The Washington herald., 1913-08-16
Nv FRANCES SHAFFER.

4 YOU had reached the meridian of
life. tied fast in the bondage OF ignor-
ance, and had gone on TO your eighty
seventh year without any chance 10
learn, then, out of the darkness, had
heard a voice calling to school, what
do YOU fancy the response would nave
been?
Can YOU think of starting out. as
Hraybeard. just learning to read ana
write? Yet that was the piucky exam
pie set by the Oldest pupil in the moon
light schools of Rowan County, KY,
when the call resounded over the hills
and the 'way-back districts for all who
would to come and be given their nrst
steps in education or TO add to the frag-
ments they received in the handicapped
schools of their childhood.
II was two years ago that Mrs. Cora
Wilson Stewart. superintendent OF
schools in that county. carefully looked
over the ground in her district, counted
the number of adult illiterates, and tried
20 think of some way out of the dark
ness. Day schools would not do. for the
eroyn-ups could not perhaps would not
come; and it did not seem quite the
thing to expect them TO start on in the
morning with their children. their grand
children, and their little neighborhood
friends.
So. with all the bright moonlight about
them, she bethought of moonlight.
schools, to be held in the same rooms
where the little folk were given their
lessons.
And. just in passing. it is rather pleas
ant to note the manner of teachers they
have in that country.
Mrs. Stewart outlined her plans 10
them. asked for volunteers, and not
one failed to enlist in the new service.
One Labor Day the teachers visited the
homes of the folk throughout the county,
unfolded the scheme, announced that the
moonlight schools would be opened the
following evening, and invited all to
come They expected a few scattered
responses. but did not look for the out
pouring that came. On the very first
evening 100 men and women, all the
way from eighteen TO eighty-seven years
oId, trooped in from the schooling that
had been denied them in youth.
Overcome Many Difficulties.
And the story of that first moonlight
gathering. as told in bulletin sent out
by the United States bureau of educa-
tion. is full of interest.
Almost one-third of the county's popn-
lation was enrolled, some to be given
their first word in reading and writing.
And there We're excuses a-plenty to
keep them away. if they had been look
Ing for eXcuses-many miles of rough.
hard roads to travel after the work of
the day was over. the shame of their
Ignorance. their age and all. But it was
instruction they wanted, and nothing
kept them away.
One sweet-faced old woman. gingham-
aproned, and with close-fitting hood tied
under her chin. when asked what bene-
the nonOnliyhf school had haen
her. promptly replied that she would not
take anything for the privilege that had
been hers. for now she was able to read
her Bible and write to her children and
grandchildren. Sort of revealing, is it
not?
And they tell of father and mother
who came into school one night with six
grown sons, three of them married. and
all voters: and not one of the number
could read or write. Is il strange that
when these sadly illiterate folk once are
able to make the strokes that stand for
their names they are so fascinated that
they write them over and over again
through sheer joy in the new-found
learning? That is what the report records
of ''one middle-aged man." and it adds
that he was the more elated at every
stroke"
Among the pupils at the moonlight
schools there may be found the mer-
chant. the manufacturer. the magistrate.
postmaster. doctor. preacher, school
trustee-tnink of it.-farmers and their
wives galore, and A sprinkling from
many other classes besides. Men and
women schoolmates. seventy-five years.
fifty, sixty. or so, led out of the worst
Of the ignorance wilderness by teachers
lust eighteen years old! But at a desk