The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1913-02-13
ENVIRONMENT AND TRAINING FOR
YOUTH
The Following Suggestions Are Offer
ed by a Subscriber.

means which might be adopted for the
better training and education of the
youth of our town;
In a recent issue of The Outlook.
there is an account by the Spectator
of a pageant in Philadelphia. In an
other magazine an account of similar
pageants, illustrating Folklore and
History, in New York City These pa
geants must be of real educational
value, giving History to the children
as Homeopathic pills in Allopathic
doses; incidentally to grown-ups as
we'll.
Could the mother who desires a safe
and sane Fourth for her boy find a
better occupation for him than to have
/ him a partaker in or interested on
| locker at a pageant representing some
appropriate historical scene with d
/ chorus to sing patriotic songs and a
/ band to play them? At our annual
/ Fair also such an entertainment might
be enjoyable for at least one after
noon and would it not have better
! influence on our young people than
| the afternoon program offered year
| after year. To be sure the Fair Is
not for the young people alone but are
| the older ones really entertained or
do they lust go to see the crowd?'
| But the citizens may say, I'VE have
| not the money that New York City has
! to expend." 1t Is true that We could
not attempt anything on such scale
but neither can we have races like
theirs nor aviators. AS to returns,
by using local talent we could at least
keep our money at home instead OF
standing cody by while vendors Of
woody dogs and the like carry away
hundreds of dollars taken largely
! from the pockets of those whose bills
for food and clothing remain unpaid.
Laying aside the suggestion as to
larger question of entertainment in
general for our young people. There
Is much discomfort voiced at present
regarding our High school. No one
complains that the teachers are not
efficient instructors nor that their ex-
ample is not above reproach. But
somewhere, somehow, there is some
thing the matter. 1t it with the build
ing? Are there microbes OF immoral
ity left in ever increasing numbers by
each departing class? If so let us
sterilize it at the point of the torch
and save the money now expended for
poorly equipped, unsatisfactory
course of Domestic Science toward
new High School building. The funda-
mentals for a towns educational ex-
penditures are sanitary school build
| ings in sufficient number so that no
teacher shall have over 30 pupils. But
given the building the High School
will continue to be a cause for criu-
csm so long as this question of amuse-
ment is not regarded, AS to whether
these young people shall be entertain
ed there can be no question; as 20
how and where there may be.
| The churches are doing what they
can helped by many OF the mothers
but the fact remains that the moving
pictures and dances continue to be the
most common meeting places of the
young men and women of our High
school. AS to the moral influence OF
these places there is diversified opin-
ion; as to their distracting influence
the day before. the day of and the
day after, let the teachers tell. But
the young people need a change from
their studies some mother may say.
They surely do but they would not
need it so much If brain and body were
not tagged by dancing into the small
morning hours. Amusements should
stand two tests; is it healthful? Is 1t
instructive, inspiring or helpful in any
way?
But granting the need of change
there might be amusements that would
serve to interest the young people in
their studies if the mothers in the many
clubs and societies got their heads to-
gether." There have been several
youthful prodigies educated solely by
means of play. Perhaps no mother
here cares to own one of those but
we all want good sons and daughters
and a High school above reproach.
While opinions may differ as to what
Is bad, there are many things we all
agree are good. If we fill the lives OF
our young people with good we crowd
out the bad in proportion to the full
ness of our good
We pass this way but once. While
on che journey we need to learn and
help teach our children the science
by which this world is made and gov
erned and we need larger view of
History that we may see how Our
Father has been and Is working
through his children to make this
world better place and fit us for our
Eternal Home.
Anyhow women would not go into
notifies inst to sDend their money on