Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-02-18
SCHOOL SOCIAL cENTERs.

" lScOuSlu HAS duOpLcu tllC pan VI
using it's school houses as community
social centers. The schools are made
available as evening meeting places
for the people who live in the school
district. Other states have taken up
this plan to some extent and 1t Is be-
ing tried here in Iowa, although only
in an experimental way. Sioux City
has formed a school house social
center in the Hopkins school district,
and at a meeting there the other
evening r. H. Burton-Smith gave an
address which is of interest for the
information it gives as to the hopes
and aspirations of the friends of the
school center plan. He said:
The heart and hope Of the school
house social center movement lies
in the feeling that the school house
is "our' house and not "your" house
Nor my" house.
I 60 to your" place of business or
"your" house and l am constrained
and limited in what may say and
the subjects l may discuss with you.
as must in decency respect your"
position Of master within these
bounds. We meet in the street on
common ground, but you are going
and am coming, or we are both hur
rying upon business errand and
our minds are absorbed in what we
are about to do, SO that the street
meetings afford no chance for talk
and discussion. 60 to "your" church
or you come to my" church and
again we are not on common ground,
except in Christian theory, as you
have a feeling about "your" church
and I have a feeling about my"
church that limits us and prohibits
a free expression of opinion about
"our" common business of living to-
gether in society.
The feeling Of mine" and thine
perish the minute you and / set foot
within a school house, as it is our
house and we are full and equal part
ners, sharing together that equality
which is the essence of equity. You
are my equal. am your equal. l
have a right to talk to you there
about "our" partnership business and
you have right to talk to me there
about "our" partnership business. We
may get cross and Disguised with one
anoher, but it cannot last as we are
bound together in an indissoluble, I'M
breakable partnership and our COM
mon sense will eventually dictate
that it is better to sit down and rea-
son together about "our" general well
fare with our feelings under thor
ough control, than to berate one an
other about our several and joint
shortcomings.
The brain and purpose Of the school
house social center is to establish a
place of business in which to trans
act "our'' business and revive the
old town meeting and the old
time meeting spirit that was the
father and mother of these United
States of America according to all
statesmen, historians and philiso-
piers who have thought deeply upon
the origin Of our institutions.
We have a vast amount of COM
mon business connected with this so.
cial partnership that was established
by Washington and the great men
of revolutionary times and preserved
by Lincoln and the great men Of his
time. We have not been attending to
this common business as we should
and it has been poorly done
1t requires place of business in
order to do business and as we SEEM
ingly had all gone out Of business so
far as attending to our common part
nership business was concerned and