The farmer and mechanic., 1911-01-10
THF SCHOOL FARMIN RURALEDUCAllON

lschools in that vicinity. The idea was
well received by few; by many re-
| jected as impracticable; and py SoiA'0
t resented with feeling.
/ A year later the consohdatloh Hau
heen effected. a new and commo0lous
school building had been erected on
janother site, another schooI 1arH nao
! been planted and cultivated, ana the
county superintendent again hViteu
another school farm working Bee.
! In passing the Catawba Springs
schools one afternoon last spring the
attention Of the county superlnten-
dent was attracted by group OF men
on newly cleared patch On the
school grounds. A nearer apfroac
showed that these men with seVeraI los
wagons and teams were engaged III
dragging the stumps from the field and
in clearing the ground ready Tor
breaking and planting in corn. On
inquiry he learned that the local Wo-
mans Betterment Association had
paid for having the trees cut from
two acres, and that one OF the
neighbors had pulled all the stumps.
including several very large pine
stumps. from the ground.
Right recently, at the close Of an
address the county superintendent
ased all who were interested in hav-
ing sc.-ool farm at the South View
school to remain for a short confer
ence. a gentleman who had pre-
viousy opposed q special tax for the
school was the first to endorse the
Of himself and team After a few
minutes it was resolved that the South
View school have school farm, and
Mr.. Johnnie Ross was elected super
intendent.
The plans for the farm we're: Sow
|, ry in, fa11 nf nj MT in,
spring Of 1911. peas to be sowed at
the last working. SOW rye and clover
in fall Of 1911, and plant cotton in
spring Of 1912.
Any institution to live and grow
must be built upon fundamental nat
ura1 laws. The school farm is thus
founded.
one OF the most powerful human
instincts, the influence Of which is
emphasized by William McDougall in
his recent Social Psychology, is the
igregariOuS instinct. McDOugall says
that this instinct is of greatest So
cial Importance, having played a great
part in molding societary forms Pro-
fessor James in his Principles of
Psychology, says OF the normal man:
To be alone is one of the greatest
evils. Solitary confinement is by
many regarded as a mode of torture
too cruel and unnatural for civilized
countries to adopt
McDougal1 claims that though it is
sometimes assumed that the monStrous
and disastrous growth of London and
other large towns is the result of some
OBSCURE economic necessity, as mat
ter OF fact, these towns have, for a
long time, far exceeded the propor-
tlOns that conducted the economic eff
fciency and healthy social life He
also claims that instead of the dull
: ness OF the country driving people
> to the towns, it is the crowds in the
, towns, the vast human herd, that
exerts banefu1 attraction on those
/, outside Of it. He calls our attention
5 to the way in which the lower ami
: mails herd in obedience to this instinct
+ to the point Of destroying the pastur-
| age, and to other injurious results to
themselves. Today, while thousands
, lac for employment in the cities. the
! farms are being deserted for the lack
: or Iaborers. In the rural districts
| this same instinct causes the people
: to gather in the nearby towns, VIII
iages, and at the cross roads store
/ on Saturday afternoons, where. with
. out aim Or purpose, the idle drift into
gossip, profanity, and drinking.
9 Another pronounced instinct is the
instinct for contest 1t Frequently
e taes the shape Of betting, whether on
i cock fight, a wrestling match, or a.
D horse race, at the county fair. An
G other is the instinct for government.
4 yet another for play
AS the engineer studies the course
, O tne stream and the contour of the
S iand, SO that he may wisely construct
{ his dam to conserve the wafer and
lead 1t through channels over the
4 great wheels which drive the spindles
and the looms, SO the wise educator.
G not complaining of human nature as
e ne nnds 1t, but studying it as it is.
0 must SO build his educational instj-
4 tut1ons as to take advantage of tho
e vast human forces. which, unutilized
: ana undlrected, not only are useless,
); put are as uncontrolled mountain
a streams, woring havoc along their
f course
+ The school farm gratifies tha ;ns+;no.