The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-09-07
PUBLIC SCHOOL NOTES

The Pennington public schools
opened on Tuesday morning with an
enrolment of 764 pupils, an increase
of 55 in the white schools and de-
crease of Is in the colored school,
making a net increase of 40 pupils.
through the grades and no unusual
crowding is occasioned in any room
but all are filled to their capacity.
Preliminary registration in the
High School department made it pos
sible to begin work promptly at nine
o'clock on Tuesday morning and ev-
cry class reported for work during
the day. Organization had been so
carefully carried out that one would
have Judged that school had been in
session for several days.
The High School enrolment for the
| first day was 131, almost as many as
were enrolled the first day last year.
| 1t had been expected that the en-
rollment would fall considerably be-
| low that of last year, on account of the
present demand for labor, but the
nonresident enrolment mostly from
the neraby rural schools made up for
the expected deficiency. Twenty-Five
non-residents have already enrolled
in the High School classes. They come
from DeLassus, Vale Forge, Sugar
Grove, Independence, Knob Lick and
several other rural schools of st. Fran
co.'s county, while Perry county has
several pupils in the group. They are
fine lot of young people and prom
| Use to do some excellent work IN
school. The enrolment of rural gradu-
ates in the high school is a very
healthy educational indication and
shows that good work is being done
by the rural teachers.
On Tuesday morning shortly after
seven o'clock a thirteen-year-old school
boy, who had failed to make his pro-
motion in the seventh grade last year,
was seen to start toward school by
way of the business district. When
he had reached short distance from
home he deliberately lighted his cigar
cite and proceeded leisurely on his
way toward the said business section,
where he had doubtless secured his
package of cigarettes the afternoon
before. There was nothing strange
nor unusual in the proceeding. SINH
, lar occurrences take place on the streets
of Pennington every day, in spite of
the well-known fact that it is viola
, ton of the law to sell cigarettes or
4 cigarette wrappers to boys under
eighteen years old, and also a INSIDE
meanor for any boy under eighteen
to smoke cigarette in any public
street, alley, or gathering place. The
boy mentioned above is not the only
cigarette smoker who failed to make
his grade in school last year. Most
cigarette smokers so fail in their
, school work The same boy is slovenly
in his dress and manners, and has been
, known to steal when opportunity Of
fered. There is nothing strange MOI
unusual about that. Many cigarette
smokers of that age have the same
traits of character. Pennington has
many of them. Too many of them
in fact, to make the future outlook
:. for our fair little city hopeful one
1t is true that Pennington is spend
ing thousands of dollars every year OF
: her public schools. In fact she is be
: coming rather generous in that mat
ter. The proportion, however, tina
! goes to trying to educate the DO!
cigarette smoker is absolutely wasted
\ Every intelligent man and woman IL
Harrington knows that to be fact
! Yet the writer has never known of &
9 single man in Pennington having beer
q arrested for violating the cigarette
! law, nor has he ever heard of single
Pennington boy having been appre
hended for smoking cigarettes in pub
lie places. Substantial business hous
: es in Pennington sell cigarettes in
. discriminatory to boys under eighteei
> years of age, and protest is seldom
, ever raised. When one is offered it il
so feeble that it can not be heart
across a three-foot counter. 1t is {
fact that the public cares nothing fol-
: the, welfare of its growing boys? L
!. / is tame to shake this town to its bast
\ on the cigarette question and the soon
! er it happens the better for our boys
and for our schools. If you are in ia
vor of the City of Pennington being
q "widc open" on the cigarette question
i speak out openly and say so. If 70,
: are opposed to boys smoking then
and opposed to them being Distributed
unlawfully to boys why not let you
0 voice be heard? 1t is a serious mat
T. ter and lot of us are "Asleep at tn
J Switch" while the boys are being sac
5 rifced.