The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-08-22
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breath and awaiting the next local
sensational event.
OV0
What They Are Doing At
The High School Building.
The sound of hammers and saws
makes merry music, indeed, up on
High School hill in the early morn
ings of these late Summer days of
heat and drought. The auditorium
of the building is on the basement
floor: 1t is about 80 by so feet, ex-
elusive of the stage. The ceiling is
of metal, and there is a metal drop
from the ceiling on the four sides of
the room of four or five feet of metal
.sheathing. Below this the cement
walls were left untouched, prisonlike
in their stony coldness and color.
The carpenters are Transforming
this lower part of the walls of the
room from all their unattractiveness
to a work of real art and beauty. A
splendid grade of Georgia pine is
used, and it is put on in the form of
panels. These panels are surmount-
ed by a wooden coping that corre-
spends to the plate rail of modern
dining room. When this wood work
is finished with filler and varnish, and
the ceiling on side wall above and
overhead are painted to harmonic
in artistic contrast, the room will be
as pleasant as could be desired, and
will surely be a credit both to the
school board and to the delightful
little borough.
While looking over the borough's
High school building and its
grounds on Tuesday morning the
writer felt that he must, in the
spirit of justice, commend the school
board on the spirit of progress they
are showing. In our judgment they
are not going as far along the line
of improvement on the building and
grounds as they should go.
Honesdale has set Statewide eX-
ample along this line.
1t was the pleasure of the writer
two years ago, at the invitation oi
Prof. H. A. Oday, to go over and
through the High school property a.
the County seat. 1t is about as near
ly perfect as such an institution car
possibly be; but it is none too goot
for the children who attend the
schools, for nothing can be too goot
or nice for school children.
The public school building is the
and their education should be alont
lines more comprehensive than those
usually considered as bounded b!
learning to read, to write, to spell
to calculate, to use language gram
matically, and to have some knowl
edge of geography and of history
True education includes an apprecia
tion of the beautiful in nature and il
art These are absorbed from thu
childs surroundings. The ground
should be well kept. There shoulC
be flowers as well as greensward
Lawns should reach to well outlined
walks. The play ground should hav,
its boundaries and should be useC
for purposes of play and recreation
only. Lawns and walks should no
be used for recreation purposes.
The proper care of the human
body, which is the temple of God,
belongs in the public school educa
tion. This line of education is com
pretended by the use of toilet rooms
etc And right here is a suggestion:
The writer believes that few dol
lars could be expended to great ad
vantage were all the members of tn
board to make a trip, say, to Scran
ton, to spend a day in looking owe
what that city is doing to educat
her children. Then visit Honesdal
for the same purpose. Then go ou
in the country and examine tn
school system. Get a few pointer
from Supt. Koehler where you viii
be apt to find the worst conditions
the filithiest outbuildings and tn
meanest and most unsanitary condi
tions. Be sure and go where he tell
you and take it all in OF course ther
will be those who will talk about