Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1912-01-02

district works but Pa and Ma, and
hey ride around in their Motor Car
Ill day.
No longer does the strident tones
f the insistent tin alarm clock
marked down from SO cents-arouse
Dad from his peaceful dreams Of |
rood roads and no taxes, along about
hree hours before daylight. No
onger does dear, kind old Mother
hustle out in the cold, grey dawn and
run against the churn on her way to
light the fire, fill the tea kettle, peel
the potatoes and attend to 1872 other
little details necessary to get break
fast. No, that time is past in Spring
Valley. There it is that Providence
has established Paradise for Old
People. There no rude uncouth
sounds or unwelcome calls to duty
disturb their morning slumbers
Transcendent peacefulness hovers like
the dove of old, over their pillowed
heads. Sweet tranquility guards
their every breath. The stern reali-
ties Of other days, struggling, stren-
uous days, are softened, mellowed,
beautifed, by the enhancing dreams
of the present. Step softly.
Days Awakening.
When the rising sun, journeying
forth on his diurnal arc, caste the
first incipient beams athwart the
landscape, and the growing glow
bathes in halos the knarled beauty
of the ancient oak, chasing weird,
wondrous shadows down across the
meadow and up again to the goat
pasture-then it is that Johnnie, ris-
ing hastily, but firmly and faithfully
from his couch .rushes forth with de-
termination and tubular lantern TO
the barn where he dexterously milks
the COWS, anon whistling cheerlly.
Mary, brushing the cobwebs from
her eyes and smiling sweetly, gath
ers her hair in a neat coil and has
tens with glad steps to prepare the
morning repast. Little Willie, bless
his heart, is feeding the chickens
and repeating the multiplication ta-
BILE. Sister Nellie is scrubbing the
back porch. Jimmie is cleaning out
the stable, while declaiming in a re-
fined and skillful tone that beauti-
full piece beginning, 81 came not
here to bury Caesar" Alice, the one
with the blue eyes, is stirring the
gravy with one hand, while she prac-
tices calesthenics with the other, be-
ing carful to breath deeply and re-
main in a pleasant frame Of mind
the while. Charlie is splitting and
carrying in the wood, stopping now
and then ouly long enough to read a
thrilling line from his treasured al
zebra.
| Duty feIIOIhu0u
And so starts the day in Spring
Valley. When the chores are done
when the house is tidied, light, but
healthful breakfast is served to the
Revered Parents ere they rise for the
day. And just as the first tones Of
the school bell are waited over tine
fern decked dell, the children fondly
embrace the dear old couple and g
down the path and around the cor
ner on their way to take up thei'
duties prescribed by a modern rura
educational system.
Spring Valley parents chore NJ
more. A hasty reader, hardened By
contact with the world, might be -
clined TO hesitate before accepiins
the statement as one of truth, bu
such sudden surmise is i'll advised
and not borne out by the records
II is a fact, and stranger still, edu
cation is at the bottom of it. Th'
idea. charming in the extreme, orig
mated in Spring Valley, and to tina
district is accorded undisputed cred
it of being the only spot on the fae'
of the arth where such an exqul
site Utopian dream has ever beei
carried out.
Reduced to System.
The idea is not only a success, bu
lii has been reduced to system
That system has just been ehristen
ed "The Home Credit Work Plan,
and its conception and remarkabl
results following its adoption ar
due to Professor A. l. O'Reilly
teacher of the school.
The new plan has met with sue
favor that it has been endorsed b.
State Superintendent Alderman an
County Superintendent Seymour.
Briefly, it consists in carrying ID
system Of credit marks into the HON
life of the pupil. Il encourages IN
dustry. ambition, pride. and carrie
/ N -. - ..a.sfnIuacc int