The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-03

trousers and heavy ill-ftting shoes? Or perhaps you saw him in the summer, when he was barefooted and when a cheap straw hat covered a shock of tous- eled hair. But his face-the face that you saw underneath the hats broad, Hopping brim-was so much more signh- cant than the clothes the boy wore. You looked into that face and wondered what life held for that boy. What about his mind and heart and soul? Did he have any ideals and desires in life, or was his inner self as commonplace and as neglected as his appearance indicated? What of his ability? If he had no abil- ity what would become of him, and if he did have ability and ambition what chance was there for him to develop it? He was a southern, country boy. He would and should grow into a country man. and what chance was there for him to be as successful and as worth while in his sphere as other men are in theirs?
 Now if. in the end, such boys Tive happily ever after" it would not be such a tragedy; but they don't. The end Is but a continuation of the beginning. They never have their chance. There has never been anything for them to do but to live out the whole of their lives in the circumstances and surroundings that are made for them. They must fol- low in the footsteps of their tired, toiling fathers
 You know that there are many dis tricts in the south where the fate of the country boys is just this. It cannot be truthfully said that they could make their own way if they would. A boy is going through life for the first time, and he hasn't the experience and broad CT view of a man. In his inexperience and limited observation he can't see what he might make of his life It is too much to ask that he make his way sin gle-handed with all the odds against him. He must have someone to give him a start, at least
 These boys are in the hills of north Alabama. the black belt of south Ala bama, the mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky, and all the way from Virginia to the Mississippi; and because they are with us always and their lot is so com monplace, they are neglected.
 It remained for a Georgia woman to realize the possibilities in these boys ana the needs of these boys, and to give them their chance.
 The Berrys were one of the old aristo- cratic families living in the mountains of North Georgia. Their home was near Rome, and all about them were just such boys, living on small farms, helping thelr fsthers with small crops. living narrow lives that gave no promise of broader fu- lures. The lot of these children ap- pealed strongly to Miss Martha Berry, and she determined to help them. to con tribute something toward making thelr lives more worth while.
 In a little log cabin on her fathers place, she opened Sunday school There she assembled these children who had never had an opportunity to go to Sunday school and hardly to a school of any kind. It seemed to mean so much to these boys and girls. Later, with still str onger belief that such work was not cnly needed but was wanted she opened other Sunday schools fin more remote dis tricts, she organized classes for the girls and the boys, and she visited the homes of the mountain people.
 And then-she had small dormitory built, announced the opening of school for country boys; and on January IS, 1902, began the now famous Berry school for boys. The principals in that begil ming were five country boys, Miss Berry, her sister, Miss Frances Berry, and Miss Elizabeth Brewster. The five students were country boys, growing into country men. They were what the nation needs, except that they were entirely untraned. A great national need Is trained-that is, competent, intelligent country people-the people who furnish the world its food, who supply the necessities of life.
 It was Miss Berry's purpose to make these boys competent.
 She appreciated how great was the need for these people. She hoped to make these boys the exponent of the theory that country life can be happy, wholesome. and in every way profitable The pur- n n cph ic In to make the boys competent.
 Berry school admits no boy who does not live In the country, and no boy who is able to attend a more expensive school. Every boy who is admitted must live in the country, must have good health, good morals, mental ability, and he must want to improve himself The school gives preference to boys who expect to live in the country and to be farmers garden ere. dairymen. mechanics, teachers, preachers and social or religious workers. They must be at least 16 years old. They must want to have chance.-
 There are 225 such boys at Berry school now. They are all country boys, and they are all dressed in the uniform of working shirts and blue overalls. They are all at work, for Berry is emphatically - working school. Hand work and brain work go on together.
 Literary Department
 Many of the boys who go there have been to school for only a few weeks or q fe wmonths, and yet they are mature enough to advance rapidly when they en- ter school. For these boys there are two grades in which the work of the usual grammar school. primary and intermedi- ate departments is given thoroughly and quickly. There are two grades which give the essentials of the grammar school course. and there is a special course for those who can spend but a brief time in school, and who cannot take the long, CT grammar and high school courses The latter are parallel with the usual courses, and graduates from the Berry High school department are prepared for college. Among the institutions with which it is affiliated and which admit its graduates without examination are the University of Georgia, the University of Alabama, Auburn and Howard college. N
 "The Other Tenth"
 There is still another course, desened for special students. Not all who go to sthis school are boys in their teens. Some of them are 25 30 years old, young men who are taking the chance that is at fast open to them. They can't spend one day on work that is not essential, and so for them has been added this special course. It is based on the de- duction of educators that students for get nine-tenths of what they are taught at school, that nne-tenths of it is not essential to their later experience For these men. there Is a special course in the other tenth, the part they do need
 Instead of textbooks, they use the life around them. They go to the garden and