The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1914-09-22
FRIENDS OF EDUCATION MEET.
State Supt. Swearingen and Miss Eva
May Hite Make Addresses.

May Hite Make Addresses.
There was good gathering of
trustees, teachers, patrons and
| friends OF education at the Central
graded school auditorium Saturday
morning to hear addresses by State
Superintendent of Education j. e.
Swearingen and Miss Eva May Hite,
president of the State Rural School
Association. County Superintendent
of Education V. A. Lingle, presided
over the meeting and in well-chosen
words, introduced the speakers.
Mr.. Swearingen prefaced his re-
marks by saying that it had been
his desire to visit Lancaster again,
that he was gratified at the work
that had been accomplished in the
county along educational lines, but
while this was encouraging, there
was much more to be done There
are different ideas about education.
The trustees have their ideas, the
teachers theirs and their ideas vary
The city superintendent of a school.
from the circumstances of the case,
has different plans and purposes
from those of the principal of
town or county school. it all depend
ing upon their environment, but in
any case, earnest, practical work is
what is needed. The greatest need
in South Carolina today, is not
! money, not machinery, nor people,
but the great fundamental need is
intelligence. There are now many
men who, owing to proper educa-
tion and training, have worked Won
ders in their communities.
Charleston, Dorchester and Dar-
Ilington counties had special school
tax levies in all the school districts
in those counties. No school i'm
| Darlington county runs for less than
seven months.
The speaker touched on the mat
ter OF illiteracy in the state as evi-
denced by the recent enrolment of
voters. Out Of 153, 200 names on
the club rolls in the state, in some
counties those who were illiterate
| and made their mark ran as high as
27 per cent. The last United States
census gave 10000 whites of OF
ing age. Ten per cent of these
made no effort to enroll. This shows
the necessity of educating the peo-
I pie. In Marlboro county, the ban
ner cotton raising county of the
state, where they average a bale to
the acre and more, the illiterate
white vote was 27 per cent. The in
/ fiuence of such illiteracy on the
state is fearful to contemplate. 1t
is disgrace for any man to have to
make his mark. In the public schools
1 of the county is where the problem
/ is to be solved Mr.. Swearingen
closed by urging the school trustees
to take more active interest in
their schools.
Miss Eva May Hite, the president
of the State Rural School Associa-
ton, was next introduced by Mr.
/ Lingle. She began by saying the
! kind of work to be done by our
schools depended, largely, upon the
! force of public sentiment in the COM
munity. Where there is genuine
cooperation on the part of teacher.
| parent and trustee, all working for
the advancement of education in
their midst, you will always find Il
flourishing school. She stressed the
Importance of having "Clean up
| Days for each school. She sug-
gested the first Friday in November
as suitable time, but said any dav
. would answer if il was observed
She called attention to the fact that
prizes amounting in the aggregate
10 1850 were being offered bv the
! state to the 40 schools showing the
greatest Improvement. The improve
ment must be in building and
| grounds, equipment and community
spirit or activity. Miss Hite quoted
from Henry Ward Beecher to the
Day" for each school. She sug-
effect that there is not a single ele-
ment of activity put in force in any
community but what is due to the
power of public opinion. "The signal
word of success in educational
work said Miss Hite, " is co-opcra-
ton" She brought out the idea in
the following School Teachers
! Creek" by Edwin Osgood Grover.
which she read in a very impressive
manner:
believe in boys and girls, the men
and women of a great tomorrow.
that whatsoever the boy soweth the
man shall reap.
l believe in the curse of Ignorance.
efficacy Of schools, in the dignity of
teaching and in the JOY of serving
others.
! believe in wisdom as revealed in
human lives as in the pages of a
printed book, in lessons taught. not
so much by precept, as by example,
in ability to work with the hands as
we'll as TO think with the head, i'm
everything that makes life lovely.
| believe in beauty in the school
room, in the home, in daily fife and
in out of doors. | believe if laugh
ter, in love, in faith. i'm all ideals and
distant hopes that lure us on
believe that every hour OF every
day we receive a just reward for all
we are and all we do.
believe in the present and Its op-
| portunities, in the future. and its