Mexico Missouri message., 1917-02-15
RURAL SCHOOLS
Ry w. CLYDE JOHNSON.

ment of % the attendance was cut
into half, while Bear Slough and
Walker had no pupils at all. Then,
too, those that came must have suf-
fered considerably from the cold.
But with an inclosed wagon, com
fortably heated and driven by a re-
sponsible man, the attendance in the
county would likely have been doub-
led the boys and girls would have
enjoyed the ride. If half the rural
pupils were absent Friday, the money
loss to the county was $110, which
does not amount to much. But If
400 boys and girls are absent or about
one-fifth of the enrolment, the money
loss to them was $4,000, and that
amounts to a great deal Can the
county and State and Nation afford
to permit conditions that cause so
great a waste? When a day in school
is worth Sc to a boy, can we parents
afford to allow him to miss a single
day of school?
Hurdle, with Miss Helen Graham,
teacher, has some new books, win
dows, and ANEW roof on their coal
house. They also have drinking
fountain and heater-a very neces-
sary equipment such weather as this.
Miss Christine Gabriel is the teach
err at Elm Bend. The board here is
doing all it can with a Accent levy
on a $4,000 valuation to get the
school in first-class shape. In the last
three years, they have put the house
on solid foundation, reroofed it, re-
plastered, put in new windows, and
built a floor for a porch, which will
come later. Besides this, with the CO.
operation of the teacher by means of
suppers and entertainments, they have
built up a good library of one hun
dred and fifty volumes. They also
have bought an Excellent 70" globe,
a reading chart and one of mathe-
MATES, a number of frames, a large
sand table, oil for the floor, and a
sanitary drinking fountain. They
have also put jacket around the
stove. This is the proper spirit, and it
is the way to get the best as well as
the biggest returns on the money in
vested.
Miss Gladys Furber has an enroll
90 fo1y hng n
very interesting class of nine doing
the eighth grade work. They are TAX
ing great interest in this work. They
have done some worthy improving.
The outbuildings have heen cleaned,
lined and rebuilt. The house has a
new roof and the belfry and bell have
again been put up. They also have
some new pictures and books. They
have not yet done all they have plan
ned to do.
Miss Beulah Hagan and her board
are cooperating to get Oak Grove
on the approval list. They have new
jacket for the stove, a new globe, a
new door, a pencil sharpener, a con-
crete well top, two new window sash
es, and will have an eight-months
term. Miss Hagan made $35 with a
pie supper. She is also getting some
new pictures and oil for the floor. 1
expect to number Oak Grove in the
| list of approved schools soon. We al
ready have 80 with a half dozen or
more just ready.
Miss Ella Criswell is teaching her
sixth term at East Lick. AS her con-
tinuous service indicates, she is a
very strong teacher and gives COM
plete satisfaction.
This is an approved school and has
heater that kept the room comfort
able even in the farthest corner with
no difficulty in spite of wind and ex-
IRENE cold. In my four years eX-
perience with 80 or more heaters in
the county, not once have / found the
pupils freezing around the heater
| but almost without exception have |
found them comfortable in all parts
Of the room. But several times have
found a school huddled shivering
around the ordinary stove, and the
room very uncomfortable in every
part. Does that not prove conclu-
sively that if you want a comfortable
room in which your children can en-
joy their work to the fullest extent il
must be heated by modern heating
system?
East Lick has been greatly i'm,
proved since Miss Criswell became its
teacher All the outbuildings are
good new ones, and the house has
been repaired and all buildings well
painted. This year new paper was
put on, the floor was oiled, the black
board was painted, and a brush, new
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