The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-29

all teachers of the rural county schools.
 These leaflets touched upon the import
 ance of embracing the opportunity to give
 the children good reading matter, and ex- plained that the rural schools of Shelby
 county were entitled to IS state aid libra fies. They suggested that each school ob-
 serve the fourth Friday in each month as Library day and that the children be
 asked to contribute cents apiece each month toward securing the required slO. ] The first IS schools securing $10 each would be entitled to equal amounts from the county and from the state for school libraries.
 In the teachers division of the Reading circle the books selected were Parker's
 History of Modern Education" Col grove's '"The Teacher and the School"
 and Carney's Country Life and the
 Country School" Each teacher who was
 studying these books was doing so alone.
 as there was no center from which this
 professional study was directed It was
 the belief of the secretary that the work
 would be of more value to the teachers if
 they studied together, and to this end she
 enlisted the cooperation of Mr. Leftwich
 and of County Superintendent of Educa-
 tion ;. P Williamson in forming the teachers into a county association Thus
 1t came about that in December the Shel- by County Teachers association was re-
 organized. MT. Leftwich was elected president and Miss Shelton secretary and
 business manager, the same offices they hold in the Reading circle. The High
 school auditorium at Columbiana was se- lected as the place of meeting and the tune decided upon was the first Satur- day in each school month, 80 o'clock The teachers voted a contingent fee of 20 cents year for each member to defray
 the expenses of the association and the
 paff
 10 libraries. Since that time three other
 rural schools have secured S10 each and
 the full number of IS libraries has been asked for.
 At the January meeting the association
 was addressed by MT. Glenn, state pres
 ident of the Reading circle. His talk was on Alabama's educational progress end
 the individual teachers responsibility in
 its development. It was one of the dis
 tinctly excellent things that has been pre- sented to the teachers
 It has now been decided to broaden the scope of the association to include not only professional study but also the school clubs and all matters of general in- terest to the teachers Through the asso- citation the boys and girls are urged to work a demonstration acre of corn or to- matoes at each school or in each district. Miss shelton plans to give the club work her personal attention, that it may be well established as a feature of the Shell by county schools.
 Part of Miss Shelton's creed must be. Be well and happy for she makes a practice of being both and of putting that spirit into her school. Then to that she
 must add, Be busy" for she is employed all day long.
 She finds time to visit her pupils and to be confidant and friend of each one. and she helps them and judges their work from this standpoint. She is trying to teach her pupils not only cube root and state boundaries, but the art of living. She has made of Union school a model rural school and she is the inspiration of the reconstruction of the countys rural schools. She has shown what can be done with country school where there is some one with the will power and the
 skill to do the work that is required One delightful feature of Miss Shelton's s work is that she is appreciated now. Her trustees are gratifed with their school,
 and her pupils are devoted to her-their Miss Olive. Already She is realizing
 what has been her ideal through half Q
 dozen years of teaching-that is, country schools that do justice to the country
 children.