The log cabin Democrat., 1920-09-11
JOURNAL PRAISES STROUP'SSUCCESS
STORY IN BIG PAPER
Hendrix Mans Achievements at Rose bud Subject of Country Gentle
 man Article.

development of school and church work at Rosebud, White county Vil-
 lage near the Faulkner county line l by Rev. Henry A. Stroup. a Hendrix College graduate, is the subject of the leading article in this weeks issue of the Country Gentleman, one of the Curtis publications of Philadelphia. The article is the first of serie.; on Good Country Schools" by A. B. Macdonald.
 The beginning of the school" the author writes, twas when Unc:e Jake Fisher, in the spring of 1914, took his pen in hand and wrote lette'' to the presiding elder of the Methodist church in that district.
 of you will send a man of the Lord over here to hold protracted meeting1 believe we could get enough Methodists together to start a church," wrote Uncle Jake.
 "The presiding elder wrote back: I have just the man you want; man of the Lord in every truth; mountaineer born and raised. He is student in Hendrix College, in Conway, Arkan- sas, preparing himself for the minis try. l will send him to you in the coming summer vacation"
 The mountaineer and man of the Lord was Henry A. Stroup, and when he arrived and was introduced at Rosebud the people shook their heads, because he was just boy and he did not wear a high collar or a long tailed coat. But under an arbor he preached with such zeal for 30 days that more than 100 were converted and as a result a church costing S3, 900 was built and was equipped with a piano and 300 opera chairs.
 In 1917, when Rosebud sent for him again, Mr. Stroup began to turn his attention to the school facilities of the community. He found in the town ship six school districts, each with a ."dlnky little church and a dinky lit tie one-room school,' and a school term of three to six months. He an- .nounced to his congregations that he was going to preach the gospel of good schools. That was the first thing they needed, he told them. Good schools, good roads, good churches the three ought to go together, could see that" the preacher is quoted as saying. And by a good school mean one that will not only give book learning but will teach how to farm and keep house and, just as important as anything else, will give amusement to the young folks. A young man who has red blood in his veins won't stay in a community that is as dry as the desert of Sahara. He wants a show once in while, and he wants to sing and to laugh; and it is just as much the duty of school to give those things to the young folks as it is to teach them geography and arith- metic."
 Continuing his campaign until he felt that sentiment was right, MT. Stroup went to county court and had an election called to consolidate three school districts. The vote was 77 to for consolidation. The author de 'scribesIn detail the task of erecting suitable building at a cost that would not be burdensome and tells how free labor was given to clear the grounds, build the foundations and haul the lumber. He. says fair valu- ation of the present buildings is S25,- 000, but the cost was only about s15,- 000 "The main school building" MT Macdonald writes, "has five big and modern classrooms and a model kitch- en, where cooking is taught; an agri- cultural laboratory where seed is tested and milk is tested for butter fat; wide railways with troughs for overshoes, racks for umbrellas and shelves for lunches. It has the big gest auditorium in the county, 80 by 48 feet in size, with two dressing rooms, stage, a piano, an sS5 drop curtain, gasoline lamps, heating plant, papered walls and modern floor.
 There is also a teacherage of eight rooms with sleeping porches, where Prof. T. NJ. Norwood and family, also well known in Conway, and the fac ulty reside. A baseball diamond, basketball and tennis courts have been provided There are seven teachers and the enrolment is 276, almost twice as great as that of the four dis tricts which are now united with the Rosebud district, when they existed separately. The teachers are each Lnaid twice as nuch as was maid the