Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-16

a better and higher manhood and Wo-
manhood among ourselves" and fur
ther on it is stated that 1--WE propose
meeting together, talking together,
working together, buying together, SELL
ing together and in general acting to-
gether for our mutual protection and
advancement"
In the installation ceremony the lee
turer is charged with the duty OF lead
ing in the literary program and edu-
cational work of the Grange. Thus we
see by these three statements showing
the purposes of our order the metnoo
of accomplishing it and the duty OF
the lecturer that his position In the
Grange is an important one, directing
| the educational work.
great reformer or teacher may set
| forth some desirable accompaniment
| hut the detailed method of acquiring
| il is another and more difficult propo-
sition: thus different experiments are
made and different methods employed
II is an easy matter to agree tnat
| people should be honest. just, generous
kind and sympathetic, but what par
tic,,lar training will produce THESE
qualities is not always easy to deter
| mine. The lecturers work must deal
| with methods and means OF educatlon
The things to be acquired nave al
| ready been agreed upon, ana II Is
| loft with the lecturer to find means TO
| acconnlish these ends, and 1t Is not
| strange that the work is difficult ana
results sometimes discouraging and
disheartening.
Show me a method by which you can
make people wise and good and l Will
fell Won how to best conduct your iec-
ture work. I have met lecturers from
MANY of the states and have inquired
carefully into the methods employed,
and while 1 have gained many valua-
b,e lessons, I still think the general
system we have is the best. 1t is the
result not of some plan carefully
thought out in theory by some wise
nerson but, like all other great educa-
tional and social systems, 1t IS
wrought out by the common expert
ence of many lecturers.
Programs of music. papers, readines
and discussions having all papers ana
discussions for the same program re-
lating to one subject as far as practi-
cable, with special programs and an
occasional outside speaker seems TO
be the method most commonly pur-
sued by successful lecturers.
| Lecturers should know the Patrons
remembering that it makes vast dlf-
ference who asks you to do thlng as
vel, as the manner in which it is ask
ed. People as a rule are not driven
but led While 1 know some Patrons
are not all that they should be, yet
MANY failures arise because the pro-
grams are not fitted to the members
who are supposed to carry them out.
Each member can do something. and
| after he has done this, it becomes easy
| to do the next thing.
There have been, however, two great
systems of education evolved out OF
| the experience of the ages. One IS by
experience, and the other is from the
| experience of others; one is by doing,
the other is by being told how to do;
one is direct, the other indirect. In the
early history of the race people learn
ed t. do thing by doing it. Every
savage child learned what Gus
toms to observe, what things
to do to bring him into right
relations to life. This is good
method but it is slow, and necessarily
a race or an individual can not ad-
vance greatly in knowledge, for each
child must begin, not where his father
left off, but where his father began;
each must work out all the problems
for himself. The farmer before the
Grange was established. leading more
or less an individual isolated life, too
largely learned by this method.
The other method, that of slearnlng
indirectly by being told the experience
of others. is shown in the teachings OF
the prophets. seers and philosophers OF
all ages, where the few wise people
having by the direct method them
selves learned some Of the laws of life
trv to convey these truths to their fol-
lowers by the indirect method.
The cloister school of the middle
ages and the renaissance period show
this method of impressing on the
minds Of the people beliefs or truths
that others had worked out 1t Is
claimed by some that the public
schools of the past have been tot
largely dominated by this method. Al
least, we notice a great and growing
: tendency at present for the student tc
, work out himself the theories advanced
and to think out some of the things he
| was once required 10 TAKE vi ldit''
In our Grange educational work VIZ
use both these methods, requiring eacf
member to work for results himself
and listen to the experience of others
Early in the year I sent out circu
lar containing some general sugges'
> tions to lecturers with a list of ques-
tions that have been found of Interest
T for discussion. I also sent blank
5 containing questions for the lecturer
, report.
! received reports from 1872 Oranges
/ The average attendance reported was
about 60 per cent. of the number o.
members. The average number O.
4 members under 81 about 121a per cent
: The largest number reported in Wash
ington county. II per cent; and th'
, smallest in Androscoggin county, abou
!. { per cent: 81 libraries were reported
and 23 Oranges had printed programs
Nearly all reported lecturers pro
grams at practically every meeting
and special programs creating tn
greatest interest. Among the thing