4 his salary because he doesn't make
is average" His daily roll shows
average attendance Of eighty.
And they are the laborers who make
he cotton and corn of our State. The
Inference lies in this, as Mr.. Whitfield
avs, we must give our children better
1ols with which to labor than we
yer had. This fact most of our white
seem to ignore. But it Is
eaten in the brain land seems to
pring up in the heart) of every negro
aren't. by preacher and teacher alike,
ntil they think they are committing
n objectionable sin by keeping 'ary
nile way frum school" | must con.
$50 that this close attendance does not
OF advantage to some of them.
Yen remotely, but it is the desire on
le part OF the parents of which we
peak, Would that the superior race :
adj half the reverence for "schoolin'"
AT aninates the breast of the rudest
lrky. ,
There would then be no need for ;
Bulletins" or Educational Bureaus" )
I'd Mississippi would grow into a {
lradise for teachers. {
Memory recalls just here a political =
II, to be correct, a politic) friends !
about threading on my read }
toes" but a moments thought re. =
sures me, for | know beyond. be ,
md all question, that parents and
ltrons of the class | am here BE- q
ailing will not take time from the $
ass in the crops just now to read
,out what Parker is saying or the /
test discovery of Charlton or the boil v
eevil, even, so anything about r
is safe from their eyes.
ut yau, kind friends, who chance to S
!, their neighbors--won't you help t
cir children and the children of gen
ations yet unborn by striving CON o
nually to make better the schools Of
ississippi, so that our young men b
nd women may have the best of tools Il
It'll which to do Life's work, and may a
lderstand the use of the most deli q
tie and intricate of them? You can
this great work at so little cost Il
you, but it will, like the bread 2
,on the waters return after many S:
!ys, with countless blessings in its
axe. Il