University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1912-10-01

the future, they say, for the country
school to have a house and a few
acres of land for the teacher and his
family, as the country church now
has a parsonage for its pastor. On
part of this land the school gardens
may be kept, and agricultural exper-
iments may be Investigated by the
children. On the remainder the
teacher can provide most of the food
for his family.
One teacher can teach all the high
school courses in this school. because
in the first year. 1908, all the pupils
belonged to the freshman class; in the
second year, sOphomores and fresh
man: and in this year. juniors and
sophomores. Next year they will be
seniors and juniors. and by June.
1913. all the children now in school
will have graduated Then the back
ers will dsband the school or turn
it over to other parents who wish to
follow in their footsteps.
! The Attendance Is Good.
| In comparison with city schools, the
average daily attendance is very high.
! 1t was $50 last year, in spite OF the
/ fact that some of the children live
two miles away, and one of the boys
rides six miles every morning Mr.
| LiOnberger, apolOgiZed. however, for
the IL per cent absences. and ex-
/ planned that the attendance would
have been good, had the humps not
made inroads
DO you work them hard?" the
teacher was asked.
Yes, rather hard. But" he added
mot quite so hard as they work me-"
The work of the school is excellent.
because the pupils have no distrac-
tons. When they leave school at
night, each takes a bundle of books
and goes directly home because there
is work to be done. They feed the
pigs and cattle. they help milk the
cows and attend to the horses. After
supper they get out their books and /
study until bed time five nights in the !
week. under the eyes of the parents |!
who are paying for their education |
and who intend to see that they get !
the most out of it.
Agriculture is a hobby of both boys
and girls. One spring they taught the
neighborhood some of the fine points
about seed corn. In the fall they Sc
lected some seed corn. brought it to
the school and judged it by the score
card. The best ears were selected |
again and scientifically dried during
the winter In the spring they ap-
piled the terminating test and had
perfect results. Every kernel showed
strong vitality. Then they secured
some seed corn from several farmers.
This corn had been kept in corn cribs
in the usual way When tested sci
entifically this corn averaged only -
percent. The neighbors scratched
their heads and looked puzzled First
hard Information is being given them
by the high school boys and girls.
Study Of Stock. Too.
When they study cattle and horses,
the teacher closes school little ear |
lier. He takes them all to some
neighboring farm: he demonstrates
the points of good beef bv eyamina- i
ton OF the cattle in the field. They .
learn why this COW should be sold. ,
and why another should be kent The S
pupils examine their own herds and I
have opinions about the animals to
breed or sell.
One eighteen year old bay has be- ,
come so much interested in this sub ,
ect that he attends every farmers in :
'titute and every expert lecture on =
arming that is given within a radius
If fifteen miles. They quote agricul-
ural bulletins, of which they have the
series complete, as their
athers and mothers used to quote :,
lcGuffy's readers and Rays arithme-
ic. They are Independent thinkers.
Recently in working over a problem
n their agricultural textbook they e
Ommitted the scholastic sin of SEEM
ny to disagree with the book. The VI
uthor had said that certain kind
f soil acted in a certain way in
est-tube. In this experiment they 1t
Dnnd that it seemed to work in an in
Their way. Shortly after the county
uperintendent visited the school and
ley took their doubts to him. tn
why not write to the author and re
SIX him if he isn't wrong" he sug- di
ested. They did so, and in cour-
'Ous note he acknowledged his