The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-02-26
t n ers Shrek Ap-
proval Like Children
on Holiday Eve.
WOMEN FEATURE
EVENING PROGRAM
They Tell of Great Work Which
Is Being Accomplished Among
Illiterate People of Rural
Districts-Simplc Stories
Which Strike Deep in
Hearts of Hearers.

Hearing for the nrst time Southern
airs sung by Southern negroes, $500
delegates and viaitorS to- the Depart
ment of Superintcndcncc. OF the Ma
tional Education Association. last night
made the vast spaces of the City Audi
torium ring with their applause and
cncores. and would not be satisfied un.
I'll the thirty negroes from tho Whit
lock tobacco factory had sung for
made up of both men and women.
They sang. as only the old-tine dark
les can sing, tho plaintive melodies Of
the Southland, and the mon and women
of the North and West, who had never
been below the Mason and Dixon line
before, shrieked and yelled and stamp
cd their feet on the floor like school
children on holiday eve. Dignity was
thrown to the four winds. and not un-
til the chorus had sung for them =
corn -shucking lay and mournful
harvest-t time air would they let the
negroes go. Then, at word from
President Ben Blewett. they became
educators and teachers again, and set
tied themselves to the business OF the
hour.
Women Feature Evening.
Three women featured the evening
They did not make speeches. They
told simple stories OF simple people,
hke mothers Willing the hour away be-
fore the children are put to he'd. With
out art attempt at striking effect
each told the story Of what shc had
accomplished among her own people.
OF the dreams she had made come true
The general topic was Some Conditions
of Rural Schools and Suggestions for
Their Improvement" Mrs. Josephine
c. Preston, State superintendent OF
Public Instruction of Washington. talk
cd or her hopeful experiments" not
experiments really, but results that are
showing in Washington State to-day.
Mrs. Susie V. Powell, State Agent of
Girls Clubs, Jackson, Miss, gave a
simple and touching account of what
such an apparently little thing as n
girls canning club in the back country
had done for those among whom she
is spending her life and endeavor. And
Mrs. Cora Wilson Stewart. Superinten-
dent of Rowan County. Ky, who has
made a mark for herself in the cduca-
tional world, and whose work may
form the basis OF a new system OF
reaching the rural population, told of
how She had varied the Kentucky pro.
gram in Rowan County by the simple
eXpedient OF establishing moonlight
schools-instead of stills. Mrs. stewart
so touched the hearts OF her audience
that she was encored until forced TO
come forward In acknowledgements.
President Blewett presided. and. af-
ter the last note of harvest time har-
mony had died away among the roof
timbers, introduced Miss Susie V.
Powell, of girls club fame. Miss
Powell told stories. and she told them
we'll. BY means OF her clubs, she had
helped girls TO make their own living,
and to get something out of life other
than the mean drudgery of aimless ex-
istence. The story OF a young woman
Of twenty nine years. who had been too
stupid to learn at school, may illus
trate some of the good she has accom-
plished. This girl interested in a cam
ming club, surveyed and mapped out a
small acreage raised her vegetables,
canned them, and earned 5000. But il.
was not the mere money she earned
It was the mental, moral and physical
stimulus she received that counted IN
the end. Tile work called for all her
energies and capabilities, and She learn
ed to read and write, to figure up her
accounts, and then to speak in public
all from canning vegetables. 1t was
II simple story, but II sank deep In the
minds OF the audience.
Her Work ms Superintendent.
Mrs. Preston talked of her work as
superintendent in Washington state
When she assumed her difficult task
So she outlined plan OF public educa-
tfon by asking each county superin-
tendcnt to make an advisory grouping
of his districts around the natural
community centres, and begin series
Of community meetings Of a social and
educational nature. The principal of
the central school" she said, becomes
the supervising principal of tho COM
munity centre unit. He appoints as
SI mi taa
carry out the social centre program
This plan contemplated for each centre
an annual lecture, spelling bee, stock
judging contest and a boys and girls
agricultural and industrial fair" She
told of how she extended this into
Statewide contests. and then told of
how she had solved the problem of
securing comfortable boarding houses
for the teachers. She caused cottages
ing built over the whole State. made
so comfortable that one young teacher
took his bride to the cottage, though
they had 10 leave the grand piano be-
hind The cottage was too small for
both bride and piano, and he kept the
bride.
Better than the imaginlngs OF fiction
was the story OF Mrs. Stewart, who
turned Rowan County, Ky, into a big
night school, and reduced illiteracy to
n minimum. Though the results of her
work. were marvellous, she said she
would not indulge In the Kentuckians
prerogativc Of daring her audience not
to- believe her. II have the proofs"
she said. and the delegates laughed In
belief and sympathy. too.
"Mooniisht" Scholars.
In her first moonlight school there
were 100 pupils. In one of the schools
there was an eight-year-old girl, and
near her sat another girl eighty-siX
years old. In the second session nearly
the whole illiterate portion OF the