The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1910-03-31

would JOIN IN, and then there would
come an awful silence, and then the
sound of the chains and whips, and
one or two groans and screams, but
Immediately the song would begin
again. It is some of the boys or very
young women, who are doing it the
first time, who groan. The others
sing right along. Usually it lasted
about an hour, but the last two nights
I went to sleep listening to it. My
nerves are still sound, you see.
A VILLAGE SCHOOL.
Two weeks ago I made my first
'tour" into the villages. We started
at seven in the morning, and got back
before dark, but it was enough for
the first time. I can't possibly tell
all the new things saw.
went on horseback, and Miss
Bushnell, and Digin Marian, our
bible woman, and the driver, Varton,
came in the sleigh. It took them three
hours in the sleigh, but I let them get
an hours start, and then let Gydezok
gallop, so that it took me only two
hours. We went through Chevlik,
Heregna's village, which is five or six
miles out, and on to Oznee. There
has been boys school there for
several years, but the girls school
just started last fall. A girl who
graduated from our school two years
ago is the teacher. But let me tell
you about the building. One always
feels like going into cellar, or a
tunnel, on entering a native building
here, for they are built of rough
gray stone with mud for cement, and
a few feet below ground level, for the
extra warmth. We went down a long,
dark passageway before coming to
the doors into the schoolrooms, that
is so that the cold air won't sweep in.
The boys room was 20 by 40 feet and
there were 125 boys in it. I don't
suppose you believe that either, but
counted the boys as they went out at
noon and measured the room. There
was only one bench in the room for
the bigger boys, no desks; all the rest
of the boys sat on the floor, with their
feet curled up under them, or under
somebody else. There were two small
windows, high up in the wall, but they
couldn't be opened; just try to
imagine the air. There was one
teacher. The walls were gray mud,
not a blackboard or a picture to re-
lieve the monotony. The girls room
was much the same-only 10 by 20
feet, with 60 girls in it; no desks or
benches; stool for the teacher, and
an attempt at ''school decorations" a
Sunday school picture card, three by
four inches, stuck on the wall Half
the children barefoot and the snow
four feet deep outside. There was no
fire in either room. The heat from
their bodies warmed it. The boys
had few more books than the girls,
but they were all years old; ragged,
dirty and many of them torn in two so
that more could study from one book.
Each teacher was doing we'll to get
clear around in the day, to hear each
child read, the rest of the time the
child sat on the floor and studied.
The rooms we're quiet and orderly,
too; the kids were too glad of the
chance to come. They didn't try to
teach anything except reading, though
a few of the boys had some arithmetic
that they worked at for themselves.
Every one of the girls had to begin
with the alphabet last fall, but some
of the bigger ones we're already read
ing in the second reader. None of
the girls were more than IL or -, as
they marry them at that age, in the
villages. We heard a few girls read,
and then hung up big Sunday school
picture roll, and Digin Marian told
the girls the stories of few of the
pictures. The roll was on the life of
Christ. Then we told the girls to go
home and tell their mothers to come.
We gave each one a little Sunday
school picture card. Then the
Gregorian priests wife took US to her
house. The priest in that. village is
quite friendly to us, or we couldn It
have one of our girls as teacher there.
Such a house! but a good deal
better than some I have been in.
Most of these people live in the
stables, or have the stables in the
house, don't know which it is; but
these people had a little, separate
room, because the baby-eight
months Old-was sick, and they
thought it wouldn't be good for him
in the stable. I don't wonder the
; poor kid was sick; I should be if I
had to live there. They had him
rolled and rolled up in regular
: swaddling clothes, and youngster