Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-06-19
Appeal of President Thomas in
Baccalaureate Sermon at
Middlebury College.
WORK IN THE SMALL TOWNS
eve Must Do with Our Schools
Just What We Have Done
with Our ROads"-Need
Of Upbuilders.

Middiebury. June 1B.--President
Thomas opened the 113th commence
ment of Middlebury College to-day
with a baccalaureate sermon, which
was an appeal TO tho graduates to
consecrate their lives to the uplift of
the small towns OF Vermont. He said
in part:
Il wish to assert his morning a
serious and pressing need IN our own
Vermont, a task Of sufficient size and
difficulty to Try ali cur ~rlettJe. and
fer which the same divine f!re Of re.
ligious enthusiasm is needed as has
ncurished the zeal of others in giving
The gospel to the heather and Redeem
ing :he outcasts Of our great modern
cities Let US attempt to renli.e hat
the decrease CT population and Of Gull
tVated farm area means in the life
OF the people. II means decrease OF
property values and tho wiplng out
of tho fruit Of years of toll and saw
ing. Farms are sod for less ttan the
cost OF tine buildings upon them and
men find that after the labor of a
lifetime they are scarcely farther
along than when they began. Build
ings fall into decay or are destroyed
in fire, and are not replaced. Young
men see no opportunity in the town
OF their birth and move away to get a
chance. Merchants find their trade
diminishing and artisans less demand
for their labor. a spirit of discourage
ment and depression comes over the
people. Churches built for a popula-
ton twice as large as the present. per-
haps with some optimism in their
structure. appea almost vacant, and
1t is almost impossible to stir the en-
thusiasm wherein religious truth has
fitting utterance. School buildings.
which once We're crowded, have a few
struggling students, often taught by a
teacher hardly older thar the pupils
and without experience or training.
The building Is neglected, unbearablv
not in one corner and shiverinC cold
in the rest. The dictionary is a con-
temporary of the oldest resident. and
that is the extent OF the library. There
are no maps. except a torn map of
Vermont, which has no suggestion of
the contour of the State. but presents
the fourteen counties in red. and vel
low and green. There are no seats
small enough for the little children.
and none large enough for the older
ones, and the big boys sit on the front
benches with their knees in
to their chins or sprawling their feet
toward the teachers desk. while they
reclte the products Of Guatemala and
feru. The one-room clubhouse Is a
ulsgrace to a civilized community, both
IN point of view of hygiene and of
morals. The textbooks furnished the
chlldren are tattered and torn and Of
ten u~nSpeakably decorated.
Yet for such schools and such educa-
toh Tor their children a large proportion
OF the sinai towns in this State are pay
ing larger school taxes than Rutland or
burIIheton. The highest rate of taxes for
school purposes in our State to-day is
not IN the cities, but in the back noun
tain towns. The population is less than
1t used to be, the valuation of property
Is less the timber has been cut off, and
the burden of community supper tails
with increasing weight upon a diminish
ing lumber. Doubtless some measure Of
blame should fall upon people who
tolerate such schools, but I have a good
deal of charity for them. Relatively
they are sacrificing more than the dwell
ers In more favored communities. If any
Of us were citizens of a town Of 100 peo-
pie. which once had a population of 1000.
and whose school districts were con-
stituted on the larger basis, we would
find the problem hard to meet and we
would tend to relax into helpless
lethargy and encouragement
STATE MUST AID SMALL TOWNS.
1T is clear as day that the State must
come to the aid Of the small owns.
where education is most expensive and
1900. 4 4 rot ,,i, 4. - ~.
of the scattered population. and where
the means are most meager. The State
demands that every child shall 20 to
school,, and is In duty bound therefore
to provide for every child a decent school.
The State demands OF every man the ex-
crcise of suffrage, ard in its own pro-
lection must furnish the education neces-
sary to intelligent use OF that suffrage.
What mOCIeIY to compc. a man to take
the freeman's oath, and swear that
whenever he gives his vote or suffrage
touching any matter that concerns the
state of Vermont, he will do it 30 as in
his conscience he shall! Judge VIII most
COnduce to the good OF the same, and
then fail to gi5e him in his youth such
training of mind and conscience as will
enable him to determine HI will con-
duce to the good of the same, We are as
cruel az Pharaoh. and It is bricks with
out straw in every election in Vermont,
and must be for years to come,
Tn self-protection the State must
move toward equalization of eGGca-
tional opportunity, not din!nishing
the advantages in the larger com
muni,ies but bringing up those Of the
smaller places to the level of the best.
The cities and larger towns are ro-
cruited constantly from the smaller
places, and the Intelligence and worth
of the favored communities. as well
as the quality or the men we send be-
You'd the State. depends Upon the
education and the quality OF l!ce in
the rcmoter hamlets. MOREOVER a
citizen OF Burlington has one four
thousandth OF II vote in the state
Legislature, while a citizen of Belv!-
dere has one twentieth. No State can
rise much above it's legislation, and
the interests of the whole state de-
mand an efficient state system of
education extending to evory last
schoolhouse in our 245 towns Years
& 1t was seen that the back dis
tricts In the towns could not be left
Is themselves. They needed and had
a right to the support of the villages
of the towns In which they wcrc To-
Gated. ON the same principle we see
l now that the smaller towns can not