The Press., 1921-05-05

my school days in Holland; the stay in each family being proportional to the number of pupils attending school from that family; and the fuel, Wnlch was wood, was furnished III nKe pro portion, by the farmers Of the dlsCrlcC' The first innovation affecting thls system was in the manner Of toaro- ing. and was caused by the inability of some poor families who had several small children, and cOrrespondtngly long boarding period, to meet the added expense of the teachers board, especially at the war cost of living; hence began in some towns, including WillingtOn, the method of raising board money by taxation, and hiring the teachers tOard in suitable fam ilv. which was responsible to the dis trict for good board at as reasonable price as any like family was willing to furnish it.-usually $2.5O to $S per week: the choice being determined partly by nearness to the school- hOuse,-an important matter ln stor- my, and especially in snowy, weather. It was many years before the town system of raising money superseded the district system; the connection between town and district being mainly limited to the school visitors, who were elected by the town. The situation now is nearly the reverse of this; the district committee being almost the sole connection between the district and the town adminlstra- tiOn. By the present system, the chll- dren of the poor, sand even Of nOn-clt- izens, are educated at the expense of the prOperty-Owners, who may or may not have children of their own; and though cOmmOn-schOOl education may be to some extent measure Of self defence against the danger from ig- norant and illiterate mass actiOn,-it is only simple justice that those ed ucated free of expense to themselves l in our public schools should repay the benefit by labOring unselfishly for the welfare of the community, and espec- ially of the public schools. "Ingrati- tude is the basest of human passions" l as has been well said; but Wilmington has been fortunate in it's immigrants, especially the Danes and CZechs (BO- hemians), in that they brought an ap- DreciatiOn of public school education with them, from their mother cOun- ! tries.
 As to the course of studies of the ! district school, ''the three R's," read ing, writing, and arithmetic, with spell ing,were the regulars; and geography and grammar the specials, usually by special request of the parents, at '"3t; but headed toward the regular list; geography in particular being stimu- lated by the desire to keep track of war movements of local soldiers. Manual training was not school subject; since it was the main busi- ness of life in the rural community, the boys and girls could not fail of it, such as it was; the use of axes, saws, hoes, shOvels, blows, harrows, and stone drags; the handling and driving of teams, with use of wagons, carts, and sleds; the management and feed ing of horses, cattle, sheep, swine; and the raising and harvesting of various crops, especially grains, hay, and roots; and for girls, housewOrk, es pecially cooking and sewing, includ- ing mending.
 The native American is still the mainstay of the rural America. Ac- cording to the latest published United States census of agriculture, native whites furnished 75 per cent, native cOlOred, 14.5 per cent, and foreign tOrn only 10.5 per cent of the farm operators of the United States.
 JOEL N. EMO.