Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1919-11-05
Frances Willard Day observ-
ed at School.

1t was great joy to me to be
present at the opening of our High
and Graded School on Friday morn
ing and take part in the observance
of Frances Willard or Temperance
Day. This day was set apart in 1917
at the session of the General Assem-
bly as a day when the subject of tenn
perance could be brought home to
the children and young people, day
when the teachers all over our State
could get assistance and sympathy
from the outside in carrying on their
work of teaching the i'll effects OF
bad habits, and when the children
could do memory work which will
make an indelible and at the same
time beneficial impression on their
young and growing minds and hearts.
The programs were not ready
quite in time for very effective work
to be done in all the schools, but in
the Edgefeld school the faculty was
interested and the various class
rooms were the scene of some senti-
Matchmaking work on the part of the
teachers.
On the invitation of Prof. Brooks,
/ was very glad to be able to talk at
the chapel exercises on the Life and
. Work of Frances Willard and what
her life had meant toward making
this world better for children to live
in.
Fitzmaurice Byrd was called to the
platform and told what General Per-
shing said about alcoholic drinks,
that this evil was more formidable
to his men than the German army,
and Fitzmaurice said that if General
Pershing thought that way, he
agreed with him and expected to be
the kind of soldier this great man ex-
pected him to be.
George Edward Sheppard gave the
views of Josephus Daniels of the
Navy, who would not let his men
have intoxicants of any kind, and
George Edward agreed and said that
whatever was good enough for Jo-
sephus Doniels to believe was good
enough for him. The views of John
Wannamaker and Thomas Edison
were given, the latter saying to
Frances Willard on one occasion that
he valued his mind too highly to
drink alcoholic liquors. He also said
that along with intoxicants the ciga-
rette was kindred spirit, and chat
those who used them might well look
forward to becoming a vicious ami
NAL.
Prof. Brooks read very appropri-
ate passages of scripture on this SUBJ
ject and enforced these lessons! by
his words of counsel and admonition.
He said that some of the High School
boys who had been smoking some,
had promised him that they would
leave it off and try to be an example
to the younger boys. The boys were
told too, that it is against the law of
the great Commonwealth of South
Carolina for anyone to sell cigarettes
paper or tobacco in any form to boys
under eighteen, also against the law
to give it away or cause anyone to
have it, so that in buying it, they are
the part of merchants who should be
the exemplar of the younger genera
.tion in the enforcement of law and
order.
After the chapel exercises, visit
ed several rooms and saw interesting
exercises. Miss Padgett had the name
of Frances Willard written on the
blackboard and observed the day by
reading from the life of Frances Will
lard. In Miss Katherine Minis room
there was an acrostic made of the
name Frances Willard, in which the
following took part: Effie Allen Lott,
Munroe Swearingen, Percy McCarty,
T. C. Robinson, Lemie Prescott,
Frances Wells, Juanita Hightower,
Mary Lynch, June Nicholson, Odessa
Covar, Frances Townsend, Marjorie
Gray, Margaret Lyon and others.
Margaret Strom and Martha
Thurmond gave a selection, each on
the subject.
After visiting this room, I went
into the first grade over which Miss
Catherine Earle presides. Here / en-
joyed hearing the following little
girls and boys read: Mary and Mar