The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1914-04-22

8one ana many little hearts have been
made glad by the gifts donated for
them by the merchants of the city in
the numerous literary. domestic scien-
cs. manual training and athletic con-
tests.
The occasion was the biggest sue
cess OF any Of the four School Days
held I'm this county. The attendance
was larger and the weather was bet
ter than ever before. There was less
confusion and everything was as
pleasant for all as anyone could wish.
The crowd was estimated by many
to DO as large as five thousand visi-
tors. including between fifteen hun
dred and two thousand school chill
dren. Nothing occurred during the
day TO mark what was in every respect
perfectly successful occasion.
The big feature OF Saturday was the
parade OF school children of the va
rios schools OF the county from the
Court House to the Washington
School The parade was under the
direction OF Mr.. A. L. Merrimon and
the teacher OF the schools had direct
supervision over the pupils who took
part In the parade. In the parade
there were probably between eight
hundred and one thousand children.
The majority Of the schools taking
part In the parade carried banners at
the head OF the column with the
name and colors OF the school The
parade was witnessed by hundreds of
the parents, brothers and sisters of
tho children and the business men
and their employees of the city gath
cred at the doors Of their offices to see
the children pass by,
While practically every school in
the county was represented in the va
rious contests Of the day, not all of
them were represented in the parade.
several having decided not to take
part In this event. Bethel school came
first. II having won the largest num-
Der OF prizes In the events of last
year. with Dalzell second and Winn
third. In the order in which they
came In the winning of prizes last
year. Bethel school also had the
largest number Of school children in
the parade. there being one hundred
and two by actual count. The number
OF pupils In the parade from the
other schools continued on down to
seven In one OF the smallest schools
In the county. the average number
being between forty and nifty.
Prof. s. III. Edmunds made a few
remarks welcoming the visitors 20
Sumter. telling what a pleasure 1t was
for the people OF Sumter to have them
here on this yearly visit.
Ranks were then broken and the
pupils were dispersed to the various
rooms to stand the mental examina-
tons.
The greater part OF the crowd.
however, was at the court house and
the pupils who were rot engaged in
who were TO take part In the dec
lamation contest also returned to the
court house. Tho court room was
jammed To capacity all OF the morn
Ing and the crowd kept coming and
going so that turbulence reigned all
around on the grounds, In the lower
part OF the building and II was hard
matter to keep the audience quiet so
that the speakers could be heard
during the defamation contests.
The first OF these was that i'm which
the boys OF the various schools en-
gagged. There were seven schools on
tered I'm this event. Mayesville, Dalzcll.
DuBose. Ingram. Winn. Salem. Wcd,,c-
Held and shiloh. All OF the declama-
tions were good. but the judges dccld-
ed that Frank Wilson of the Mayes-
Vile School was the best OF all.
Claude Corbett of the Ingram school
came second.
In the girls contest. which were
also extremely good. the first place
was given TO jamie Montgomery OF the
Mayesville school and second place To
Ellie May Allen OF Winn school and
Evelyn Ramsey OF wedgeheld school.
In this contest the other schools -
tered were Providence. Bethel. Shi-
Ion and Oswego. although unfortu-
nately some OF the contestants wore
not present To take their part in the
contest. probably being at the Wasn-
inston school at the time engaged in
other exercises.
Two addresses were delivered dur
Ing the morning. one by city Mana