Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-01-09
The Work Begins.

"In Amusement I questioned her. and
this is the story she told: Sometimes
L couldn't get oyer here to see you, and
the 'cricks'. would be up between me
and the neighbors, Or the ~nejghbors
would be away from lrome, and / would
not get a letter read and answered for
three or four days: and, anyway. it
jist seemed like thar wuz a wall
'twixt lane and ME all the time, and
l wanted to read with my own eyes
what she had writ with her own hand.
So I Went to a store and l bought me
a speller, and l sot up at night till
midnight. and sometimes till daylight
and I learned to read and write
Incidents like this led directly to
the establishment of the moonlight
schools. The public school teachers of
the county were called together. Thu
fact that there were 1,152 men and
had left behind was dwelt upon. The
teachers were asked to volunteer for
night school service. to open their
| schools. on moonlit evenings-to give
these people a. chance. This they cheer
fully agreed to do, and on Labor day,
September 4, 1911, these teachers cele-
brated by visiting every farmhouse
and every howell. inviting people of all
classes to attend the moonlight schools
which were to open their sessions the
next evening.
These country folk had all the ex-
cuses that any toilworn people ever
mad. JneTe were usRed ROADS 10
travel, high hills to climb. streams
without bridges to cross, children to
lead and babes to carry; but they were
not seeking excuses, they were seek
ing, knowledge. And so they came.
They came, some singly and alone;
they came hurrying in groups; they
came travelling for miles; they came
carrying babes in arms; they came bent
with age and leaning on canes; they
tcame 1900 strong.
zone for Everyone"
in March, 1913, the teachers of
Rowan county met in the Office of the
county superintendent and declared
their determination to wipe illiteracy
out of that county that year. Each
teacher was given a list of the Hitter
ates in her district when she opened
her day school. She called on these
people and cultivated their acquaint-
ance before the moonlight schools be-
gan their sessions. One for every one.
was the slogan which brought into
service doctors, ministers, st~enograph-
ers and any Others who would seek
and teach a pupil
We tried, by every means. fair and
foul, to get illiteracy out of the county
to the last individual. At the close
OF the third session we had but a i
write-twenty-three in all. mainly de-
fectives. invalids and the blind.
Meanwhile, the moonlight schools
had been extended to twenty-five other
COUNTIES in the state. The Governor of
Kentucky. seeing. the determined war
fare which was being waged against
illiteracy. urged in his message to the
Legislature tha, an illiteracy commits
sion be created to drive iiliteracy from
the state. The measure creating this |
commission passed the Legislature of
1914 without a dissenting vote. The
commission is directing the state-wide
campaign to remove iliiteracy from
Kentucky by the time the census of
1890 is taken |
e"The moonlight school curriculum
embraces more than reading and writ
ing. II includes arithmetic. history,
geography, civics. agriculture. horti-
culture, home economics and road build
ing. Moonlight schools are conducted
in seventeen states, Oklahoma, Alabama
and North Carolina f~ollowing closely
Kentucky's lead.
There are 5,516,163 illiterates in this
according to the federal GEN.
sus of 1910-more than the entire pop
OF Denmark, also more than the
population of Sweden or Norway, and
of several other prosperous countries. |
Gould there be more valiant and
heroic service to humanity than the
out of illiteracy. the most in
foe of the nation?" |