The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-09-18

| little town of CentreVllle, Dulll OF rather
thrown together among the foothills of
north Alabama was astir earlier than Is
its usual won't It's citizens could be seen
gathered in circles around the court
house square, the one place of rendez-
vous, and every minute or two groups
Of school children passed by, from theil
dress and manner perhaps, from the hills
and valleys surrounding the town. There
had come the boy who had worked or
the farm all spring and summer, with
his hands rough and his face tanned by
exposure to the sun, but with heart
as strong and true and a mind as active
and bright as that possessed by any boy
with town parents. and In 80 cases out
of 100 more of a man. stronger and ner-
vier and with a more promising future
ahead of him. There were girls, too
numbers of them likewise with the bloom
of the open air of the country upon theiI
cheeks, and all of them as fresh as the
morning itself in their white dresses, in
many cases made and laundered by their
own hands.
| The occasion of their coming was a
notable one to them, as 1t was their first
experience, perhaps, away from home
and away from the horses and the COWS
and the fields and the meadows and the
tasks of the farm. Their coming was
a notable one in the life of the little
town. since strangers here are somewhat
unusual and crowd of boys and girls
cannot get lost In the shuttle and go I'M
heralded and unnoticed as they perhaps
would in larger and more populDus
towns. Their coming was indeed a not
able one to the whole state of Alabama,
and this very fact prompts me to give
them space and attention now. Indeed,
their advent Is perhaps the most notable
thing that has happened In the history
of the state in the last decade. And, of
course, 1t is understood that the opening
of the State High school for Bib county
Is but typical of the movement all over
the state
There had come TO be present on this
occasion DR.. John w. Abercrombie, the
president Of the great university of the
state, the head of our entire educational
system. Wise and great himself, he jour
neyed hther to bring to these boys and
girls gathered here from the hills of
Bib county a message of hope and
cheer. 1t is possible that that university
president came from other motives than
those of benefit to those boys and girls.
1t is likely that he realizes that from
these high schools his own institution
is to draw its strength in the future
and that If our university ever ranks
in numbers with the larger institutions
of the north, then present pupils of these
high schools must be the students of
tomorrow. His presence may be thus
largely explained and the wisdom of his
coming and the necessity of his institu
ton keeping in close touch with the
high. schools is apparent. The auditor of
this state, Hon. William w. Brandon,
came from Montgomery to add his voice,
much addition as 1t always is. The peo-
pie here in this county call him Billie
Brandon, as for that, they do In every
county in Alabama. He claims to have
been partly raised in Bib, as for that,
he was raised in just Ct different places.
And he told the people here that he was
glad to get back home, and to talk to
his own folks. Again, it must be noted
that the honorable auditor has 81 homes.
Anyway, this much the writer will vouch
for as of his own knowledge-Billie
Brandon was among his friends and he
knew it, from Squire James who pre-
sides over the Justice court in Beat 4,
to the solicitor of this judicial circuit
OF the speech that followed, too much
cannot be said. Every man, woman and
child In the large audience was the
speakers friend and there was nothing
to fail in the inspiration from, to quote
the words of the auditor himself: THE
blooming, blushing maidens with the
color of the rose upon their cheeks and
the blue of heaven in their eyes, and the
soul of the lily in their bosoms," to the
old and the halt and the blind. Every
man, woman and child. was sorry when
he closed with his matchless story of
the late war, often heard among the Ala
bama hills, and his eloquent perora-
ton on the greatness and the glory of
the state.
On the rostrum of the school building
on this particular morning there sat the
prominent citizens of the county And
with them the teachers who are to pre-
side over the school. 1t ought to be said
in passing that the faculty of this par
ticular high school Is the peer of any in
the state, those of the cities not ex-
cepted At its head is DR.. Frank Coop
er, a gentleman born and reared within
sight of the present building. DR.. Coop
er earned his doctors degree at Johns
Hopkins whence he went after securing
the masters degree at Washington and
Lee. There are only two high schools in
all this broad southland presided over
by men who hold the Phi. d. degree. One
Is the celebrated Boys high school in
the city of Louisville, KY, and the other
is the state high school for Bibb county.
The latter perhaps would rot be were
IL not IOr the TACT tndl LII. Ooopei pe-
lieves in work in the home field and has
come back to the county of his nativity
to give his life to its boys and girls
There are four other teachers. young
ladies each one of experience and hold
ing diplomas from the best colleges in
the south.
Eighty-six pupils were enrolled on the
first day, 80 of those being from the
country round about the town and over
the county. The enrolment will reach
125 by the first day of October. These
pupils do no elementary work at all.
but are confined strictly to the high
school course as prescribed by the state
high school board. Strange to say, a
somewhat unusual condition to some
teachers, the number is equally divided
between the sexes. Tn city high schools
the students are for the larger part girls;
the boys have had enough of their books
before they reach the high school age.
Here the situation is reversed. The
country boy is brought up on work. His
father feeds him on it almost as soon as
he can walk and he only gets to go to
school some four or five months in the
year. He's had enough of work when
he reaches the high school age for a
while and he's literally starving for an
opportunity to go to school. But don't
Judge him by his red face and his awk-
ward hands. Don't make the mistake
of concluding that because he asks some
dainty girl who's going to preach when
she says somthing about a Chanticleer
Sunday that he's not going to beat her
"all hollow when it comes to solving
problems in arithmetic and turning Latin
into English, and he may just go and
marry her against her will after they've
finished school. You see, the writer Is
on the spot, he's met some of those same