Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-04
WOMEN GIVE MjDEL SCHOOL
Americans Provide English Children
with Instruction.
COUNTRY ESTATE FOR TENANTS
widow and stepdauEhter of British
Banker Cut H UD into Small
Tracts for Philan-
thrOpy.

LONDON, oct. 3.-(Special.)-Tw Amer
lean women are setting England an ex-
ample in the reform of the village school.
They are Mrs. Victoria woodruff Martin
and her daughter, Miss Zula Maud Wood
hull. Mrs. Martin is better known In
America as Victoria Woodruff, under which
name she made a great fight half a CEN
fury ago for the vote for women. 1t will
be remembered that she was the only
woman who was ever nominated for the
presidency Of the United States.
Victoria woodruff and her daughter are
teaching England a lesson on their beauti-
full estate at Norton park, in Worcester
shire. This estate is now the property of
Miss Woodruff, having been left to her
by John Biddulph Martin, the millionaire
banker, who married Victoria woodruff
nearly thirty years ago. The Martin
family have been large land owners In
that part Of Worcestershire for many gen.
e~rations.
Some years ago Miss Woodruff and her
mother gave to the county the school at
Bredon's Norton, the village which nestles
at the foot Of Bredon hill, on which Nor
ton Park stands. They turned it over to
the county education committee and for
years 1t was run in the bad old way in
nv VI Nit NAlldEG SNlOOlS III rms
land are still run. The children were
taught little, the teacher was underpaid
and overworked and the sanitary condi-
tons were such that they are best left
undescribed. 1t Is enough to say that in
most of the English villages today the
physique of the school children is much
inferior to that Of the school children of
the towns.
Two m Work.
About a year ago Victoria woodruff and
Miss Woodruff paid a visit to the school
and were shocked with the condition of
things which they found there. The chill
dren were dirty and uncared for. They
were evidently profiting not at all by the
teaching such as 1t was and It was also
evident that their health was suffering
The two women at once put themselves
in communication with the county educa-
ton authorities and placed a plan Of re-
form before them. Victoria Woodruff pro-
posed that the kindergarten system OF
teaching should be engaged and that the
children be regularly inspected by a med
ical man. She offered to bear any extra
expense which might be entailed by these
reforms, but the education committee
stood on it's dignity and declared that
what was good enough for the rest of
Worcestershire was good enough for
Bredon's Norton. Their reply to the 'sug-
gestion that the kindergarten method
should be introduced was that they had
never heard of a teacher named Froebel,
and that they did not propose to intro
duce any new and untried method of
teaching in Worcestershire.
1t wasn't the American way to take a
rebuff like this and the demand for re-
form was pressed. Finally, the education
committee told the two women that If
they didn't like the way the school was
being run they could take It and run it
themselves. They seized the chance of
setting an example for other village
schools, and today Bredon's Norton has
the distinction Of having what is without
doubt the best equipped village school in
England.
New Teachers Replace Old.
The sfirst step was to clean up the build
ing, which had been allowed to fall into a
semi-ruinous condition, and to replace the
old village teacher by two trained kinder
gardeners from the best training college
in London. In fact, the two young women
VINO are teaching the children Of the Wor-
cestershire peasants in Bredon's Norton
have received exactly the same training as
the governess who is educating the little
children of the prince and princess of
Wales, Fngland's future king and queen.
Every appliance that could be thought of
to make teaching easier and learning pleas
anter for the children has been supplied.
They march and dance to the strains of a
high class auto piano, the teacher thus be-
ing free to devote all her attention to the
marching and dancing. and they listen to
Tetrazzini, Melba and other great ~artistes
as interpreted by the best graphaphone that
money can buy.
A doctor examines them once a week
and any defect of vision or i~ncipient ILL
ness is at once noted and attended to.
One result is that children who under the
old school methods were classed as ounces
have developed into model pupils, because
the eye weakness which caused their APP
parent dullness has been discovered and
remedled. The walls of the school are
covered with good pictures and arrange
ments are being made to bring lecturers
down from London to talk to the children
and to illustrate their talks by magic Ian
tern exhibitions. A beginning has been
made already in the lecture course. Last
winter one of the teachers of the village
school made a trip to Rome and since her
return she has been able to take the child
rem over the ground she Travelled with the
aid Of photographs and magic lantern
slides.
Practical teaching is not forgotten in
the Bredon's Norton school. Most of the
children are the sons and daughters of
farm laborers and their lot in life will be
cast on the farms. There is a garden at
tached to the school and the children re-
ceive regular lessons in gardening and in
the lighter kinds OF farming. The girls are
taught butter making and the care of
poultry, Nature study Is the excuse for
delightful rambles in the woods and fields.
To Extend Scope of school.
Miss Woodruff and her mother are plan
ming now to extend the scope of the school.
Plans have been drawn for a new building
which will serve as a village hall as well
as a school room and which will accom-
modate the children from four or five vii
lagos within a radius of five or six miles.
A motor omnibus will collect them from
these villages I'm the morning and take
them home again after school. Il
The most surprising thing OF all is that