davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21
OPPORTUNITIES AT HOME.
PERNICIOUS PHIL OSOPHY or JOHN
l. INGALLS, FAMOUS POEM
HOW HOME OPPORTVN-
TIES HAVE BEEN
OVERLOOKED.

Solution Of the Labor Question to be
Found in the Development OF Home
Industries.
Many a beautiful thing is pernicious
I'm it's effect. There is no telling how
many men have given up good fight
inc chance and have literally laid
down in harness because they had alb
sorbed from John j. Ingalls, poem
OPPORTUNITY the idea that they
had had their chance, and that for
them at least opportunity would not
return. Here is the poem:
Master of human destinies am 1,
Fame, love and fortune on my foot
steps wait.
Cities and fields 1 walk. penetrate
Deserts and seas remote. And pass
ing by
Hovel and mart and palace, soon OF
late
1 knock unbidden once at every
gate.
II sleeping wake; if feasting rise
I turn away; it is the hour of fate
And those who follow me reach every
state
Mortals desire and conquer every
every foe
Save death; but those who doubt ol
hesitate.
Condemned to failure, penury anC
woe,
Seek me in vain, and uselessly i'm
plore'
answer not, and l return no more.
a beautiful poem-yes, but pernic
ious as is the theory of fate or the
twin tenet of predestination. If oppor
tunity comes but once, where is th'
use of striving. 4
President James Of the Universit!
Of Illinois during the recent commence
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21
HOmecrOn and Craft.

The 'homecroft' idea, referred to by
George ii. Maxwell in his address be-
fore the Biennial Convention of the
General Federation of Women's Clubs,
is closely allied to the "home arts and
crafts" propaganda, in which so many,
in and out of the federation, are inter
ested. The homecrofter, owning his
home and little patch of ground-an
acre or two, more or less-is Of all
persons the one most likely to be inter.
ested in home crafts-little lines OF
manufacture, which, added to the pro
duce of his ground, may afford sup
port to his family, either constantly OF
as substitute for wage-earning em
ployinent when some great shop OF
factory may be suspended. Aided
perhaps, by little gas engine or elec
trio motor, he may have choice of al
infinite variety of crafts, in which he
and his family may profitably engage
Here is q combination which seems tC
offer relief from the demoralizing ano
devitalizing conditions of our present
factory system; also mode of multi
plying the number of those citizens
independent of both landlord and EN-
ployer, who are the backbone OF
American democracy. Give us the
homecrofter and the craftsman in one
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21
KeeD Politics Out.

Every public-minded citizen should
make it known that he is absolutely
opposed to partisan, political control
in the management of public parks
roadside improvement Fairgrounds
and like town betterments. Nothing
can be more detrimental to such de
velopment than the interference OF
politics. Party responsibility, as a
remedy for municipal mismanagement
has been proved q "delusion and a
snare" Such methods have raised to
important places bigoted, incompetent
and sometimes dishonest men, VINO, by
reason of their weaknesses or mis-
management, have disgraced what
should be honorable and respected
positions. Our citizens should insist
absolutely that no political consider
ations be allowed to interfer with
park affairs, and should visit with
marked censure and disapproval all
city officials who prostitute their trusts
for mere political gain.
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21
OPPORTUNITIES AT HOME.

tendency to draw the manufacturing
interests into the great transportation
ccnters, the tide has flowed strongly
toward the city and the sman town
has had hard struggle to retain it's
own.
In this respect, however, the pendu-
lun is swinging back also. The con-
ditions surrounding the workmen in
the cities, the lack Of home life and
the presence of accumuA ted vice, have
demonstrated to the satisfaction of
every one that we will never reach our
highest industrial success until the
average workman is placed where he
can have fresh air, family, and
home for that family. The small town,
everything else being equal, is the
place for Industries. A man with q
home, and who spends his evenings
with his family beautifying that
home, is not only q better citizen, but
he is worth infinitely more to his en-
ployer than his brother laborer who
has no interest other than that he
finds with his saloon companions and
in ward politics.
When the reformers have settled the
Industrial labor questions they will not
be calling for less hours of work, but
q distribution of the hours of work.
Six hours in the factory or the mine
and the balance at home working on
an acre of ground may be made a
solution of the whole question between
labor and capital. Any man with a
home and one acre of the earth's sur
face that he can call his own, and
with employment at fair wages during
five OF six hours of the day, need never
fear want for himself or his family.
Under such conditions his family can
he reared and educated and live under
the advantages Of wholesome socia2
atmosphere,
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21
THE AGRICULTURAL HIGHSCHOOL
Successful Exampl-S Described by
Crosby Of Department of Agricul-
ture OF Local Improvement
Through Rural Education

In the new Year Book of the De-
partment of Agriculture, just issued,
is description by ID. j. Crosby, of the
Office of Experiment Stations, which
shows, in number of instances, what
splendid results are being attained
through the Introduction of common
sense agricultural studies in some of
the country village schools, and how
they directly affect and benefit their
home towns. There is what appears
to be, an almost ideal Pennsylvania
village high school, which the writer
visited. He describes what he saw:
In Erie County, Pa, surrounded by
good general farming and dairy
country, is the village of Waterford,
on the outskirts OF which is the site of
Fort le Boeuf, of French and India
war fame. At Waterford the first
school in Erie County was establish,
in 1900, and here as far back as 1920
was erected Il stone academy build
ing, which is used to-day as the main
part of the high-school building. The
township of Waterford has a popula-
ton of 1,4G0 and about one han re-
side in the borough of Waterf ri. Tfe
| borough has its own elementary
school, but the high school is support
ed and controlled jointly by the bor-
ough and township.
This high school, with its three
| teachers and three courses of study
| Language, scientific, and agriculturaD, /,
has an enrolment of SO pupils, and 80
of these are in the agricultural course.
! This course includes agriculture, five
hours q week for four years. The
work of the first year is devoted to a
study of plant life-germination, plant
growth, plant food, reproduction. prop
agation, transplanting, pruning, and
use of plants; the second year to q
study of field, orchard, and garden
crops; the third year to domestic ami
mails. dairying, and soil physics, a
the fourth year to the chemistry OF
soils and of plant and animal life
Text books are used in the class
rooms; small library of agricultural
reference books, reports and bulletins
of this Department and experiment
stations, and agricultural papers con
tributed by the publishers is in almost
constant use, and lectures on aSricul
tural subjects are given before The
class and before the whole school 10y
the instructor in agriculture, who is
an agricultural college graduate. Bu
the feature of instruction whicl
chiefly distinguishes this agricultural
course from the ordinary high schoo
course is the prominence given to th'
i laboratory work and the outdoor prac
ticum. For the laboratory work ther
is no elaborate apparatus. The pupil
make much of their own apparatus
furnish their own reagent bottles, anC
J moreover use them. In the plaintiff
course the pupils study not elaborat
, and carefully prepared drawings, bu
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21

1t had been organized only three or
four weeks, and yet the interest man
ifested and the readiness with which
the boys and girls described the beef
type, the dairy type, and various
breeds of cattle, the mut on and wool
types of sheep, the principal breeds of
draft horses, and some of the stand
ard-bred roadsters and trotters, were
indeed surprising. At the close of the
recitation the class was taken to
barn in the village w ere vera fine
roadsters were owned. The owner was
not at home, but the teacher had
standing permission to take L horses
from the barn in order that the class
might examine them. a fine Hamble-
tonian mare was led into the yard and
examined critically by the pupils and
criticised by them, the different points
being brought out by skillful question
ing on the part of the teao- :.
FOm this place the class went to q
| livery barn where a splt 1dld black
| Percheron stallion was stabbed for tie
| day. A member of the class had dis
covered the horse as he was Icing
driven in from another town II miles
away, and following the driver to the
barn had got permission for the class
| to examine him. When the livery
barn was reached the driver brought
his stallion out into the street, put
him through his PAGES, and helped the
teacher in calling attention to his good
points and the contrasts between G
draft type and the roadster type OF
horses, and allowed us to take several
photographs. 1t was an instructive
lesson not only for the members
of the agricultural class, but foi
| the score or more of farmers
and townsmen who collected around
the livery stable. In much the
same way the local butcher is the in
structor in the high school. The elias.
studying the beef type of cattle, ol
the mutton sheep, or the different
classes of swine is taken to the butch
er shop and given a DEMONSTRATION
lesson on cuts and their relative val
ues, which of the breeds are apt tC
produce the better cuts, which the
better quality, anC so on.
| Thus this little village high school
| though it pays only $2,23O q year II
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21

the plants themselves with reference
to their life history and economic uses.
For the outdoor practicum the
school is unfortunate i'm having
neither land nor domestic animals nor
fowls, and yet it has wealth of illus
trative material all around it. Every
good farm within q radius of 3 or
miles. nearly every barn and poultry
yard in the village, the butcher shops,
and the farm implement stores furnish
costly illustrative material and extend
vastly the teaching force of the high
school. The farmers and owners of
good live stock either bring thei' ami
mails to the door of the school house
to be studied by the class in agricul-
ture or allow the class to go to their
barns and fields for this purpose. 1t
is said to be rare thing for good
horse to come to the village and get
away without being examined by the
high school class i'm animal husbandry.
The writer was fortunate i'm being
the guest of the school one day last
October and i'm having an opportunity
TO listen to some Of the recitations i'm
agriculture. A class of II boys and
g girls were studying animal industry.
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21


man. The following is taken there
from:
EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND
HOMES ON THE LAND.
That children shall be taught
gardening and bomecraft in the public
schools, and that Homecraft and
Garden Training Schools shall be
established by county, municipal,
state, and national governments,
where every boy and every man out
Of work who wants employment where
he can gain that knowledge, can learn
how to make home and till the soil
and get his living straight from the
ground, and where every boy would
be taught that his first aim in life
should be to get home Of his own
on the land.
BUILD HOMECROFTS AS NATION
AL SAFEGUARDS.
That the New Zealand system Of
Land Taxation and Land Purchase
and Subdivision, and Advances to Set
tiers Act, shall be adopted in this
country. to the end that land shall be
subdivided into small holdings in the
hands of those who will till it for q
livelihood, and labor find occupation
in the creation of homecrofts, which
will be perpetual safeguards against
the political evils and social discomfort
resulting from the overgrowth of
cities and the Sufferings Of unem-
ployed wage-earners.
PROTECTION FOR THE AMER
ICAN HOMECROFT.
That Rural Settlement shall be
encouraged and the principle of Pro-
lection for the American Wageworker
and his Home applied directly to the
Home by the Exemption from Taxa
tion of all improvements upon, and
also Of all personal property, not ex-
ceeding $500 in value, used on and
in connection with, every Homecroft
or Rural Homestead Of not more than
ten acres in extent, which the owner
occupies as q permanent home and
cultivates with his own labor and so
provides therefrom all or part Of the
support for family.
ENLARGEMENT OF AREA AVAIL
ABLE FOR HOMEMAKING.
That the National Government,
as part Of q comprehensive nation
al policy of internal Improvements
for river control and regulation,
and for the enlargement to the
utmost possible extent of the
area of the country available for agri-
culture and Homes on the Land, and
for the protection of those Homes from
either flood or drouth, shall build not
only levees and revetments where
needed, and drainage works for the
reclamation Of swamp and overfowed
lands, but shall also preserve existing
forests, reforest denuded areas, plant
new forests, and build the great reser-
voirs and other engineering works
necessary to safeguard against over
flow and save for beneficial use the
flood waters that now run to waste.
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21
EDUCATION
COOPERATION
OPPORTUNITY
HOME ECRCFTS

We believe that the Patriotic Slogan
of the Whole People of this Nation
should be Every Child in Garden
Every Mother in Homecroft-and In
div idual Industrial Independence for
Every Worker in q Home of his Own
on the Land" and that until he owns
such q Home, the concentrated purpose
and chief inspiration to labor in the life
of every wage worker should be his
determination to Get an Acre ani
Live on it."
We believe that the Slums and
Tenements and Congested Centers OF
population in the Cities are savagely
deteriorating social, moral and polit-
ical influence, and that Il great public
movement should be organized, and
the whole power of the nation and
the states eXerted for the betterment
of all the conditions of Rural Life, and
to create and upbuild Centers of So
cial and Civic Life in Country and
Suburban Towns and Villages, where
Trade and Industry can be so firmly
anchored that they cannot be drawn
into the Commercial Maelstrom that
is now steadily sucking Industry and
Humanity into the Vortex OF the
Great Cities.
We believe that every Citizen in
this Country has an inherent ana
Fundamental Right to an Education
which will train him to Earn q Llv-
ing, and, if need be, to get his living
straight from Mother Earth; and that
he has the same right to the Opportull-
ity to have the Work to Do which will
afford him that living, and to earn not
only G cor eortable livelihood, but
enough more to enable him to be a
Homecrofter and to have Home OF
his Own, with ground around 1T
sufficient to yield him and his family
q Living from the Land as the reward
for his own labor.
We believe that the Public Domain
| is the most precious heritage of the
people, and the surest safeguard the
nation has against Social Unrest. Dis
turbance or Upheaval, and that the
| Cause of Humanity and the Preserva-
ton Of Social Stability and of our Free
Institutions demand that the absorp-
ton of the public lands into specula-
| tive private ownership, without settle
ment. be forthwith stopped; and that
the nation should create opportunities
for Homecrofters by building irriga-
ton and drainage works to reclaim
land as fast as it is needed to give
every man who wants a Home on the
Land chance to get it.
We believe that, as Nation, we
should be less absorbed with Making
Money, and should pay more heed to
raising up and training Men who will
be Law-Abiding Citizens; that the well
fare Of our Workers is of more con-
sequence than the mere accumulation
of Wealth: and that Stability of Ma
tionol Character and of Social and
business Conditions is of greater inn
portance TO the people Of this country
as whole than any ether one ques-
tion that is now before them; and we
believe that the only way to Preserve
such Stability. and to Permanently
Maintain our National Prosperity, Is
to carry into immediate effect and
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21

salaries and only 1870 for other eX-
penses, has faculty made up of nu-
merous specialists and an equipment
in illustrative material such as few
technical high schools could afford.
And the pupils are being trained in
the elements of failure and success"
not only on "all the farms of the
neighborhood" but in the village
shops and markets. This is training
for efficiency. 1t is training for cul-
ture, for breadth of view, and for
sympathy with all that goes to make
up the life of the community.
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21
THE INDEPENDENT TOWN.
Make Each Rural Center Dependent
Upon Itself and Its Own Resources

There has lately developed strong
sentiment looking to the Improvement
of the home town-maklhS each
community, as much as possible,
dependent upon itself and its own
resources and those of its sur
rounding country, and lnuepehu-
emf of the great centres which are
constantly striving to secure portion
of tbe local wealth. This local SELF
sufficiency may be fostered by an III
dividual and cooperative determi-
nation to bring the town up to It's
highest possible plane of comfort, gem
eral usefulness and beauty to its resi-
dents. This may be described as a
movement for civic Improvement
The accumulation of considerable
wealth in many American villages ana
towns, during the last ten or twenty
wears. the development or popular
education and the increase OF leisure
has given an opportunity Tor the per-
formance Of public duties, such us
had not seemed to exist to the young
man or woman Of the former geher-
ation. who, in the effort to secure q
livelihood and establish q home hau
Given little thought to the duties OF
citizenship and social Responsiveness
II is only within comparatively
few years that, ''nature study" mas
entered into any of the public-school
work. or even manual training, Wnlle
there are many who yet think that
such institutions as gymnaslulnS'
baths. Fairgrounds, and even vacation
schools and free lectures are unneces'
sarv time consumers for the young.
Nevertheless the general movement
for n better education along rural lines
and for backward and street improve
ment. and the general betterment ol
the village and town is rapidly III
creasing.
AS an instance of this, cvca in sucE
large city as st. Louis, girls and
bows are given practical instruction III
gardening, through the Junior Schoo
of A. Horticulture of the Missouri
Botanical Gardens. The children are
permitted to sell their own products
aTdecided stimulus to their e--crtS
2and in this way many of them earn
considerable pocket money for vacation
time. This school has been in oper
alton for q number of years and is ol
great value to the citizens as we'll a'
to the children of the city, the lattel
of whom would otherwise know practl
cally nothing of nature as countr!
children know it.
Even in Texas the school gardel
and town Improvement idea has made
headway, although there has beer
greater difficulty in obtaining popula
approval and support, possibly, than il
any other section of the country OWN
to the fact, perhaps, that the Lon
Star State has vast areas of unoc
crpied land, and to the fact that tn
influential majority has been but
short time removed from the cattl
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21

ment exercises took occasion to refer
to the philosophy of Ingalls, famous
poem. 1T is false and misleading
said Mr.. James. "It is not single op-
portunity which comes to q man; it is
a train. 1t is q never-ending process
sion, some small, some large, growing
perhaps more small and more insignifi-
cant as the years flow on, but ever
and always opportunities too numer-
Gus, too great, and too large for us to
utilize fully"
This is good, healthful optimism.
There never was time when opportu-
mites of all shapes, sizes and colors
bobbed up on every corner as they do
to-day And they are not confined to
any particular country or locality.
They are waiting everywhere. Under
the rapidly changing Industrial and
economical conditions they are spring
ing up in odd and out-of-the-way'
places. Old settlements-old villages
moss-grown and for years silent as
the cemetery that clngs to theil
skirts. are finding new youth in the
| revival Of occupations and simple in
dustries which twenty years ago were
| deemed impossible. The abandoned
farms of New England-The farms
that were left tenantless because il
was thought that the only opportun
| tiles for success We're to be found il
the West-are receiving new leases o.
life.
PENDULUM IS SWINGING BACK
For full half century the American
people have been money-mad. Every
| thing has been sacrificed to the on
| idea of accumulation. The dollar sigr
became the sole badge of honor, and 6
mans success was measured not b!
what he made of himself, not by wha
he accomplished for his fellows or the
world at large, but by the size of hi
pile.
This standard of success has warp
ed the Imagination of the whole peO
| pie. The merchant and professiona
man bend every energy to the pill
ing up of gold bricks. And the farmer
not to be outdone, lies awake night
thinking how he may get more land
l He has now more than he can till
but the land lust has seized him ant
home comforts and quiet life are solC
III the market in order that the line
fence may be removed
This has been the condition 70
many years, and Il requires careful
observation to detect any change. Blu
a reaction has set in. The pendulum Il
swinging back. A growing sentimen
in favor of q moderate success, a quie'
life and home surroundings is appar
ent. With this comes desire to get
back to original principles; to abandon
the cities and seek the healthful life
of the farm and the village.
The growth of our cities has been
abnormal-the direct result OF alb
normal transportation conditions. "Tc
| him that hath shall be given. and tC
| him that hath not even that which ht
hath shall be taken away" has beer
the working policy Of modern com
mercial transportation companies
The small town has been sacrificed tC
the city. This was the natural result
of competition. In centers where
numerous railroads meet low rates
are given to both the in-going and out
going freight. but where there Is bu'
one road. the traffic is taxed all that l
will bear. This condition has had
CONTINUED on column g.
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21

range business. However, the more
centralized portion Of society has taken
the matter up, and it is stated that
the most public-spirted citizens of
the towns and cities, together with the
progressive teachers have made school
gardens and rural education a success
during the past two seasons and have
aroused such enthusiasm among the
pupils, that wherever ii has been tried,
the school garden has become a fixture.
Let your child plant his own gar
den, gather his own harvest Of fruit
and flowers, learn through his own
small experience something of the
influence of the sun, dew and rain,
and gain thereby remote PRESENT.
ment of the reciprocal energies of
nature and q reverent feeling for the
divine life and law expressed in
nature. The child is plant, vege
table, and must live out of doors, OF
nearly so, as conditions will permit.
T'roebel realized that health was the
basis and test of all our energies, and
that this was one Of the morning
stars of the new hygiene.
Charlevoix county herald., 1906-07-21
Fresh Air Fairgrounds.

American cities are far behind
European cities in making provision
for public parks. especially in pro-
viding for the instruction and amuse-
ment of children i'm them. In modern
municipal equipment in Europe, much
provision is made for the instruction
and amusement of children. and in
most modernized European cities large
sums Of money have been expended in
procuring open spaces for them in dis
tricts Of congested population.