Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-04-03
THE PRIDE OF ASHLAND
o. H. BarnhiIl Tells of Some of the
Work Being Done at the
High School.


a gentleman named Singler an invi-
tation to contribute some seventeen
dollars to the cause of education.
Upon learning that this man Singler
was good wing shot with a rifle,
or anything else he happened to get
hold of at the moment, | decided
to accept the invitation forthwith.
This small bunch of money which I
was forced to let loose of gave me a
personal interest in our public
school system and l decided to inves-
tigate said system and see how the
money was being spent
The Ashland high school that
bright, particular star in our educa-
tional armament, is an institution of
which we may well feel proud, being
far superior to many of the smaller
colleges OF the country. The heating
and ventilatipg system is a wonder.
The motive power is steam and the
fuel crude oil, which is blown into
the furnace in the form of a fine
spray. A huge fan drives fresh air
into every part of the building, the
air being first heated to the proper
ton of heat and ventilation in
manner vastly superior to anything
known until recent years. No pro-
vision seems to have been made,
however, for cooling the furnace
room, which. is often 100 in the
shade-and no shade. There also
appears to be room for improvement
in unloading oil from tank wagons,
as this operation now makes a nasty
mess near the gymnasium entrance.
A beginning has at last been made
| in teaching agriculture, several
classes now being instructed in the
first principles of farming. Some of
the brighter pupils have already
learned how to compound balanced
ration for hydraulic rams and how
to produce Poland China eggs for the
winter market. Agriculture is just
as much of science as any of the
ologies that are found in college cur
riculums. The study of botany af-
fords no more mental discipline than
does horticulture. and as a cultural
study animal husbandry is as valu-
able as zoology. A knowledge of
farming has a practical value not
possessed by any o. the purely scien-
tific branches-a very important
point to the majority of students,
who don't expect 10 become teachers
of impracticable, subjects.
Most of the high school grounds
have been pre-empted by the athletic
field, but a small plat on the sunny
side of the big board fence is being
converted into garden beds by indus
trious young agriculturists. Boys
who have never done any digging ex-
cept for angleworms are learning to
promote the pickle, the radish and
the rutabaga. They are taught to
take an interest in getting good
things out of the ground, so that
when they are asked to do little
home missionary work in the family
garden they will welcome the
change from head to hand labor.
The manual training department
is another interesting place to visit.
Here class in woodworking was
discovered industriously making all
sorts of useful articles-tables,
chairs, desks, shelves, etc. Some of
these things were better than could
be made by common carpenter or
wood butcher and were superior, TO
much of the furniture sent out by
mail-order houses. The students buy
the material and own the articles
which they make. thus giving them
a personal interest in the work.
The oak lumber used comes at a
cats back price-SS for enough to
make a good centertable. Extra
! large boards cost 20 cents foot.
This means about $40O for an ordi-
nary two-horse load of lumber.
About half the cost is freight, the
wood being shipped from Frisco. 1t
looked as though it would pay our
Oregon sawmills to work up some of
the oak trees that are being cut for
stove wood or strangled by mistletoe.
Returning to the workshop after
being absent quite while, the in
structor found the boys all working
away as diligently as ever. 1t is not
always thus when pupils are left
alone with higher mathematics or
some other uninteresting study. In
the latter case lot of festive fresh
men may be left extracting cube
roots with mental grub hoe and
found practicing the manly art of
self-defense of playing "pussy-wants-
a-corner." Leaving them composing
a thesis on the Thespians and as
soon as the teacher is out of sight
they are apt to turn their attention
| 10 oil,