Evening star., 1938-07-03
M'GUFFEY CLUBS
GUESTS OF FORD
Auto Magnate to Join in
Honoring Memory of
SchooImaster.

DETROIT. July 2 (NA.NA).-Al-
though it will be more than 68 years
since he entered the old Scotch settle
ment school to nourish his mind and
spirit on McGuffey readers, Henry
Ford has never forgotten.
The motor magnate Is host this week
end In Greenfield Village to the Fed
Grafton Of McGuffey Societies and will
join in the celebration Of the famous
old schoolmaster's memory.
All this week Mr.. Ford, who will be
IS July 80. has been busy directing
the preparations. The other day he
sat in the reconstructed McGuffey log
cabin. is feet by l6 feet, with its
quaint living room. ladder leading to
the sleeping loft above, spinning wheel
and the candle making molds at which
Mr.. McGuffey's mother worked, flint
lock rifles and powder horn and the
tin shaving mug Mr.. McGuf1eys father
used. There Mr.. McGufIeys father
had f1rst met his mother and in this
room they were married. and there
Mr.. McGuffey himself was born. The
influence Of the cabin stirred Ford.
Mr.. McGuffey," he said, was a
great man. A great American. He
was born in these humble circum-
stances. His genius didn't need any
fancy settings. He taught Americans
the simple things. the fundamentals
young folks must master.
Practices What He Advises.
Every page OF his readers is inter-
esting and worthwhile. The world
needs more of Mr.. McGuffey. Ameri-
cans could do nothing better than to
get back to Mr.. McGuf1ey-get back to
the simple things Of life"
Mr.. Ford practices what he advises.
He and Mrs. Ford still read selections
from the readers. Mr. Ford quotes
Whittiers Maud Muller" most often,
about the farmers girl who ''raked the
meadow sweet with hay" He once
sent = set OF the readers to William
Howard Taft and the late President
wrote back. Il never stopped reading
Mr.. McGuffey"
Mr.. Ford bought the 4O-acre Nc
Guney farmstead. near Claysville. in
the Pennsylvania hills, and trans
planted it. He insisted the school,
house Mr.. McGuf1ey knew as a boy
be rebuilt Of the last remaining logs
on the McGuf1ey farm, the logs of the
McGuney stable, erected before his
birth.
In this school 81 first and second
graders Of 6 and Z years of age studied
the initial three McGuf1ey readers
during the recently completed school
term. 1t is replete with McGuf1ey lore.
The old-fashioned clock, with its ro-
bust tick, from McGufIey's old home is
reminiscent OF the faraway days when
McGuffey's father was an Indian
scout. The clock sits on the ma ntel
above the great fireplace. The desk at
which McGuffey wrote his textbooks
stands conspicuously in the front of
the room.
Tradition Maintained.
Outside the tradition of the McGuf-
fey era is still maintained. In Nc
Guf1ey's lifetime, the students of his
readers knew the soil almost as soon
as they We're beyond the toddling stage.
Today outside the transplanted schools
windows are rows and rows of tiny
gardens-the McGuffey School expert
mental farm. Nearby is a small barn
yard with two Shetland mares and
their two colts and miniature farm
implements-tiny hayracks and plows
and cultivators.
Also close by Is tiny house, almost
doll house. in early American archi-
lecture. 1t is furnished in the early
American period, with small scale fur
niture that is a child's paradise. Little
girls act as gracious hostesses to their
classmates at lunch time, serving the
vegetables they themselves have raised.
Mr.. Ford paused before the rows of
giant McGuffey illustrations on the
walls of the schoolhouse. He looked
fondly at 4 seashore scene showing
Willy and Katy and Garry with their
mother and took McGuffey oldsters
pleasure in knowing there had once
been . real Carry She wrote me q
letter from Japan when she was 93."
ne said. He pointed out a scene on a
village green to Mrs. Bernadine B.
Cabaret, the McGufIey schoolteacher.
Wasn't there poem in McGuffey
about that?" asked Mr.. Ford. Mrs.
Cabaret reached quickly for the First
Reader. Wait a minute" said Mr..
Ford. wait. Let's think it out. That s
always best. thinking things out. 1
couldn't have forgotten it Then
contented.' Oh, yes. I have It,:
Then contented with my state,
Let me envy not the great,
Since true pleasures may be seen
On cheerful village green"
Mr.. Ford studied another illustra-
tion of "a good boy" showing q boy
and his smaller brother carrying a
heavy basket between them on a stick,
a dog running at their sides. Notice
the basket is closest to the older boy"
observed Mr.. Ford That's McGuffey.
Always teaching something good" Mrs.
Cabaret remarked, THE schoolchildren
always notice that. Mr.. Ford"
tccT.r'eht, 1898. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc.)