Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1904-06-28
Without 1t the College and Academy
Could Not Exist.

IN parallel rows across tn room
Then the march of progress having
once begun. came blackboards and
states with pencils that would nor
scratch and copy books with marvel
OuS copies. better even than those
that could he set by the teacher. and
afthmetcs with hard sums il
them, and reade : With pictures. and
Biographies. coto.-, Il Taps aG'i hialo-
ries. with pictures of revolutionary
generals wreathcd in flags. and with
q background of battle scene. with a
badly damaged drum and a broken
Gunwheei III the Immediate fore
ground.
Those were glorious Old days tor
educaton when the teacher possess
ed the whole knowledge of the COM
munity except what was owned by
the squire the resident Baptist
preacher and the occasional Metho-
dist circuit rider
Now there are mon in abundance
in every community who think they
know as much as the school teachei
but then. aside from the exceptions
noted. he stood alone. True. thor
were here and there recalrlf ta:lt &cIIse
who SAID that the teacher might be
good enough in book larnin, but was
not much on practice but these
were mere kickers, knockers, to whom
the community had accustomed
itself to pay little attention. AS they
increased in umbers. however, tn
peda2ogues founG it necessary to tefp
ahead of them by lca:njno more. nd
+, thus by mutual friction between the
! knockers and the pedagogues. the
schools began the glorious course
which even is yet unfinished
| The teacher of the Little Rec!
Schoolhouse" on the hill abovn the
| spring would not recognize today the
institution into which his little aCl4
, cmy with its old oaken bucket and
water eourd had developed. Sub
jects are now taught that were then
unknown, save among the most
| learned of the learned. The art I.
| nf j Ia TO he ,If,
gentleman with the birch, though
without hrita Conscious of i. Tvs
lated through the abundant cracks
in door. window. and often betWee,.
the logs. Sanitation in broad seas,
was undreamed of and the idea Cf
! IputtinS a set of pupils through a
course OF muscular exercises when
there was corn to hoe, wood to chop
and hOGscWork to be done. would
have been deemed eXquisitely absurd
Physiology and hygiene We're un
| known sciences. Greek and Latin
We're for aspirants to the clerical pro
| fession. Drawing, painting. rhysiOl
ogy. chemistry, botany, zoology, geo
Ogy, algebra. geometry. trigonometry
and half dozen other ologieS and
Ometries were no more than names
There were no blackboards on the
walls, ne Illuminated cards, no free
school text books, no wall maps. ne
! specimens Of the pupils work. ITO fur
naces, no steam heaters or registe
no lavatOries, no uniformed janitOrs
no examination papers to correct nc
schools like the Mckinley. numbering
hundreds and thousands on its rolls
Yet We should not despise the lit
tie Old schoolhouse. with its lacks ans
deficiencies, it's big bucket of sprin2
water and its teacher who bOardet
round. If it had not been, the McI<in
ley would never have been built The
poor Old-time teacher counted himsel
rich with his SIS or $40 month dur
ing the term Then he was few. now
he numbers 450 900; then ne was poor
now he and his fellows divide Zip owe:
$3.50 900 900 This sum does not fur
nsh each a munificent salary, but il
is vastly better than it once was ant
Improvement is still the rule Out ot
The little Red Schoolhouses have
grown the kindergarten, the second
ary schools, the academy, the norma
lsohool the university. the manUa
training schools, the evea.9:s sCn'' Is
the vacation schools, the schools fol
deaf, dumb and blind, The commercial
colleges and special institutions Of {
dozen other different kinds all labor
ing in their own fields, supplementins
land completing the work Of the little