The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-01-29
THE CRAZY MOUNTAIN SCHOOL.
What Teacher and Pupils .ef Mountain
Scheel Did.

State Superintendent Davee and the
Montana Bankers association, in their
plans for the betterment of the Montana
rural schools, are emphasizing the point
that better buildings and better equip
ment is to do the best you can with
what you have. In this correction the
example Of the Crazy mountain school,
which was the poorest building and
poorest equipment in Park county, is
cited
/ The Crazy mountain scheolhouse is a
| 10 by IL shack, with a roof which slants
but one way and is covered with black
tar paper. Cracks in the floor were so
big that pencils easily fell through them.
The only light that came in was from
three tiny windows, two in the rear and
one in the left. The hole cut through
the roof to accommodate the stovepipe
was SO large that when it rained the
water ran into the stove and put the fire
out. Rain also beat in at The door,
which was held shut by chain hooked
over nail. The desks were borrowed
from a neighboring school which had
thrown them away as useless. The
seats were held up by sticks of wood,
unless pupil was fortunate enough to
find box of the right size as an indiv-
ideal chair, and the teachers desk was
plank nailed to two sticks and set
against the wall.
Into this school last spring came Miss
Angelina Barker, as teacher. and o.
pupils, representing four different fam
lies. Although the weather was damp,
for the first few weeks they had no fire.
Most of the pupils had no books. But
teacher and pupils went to work to do
the best they could with what they had
and to get better equipment as fast as
they cour.
One day a premium list of the Mon
tana state fair, which is held at Helena
each year, came to this little school.
Both teacher and pupils began to read to
see what there was they could do. BEST
kindergarten work." they knew they
could not do that. "Best shop work !"
that sounded even more hopeless BEST
collection of wild flowers, pressed and
mounted with a description of fve;"
everybody shouted: "of course we can"
and the race was on.
The Mexican children who lived far up
the mountain plucked the iiowers belong |
ing to the higher attitudes, while the |
rest brought in those peculiar to the |
lowlands and meadows. At school the |
flowers were placed in textbooks and |
magazines, and in the absence of flow |
er press the boys and girls would sit on |
them. At home the flowers We're put |
in books under the heaviest weights that |
could be found One boy placed two |
sacks of -four on the books, another |
tool chest, while third said the heav-
lest thing he coulS find was the large |
bucket" in which his father carried the |
feed to the pigs. The girls resorted 10
just as ingenious expGdients, utilizing
trunks, bureaus, and even one leg of a
bed in which adults were sleeping, in
order that the necessary amount of pres
sure might be obtained
When the days of collection and press
ing the flowers were over, all OF the
specimens were brought together, and
after the very best ones had been select
ed, each was carefully mounted on white
and the entire collection Of
Bs wild flowers was sent to the state de-
partment of education TO be entered at
the fair. When the judges gave their
decision it was found that the Crazy
school had won the first prize,
The blue ribbon and the IS, for the best
VI VIII HOWtfH lItiH any
school in the state.
On the day OF the prize award the
rural Inspector stood in the little booth
md called the attention of the bankers
md business men to the splendid ex-
libit and TO the pictures of the little
school. When one of the leading mer-
,hants saw il, he said; Go and tell the
,eople of Park county that boys and
yirls who will do work like that are en-
titled to better schoolhouse and better
and tell them that as soon as
hey get the house they can come to my
tore and get anything in it without
money or without price; for the best
business men as well as the best school
men realize that boys and girls who do
aithful work with what they have viii
make the men and women who win do
God work when the time Of larger OPP
comes To them