The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-30
TEACHERS MEET
 IN CONVENTION
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1J

to get an eight-hour day. In some cases they have already won this con cession. Whether the victory shall prove blessing or a curse will de- pend upon the way in which the re- maining hours of the day are spent. If the hours which are not devoted to work and sleep are spent in dissipa- tion and riotous living, the eight-hour day will prove a curse instead of blessing.
 In Tobacco District.
 q live in the richest agricultural county in the United States, the coun- ty that Is a congressional district by itself, and that has more money de- posited in its national banks than any one of seven southern states that might be named. One of it's leading industries is the growth and manufac- ture of tobacco. As soon as the law allows, and sometimes before the legal age is attained, the boy and the girl leave school to begin work upon the tobacco. The owner of one of the to- bacco factories assures me that durin 3 the noon hour the telephone is kept in constant use by the young people who are anxious to secure seats upon the roof garden and at the vaudeville show. I have no quarrel With the young people who seek recreation dur ing the hours which are not devoted to bread winning. I have heard of industrial establish ments in which 1T takes 22 persons to make shoe. have never been able to ascertain through how many hands the tobacco pa sses before it ends in ashes and smoke. Think of human being spend ing the working hours of whole week in making the 22d part of pin, tn Q 9th part of a shoe, the infiinitesimal part of a cigar, and you can form some idea of the drudgery against which human nature rebels, and from which it seeks relief by visiting the roof gar den, the theatre and the saloon. I say have no quarrel with the toilers who seek recreation. Our insane asylums are filled with farmers wives whose work was never done, who went through a ceaseless round of drudgery seven days in the week, year after year. until the nervous system broke down and the individual sank into hopeless insanity. It is the inexora ble demand of human nature that it shall seek and have relief from the drudgery of piece work in the shop and the factory. What keeps me awake at night is the thought that if these l toilers had been taught at sch ool how
 
 would seek recreation and enjoyment | by visiting the public library instead | of going to the roof garden and the | saloon.
 Fitting Pupils for Work.
 l "It is not easy to map out cur riculum that shall fit pupils for work | fin a silk mill, tobacco shop, cara l mel factory and the other industries l which are listed in the United States census; it is even a doubtful question
 wh ether the American people would l tolerate preparation in the public l sch ools for work In the brewery, the l distillery and the like; but we can i all agree upon the desirability of fit | ting pupils to enjoy the things of the ] mind and the higher life, on the i'm 1 portance of teaching the right use oi | books, on the supreme duty of train | ing the boy and the girl to think the l best thoughts of the best men as these are enshrined in art and literaturs The pupil who Is taught to think the | thoughts of God as these are expressed | fin the starry heavens above us, in thf l moral law within us and in all nature about us, tastes the joys of life which does not turn upon what we eat and drink and the thousand things thai | money will buy.
 importance of Education.
 "Educa tion for avocatjon is quite as important as education for vocation | Man shall not live by bread alone.
 is maxim spoken by the greates
 teacher of all the ages; Jesus, wnt Himself earned bread and supported his mother by working at the carDen