The Press., 1910-09-28

Il "
ley, while delivering groceries, broke
Through the bridge at Bigelow pond.
The horse was badly bruised and
scratched and shaft broken. but Mr..
Eldredge escaped without any serious
injury.
a special meeting Of the Eastern
Cemetsry association will be held al
the cemetery Tuesday. All who are
interested in any way in the cemetery
are urged to be present. If the day
is unpleasant, the meeting will be
held at some nearby house.
Recent visitors at e. N. Lawson q
were DR.. A. 3. Bowen of Maquoketa,
Iowa, Mrs. D. P. Carpenter and Miss
Alice J. Carpenter of Eastford, Earle
@. Bowen and family Of Pasadena,
ICal Mr.. and Mrs. r. O. Lawson,
Mrs. Earle Ide of southbridge, Mass. !,
and Mrs. Addie Lawson Bagley Of
Worcester.
| Marcus T. Houghton Of Geneseo.
Ill, and. his daughter, Mrs. Oraun, of
Willow Lake, South Dakota, and her
two children are visiting his sister,
Miss Ruth Houghton, and nephew, A.
T. Allen. This is Mr.. Houghton's
first visit to his native town after
thirty-five years absence, and ne finds
but few old friends left.
There was very good attendance
at the meeting which was held in. the
town hall last Monday evening to
consider the matter of supervision of
schools There were representatives
from nearly all sections of the town,
showing much interest in this i'm.
portant subject. Under the new Law
the voters will be called upon to vote
on the subject of supervision at the
annual town meeting next Monday,
and the meeting on the evening of the
26th was held in order to give the
residents of the town an opportunity
to learn more about supervision, to
give them chance to discuss its ad.
vantages and disadvantages It is
to be regretted that every voter in
Union was not able to be present The
gentlemen who addressed the NEE ting,
Messrs. Bliss and Wheeler, have both
had experience az teachers in country
schools, as we'll as experience as super
visors of country schools, and they
held the close attention of their
audiences. Remarks were made by
several of our towpspeople and a
general discussion followed, during
which many questions were asked, and
to which the visiting gentlemen gave
So isfact1ry answers The general
sentiment of the meeting seemed to
be strongly in favor of supervision.
For the benefit of those who were un.
able to attend, it may not be amiss to
state few facts that were brought to
the atten ton of those who did attend.
Any town that employs less than
twenty teachers is entitled to free
superviti IN; really. with supervisor,
our expenses would be less than they
are under the present system of pay
ing a member of the school board for
visiting the schools tN ice each term.
I've woul1 in no " ise refle1t upon our
own school board, who are doubtless
striving to do the best that they can
under present conditions, but we all
kneg how little benefit to school
or teacher it is for acting visitors,
who 4often know little or nothing of
courses of study, of methods of teach
ing, who never visit progressive
schools of other towns. who, however
sincere they are in their efforts to
help, are, in fact, too busy with their
farming or other business to be Of any
real assistance to our schools The
fact that it is impossible for busy and
ut.tcained men to do the work of q
trained super vi sor was we'll brought
out in the remarks of a mem Der of our
school board, and he gave logical
reasons why he is alphabetically in
favor of supervision. He spoke from
experience he has had as teacher,
as an acting school visitor and as a
parent After all has been said, we
must not Lose sight of the point that
the child is the one important factor
to be considered If they seek higher
education, we want them to go out
from our schools able to compete sue
oessfully with the ohil1ren of other
schools. II circumstances forbid their
going beyond our common schools,
we want these same common schools
TO have given them a good thorough
common school education. Oonnecti-
cut has some eighty towns now re-
oeiVing free supervision, and no doubt
many more will place themselves in
the line of progression at their next
town meeting. If any of your school
board object to supervision, ask them
If they object because they feel that
supervision will be an injury to your
child? Or may the objection possibly
be from prejudice or because there is
some political axe that needs grind
ing? Does your teacher object to
supervision? Ask her if she objects
because of the fear of more work or
of losing her position. We believe
that the energetic. Industrious, efic-
lent teacher. who is anxious for the
best interests Of her pupils, has moth
ing t. fear from supervision, and is
il not just such teachers that Union
wanta?
ASHFORD.