The Nome daily nugget., 1914-05-09
THE CRAZY MOUNTAIN
 SCHOOL WON PRIZE

How boys and girls in a little moun- tain school house in Montana found what it was they could do best, and did it SO well that they won first attracted the attention of the whole state, is told by c. w. Tenny, state school inspector of Montana in rural school circular just issued by the Uni ted States bureau of education. Here IS MT. Tenny's story of how Crazy Mountain school did it's part in rural bttterment: The Crazy Mountain schoolhouse is 6 10 by F shack, with 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 on the left. The hole cut through the roof to accommodate the stuvepipe
 
 water ran into the stove and put the fire out. Rain also beat in at the door which was held shut bya chain hook ed over a nail. The desks were bor- rGwed from a neighboring school which had thrown them away as use less The seats were held up hyI sticks of wood, unless a pupil was for tunate enough tn find a box of the I.ght size to use as an individual chair, and the teachers desk was plank nailed to two sticks and set against the wall. Into this school last spring came Miss Angeline Barker as teacher, and nine pupils. representing four differ cnt families. Although the weather was damp. for the first three weeks had no books. But teacher and pupils | went to work to do the best they could with what they had and to get bot 1 ter equipment as fast as they could |
 One day a premium list of the Montana state fair, which is held at Helena each year, came to this little school Both teacher and pupils be- gan to reach to see what there was they could do. Best kindergarten work" they knew they could not oo that Best shop work" that sounded even more hopeless. "'Best collection of wild flowers, pressed and mounted with a description of five" everybody shouted: "Of course we can!" and the race was on. The Mexican children who lived farI up on the mountain plucked the flow CTS belonging to the higher attitudes, while the rest brought in those pecu- liar to the lowlands and meadows. Att school the flowers were placed in text books and magazines, and in the absence of a flower press the boys and girls would sit on them. At homo the flowers were put in books under the heaviest weights that could be found
 One boy placed two sacks of flour on the books, another q tool chest, while a third said the heaviest thing he could find was the large bucket" in which his father carried the feed to the pigs. The girls resorted to just as ingenious expedients, utilizing trunks. bureaus and even one l.g of a bed in which adults were sleeping, in trder that tho necessary amount of pressure might be obtained.
 When the days of collecting and pressing the flowers were over, all "f the specimens were brought to- Bether, and after the very best ones had been selected each was carefully mounted on white cardboard, and the entire collection of 6s wild flowers was sent to tho state department of educa- tion to be entered at the fair. When the judges gave their decision it was