Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-11-25
SCHOOL HOUSE AND GROUNDS.
There is Practical Advantage In Beau
tifyinq Them.

Editor Yorkville Enquirer:
In discussing this subject let us ask
ourselves the question, are attractive
schoolhouses and neat, well-kept
school grounds an advantage to the
child and to the community from
which he comes? In other words, do
ones material surroundings have any
thing to do with his development and
his happiness?
We must answer these questions in
the affirmative and we must admit
that what we are is largely due to our
surroundings. The following quota
ton shows what business men think
about having an attractive environ
ment for their employees:
THE editor of a well-known maga-
zine recently asked five hundred busi-
ness men all over the country wheth-
er, in their opinion. there is any
financial value in attractive surround
ings to a business plant. Ninety-five
per cent of those replying declare
that the product of a business con-
Germ or factory is much more valu-
able when the factory or office is
clean, attractive, and beautiful, and
when the employees can come in daily
contact with orderly surroundings
and see floral beauties on the grounds.
Furthermore, they declare that such
we'll l-ordered business concerns are a
decided commercial benefit to the
community"
If, then, beautiful surroundings have
moral and commercial value, and
must add an intellectual value, for
contact with the beautiful means a
cultivation of the taste. an elevation
of the emotions, and broadening of
the sympathies, why is 1T that our
schoolhouSeS are so often ugly and
bare? In these buildings children of
| the mCst impressionable age gather
and stay for six or seven hours a day
during the school term. Here they
are forming ideals and standards of
living, so that 1t would seem a good
| investment to use money to beautify
their surroundings. The school house
| should be the center of community
interests and ought to serve as a model
| of order, neatness, attractiVeness and
beauty.
1t is not necessary that we expend
large amount Of money in making
these improvements. An expenditure
of labor alone would often, if direct
! ed Alright, change the school yard from
barren, neglected spot into thing
| of beauty, which we are told is a joy
forever. Every trustee and teacher
in York county should order from the
| department of agriculture, Washing
ton, D. c., bulletin No. 1874, on the
subject of Tree Planting on Rural
School Grounds. 1t Is a most inter-
esting pamphlet.
The interior decoration of the
school room calls for the outlay of
little money, but it is an investment
| from which we shall receive large
dividends 1t will not cost much to
tint the walls some pleasing color.
Shaw in his School Hygiene suggests
light greenish gray, as near to white
as possible. Others say the walls
| should be a deep cream, almost buff.
The ceiling should always to be white.
Good pictures can now be secured for
small sum. But we want to put
only the best ones in our school room.
There were some exquisite reproduc-
| tions of the masterpieces Of art on
exhibition at the Home Institute held
| at Winthrop college on October the
29th. These reproductions cost ten
cents and may be secured from the
Perry Picture company, Maiden, Mas
sachusetts. Shades of some tasteful,
pleasing color, or sash curtains, are
not expensive and not only add greatly
| 10 the looks of the room, but are often
much needed protection for the eyes
Of the children. And is it not possi-
| BILE to have a few potted plants FOR
the school room? A dry goods box
| lined with old newspapers and covered
hA ntttS phintn
or denim would serve as a protection
for these plants during cold nights,
and yet be an attractive piece of fur
niture in the school room.
| There is no reason why stoves in
school rooms should lack polish, Mr..
Kern in his Among Country Schools"
says: mo explanation has ever been
offered why school stoves and stove
polish are such hereditary foes The
bitter enmity has existed for years and
yet they were made for each other
Who is to blame for their years Of
hatred and separation? With little
effort an acquaintanceship could be
brought about that would brighten
into the closes, friendship" 1t is to
be hoped that teachers will awake to
the value of this acquaintanceship.
The pupils Of the school could bring
this about if the teacher urged it,
| Again, there should be an improve
ment association formed in connec-
tion with every school. This associa-
ton ought to include the teacher, his
larger girls and boys, the trustees,
and the patrons, the term patron in
Guiding both the mothers and fathers
of the pupils. What has been done
elsewhere can be done in York coun-
ty These associations in other
places through their own efforts have
raised hundreds Of dollars. One in
our sister state Of North Carolina
raised $1,000 in two years.
To the work, teachers. trustees,
patrons, pupils.
| Leila A. Russell,
County Supervisor of Elementary
Rural Schools