The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-06

only half effective from lack of oppor- tunity.
 That is why school people are turning their attention to older people as well as to perfeeting the schools for the children. It is not enough to give the present gen eration the best that the schools can se- cure for them; there must be some pro- vision for those who have passed their younger years, without being educated. It is not right to let them lose their chance altogether.
 1t is perfectly natural to want to help children. to lend ones aid for the sake of the coming generation: but 1t is more touching to find people helping those who are older, where there are not all the hopes and possibilities of childhood. Kentucky Leads in Removing IlIiteraey
 Kentucky has the honor of having be gun this work of helping older people to learn to read and write. of extending inc school to Include those whose school days had long been passed
 The fight to remove illiteracy was be- gun by Mrs. Cora Wilson Stewart. sunar- intendent of education in Rowan county. Kentucky It was begun for the people expressly-not for any other reason. II had its beginning in incidents in the lives of three people who had missed their chance, three of those whose lives might have been so different and so much more worth while had they had an opportunity for mental development.
 One was young Kentucky mountaineer who had gift for composing ballads and T rarely beautiful voice as he sang them When Mrs. Stewart heard him sing at some meeting in the mountains, she asked him to write for her the words of tho ballad. He replied that he would do so 1t he could, that he had composed many of them. but that he could not write no. read.
 The second was an old woman who at intervals. went to Mrs. Stewards office with letters from her daughter and asked that they be read to her. One day the woman came with a letter. and Mrs. Stewart offered to read it for her.
 'No'm," the old lady said, q can read 1t for myself. I got tired having to come way over here or botherlng some of the neighbors to read my letters for me. and so l went to the store and l got me a speller and l set up at nights and learned to spell and write and read. and now l can read with my own eyes what Jane writ with her own hand" With that she slowly read the letter fir )m her daughter
 The other was @ mountaineer who was at Mrs. Stewards office one day, man of middle age. erect. with dignified bear ing and with an appearance that com
 
 with her he fingered some books lying on table, looked at them and finally laid them down with sigh
 Knowing the scarcity of reading mat ter in the mountains, Mrs. Stewart asked him if he would not like to take some books home with him.
 T should like to have them, but l can't read or write. l would give en years of my life to be able to do SO"
 These were the incidents that brought about the moonlight schools of Kentucky and that began the wonderful work Mrs. stewart has done in the past four years for the removal of illiteracy, Nor putting into the lives of older people something they crave and that they have missed Mrs. Stewards work has done all that she could have hoped for it to accom- plish. The removal of illiteracy has been credit to Rowan county and u Ken lucky, and far above that is the pleasure 1t has been to the people who have found this new interest with all that it means
 Its influence has extended beyond the state in which it was inaugurated Ala bama has been one of the states to take up the question of removing illiteracy, by educating those beyond school age Of course, Alabama is by no means proud of her record in illiteracy, and there is the double reason for wishing to change for the credit of the state and for the sake of the people.
 Alabama's Illiteracy
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