El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-16
IF MYRA KELLY had lived in E

I PaSO she would nave iAliliOi ls1Ai@eti
Il the little citizens of the Frank
lin school. and incidentally the teachers
! who must teach their little charsSS .
/ Infinitely more than their book les
! sons Dimunitive Mexican "Nlnas'
/ solemn eyed little Chinese with g
] shrinking of Americans form tH ny
! very cosmopolitan crowd OF pup.lS
I Rarefooted, overall or glngham apI ol
I clad. often tattered, SELDOM ever e 3.sI
there is a fascination about the ilILe
/ Youngsters that grips the near ,
I They have such an uphln Glihl % I,aIT
! of them f they go uphill 10 hStL
} them 11nhiU the teachers are DONG az
! in their mower THE hardest thlhe
We find" said Miss Mabel Glenn; w
principal rs to teach these hI ~
children to trust US and come TO Vs.
wish we could do more for them,
A s.personaI cleanliness day was helo
at the school a short time ago, Wiz
soaD and hot water were asslduousIy
used. and in many cases the parents
! were sent for to be helped in sho"lhs
/ how children should be kept clean
Is More Than school,
we have to be more than sch93i
here" said Miss Glenn we Fealis
have to be a home for these poor Hltie
Youngsters" There is one kindly OLD
man who lives in the neisnoorhoo!c
who has helped the teachers 70
| brighten I'D the school by giving them
a great quantity Of gfeen pt any
iov to the children, who are used 70
fbe most sordid and often squalid sur
roundings. Many of the pupils come
to school all by themselves, Just u 80 -
in and it takes perhaps thFes Of +Nui
DAVIS to locate their parents
Frbe tea chers have to be truant OF
ficers as we'll. and every effort IS MADE
to keen the children in school after they
once come MANY of the parents are
nd a
ton for the children to buy their BOOKS
although il is the exceptional par
ent who does not buy the books
IL If is POSSIBLE. Some of them earn
~ ra0nev themselves. a few pennies
al a time, and bring them to the teacner
for books The teachers attribute the
falling off in the number OF pupils IN
the fourth grade to the expense OF
the books necessary for TINS Worh;
These books cost about 81 or over, ana
that is often a prohibItive sum:
Many Human Interest Stories
There are many little human interest
stories connected with the ran go
school Youngsters Three little boy
in the lower grades support a IaiH-ly
of Il by selling Heralds. The IatneI
has been out of work Tor over wv
months, the mother is sick, ana these
little youngsters furnish the only sup
port for the family
Because their mothers go off all DAY
TO wash, and leave the chlloreh lOO
Young to go to school locked in a room
alone for the whole day, the teachers
boxa allowed their older brothers and
sisters to bring these tots TO sehool
with them. There are three OF them
one little girl and two little boys me
little girl has a dolly 10 amuse ne
while at school. and the little boys are
given some toys to play with and they
do not interfere with the discipline Oh
the rest of the room
Then there are two boys who work
- Oh. n
they are older than the other scholars
they have to come back to school find
ing that they need more training IN
reading and writing for their work
in the picture show, so the teachers
are trying to give them as mueh
special work as possible.
The teachers are trying their best
to help the school to fit itself to the
needs of the children.
Teaching Them to Think.
The children take very much IN
terest in the manual training work,
and are very skillful with their nm
gers. but they have to be taught TO
Truancy is also a problem. Some
times it is the parents fault, other
times it is the childs. One confirmed
little truant was finally converted
into a regular little scholar through
the cooperation OF Mrs. Egan, the pro
baton officer.
The children are quick to learn, and
the low fourth grade class recently
gave oral compositions on the care OF
food and danger of germs, In good
English. when only last year some OF
them could only speak few WORDS
of English
The school is crowded. In the low
first grade Miss Celia Simmons mas
y pupils, and has to have two half
day sessions. There are 81 in the
high. first and low second, taught by
Miss Margaret sO'Keefe- Miss Hattie
Ellis has As in the high second and
low third, and Miss Glenn, the princi-
pal, teaches p in the high third and
low fourth.
As there are only four grades in the
Franklin school. the older pupils have
school, and here another difficulty
arises, for very few of them do The
biggest number drop out and so the
Franklin school work is all the
schooling they get
Have American Flag
One proud possession of the school
is the big American flag that flies
from the pole in front of the school.
Loyal little citizens are these cosmo-
politan little scholars, and If any
storm arises, their first thought is the
flag. A big sand storm came up one
morning, and the teachers were busy
shutting the windows. Little Jose was
frantically waving his hand, but the
teacher did not notice him. Finally
he could restrain himself no longer.
THE flag. teacher" he cried. ooh
don't forget the flag, it will get
spoiled" .
The flag was won by the school in
1908 in a fire drill contest with the
other schools. It was presented by DR..
Villas.
Officers were elected in the Com
mercial club class in the commercial
department of the High school. Mer-
vile DarnelI is the president; Alfred
Woods, first wee president; Eugene
ThUrstOn. second vice president and
Harry Welsch secretary treasurer. At
ter the election a committee on bylaws
was appointed, consisting of Helen Van
Alstyne, Eugene ThurstOn and Elsie
Shepard,
Challenge Accepted.
The Sam Houston debating society
has challenged the members of the
High School Forum society to a joint
debate and the challenge has been ae-
cepted. The debate viii occur in
November.
Debaters for the preliminary were
appointed at special meeting of the
High School Forum The debate viii
be on the subject: Resolved. that
Texas should have compulsory educa-
ton" On the affirmative side will be
James German, Earl Weisiger and
Christian Jungjohann. Manuel Sch
wartz, Elgie Means and Iduw Lam
bert will defend the negative side The
-