Milford chronicle., 1910-01-14

children, for one wear. ffODODly PloVV'
he answered. Il have been quite famil'
lar with white schools Of so children .
said /. that are maintained for year
at a total cost to the district OF 500, and
colored schools at an expense of only $50.
He did not seem to be impressed, but
merely said, I'VE don't care for that
brand of education up here" Afterward
he came to me and cautioned me not to
repeat my remark. "You will lose your
job if people should get the idea that
YOU advocate anything like that. ="
When first came here, the ianitor OF
a rural school came to me and said he
wanted ton OF nut coal. What do
YOU want with nut coal? Your building
is fully supplied with egg coal p 1t is
too warm for coal of any kind anyway"
a. But we want to run the ventilating
system." said he. l meekly wrote the
order, ashamed to confess that it was the
first time had come in contact with
ventilating plant in 8 rural school.
Children start to school in Massachus-
etts at the age OF FIVE. By the COmpul-
sorry Law, every boy and girl between
the ages Of seven and fourteen must at
tend school, not three months or five
months, but the entire term OF ten
months. Every child under the age OF
Is must attend school unless he can read
and write and is regularly employed.
All persons under the age OF 81 who can
not read and write are compelled to at
tend night school. Every town having
lO. 600 inhabitants is compelled to main
tain night school. Natick is just under
the limit but voluntarily appropriates
$500 annually to maintain such school,
One feature Of the night school is the
cooking school where IS lessons are given
TO over 100 women in cooking and do
nestle science.
The second day Of the school term, the
attendance officer reported six absentees.
l thought that remarkably good among
1000 children. "What do you do, said
l. with the absentees ?" Ne have
been little enient," he said, we send
notices and if they are not in the next
Monday, we arrest the parents. ! will
do Just as you say" decided to be
little lenient too.
Outlying district schools have been
closed and the children have been con-
viewed in hacks. II rather amuses me to
see in actual operation a plan that l used
te hear the old wise acres denOunce as
impossible. Not only are the children
brought to school but the hack calls at
noon and takes them back to lunch
Transportation alone costs this town
about $1,000 per year. Any child living
one mile from school. in Massachusetts,
can compel the district to furnish trans
portation.
To many WHO read these facts, they
will seem to retail a woful waste OF pub
lie money. Many will think, what an
addition to the wea tn of the community,
the labor of these children during the
eight or ten months of school would be.
Yet Massachusetts is rot impoverished,
but grows in wealth aud population at
phenomenal rate. They believe firmly
here that this school training is the secret
of the intelligence and enterprise OF her
people on which Eer prosperity is based.
They look upon the expenditure Tor edu-
cation in much the same light that the
1 farmer looks upon the money he spends
/ for fertilizers, as making manifold re-
turns in the future. " Nothing too good
/ for our children, they say ] suggested
to one school commissioner plan Of how
in school Of 200 children, by slight
change in organization, they could save
an expense Of $500 annually. He was
afraid that it would impair the work of
the school. Young man. said he, ." we
run our schools in the interest Of eff
cheney, not economy"
Besides National Bank, there is in
this town a Five Cent Savings Bank for
deposit only. You can deposit sum as
small as a nickel, but not more than
$1,000. BY the last monthly statements,
there was on deposit, the sum OF 81, 267,-
| 9S3 IS.
Something under these stern. hard
New England conditions has made the
people prosperous and surely liberality
reward education has not Impoverished
( them.
Vour uncle is still a.studving, and a.
wondt ring. JoHN d. Brooks