The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1908-04-23

department, hurlap bags aud sacks aud
odd clothing ard remnants frCn ben
have teen used. One eXGmT'o "lll y
lustrate the method followed: Ratlia
WAS needed for the work in basketiy,
etc, but ratiia costs good deal ai
money toI SO many children, so they
wero told by the superintendent that
they must discover some plant that
would furnish them with the raw ma
terial for all this work. For weeks
they searched the hills and the
swamps and ths fields, making expert.
ment after experiment, until Al
length they found flexible stem that
would do for the framework and a
Hbre that has proven almost equal to
the purchased ratiia. These materials
they gather, aud cure, and color for
themselves, and weave into waste pa
per baskets, hand bags and all sorts OF
decorative articles.
On investigation by veral of the
teachers, it was found that nearly half
OF all the girls In that school OF about
three hundred were the only house.
keepers their homes had, many of
them, too, under ten years OF age.
This Investigation also revealed home
conditions that we're pitiful In many
cases and unsatisfactory In most in
stances. To remedy this, one of the
rooms of the school building is pal
titioned off by screens into Kitchen
a living room and bedroom and
there these girls, big and little, are
taught how to keep house, to cook
and to buy the simplest aud cheapest
foods; how to "tidy up" room and
make bed; and how to sweep and
clean; and how to decorate iu a plain
and tasteful way.
At the close of the term, the child
rem OF this Lincoln School OF Home
Industry had a "day at home" which
lasted for three days, and "a fair, "
at which the products OF their hands
we're Offer cd for sale. Hundreds OF
people from all classes visited the
children at their work and the net re-
oeipts for the fair exceeded hundred
dollars. From all parts of the city are
coming requests that something like
the same plan be followed In the other
schools of Santa Barbara.
And the results have certainly been
IltLl6 bDUIL VI WUuuoHtui ~" "hS'N
spirit of the school has been trans.
formed aud the entire neighboI hood
uplifted. And this, too, 1t must bt
remem bered, under as hard condi'
tions, eIhaps, as any city IN this
country is required to meet.
None of the teachers had any spec
ial training tor this kind OF work.
The plan had to be wrought by oXier
iment. The attendance average hai
leaped from Sc per cent to almost D
per cent, tardiness Is at a minimum
the spirit CT the school Is right ant
the general department as good as II
any school have ever visited. For
merly more than 10 per cent of all thu
pupils dropped out before gettin.
through the seventh grade. Now 8
per cent stay in until the eighth grad
is reached. was particularly inter
ested In going over the results OF th
iegular Decem ber examinations givei
by the county board OF education tt
the sixth, seventh and eighth grade
of all the schools of the county, ant
TO my intense surprise l found tn
papers written by the pupils of tha
school as high as any in the county
> In spite Of all the time given to th
industrial work, and better by ia
than this school had ever before pro
> dueed. This Is a convincing evidenc
of efticiancy