The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1917-06-27

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paper got his first schooling in a lit
tie house that is now surrounded by
, the graves of the man who made The
this ccunty,-is still there, time-worr
monument 10 the men who came from
out of the pines to discuss among
themselves the dreams OF an educa
ticn for their children. Some of the
children who went to that school had
fathers who lived in good circums;an-
ces, but others were poor. We belong
TO the latter class, but oh, now that
country school broadcned our outlook
on lie! Should we live forever, we
could not forget 10 bless the day when
our poor father resolved to help make
tAis good school for his own and
neighbors' children.
To that school We owe our first lit
lie taste of knowledge. To that school
many citizen Of today owes his first
spark Of the fire that kindles ambition
and hone. To it most OF us native born
owe cur desire for a college training,
for there it started. Out CT the same
schcCl grew enc of The best ever pre-
vded for Georgia's country boys and
girls. We saw mere than three hun
dred Of them there at one time dur
ing our school days. We speak OF
Arab Those boys and girls are scat
tored all over this land. We hear Of
them now and then, most of them
working away, with great earnestnesG,
with brcadened outlook, with the ev-
erlasting desire to be useful, first
planted in their souls in that school.
How we would like to tell every
country boy and every country girl
in this county how, that little school
lighted The fire Of hope in our boyish
soul! We lived in the country on a
little twO-hCrse farm, not half as we'll
appointed as are most of the farms in
Crisp today. We walked three miles
to that school every morning and
back every evening. Our parents did
not come for us in an automobile af-
ter school, but sometimes they trudg-
ed down the road to. meet us after .
tired days work, and how their faces
lighted at our little success in schools!
Could we ever tell you of the joy in
that home at the appearance in the
newspaper of the first thing the editor
of the Dispatch ever wrote for print?
1t was prize essay in which we had
beaten our classmates!
1t is now a quarter of a century
since that school at Arab flourished.
1t was just a plain country school, and
yet-and yet-little boy, little girl,
your school isn't as good. 1t ought to
be and better, but it isn't That school
gave us the power to determine the
meaning of q good school,. 1t reveal
ed to us the difference between a
parched pent up, ignorant manhood
and a full-blown development of mind
and body for the usefulness that God
intended.
We went away from our boyhood
community to college. There we pur-
sued the calling we love. We studied
fifteen long years. 1t seemed a much
longer time, but when we were ready
to return home, burning with a de-
sire to do our best here among you,
we were waited on by the head of
your two school systems in Macon. He
came to tell US that the newspapers
of Cordele did not want us to come
here,-that the community did not
need us and would not support good
newspaper,-it had never done so and
WOulu uOL uO II lOl u9. w iCt q DiSW
that was to us! Why did that man
go to tell us that?
Would you mind listening while we
tell you why? The same thing that
has kept you from enjoying good
schools moved him. That same mar
has for long years had your schools
within his grasp and he has never vel
known that merit and worth ought tc
set one man over another. He has held
on to your schools without ever having
tried to be an educator Your schools
are his side line. He believes that the
proper means Of holding on is tht
nlacing Of teachers and trustees who
will support him at the ballot boz
when it comes time to vote. He hal
!