The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1907-10-19
PRIZES FOR GOOD BISCUIT.
Massachusetts Town Which Enc0ur.
ages Children to Cook.

ages Children to Cook.
The town of Aslfield, Mass, has one
custom which is unique, as well as In
teresting to its citizens and to the sur
rounding world, so far as it has come
to notice This is the children's labor
and prize day.
For the last nine years, on Labor
Day, there have been distributed to the
children Of the town under Is years of
age prizes to an amount in aggregate
OF nearly 500 for the best evidences
Of their industry, ingenuity and special
intelligence and capacity. These prizes,
which are nearly all in money, are CIV
en- by citizens and summer residents,
and are awarded by committee chos-
en- for the purpose.
This year, following the usual Gus
tom, says the Boston Globe, there will
be an exhibit in the Town Hall on the
day appointed, at which time the names
Of the winners will be publicly announc-
ed. All through the year the children
of the various schools throughout the
town have been preparing for this
event, for besides individual exhibits,
collections are made and work done in
common by the children of the different
schools with the aid Of the teacher.
This work consists of the adornment
Of the school houses or school yards,
themaking of school gardens, collections
of wild flowers and of minerals, lists Of
birds seen in Ashfield, with dates of ar
rival and notes on their habits; draw
ings and paintings, models, compost
lions, number work, etc:
Each school in town has school
| garden, and these are visited once or
more during the summer by some mem
Der of the committee, either in person
or by proxy, and such garden products
as may be in season will be exhibited
on Labor Day.
The exhibits for individual prizes are
divided into the following classes:
1. Plain Needlework and Drawing
| (a) A prize for the best dishcloth or
towel with plain hem and three initials
in cross-stitch, by child under II
years Of age; CO. for the best apron
or undergarment with hemstitch at the
bottom, by a child under IA years; (c)
for the best shirt waist or skirt by a
child under Is years.
2. Embroidery and fancy work.
3. Knitting and crocheting.
4. Plain washing and ironing.
5. The best-arranged bouquet of gar
den or wild flowers
6. Collections-(a) OF pressed wild
flowers; 90 OF. pressed leaves of forest
trees native to Ashfield; (c) Of woods
of forest trees, of sections not less than
| 2 inches in diameter; (d) Of grasses;
| (e) of ferns; (f) of fungi; 60 Of
seeds of native plants; (h) of insects
found in Ashfeld; (f) of relics or other
curiosities.
Z. List of plants observed during the
year on any single half-acre.
8. List of forest trees native to Ash
field, with a statement Of the special To-
cality in the town where rare or re-
markable fine trees are to be found,
with the measurements of the largest
| trees and with an account Of the uses
| to which the different kinds are put.
9. Wild animal, squirrel, woodchuck
or any other, tanned.
10. Chickens, RABBITS Or other tame
animals.
II. Work with jackknife or other
tools.
-. Miscellaneous work show
ing ingenuity, such as basket-making,
frame-making, ETC., or anything not
specially enumerated in the list which
may seem deserving Of prize.
In addition to the prizes which will
be awarded for entries in the above
named classes, special prizes are offered
for the following: For the best loaf of
bread or pan-raised biscuits made by
girl not younger than 10 years, 81;
for the second best, Is cents.
For the best and second best cake
under the same conditions, two similar
prizes.