Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-06-17
STATE PRESS ASSOCIATION.
South Carolina Editors Have Great
Time In Spartanburg.
,,nrresnanhence Of the Yorkyille Enauirer


about two hundred members of the
State Press association party, includ-
ing many ladies, are off this morning
for what promises to be a most de-
lightful excursion over the Carolina
Clinchfield and Ohio railroad.
The convention was held at the IA
nous Glenn Springs hotel, on the in
vitation of the management of this de-
lightful watering place, and the hOspi-
table treatment that members of the
association received during their stay
from Monday evening until yesterday
lafternOon, contributed not little to the
pleasure and enjoyment of the occa-
sion. And although this would seem tC
be enough, it is not nearly all that has
fallen to the unusual good fortune OF
the editors. Though the best of good
treatment by the people of the differ
ent towns and cities in which they
have held their annual conventions
they have been shown during the past
few days that as hosts, kind, consider
ate and appreciative, the cultured en-
ergetic and enterprising Spartans have
no superiors in this splendid old state
The convention was called to order
on Monday night by President Kohn
and got at once down to business
| Nearly all of the members who had
been appointed to read papers, made
good with more or less carefully pre-
pared treatment of their respective
subjects, and the discussions develop
ed exchanges of ideas that were OF
value to all. Mr. August KOhn, who
has made good as president of the as
sociation, was unanimously reelected
for another year, the various other Of
| ficers were reelected to their reSpec-
tive places, and a warm and urgent in
vitation to hold the next meeting in the
city of Columbia was accepted by an
overwhelming vote.
The arrangements for yesterday con-
templated an automobile trip from
Glenn's Springs to Spartanburg with
a stop at Cedar Springs institute for
the deaf and blind en- route; but the
programme was disarranged somewhat
as the result of a terrific rain the night
before. There is a good macadam road
from here to Cedar Springs; but most
of the road between Cedar Springs and
Glenn's Springs is red clay. The rain
made the red clay portion of the road
impossible to automobiles, and it was
therefore arranged to bring the Press
association to Spartanburg on Spe-
cial train over the Glenns Springs
| railroad and go to Cedar Spring from
here in automobiles.
We were met at the depot by about
twenty five costly, high powered tour
ing cars and all the members of the
party were easily taken care of. The
committee in charge had the cars tC
maintain distance of about one hun
dred yards one from another, and
we were whirled away to Cedar
Springs at a speed that made some OF
us dizzy.
Capt. Walker, the able and conse-
Grated superintendent, his son, Prof
Lawrence Walker, the various teachers
and all the pupils of the institute
both the deaf and the blind were
| waiting for us at the entrance to the
| institute grounds, and after all of the
members of our party were introduced
to the superintendent, we were taken
into the auditorium of the main build
ing and entertained for an hour OF
more by performances of the deaf
dumb and blind that were interesting
and impressive to all of us. and to
most of us little short of surprising
| revelation.
The programme of the occasion had
been especially arranged in honor OF
| the visit of the Press association, and
| although the time was short, it was Sc
cast as to give a satisfactory idea of
the work in all the different depart
ments. 1t opened with an authem
| Gloria" by the blind choir. This was
\
class room demonstration of instruc-
ton in geography, the pupils finding
any country asked for on relief maps
| and globes. This was followed by an
organ solo, and then came remark
| able demonstration of an intricate
gcometrical problem by Il blind stu
dent. Then there was an athletic
exhibition by twelve or fifteen dumb
boys, and a beautiful butterfly dance
| L.. Il ,ri,. Il rlnt. .nc
an astonishing exhibition of 'm"tion
music" by the deaf girls. The selection
was Onward Christian Soldiers" rem
dered by about thirty pupils. half of
| them blind and the other half deaf.
The blind sang the hymn in a way To
| stir the souls and the deaf kept time
| with their signs, the effect being to ap-
peal to the ears and the eyes of the
| aStOnished audience at one and the
same time. Few of us had ever before
| seen the sign music: but all were
agreed that it was as delightful in its
way as the thoroughly trained voices
Of high class artists. We applauded
| with enthusiastic hand Clapping.
| | shall not neglect to say that York
county and The Enquirer came in for
some special, pleasant distinction yes
! terday afternoon. In one of the class
room demonstrations of the manner of
instructing the dumb, two of the
brightest pupils of their grades. We're
brought to the front To answer qucs-
tions. Prof Lawrence Walker asked
the questions on his fingers with the
alphabet and sign language. Both an
swered most of the questions asked as
| quick as flashes: but on being exam
| incd as to the battle of CowpenS, the
| boy fell down twice. For instance, he
| was unable to give the direction of the
battlefield from Spartanburg, and he
| placed it in Spartanburg county. The
| girl corrected him as to both points,
properly locating the battlefield in
| Cherokee. The incident was So Strik-
ing as to create much interest among
! the editors. and there were inquiries as
| to where they were from. Supt. Walk
| or said the boy was from Aiken and
| the girl was from York, that her name
| was SmOak. y moment after both
| had left the stage and disappeared
from view, some one sung out I" Supt.
| Walker to ask the girl if she knew the
name of her county newspaper. The
superintendent called her back and
| wigglcd his fingers for all instant The
young lady wigglcd a reply, and Supt.
| Walker announced that she says it
is The YorkVille Enquirer" "Who is
| the editor" shouted Col. kohn. Scv-
eral friends undertook to guy me with
the declaration that the little deaf and
| dumb miss could not answer that: but
before there had been time for the de-
vclopmcnt of a great deal of curiosity
there had been wigglcd an interchange
of signals. and Supt Walker announce
| ed, Mr.. Grist. she says" The news
paper boys gave a generous round of
hand clapping for little Miss Smoak
and The Enquirer.
At the conclusion of the exercises
all of the pupils wcr" brought forward
| into the auditorium. the blind on the
| left of the stage and the dumb on the
right: The blind found their places
without help. Superintendent Walk
cr delivered All address to the asSocia
ton, i'm which he reviewed the his
tory of the Cedar Springs institute
in Il most interesting manner. and
told the editors how glad he was to
have them with him. In the course
of his remarks. also. he was kind
enough to speak of the Enquirer as
ON" of the papers which, in the early