St. Tammany farmer., 1907-12-21

| which should furnish an object les
son of what a county school should
/ and might be. The Federation of
| Women's Clubs, body of 5000 rep.
resentatiVe women, having been long
| devoted to efforts for educational bet
terment. and, as Mr.. Branson knew,
particularly interested In the problem
Of the rural school, at once accepted
the suggestion and pledged the requi.
site sum,
The school was to be part Of the
county system. its location to be de-
cided by competition among the
county superintendent of the state,
the school TO be awarded to the high
est bidder and the federation pledging
| itself to supply the difference be-
Ween this highest bid and the neces.
'ary $1,000 All the money was to
| 1e placed in the hands Of the Geor-
| ia federation. and the school was
o be inaugurated by the federation,
md remain under its control Mr.
3ranson, on his part, pledged to un-
| tertake the technical direction of the
school
So much interest was aroused, and
he bids of the counties ran so high.
hat it was found possible to supple
nent the efforts of two communities,
| instead of one, with the sum raised
by the federation. Hence, while
DanielsVille, Madison county, with q
bid Of $500. secured the first school.
Waters district, Floyd county, was
able. with $3.50, to secure a second.
The tragedy OF the situation lay in
two splendid bids of $500 from Bar
tow county and $3.50 from Rabun
county. the latter the most mountain.
Gus county in Georgia To those who
understand the meaning of these
guarantees from such sections there
is infinite patbos in the thought of
such sums as these having been gath.
cred for such cause and in vain!
One thousand dollars more would
have done noble service.
The two sections securing the
schools furnished contrasting but ex-
cellent fields for the social expert.
ment. Danielsville. the county seat
OF Madison county, is typical village
of the best character Its people are,
many of them. educated and refined,
but the county is essentially rural,
since only one edge of it is crossed by
railroad, DanielsviIle itself being
six miles distant from It. About 500
people center at Danielsviile The best
of them threw themselves heart and
soul into the effort not only to secure
the first model school. but to guaran.
tee its perpetuation. The president
of the county board of education, a
well-known lawyer besides his other
efforts. threw his home open to the
teachers. who were thus assured the
comforts of daily life.
Waters district, Floyd county, is q
crossing" of the Southern railroad,
just out of the little city of Rome.
Its people are rougher than the coun.
try folk. and the life led there by the
three young teachers was hard enough
to furnish missionary conditions.
Both schools thrfved surprisingly,
The people, who looked upon it at
first as sort of yagary of their su.
perintendent and the clubwomen.
soon became deeply interested in the
plan The school at Danielsville,
opening with S6 pupils, very soon had
125. a great number of children com
ing in from the county to board. At
Waters about 80 remained in at.
tendance
At both places kitchen and work.
shop were added to the schoolhouse.
which belonged to the county, and
about 5000 was spent in permanent
improvements. The success of the ex.
pertinent may be gathered from the
fact that the fiVe-month schools, main.
tanned as an experiment, were re-
placed by eight months sessions In
both counties the succeeding year.
The plan is that each school shall
become blooming garden, the gen.
eral headquarters of the people of
the neighborhood. where library and
reading rooms shall help to rem.
der it attractive and necessary to
patrons, as well as to pupils.
It is safe to say that these two
model schools in purpose. plan and
detail will be the model indeed for
thousands of others which the new
educational movement in the south
will produce. That they have been
successfully initiated. maintained and
administered by women furnishes a
fair answer to that already RAPIDLY
vanishing question: What can
women's clubs do?'