The Mena weekly star., 1921-12-01

actual work. Many a college gradu- ate enters the world wise enough, but actually bewildered and helpless.
 Chance for Youth.
 l would not for anything surrender or curtail the training we should give our children in appreciation of the fine things of life. But long ago it struck me that for the safety of the individual and for the safety of the country, the ideal system of educa- tion for the average young boy or girl in our land consisted of at least a high school training and the acquisi- tion of some practical trade.
 This has been no idle theory of mine. The theory has been in prac- tical operation in the home school started and maintained by the Loyal Order of Moose, at Mooseheart, not far from Chicago, along the Fox river in Illinois. Experts have been generous enough to praise this experiment. in the highest terms. They have pro- nounced it not simply remarkably successful thing in itself, but a model to the rest of the country in sound education.
 The idea of Mooseheart occurred to me when I was worker in the iron mills of Pittsburgh There I saw heads of families die and leave their dependents totally helpless, the chil- dren with little or no education and driven to work without the slightest training. Often they were dispersed so that brothers grew up apart and unknown to each other thruout their lives.
 What Mooseheart Is.
 Mooseheart is not an institution. It is not a secretarian retreat. 1t is not a reformatory. It has no off, cialdom to rule it. From the first is has been a free and untrammeled ex- pertinent. In the first place, Moose heart is a home. Mothers are there, so that they need not be separated from their children. Babies have been born there, of expectant mothers left without aid by less fortunate members of our Order. This home at Mooseheart is a comfortable little town of homes, cottages, offices, school buildings, work shops, hospi- tai, an auditorium and everything that belongs to a home community. The tract consists of more than 1 900 acres, and the farm that supplies it with milk and other foods is at the same time a model school of agri- culture In the midst of the place is a lake for water sports and the wholesome exercise they promote And we have not forgotten a football field, baseball diamond, and a play ing space for all. We have an or chestra, and band of more than 100 pieces. The students who form these bodies do not simply scrape and toot and make noise; they are under the Nraining of a skilled and inspired in- structor, and they play the best of music and play it well. Some of the houses and buildings were designed by Mooseheart students, from mater ials shaped in the schools and shops. While the students were about it. they fashioned ornaments for these build ings, as well as blocks and lath.
 School Is Gaining.
 Even now barely well begun, Mooseheart has grown in the eight years of it's life so that 1,034 chil- dren, from babyhood to young man and womanhood, enjoy it's advantages. It is distinctly on the make. We are now building a village for babies un- der school age. They receive, in babyhood, a care that is scientific and practical but yet sympathetic and home-like. At every stage all insti- tutionalism is carefully avoided. No uniform has been adopted. The chil- dren wear individual clothing. and when they arrive at a suitable age they select their own. At still later age, they make their own. At all times they romp together as a huge happy family, as much as possible, out of doors in the country air ard subject to the influences of the natur-