The log cabin Democrat., 1916-03-27

the boys egg club is waiting. On each egg, 1t is brought in is written the number of It's owner and the date it was laid. And during each school day the eggs packed and sent by par eel post to of the clubs customers in Chi. cago.
 The arithmetic lesson in several of the Cook county rural schools consists in keeping books on the receipts and sales of fresh eggs by members of the egg clubs
 Once a week. instead of the oldfashioned re- view of lessons, in which the pupils had not the slightest interest, the weekly remittance for egg shipments is received and divided by the boys among themselves in proportion to the number of eggs each has contributed. To them the study of arithmetic has become a very real important and interesting matter. All through the l5O rural schools Of Cook county the same spirit of life has been put into the dry bones of study
 Boys and girls studying botany for in. stance, by testing the seed which their ia. thers are planning to plant next spring; that brings in again the study of percentage And when father Is shown that on the average only 63 per cent of his proposed seed corn will actu. ally germnate, he is likely to get a new idea of and new interest in the country school
 There few things of which Chicago has A greater right to be proud than that the rural schools of the county in which it is located are probably the most advanced and progressive country schools in the United States The di- vision of these schools into five districts. with a
  ricultural college at the head of each as director of rural life and of schools has proved tre- mendous step in advance
 County Superintendent of Schools Tobin who persuaded the county board to make an appro. priation of $10,000 to the salaries of the five rural life directors for the year has just received the reports of these directors covering the work done during the fall and early winter months To read them is to wish that one might be again country-schoo boy going down the long road every morning to the little red school house.
 Almost every schoolhouse has been social center for the rural community of which it is the center. Gas and wood ranges have been put in many schools and the girl pupils prepare hot lunches every day for all the pupils They demonstrate their skill in household chemistry also, by preparing and serving special occa- sions dinners at which their parents are the guests of honor
 Day after day the boys and girls bring sam- ples of milk to school and test them with milk tester for richness in butterfat After series Of such tests they able to help their fathers decide which COWS worth keeping and which are only unprohtable "toarders'
 In many neighborhoods the parents of the pu- pills have been organized into agricultural clubs and have begun to take an active and eager in terest in all the work of the school On the long winter evenings the parents and pupils have ire quently met in of the schoolhouses to take part in and watch an old-fashioned spelling bee, based on lists of 800 common words sent out at the beginning of the year by the county super intendent
 Especially interesting and important is the plan to keep the schoolsor at least the school activi. ties-in evidence all through the summer months. With that end in view. large number of garden clubs organized year ago on a basis which would keep the children interested enable them to apply their newly acquired knowledge, and put less definite financial reward up for them to try for.
 Each member of one of the country school gar. den clubs rented from his parents last spring at the regular rate prevailing in the neighborhood, a small piece of land for cultivation of which he was to be entirely responsible All the money resulting from the sale of garden products grown on tha- piece of land to belong to him.
 By way of adding additional zest to the compe- tition among the schools and among the indvid- ual pupils series of prizes awarded re-