The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1919-05-28
ONE LONE BOY
that.

drifting on into the responsibilities
of men,-men who must handle the
affairs of our town our county, and
our state, Cordele is sending out TO-
day one lone boy graduate from her
public schools. One lone boy! Hun
dreds OF them are here in their
tender years without knowledge
of their need of education. Scores of
them will say when they are in their
mature years that they never had a
fair chance because they were not
made to know the meaning of an edu-
cation when it would have counted
for something.
The most pathetic wall in all the
world is that of a mother who sees
the mistakes of her son in his young
manhood and pours out her heart in
fearful words: He never had a
chance" No mother lives that has not
the highest hopes for her son. Where
are te mothers of these who should
have been graduating from the public
schools? Are the mothers no longer
mothers? No, it is not that.
But why are we finishing year
with but the lone boy graduate? Why
are we facing another year with but a
prospect of three graduates when the
next session of the schools is closed Z?
Isn't it time to be thinking?
The world is calling for educated
men,-men trained to do things, men
capable of taking hold and accomp-
fishing more than the ordinary rou-
tine, men who can direct the affairs of
the state and nation. Tomorrow edu-
Gated men will be doing the thinking
of our whole country. The places of
responsibility are calling for our
boys. They are needed,-oh, how
small we impress this thought?
Here are the fathers struggling in
the battle for fortune striving for
more wealth, DESTROYS of laying up
something for these boys when they
will have to move out and fight their
own battles. Shall we hope for the
educator who can show them that
the forty acres and mule will not
measure up to the training for future
usefulness in the world?
Is there anything in improved acres
improved seeds, improved stock? Is
the bale-to-the-acre farmer today
worth more than the old straight-in-
the-rut one-galius farmer? Must we
use this commonplace example to
sustain our argum 1nt for the educat-
ed boy? A Georgia stock raiser sold
a Georgia raised Hampshire pig the
other day for $4,000 and regretted it
the moment afterwards. But that pig
was not an accident. II took steady
generations Of plugging to develop
that fine strain. His value is there
of course. Everybody is willing to &C
Cept it as a value.
Now the bog reaches The higher
avenues of usefulness not by accident.
Success comes through we'll directed
effort. Training can make the boy a
power in the world. His education is
Il vital primary necessity. BY it he
finds himself, He cannot know where
he would best fit into the evermoving
procession till he is educated. His
schooling opens his eyes upon the I'M
explored possibilities of the man with
the mental equipment.
One lone boy! Have we come to
the end of the way? Whose heirt is
laden with the importance of setting
this right? Who is here to remind a
parent that the boy will rise to curse
his legacy of ignorance? Who have
we left among us with the heart burn
ing to tell these boys their future is
sand bound? Whose loyalty is strong
enough to remind the parent that to-
morrow is too late?
Now,-now is the time! Tomorrow
that boy who is missing his training
is gone on forever down to the river
where the two worlds meet His des-
tiny is sealed. That boy has the spark
of gunius in his soul He is throbbing
from head to foot with red-blooded