Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-05-17
MARIE CROMER.
Mother of First Tomato Club for Girls
Tells Her Story.
BY Ismay Dooly, In Atlanta Constitution.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Ladies and gentlemen, before this
very inspiring conference concludes
want to introduce to you the organiz-
er Of the first tomato club for girls in
the world" was the dramtic state
ment by Miss Virginia Moore of South
Carolina, whose clear womanly voice
has rung through the four walls of
nearly every little one-room school
house Of rural Carolina as well as In
the bigger normal schools, and she
led from her chair the rather shrinking
figure Of girl, and presented the
little mother Of the tomato clubs.
The occasion was one Of the many
sub conferences held under the con-
ference for education in the south in
Nashville, for this particular confer
ence hinged on the human interest
theme of the girls tomato clubs of
the country, as led by women who for
the past year have organized them in
every agricultural state In the union.
Miss Moore ~ director of school i'm
provement work in South Carolina.
DR.. Bradford Knapp Of the farm
demonstration department Of the de-
partment Of agriculture, had made the
leading address and drawn brilliant
reports from the women of many
states; he had gone to another meet
ing. II was growing late; the group
were beginning to consult their watch
es with the knowledge Of other calls,
when the mother Of tomato clubs
took the floor. She Is not near the
height women claim as medium" !"
She does not weigh a hundred pounds.
She looks scarcely IS. and when her
voice broke upon the silence her intro
duction commanded, 1t had the note Of
weary womanhood blended with the
long accentuation children Of the
country give the last word Of their
sentences.
well, II Miss Moore thinks it will
do any good I'll tell my story" she
said. Before she had spoken five min
utes pencils slipped from nervous
fingers, note books were laid aside and
white tissue. wells were drawn from
women's faces that they might see as
well as hear. Doctors Of theology, uni
versity presidents, editors Of national
note lost themselves in emotional fol-
lowing of the drama Of rural life in
terpreted by that heroine Of the re-
motest scene in which these dramas
centre the teacher Of the rural school.
No Studied Effects.
There was no need for studied ef-
Efects; no epigramatic efforts; no play
to the emotions, but just the intensely
held thoughts and sentiments Of the
speaker as she conscientiously related
facts of the homeliest problems which
can be converted into the most beau
tiful truths Of life.
Her voice grew higher when lost in
her interest in the subject, two red
spots came on her cheeks under black,
deep set eyes and she appealed in her
tones when she brought her audience
with her over muddy roads and rocky
roads to the little barren schoolhouse
or the court house in the rural center
where she fairly forced the girls Of
that community to unite to form to-
mato club. They did not want tot
did not sound stylish, and she had to
reach out and verify drag their inter-
est in, as the circuit rider preacher
does when he faces an Indifferent
flock.
Il am Marie Samuella Cromer," Miss
Cromer began.
And she thus told her story to me:
II had had much experience as q
country school teacher, my first teach
ing done in a little school about four
miles from Abbeville, 8. c. I was born
in the country. I live in the country;
I know its lonesomeness and sleepy
spiritedness. I love the country and
the country people, and made up my
mind l was going to do something for
the little girls Of the country I felt
sorry for them; for school was all they
had to go to, and one could not al
ways be telling them Of school and
keeping them in school to talk to
them. They needed something to keep
the thinking up when they went home.
1t was not bright at home; 1t wasn't
bright at school, and there was not
much interest in going from one place
to the other, and that was about all
there was to do.
marie Samuella Cromer,' I said
to myself, what is the use Of your
thinking these things II you do not
do something about it. had talked
before the teachers Institutes Of the
county, but 1t seemed to me that
there was so much about the school
and so little about the home, and so
little to be brought from the school to
the home.
chrysanthsmum Club Suggested.
IT had taken charge Of another
school, further out than the one
had been teaching in. because
thought the people further out in
that community needed more what I
might be able to do for them, little as
it was. Still, had not found the point
of interest. 1 talked about 1t to the
other teachers, and to the county su-
perintendents, and somebody suggested
chrysanthemum clubs for the girls.
But that did not seem practical
enough.
II spoke to Mr.. Ira Williams, the
corn club director in our state, and
he suggested a plan by which the
girls Of the community should be
taught to make good cornbread and
muffins. That was venture, in a
way; but 1 felt had been something
of a success teaching school, and I
questioned whether I could teach
them how to cook good bread or muf-
fins, so I declined the bread prop
osition.