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In Vacation Days

RURAL OUCATION SERIES
Edited by Harotp W. Focut
Chief of the Rural Division of the U. S. Bureau of Education

RURAL SCIENCE
READER

SAMUEL BROADFOOT McCREADY

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE ORGANIZATION OF RESOURCES COMMITTEE FOR
ONTARIO, AND FORMERLY HEAD OF THE RURAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT,
PRINCE OF WALES COLLEGE, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND; DIRECTOR
OF ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION FOR ONTARIO;
PROFESSOR OF BOTANY AND NATURE STUDY AT THE
ONTARIO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO

ILQ

eoore

Co
Che Girls and Bops
in the
Country Schools

WHO WILL
IN THE GREAT DAYS THAT ARE TO COME
MAKE COUNTRY LIFE
THE SURE FOUNDATION
FOR
SOUND DEMOCRACY
AND
TO THEIR TEACHERS
TO WHOM
THIS SERVICE
CALLS

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EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

Tuts is the first of the Rural Education Series planned and
written to serve the needs of children who are to spend their
lives in the open country and in the rural villages. The series
is based on the present and future requirements of an agricul-
tural people which has reached a self-consciousness of its educa-
tional needs as the chief wealth producers in our national life.
Unhappily, in the past, the rural schools have been little else
than poor imitations of city schools, both in courses of study
and in methods of teaching. Now, with the great transition
in our national life and the ushering in of a new era of scientific
agriculture and of new international relations and responsibili-
ties which have come to us as a result of the world war, the
American farmers are beginning to plan their own educational
system in a way that will afford them both the vision-giving
breadth of culture and the technical preparation so much needed
by modern farm life.

City schools are organized for city children; in a similar
way rural schools must be organized primarily for rural chil-
dren. Some people — and farmers among them — have been
swayed by the false notion that to differentiate between city
and country folk in educational matters is nothing less than
gross discrimination against the latter, which will ultimately
end in the setting up of caste in our country by cutting off rural
children from the supposedly greater opportunities of city life.
This is based on the false assumption that city life is superior
to country life. As a matter of fact, thinking people in every
station of human endeavor are beginning to realize that coun-
try life is our only normal American life.

In general capabilities people are much alike everywhere,
whether in country or in town. All need the same tools of edu-

vi INTRODUCTION

cation and all require a good measure of genuine culture to be-
come truly broad-minded and noble. But in addition, all peo-
ple require a study of the subjects that are necessary to prepare
them in a liberal sense for their life occupations; in this respect
rural children’s requirements are at great variance with the re-
quirements of city children. Here lies the great difference in
the study courses of the two classes of schools.

In each case the study material for the schools should be
drawn from the environment in which the children live. The
rural course of study should be planned to give rural America
a population able to think in terms of country life —a people
permanently on the land, loving it, understanding it, able to
make a good living out of it, and in every way pursuing happy,
contented lives in the country. Such a course must be drawn
largely from the rural environment itself — from the farm place,
the fields, the streams, and the forests.

The present text-book series is planned to meet these new
requirements. The books are based on four definite principles:
(1) That every rural child is entitled to good health and a
wholesome sanitary environment in which to grow to full man-
hood or womanhood; (2) That he has definite opportunities
and responsibilities as an American citizen; (3) That he must
be trained to make a good living out of the land; and (4) That
he must be directed to spend his well-earned leisure and means
in improving the countryside, its schools, its churches, its roads,
and its codperative activities of every kind.

The first book of the Series is the Rural Science Reader. There
may be some who will object to calling it by this name. The
term “Rural Science” as ordinarily understood is limited to
studies in the biological and physical sciences directly concerned
with Agriculture. It is well to consider, however, that the
problems of the country are problems involving social, eco-
nomic, and pedagogical sciences also. The advancement that
everyone hopes for will come from stirrings of the imagination,

INTRODUCTION vii

the heart, and the will, as much at least as from the acquire-
ment of knowledge about soils and crops or farm machinery and
livestock. The Rural Science of facts alone is a non-vitalizing
thing.

Facts are not unimportant, but interest and self-activity are
much more important. There is often more instruction pos-
sible from a single copy of a good weekly agricultural paper
than from the elementary text with which the pupil is provided.
There is more to be learned at home or on the way to school and
on neighboring farms than a pupil can learn from any single
book — if his eyes are opened. In music and play there are
forces for enriching life no less strong and no less necessary
than an acquaintance with natural science. For training in
the kind of rural citizenship needed now and in the future there
is great need of practice in codperative instead of competitive
undertakings. It is believed that this little volume of “stories,”
when properly used, will be productive of this vital interest and
self-activity in country children.

tO” THE, DEACHER

It has been the aim of the writer in preparing this Rural
Science Reader to represent in story form how the boys and girls
in rural schools, under the guidance of inspiring teachers, may
be so instructed through the use of ready-to-hand material and
their own activities that their lives will be filled with blessings
for themselves, for their homes, for their communities, for their
country, and for the great commonwealth of nations that is to
be.

The book is intended to be thought-provoking and action-
producing. ‘The stories, it is believed, will stir the imagination
of the boys and girls, and awaken their dormant interest in the
living, vital, teeming things in our agricultural life. They will
become eager to reproduce in their own school and in their own
community the ‘‘nature-study club” and ‘‘Audubon society”
discussed in the book.

The questions at the end of each chapter are intended to do
more than to produce thought. They will, under the teacher’s
guidance, lead to constructive work that will lay a foundation
for further valuable study in the other books of the series, which
are to follow this introductory text.

With the select group of listeners to whom the writer as pa-
ternal story-teller has been hitherto more or less restricted, one
of the essentials demanded for a proper understanding has al-
ways been whether the story was a “really truly” one or a
‘‘made up” one. An explanation is due in this regard, here
also, for this series of stories of adventure in rural education.
Some are “really truly” stories, but most of them belong to a
new category that might be called “put-together”’ stories.
They are not really true. They are only mathematically true.

vill

INTRODUCTION 1x

A story teller’s privilege has been freely used to put 2 and 2 to-
gether whenever a 4 was needed, or to make 5’s and 6’s and 7’s
out of combinations of 1’s and 2’s and 3’s. Indeed, if you would
examine the patchwork closely enough you might find traces of
vulgar fractions. Dozens and dozens of schools, scores and
scores of teachers, and hundreds and hundreds of boys and
girls are taking part in the adventures. As Kipling finds
justification in Homer for using the commonplaces of life as
themes for his poems, may not we find like excuse for assembling
some of the experiences of country schools in these stories?

“When ’Omer smote ’is bloomin’ lyre,
He’d ’eard men sing by land an’ sea;
An’ what he thought ’e might require,
"E went an’ took — the same as me!

“The market girls an’ fishermen,
The shepherds an’ the sailors, too,
They ’eard old songs turn up again,
But kep’ it quiet — same as you!

“They knew ’e stole; ’e knew they knowed.
They didn’t tell, nor make a fuss,
But winked at Omer down the road,
An’ ’e winked back, — the same as us!”

If you look carefully you may find yourself or your school
pictured in some such story as that of the School Fair or the
Progress Club! But you must not tell!

THE AUTHOR

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
Te. QURSEIBVIES RiGee: 2) ORNs. Oe ARLE ete Ee 2 I
The Pupils in the Union School Have a Look at
Themselves
ER OUR SCHOO yy yates 3 has ee Aeon 8

How the Stover School Pupils Became Acquaint-
ed With Their Own School
TT. “OW RIGEVONUE Secs fas css hated Stic eheaiy Seale, 16

Studies of Homes by the Homemakers’ Club at
Round Hill School and the Story of One Home that
was Remodeled

WAG OUR OISAR MS: Seared Bo kl) 24
A Sketch of Blythewood by a Pupil of the Langton
School
Ves OUR; OUND TSU UEEERS: ce fat seastraieco ee ehel ais 30
How Silver Lake School Holds Them in
Remembrance
VA JOUR NEIGHBORHOOD). eos is cess are 39
A Report of the Investigations of the Russell
School on its Home Geography and History
NAM AOU AUTH SCHOOW ttt faye siawt ns aan ci lp BES2
The Work of the Lester Prairie School in the
Pioneer Period of the Neighborhood’s Development
WAT. ‘OUR ME PAGHERAGEY .Aldivlen. «occ sks nce 58
How the Teacher at the Eramosa School Serves
His Community
Ex “OUR SCHOOL TiBRARY.. fe) ON oul Maes 64
The Hillsbridge School Learns to Make Libraries
and to Use Them
XG POUR Hy WORKSHOP asa «iene Mea aha ake 72

How the Mount Hope School Added Tools to
its Educational Equipment

xii
CHAPTER

XI.

XT.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XXIII.

CONTENTS

Our SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT. aA eee
Beaver Meadow School eaten an 1 Taetitucen

that is a Credit to the District

OUR: SCHOOL? PROGRESS «CLUB. 43 ee eee
The Sundale School Does Things

Our NATURE) STUDY [EXCURSION Sou ee
The Hillcrest School Explores the River Road and

* Wells’ Woods

Our SCHOOL GARDEN.

How Springwater School Nagao Aeeeates
and Education by a Garden

Ovr Birp CLUB
The Story of the Bluebird Club at Greenbush
School
Our Noon-DAy LUNCH........
The Indian Road School Organizes a Practical
Domestic Science Course
OuR.sNEWSIC Hovoe. estan Me RS eee
Sunnydale School Develops its Musical Abilities

OUR SCHOOL JDEARYS.>, Sareea eee

Land’s End School Records Local and General
History

OuURMOWNeARTRHNIEIG= eee

How the Dawn Valley School Makes Its Own
Arithmetic Problems

OURS MARV OOKKEEPINGs tee ae

How the Pupils at the Cedar Creek School Kept
Farm Accounts

OUR WREDS®:. cc ek ces & Acre eee eee

How the Stony Plain School Used Them for
Nature Study Lessons

Our Insrcr STUDEESS: desoute aoa eee

The Elmvale School Learns of the Farmer’s
Friends and Enemies

Oi ERAT. pe ee ee eee eee

The Plans of the Booneville School for Making
Boys and Girls Well and Strong

PAGE

104

113

I22

129

136

143

152

160

170

180

CHAPTER

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVITI.
XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXIT.

SXOCXTTT.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

CONTENTS

Our SCHOOL SAVINGS BANK.............
Page Crossing School Becomes a Partner with

Uncle Sam in Money Saving

Our Hom: AND SCHOOL. .CLUB..4......
The Franklin School Makes Progress when the

Women of the District Join to Discuss Educational

Matters

OURIGUEERAR Ys SOCEBTN: bys) oss. ot. oto 26
How the Young People of Townsend District

Kept Growing and Developed their Abilities

Our ScHOOL CREDITS FOR WorK AT HOME

Our. Home "GARDEN. 250 os. ae

A Girl’s Description of a Country Family’s
Vegetable and Small Fruit Garden

Our APPLE SHOW AND ORCHARD STUDY...
How the Winona School Became Interested in

Fruit Growing

Our- BOTATONCONTESE Seat aes, 2 See ee:
The North Gower School Wins Places in the

County Potato-Growing Contest for Boys

OuRy; SCHOOL HHAUR? Sis cr ee ec te
How Glendale School Conducted a Fair of Its

Own and Joined in Another

OuRSSCHOOLSE GGICIROLE Ah adit enaecee.
How the Bellview Pupils Trained Themselves

in Coéperative Poultry Improvement and Marketing

Our PLAY AND GAMES
How the Chalk River School Interests itself

and its Neighborhood in Recreation

OuRICONSOLIDATED! SCHOOL /04.. 4 see 228.
How the Malton Neighborhood Came into Pos-

session of a Community School

Our SCHOOL CORRESPONDENCE...........
How a Friendship was Formed between an Amer-

ican School and an Indian School in the Far North

Ourv Rep Cross AUXEEIARY. © 2209.4 0)ne6:

Greenbank School Plays its Part in the Great
War and is Shown its Part in the Great Peace

204

212

Ps ty/

224

231

241

249

261

272

280

286

CONTENTS
: PAGE
OUR: SCHOOE IN RANGE gee evan eee 205
Cloverdale’s Honored Dead
QuR PLACE IN SOCIETY... =. Seen 300

How George Howard Learned that a Farmer’s

Calling Gives Opportunity ‘‘to do Something and
to be Somebody”

RURAL SCIENCE READER

CHAPTER, I

Ourselves— The Pupils in the Union School Have a
Look at Themselves

No two schools in all the country are exactly alike; nor are the
pupils in them alike. Indeed there are no two boys or two girls any-
where exactly alike. Schools and pupils have individuality, we say.

There are good schools and there are poor schools. There are manly
boys and there are other kinds. There are girls who are unselfish and
there are some who are not.

When the pupils of a school are honest and obedient, helpful and
considerate, desirous to learn and zealous of a good name, that school
is a good school.

This is a picture of our school. Perhaps it is some-
what like your school. You may recognize some of your-

selves in it.
Here we are! Here we are!
Girls and Boys from Union!
Here we are! Here we are!
Girls and Boys from Union!
One, two, three, Rah! Rah! Rah!

2 RURAL SCIENCE READER

This was the “yell” with which we made ourselves and
our school known at the school fair in Dundas last Septem-
ber. You may think this sounds bold, but we did not feel
very bold when we first tried it in public. Even with all
the practices we had with Miss Masters we were afraid of
hearing our own voices. I suppose we are like the pupils
in most country schools in this respect.

There are thirty-two pupils’ names on our school regis-
ter. We come from sixteen homes. ‘There are six Peter-
sons (two families), three Arnolds, three Moirs, four
Crandalls (two families), two Dodges, two Van Burens,
two Kellers, two Spauldings, two Snyders, two McKees,
one Davis, one Beck, one Sherman, and one Harper.
That is an average of two pupils from each home.

Our ages range from six to fourteen years. One day
we figured the total and average of our ages. Together
they amounted to 328 years. That makes an average of
ros years. Lucy McKee is the “baby” of the school.
She was only six about a month ago.

Helen Dodge and Christina Moir are the oldest pupils
in the school. They are both fourteen years old and their
birthdays are in the same month.

There are great differences in our heights. All the Cran-
dalls are tall for their ages, while the McKees are quite
short. Harold Peterson is the tallest boy in school. He
is 5 ft. 3 in. That is nearly as tall as our teacher, Miss
Masters. Elsie Crandall is the tallest girl. She is just
an inch shorter than Harold Peterson. Hugh Harper is
the smallest pupil. He has been sick a great deal and so
has not grown much. Although he is eight he is not as
tall as Lucy McKee.

We measure our heights now and then at the black-

“RECESS IS OVER”

OURSELVES 3

board at the side of the school room. Some of us are
growing faster than others. I gained nearly two inches
between April and October; Catherine Arnold gained
hardly half an inch in the same time. She would like to
be taller. Our total heights eel ts to 1805 inches.

This figures out at an aver-
age of over 4 ft. 8 in. for
each pupil.

Of course there are great
differences in our weights.
Hugh Harper weighs only
38 Ibs. Harold Peterson is
fairly stout as well as tall.
He weighs 112 lbs. Dora
Van Buren and Lloyd Davis
weigh exactly the same —
86 lbs.

We added all our weights
one day and found that they
made a total of 2250 Ibs.
There may be some mistake
in this as we were weighed on different scales, and farm
scales are often not exact. But the average weight for each
pupil is about 70 lbs. For the past five years I have
weighed myself on my birthday and marked my weight
down. Iam 4o lbs. heavier now than five years ago. The
figures are 65 lbs., 71 lbs., go lbs., 88 Ibs., 95 Ibs., 105 Ibs.

For a Nature Study lesson one day, Miss Masters had

Ege

Measuring Heights

“us note the color of each other’s eyes and hair and classify

ourselves. It was hard to do this, especially for our eyes.
There is much difference in color between eyes that are
described by the same word. The blue of Frances Beck’s

4 RURAL SCIENCE READER

eyes is very different from the blue of my brother Harry’s
eyes. But with Miss Masters’ help we counted six pupils
with dark brown eyes, five with hazel-colored eyes, five
with grey eyes, ten with dark blue eyes, and six with light
blue eyes. All the Petersons have blue eyes.

Our school has representatives for nearly all colors of
hair, too. Helen and Frank Dodge are the only two whose
hair can be called really black. It is like their mother’s.
Tom Crandall has the only “red head” in the school. Miss
Masters says, “Look out for the ‘red heads!’ They are
nearly always clever.” ‘Ten of us have dark brown hair,
eight of us light brown and the rest have fair hair of dif-
ferent shades. Mabel and Isabel Snyder are the only
pupils that have curly hair. We calculated the percen-
tages of the different classes afterwards for an exercise in
Arithmetic.

If there are many differences in our ages, our sizes, and
our complexions, there are also differences in other ways.
No two of us are exactly alike. There are family resem-
blances among brothers and sisters in features, hair, eyes,
or build, but even some of those who look most alike show
the greatest difference in temper, disposition, and ability.

We have different likes and dislikes. Some are quick
and some are slow.: Some are neat and some are untidy.
Some are lazy and some are willing. Some are serious
and some are fond of joking. Some are talkative and some
are silent.

Some of us like school and come regularly, hardly ever
missing a day from one year’s end to another. A few do
not like school and stay away whenever they can get an
excuse to do so. Some like Arithmetic best, some Litera-
ture, some Geography, and some like Drawing best. Nearly

OURSELVES 5

every one likes Nature Study. Some are good at Spelling,
and there are one or two who do not seem to be able to
learn to spell.

It is a question whether Katie Moir or Ernest Arnold
is the brightest pupil in the school. Some months Katie
stands at the head of the list and sometimes Ernest does.
Katie is better in Spelling, Literature, and History, and
Ernest excels in Arithmetic, Geography, and Drawing.
They are the best of friends. Ernest is not a mean rival.
He will help any one who asks him for help.

The Mischief of the school is Louis Keller. He is eleven
years old. Wherever there is “fun going on” Louis is in
the midst of it. If a dinner pail has disappeared we ask
Louis about it first. If you discover that you have been
going about with a For Sale sign pinned on your back,
you can blame Louis for it. He is not mean, however,
and does not play tricks to hurt any one’s feelings. He
is a great favorite. Everybody likes Louis.

The leader in the boys’ games is Pat Sherman. He is
twelve years old. He is a fairly good scholar, too, but
he likes to play better than to study. He is a fast runner,
a very good baseball player, and he can climb a tree better
than any other boy. He is very daring. He is fond of
horses and seems to delight in riding them at full speed.
All the boys look up to Pat. He is not the kind of leader
that bullies little fellows. In fact, he encourages the small
boys to join with the older boys in their games. It seems
rather odd that the little, delicate Hugh Harper and the
strong, stirring Pat Sherman should be such chums as they
are. They are about the best chums there are in the
school.

The greatest favorite among the girls is Dorothy Cran-

6 RURAL SCIENCE READER

dall. It is not because she is clever that every one likes
her, but because she is kind and thoughtful of others.
No one has ever heard her say a cross or a spiteful word to
another pupil. She likes other people. She is not selfish.
If there ever was a peacemaker in a school she is one. It
is easy to commence quarrels. It is difficult to mend
quarrels. Dorothy can do that. Blessed are the peace-
makers! Miss Masters calls her “‘my right-hand man.”
And she is. ;

This is a little sketch of ourselves. I suppose we are
just like boys and girls in other country schools!

Suggestions

1. If you can borrow scales for the school, have a guessing contest
of one another’s weights. As each pupil goes forward write down his
or her weight. Take turns in weighing in order to learn how to do
it. Guessing heights would make a good contest, too.

2. For a game try identifying one another by eyes, nose, or hair.
One side could take turns in showing eyes, noses, or tops of heads
from behind a screen for the other side to guess.

3. Maybe some of you would like to make an Autograph Album in
which to keep the autographs of your schoolmates and teachers. If
you make it a part of the loose-leaf Souvenir Note Book that you plan
to make up with some of your best compositions, maps, drawings, etc.,
the autographs will be less likely to be lost or thrown away. Auto-
graphs written each year by the same pupil will be interesting to
compare.

4. Others may prefer to make a School Photograph Album. If
any of the pupils take ‘“‘snaps”’ with their kodaks, paste these on sheets
of paper fitting your Souvenir Note Book to remind you of the “Days
of Auld Lang Syne.’”’ The photographs might be mounted alongside
the autographs, if you wish to combine the autograph and photograph
albums in one booklet. Pictures of school groups should be kept.
Copies should be preserved in the school.

s. Some may wish to make a School Birthday Book. Have your
schoolmates describe themselves under their signatures —e.g., tell
their weights, their heights, the color of their eyes and hair, whether

OURSELVES 7

they have freckles, their favorite colors, flowers, books, and poems, what
studies they like best, and what they intend to be. These descrip-
tions will be cherished in after years when school friends are grown
up and scattered.

6. It will be interesting to keep a record of your physical growth.
Each birthday, for example, mark down your weight and height.
Perhaps your parents have kept these figures for your younger years.
If they have, continue them yourself. You might also record your
intellectual growth by marking down the grade you were in at each
birthday.

CHAPTER II

Our School — How the Stover School Pupils Became
Acquainted With Their Own School

Your school is the most important school in the world — for you, at
least. There are other schools like yours, no doubt. And there are still
others, likely better than yours, or poorer than yours. All these schools
are for boys and girls like you.

And all of them are for the service of your country too — to make you
an upright, intelligent citizen of it. That is why America believes in
schools. For your own sake and for your country’s sake, make the most
of your school.

Perhaps your school is an old one. Then it has a history. It has
played an important part in the life of your neighborhood. You may
be proud of its record.

Perhaps your school is a new one. Then it has a future. You may

be proud to have a part in making that.

We have been having some lessons on our school lately. The matters
that are retold here are a few of the facts we have learned about it. A
school is an interesting thing when one comes to be well acquainted with
it. It is like a person who has known many interesting people, or like
one who has had many varied experiences. If an old school could speak,
couldn’t it tell stories? They would be real “‘tales out of school.”

OUR SCHOOL 9

The present school is not the first that there was in
the neighborhood. The first school was a log structure,
built a few years after the district was settled. It was
used for about thirty years, and then, in 1875, our school
was built. The old school was located about half a mile
farther east. The present site is more central than the
old one. It was given by a Mr. Stover, who owned the
farm on which it is located. Some of the older. people
still speak of it as “Stover’s School.”’

The school building itself makes an interesting study.
We have used it inside and out for practical Arithmetic
lessons. By our measuring and figuring we know about
what it would cost to build the stone foundation, and the
frame superstructure. We also know what it would
cost to plaster it. Mr. Kinsey, who used to work as a
mason and plasterer, helped us. Jack Carstairs and
George Graham went to him, and he explatned the
rules for estimating the number of loads of stone and
sand, and the number of barrels of lime that would be
needed for the work. After one has the measurements,
it is not difficult to figure on the material and labor. It
works out by rule.

The calculations on lathing and roofing are not difficult
either. The number of laths and the cost of putting
them on are easily found. So are the number of squares
of shingles, and the cost of laying these. For the prices
of these materials one of the boys telephoned out to
Fulton’s mill.

The carpenter’s work is more difficult to estimate.
The cost of the lumber is not hard to figure out, but one
has to have the help of a practical carpenter to know
how many joists and rafters are required, and of what

ime) RURAL SCIENCE READER

lengths they should be. To estimate the amount of
studding, sheathing, and trimming required, an expert’s
help is also needed.

The cost of doors and window sashes can be found
easily by asking at the planing mill. We were “‘stuck”’
with this problem until some one suggested that we get
George Graham’s father to come over and help us. Mr.
Graham was quite willing when George asked him. He
used to work at carpentry when he was a young man.
He explained to us right in school just how the school was
built, how the joists were set, how far apart the studding
was, how the floor was laid, and everything. We asked
him a lot of questions. With his help our problem was
readily worked out. He knew about how much it cost
to hang a door, and to trim windows, doors, and the
wainscoting.

The painter’s and glazier’s part of the contract was
rather difficult to determine. So was the tinsmithing.
Such jobs out in the country at a distance from town
cost a good deal, because of the time required in going
and coming.

Of course, the school did not really cost $2700, as we
made it out. When the school was built labor and
material were a great deal cheaper. The cost was only
about $1300 at that time. The expense was kept down,
too, by the neighbors having a bee and hauling the stones,
sand, and lumber.

We ‘‘took stock” of the school property, too, as a
practical Arithmetic problem. It was rather hard
settling on the value of some of the things. By asking
the folks at home, however, what they thought they were
actually worth, and averaging, we reached fair figures.

OUR SCHOOL II

Our total amounted to $1299. The building now is
not worth nearly what it cost to build it. It is a rather
old building.

Wane. sce ste $100.00 Blackboards...... $20.00
Ie CeSsees Serre 45.00 Maps mesma sat oavae 25.00
School Building... 800.00 Globeve ee ake 10.00
Woodshed....... 25.00 Clock) 2a ee 5.00
Well and Pump... 75.00 Stovereaen cent 15.00
School Desks... .. 75.00 Bookcases. an aaen: 15.00
Meacher’s Desk. =.) 1200 Inibraryeac-s: sme 75.00
Chairstacersecon ict 2.00

We calculated that, in the forty-two years of its exist-
ence, about four hundred boys and girls have attended
the school. There are a few of the old registers remain-
ing, but most of them were lost long ago. We had
to get the names of most of the old pupils from our
fathers and mothers. We made out lists for every farm.
This seemed to be the surest way of not overlooking
any one. Here are the records from the farm that Mr.
Allen occupies now, and the McPherson farm. Three
generations of the McPhersons have attended the school.
The Allen farm has usually been rented.

From the Allen Farm

George Allen Eveline Konig
Henry Allen Maud Konig
Martha Allen Sarah Thompson
Elizabeth Allen Christina Thompson
David Chambers John Thompson
George Chambers Agnes Thompson
Janet Chambers Richard Thompson
William Bentley Calvin Thompson
Maud Bentley Charles Webber

Clara Bentley Annie Webber

12 RURAL SCIENCE READER

From the McPherson Farm

Kenneth McPherson Isabel McPherson
Esther McPherson Kenneth McPherson
Kenneth McPherson Elizabeth McPherson
John McPherson * Marian McPherson

Jean McPherson

There is an old photograph in a frame hanging on the
school wall that has made quite a puzzle for us. It is

t
mS fa

{Ny

“4

. i: EH: =| \
mm
ties

HIN
TUT

From an old-fashioned Photograph of a School Group

a group of the pupils and teacher taken many years ago.
No one was very sure of the identity of any person in the
group. No one could tell the name of the teacher. We
thought that one of the girls was Marian McPherson,
now Mrs. Thomas Green, and Kenneth McPherson
thought one of the bigger boys was his Uncle John
Hungate, but he was not sure.

Miss Biggar, our teacher, allowed us to take the pic-
ture to our homes. Mrs. Green was able to tell us all
about the picture. She was attending the school when
it was taken. That was about 1881 — just a few years

OUR SCHOOL 13

after the new school was built. The teacher was a Mr.
Ralph Conover, who afterwards became a doctor and
went out West.

We wrote down all the names on a sheet of paper, and
pasted it on the back of the picture. Thirty-six years
have brought great changes to the boys and girls of the
group. Ten of them are dead. Only five of them are
now living in our neighborhood. A large number of
them have gone to the western states.

This study of the old photograph led us to have an
“Old Photograph” lesson one Friday afternoon. We
had a very jolly time showing each other some of our old
family pictures and telling about them. At the com-
mencement of the lesson the pictures were mixed up,
and we had great fun guessing who the originals were.

One of our interesting discoveries was about the scat-
tering of people that takes place from a country district.
One of the old school registers found was for the year
1895. There were thirty-six pupils enrolled at the school
that year. John Thompson was the oldest. He was
fifteen. Julia Benton was the youngest. She was five
years old. There were seventeen boys and nineteen girls.

Some of the boys and two of the girls are dead. One
of the boys, Ray Merrill, was killed in the Philippines.
Four of the boys are farmers here, and three others are
farming in other parts. Five of the girls are farmers’
wives in this district, and five others are at the head of
farm homes elsewhere. Two of the boys are store-
keepers, one is a doctor, one is an agent, one is a loco-
motive engineer, and one is a saw-miller. What the last
one, Gus Myers, is doing now no one seems to know. Of
the remaining seven girls, one is a teacher, one is a nurse,

14 RURAL SCIENCE READER

two work in offices, and three are married and living in
the city. Of the total enrollment of thirty-six, 47.2
per cent remain on farms, and the others have gone to
join the town and city population.

The people are particularly proud of one of the old-
time pupils of the school. There have been a good
number of the old pupils who have made successes of
their lives, but they have not done what John Ferguson
did. He did not count success in the same way as most
people. From the time he was about ten years old he
planned with his mother to be a missionary. His people
were poor and he did not have a very good chance, as
most people consider good chances. But he had a stout
heart and a clear purpose. He spent four years at our
school, and in spite of all teasing he kept good-tempered
and friendly with every one. He was a good scholar.

After his people moved away he got a chance to attend
high school by working at a doctor’s for his board. A
few years later he completed his education as a doctor.
Then he studied for the ministry, and soon after went
to China as a medical missionary. Before he went away
he visited here and preached in the church at the village.
All of his old friends turned out to give him a welcome
and at the same time a hearty send-off. He has been
in China for twelve years healing the sick and preaching
the Gospel. He is our school’s greatest pupil.

Suggestions

1. Gather together all the old school registers, have them bound to-
gether, and put away for safe keeping and for reference.

2. Use your school for all sorts of measuring problems and for the
calculation of costs of painting, glazing, shingling, flooring, lathing, plas-
tering, carpeting and building. Use local prices in the calculations.

OUR SCHOOL 15

3. Has your school ever had an Old Boys’ and Girls’ Reunion? Would
it be possible to get the addresses of former pupils and teachers, say, for
the past fifteen years, and invite them back to the old school for a cele-
bration of its twenty-fifth birthday?

4. Could you make an album for your school by getting together copies
of all the pictures of groups that may have been taken of the pupils at
different times, photographs of the building, lists of former teachers, of
the trustees, superintendents, and former pupils? Such a record would
be of great interest to the people of the neighborhood. If the old school
should be replaced by a new one, or merged in a consolidation, do not allow
it to pass out of existence without some celebration in recognition of its
past services. There are many fond memories in the hearts of grown-up
people associated with old schools.

CHAPTER Gl

Our Homes — Studies of Homes by the Home-
makers’ Club at Round Hill School and the
Story of One Home that was Remodeled.

—— =

i = TANT I Im I wt

A Nation can be only as great as its Homes are good;
And Homes can be only as good as People make them.

Nothing that you can do is more important than helping to make your
homes happier and better.

““Oh, the auld house, the auld house, what tho’ the rooms were wee!
Oh! kind hearts were dwelling there, and bairnies fu’ o’ glee;

The wild rose and the jessamine still hang upon the wa’;
How mony cherished memories do they, sweet flowers, reca’!

The mavis still does sweetly sing, the blue bells sweetly blaw
The bonny Earn’s clear winding, but the auld house is awa’.
The auld house, the auld house, deserted tho’ ye be,
There ne’er can be a new house, will seem sae fair to me.”

The Auld House, a Scottish Song by Lady Nairne.

For the study of Agriculture and Domestic Science
in the Round Hill School we have two school clubs.

OUR HOMES 17

The boys have their Young Farmers’ Club and the girls
have their Dorcas Homemakers’ Club. Our meetings
are held on Friday afternoons. Sometimes we _ hold
joint meetings, and sometimes the girls are guests at
the boys’ meetings, and vice versa. But usually we have
our meetings going on at the same time. Our room is
large enough to permit this without one interfering with
the other, if we are careful not to speak too loudly.

We have all sorts of
topics at our meetings.
One day Annie Karan
read a funny composition
that she had written on
“The Uses of Hairpins.”’
Another day our teacher
gave us a talk on “‘ Homes
I Have Known.”

By means of our pro-
grams we have learned
many useful things on
such subjects as paper-
ing a room, saving steps,
the uses of gasoline, how to repair window blinds, how to
clean a piano, the care of a sewing machine, fireless
cookers, and iceless refrigerators, as well as on such sub-
jects as baking, cooking, sweeping, sewing, and nursing.
There seems to be no end to the interesting things that
the newspapers and magazines furnish us.

Some of our best programs have been about our own
homes. Miss Hackett has had us draw plans and write
the history of our homes, as part of our regular work in
drawing and composition. Such lessons make one better

Annie Karan Reading her
“Hairpin” Essay.

18 RURAL SCIENCE READER

acquainted with one’s home and more interested in it. I
know I had no clear idea how large our house is nor of
the dimensions of the rooms until I actually measured
them with a yard stick. And I did not realize that our
house has such an interesting history.

I suppose the most interesting thing about a neigh-
borhood is its people, and the next most interesting
thing is its homes. Our neighborhood has a good share

eat of good people living in
good homes. Our
mothers and fathers have
been good home-makers.
We haven’t any very
wealthy people, and there
are no people who are
really poor. Most. of
the homes are somewhat
old-fashioned, for they
were built quite a long
time ago, but they are
very comfortable to live
in. They are not so con-
venient, though, to work in. People did not think so
much about-making housework easy for women years ago
as they do nowadays.

We have a saying in our part of the country that if
you see a poor house and a fine barn on a farm it is a
sign that the man is “boss,” but that if you see a fine
house and poor farm buildings it is a sign that the woman
s “boss” in that home. The saying was truer a few
years ago than it is now, and generally, it must be con-
fessed, the barns had most improvements made in them.

AM oy
te ed ae ae

A Large Barn and a Small House

asnoyH Wavy NXaaoW VW

SATaIY ATWLAAY AGNV SONIGTING ANI

OUR HOMES 19

One can’t be so sure now who is “‘boss”’ by inspecting
the buildings. Inquisitive people would need to make
very close inquiries to learn this now in many homes.
“Bosses”? seem to be disappearing. Several farm homes
have been much improved in the last few years. Our
home is one of these.

The old house was built about the year 1860. For
those times it was a very good building. When Father
bought the farm in 1goo, he planned to build a new
house as soon as he felt that he could afford it. The sub-
ject was one that we often talked about in the family,
but year after year went by and the old house was still
made to serve us. Other people got new homes, but ours
was still a “castle in Spain.” If it had. had a better
cellar and some arrangement for getting water easily,
it would not have been so bad.

Perhaps the old house might still be our home if my
sister Isabel had not gone away to teach school. Nearly
every time she wrote home she mentioned something
about some of the homes in her district, and when she
came back at holiday time she talked so much and so
often about building a new house, or making over the
old one, that poor Father had to promise at last that he
would do something.

Mother was not so concerned about it as were Isabel
and the rest of us. She had put up with inconveniences
so long that she had become rather reconciled to the
notion of ending her days with them. But Isabel had
no such notions. She was full of ambition. She
stirred up my brother Frank, too, and got him to
join her, so that Father’s ‘wait a while’? did not
answer any longer. It was agreed to get ready during

20 RURAL SCIENCE READER

the following winter and start the work early in the
spring.

We have been living in our new home now for four
years. It has been a great pleasure to us all. The old
home was “Home, Sweet Home,” but this one is that and
‘“Easy-to-Work-in Home” besides. Father is very proud
of it, and says that he is sorry that he did not make the
changes many years. before. Mother is even prouder

7 aes aes

“wi wi ‘ Mi i!

Our Remodeled House

of it than Father, if that is possible, because she feels it
has come to her from her children. We children are
proud of it because Mother and Father are, and also
because we feel that it fairly represents what our farm
and our standing in the community warrant. Working
together in making the new home has made us all better
chums, too. We are proud of our accomplishment.

It is not by any means what one would call a fine
home, nor is it an expensive one. While we have made
it attractive with vines and shrubs, it is just a plain

OUR HOMES 21

matter-of-fact farm home, and the rebuilding cost only
$1800. The old house was raised up off the ground
and a good high cement foundation built under it. Then
the roof was raised and the upstairs rooms changed so
that a bathroom could be put in, and a balcony built
over the new veranda at the front. The stairway was
changed too. The big old-fashioned kitchen that ex-
tended from the main part of the house was turned and
a good sized washroom and a pantry divided off at one
end.

The feature that pleases Mother, perhaps more than
anything else, is the fine cellar, particularly the part
under the old kitchen. This has been fitted up as a
laundry and summer kitchen. In one corner there is a
large galvanized iron cistern to hold soft water, and
alongside, stationary wash tubs. As the house sits on
the slope of a little hill, one can step outside directly
into the garden. It is a very pleasant room for a base-
ment. The windows are large, giving exceptionally good
light for a cellar. In the summer time when it is hot we
frequently have our meals here — on the “lower deck,”
as we call it. Nearly all the work of canning, pre-
serving, and pickling is done here, too. In the winter
it is found very convenient for boiling oats or heat-
ing water needed at the stables.

All the old-time slavery of carrying water has been
done away with. It was not difficult to arrange, either.
A pipe was laid from the well into the laundry and a
force pump attached to this sends the water up into a
tank in the attic. From here it goes to the bathroom
and the kitchen sink. The waste water flows into a
septic tank at the bottom of the garden.

22 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Every one votes Isabel’s fireplace in the living room
one of the best things in the new home. She insisted
on having that, and many a time we thank her for plan-
ning it. There is no time when home seems so much
home as in the evening when we are all gathered about
a good fire.

We call our home Ingleside.

“Home, Home, Sweet, Sweet Home
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like Home!”

“You can’t buy a home.
A man buys a house, but only a woman can make it a home.
A house is a body, a home is a soul.”

Suggestions

1. Invite your mothers, or old pupils who have been to college, to ad-
dress your Homemakers’ Club at the school.

2. If possible, borrow from some person who has built a new house
recently a copy of the architect’s plans and specifications to examine and
discuss at school.

3. For your School Fair have a girls’ competition for the best plans
and descriptions of a model farmhouse.

4. If anew house is being built in the neighborhood of the school, make
observations of the work as it progresses and discuss these in school.

5. Make.a scrap book or portfolio of house designs or articles on fur-
nishing, kitchen equipment, sewage disposal, waterworks systems, home-
made furniture, etc. Procure copies of bulletins on these subjects from
the Department of Agriculture or the Board of Health.

6. For problems on carpeting, papering, lathing, plastering, shingling,
painting, etc., use measurements made at your own homes. Calculate
costs of furnishing model kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms, and bed
rooms.

7. Calculate the distance traveled by your mother in the course of
an average day’s work in your home. Plan rearrangements by which this
distance could be greatly reduced. Estimate the average quantity of water
required in your home daily, and calculate the energy required to carry
this from the well, taking the unit of measurement as the energy required
to carry one pound through a distance of one foot.

OUR HOMES. 22

8. If you have a camera, take photographs of home scenes and pre-
serve them in a special portfolio or album. Make drawings also for the
same purpose. Preserve pictures of the old house if this should be replaced
by a new one. A collection of poems written with home as their theme
would make a suitable accompaniment of the pictures. While home does
not need another name to endear it, a name chosen to suggest something
of its location or its ownership is attractive.

CHAPTER. TV

Our Farms —A Sketch of Blythewood by a Pupil
of the Langton School

i ita Hh mn as i
I i iN nig

Do you know any farm folks who would like to be rid of their farms?

Do you know many town folks who would not like to have a farm?

Do you know that it is very desirable that rural America should have
its farms owned by those who work them?

Read what David Grayson says about the advantages of country life
and the satisfactions of owning one’s farm: —

‘Of all places in the world where life can be lived to its fullest
and freest, where it can be met in its greatest variety and beauty,
I am convinced that there is none to equal the open country. For
all country people in these days may have the city—some city or
town not too far away; but there are millions of men and women
who have no country and no sense of the country. What do they
not lose out of life!

“Tf one has drained his land, and plowed it, and fertilized it, and
planted it, and harvested it — even though it be only a few acres
— how he comes to know and to love every rod of it. He knows
the wet spots, and the stony spots, and the warmest and most fertile
spots, until his acres have all the qualities of a personality, whose
every characteristic he knows.

OUR FARMS 25

“Tt is so also that he comes to know his horses and cattle and
pigs and hens. It is a fine thing, on a warm day in early spring,
to bring out the beehives and let the bees have their first flight in
the sunshine. What cleanly folk they are! And later to see them
coming in yellow all over with pollen from the willows!”
Lately we have been making studies of Our Farms
in the Langton School. We have drawn maps of them

and written compositions about them. The studies

CURRIES FARM |

GARRY ROAD (SECTION LINE)

KIRBY'S FARM

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JOHN ENGLES FARM WM ENGLES FARM

Map of Our Farm

have included their boundaries, their physical features,
and their products — just like geography lessons on differ-
ent countries. We have also discussed their histories.
A farm makes an interesting study.

Our farm is called Blythewood. It is located on the
Garry Road, four miles from the village of Dracon. It
is in St. Lawrence County. Our post office address is
R.F.D. 3, Dracon. The farm is square in shape and
contains 160 acres. The soil is, in general, a clay loam,
but at the back near the creek there is some dark swamp
soil.

26 RURAL SCIENCE READER

It is bounded on the east by Kirby’s farm, on the
south by John Engles’ farm, on the west by the Third
Side Road, and on the north by the Garry Road. The
farm across the Garry Road is owned and occupied by
Mr. Currie. On the southeast it touches William Engles’
farm. Our neighbor on the west is Mr. Fisher.

The land is fairly level, sloping to the south. Near
the back of the farm there is a little creek flowing out of
the Kirby farm across the corner and into John Engles’
property. We call it the Blythely Creek. The highest
part of the farm is at the front where the house and barns
are located. The country round about is gently rolling.
To the north, at the back of the Currie farm, there is a
hilly ridge called the Hog’s Back. It runs east and
west. It is a very pretty country with woods and or-
chards scattered over the landscape. From our house on
a clear day, the top of the church spire at Dracon can be
seen above the trees.

The house is located about a hundred yards back
from the road. There is a driveway leading up to it.
Seventy-five yards behind the house is the barn. It is
in a barnyard of about an acre in extent. Opening from
the barnyard at the back there is a lane leading to the
back fields and ‘the beautiful five-acre wood lot. Other
fields open from this lane. There is a two-acre orchard
on the east side of the house and a small garden behind
it. At the front of the house there is a lawn, with
shrubbery along the side next to the orchard.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about any farm
is its history. At any rate, Blythewood has an interest-
ing history. It dates back for over eighty years. It
has served its owners well, Before Father came into

OUR FARMS 24,

possession of it, its soil had yielded sufficient to enable
two farmers to pay for it largely from its crops, to bring
up their families and give them a start in life, and to
retire from active work in their old age. That is a
pretty good record for the productiveness of one farm.
Tf all goes well it should do the same for our family,
though Father has no intention now of ever leaving it.
It would take a good deal to induce him to sell, even
if Mother should give her consent.

Father bought it eighteen years ago. He had been
hired for five years by Mr. Wilkes, the former owner,
and had been careful to save his money. When Mr.
Wilkes decided to retire, he gave Father the first chance
to buy it. They were very good friends. Mr. Wilkes
himself had started out as a hired man. An agreement
was made and Father started off as the owner of a farm
with a $6000 mortgage — and a wife; for it was then
that Mother and Father were married. The money he
had saved enabled them, with what the Wilkeses loaned
them, to start housekeeping and to buy a modest outfit
of machinery and stock.

The story of how that mortgage was gradually wiped
out isa real romance. It was not all plain sailing. More
than once there were dangers of shipwreck, or at least
of being blown back to harbor. But by careful steering,
after five or six years of rather anxious times, they man-
aged to get over the worst of the passage and find favoring
winds. ‘The last of the mortgage was paid off six years
ago. Mr. Wilkes had always made it easy for them.
He is held in the highest regard in our home for his kind-
ness. Mother and Father often: speak of their early
struggles. There are improvements to be made yet, but

28 RURAL SCIENCE READER

these can be attended to without going into debt. The
anxious days are long past.

Father seems to have a real affection for our farm
—as, indeed, every one of the family has. He knows
every foot of it, as he should, after twenty-three years
on it. There are several reasons for Father’s feeling.
In the first place he owns it outright; it is his very own.
In the second place, he has earned it; one generally values
anything in proportion to
what it costs. In the third
“ place, it is a good farm; it
has always responded to his
labors. In the fourth place,
it is a beautiful farm; with
- its gentle slopes, its beauti-
ful trees, and its well-kept
‘ fields and buildings, it makes
Our Barn near the Road 4 real picture. In the fitn
place, it is “Home, Sweet Home’; all of us children
were born here. These are very good reasons. There
are many fine farms in our neighborhood, but there is
none finer, we think, than Blythewood. It was a good
farm when Father got it eighteen years ago; it is a
better farm to-day. He contends that a man is a poor
citizen who does not leave a farm better than he found it.

Perhaps it is not exactly right to say that Father
earned the farm. This is hardly fair to Mother. Since
they were married, she has done her full share of the work
that resulted in lifting the mortgage and paying for stock
and machinery. It is her farm as much as Father’s.
In fact, he often tells us children that if it had not been
for our mother’s encouragement and good management.

OUR FARMS 29

he probably would be a “renter” at the present time.
Father is a good steady worker, but Mother has imagina-
tion and ambition. Working together to pay for their
own home has made Mother and Father rare partners.
This kind of struggle sometimes kills the joy of life for
some people. It has not done so in our home. I do
not know any who are happier than my parents. There
are lots of people who are better off, but there are few
happier. Blythewood is well-named.

Suggestions

1. If possible borrow copies of deeds, mortgages, leases, or registry
office abstracts for examination and discussion by pupils.

2. What proportion of the farms in your neighborhood are worked
by their owners? What proportion are rented? How many are worked
on shares?

3. Take snapshots or make sketches of the beauty spots or landmarks
on your farm. A portfolio of pictures of home scenes will be prized
greatly when you grow older, and particularly if you ever leave the old
farm.

4. Discuss the requirements of a model farm. Draw a map of such a
farm. What farms in your neighborhood come nearest to being model
farms? Inspect some of the best farms in the district for a Friday after-
noon excursion.

5. Write the histories of the farms of the district and put them together
as a contribution to the school library. This book would make inter-
esting reading for the older people in the community. Along with each
history, the map of the farm might be included: coloring the fields, woods,
orchards and buildings with different colors would make it more map-like.

6. Ii a farm has a personality, it deserves a descriptive name. In
some places, such names are set forth in neat metal letters on the entrance
gate. Others print the names on their barn. Where a printed letter-
head is used for correspondence, the name should be made prominent.
In registering pedigreed horses or cattle the name can be used to advan-
tage. For example, Blythewood Bell as the name of a fine cow would
attract attention.

CHAPTER V

Our Old Settlers — How Silver Lake School Holds
Them in Remembrance

a
Hi

No people can be great who do not acknowledge their indebtedness.

The Fourth Commandment is:— “Honor thy father and thy mother,
that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth
neers

We must never forget the debt we owe to our First Settlers, who took
possession of the wilderness which the Lord their God prepared for them
for a habitation for their children and their children’s children.

The old settlers in the neighborhood of the Silver
Lake School are fast disappearing. There are only four
left now who remember when the country was all forest.
Soon they will be gone, for they are all over eighty years
of age. What wonderful stories they can tell! They

OUR OLD SETTLERS gis

should all be written down so that those who come after
will know what they owe to their brave ancestors.

It was proposed one day that for our next Rural Science
lesson each pupil should try to have ready a story of
the early days in our district. We were to ask our
fathers and mothers to tell us of these days as they re-
membered them, or as their fathers and mothers had
told about them. Our teacher said we must not allow
ourselves to forget what we owed to those who had
adventured and toiled to establish these good American
homes for us. To remind us of the topic, she wrote on
the blackboard: “Our Old Settlers— Lest We For-
get!”

The stories told were just as interesting as any that
one reads in a book. All of the stories told did not refer
to this neighborhood, as the grandparents of some of
our pupils settled in other districts. We are planning
to write the stories down and bind them into a book for
our school library.

These are a few of the stories that were told.

Ella Holman’s Story

My mother told me a story that she had often heard
her father (that would be my grandfather) tell. His
name was William Metcalf. He was only six years old
when he came to America. That was in the year 1820.
The vessel they came on was a sailing ship called the
Constance. It took them seven weeks to reach New
York from England.

They traveled on the Constance up the Hudson River
to Troy. From there they traveled, on a canal-boat
drawn by horses, up the Erie Canal to Buffalo. One

32 RURAL SCIENCE READER

day, as they were going along quietly, my grandfather
and his sister Jane, who was two years older, were play-
ing about on the deck of the boat. Suddenly he tripped
and fell overboard. Jane screamed and ran to arouse
her father who was lying asleep in the cabin. Before
she reached him, however, he had awakened and, under-
standing as if by a miracle what was wrong, jumped
through the window into the water and caught his boy as

AE SSRURE SK

« . NW SY
WHE MMA

he was about to sink for the last time. It did not take
the people on the boat long to rescue the two of them.
My grandfather could remember being wrapped up in a
warm blanket and getting a hot drink. The next day
he was none the worse for his cold bath.

After braving the dangers of the Atlantic in a little
sailing ship, it seems strange that he should find greater
danger on a canal-boat on the Erie Canal.

He lived to be ninety years old. He helped to clear
the farm that my Uncle William lives on now.

Ruth Conway’s Story

Father has allowed me to bring this letter that will
tell my story better than I can tell it. It is a letter that

OUR OLD SETTLERS 33

his mother’s father, John Haxton, wrote to his sister in
Scotland telling her that her husband, Thomas Martin,
had died in America. Thomas Martin had left his
wife and family in the Old Country until he could make
a home for them in America. He had taken up land near
his brother-in-law’s place in Essex County and was
getting some land cleared and a log house built.

; a
3A *
tS

Re FE

Making a New Home in the Forest Wilderness

One day while working alone in the woods he was
struck by the limb of a falling tree and badly crushed.
When he didn’t get back to my great-grandfather’s
house at the usual time, they went in search of him.
They found him alive but unconscious. They carried
him to the house and sent for the doctor, who lived
twenty miles away. Before the doctor reached him, he
had died.

This is the last part of the letter:

“Thus have I given you the account of the death of a friend I loved
and respected. But, my dear Sister, I realize that my loss is but as dust
in the balance to yours and your little family. Try to take comfort in
the knowledge that God is all sufficient and will be the widows’ and orphans’
stay.

34 RURAL SCIENCE READER

“Should you still be of a mind to come to America be assured, dear
Agnes, that while I have a home, it shall be also a home for you and your
bairns. For their sakes, I think you might well consider it worth while
to come. It is a land of great promise.

“T will conclude this mournful letter ‘with my kindest love to all. I
hope you will find consolation in the Word of God and commit the guid-
ance of yourself and children to Him who is alone able to guide us through
life and take us to eternal happiness in the world to come.”

One can hardly imagine the sorrow that letter would
bring to the little home in Scotland. The loss of hus-
bands and fathers was one of the prices paid for settling
this land. Mrs. Martin was a brave woman, though.
A few years later, when her children were older, she
came to America, and cleared the farm which they called
Cornlee after the place on which they had lived in the
old land.

Henry Gardner’s Story

T asked my father if he had ever heard of the Indians
making trouble for the first settlers. He said he had
heard his mother say that she was a bit nervous about
them when she first came into the settlement. They
used to come down near here every year and camp at
the river. The Indians would hunt and fish, and the
squaws would go’ around to the settlers’ homes to sell
baskets and to beg.

People had to keep everything well locked up to make
sure that it wouldn’t be carried off. If no one was
around, the squaws would help themselves to such eat-
ables as they could find. And they didn’t knock at the
door and wait to be invited in — they walked right in
without knocking. Grandmother would always give
them a bowl of soup or a share of whatever she had.

Face p. 34

GRANDFATHER’S HOME ON THE FARM

LoapInG Hay In GRANDFATHER’S TIME

OUR OLD SETTLERS 35

One day in the spring, as grandmother was boiling a
kettle of soap over a fire in the yard, two squaws
appeared. They watched her for some time but did not
say anything. The soap must have smelled good to
them. When grandmother went into the house they
waited a while and then helped themselves from the
kettle. Augh! It wasn’t to their liking. And they

Si,
Ll
0 a ire CED
: vote, Allo, POO: ihe

—~,

The Squaws and the Hot Soap

did not wait to beg anything that day. Nor did they
come around again for a long time.

Leslie Bigelow’s Story ,

Father has often told me of the hardships his grand-
parents and his father experienced in the early days of
the settlement. My grandfather was just seven years
old when they moved to the land that is now our farm.
The first days must have been pretty hard for my great-
grandmother. She was not used to rough ways. It
was six years before she could see the smoke from the
chimney of a neighbor’s home. It was fearfully lonesome
for her.

36 RURAL SCIENCE READER

There were not many comforts or many luxuries in
those days. And sometimes there was very little to
eat. On the first bit of clearing a small crop of potatoes
was grown. The first flour that they had was brought in
eighteen miles through the forest on my great-grand-
father’s back from Mount Hope. He had carried the
wheat there the day before and waited to have it
ground. That was hard-earned bread. On one of his
trips out to the set-
tlement he brought
home an apple. It
was the first one the
children had ever
seen. It was cut
into small pieces and
every one had a
taste.

The forest was
full of terrors. The
howling of wolves
nearly always made one’s flesh creep. One night a
sheep was killed by them within ten yards of the house.
Another time a noise was heard outside, and my grand-
father, who was about fourteen years old, went to the
door with a lantern. There was a big wolf just outside
the door. When he saw the light he turned away, snarl-
ing, and ran off as fast as he could go.

Going to Mill

Helen Scott's Story

My grandmother told me about the first kerosene
lamp that was brought into the settlement. That was

OUR OLD SETTLERS 37

about sixty-five years ago. Before this time people
used homemade tallow candles or “dips” for light.

The lamp was a great wonder for a time. It was
supposed to be very dangerous, too. For a long time
her father would not let any of the children touch it. It
was always put away carefully out of their reach after
it had been used. It was not used very regularly, but
only on special’occa-
sions, as kerosene
was very expensive
then. Her father
would always get
the lamp down and
trim it himself before
lighting it. Grand-
mother had the lamp
until a few years
ago when it fell off
a high shelf and
was broken beyond repair. The people in those days
considered it as great an Improvement on a candle as we
consider the electric light an improvement on a common
kerosene lamp.

We have an old-fashioned stable lantern at our place
yet. Father keeps it as a curiosity. A candle was used
in it instead of oil, We have an old-fashioned candle
mould too. My mother remembers helping her mother
put in the cotton wick and pour the melted tallow.

The “Dangerous Lamp”

Suggestions

1. Invite some of the old settlers to the school for your Friday after-
noon “Literary” to tell you the story of the early settlement of the neigh-

38 RURAL SCIENCE READER

borhood. Learn the location of the first homes, the first schools, churches,
etc. Also the names of those who introduced the first pure-bred live-
stock, the first reaper, the first binder, etc.

2. If a history of your county has been published, purchase a copy for
your school library. Sometimes the newspapers publish stories of the
early days; cut these out and insert them in a portfolio for the library.
These records should not be lost; the school library is a good place in which
to preserve them. If good records are written by pupils as compositions,
keep these in a portfolio for lending from the school.

3. Honor the founders of the settlement by hanging their pictures in
the school. Old teachers might be honored in this way also. A tablet
on the school wall, an ornamental gate, a scholarship for the best scholar,
or a drinking fountain would be a suitable gift to the school by the de-
scendants of early settlers. A monument to their memory erected at the
Town Hall, the church, or the school would be a fitting souvenir.

4. Use your influence to have the old graveyard in which the early
settlers were buried kept in respectable condition. A neglected, unsightly
cemetery is no credit to a community. If it is near the school its care
might be taken over as a school project. By codperation with the church
and the cemetery trustees the school might do a fine public service in this
manner.

5. At your school fair have an exhibit of old-time relics, such as ox-
yokes, handmade forks, iron kettles, tongs, guns, lanterns, snuff boxes,
jewelry, books, newspapers, school books, musical instruments, photo-
graphs, letters, etc. If a lunch is served, arrange a special table for the
old settlers as guests of honor.

6. Before any old landmarks, such as toll-gates, churches, schools,
barns, taverns, houses, or trees are done away with, have photographs of
them taken and preserved in some suitable way. Copies in the school
library would be useful in learning local history.

CHAPTER. VI

Our Neighborhood —A Report of the Investigations of the
Russell School on its Home Geography and History

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Every neighborhood has its history. There is a Past, a Present, and a
Future.

The Past is crammed full of stories of individual struggles, trials, de-
feats, and successes.

The Present may seem dull and prosaic in comparison with the achieve-
ments of the Past, but it is not so if we see it aright.

The Future is in the hands of the Boys and Girls who are at school equip-
ping themselves for their task.

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Neighborhoods are made up of neighbors.

Lately we have had lessons in our school on “Our
Neighborhood.” We have discussed its geography, its
history, its inhabitants, its business, and its future. It
has been good for us to find that our own neighborhood

40 RURAL SCIENCE READER

is interesting. It is not at alla humdrum place. As
Miss Newhall, our teacher, says, ‘It has throbbed with
life and change and adventure.” I can tell you only a
few of the many interesting things we have learned.

First, something of its geography. It is located in
the center of the township of Milton, which is one
of the divisions of Brooke County. The nearest town to
the north is Frankton, twelve miles away. Frankton
is the county seat of Brooke County. It is a place of
about 4ooo inhabitants. Measuring from the school,
the village of Milton is five miles to the east. There
are about 500 people living there.

The Grand Valley Railroad runs through Milton,
where most of our trading and shipping is done. The
nearest place of any importance to the south is Fenwick.
It is eighteen miles away, and about the same size as
Frankton. Eight miles away to the west there is another
railroad, the Lewiston branch of the Grand Valley Road.
The village of Canning, at which some of our people
trade, is located on this branch. We are well supplied
with railroads.

The main road through the neighborhood runs north
and south, joining Fenwick and Milton. It is an old
pioneer road, built when the county was first settled.
It is called the Stone Road, and of late years, since auto-
mobiles have become so common, it has been well kept
up. Our school is half a mile east from this road, on
the road that leads to Milton. This is a very good road,
too. We call it the Milton Road. The other roads
form the boundaries to the sections of land into which
the locality was originally surveyed.

The surface of our land is rolling. There are no very

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD 4I

high hills, and consequently no very deep valleys. Back
from the river the land is more level than it is near the
river. In the river valley there is a lot of level meadow
land. The river itself is only about twenty feet wide
— most people would call it a creek — and nowadays -
it nearly dries up in the summer. Along the river and
scattered here and there over the land, boulders are to
be found. In the hills there are beds of sand and gravel.
These have been made use of for buildings and roads.

Indian Relics

As Miss Newhall explained it to us, these are deposits
from the glaciers which covered this part of the world
ages ago. In fact, she says that the surface of the whole
countryside was shaped as it is by the rushing waters that
flowed away from the melting ice. The river runs west
through Canning and flows into the Broad River farther
west. Thus the water that drains off our land finally
reaches the ocean about fifteen hundred miles away.
The history of the neighborhood is even more interest-
ing, I think, than its geography, for there are so many
stories of human lives connected with it. Like all the
rest of our country it was originally owned by the North
American Indians. They must have hunted a good
deal through this district, for several people, when plow-
ing, have found flint arrowheads in their fields and Mr.

42 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Boyle picked up a stone that was shaped for a skinning
tool. We had these at school one day to examine them.
These are the only traces of their occupation that they
have left, though we think they must have had camping
places along the river. When the first settlers came in,
the last of the Indians had moved west, though occasion-
ally a few would return for a short hunting trip.

The story of the very first settler in a new country is
almost as interesting a story as that of Columbus dis-
covering America. The first white settler in the Russell
Settlement, as it used to be called, was James Russell.
He arrived in the year 1829. He was then a young
man of twenty-four. His parents had come from Mary-
land at about the beginning of the century and settled
near Trenton, fifty miles south from here. As the settle-
ment about Trenton spread over the good lands, some
of the younger men moved out to new parts. James
Russell’s wanderings brought him here.

He decided to settle at the river just where it now
crosses the Stone Road. After building a small log
shanty, he returned to Trenton and spent the winter
there. The next spring he returned and brought his
friend, William Wilson, with him. The two men lived
and worked together. They made a good-sized clearing
about the shanty before winter set in. The next spring
they put in a crop and built two small log houses — one
at each side of their clearing. During the summer they
returned to Trenton and were married to Mary and
Elizabeth Townsend, sisters.

Other settlers had been spreading out, in the meantime,
in the same direction, and a rough road had been opened
up even before the surveyors had made a survey. The

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD 43

two friends bought a team of oxen, a wagon, and some
furniture, and returned to the bush with their brides to
establish their homes. There are no traces left now of
those first two log houses, but descendants of the families
still live here. Six pupils of our school are descended
from these pioneers. Jane and Willie Wilson, and

A Home in the Woods

Christina and Anna Todd are the great-grandchildren
of the first William Wilson. Jamie Russell and Elsie
Fair are the great-grandchildren of the first James Russell.
Our school has always been known as the Russell School,
and we are all proud of it, for James Russell was a fine
man.

During the year 1832 three settlers moved in. In
1833 the district was surveyed, and by 1840, practically
all the farms were bought up and occupied. Every

44 RURAL SCIENCE READER

farm in the neighborhood has a pioneer story of wonder-
ful interest. Several of these stories were told by the
pupils. We are writing the stories, too, and putting
them together to make a “History of Our Neighborhood”’
for our school library. It will be a valuable record to
have in the school for future pupils to read and to keep
up to date. Our first settlers were great adventurers.

V
2

European Countries have Contributed to our Population

Taking the school district boundaries as the bounda-
ries of our neighborhood, though it is hardly exact to
do so, our population comprises 182 people. In their
origin they represent several nationalities. The first
settlers, comprising the Russell Settlement, were very
largely of Scotch-Irish descent, from the older settle-
ments in Maryland and Pennsylvania. There were a
few families of English descent, and also a few, like

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD 45

the Schaeffers and Yaegers, who were ‘Pennsylvania
Dutch.” Many of these first settlers, after clearing the
land, sold their farms and moved out into the new west-
ern country where they could get more land for them-
selves and their families. One family is of Norwegian
descent. The northern countries of Europe are fairly
well represented.

The neighborhood must be a healthy one, for a number
of our people have reached a ripe old age. There is one
man who is 92 years old, and two men and one woman
who are between 80 and go. There are nine people
between 70 and 80. About half the population is under
21 years. There are in school thirty-six pupils, whose
ages range from 6 to 14, and there are in the homes
thirty younger children not old enough to attend school.
There are in all 96 women and girls and 86 men and boys.

Most of the people in the neighborhood have had a
fair schooling. Some of the older people seem to have
been better educated than those who have attended
school more recently. Years ago big boys and girls
went to school in the winter months. There are only
two who cannot read or write. Some of the boys
and girls who left school a few years ago reached only
the fifth grade. There are two farmers who attended
high school and one who spent a winter term at the
Agricultural College. The girls, as a rule, are better
educated than the boys. Two of our women were
school teachers before they married.

The business of the neighborhood has been marked
by many changes. Twenty-five years ago there was a
saw-mill at the river and large quantities of lumber
were sawed from logs and hauled out to the railroad.

46 RURAL SCIENCE READER

To-day lumbering is a thing of the past. Large quanti-
ties of tan bark used to be sold, too, but all the large oak
and hemlock trees are now well cleared out. A little
fire-wood is sold occasionally, taken from remnants of the
fine forest that used to cover the land. The woods
that remain do not furnish much more than kitchen fire-
wood from the trees that are blown down in storms.

In the early days of the settlement there was a great
deal of wheat grown and shipped. Corn and hay also

The Sawmill at the River

were sold off the farms. To-day practically all the grain
and hay raised on the land is fed to livestock. All the
farmers, except three, send cream to the codperative
butter factory at Milton. Ten years ago the factory used
the whole milk for making cheese.

Last year 1056 hogs were fed and sold in addition to
130 that were killed for home use. There are 570 cows
kept on the farms of the neighborhood, and 386 cattle,
including calves, were shipped out last year. Every
farm has poultry, and a few of the people lately have
been paying special attention to this branch of farming.
Turkeys are raised on only twelve farms, geese are kept

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD 47

by ten farmers, and twenty have ducks. Sheep were
formerly kept in considerable numbers. There are
only five farmers now who have any, and the largest
flock consists of ten animals. Every one has horses, of
course. ‘There are 346, including colts. Last year 24
horses were sold from here, chiefly for shipment to the
large cities where they were used for teaming and for
delivery wagons.

Potatoes are not grown in very large quantities by
our farmers as a rule. When the season is a good one a
few wagonloads will be sold, but a buyer has difficulty
in getting enough to make a carload. Apples are a
crop like potatoes. They are grown for home use, and
only in an exceptionally good season are there any for
shipping. All the orchards are old, and they are not
very well looked after. Small quantities of small fruits
and vegetables are sold by a few people.

We made a calculation in school of the value of the
products from the farms and were surprised at the
amount:

Creamy bies ateres $25,000 Carried forward...$70,200
Butteriand Mailk=.. 23.4.4. 700 Cattle ater. 15,000
Eggs and Poultry......... 8,000 Sheep and Wool. . 500
Potatoes and Vegetables... 1,000 EIORSeS wane eee 4,000
Ia htis als cadens eae ae eee 500 Hay and Grain... 2,000
TOES rc neterne tests A skalais ess 35,000 Woodie escine ace. 200

$70,200 $91,900

One day we had for our subject, ‘“What Changes Will
There Be in This Neighborhood in the Next Twenty-five
Years?’’ Miss Newhall told us to talk the matter over
at home and get the opinions of our fathers and mothers.
There were many interesting ideas and some funny ones

48 RURAL SCIENCE READER

expressed. We discussed the subject in regard to roads,
transportation, crops, livestock, implements, farm methods,
schools, and population.

Several pupils mentioned changes likely to be seen in
roads and transportation. The Stone Road would be
rebuilt with cement. All the steep grades on the road
would be reduced. The roadsides would be better
kept, and long stretches of shade trees would be seen.
Soldiers disabled in the Great War would be in charge of

The New Means of Transportation

sections of roads. Neat, well-kept homes with gardens
would be provided for them. The Milton Road would
be improved, too, but it would not be a cement road.

An electric railroad would be built alongside the
Stone Road between Frankton and Fenwick. Another
would cross the neighborhood, running east and west
between Milton and Canning. The fare would be a cent
a mile. Milk and other farm products would be shipped
on these railroads. They would be used, too, by the
pupils coming to the new consolidated school that

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD 49

would be located a little west from where our school
now stands. Charlie Van Wyck thought electric rail-
roads would be getting old-fashioned in twenty-five
years. According to his notion, air-ships would take
their place for both traveling and shipping.

Every farmer would own an automobile before the
next twenty-five years had passed, and most farmers
would have an auto-truck and a tractor as well. These
would be so cheap and so convenient that only one
team of horses would be found on most farms.

There were many prophecies concerning changes in
the farms and the crops. Some thought the farms
would be larger than they are now, and some thought
they would be smaller. There would be fewer perma-
nent fences. A rail fence or a stump fence would be a
curiosity. More corn would be planted. Every farm
would have a silo. There would be less land used for
pasture than there is now. More apples would be grown,
also larger acreages of potatoes. More clover and al-
falfa would be grown, and less timothy hay. Some
thought weeds would not be so common, and others
that there would be more than ever. Some thought
there would be few, if any, trees left, and some thought
there would be trees planted to restore our woods.

Changes in regard to livestock, implements, and farm
practices were thought likely to come about. Tractors
would be in common use and horses would be kept in
diminishing numbers. More cattle would be kept and
more milk produced. Milking machines would be quite
common. More hogs would be raised. Sheep would
be kept in larger numbers. Poultry-keeping would be
extended. Groups of neighbors would agree to keep

xe) RURAL SCIENCE READER

the same breed of dairy cattle or hogs or sheep or hens.
Much better stock would be seen in the neighborhood
than there is at present.

A new kind of school was considered likely to come
into existence. It would be a consolidated school with
a four years’ high school course similar to the schools
they are establishing in other places in our country. It

A Modern Consolidated School

would have a large playground, play equipment, such
as a swing and a giant-stride, and an assembly hall for
concerts. There would be a small farm connected with
the school, and the principal would have his home in a
model farmhouse. He would use the farm for experi-
ments and demonstrations. The pupils, because of the
electric railroad and auto-vans, would attend regularly.
The older boys and girls would attend the high school
classes in the late fall and winter and work at home
during the spring, summer, and autumn. Young people
would be much better educated than they are now.

THE CENTER OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

CGOOHYOEHOIANY XHO NI AAATY AAT,

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD 51

There will be many changes among the people, ac-
cording to the opinions expressed by the pupils. Judg-
ing from the changes that have taken place in the past
twenty-five years, more than one-half of the farms will
change ownership, strangers will take the place of some
of our old residents, and some of the farmers will buy
neighbors’ farms for their sons. A number of the older
people will retire from active farming and move into
Milton. i

““Men may come and men may go” but Our Neighbor-
hood, like the brook, I suppose will ‘‘go on forever.”

Suggestions

1. See Chapter V on “Our Old Settlers” for suggestions about keeping
records of the early settlement of the neighborhood.

2. Have the pupils write the history of their home farms. If a deed
of one of the farms can be procured, exhibit this at the school, and explain
how titles to land are secured and recorded in registry offices.

3. From some of the homes in the neighborhood old maps showing the
occupants of the farms thirty, forty, or fifty years ago may be borrowed.
Display such a map on the school bulletin board for a week or so.

4. Study your own neighborhood. ‘There is no more interesting neigh-
borhood in the country. If it is a good neighborhood with a fine record,
be proud of this and help to maintain it. If it is a neighborhood that
still may be improved, be glad of the opportunity of helping in this service.

5. Draw a map of your neighborhood, inserting roads, houses, churches,
stores, the school, and other important data.

CHAP Tike Vall

Our Prairie School — The Work of the Lester Prairie School
in the Pioneer Period of the Neighborhood’s Development

TAR nS Ser —— : ‘i ae
“ly ae Ee oe x Se wr \ wo ote Eka Wi(¢ Has = CBS i <
SSA oF (SSE Hh eS
& SAN NR Ae “ge

Where do you think the most important country school is to be found?

Is it among the mountains? Is it near the sea? Is it in the woods?
Or is it on the prairie?

All pioneer schools have been, and are, important schools.

The small prairie schools have played a great part and are playing a
great part in the development of the vast central plains of the United
States and Canada.

All honor to the prairie schools!

Our little prairie school will soon be a thing of the -
past! Next year it will be joined with four other coun-
try schools in a consolidation. There are a few people
in the district who feel very sorry over this and some
who feel doubtful about its working out very well. But

OUR PRAIRIE SCHOOL 53

the pupils look forward to the change cheerfully. They
think it will be “lots of fun” going to a larger school.

The boys are anxious to get shop work or manual
training and practical work in agriculture, and the girls
know that they will like the home economics classes.
Several of the pupils have completed the eight grades of
work in the school and are now ready to take up high
school subjects, which we understand will be offered
in the new consolidated school. Of late years, it has
been hard to keep our school open throughout the year.
It seems to be difficult to engage teachers and the at-
tendance has been very small at times.

Both Mother and Father remember when the school
was built. Father was eight years old then, and it was
the first school he ever went to. Mother started to school
the year after the schoc! was opened. Father is two
years older than Mother. They were not born in this
district. Father’s people came from Pennsylvania when
he was two years old. Mother’s people came from Ver-
mont when she was a little baby. The first settlers
were very anxious to have a school. When the Faulds
family moved in, there was great rejoicing, for they had
four children of school age. This made the school popu-
lation twelve. The settlers were not long in getting
together after that and arranging for the school. They
were all enthusiastic, for several of the children were
growing up without getting much more than a smatter-
ing of instruction at home.

Old Mr. Green was the leader. There were two boys
and two girls in his family ready to attend. He offered
as a gift, an acre of ground, on the corner of his farm for
a location, and as this was near the centre of the settle-

54 RURAL SCIENCE READER

ment it was accepted. Mr. Mattice built the school.
The neighbors drew all the lumber and other supplies
from Oakwood without charge. Some of them also helped
Mr. Mattice with the carpenter work. All the desks,
including the teacher’s desk, were homemade. So was
the blackboard. The stove that was bought was the
old-fashioned, long “box” stove. It was not a very
expensive school. Everything, including the painting,
amounted to about $goo.

The years have brought many changes to Lester
Prairie School although the building looks very much
the same outside as it did when it was built. Nor have
all the efforts of Arbor Days succeeded in getting trees to
grow about it. In the early days the boys and girls
walked to school in summer and drove in winter. Now
most of them ride to school and there is a shed where
they keep their ponies. Inside the school there has
been much improvement. There are modern desks
now, a very good blackboard, and a library. The
teacher’s old desk has long been replaced; and the old
stove around which the first pupils ate their noon lunches
has given place to a modern upright heater.

The pupils who attend now are like the first pupils
in many respects. Some of them have the same names
and similar features. There was a little brown-eyed
Elsie Reid in the early days. There is a brown-eyed
Elsie Reid to-day. They play the same games. “Ante,
Ante, Over”’ never seems to have lost its fascination, nor
has ‘“‘Prisoner’s Bar.” The teachers have come and
gone in a steady procession. There is no one in the
district who can recall the names of all of them. A
few are remembered because they were peculiar in some

OUR PRAIRIE SCHOOL 55

way. A few are remembered because afterwards they
reached some distinction in the state. Most of them
have been forgotten except as individual pupils recol-
lect some story, or some punishment, or some little
personal kindness.

The history of the school has not been entirely peace-
ful. There has been some tragedy in it. Two years
after the school was opened there was a fight between
some of the settlers and a band of Indians who had

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camped a short distance west of the school. The Indians
were blamed for setting the prairie on fire, thus destroy-
ing a few stacks of hay and grain. When two of the
Green boys went over to speak to the Indians, a fight
took place, and-one of the Indians was shot. Though
the Indians returned to their Reservation without further
fighting, for a long time the people were afraid that some
of them might return to avenge their comrade’s death.
In consequence, the school was closed for a time. The
place where the Indian was killed is only a few hundred
yards from the school. It is still called the Indian’s
Mound.

56 RURAL SCIENCE READER

The changes in the district have been more noticeable,
perhaps, than the changes in the school. The old pioneer
trails have been straightened into roads. The land is all
taken up now. The farms are larger. The homes are
better as a rule, though some of the old original houses
are stillin use. Many of the old settlers are dead. Their
children take their places. Several have moved away.
Strangers have come in in their stead.

The school and the community have remained through-

Our New Consolidated School

out the years. Teachers, pupils, and settlers have come
and gone, but the school and the community have con-
tinued to exist and to do their work together. For over
thirty years the little Prairie School has stood for the
trained intelligence of the boys and girls of the district,
and it has done its work well. The community has stood
nobly for the making of good homes and the living of
free lives.

And now the little school gives place to the larger
school. The community will grow, too. All honor to
the little prairie schools and the pioneer communities!

OUR PRAIRIE SCHOOL 57

Suggestions

1. If you attend a prairie school make inquiries in the district about
how the school was started. Who built it? Who were the first trustees?
Who was the first teacher? Who attended the first day?

2. If you do not attend a school located in the prairie country, arrange
with your teacher to open correspondence with a school on the prairie.
Exchange letters, photographs, flowers, and stories of pioneer days.

3. Make a list of all the teachers who have taught in your school, and
also a list of all the boys and girls who have received their education at
your school and have left the district.

4. If your school should go out of existence through joining with other
school districts in a consolidation, see that the memory of the service of
the old school is not lost. Bring together as many as possible of the
old pupils and the old settlers for a public leave-taking. Preserve
pictures and souvenirs of the old school

CHAPTER, VIII

Our Teacherage— How the Teacher at the Eramosa
School Serves His Community

You may think it would be strange to have your teacher living year
after year alongside your school in a home of his own.

Many teachers whom you have had in your school probably remained
only a year and always boarded with some family in the district.

But country boys and girls in some lands would consider it strange to
have teachers come and go as frequently as they do in America.

Very often their teacher has been their father’s and mother’s teacher
too.

Teacherages, as teachers’ homes are called now, are being built here
and there in many parts of our country. One western state alone has
more than two hundred such teacherages for rural schools.

The early settlers in the southern part of Wellington
County believed in keeping their teachers for long terms
of years. In several districts they built teachers’ resi-

OUR TEACHERAGE 59

dences. The Eramosa District has had only five teachers
in the past fifty years.

Not long ago we had a visit at our school from a gentle-
man named Smith, who was interested in its story.
Some one had told him that the Eramosa School had a
residence for its teacher —a teacherage, he called it —
and he wanted to learn about it. He had come quite a
long distance. He said the people in his state were
becoming interested in this matter, and he wished to
learn all he could about it so that he might advise them.
He was very much interested in everything, and asked
Mr. Eliot, our teacher, all sorts of questions. He stayed
after school, too, and had supper with Mr. and Mrs.
Eliot in their cottage. After supper Mr. Eliot showed
him about and took him over to see Mr. Watts, one of
our oldest residents.

His visit has made us all more interested in our school.
He said we should be very proud to attend a school that
had provided a home for its teacher. We had never
thought this anything to be especially proud of, for most
of the country schools that we know of near ours have
such residences. Perhaps ours is the oldest, but it is
not the best by any means, though our trustees keep it
in just as good repair as they do the school, and that
is saying a good deal. The Marden school residence is
larger and newer than ours. It was built only thirty-
one years ago. Marden school is three miles south.
Their teacher, Mr. Burke, has been there just the same
length of time that Mr. Eliot has been here, namely,
fifteen years. They are good friends, and our schools
visit a good deal for concerts and field-days. Our school
was built over fifty years ago.

60 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Since Mr. Smith’s visit there has been a good deal
of talk in the neighborhood about the former teachers,
and we have heard some interesting stories — and some
funny ones. In the seventy-five years that the school
has been in existence there have been only seven teachers.
So you see we are easy people to get on with.

The teacherage was built, in the first place, for Mr.
Ware. The first year he taught our school, he lived
in a little log house about two miles up the road. But
it was not very comfortable nor convenient for Mrs.
Ware and the children, and in order to retain Mr. Ware,
whom everybody liked, the cottage was built. He
remained in the district as teacher for nineteen years.
Some of his family still come back to visit old friends
here. It was Mr. Ware who started the Sunday School.
Between Mr. Ware and Mr. Eliot, there have been three
teachers: Mr. Sylvester who taught eight years, Mr.
Harley who remained six years, and Mr. Muller who
stayed only two years. You see we never had a lady
teacher. For myself, I do not remember any other
teacher than Mr. Eliot.

I do not know how our district would get along with-
out Mr. Eliot. He is a good teacher and everybody
likes him and respects him. He is interested in every-
thing that goes on and is always willing to help any one
inany way he can. Mrs. Eliot is like him, too, in these
respects. He does far more than teach school. Our
district has always been famous for its good Sunday
school. Mr. Eliot is the superintendent and Mrs.
Eliot teaches the infant class. During the winter months
there is a Young People’s Society that meets in the school
once every two weeks. Mr. Eliot is the life of this.

OUR TEACHERAGE 61

He is a good musician and directs the society in singing.
He helps with the debates, too.

During the summer, the society continues in opera-
tion as a Young People’s Recreation Society. We have
a tennis court on the school grounds and there is room
besides to play baseball, using an indoor baseball. Some
evenings there are as many as fifty or sixty people
from the neighborhood out, and they are not all young
people. For the past three years the society has held a
Field Day for raising funds for the Red Cross. Last
year there were more than four hundred people present,
and more than $200 was cleared. There were all kinds
of sports. Mr. Brown was a sort of general manager
for this. He had good assistants from the society.
Everybody helped to make the day a success. ‘The girls
of the school had a booth and cleared over $35 selling
ice cream, cold drinks, etc.

Mr. Eliot has one of the best gardens in the neighbor-
hood. It is behind the cottage and alongside the school
grounds. Two years ago he laid out a part of it asa
model for the older pupils to follow in our home gardens.

Jennie Watts and Jack Smith had good success, and
Mr. Eliot declared. their gardens even better than his.
We have daily lessons in Agriculture. Mr. Eliot, you
see, took special courses at the Agricultural College.

We have benefited from his interest in poultry, too.
He keeps good Barred Rocks that he has won first prizes
with at the Winter Poultry Show. Every spring he
offers any of his pupils a setting in exchange for an equal
number of our eggs from common fowl, or one pullet
back -when they are grown. It is hard to find anything
but Barred Rocks in our barnyards now.

62 RURAL SCIENCE READER

One of the most interesting things at our school is a
little girls’ playroom in the basement. Mr. Eliot fitted
it up with Mrs. Eliot’s help. It has been a happy place
for our little housekeepers, especially on rainy days.

There are all sorts of doll’s requirements in the shape
of cupboards, dishes, and furniture. Mrs. Eliot gives
us lessons in sewing sometimes.

The following is a ground plan of our school premises.

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The schoolhouse, you see, stands in the foreground with
the teacherage on a half acre lot at one side. Mr. and
Mrs. Eliot live here the whole year round. When school
is closed in summer he directs our home garden work
and the other club activities, while helpful Mrs. Elot
advises with our mothers and older sisters. Father
says that teacherages, which had almost gone out of
fashion, are beginning to be built in many states at
the new community schools.

OUR TEACHERAGE 63

Suggestions

1. Watch the magazines or agricultural papers for pictures of teacher-
ages that are being built in different states.

2. Make a list of all the teachers who have taught in your school since
it was started. You may have considerable difficulty in finding people
who remember them all. If you can get photographs of them, put them
together in a Teachers’ Album. Has your neighborhood ever had teachers
who are remembered as ‘‘famous’’ teachers?

3. If you have any old residents in the district who got their schooling
in European countries, ask them about their schoolmasters and their school
experiences. You will likely learn that schooling is very highly prized
there.

4. Do you remember the schoolmaster in The Old Curiosity Shop at
whose place Little Nell died? Read the story of Domsie in Ian MacLaren’s
Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush for an account of the Scottish schoolmaster.

5. Did the school teachers ever “board round” in the early days of
your district? Have you read of Ralph in The Hoosier Schoolmaster?
Can any of the old people in your district remember when pupils carried
their share of the wood to school to keep the fire going?

6. Enumerate all the advantages you can think of from having your
teacher living in a teacherage at the school all the year round. Do you
think that such teacherages help to bring men teachers to the school com-
munity?

CHAPTER LX

Our School Library — The Hillsbridge School Learns
to make Libraries and to use them

Do you know any grown-up person who cannot read? Don’t you pity
such people? They are terribly crippled. They may not be downright
ignorant people, for they may be clever in acquiring knowledge in other
ways than by reading, but they are very helpless people. They may not
be to blame themselves for their condition, but if it is not their fault, some-
body has done them a great wrong. Every boy and girl in this land has
the right to be taught to read.

Do you know anyone who can read but who seldom, if ever, does so?
Aren’t you sorry for them? If it is because they have no time, or if it is
because they are too tired or too weak, they are to be pitied. But if it is
because they have no desire to read, they need to be roused to their oppor-
tunities.

Do you know people who can read, but who read foolishly and perhaps
to their harm? There are such people. They usually read the wrong
kind of books, papers, and magazines. They read so much trash that

their minds are in a muddle. Every one should learn to read wisely and
well.

Read to be informed. Read to be instructed. Read to be entertained.
Read to be inspired.

The world does not want book-farmers but it does want reading farmers.

Read! Be a reader! Own a library!

OUR SCHOOL LIBRARY 65

During the past year and a half, the pupils in the
Hillsbridge School have taken a great deal of interest
in books and reading. It started when Miss Moffat
became our teacher. Partly to induce tardy pupils to
become punctual, she began to read to us for ten minutes
each morning, after school-opening, from The Swiss Fam-
ily Robinson. When she had finished that story every
one begged her to read another to us and so she read us
Black Beauty. We were all anxious to read for ourselves
after that. Then she loaned the books to us and brought
a few other books that she said she thought we would
like as they were old favorites of hers. Once a week,
instead of taking our reading lessons from the school
readers, we would read favorite parts from some of these
books.

Then Miss Moffat suggested that we should have a
little bookcase. Frank Sawyer said he could get a box
at home that would answer, and with Eric Jennings’
help this was fitted with shelves and fastened to the side
wall towards the front of the schoolroom. As the boards
were somewhat rough and discolored, the girls in our
class proposed to cover the bookcase. Miss Moffat
liked the idea, and we made it look very pretty with a
remnant of plain wall-paper that Marjorie Davis brought
from her home.

Later, when it was found that too much dust gath-
ered on our books, the girls in Grade 7 made very pretty
art muslin curtains and hung them with little rings on
a small brass rod. We were all very proud of ‘Our
Library,” as we called it. Several of the boys and
girls have made similar bookcases for their homes. We
have one in our living room, and every one finds it very

66 RURAL SCIENCE READER

useful. Mother says it saves her a lot of work tidying
up papers and bulletins.

Our little library was not slow in growing. Old Mr.
Jenkins, who has always been a great reader, heard of
our bookcase and sent over three books which he thought
we would like, Robinson Crusoe; Joe, the Book Farmer;
and The Boy Mechanic. They were, indeed, acceptable.
Mrs. Waite gave us two very nice picture books with
simple stories in them for the younger pupils who were
just learning to read. Later the trustees voted us $10,
and _ this, with $5 taken from money we made at our
school fair, enabled us to buy several good books.

We had quite a time helping Miss Moffat to choose
them from the catalogues she ordered from publishers. We
got two agricultural books, Plumb’s Types and Breeds of
Farm Animals, and Lewis’ Poultry Husbandry, and one
nature study book, Comstock’s Manual of Nature Study.
These have been used a great deal. With the balance
of the money we bought story, travel, and nature books
chiefly, a fair proportion of them being simple books for
the lower grades. It is surprising what fine books can
be bought for a little money. When we were ordering the
books for the school, a few of us bought books for our
own libraries. I- bought Black Beauty and The Old
Curiosity Shop. Hazel Roblin, my chum, bought The
Sketch Book and Anne of Green Gables. Of course we
all lend our books to one another.

One shelf in the bookcase is set aside for agricultural
bulletins and portfolios. We refer to these a good deal
for our agricultural lessons. Some of the bulletins were
found at pupils’ homes unused and given to the schools.
For the others Miss Moffat had us write to Washington

Face p. 66

Our NEw SCHOOLHOUSE

INSIDE OUR OLD SCHOOL

OUR SCHOOL LIBRARY 67

and our State Department of Agriculture. We did not
send for any we could get in the district.

The portfolios are homemade agricultural books.
They are really well-arranged scrap-books made up of
cuttings from the agricultural papers. Each pupil in the
7th and 8th grades last year gave one of his or her port-
folios to the library. I expect we shall do the same this
year. They are put together in strong brown paper

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School Portfolios

binders or covers which have pockets on the inside to
hold the cuttings and loose leaves until such time as
everything is ready to fasten together with a lace. The
loose-leaf system is used, as this allows one to make
the book as large as one likes, and to arrange leaves in
any order. There were some very good portfolios made
last year and there are even better ones being made this
year. I think the best one in the library is one on “‘ Breeds
of Poultry,’’ made by George Fallis. It is very interest-
ing and complete. There is another very good one on
“Fruit Growing,” and good ones also on “Farm Machin-

68 RURAL SCIENCE READER

ery,” on “Sheep,” and on ‘‘House Furnishing and Equip-
ment.” A number of people in the district send their
old agricultural papers to the school for our use. We
have four pairs of scissors and a big pot of paste at the
school. On rainy days the work makes a pleasant
pastime for the noon hour or recess.

But we are not limiting our book-making to agricul-
tural subjects. We are making portfolios for our home

When we Read at School

libraries on other school subjects and on all sorts of
matters that we are interested in; one boy is even
making a “Joke Book.” Our uniform loose-leaf plan
permits this to be done. We make our portfolios 9”
wide and 114” long so as to take in paper of letter-note
size, namely 83” by 11”. We write our compositions,
draw our maps, make our drawings, record our rural
science, and write our exercises on paper of this size-and
keep them in our portfolios. I have the best of my last
year’s exercises on my bookshelf at home. They do
not take up much room and I think they will be in-

OUR SCHOOL LIBRARY 69

teresting to keep as a remembrance of school days,
especially the stories I have written for compositions.
Our little collection of pressed plants is made on paper
of this size, too, and is kept in the same kind of port-
folios. A neat collection of common weeds makes an
interesting exhibit at a school fair.

Besides the collections for school work I am making a
“Household Recipe” portfolio for Mother. She gathers
together the cuttings and I arrange them and paste them
in. When a recipe is given her by a neighbor it is written
out and inserted with the pasted leaves. This has
brought more work on me from Father. I am making
him a scrap-book of odds and ends of farm recipes, such
as remedies for sick horses or methods of treating seed
potatoes for scab. I have a portfolio started, too, for
favorite poems that I notice in our papers. Tom McPhail
is keeping a sort of history of the neighborhood. He
collects all notices of births, marriages, and deaths, and
any articles referring to old settlers or to important
happenings in the district. Elsie Graham, who is very
fond of music, is keeping the old favorite songs that are
printed in a paper for which they subscribe. Norma
Harris is keeping together copies of famous pictures.
James Wilson is making up a little history of the Great
War.

Each class is making geography portfolios of China,
Japan, South America, or such countries as they are
studying. Leah Roberts is mounting snapshots in one of
her portfolios. David Walsh has started a postage stamp
collection. There seems to be no limit to the subjects
that different people are interested in. I hardly think
any of us will ever be real “authors” but we all are

70 RURAL SCIENCE READER

at least ‘‘book makers.’ It helps to make school work
interesting, I can assure you.

Our little bookcase will soon be too small to hold every-
thing that is being gathered for it. When we buy a real
bookcase we plan to get one that has a bottom part that
can be used as a sort of cupboard for holding our old
newspapers and such things, and an upper compartment
with glass doors for holding the books. I do not know
how our school could get along without a library.

Suggestions

1. On Friday afternoons, as part of the literary program, discuss books
that have been read. For compositions write summaries of such books
-and keep these among the exercises in your Souvenir Portfolio. Keep a
list of the books you read, with the name of the author, the date of reading,
and the names of the chief characters.

2. To interest people and pupils in old books, arrange an exhibit at
the school fair of books that may have been brought into the settlement
in the early days, old-fashioned recipe books, scrap-books, etc. Give
prizes for the best home-made bookcases, the best rural science portfolios,
the best collection of agricultural books owned by pupils. Give books
as prizes for these competitions.

3. Subscribe for one or more good magazines, suitable for the use of the
school. In order to make an acquaintance with many of the best, change
the magazines each year. Arrange occasionally to have some part of
the school work based on articles in the magazine. Circulate the magazine
in the pupils’ homes and at stated times have an exchange of the magazines
which people have finished using.

4. The game of Authors is helpful in acquainting one with the names
of writers and books. Sets of cards for playing the game might be made
by the pupils themselves as practical exercises in literature. These could
be used for play at noon-hour on rainy days. Put up pictures of famous
authors about the school walls or on the bulletin board. Have contests
in identifying such pictures, and also in naming the authors of books in
your library, and the titles of the books associated with authors’ names.
These contests might be carried out like a spelling match.

5. Do not allow your school library to become stale or unused. If

OUR SCHOOL LIBRARY VE!

it is filled up with unsuitable books give them away locally, auction them
off, or donate them to some institute that may make use of them. Ad-
vertise the books among the children and the members of their families.
A well-located bookcase with glass doors that permit the books to be easily
seen is an advantage. So is an easy plan for borrowing the books from the
library. A school libary that is little used is no credit to any one.

6. Put the library in charge of a Library Committee that is changed
from time to time. One of the Committee’s duties should be to encgurage
the use of the books. The most successful committee will be the one
that has had the most books taken out, and has kept the books and library
in best shape. Worn-out books—a good sign— should be replaced or
rebound. Perhaps such favorite old books could be given to pupils as
prizes. A small, well-used library is more creditable than a large collec-
tion of books that show little or no use.

CHAPTER: xX

Our Work Shop — How the Mount Hope School Added
Tools to its Educational Equipment

Man is a tool-using being.

Civilization owes much to the wonderful capability of the human hand.
What a power man has had in being able to grasp things with his thumb
and fingers!

This power has given him ascendancy over the lower animals. It
enabled him first to use a club, then to use a bow.

It has given him his.dailv bread from the soil. It has enabled him to
make and use a hoe and a spade.

It has given him control of power. It has enabled him to employ ma-
chines and implements for a myriad uses.

And as man has become more skilled with tools he has become more and
more capable of thinking and planning.

Working with tools always necessitates thought. A person may operate
a machine without much thinking, but he cannot use a rule, a hammer, a
square, a plane, or a pair of compasses without using his head to direct his
hands.

OUR WORK SHOP 72

“Train the eye, exercise the hand, strong will be the will, clear the
understanding.”

Books are not the only means of education.

Tools train thinkers.

We have a little workshop in the basement of our school
that is an interesting place. Before Mr. Mall became
our teacher, the room was used as a sort of storeroom.
It was not very long, however, before he put it to better
use.

Mr. Mall had not been with us more than a few days
when we learned that he was handy with tools. First
he got a screw driver and began to tighten the screws
holding the desks to the floor. He let some of us help
him. Then he got Andy Lee to bring a putty knife
from home and he and Andy put in a pane of glass to
replace one that had been broken during the holidays.

Before he had been a month in the school there was not
a thing left to be repaired. The maps were mended.
The clock was set going again. The door knobs were
fixed so that they were not always falling off. An old
chair was braced with twisted wire. Even the hinges
on one of the doors were oiled and cured of squeaking.
There was nothing more to be done, though we all tried
to discover things that needed attention. Our school
was in ship shape.” We had to find things at home
to mend in order to exercise our skill.

I think some of our mothers were surprised, and very
agreeably, at our new fancies. I don’t believe, at any
rate, there is anything that I do that pleases my mother
more than making a neat job of mending some bother-
some old thing, like a broken clothes reel, a chair, or a
washing machine. It is surprising, too, how many jobs

74 RURAL SCIENCE READER

there are that mothers can find for a fellow if he is willing
to do them!

So, when Mr. Mall proposed a school work-bench for
the Mount Hope School, he found every boy in the school
enthusiastic about it. The storeroom was cleaned out by
willing volunteers. The plan was to build a good, plain, |
substantial bench ourselves, such as would be suitable
for a farmer’s work shop. The trustees agreed to pay
for the lumber if we
would build it. Under
Mr. Mall’s direction we
made drawings and
prepared an order for
the material. This was
sent to Walker’s mill
at Oldtown, and about

Gunwereiperen a week. afterwards Mr.
Corcoran brought the
lumber to the school. The cost was $8.00.

It was not such a difficult task to build the bench,
though a few mistakes were made. If we were to do it
over again we could make a better job of it. Fitting in
the drawers was the hardest part. The tools that we
used were borrowed. The question of getting a supply
of tools puzzled us for a while. We had no funds, and
we wanted to provide most of the equipment from among
ourselves as a gift to the school. This was Mr. Mall’s
wish too. Finally we decided that each of us should
donate anything that could be spared from home to make
a beginning and go into debt for whatever tools had to
be bought. Our plan was to raise the money by making
things and selling them at our school fair.

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OUR WORK SHOP 75

We could have had everything given to us, very likely,
if we had been willing to take it. Every person in the
district was interested and willing to help us in our
scheme. Mr. Phillips sent a good oilstone. Tom Henley,
Charlie’s older brother, sent a nail box. Will Carney’s
father donated a very good iron vise. My father let
me have an old iron square and Mother bought a share
in the company, as she
explained it, with a
good tack hammer.
There were several old
things sent in which
were not of a great deal
of use, but we tried to
make the most of them
until we got some that
were better. There
were two old saws that
we cleaned up as best
we could and sharpened, Jim Corcoran at Work
and an old hammer-
head for which Will Carney made a pretty good handle.

When we got everything straightened up we appointed
a committee to manage our work shop as we call it.
Jim Corcoran was agreed upon by every one as chairman.
Jim is not the cleverest boy in the school in book studies,
but there is no one who can equal him in making things.
Even before Mr. Mall came Jim was famous among us.
He was always bringing some curiosity to school. One
time it would be a wooden chain whittled out of a single
piece of wood, another time it would be a wooden pistol.
He made a little fiddle once. Since Jim and Mr. Mall

76 RURAL SCIENCE READER

have become chums, Jim has begun to make more use-
ful things. He doesn’t whittle so much. He set up a
bench at home in their woodshed and has made several
useful things, such as a brooder for his mother’s chicks,
and a rustic chair. So naturally Jim was chosen chair-
man. Mr. Mall calls him the Mechanical Superintendent,
and the title suits him very well.

We do not have regular lessons from Mr. Mall, like
pupils in the Manual Training classes in some schools.
He has explained to us how to handle and care for the
tools and has shown us how to do a great many things,
but this has generally been at noon or after four. Some-
times on Saturdays, too, there are many boys at the
school working at something they cannot do at home.

We teach one another a good deal, and Jim Corcoran is
always ready to help any one in trouble. A lot of our
undertakings are odd jobs brought from home. I have
set our saws and sharpened my mother’s scissors. Charlie
Hanley overhauled an old bridle. New hoe handles
have been inserted. Valves from pumps have. been re-
paired. We have even soldered leaky tinware and put
a patch on a shoe.

We had no trouble in raising the money for new tools.
The little bookracks, that we made after the pattern of
one Mr. Mall has on his desk, and the handy nail-boxes
sold readily at 75 cents each at the school fair. Indeed,
we could have sold more of them if we had had them.
Our own people bought them, of course, but they were
very glad to encourage us in our plans — and they re-
ceived good value. We have a very complete assort-
ment of tools now and they are good ones. Mr. Mall
does not believe in buying poor, cheap tools.

OUR WORK SHOP 74

There has been an increase in interest in tools and
workshops in the district since our work commenced
at school. Most of the boys are getting some good tools
of their own for the home workbench and are keeping
them well — better than farm tools were previously kept
on any farm that I know. Father promises me that he
will let me put up a little workshop of our own next
summer. We are going to get a hand forge in the spring,

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A Farm Workshop

and I am looking forward to learning how to work with
iron.

With a workbench at school, a good assortment of
tools, and a teacher like Mr. Mall, there are many things
to be learned that will be of daily value throughout one’s
life.

Suggestions

1. Arrange at your school picnic for a whittling contest for boys and a
nail-driving contest for girls.

2. At some schools arrangements may be made codperatively through
a local storekeeper to sell articles made by pupils, such as walking canes
bird boxes, rustic furniture, and flower boxes.

78 RURAL SCIENCE READER

3. For prizes at school fairs or in corn-growing, pig-raising, or canning
contests, arrange to let pupils select tools if they should prefer such. En-
courage boys to get together a good collection of tools and to keep sup-
plies of nails, bolts, washers, paint, putty, etc.

4. Make lists of all the tools, utensils, implements or machines com-
monly used 1, in eating; 2, in preparing food; 3, in repairing or making
new clothes; 4, in building houses; 5, in producing milk and making
butter; 6, in working the soil; 7, in harvesting crops; 8, in caring for farm
animals.

5. On well-managed farms it is found to be of great advantage to put
aside in a particular place all articles needing repairing, or to keep a list
on a convenient slate or blackboard of all odd jobs needing attention.
These are then attended to on rainy days or at intervals in the regular
work.

6. A farmer has to be an all-round handy man with tools. Make a
list of all the different trades or occupations that are represented in the
ordinary repairing and odd jobs about a farm. Discuss the question of
the saving of time and money through the ability of a farmer to do things
tor himself with tools.

7. Purchase books on carpentry, blacksmithing, repairing, etc., for the
school library. Subscribe for a Manual Arts School Magazine. Cut
diagrams and plans for farm appliances from the agricultural papers
and display them on the bulletin board. Keep these in a portfolio for
future reference.

8. If any one near the school is building a new barn, putting up a silo,
or putting in cement work in a stable, make special observations on such
and discuss them in school. Should the opportunity offer to visit a factory
where, for example, agricultural machinery is manufactured, do not fail
to take advantage of it.

9. Do not let the use of special appliances spoil you for using simple
tools dexterously. For example, even if you have a pencil sharpener in
your school, learn to sharpen a pencil neatly with a knife. And be sure
to examine the sharpener to learn how it does its work and how it should
be cared for. Make a study of machinery as part of your Nature Study or
Rural Science work.

CHAPTER Xa

Our School Improvement — Beaver Meadow School
becomes an Institution that is a Credit to the District

Do you know the answer to the riddle: What is the largest room in the
world? You don’t know it? Why, we all live in the largest room in the
world! It is the room for improvement!

Every one should try to leave the world a little better for his having
lived in it. Boys and girls who help to make their school better are helping
to make the world better.

And if you can work together to improve your school, you will learn
to work together to make other improvements in the country when you
become men and women.

There is always room for improvement in everything and every person.

Our school is called the Beaver Meadow School be-
cause it is situated at the edge of a low, level creek-
bottom that used to be the home of beavers. Of course
there are no beavers to be seen now. The only trace

80 RURAL SCIENCE READER

they have left is a low ridge at the lower end of the meadow.
This marks the location of their dam. Father remem-
bers, as a small boy, hearing the neighbors tell of break-
ing down the dam in order to trap the beavers when
these clever animals were repairing it. But he never
saw any of the animals himself.

But I must not say too much about the name of our
school or about beavers. It is about the improvement
of the school that I want to tell you. The school was
built in 1876, so Father says. He knows, because he
was born in 1870 and at the age of six started to school
the day the new school was opened. He never attended
the old log school, though my Uncle Frank and Aunt
Elizabeth did. The old log school is still standing in
the field across the road. It is used now by Mr. Stone
for storing hay. Father says that the people in the
district were quite proud of the school at the time of his
early school days.

It had cost them complete, with half an acre of land,
a well, fence, woodshed, and new desks, about $1200.
There was no better school in the county. For many
years it was kept in very good repair —so the people say.
But for some reason, which they cannot explain very
well, it has been neglected of late years, and you know
how shabby anything that is old, such as a buggy, furni-
ture, or a building, will become if it is not attended to.

I am glad that I can say that the school is a better
school now than it was a few years ago. I helped to
make it better, and I am proud of that. A person can
get a good deal of satisfaction from “leaving things bet-
ter than he found them.’ Indeed, every one who at-
tends Beaver Meadow School is proud of it and so are

OUR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 81

the people in the neighborhood. I have even heard
Old Man Grouch, as every one calls Grandfather Hills,
say that it “wasn’t too bad.” So much from him is
a really good compliment.

It was in the fall of 1914 that the improvements com-
menced. Miss Sadler was our new teacher. We all
liked her. She was strict in school, but free and full of
fun on the playground. She played with us nearly
every recess and noon hour. She was very neat herself
and used to say that she thought the inside of a school
should be just as nicely kept as the living room in one’s
own home. She told us of the school she attended in
Huron County. It must have been a fine school.

On Friday afternoon about two weeks after school .
opened, we had a discussion on the subject “‘Our School:
How We Can Improve It.’”’ Miss Sadler had asked us a
few days before to think over the matter and to come
prepared to make suggestions. I think she had been
talking over her plans with the women of the district
at Mrs. Lee’s, though none of them had said much
about it. She boarded with Mrs. Lee, who was an old
schoolmate of her mother’s, and. Mrs. Lee had asked
her neighbors in to meet Miss Sadler and to help make her
feel at home. This was the Saturday afternoon of her
first week among us.

At the beginning of the lesson only a few of the older
pupils ventured to offer any suggestion. But before it
ended even some of the youngest children had spoken.
There seemed to be no end to the improvements that
could be made. I remember I said that the front gate
should be mended and straightened on its hinges, and
Miss Sadler said, ‘‘That’s a good idea, Eric. We will

82 RURAL SCIENCE READER

remember who made that suggestion.” Tom Wallace
thought the roadside at the front of the school should
be levelled and cleared of weeds. Alice Keating sug-
gested that the stove should be blacked and kept clean.

Agnes Manley thought a waste paper basket would
help to keep the floor free of litter. Dorothy Brown
called attention to the dirty windows. My brother
Fred considered that there should be some shade trees

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A Well-kept Schoolroom

planted. Frank Manley proposed the need of tidying
up the woodshed and the grounds. Suggestions came
thick and fast. Miss Sadler was laughing and we were,
too. JI think we were excited as well. We wanted to
make some of the improvements right away.

But this was not Miss Sadler’s plan. She first wanted
us to consider all the suggestions carefully for a few
days and then decide on the following Monday what
we could do and how we could do it. In order to keep
everything in our thoughts, she asked Agnes Manley

AN ‘“UNIMPROVED”’ SCHOOL

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OUR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 83

and Dorothy Brown to sum up all the proposals and
write them down. on the blackboard. Miss Sadler helped
the girls do this. This is what the list looked like.

Improvements Needed at our School

Cleaning — Windows, stove, stove-pipes, floor, desks,
walls, maps, bookshelf.

Repairs —Gate, fence, lock on door, one window
pane, woodshed door, maps, blackboard.

Improvements — Straightening up the fence, level-
ling the playgrounds and roadside.

New Things—A walk, a foot scraper, a water
holder, a new floor, new desks.

On Saturday, and even on Sunday, there was a good
deal of talk concerning the matter. Naturally all the
boys and girls spoke of it at home. Driving home from
church on Sunday people could be seen taking more
than an ordinary glance at the school. It seemed almost
as if they had not noticed it before.

When Fred and I said anything about our plans,
Father seemed to be somewhat amused. But Mother
was not. She said it was a good idea. She told us to
tell Miss Sadler that she would support her in improving
the old school and asked Fred and me to help our teacher
in every way we could.

_ After our discussion on Friday, Miss Sadler showed
us a book that told about the improvements that were
being made in country schools in many places. There
were a number of good pictures in the book and I bor-
rowed it to take home for the week-end. Mother looked

84 RURAL SCIENCE READER

through the book carefully and pointed out one school
that she thought ours could be made to look like. Father
tried to pretend he wasn’t interested, but I think he was,
for when I was going off to school on Monday, he said
that he would like to have another look at the book
sometime, if I could borrow it again.

When the time came for further discussion on Monday
afternoon after recess, every one was a bit excited. We
were waiting for a chance to get into action. Several of
the pupils had brought new suggestions from home. We
were beginning to see a good deal of fun ahead of us in
working out our schemes. Just as on the previous
Friday, there was no scarcity of ideas. To make our
lesson more interesting, we drew numbered slips of paper
to decide the order of speaking, and Miss Sadler asked
us not to tell our numbers.

Number 1 turned out to be Jim Moyer. Jim thought
the boys should do most of the work outside the school.
He explained how the fence posts could be straightened
and offered to bring a long line to use for this, as well as
a shovel.

When Number 2 was called, Bertha Weaver responded.
- She thought one of the nicest things we could have would
be a small bed of tulips at the front of the school. She
had seen in a paper a picture of a school that had such
a flower bed. She explained how the ground would
have to be prepared. She offered to bring some bulbs
from home, but thought that the girls in Grades 5
and 6 might put five cents each into a fund to buy
some choice new bulbs. This would be their special
contribution to making the front of the school attractive.

Number 3 turned out to be Dorothy Brown. She

OUR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 85

had been talking over matters with her mother, and
besides cleaning the windows she proposed a plan for
making simple art muslin curtains for them.

The call for Number 4 brought Tom Wallace to the
front of the school room. His idea of improving the
roadside had grown into a plan to improve the whole
school grounds.

The plan we decided on was to divide up the work
and have captains. Jim Moyer was the Fence Captain.
He had three boys helping him, and I was one of them.
We brought two shovels, a crowbar, hammer, and some
nails from home. Tom Wallace was the Grounds Cap-
tain. He had about four boys working with him. They
had a number of rakes and a borrowed wheelbarrow.

They did their work systematically, and when they
finished there was not a stick, a stone, or a scrap of paper
to be seen on the grounds. They cleared out the rubbish
from the woodshed and used it and a heap of ashes
that had grown at the side of the school to partly fill in
some of the deepest hollows on the roadside. A bonfire
was made of the dead weeds and tall grass. To cut
these one of the boys brought a scythe.

Dorothy Brown was the House-cleaning Captain.
At noon and recess her team was busy. Soap, brushes,
wash-cloths, and pails were borrowed from their homes.
Dorothy herself brought stove-blacking and_ brushes.
The windows were cleaned. The walls and ceilings
were swept. The books in the library were dusted and
tidied. The maps were taken out and dusted. The
woodwork, including the doors and desks, was washed.
The floor was scrubbed. One could hardly have believed
how much dirt there was in the school unless he had

86 RURAL SCIENCE READER

seen the dirty water that was thrown out. The school
even smelled clean.

Everything had passed off well. The work was well
planned. We didn’t try to do too much at one time.
No one had shirked. Every one had been in a good
humor. There had been the very best of team-play.
On Thursday Miss Sadler proposed a corn-roast for the
next afternoon to celebrate our victory over dirt and
untidiness. Friday, at noon, the very last bit of our clean-
up, as we called it, was completed. Our old school
looked almost like a new one. We were very proud of
our work. And Miss Sadler was very proud of us.

The corn-roast was a great success. The boys had
built up a fireplace with some of the stones they had
cleared off the grounds and roadside. The chips and
rubbish helped to furnish the fire. Along about three
o’clock, when we were in the midst of our good time,
my mother and Mrs. Brown came along with baskets.
It was a great surprise to us, but Miss Sadler seemed to
understand. Soon after, more mothers and more
baskets appeared. Our corn-roast became a grand re-
past. It was a fine way to end our week’s work.

The good work we had started didn’t end here. The
people of the district became interested. They fol-
lowed our lead and in the last two years have made
many improvements. They are again proud of their
old school.

Suggestions

t. Add to your School Library some books dealing with rural schools
for circulation among the members of the Mothers’ Club or the Reading
Circle. Visit neighboring schools to see how they have carried out im-
provements. Write an account of your school’s improvements for the

OUR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 87

local paper. Arrange to have printed picture postcards of your school
and encourage people in the neighborhood to use them in writing to their
friends.

2. If your school is not already provided with a work bench and a set
of tools, make a commencement by getting together a few things such as
a hammer, a screw driver, a pair of pincers, a putty knife, an assortment
of nails and some wire. A work box in which to keep all these might be
made and put in charge of a Tool Committee.

3. In connection with your School Progress Club, if you have such,
elect a Repair Committee whose business it will be to superintend all im-
provements that should be made and report on them at the Club meetings
on Friday afternoons. A girl for looking after the inside of the school
and a boy for the outside repairs elected monthly would be a suitable ar-
rangement for the committee.

4. Are the people in your district proud of your school? Is it an insti-
tution visitors are taken to see? Is it a credit to your neighborhood? Are
there homes (or barns!) in the district that are much nicer? If the con-
dition of the school is not satisfactory, take stock of the school and its equip-
ment. Successful business people take stock once a year in order to plan
for the new year. Schools should take stock too.

5. For the best kind of school ground improvement, it is very desirable
to have a well-thought-out planting plan. Haphazard planting of trees
and shrubs cannot be satisfactory. In some cases assistance can be se-
cured from the Agricultural College. Make a sketch of your school grounds
showing the location of buildings, trees, etc., and forward it. The plan
should be carefully retained so that it may be followed year by year.

6. Some school grounds, in order to be put into the condition they
should be in, need to be plowed, levelled, fertilized, cleaned and cultivated.
A good plan to secure this is to turn the entire grounds into a potato patch
for a year. While the pupils are thus preparing the soil in the very best
way for seeding to grass, a neighbor might lend a small part of a field for
play purposes. The potato crop grown could be sold for patriotic or school
improvement funds. The potato-growing might be made the occasion for
an experimental test of the different varieties of potatoes grown in the
district.

7. Many states ‘“‘standardize”’ their schools nowadays. Do you know
what this means? If not, ask your teacher to explain the meaning of the
phrase. Why not take steps towards standardizing your school?

CHAPTER XII

Our School Progress Club — The Sundale School
Does Things

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The school is a great training ground for future citizenship. The public
business of the country will always have to be carried on by men and women
who are willing to accept responsibilities and to give their services freely.
Such public servants may be partly trained in school.

Progress results from having clear and worthy aims, carried out by a
good organization made up of individuals who know how to coéperate.
The Progress Club at Sundale School should produce some capable leaders.
The report of its work is a letter from Mary Thomson.

Our teacher has told us how pleased you were with
the Club pin she sent to you, and that you wished to
hear more of our “doings.’”’ As I am secretary of the
Club, I have been asked to write this letter. I have,
however, had assistance from some of my classmates;
they have given me helpful suggestions. :

OUR SCHOOL PROGRESS CLUB 89

Our Club was organized the sixth of January, rorq.
It is called the Sundale School Progress Club. Our
aim is “The Best Possible School for the People and
Children of this Community.”’ Our motto is Plus
Ulira meaning, More Beyond, and there is always some-
thing) todo, | Our; Yell’ :is:

Hepta, Miniga, Hullaballoo!
Well, I guess, we’re a jolly crew!
Ripperty! Rapperty! Rub-a-dub-dub!
Sundale School Progress Club.
Oats and barley and alfalfa!

Sp Sp aCe

Rah! Rah! Rah!

Our school colors are red and green. As you have
probably noticed, these colors are represented in our
school pin. We sent to Chicago for
them. Bought by the dozen they cost
fifteen cents each. The girls usually
wear them as brooches. The boys wear
them on the lapels of their coats. They
can’t wear them very well on sweaters.

We hold our meetings on Friday
afternoons after the lessons in agricul- Our Club Pin
ture. The president takes the chair
while the teacher takes a seat with the pupils. The meet-
ing is opened by singing the National Anthem. Then
the secretary reads the minutes of the last meeting
from the Minute Book. The committees read their
reports. The School Room, Library and School Yard
Committees are elected once a month. The water car-
riers and wood carriers are elected for each week. We also
have monitors for passing around the wraps.

go RURAL SCIENCE READER

Our programs are quite varied. The commonest one
is made up of two and three or sometimes five minute
speeches by the members of the Club. The girls speak
on household work and the boys tell about things on the
farm. Sometimes we have a debate, and occasionally
we have some one from the district give us an address.
Last week Mr. Switzer, one of the school trustees, told
us how he feeds and handles his dairy herd. Mrs. Lawson,
the mother of one of the best members of our Club, has
promised to give us a talk some Friday on canning vege-
tables and fruits. We always close our meetings with
our club yell. This is a sort of “music” in which the
boys excel. Their help is not very noticeable when we
sing a song, but in yelling they don’t seem to want the
girls to be heard.

But I suppose, after all, the things we have done
apart from our meetings are of most importance, and
perhaps you would like to hear about them. We estab-
lished a bookshelf on which to keep the agricultural
books and bulletins, also a bulletin board on which pic-
tures and cuttings from papers are pinned. These are
in charge of the Library Committee. Some of the
pupils bring agricultural papers to school. Our reading
lessons on Tuesday afternoons are on agricultural topics.

The girls wash the windows and clean the pictures
occasionally. The School Room Committee keeps every-
thing tidy about the blackboard, around the desks, and
on the floor. We have planned to get curtains for the
windows and also a clock to put on the bookshelf. We
are making a quilt for the Belgians; it is all pieced and
we just have to put it together. At our Christmas
concert we took up a silver collection of $7.55 which was

OUR SCHOOL PROGRESS CLUB gI

sent to the Belgians, too. We have been writing to the
pupils in a school on the Pacific Coast and we exchange
letters also with two Progress Clubs in other schools in
our own state.

Last spring the boys made window boxes and the
girls of each class planted nasturtium seeds. The girls
living near the school took care of them during the holi-
days. They made the school very attractive. For
the coming spring the boys are planning to make hanging
baskets for the windows. The School Yard Committee
has charge of our little school garden. They arrange
for its care in the summer vacation. The Club arranges
for the pupils’ Home Projects. This year we are going
to carry on this work with potatoes, and our Progress
Club will thus act as a Potato Club. Last spring we
bought an indoor baseball with some of the money in our
treasury. Every one can play this kind of baseball
safely. At the County Fair last fall our school won
the shield given by Dr. Reed for the best school exhibit.
We are planning to make a better display next fall.

I am sending with this a copy of our constitution and
by-laws. They were sent to us in a circular from our
State Agricultural College and we filled them in. They
are fastened in the Club’s Minute Book.

We would like to hear what other School Progress
‘Clubs are doing. |

Yours truly,
Mary THOMSON.

g2 RURAL SCIENCE READER

CONSTITUTION

I. Name: This organization shall be known as the Sundale School
Progress Club.

II. Colors: ‘The Club colors shall be red and green.
III. Motto: The Club Motto shall be Plus Ultra.

IV. Aim: The best possible school for the people and children of this
community.

V. Yell: Hepta, Miniga, Hullaballoo!
Well, I guess, we’re a jolly crew!
Ripperty! Rapperty! Rub-a-dub-dub
Sundale School Progress Club.
Oats and barley and alfalfa!
SusSaes iG:
Rah! Rah! Rah!

VI. Membership: Any pupil of the school in the fifth, sixth, seventh,
or eighth grade, or any pupil who is over ten years of age shall be eligible
for membership.

VII. Purposes: (1) One purpose of the Club shall be to improve and
beautify our school and school grounds.

(2) A second purpose of the Club shall be to train our members to
conduct meetings, speak in public, and codperate in all matters that con-
cern our school’s welfare.

(3) Another purpose shall be to learn agriculture and domestic science
through Club meetings by talks from farmers and housekeepers and by
means of school gardening and home projects.

VIII. Officers: The officers of the Club shall be a President, a Vice-
President, a Secretary and Treasurer; these officers shall compose the
Executive Committee. The teacher shall be ex-officio director and adviser
to the Club.

By-Laws

t. The officers shall be elected at the beginning of each half-year.

2. The membership fee shall be five cents, payable half-yearly.

3. Meetings shall be held on Friday afternoons or at other suitable
times as arranged by the Executive Committee.

4. Every member shall join some part of the work undertaken by the
Club. Younger pupils in the school will be encouraged to take part in the
meetings.

OUR SCHOOL PROGRESS CLUB 93

Order of Business
Reading of minutes.
Communications, letters from other schools, etc.
Reports of Committees and New Business.
Program — Addresses, papers, reports on home projects, or debate

Boys

Suggestions

1. Can your school be improved in any particular by all working to-
gether? If there is room for improvement, organize an Improvement
Club.

2. Learn to address an audience in a clear, out-spoken manner. Also
learn how to conduct public meetings. Knowledge of these two things will
be very useful in after life.

3. Donate the Minute Book of your Club, when it is filled, to the School
Library. It will be interesting to future classes.

4. Invite your friends to an occasional meeting of your Club. Appoint
a critic from among the visitors to point out how improvements can be
made.

5. Have a contest in composing a school yell and a school motto.

6. Conduct the election of officers for your School Club in the proper
manner. Have nominations and vote by ballot. Learn the procedure,
followed in the election of your school board, your municipal council, and
your church officials.

7. If the opportunity offers, attend a meeting of some organization
to learn how public business is conducted. The older boys might attend
some of the meetings of the local Farmers’ Club and the girls those of
the Women’s Institute, in preparation for the time when they will take the
places of men and women.

CHAPTER XIII

Our Nature Study Excursion — The Hillcrest School
Explores the River Road and Wells’ Woods

eer

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And Nature, the old nurse, took
The child upon her knee,

Saying, “‘ Here is a story book
Thy Father has written for thee.”

“Come, wander with me,” she said,
“Into regions yet untrod,
And read what is still unread
In the manuscripts of God.”

And he wandered away and away,
With Nature, the dear old nurse,

Who sang to him night and day
The rhymes of the universe.

And whenever the way seemed long,
Or his heart began to fail,
She would sing a more wonderful song,
Or tell a more wonderful tale.
— Longfellow

OUR NATURE STUDY EXCURSION 05

All your life you can go to school to Nature. She is kinder-
garten, elementary school, high school, college, and university.
You can never learn all that Nature has to teach. Her course
of study is inexhaustible.

You cannot very well get away from her school unless you de-
liberately shut your eyes, stop your ears, and lock yourself up.
Every time you look out of the window, or put your head out-of-
doors, or take a walk, or work in the garden, or wash dishes, or
bake bread, or feed the cattle, or pump water, or split wood, or
mend a machine, or go to the grocery store, or pick up a stone,
or watch a railroad train, you may learn of Nature.

The country is crammed full of educating interests. That is
why many people living in the country may be found to be well
educated, though they may not have had much schooling. They
have learned in Nature’s school day by day as they did their work
and observed closely.

Learn to learn by observing the common, near-at-hand things
about you.

We have three kinds of Nature Study lessons at our
school. Every morning the first thing after school is
opened we have “Observations.” Every one is ex-
pected to learn something each day by observing, and
to be ready to report on it after roll-call. To guide us
in this, Miss Baldwin, our teacher, generally suggests
something for us to look for, such as the colors of the
sunsets, the shape of the moon, the growth of plants, or
how different birds fly. But she likes to get reports, too,
on things we observe without any directions.

Some days we use about ten minutes for this work,
and when there are many interesting things to report
we cannot finish in fifteen minutes. Once we spent the
whole period talking about how a robin builds its nest.
Nearly every one in the class had seen something to
tell. Another day we used all the time telling about

96 RURAL SCIENCE READER

the way maple and horse chestnut leaves open from their
buds and how fast they grow.

Then usually on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons
the older pupils have lessons on nature objects. One day
last winter we had a very interesting lesson on a head
of wheat. For this we studied some of the heads from
a little sheaf that had been used for
decorating the school at the time of
the school fair. Each of us took a
head and, following Miss Baldwin’s
instructions, pulled off the spikelets
carefully and laid them in order on
a sheet of paper. Then we opened
up each spikelet and sorted out the
grains. There were considerable
differences in the total number of
grains in the heads, and differences,
too, in the size and plumpness of the
grains in different parts of the head.
After this we made a study of
heads of oats. This week we studied apple twigs.
Next week we expect to study the structure of a potato,
and then when the trees are in blossom we are going to
examine the flowers of plums and apples. We make
drawings of the things studied in our Nature Study
note books.

Occasionally we have our Nature Study lesson out-
doors in the form of a Nature Study excursion. Last
fall we had two such lessons. We had another last week
and shall likely have another before school closes in
June. They are exploring expeditions to make ourselves
well acquainted with our neighborhood.

OUR NATURE STUDY EXCURSION 07

Our school is located near a cross-road. Last fall
we made one trip up past Rankin’s as far as the church,
and one in the opposite direction down to Mr. Collyer’s
orchard. No! Not to steal apples, but to learn what
we could from Mr. Collyer about his methods of grow-
ing, packing, and shipping apples.

Last Friday afternoon our excursion was along the
River Road to Wells’ Woods. Every one had looked
forward to the outing all the week. We hoped for a
fine day, and we were not disappointed. The air was
warm, the sun was bright, the birds were singing, and
the trees were bursting into green. It was really too
fine a day to stay in a stupid school house. All out-
doors seemed to be calling to us.

Before starting, Miss Baldwin gave us our instruc-
tions.

“This afternoon,” she said, “we are going out to see
what we can see and learn what we can learn about our
neighborhood. between the school and Wells’ Woods,
and also to make a study of those woods.

“T want you all to have the very happiest of good
times, but at the same time to remember that you are
still at school though you are not zm school.

‘We shall have three reviews. First, at Morrison’s
gate; second, at the bridge; and third, after our ex-
ploration of the woods. Mrs. Steele is to join us at
Morrison’s.

“The pupils of the four highest grades will make care-
ful observations for recording on an Exploration Map.

“These are some of the things for which you might
keep your eyes open: (1) the farms you pass; (2) the
location of farm buildings, lanes, and orchards as seen

98 RURAL SCIENCE READER

from the road; (3) the work being done in the fields; (4)
the trees along the roads; (5) anything else of particular
note.

‘We shall take about twenty minutes for our trip to
the first stopping place. I will call you together at
Morrison’s gate at twenty minutes past two.”

Hurrah! Away we went in groups, chatting and
romping, but at the same time noting things as we went
along. The twenty minutes passed quickly. Some
had gone past Morrison’s gate and some were straggling
behind. Miss Baldwin blew her whistle, and we all
came together. Then we reported our observations.

Will Hood gave the names of the farmers living on
both sides of the road in their proper order. Alice Wat-
son located the lanes and buildings. She made a few
mistakes in this, but these were corrected. Tom Kirby
explained what work was being done in the fields but he
had not seen everything. He had failed to notice Mrs.
Walters working in her garden. Six different kinds of
trees were reported by Ethel Passmore and myself. One
of the boys had noted the different kinds of fences;
another observed the positions of the milkstands and
letter boxes.

From Morrison’s gate it was only a ten minutes’ walk
to the bridge. There we made an examination to see
how the bridge was constructed. Some of the boys
stepped off one hundred feet up the side of the stream
and threw in sticks. The time that the sticks took to
float down to the bridge was noted on Miss Baldwin’s
watch. As the rate was faster in the middle than at
the sides we took an average. The average depth of the
water was found, too, by putting down a pole at differ-

a
5
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Qa

IXE

FOREST OF

RatstnG YOUNG Forest TREES
Wisconsin State Forest Nursery

A WELL-MANAGED FOREST
Brush piled to prevent fire

OUR NATURE STUDY EXCURSION 99

ent places. This week for an arithmetic problem we
figured out how much water was flowing under the bridge
in an hour. It was surprisingly large.

Then we received our instructions for the studies in
Wells’ Woods. The older pupils were to make a sur-
vey of the trees. The younger pupils were to gather
flowers. Tom Kirby and Harold Blodgett were ap-
pointed leaders of the boys’ group, and Miss Baldwin
and Mrs. Steele acted as leaders for the girls. The woods
are not very large, nor are they very dense. They are
about the nicest woods in the neighborhood, but they
are only the remains of the fine forest that used to cover
the land. Some fair-sized trees are still standing, but
many have been cut down or blown over in recent years.
Unless the cattle are kept out and the next growth pro-
tected, the woods will soon be a thing of the past, and
future pupils at Hillcrest School will have no chance to
use them as a Nature Study.

The instructions were as follows:

First, we were all to estimate the acreage in the woods.

Second, the boys were to calculate roughly the number
of trees by counting those in a number of plots ten yards
square and multiplying.

Third, the girls were to measure, as nearly as they
could by spanning, the circumference of the largest trees.

Fourth, any one who found a suitable stump was to
count the rings to find how old the tree was when cut
down.

Fifth, we all were to find out how many species of
trees were represented in the woods. If we found any
that we were not sure of we were to bring back leaves
and twigs for examination.

100 RURAL SCIENCE READER

“Be ready to come together again in about forty
minutes, here at this corner of the woods nearest the
bridge,” eae Miss Baldwin. “I will blow my whistle
for you.”

Away the boys scampered. Shouts could bp heard
soon from all directions. It was a noisy study. There
was a little rivalry between the groups to see who could

MZ
] Bs : the ,
ect us ge

In Wells’ Woods

find the largest tree, or the stump of the oldest. The
little fellows had a hard time keeping up with such big
fellows as Tom Kirby and Will Hood. The girls did not
do as much shouting or running about as the boys did,
but they enjoyed themselves just as much. Mrs. Steele
was able to tell us a great deal about the things we found.
She has always been a great nature lover.

The whistle blew too soon. It took quite a while
to bring all the boys back. Some were off in the farthest

OUR NATURE STUDY EXCURSION IOI

corner and had to be sent for. When we were all com-
fortably seated, Miss Baldwin asked for reports on the
different matters investigated.

Different figures were given for the dimensions of the
woods. Some of the girls calculated the length as much
as 200 yards and the width as 160 yards. The older
boys had closer estimates, and they were fairly sure of
them. The length was taken as 175 yards and the
width as 135 yards. This figured out to be between
four and four and a half acres.

The number of trees found in an area of 100 square
yards varied a great deal. Some counted as high as 25
and some as low as 8. Averaging all the counts that had
been made, the number was found to be nearly 12. At
this rate we estimated that there were nearly 2000
trees in the woods.

The largest stump that was found was nearly a yard
across. It was an elm. Counting the rings had been
somewhat difficult, and there was some difference of
opinion among the boys who made this study. But the
tree seemed to have been somewhere about 160 or 180
years old when it was cut down. Allowing it to be 160
years, this meant that the tree started to grow in 1750
—even before there was a United States. A maple
stump that had a diameter of about 2 feet was over
too years old. We realized how long it had taken to
produce a tree.

The largest tree standing in the woods was a white elm.
It was not quite so large as the elm stump. Different
pupils had spanned it. Dorothy Smith and Stella Steele
together could just reach around it holding one another’s
hands. It was about 8 feet in circumference and must

102 RURAL SCIENCE READER

have been about 80 feet high. The largest maple
measured about 6 feet around.

Making up a list of species, we were able to report —
twelve in all. These are the ones that were seen:

White Elm Blue Beech
Hard Maple Beech

White Maple Hemlock
Black Cherry Balsam Fir
Tronwood Basswood
Hawthorn Yellow Birch

After our reports were made, Mrs. Steele gave us a
talk on the flowers that the smaller pupils had gathered.
She explained, too, how important it is that we should
try to preserve some part of our forests, and not destroy
them entirely. Then we had another fifteen minutes to
run around and see some of the things that had been
mentioned in our review. Before we had time to satisfy
our curiosity or settle our disputes, the whistle blew, and
we reluctantly left Wells’ Woods.

The trip back to the school was a jolly one. There
was racing and chasing and laughing and cheering.
We did not arrive as large a party as we set out, though.
Mrs. Steele and Stella left us when they reached their
gate. We gave them three cheers and sang, “For they
are jolly good fellows,” at parting. Harold and Kathleen
Blodgett also left us, as did Tom Kirby and his sister
Martha. The rest of us got back to the school at about
half-past four, rather dirty and tired, but happy. Miss
Baldwin was tired, too. It did not take us long to gather
up our books and set off for home. We were all hungry.
We took time, however—I mean some of us older

OUR NATURE STUDY EXCURSION 103

girls did — to tell Miss Baldwin how we had enjoyed the
outing, and to thank her for it.

The following Monday we drew maps to show where
we had gone and what we had learned. It will be a
long time before we forget the afternoon spent along the
River Road and in Wells’ Woods.

Suggestions

1. Read Kipling’s Kim for a story of a boy who became wonderfully
skillful in observing and picking up knowledge. To test observation and
memory, try one of the schemes by which he was trained. Expose a num-
ber of different objects for a few moments and then require lists and de-
scriptions.

2. If your class goes on an excursion to the Agricultural College or
Experiment Station, make a record of the outing by drawing a map and
marking on it the points of interest that were noted. A list of all the
things that were noted, set out in order, makes a good record of the trip.

3. Should an opportunity offer, arrange for a visit of your class to a
factory manufacturing agricultural machinery. A suitable record for
such an educational trip would be a map of the factory, showing the loca-
tion of the different processes, or some pictures from catalogues showing
machines that were seen being made.

4. Profitable Nature Study trips may be arranged for several objects;
for example, to study weeds along a roadside, a railroad, or in fields; to
collect flowering plants; to study birds; to collect insects; to study a gravel
pit or railroad embankment; to visit an orchard, an apiary, a dairy herd,
a cheese factory, a cider mill, a grist mill, a saw-mill, a maple-sugar bush.

5. Take advantage of every chance to learn from all sorts of more or
less unusual activities carried on in the neighborhood; for example, the
building of a new bridge; the framing of a barn; the erection of a silo; the
repairing of the road; the manufacture of cheese or butter; the boring for
water; the putting in of drains. If figures can be obtained, base arith-
metic problems on your discoveries.

CHAPTER anyh

Our School Garden — How Springwater School Ad-
vanced Agriculture and Education by a Garden

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In one sense a School Garden does not need to be at a school to be en-

titled to the name of School Garden. It is not location that makes a gar-
den a School Garden. It is its purpose. Gardens anywhere from which
boys and girls are getting part of their education under their teachers’
direction are School Gardens.

There are a great many country schools which cannot and should not
have gardens adjoining them. At such schools the pupils’ gardening
should be carried on in home gardens. There are many country schools
where there might be successful gardens started.

A good School Garden at a country school may be the means of teaching
many valuable lessons in agriculture and of making every one more in-
terested in the work of the school.

We had our first School Garden this year. It was
not a very large garden, but it has been a very impor-
tant one. I think every one in the neighborhood would

OUR SCHOOL GARDEN 105

miss it a great deal if it were discontinued. For it has
served everybody in some way or other. Nearly every-
one speaks of it as ‘“‘Our Garden.”’

Before Miss Nelson came to take charge of Spring-
water School there were no signs of a garden. Except
for a few neglected trees that had been planted at the
front of the school about ten years before by a Mr.
Brooks and the boys of the school who were his pupils
then, there had been nothing done to improve the grounds.
They were very bare. They were worse than bare.
They were untidy and ill-kept.

No one in the district seemed to take much notice of
the poor appearance of the school property. I suppose
the reason was that our people had not begun to think
very much about making their homes beautiful, and so
did not think a school needed to be beautiful. But
Miss Nelson noticed it. I think she was disappointed
and perhaps homesick, too, for the first week. One could
hardly blame her. Our school had nothing about it,
inside or out, to make a new teacher cheerful.

But we all liked her, and she had a good place to
board at Mrs. Pierson’s. These two things cheered her,
and the second week she asked us what we thought about
clearing up the grounds. Of course we were all willing
to help, and some were enthusiastic. We brought rakes
from home and Tom Wilkie brought a wheelbarrow, also.
We were a busy school at recess and noon hour for a
few days. It was great fun. After we had cleared up
the yard we made a bonfire of the rubbish. The sur-
roundings of the school looked a great deal better after
our efforts.

This was the beginning of our School Garden. Our

106 RURAL SCIENCE READER

work had made a good impression on the people of the
district. Through the winter the teacher talked to
every one about commencing a garden when spring came.
The trustees gave their consent and promised to help.
Mr. Cosgrove, who lives alongside the school, offered
to plow a small piece of land, and to donate some manure
also. All the pupils were anxious to take part in the
work. Miss Nelson discussed the garden a good deal
with us.

Her plan was to consider the entire school property
in our School Garden scheme. She thought that the
school should be considered as a home, and the flower-
growing part of the school gardening work done as it
might be done at one’s home. This is the way she looked
at it: She said, ‘‘Here is our school-home. Let us make
it attractive. It should be a beauty-spot for the whole
neighborhood. By working together we can make it
that.”

As for the other branch of the garden scheme, she
thought it should be for teaching lessons on agriculture.
She said, ‘‘Here is a piece of land set aside for the edu-
cation of people who make their living by farming.
Part of the land is for a school building. A larger part
of it is to be used for play. Let us use a small part of
the land for a little ‘Experimental Farm’.”

So we made our plans accordingly. On either side of
the walk leading up to the school we planned a flower
bed to hide some of the bareness of the front of the
school house. A flower bed for each side of the door was
planned also. The roadside at the front of the school
was to be levelled and kept trimmed. Vines to screen
the woodshed and outbuildings were to be set out. In

OUR SCHOOL GARDEN 107

the “Experimental Farm” part of the garden, a few
simple experiments and demonstrations were chosen.

We had help in our planning from the Agricultural
College. Miss Nelson wrote telling of her scheme, and
received in reply a bulletin which contained many good
suggestions. There was also an offer of seed for flower
beds as well as for the experimental plots. As our
garden was small, there were really more kinds of seed
offered to us than were needed at the school. It was
arranged, therefore, to divide it up and use it in home
plots. The man who sent the seed from the college said
this was the way they would like to have us use it.

We had a busy time getting our garden prepared and
planted. As he had promised, Mr. Cosgrove plowed
the ground for us. He hauled over a good load of barn-
yard manure and spread it thickly: before plowing.
Then he harrowed it for us. Even after that there was
a lot of hand-raking to be done to get the soil fine enough
to suit Miss Nelson. There were also a lot of stones to
rake up and remove. We worked hard and by May
to had all the seed planted and everything looking
fine. We made the plots a square rod or a half square
rod in area. The corners were marked with stakes.

To manage the garden there was a Garden Committee.
This committee was composed of the captains, who
were responsible for seeing that everything was properly
looked after. The boys of the 7th and 8th Grades had
charge of the field crop experiments, and Gordon Cos-
grove was captain. ‘The girls of these two grades had
the experiments on vegetables to look after, with Nora
Stevens the captain. The girls of the 5th and 6th Grades
had charge of the flower beds, with Emma Douglas the

108 RURAL SCIENCE READER

captain. The boys of these grades were to keep the road-
sides and grounds tidy, and to help in the work generally.
Donald Cadger was their captain. The small boys and
girls in the lower
classes were given small
plots. of flowers and
vegetables, and Miss

we Ves Nelson worked with

vy Pe them especially.

Cy Wy, Some of the experi-
athe f

ments were very inter-
esting. Tom Wilkie
and Alec Douglas had
a contest to see who
could produce the best

| crop of potatoes on
Samples of Alfalfa Eleni Grown from their: half. rodeaeeien
Untreated and Treated Seed

used exactly 23 Ibs. of
the best seed potatoes that he could select at home.
Tom had Green Mountain, and Alec had Empire State
potatoes.

Robert Murdock and Dave Wilkie had the plot for dem-
onstrating the different kinds of Legumes. There were
rows of red clover, white Dutch clover, crimson clover,
alsike, peas, vetches, cow peas, beans, peanuts, soy —
beans, and alfalfa. All these were sent from the Agri-
cultural College.

Henry Cadger and William Cavanagh had the over-
sight of an experiment with alfalfa. One half of the
plot was sown with seed that had been sprinkled with
‘culture’? sent in a bottle from the College, and the
other half of the plot with seed that wasn’t treated.

109

OUR SCHOOL GARDEN

S) ROADSIDE ©

BORDER ef SUMMER CYPRESS
SCHOOL EROICKONCIOROROROTONONONCIORS To VOraNG)

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Ae le
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ie Az a ‘ Ni
TICIARSS
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D. CADGER, CAPTAIN

Boys of 5'and 6'™ GRADES.
ROAD
Plan of Our School Garden

eal th

110 RURAL SCIENCE READER

The experiment with corn was to compare the growth
and yield from the same number of stalks of a dent
and of a flint corn. Will Bryce brought the best sam-
ple of dent corn he could get for this, and Walter
Johnston selected some of their good flint corn for his
part of the comparison.

One of the vegetable plots was used for growing vege-
tables that were new or seldom grown. There were sage,
summer savory, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, and kohl-
rabi grown in this. Nearly everybody in the district
received samples of the last three. The sage and sum-
mer savory were distributed wherever any one wanted
a supply for winter.

Another vegetable plot was used for lettuce and onions,
The lettuce were grown in different ways. Different
varieties of onions were compared. We had printed
forms on which to keep records for these.

The flowers grew well and were very pretty. People
used to come from a long distance to look at the garden.
Nothing was ever molested. Every one seemed to under-
stand that our effort was deserving of encouragement.
We distributed the flowers wherever we thought people
would appreciate them. Old Mrs. Murdock, Robert’s
grandmother, got a bouquet every week. There was
always a bouquet for the church and the Sunday school,
as well as for any one who was sick.

There was no trouble in looking after the garden in
the summer vacation. Before school closed a plan was
drawn up for certain groups to come every Saturday
afternoon for a short time. Generally some of our
mothers would come with us, and we would have a good
time for an hour or two working and playing. Some of

OUR SCHOOL GARDEN rit

us would write a card to Miss Nelson nearly every week
to let her know how the garden was progressing.

The results of our experiments were reported in the
local paper printed at Aylmer. They were explained to
our guests at our school fair also. The result of the
alfalfa experiment was quite a surprise to most people.
Tom Wilkie had ten pounds more of Green Mountain
potatoes than Alec Douglas had of Empire State. Will
Bryce’s dent corn grew higher and had a greater yield
than the flint. The plots we had at home in most cases
were a success also.

The ground has been well fertilized and prepared now
for this year. In the flower beds at the front of the
school we have some tulips, crocuses, and daffodils.
I think we can have even a better garden than we
had this year. Weare already planning for it. One of
our schemes is to have a bed of strawberries. We are
going to grow more flowers, too, of different kinds, and
distribute the little plants to any one who wishes to
grow them at home.

We have had many interesting lessons from our garden
experiences. The trustees are interested, and are going
to put up a new fence in the spring. They seem anxious
to encourage Miss Nelson to make our school better in
every way. Next year we hope to join the United States
School Garden army, which has done so much for gar-
dening.

Suggestions

1. Join the School Garden Association of America. Send your sub-
scription, $1, to Mr. John L. Randall, Bureau of Education, Washington,
D.C. This entitles you to a little monthly magazine called Outdoor Edu-
cation, which tells of school garden work in the United States and Canada.

TL2 RURAL SCIENCE READER

2. Grow things in the garden for the use of the school lunch. A straw-
berry bed might be established. Tomatoes can be grown and canned for
use in winter months for tomato soup. Radishes, tomatoes, onions, cu-
cumbers, and lettuce are generally relished for the noonday meal.

3. To raise money for patriotic purposes, for the purchase of library
books, play equipment, garden tools, pictures for the school, or to pay
part of the expenses of a school excursion to the Experiment Station, garden
produce should be sold throughout the season. At the school fair an
auction sale might be held.

4. Do not commence a school garden unless there can be an assurance
of its being a success. A school garden that is a failure because of being
started without the proper interest and knowledge, or from being located
on poor soil, from neglect in holidays, from destruction by people who
oppose it, from lack of proper fences and other protection, does the school
gardening cause more harm than good. Prepare for a garden carefully
and a long time ahead, plan wisely and secure every one’s interest and
coéperation, have it supervised carefully, and in the fall well prepared for
the next year.

In the Southern States winter gardens may be successfully conducted
while the school is in session. If it is not possible to have the garden well
looked after during the summer vacation, early vegetables may be planted
and harvested before holidays.

5. Make the garden serve the interests of the neighborhood as well
as provide practical education for pupils. These are some of the things
that might be done: Make it part of the scheme of beautifying the school
property; send flowers to the church and Sunday school, to invalids and
old people; distribute new kinds of vegetables. Grow seed of beets, lettuce,
carrots, spinach, etc., for local gardeners; in a hot-bed grow cabbage,
tomato, and other plants to sell, grow flower seedlings, such as asters,
columbine, and foxglove to give to people; divide overgrown rootclumps
of iris, peony, goldenglow, etc., from the perennial border among the pupils
for their home gardens; have experimental plots to test fertilizers, to com-
pare local grains, to demonstrate different varieties of vegetables and
field crops.

CHAPTER, XV

Our Bird Club — The Story of the Bluebird Club at
Greenbush School

LF=K iy 4) II.
gy |

The little Hiawatha
Learned of every bird its language,
Learned their names and all their secrets,
How they built their nests in summer,
Where they hid themselves in winter,
Talked with them whene’er he met them
Called them Hiawatha’s Chickens.
— From The Song of Hiawatha by Longfellow

In the great book of Out-of-Doors, there is no more delightful chapter
than that on Birds. For every one who has eyes to see and ears to hear,
there are many happy pages to study.

What fine opportunities country boys and girls have to learn about
birds! They are truly to be envied. And because birds play such an
important part in destroying the enemies of the farmer’s crops, how im-
portant it is that these opportunities should not be lost in school days.

Organize a Bird Club.
113

II4 RURAL SCIENCE READER

I have been asked to tell you about the Bluebird
Club in Greenbush School. It gives me much pleasure
to do so, for we have found our Club to be a great delight
in our school life.

I cannot tell you exactly when the idea of the Club
first took shape. It seemed to grow from the bird
studies which Miss Lathrop introduced into the school
work when she began to teach here the year before last.
On Friday afternoons when the reports on our bird ob-
servations were made, the pupils would come to the plat-
form and tell what they had seen or read during the week.
Sometimes the teacher would ask one of the boys to act
as chairman. This continued during two terms. After
the summer vacation last year Miss Lathrop suggested
that we have a club. She had heard about school Bird
Clubs when she was at the Teachers’ Summer School
at the State Agricultural College. All the pupils were
interested in birds and fell in with the idea readily, as
they had learned by that time that Miss Lathrop’s
suggestions were generally good ones. She asked the
school to name two pupils to help her in making plans.
Ralph Haight and I were chosen for this.

We waited until after four o’clock and Miss Lathrop told
us a little about how the clubs were carried on in other
schools. She explained the need of having a clear plan
set down in a “Constitution.”’ It was arranged that
Ralph should speak to Mr. Merritt, the minister, and
get his advice, as he is a lover of birds and very much
interested in our school as well; while I was to discuss
the matter with my father and get him to explain to
me the Constitution and By-Laws of the Farmer’s Club
that was formed in this district a year ago. Miss Lathrop

Can You NAME THESE BIrRDs P?

Face p. 115

Some Common Birps

OUR BIRD CLUB IIs

thought it would be better to work out a constitution
for ourselves rather than to copy one exactly. In a
few days Ralph and I had our information ready. Mr.
Merritt had lent Ralph a good book that told about clubs
and what good work they were doing in many parts of
the country. Father, who is secretary of the Farmer’s
Club, gave me some good suggestions about conducting
meetings and keeping minutes. He also gave me a copy
of the Constitution and By-Laws to use as a guide.

We had another meeting with Miss Lathrop, and with
her help wrote out the Constitution, By-Laws, and
Order of Business. The next morning this was put on
the school bulletin board, and Miss Lathrop explained
that on the following Friday the school would consider
it and elect officers. Every one was interested. It
was fun watching the pupils reading it at noon and recess
and hearing them talk about “Our Bird Club.” When
Friday afternoon came the Club was organized, the
consitution adopted, and officers elected. Ralph Haight
was made president, Lena Jensen, vice-president, Willie
Langdon, the librarian, Miss Lathrop the general mana-
ger and myself the secretary-treasurer.

I am afraid I would be making my letter altogether
too long if I were to tell you of all the different things
our Club has done or learned at its meetings, or if I were
to confess to you all the things we plan to do. But I
will tell you of some of the things which seemed to me
the best.

We joined our Club to the National Association of
Audubon Societies as a Junior Audubon Club and re-
ceived great help. It cost only ten cents for each mem-
ber of our Club, and for that every one received a Bird

116 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Club button and eight beautiful colored bird pictures,
with leaflets explaining about the birds, and a printed
outline drawing of each bird to be colored in our draw-
ing lessons.

Besides these the Club received a copy of the Asso-
ciation’s Magazine called Bird Lore. In this one learns

of what great importance
(7 eee ‘| birds are and how govern-

ments and societies are
working to protect them.
Sometimes there are letters
= = 2 in it from schools, and we
‘| sent one telling about our
Club and its work. When
this appeared in print we
were very proud, and more
proud afterwards,perhaps,
when we received letters
from other schools. After
)| the magazine has been in
ae ASST SSS the school two weeks,
* the Club allows pupils

to take it home over night.

Our meetings have been very enjoyable. In the winter
months there is a meeting every four weeks, but in the
fall and spring a meeting is held, as a rule, every two
weeks. They are held Friday afternoons from three
to four o’clock. All the associate members are in-
vited to the meetings, of course, as required by the
Constitution, and you would be surprised to see how
many people attend. One day we had ten visitors, eight
women and two men. Usually we have two or three.

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HARRISBURG, PA.

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OUR BIRD CLUB Uso

Mr. Smith, who must be nearly seventy years old,
has never missed a meeting. He says it helps to keep
him young. He is a fine whistler and can imitate several
birds’ songs and calls. You would be amused to see us all
puckering our mouths and whistling together under his
leadership. It is good fun.

When the weather is suitable we hold our meetings
outdoors under the big elm tree at the front of the school,
for Miss Lathrop says, “Shut in Bird Clubs are just as
unnatural as caged wild birds.” One meeting in the
fall and another in the spring takes the form of a “bird
tramp” to the woods. Our minister, Mr. Merritt,
attends most of the meetings and has given us two talks
—once on “Birds of the Bible” and the other time on
“Birds of Other Lands!’ They were very interesting.
Whenever he comes we appoint him critic, and he ad-
vises us about our mistakes in pronunciation or grammar.
He is fine. I think every boy and girl in the school,
from nine years up at least, is learning to be a good
speaker, and the officers of the Club are learning how to
conduct meetings. I think I have learned most as
secretary.

That part of our work managed by Willie Langdon is
well done. He is a hustler. He keeps every one help-
ing him to report the birds regularly on the bird charts
or to supply pictures and newspaper cuttings for the bul-
letin board. We have an interesting scrap-book started
now with the best of the pictures and cuttings. The
kiddies in the third and fourth grades help in making
this. Our bird library is growing. Mr. Merritt gave
us a copy of the Color Key to North American Birds, and
with $5 voted by the trustees and money raised at

118 RURAL SCIENCE READER

our school concert before Christmas we bought three
Audubon Bird Charts and three bird books that were
recommended. We plan to get two new books every
year. Be sure to get Bayne’s Wild Bird Guests and
Patteson’s How to Have Bird Neighbors. Of course we
have all the bulletins printed by the Department of
Agriculture at Washington and our own State Depart-
ment.

Books and bulletins are well looked after by Willie
Langdon. He made a little bookcase for them out of a
soap box which he cut down and covered with a pretty
wall-paper. This is fastened on the wall at the back of
the school, by the side of the bulletin board. The books
and bulletins may be taken home over night. Every one
seems to be anxious to help Willie to keep everything
in good order. The books are beginning to look worn,
but they are not damaged. And it is surprising how
often they are taken down during the day, for we have
a rule in the school that when seat work has been finished
a pupil may take a book from the library to read.

I must bring this letter to a close. It is too long al-
ready, though I haven’t said anything about our plans
for making bird houses, setting up a feeding station at
the school, issuing a journal, or preparing a ‘‘ Bird Drama”’
for our closing next June. Perhaps you know of such
undertakings already, or perhaps you have worked
them out at your school. We would like to hear from
you sometime about your bird studies.

I am sending a copy of our Club Constitution and
By-Laws. If you haven’t formed a club yet and plan
to do so you may find them useful. Of course you can
get along without these, but it seems business-like to

OUR BIRD CLUB IIQ

have them as a sort of foundation. But at any rate
don’t forget to join the Audubon Society. You should
not have much trouble in getting money for the treasury.
We have twenty associate members who joined, and three
of them paid a dollar instead of the twenty-five cents
required by the constitution. Every one seems to be
pleased with the work of the Greenbush Bird Club.

CONSTITUTION

ARTICLE I

Name: The name of this organization shall be ‘‘The Bluebird Club.”

ARTICLE II

Colors: The badge of the Club shall be blue and brown ribbons represent-
ing the colors of the Blue Bird and indicating happiness in our work
and loyalty to our cause.

ArticLe III

Purposes: The purposes of the Club shall be the increase and protection
of our local wild birds, the stimulation of interest in bird life, and the
establishing of bird homes, bird baths, and feeding stations.

ARTICLE IV

Membership: (1) The membership of this Club shall consist of Active
Members and Associate Members.

(2) Any pupil of the school may be an Active Member on payment
of a fee of five cents for pupils below the sixth grade and ten cents for
pupils in the sixth or higher grades.

(3) Any other person in sympathy with the objects of the Club may
become an Associate Member on payment of a fee of twenty-five cents.

(4) The voting power shall be limited to the Active Members.

ARTICLE V

Officers: (1) The officers of the Club shall consist of a President, a Vice-
President, a Secretary-Treasurer, a Librarian, and a General Manager.
(2) The Librarian shall take charge of the bird books belonging te

120 RURAL SCIENCE READER

the Club, keep bird pictures posted on the bulletin board, and have
oversight of the making of Bird Charts by the school.

(3) The General Manager shall be an adult person and shall have
oversight over all the work of the Club.

(4) There shall be an Executive Committee consisting of the officers
mentioned above and the Chief Editor of the Club’s journal, when
such is issued.

ARTICLE VI

Journal: (1) A Club Journal may be edited.
(2) The Editors shall be chosen from the Active Members
(3) The name of the Journal shall be The Winged Messenger. It
shall be issued once only in each half year.

ARTICLE VII

Affiliations: (1) The Club may affiliate with the National Association of
Audubon Societies as a Junior Audubon Club.
(2) The fees of the members may be used for joining the Audubon
Society and securing the bird pictures, magazines, and buttons.

By-Laws

(1) The officers shall be elected half-yearly as soon as convenient after
the school openings in September and January.

(2) The membership fee shall be payable once only during the school
year.

(3) Meetings shall be held Friday afternoons or at other suitable times
as arranged by the Executive Committee.

(4) Every active member shall join in some part of the wore under-
taken by the Club.

(5) Associate Members shall be invited to Club meetings and to take
part in the program. .

(6) The Executive Committee may expend the funds of the Club for
the purchase of bird books, pictures, charts, bird baths, etc., for member-
ship fees in the Audubon Society, or in any way that will promote the
objects of the Club.

(7) The Order of Business to be followed at regular meetings shall be as
follows:

Order of Business

(1) Reading of minutes.

(2) Communications.

(3) Reports of Committees and New Business.

(4) Election of officers (first meetings in September and January).

OUR BIRD CLUB ea

(5) Program: (1) Reports on bird observations by individual members.
(2) Debate, paper, or address. |
(3) Discussion on paper or address.

Suggestions

1. For some of the school entertainments prepare a simple Bird Play
to show the beauty and value of bird life and the necessity of conserving it.
Give bird songs also. Perhaps some of the pupils can whistle imitations
of bird songs as part of the entertainment.

2. Exchange reports on bird observations with Bird Clubs in other
schools. Send contributions to the local newspaper on the work of the
club and on the bird life observed in the neighborhood.

3. Attract the birds about the school by protecting them, putting up
feeding trays, bird boxes, drinking fountains, suet boards, etc. Berry-
bearing shrubbery planted in clumps makes acceptable cover. Destroy
the nests of the house sparrows as they are building.

4. For prizes for the best bird boxes, essays on bird life, or for compe-
titions at school fairs, award copies of books on birds, subscriptions to
Bird Lore, or field glasses. Reed’s Bird Guide, Part 2, is a very suitable
book for a Christmas or birthday gift to any one interested in birds.

5. Arrange for some one to give a lantern lecture on birds in the school.
Colored lantern slides can be borrowed from the Audubon Society for this
purpose, address, 1984 Broadway, New York City. Interest the general
public in birds by making a display in the window of the village 2H or
post office of bird boxes, bird pictures, old bird nests, etc. 5

6. Use your influence to discourage the destruction of useful birds.
Make yourselves acquainted with the law of the state which protects birds.
If boys or others persist in hunting, see that they keep within the law and
kill only house sparrows, cow birds, crows, and homeless marauding cats.
Do not encourage any one to make collections of birds’ eggs unless it is done
with the greatest care and for scientific purposes by responsible people.
Bird-nest collection should be restricted to old nests.

7. For purposes of comparison keep records of the first arrival of the
common birds in the spring. Make these records on a large sheet of heavy
manila paper ruled into columns for the different years. For example:

First Appearances of Birds Reported at Greenbush School

Bird IQI5 1916 IQ17 1918 1919
Robin Apr. 5th Mar. 20th Mar.16th Apr.ist Mar. 16th

The name of the pupil making the report may be put down in small
letters under the date.

CHAPTER Xvi

Our Noon-Day Lunch — The Indian Road School Or-
ganizes a Practical Domestic Science Course

Noon hour at country schools! While its main purpose may be for
eating one’s lunch, it is no less important for rest and play, or for an ex-
change of the neighborhood news. Diligent ones may use it for study or
reading, but no one ever thinks the hour goes slowly. Isn’t it the best
hour of the school day?

Going to school makes one hungry. Tom Brown may not have much
of an appetite for spelling; and a very little arithmetic, especially if it has
fractions in it, may satisfy him. But Tom always has a good appetite for
his lunch, and he needs plenty of good food to appease it. For Tom is
growing, and Tom is active — except when he is asleep. The lunch basket
is a very important part of Tom’s school equipment and Tom’s sister Mary
likes a good lunch, too.

Blessings on the mothers who put up good school lunches!

I think the interest in our Noon-Day Lunch grew out
of the bread-making contest for our school fair. In
preparation for the event, Miss Harris, our teacher,
asked all the girls in the school who planned to bake to
find out all they could about bread-making by reading and
inquiries at home. Then we discussed the matter at
school, and Miss Harris gave us what she considered the
best recipe. Every one was interested, and after the
fair we continued to take up a recipe for something
every week. We called ourselves the Homemakers’
Club. Every Friday afternoon we reported on our ex-
periences, and Miss Harris would give us a new recipe

and explain clearly what we were to do. Most of us
I22

OUR NOON-DAY LUNCH 123

tried our new recipes on Saturdays. We have had scal-
loped potatoes nearly every Saturday for supper since
I learned to make this dish. It is a great favorite at
our home.

All this interest in cooking led to “treats” being brought
to school by different girls. Miss Harris encouraged
the idea, and with our
mothers’ consent we Ps |
took turns. Nellie ===!
Morris brought cheese
sandwiches one time
and a salad containing
celery and apples
another time. Katie
Hodgins brought ginger-
bread for one of her
donations and date
cookies for another.
One of my contributions
was oatmeal cookies and Preparing Lunch
another a big dish of
scalloped potatoes which we warmed on the school stove.
Every one enjoyed the treats. Our committee arranged
them as a rule for Tuesdays and Fridays. One day Mrs.
Andrews, who lives near the school, sent over a lot of hot
potato scones at noon. That was a rare day. She said
it was Jim’s treat. |

A short time after school opened, following Christmas
holidays, we had an unexpected lesson on food-saving.
Mr. Cook, the County Superintendent, was the one who
gave us the lesson. Just before the school was dismissed
for noon, he puzzled us all by telling us that he had

124 RURAL SCIENCE READER

picked up something on the walk when he came in to
the school that was very valuable. He thought it was
something that had belonged to some of us.

“Did anybody lose anything yesterday?” he asked.
We looked at one another. Nobody seemed to have
lost anything. “It is very valuable,”
he said. “In fact it’s one of the most
precious things in the world to-day.”

“Was it somebody’s purse with
money in it?” some of us asked
ourselves.

“T have it in my pocket,” he de-
clared. “It’s good. to. eat. Gant

you guess?”

“Ves. Bread!’ almost shouted Jim Andrews.

““Correct’’ said* Mr. Cook. “Just: bread, @iandeane
took out of his pocket, a thick half-slice of bread show-
ing where one large bite had been taken.

Well, most of us thought Mr. Cook was joking, and
we laughed. It was really funny to see the shape of that
huge bite. But Mr. Cook wasn’t joking. He was very
serious. He told us how the boys and girls of Belgium
were starving and how short of food our Allies in France,
in Italy, and in Britain were. He explained the need of
every person in our country saving wheat in order that
our own soldiers might be well fed and our brave Allies
kept in the fight.

Then he went on to tell what was lost when a piece of
bread like that he had in his hand was thrown away.
It was not only that it might feed some one who was
starving, but it was waste of all the labor that had been
used by the farmer who had grown the wheat, the team-

OUR NOON-DAY LUNCH 125

sters and the trainmen who had brought it to market,
the miller who had made the flour, and the baker who had
baked the bread.

“And besides,” he said, “wasting weakens character.
Think, and don’t waste.”’ Then he advised us to look
about the school and gather every scrap that had been
thrown away during the last few days and take them
home for the chickens. ‘Far better that, than spoiling
on the road or around the school,” he said, “‘but better
still, eat every crumb. Every good citizen will answer
his country’s call to save food.”

I can assure you that our school is careful now. It
is amusing to see some of the boys bring back one of their
number to make him eat the crumbs that he has left.
And the school and
grounds are a great y
dealy tidver con 7
account of our new
habit.

About February,
our. occasional
treats gave place
to a hot dish every
day. Our mothers
liked Miss Harris’
lessons on cooking for us so much that some one sug-
gested something hot might be prepared for our lunch.
The Home-makers’ Club became, for the time being,
a Warm Food Club, and our committee, with the help
of the teacher, drew up a lunch plan every week. Each
family took turns in sending something that could be
warmed.

Our Lunch Cupboard

126 RURAL SCIENCE READER

The school stove had a lid on the top that allowed a
dish to be set in. Each pupil had a cup, a soup plate,
and a spoon. The cups and plates were of enamelware
and all the same pattern. We bought them by clubbing
together. In addition, we bought with some of our
Christmas concert money, a kettle for heating water, a
dish pan, a sauce pan, some towels, soap, and salt and
pepper dishes. Hugh Hodgins made a cupboard out of
a box for keeping all the dishes in. The boys helped
in washing and drying the dishes. The girls in turn
took the towels home to be washed.

Eating our noon-day meal together became very pleas-
ant. We were more like a family than we used to be.
After every one finished, Miss Harris, or one of the older
pupils whom she chose, read us a chapter out of a book,
like The Little Princess, or sometimes jokes from a paper.
Then we tidied up and the committee for the day washed
the dishes and put them away. Our favorite hot dish,
I think, was tomato soup. It was lucky that nearly
every family in the neighborhood canned their own
tomatoes. Cream of potato soup was another favorite.
Boiled rice with lots of raisins in it was another well-
liked dish. When the warm weather came in March,
we gave up the hot noon dishes as we did not usually
have a fire in the stove.

For next year, our school has planned further develop-
ments. In June, Miss Pierce, one of the women lec-
turers who work for the Agricultural College, gave a talk
and demonstration on School Lunches before the Women’s
Club of our district. She showed how to wrap up lunches
the best way with paraffine paper, and gave many sug-
gestions for the different kinds of foods to use. We are

OUR NOON-DAY LUNCH 2G

going to have a two-burner oil stove and some more
dishes. These will be bought by the Club. Arrange-
ments are being made also by the trustees to have shelves
with divisions, built at the back of the school for holding
our lunch baskets and pails. We have never had any
proper place for keeping these up to the present. The
pupils would hang them on the coat hooks or put them on
the floor. It didn’t look very tidy, and sometimes there
was trouble when a basket or pail would be upset. With
our new cupboards our school should look much neater
next fall. And with our new stove and the new plans,
our noon-day lunches at the Indian Road School should
be even better next year than they have been this year.
And that is saying a good deal.

Suggestions

t. Send for Farmers’ Bulletin No. 712 on School Lunches.

2. Ask your mother and father to tell you of the dinners they took
to school in their school days and how they spent the noon hour. Is the
little dinner-basket that they used still about the old homestead?

3. Give prizes for the best School Lunches at your School Fair or County
Fair. In judging, the following score might -be used; Box or container,
10; wrapping, 10; attractiveness, 10; simplicity, 10; economy, 10; cook-
ing, 25; suitability of food, 25.

4. Take a vote among the pupils to find out what things are most fa-
vored for their lunches, or ask each to write down their preferences in
order, and then estimate by points, for example, giving three points for
first choice, two for second choice, and one for third choice.

5. Organize a Housekeeping Club among the girls at your school.
Discuss cooking recipes at Friday afternoon meetings and test them at
home on Saturday or during the following week. Invite the mothers of
some of the pupils to give talks on baking, canning, cleaning, etc. Make
a School District Cook Book for the School Library, inserting the favorite
dishes of the homes of the neighborhood. Take a magazine such as Good
Housekeeping for the school. Put up plans of houses, etc., on the school

128 RURAL SCIENCE READER

bulletin board. Make a ‘joke book” of the funny stories told about
blunders in cooking.

6. Arrange for a cupboard or special shelves on which to keep your
dinner-pails or baskets. Insist on everything being kept scrupulously
clean and protected from the dust. All pupils should be required to wash
their hands before eating.

Have your School Committee, whose duty it is to see that the school and
grounds are kept neat and clean, insist on all crusts being taken home or
saved, all loose paper used for wrapping lunches burned, and nothing left
around to attract flies.

In some schools a small charge is made to cover the cost of supplies, such
as cocoa, sugar, milk, and butter. This saves the trouble of arranging daily
for contributions from different homes.

CHAPTER XVII

Our Music — Sunnydale School Develops its Musi-
cal Abilities

The country is the natural home of music. It sounds in the trees and
winds; it ripples in waving grain fields and in running brooks; it is heard
in the songs of birds, in the hum of insects, and in the lowing of the cattle.

Some one has said, ‘“‘ Let me make the songs of a people, I care not who
makes their laws.” Just think, good music may bring happiness and peace
and prosperity, as well as good laws may !

Country people have a great possession within their reach in music.
Happy are the people with songs in their hearts.

This is the story of a school that served its neighborhood well in this
respect.

I do not know how our Sunnydale district compares
with others, but it seems to be very musical. Probably
this is the result of the old singing school. One day
at school we counted the instruments owned in the

130 RURAL SCIENCE READER

neighborhood and were surprised at the number. There
are six pianos, seven organs, twelve phonographs, and
five fiddles, besides two autoharps, and odds and ends
of concertinas, flutes, and mouth organs. And there
are people who can play these instruments too —I
don’t mean the phonographs. At the Sims’ home every
one in the family plays the piano. Mr. Sims’ does not
play by note, but he can play chords for any tune. He
plays the fiddle and concertina also. He seems to have
a natural ear for music, as the saying is.

Besides the interest in the music played on instruments,
there is great interest in singing. We have a very good
choir at our little country church. Mrs. Leigh has been
the leader of it for a great many years. Everybody in
the congregation sings also. Nor is all the singing done
on Sundays. Week day singing is common. There’s
hardly an evening that one cannot hear them singing at
Sims’ or Leigh’s or Jackson’s. Some of the neighbors
often get together for a ‘‘sing” that is very pleasant to
hear across the fields on a summer evening. So is pho-
nograph music.

With music so common in the homes, you can imag-
ine there is a great deal in the school. We have a
piano. We have had it for about four years. Before
we got the piano we had an old-fashioned organ. It
was pretty wheezy towards the last. It had been in the
school and used a great deal, too — for about twenty years.
The piano dealer allowed us only $20 for it. We paid
for the piano in one year. The trustees voted us $50,
Mr. Wiltz and Mrs. Morrow gave us $10 each, three
other people gave us $5 each, and the school concert,
with smaller subscriptions, brought the sum of $165.

HOME, SWEET HOME

JoHN HowarpD PAYNE Str Henry R. BisHop
= |Z =
pA ae
Ci pleas-ures and pal - a - cesthoughwe may
; Ht gaze on the moon _ as I tread the drear
3. An ex - ile from home, splen-dor daz-zles in
S 4
ies eels pS
——$§—4 — o: | a 7
a o @ r
ve SS
roam, Be it eV o:= | er so hum - ble there’s
wild; - feel Le my moth-er now
vain; give my low - ly thatch’d
a Pad , 3 4
iar ores ae == =a
no ae like ‘bree A rae from the skies seems to

thinks of her child, As she looks on that moon from our
cot - tage a-gain! The birds sing-ing gai - ly that

ea as bs eS

hal- low us there, Which seek thro’ the world, is ne’er

own cot-tage door, Thro’ the wood-bine whose fra-grance shall

came at my call; Give me them,and that peace of mind,
REFRAIN

t 2: a:

SF 2 eee! (ae a see as
a et a Rp te og be
met with else- where. Home, home, sweet, sweet home;

cheer me no more.
dear - er than all.

GEE sles tas al

Be it ev - er so hum-pble, Theve’sno place like ee

CHERRY RIPE

Rospert HERRICK CuaArtEs E. Horn
= SN i ———
ra N S| , e e o |
— zy ed e e o 4
ie ; ——— =
Cher-ry ripe, cher - ry ripe, ripe, I cry;
f=
by 7 Seece—s jae eae
Fearn e Se ee ee o—e_ fs
4 E SS = —— E

Full and fair ones, come and buy, Cher-ry ripe, cher-ry ripe,

Wd —f-* 7 oe Day EC oe —— = \ F
coo oa

—— —s

ripe, I cry; Fulland fair ones, come and buy.

THE MILLER OF THE DEE

Outp EncuisH Ark AND WorpDs

Fee ee eee eee

There was a jol - ly mil - ler once Liv’d on the riv - er

SSS

rl e
Dee, . . He work’d and sung from morn till night, No
Se ee ae ee ee ee
=a ee a ee
lark more blithethan he,. . And this the bur - den
———o ——— ——e
® o_—__o____| ,_—.——__—_e : oS
_——S Se
= ri zeay E @
of his song For ev - er used to be, . wall

[6 tsp lt fet el eall

care for no-bod-y, no, not I, If no-bod-y cares for me.”

OUR MUSIC 131

We made up the balance at our picnic in June. It doesn’t
seem to be any trouble to get people to give money for
something that will improve the school.

Miss Williams was our teacher the year we bought
the piano. She was very fond of music and played the
piano very well. She taught us a great many songs.
Ethel Staples and Clara Burns took piano lessons from
her. They can play simple music very nicely now.
The school trustees always try to engage a teacher who
~ can teach music. We have been very fortunate too.

Our present teacher, Miss Brodie, is ike Miss Williams.
She pays a good deal of attention to music. We have
singing several times every day, for just a few minutes
at a time, to break the monotony of the school work.
Sometimes it is a marching song, and we march about
the school. Sometimes it is an action song as we stand in
the aisle at our desks. Sometimes it is a round lke
‘‘Row, row, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.” Some-
times it is “John Brown had a little Indian.” Some-
times it is from one of the school readers after a lesson.
Occasionally we vary the singing by whistling a tune.
At noon, especially on rainy or stormy days, we often
have what we call a sing-song around the piano.

On Friday afternoons we always have some music
on the program that is given between three and four
o'clock. A committee is appointed each week to ar-
range for the next week’s program. There is a good
deal of rivalry to see who will have the best afternoon.
Miss Brodie always helps with suggestions. She likes
to see us plan original things. And we have had many
interesting things for music. Perhaps the funniest was
the first attempt at a whistling quartet by Fred Leigh,

R32 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Walter Sims, Tom Burns, and Carl Snider. Somebody
laughed and ‘‘Old Black Joe” failed to get past the first
line. But the boys weren’t beaten. The next week
-they conquered ‘‘Old Black Joe,” and for an encore
gave us ‘‘Way down upon the Swanee River.” Whistling
is quite popular at our school now.. These four chums
have considerable musical talent. Most boys seem to
be afraid or ashamed to take part in anything musical,
but these four are not, I suppose because they have so
much music at their homes. They sing some of the
war songs together. Fred and Walter often give a
mouth organ duet also. Tom and Carl have developed
into ‘“‘bone”’ artists.

The girls are not behind the boys in contributing to
the program. Besides piano selections by Ethel and
Clara, Alice Wiltz has played on her autoharp for us,
and Martha Morrow and Mary Sims have shown us how
to make music from combs covered with tissue paper.
But we do not confine our program to ourselves. Some-
times the committee arranges for some one to come to
the school and take part. One afternoon our minister,
Mr. Spalding, told us stories about some of the most
popular hymns. Another afternoon Miss Williams’s
cousin, who was visiting her for a few days, played for
us on her violin. It was beautiful. Once the committee
tried to coax old Darky Miller, as he is called, to take
part, but he made all sorts of excuses. He sings some
wonderful old made-up sort-of-story songs that are a
treat to hear. One day my father told us the story
of the singing school held at the old schoolhouse in the
early days. We have had the loan of Snider’s phono-
graph two or three times. They live near, so it is not

OUR MUSIC 133

difficult to bring it over. We are thinking of getting a
phonograph for the school.

We always have a good Christmas concert at the school.
At least we call it a Christmas concert, though generally it
is held early in December. The schoolhouse is always
packed and we usually make about $40. Last year we
called it a Patriotic School Concert. Miss Williams, with
Mrs. Leigh’s help, trained us to give a little cantata that

was printed in one of the school papers. All the Allies were
represented by girls, and we had simple homemade cos-
tumes to suit. The stage was decorated with flags.
Some of the boys were dressed in khaki and gave a drill.
Martha Morrow took the part of Columbia. Mary
Sims represented Canada. Alice Wiltz was Italy, Clara
Burns was England, Ethel Staples was Belgium, Sarah
Morrow was France, and little Helen Thomson was
Serbia. All the school joined in the choruses. The

134 RURAL SCIENCE READER

concert was a great success. We took in more than $50,
which we handed over to the Red Cross. The people
of the district were very proud of this feature of the
school’s work.

Suggestions

1. For your school library buy some good song books, such as a Col-
lege Song Book and one containing the best selection of songs of different
nationalities. Get a dozen or so copies of some well-recommended school
song book for class use. Borrow them to take home so that you can sing
the songs to the folks at home.

2. Make your own song book. If you are taking down the words of
songs, write them in a book that you keep for this purpose only, or write
them on loose leaves and bind them together as a portfolio. Paste in songs
that may be cut from newspapers. Music taken from magazines such as
the Ladies’ Home Journal should be bound within strong paper covers.

3. Hold naming contests of tunes. Let pupils take turns in humming
the first lines of well-known songs, hymns, or tunes, and the remainder of
the class write down the names. Vary this by humming other lines than the
first. Who knows most tunes?

4. For recreation and fun ‘‘make up” tunes for verses in your readers.
Instead of reading the poems, take turns in singing the verses. Vote on
the one who makes the best tune. Sing some of the sentences in the prose
selections also for variety.

5. From music dealers’ catalogues or advertisements, learn the names,
values, and structure of different musical instruments. Paste pictures
of these on a chart for display on your bulletin board. Have a spelling
lesson on the names.

6. If you have a piano at school, get some one, the tuner for example,
to show you the mechanism of the instrument and to tell you how to care
for it. If you have an opportunity, visit a piano factory.

7. Are there any homemade “fiddles” in your district? Boys used
to make their own.

8. If there are any well-known poems or hymns in your school readers
that are commonly sung, practice them in school.

g. Arrange a singing contest between schools at your school fair or
your community picnic. The committee that has the matter in charge
should select several months ahead one or two songs to be sung at the
contest. The school choirs might be limited to ten or twelve boys and girls.

to. Learn the national anthems of the different countries that were

OUR MUSIC 135

allied with the United States. Learn some of the best of the war songs
also. Some of them will live. Learn these.

11. If you attend a consolidated school and travel to and from school
in vans, practice choruses and rounds ez route. At your school concerts
or picnics have singing contests between the choirs of different vans. Even
if you walk to and from school, groups of pupils from neighboring homes
may sometimes sing marching songs and choruses together.

12. Make inquiries about the singing schools of the early days of your
neighborhood. Who taught them? How was the singing master paid?
Can you find a copy of the old singing book used? Who had the first musi-
cal instrument in the settlement? Did any family have a melodeon or a
harpsichord?

13. If there are any old folks in the neighborhood who sing old-fashioned
ballads or folk songs that they learned in their youth and brought from
other countries, ask them to teach them to you. Write down the words
and the tunes. too, if you can. Do not let such music perish.

14. Borrow a phonograph for Friday afternoon programs and_ school
concerts. If purchasing a phonograph for the school, get one on which
different kinds of records can be used. People may then lend their records
to the schools. Exchange records with neighboring schools. Do not col-
lect trashy records.

CHAPTER XVIII

Our School Diary — Land’s End School Records
Local and General History

Have you ever kept a diary? Not a dairy! It is very interesting. It
trains one to be observant, to be thoughtful, and to be careful in state-
ment — three very valuable habits.

Try a School Diary for recording nature observations, happénings at
school and in the district, and important events discussed in your General
Information lessons. You can make it a little history of your locality and
of the world at large.

Much of one’s education comes from reading. Learn to use newspapers
and magazines wisely and well.

Our School Diary has grown into its second volume
now. We are very proud of last year’s volume. It has
been neatly covered, bound with ribbon, and placed in
the School Library. To a certain extent it is a history
of Land’s End School. It is interesting to read over

OUR SCHOOL DIARY 137

now, and should be even more interesting a few years
hence. I should like to read such diaries of my father’s
and mother’s schooldays. But they did not keep diaries
at the schools they attended. Their school work was
limited pretty much to the three R’s — Reading, ’Rit-
ing, and ’Rithmetic.

The School Diary has come into existence through
our Nature Study and General Information studies.
These were started by our
teacher, Miss Walker, when
the fall term commenced two
years ago last September. At
first we had no intention of
keeping a School Diary. But
as the work went ahead and a
group of the girls became in-
terested in keeping their own
diaries, Miss Walker asked us
one day how we would like
to keep a School Diary. She
explained her ideas about it,
and every one thought it would ic ae ae
be interesting. The plan was Leaf Diary
to record items about the
school and the neighborhood and also some of the
Nature Study observations and General Information
topics that were discussed in class.

For a while we made our records in a common five-
cent note book. This was kept on the teacher’s desk,
and any one was allowed to read it at noon or recess.
Each week a different pupil was put in charge to see that
the records were properly made. The names of the pu-

138 RURAL SCIENCE READER

pils who were to write in each day’s report were written
on the blackboard so that there could be no misunder-
standings. The Saturday and Sunday entries were
written down on Mondays.

When the note book was full, we decided to use a loose-
leaf scheme, and that is the way all the work is done now.
One sheet is used for each week’s records, which are written
with ink and signed by the writer. The report for each
day is not written on that same day. There is usually a
delay of a day or two, and that allows one to insert news
items in their proper places. The sheet is put up on our
bulletin board daily for every one’s inspection. In the
years to come it will be interesting to the pupils of the
school to compare the handwriting of their predecessors.

As I said, the matter for the records is taken from our
Nature Study and General Information lessons. Every
morning after our opening exercises, which consist of a
reading of a portion of the Scripture, the repeating of the
Lord’s Prayer, roll call, and a song, we spend ten or fifteen
minutes discussing observations made during the past
twenty-four hours about such things as important local
happenings, birds, insects, weather, farm operations,
and crops. Later in the day, we write down in our
Nature Study note book one or more of the important
things that have been mentioned, as well as our own
observations.

Some of the pupils have kept splendid records. Mar-
garet Copeland’s and Lena Worthy’s are generally the best.
These girls like doing this kind of work and are very proud
of their ‘“‘Nature Diaries,” as they call them. Here are
a few of the records Margaret Copeland made in the
spring of 1916: —

OUR SCHOOL DIARY 139

Saturday, March 18. — To-day was lovely and mild. My brother
Alec was out fishing at Mill Pond and caught two trout. When he
caught them, they had a lot of red specks showing on them, but when
he got them home, there were only a few specks to be seen.

At sunset there was a pink strip of cloud with blue above.

Mr. and Mrs. Seaman were at our home for supper. Their home
is in North Dakota. Mrs. Seaman is an old schoolmate of Mother’s.

Wednesday, March 22. —I saw a song sparrow in front of Web-
ster’s this morning, on the way to school. I could tell it because
in its song it always gives three notes alike at the beginning — tweet,
tweet, tweet. Its breast has a black spot on it. Its back is a pretty
brown.

I pulled one of the chestnut leaves off my sprouting twig and
saw the little round hoof mark.

Mr. Evans, the County Superintendent, visited our school to-day.
Before he left, he complimented Miss Walker on the tidiness of
everything about the school and also on the work of the classes.

Then sometime during the afternoon, nearly every day
we take ten minutes or so to report on topics of general
interést that we read in the newspapers or magazines.
On Friday afternoons we always try to have more time
for this. We call this our General Information lesson.
Most of the reports naturally have referred to the Great
War or to important matters concerning our own country.
Our teacher does not wish us to report on any trashy
or sensational articles. She says one should learn to
avoid wasting time reading “rubbish” when there are
so many important things to learn about.

It is wonderful how many interesting things there are
to know about the great world affairs. Tom Perrott is
our greatest reader. He could use the whole time every
day telling about the War. He has a cousin who went
to France with a Canadian regiment in 1915. ‘That
makes him specially interested. He is quite a politician,

I40 RURAL SCIENCE READER

too, and keeps us informed about elections and happenings
in Congress. Fred Staples is very much interested in such
things as inventions. They get a magazine at his home
which tells about new machinery and such things as
electrical appliances. His contributions are about these.

Mary Sanford likes to read about foreign countries
and often has something interesting to tell about China
or Japan or Africa. She always points out places on the
map. Alice Doughty generally reports about such things
as Red Cross work. Very often Miss Walker tells us
about special things that she has read. Even some of
the youngest pupils bring in interesting topics. Miss
Walker encourages them to ask their fathers and mothers
to tell them things from the papers so that they can take
part in the lessons. Sometimes Miss Walker sets us a
certain topic and asks us to find out all we can about it
for the next day’s lesson. This work certainly makes us
interested in reading the papers. ,

The records for the week beginning April 1 were: —

Week of April 1, 1917

Sunday, April 1.— We call it April Fool’s Day. Although it
was Sunday there were some pranks played. There was no salt
in Perrott’s oatmeal, and at Staples’ their clock had gained a half
hour in some mysterious way through the night.

It was a pleasant warm morning. ‘There was a good attendance at
Sunday School and Church. The Sunday School lesson was from
the eleventh chapter of John’s gospel. Mr. Lytle’s sermon was
on “The Bible.” It rained in the. afternoon.

Mary Sanford.

Monday, April 2.— Twenty-seven at school to-day. Esther
Bates was at home sick. Four pupils have had “perfect atterid-
ance’? —no lates nor absences—in March. They are Lucy Sin-

OUR SCHOOL DIARY I4i

clair, Alice Doughty, Priscilla Redmond, and myself. Roads very
muddy but drying fast. Tom Perrott brought a bunch of pussy
willows for the teacher’s desk. Some of the farmers are delivering
hogs at Moretown Station for shipping. Price $17.50.
Congress meets to-day to decide regarding war with Germany.
Fred Staples.

Tuesday, April 3.— Every pupil at school to-day; no lates.
Warm, beautiful day. Fields drying and some farmers sowing oats.
The pussy willows have opened some since yesterday. John Tanton
and Tom Perrott reported watching a pair of bluebirds making a
nest in a fence post. The frogs (Miss Walker says they are tree
frogs) are making a great noise in the ponds and ditches these days.

President Wilson reads his war message to Congress.

Alice Doughty.

Wednesday, April 4.— All present but Mary Sanford, who
went to town with her mother. There was a beautiful sunset yes-
terday. There was a frost during the night. We needed a little
fire in the stove in the morning to warm the school. A song sparrow
was heard singing outside the school before morning recess. We
all listened and tried to whistle like it. Old Mrs. Morehouse, one
of the early settlers, is very sick and not expected to get better.

War resolutions pass both Houses of Congress.

Tom Perrott.

Thursday, April 5. — All present to-day and no lates. Another
frost this morning, but a clear, bright day. Seeding going on. We
had a spelling match in the afternoon and John Tanton stood up
longest. Lena Worthy stayed up longest for the girls. The word
that put her down was conscientious. Every person in the district
is anxious about the war news. We had a long discussion on the
President’s message and read part of it in class from the newspaper.

Margaret Copeland.

Friday, April 6. — Full attendance to-day. Cooler than yester-
day. This is Elsie Howe’s birthday. After roll call, Miss Walker
wished her many happy returns of the day, and we gave her a hearty
clap of the hands.

142 RURAL SCIENCE READER

War was declared by the United States on Germany at four
o’clock in the morning.
Our school report for the month of March appeared in the Valley-

field Echo.
S on Agnes Bridon.

Saturday, April 7.— Another fine day. It has been a good
week for getting spring work done. Robins and bluebirds common.
The market reports appearing in this week’s papers show the effects

f th talk.
ocarwrte Frank Ford.

Suggestions

1. The weekly market reports are interesting and instructive. These
might be given a special place in a School Diary or at any rate reported on
in the General Information lessons occasionally. They should be used
also for making up-to-date arithmetic problems.

2. At the time of the weekly lesson on General Information, pupils
might exchange useful papers and magazines that have been read at their
homes and which are no longer wanted. Avoid publications that contain
merely trashy stories. Speakers might be invited to the school for this
period also to give talks on travels they have made.

3. For a special report on weather, attach a leaf from a calendar to a
sheet used in the diary, and in the space for each day describe the weather
conditions. If you have a thermometer at school, mark down the tem-
perature for a certain hour each day. If you get a daily paper that prints
daily reports on the weather, these may be cut out and pasted in the diary
for a week or a month.

4. Local happenings of interest may readily be recorded by cutting
news items from the local newspaper and pasting them on leaves for in-
sertion in the diary. The dates should be written on all such extracts.
From some districts local correspondents send weekly contributions to
the papers. These might be kept together as a history of the district.
Editors may welcome the school as their contributor; in such case, the work
might be divided weekly among groups of the older pupils and the work
accepted for credits in composition. These contributions from the school
should be pasted in the school diary with the name of the correspondent
written on them.

CHAPTER XIX
Our Own Arithmetic — How the Dawn Valley School
Makes its own Arithmetic Problems

etinsie

Y/ [i ed | tee

C—O

Did you ever know that Arithmetic is all around you? It doesn’t be-
long merely to books. It is in the kitchen and at the table; in the fields
and around the stable; we wear it and eat it, fight with it and make it for
ourselves! It can be invented.

This chapter tells of some of the home-made Arithmetic that the boys
and girls in Dawn Valley School had so much fun — and education too —
in making.

Of course we have book Arithmetic in the Dawn Valley
School. We have to have that even if some of us don’t
like the hard problems that puzzle us sometimes. And
we have mental Arithmetic. That’s fun! Walter Owens
is so quick at it that Miss Shantz can’t give a question
too fast for him to follow. Sometimes she lets some of
us give out the questions. That’s fun too. But the

T44 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Arithmetic we like best is our own Arithmetic. We make
our own questions, and when we can’t invent them our-
selves, we get the folks at home to help us find them.

This is how we carry out the plan. At first Miss
Shantz used to tell us every week what topics we were
to work in, but after a while she let us choose topics for
ourselves. Usually the boys chose one topic, and the
girls another. Sometimes Miss Shantz has to show us
by examples what she wants us to do. The problems
are handed in Friday morning, and after looking them
over and commenting on them, Miss Shantz puts them
on our bulletin board. During the following week we
work them out in different classes as a part of our regular
work in Arithmetic. The teacher then puts the ques-
tions together in a folder. We always write the questions
on the same size of paper, so that the sheets will form
a neat Arithmetic booklet for use in future classes.

Here are some of the topics on which problems have
been made. We have been more than a year at the
work now.

On measuring lengths.— 'The dimensions of books,
slates, envelopes, calendars, desks, maps, window-panes,
windows, stoves, pictures, newspapers, the school build-
ing, the school grounds, our homes, barns, fields, and the
distances from home to school. For these we used foot
rules, ‘‘spanning,” yard sticks, “stepping off,” the
lengths of strings, a bamboo fish pole one rod long, and
a tape measure that Miss Shantz borrowed from Mr.
Decker. A few of the boys can get really wonderfully
correct measurements by spanning and stepping. And
Karl Myers judges remarkably well by his eye. Measur-
ing from the school gate in both directions, we drove in

OUR OWN ARITHMETIC 145

stakes on the roadside to mark a furlong. We have also
set up quarter-mile posts.

On estimating areas.— The surfaces of all the things
mentioned above as well as the mats, rugs, and floors
and walls of rooms at home. We also had a small roll
and a large roll of wall paper to measure. Lucy Larsen
brought these from home. ‘‘Papering” questions were
easy after that.

On calculating contents. — The number of cubic inches,
feet, or yards in books, pasteboard boxes, blocks of wood,
pieces of plank, chalk ee ag
boxes, butterprints, 3: iam = 4
barns, stables, wagon | |
boxes, mows, bins, rail-
way cars, piles of wood,
etc. For the highest
class there were ques-
tions also on_ silos,
tanks, and milk cans.

On weighis.— The
weights of our books,
our school lunches, of
bricks, stones, small
boxes of sand and earth,
bottles, pieces of iron, pails of water, blocks of wood,
measures of grain, a dozen eggs, etc. For weighing things
at school we borrowed Mr. Conrad’s scales for two weeks.
Nearly every one in the school learned to use them.
Some of us became quite expert, too, at judging weights
of sticks of wood, stones, books, etc.

On money matters. — Cheese factory receipts, saving
money, the value of implements, the cost of food, taxes,

We Learn How to Weigh

146 RURAL SCIENCE READER

insurance, cost of furnishing a kitchen, feeding stock,
etc., the cost of making clothes, the value of the school
equipment, comparisons of market prices from week to
week.

On time. — 'The rate of walking and running, on our
ages, on the difference in the length of days, the propor-
tion of time spent in sleeping, working, eating, etc.,
guessing times with eyes closed.

SAMPLES OF OUR PROBLEMS

On our Ages, by Annie Swartz

If Arthur were three years younger than he is, he would be only
three years older than Rob, who is seven. How old is Arthur?

On our Weights, by Mabel Johnson

Constance weighs 69 pounds and I weigh 3 pounds more. Lucy
weighs 2 pounds less than half our combined weights. What is
Lucy’s weight?

On our Heights, by Andrew McLean

The heights of the boys in our class are: Arthur, 4’ 11”; Tom, 4’
8;” Fred, 5’ 0”; Karl, 5’ 2”; and myself, 4’ 9”. What is our aver-
age height? How much taller are the two taller of us than the two
shorter? ;

Saving Money, by Constance Balfour

If a child saves (or has saved for it) every week the number of
cents that it is years old, starting when it reaches its first birthday,
what will its savings amount to when it completes its twelfth year?

What would be saved in ro years at the rate of: (1) 1 cent a day;
(2) 10 cents a week; (3) 50 cents a month?

On Walking Home, by Fred Nixon

The front of our school grounds by actual measurement is 8 rods.
Timed by the teacher’s watch it takes Karl and me on an average
just about one half minute to walk past, walking at our usual rate.

OUR OWN ARITHMETIC 147

As a rule it takes me about 40 minutes’ steady walking to come to
school. It takes Karl about 45 minutes.

How far are our homes from the school?

By taking a short cut across the fields I can reach the school in
32 minutes. What distance is saved by taking the short cut?

On Wagon Wheels, by Arthur Smith
The front wheels on our wagon are 4 feet in diameter and the hind
wheels 5 feet.

How often does each wheel turn in going the 23 miles from our
place to Stanley’s Mill?

On Cheese Factory Returns, by Stella Blaker

We are sending all the milk from six of our cows to the factory.
The weights for last week were: Monday, 475 pounds; Tuesday,
224 pounds; Wednesday, 240 pounds; Thursday, 242 pounds;
Friday, 237 pounds; Saturday, 240 pounds.

What is the daily average yield from each cow?

What will be the returns for the week at $1.25 a cwt.?

Allowing 105 pounds of milk for a pound of cheese, what weight
of cheese would be made from the milk?

Feeding Pigs, by Tom Decker

These figures were discovered in last week’s Farmer’s Advocate.
With Father’s help I worked out the questions.

A Mr. Mullins of Middlesex County reports the following:

“On September 11, 1917, I began to keep account of the feed
consumed by one of my breeding sows and her ten new-born off-
spring. The feed required for the sow up to March 23, and the
ten young pigs up to April 4, when they were sold, was:

2,400 lbs. shorts valued at market price at $2.30

|OTESPCLER AG at pee tas ny = Marae em A ra ene OA $55.20
qo20 lbs Shortsalp2-95 Der Cwt... 0. 52. weys oo 2 oh 23.07
AocN bs teed Hounat $s -7O per Cwtsz.. | de et ass sew: 14.80
Gooulbsxcom feed! at $3.50: per icwts.5 09 4224. otis e- 21.00
2,530 lbs. oats at 60 cents per bushel.............. 44.64
osodlbs, barley-atGu-25 per bushel 2. 5.4.00 Seu. dos: 25.07

Crmedine 43; bags Ob Chop: <4) 2214 Sei ¢.a0i5 s8oyerd 20s 2.95

148 RURAL SCIENCE READER

“The pigs weighed 2010 lbs. and were sold at $20.10 per cwt.”

How many days old were the pigs when they were sold? What
was their average weight? Allowing that they were each 2 lbs. in
weight when born, how much did each gain in weight every day on
an average?

Allowing that one-tenth of the total amount of the feed was used
by the sow up to March 23, what was the total financial gain, not
charging for labor or rent?

What was the average cost of the feed to raise each pig? What
was the gain on each pig?

How many pounds of feed did it take on the average to raise
each pig?

How many pounds of feed did it take on an average to get an in-
crease of one pound in the weight of each pig?

If the prices for the feed had been only one-half what they were
and the pigs had sold at $9.00 a hundred-weight, what would have
been the gain?

How do these figures compare with the results obtained on your
farm?

On the Cost of Living, by Isabel Conrad

These are the amounts and the values of the food used in our home
for the past two weeks. The accounts were kept by Mother and
myself. The prices are as nearly as we could remember the average
prices that people paid at Kirkville before the war. There are six
in our family altogether. Of course we bake our own bread.

Bread, Cereals, etc.

T4 loavesiof bread: @Tto¢ 23. ..54.05- 0552 $1.40
Ta tbs flour s@ 3 bi ae tak sateen ee .36
2 OAtimed li @ iG 7. eWAly oo ate nesses LO.
4 lbs Cormmedlt(@Ae..: fac 4 ooo ceca ne 16
FE IDSRICeI@20 0 FU ore 4 t hoos «eee eee .06
FAlbY tapioca ss" oo wate owe eee oe .02
ob; beansi(@s¢- Maan new seen elo
Vegetables and Fruits
# DU. potatoes @-60¢.. en cae ee cous .30
api apples @ $1.00. . eae ses A SO S(O

4 jars canned fruit @ Guo Beas re 24215)

OUR OWN ARITHMETIC 149

5 jars tomatoes and corn @ 15¢.......... 75
Carrots) cabbage ete: ga ves ee as eee rs
Meats, etc.
TE GHICKEMM@ 7G Gara nah i. eee eR Sn ck Se 75
Sib SVedie OetSE 5 oy steve Aan ols, Gioksic Ane Te
alleen Osten sae Wie Ree AIR RE IMD. co .48
DSi CES aatlikes Qn Oeiy alee mn epee. Sena 1.68
AL GOZ TEESE G)22G Cm raion. hee ee T.00
Fats
cil MULLING sO Ma Lex ccs e-z secu oes 1.50
SN Marcy Da ems el a hie ee eee een 4)
Sugar, etc.
GulbysusamGss tae. Sd eae te ee .48
Splib SumAws Owe. be Saye Cees Us, seer Pe <5
Tl wHoOneyal @uE Ren ehh). wees ce ane sit
i Dice SV EUP OL TO@m eer. Set a home he Se .10
SPI CESE sates: MMII Foe et UR 5 ow A UPD .05
DNs GOH ONsC er et een ee A te es .70
MDPC HO) ANC rear eee eens cm a a5

What was the total value of food supplies for the two weeks?

At this rate, what would be the value for the year?

What was the average cost of each meal for the family, not charg-
ing for cooking, etc.?

What was the average cost of a meal for each member of the
family?

What proportion of the total expense was the cost of the meat?
Of the bread?

Using the prices that are now charged for the same articles, com-
pare the cost of living with 1or4.

Cost of Producing Potatoes, by James Hodgson

My brother Joe entered the Junior Farmers’ Potato-growing
Competition this year and was successful in winning the first prize.
I helped him in the work a little. He had to keep account of every-
thing to submit to the County Agent at the close of the season.

These are the figures showing the cost of production on one
half acre:

150 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Rent‘ofiland)i iy. Aid. belle Seer eee $5.00
Plowines\: Ae eaten 2h Pe ee eee 2.00
Seed. Ssbuatepec75 per UL a sean cee ie AI.25
Manure, Sitonsiat 5O¢? 8 tanecnte eee eee o.
Manure: 4°tomS at 30¢).s..¢.'. 4 oe es neede eeO
Sprayihge maitre \3 5. 2. a oo Ae tee o eeS
Man‘s labor, at 15¢ per-hout,. 406. 5e.05-cRmeo5
Hore laboreat xo¢iper hour. eyes saceaae 45

Notal:costOm production... Sar sc seme

Yield of marketable potatoes, 2313 bu.
Value at 90¢ per bu.
Cost of production
Net profit on 4 acre
Net profit on 1 acre

Calculate the net profit on the one half acre.

Calculate the profit, using other figures which you think would
represent fairer charges for rent, seed, manure, and labor, and fairer
prices for the product.

What allowance should have been made for the unmarketable
potatoes? There were about 12 bushels of these.

If the yield had been the average yield of the potato crops in this
district, what would the gain have been?

Is 30 bushels to the acre a high rate of seed to use?

Suggestions

1. Measure the length of your step, your foot, the span of your hand,
the full stretch of your arms, so that you may use these in your calculations.
Train yourself to measure objects by inspection.

2. For Friday afternoon entertainment hold a contest in estimating
the dimensions of objects in the school room, such as the maps, walls, doors,
windows, blackboards, stove, bookcase, desks, pails, etc. Vary the contest
by guessing the weights and height of different pupils.

3. Ask the folks at home to note facts and figures from which you can
make problems, e.g. your father could tell you what part of the width
of a field he had ploughed in a day, and knowing the width of the furrow
and the length of the field, you could determine how far he had walked.

OUR OWN ARITHMETIC I5I

4. Watch the columns of the agricultural papers for reports on the
cost of building silos, the feeding of farm animals, etc. Taking the figures
given, test the accuracy of the answers printed in the paper. Use the market
reports for problems.

5. Get the figures from neighbors, who may not have children coming
to school, for the cost of any work that they may have done, e.g. the drain-
ing of land or the building of a fence.

6. Mothers will be able to help in making good problems on household
matters, e. g. determining the distances walked in preparing a meal, the
total weight of water carried in a day, the cost of bread making, the value
of kitchen equipment, etc.

CHAPTER DOS

Our Farm Bookkeeping — How the Pupils at the
Cedar Creek School Kept Farm Accounts

A Farmer has to be an all-round man. There is no other calling that
requires so many accomplishments.

mal

First, he has to be a Laborer — he cannot escape doing hard manual labor.

Second, he has to be an Agricultwrist — he must skillfully and intelli-
gently cultivate the soil; produce crops, and raise animals.

Third, he should be a Scientist —a knowledge of the Science of Agri-
culture is fundamental to the Art of Farming.

Fourth, he must be a Mechanic — he does his work more and more with
the use of machinery. He must use tools every day.

Fifth, he must play his part as a Citizen — he has his duties as an im-
portant member of a democratic society.
Sixth, he must be a Business Man — he is the manager of one of the most

complicated businesses in the world. He buys and sells. He borrows
and loans. He bargains and trades. He employs labor and he uses capi-

OUR FARM BOOKKEEPING 153

tal. He manufactures and markets. He mortgages and banks. He
forms joint stock companies and codperative associations. His success is
dependent on good business management.

No matter how hard he works as a Laborer, no matter how skilled he
is as an Agriculturist, no matter how well informed he is as a Scientist, no
matter how skillful he is as a Mechanic, no matter how worthy and intelli-
gent he is as a Citizen, poor judgment in business will result in failure and
disappointment.

A good Business Man keeps records of business transactions.
Farmers should keep books.

Our teacher, Miss Van Wyck, has asked me to explain
the plan we follow in Cedar Creek School for keeping
simple farm accounts. It is not at all a difficult plan.
All the boys and girls in Grades 7 and 8 are carrying it
out, and even a few in the lower classes write up some of
the records. We all enjoy the work, for the folks at
home are interested in it, and the teacher gives us credit
for it as a part of our work in Arithmetic. I think it is
good training too. It helps a person to be careful and
businesslike.

When the work commenced no person really thought
of keeping accounts systematically. The plan grew out
of exercises we had in our Rural Science work. In the
lower grades the pupils keep “ Nature Diaries” in which
they tell all about the weather, birds, flowers, etc., and
in the higher classes the records used to be of the work
about.the farm. One day Miss Van Wyck suggested
that we might, if our parents did not object, write in
accounts of business transactions too, and a few of us
commenced to do this. The people in the district talked
about it a good deal and seemed to think so well of the
scheme that the trustees asked Miss Van Wyck to make
it a regular part of the school work.

154 RURAL SCIENCE READER

The plans for the Fields Account and the Inventory
became part of the scheme afterwards. At first they
were simply practical exercises that we worked out for
our Friday afternoon lessons in Agriculture. But they
were seen to be such valuable records of the year’s work
on the farms that we put them in with our Farm Ac-
counts. A few pupils keep special accounts of the milk
produced, and Carl Ritchie keeps account of the eggs
laid by their hens. But most of us are too lazy to under-
take these.

For this work we keep our exercises in the same way
as we keep our compositions and our Rural Science les-
sons, that is, on loose leaves in a portfolio. The pockets
in our portfolio are used for keeping all receipts, due
bills, and accounts. For extra safety they are sorted
into labelled envelopes that fit neatly into the pockets
or are pasted on some of the loose leaves. This system
enables a person to keep the accounts for several years
together in a very convenient form. My father and
mother help me with the accounts, of course. They are
as much interested in them as I am. They often jot
down items on the slate that hangs in our kitchen for
me to write in afterwards. Once or twice a week is often
enough for attending to the work.

The making of an inventory is somewhat difficult, as
Father and I found out. But it is interesting. It is not
very easy to fix a price on farm animals or old machinery,
and there are nearly always some things overlooked.
Mother had notions about the value of some of the cows
that did not agree with ours. She also found it hard to
consent to put the price of her dishes and table linen at
what they might be expected to fetch at a sale. But

OUR FARM BOOKKEEPING 155

this was the rule Father stood by for everything. The
second year’s inventory was much easier to make than
the first, for we had our old figures to go by. We were
all surprised at the total. I don’t think Father had any
idea that we owned over $15,000 worth of property.
Neither Mother nor I had. And he was as much sur-
prised when the 1917 inventory showed an increase of
$1857.25.

The Field Account is interesting, and it is very easy
to keep. It furnishes a sort of comparative history
of the farm operations from year to year. Father
has always followed a pretty regular rotation of crops,
and he finds that this scheme helps him to plan ahead.
It is hard to remember more than a year or two
just what particular crop was grown in a certain field
if there is no record of it.

FarRM AND HouSEHOLD ACCOUNTS

Receipts IQI7 Expenses

Apr. 1 | A beautiful spring day. A good at-

_ tendance at church and Sunday
School. Text of Mr. Schnell’s ser-
mon — Mark 4: 3 ‘‘ Behold, there
went out a sower to sow.”

Special contribution to Mission

Apr. 2 || Found first Wake Robin of season in
| bloom on way to school.
_ Father seeding in Field No. 5 with
| Abundance Oats 15 bu. @ $1.00 15|00
$9|80 | Mother at Marysville sold 20 doz.
eggs @ 25¢ ($5.00) and 16 lb. of
| butter at 30¢ ($4.80).

156 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Receipts IQI7 Expenses

Mother bought me a pair of shoes,
$2.50; a tea kettle, $1.25; and
window screens, $1.50............ 5/25
Apr. 3 || There was a hard frost in the night.
Little Alice Porritt started to
school to-day.
Father still busy seeding. Finished

Field No. 5; used 8 bu. @ $1.00. 8}oo
Mother sent a mail order to Brown’s
for dress, working apron, etc. 12/00

Apr. 4 || Hadalesson at school to-day on seed-
ing. Discussed the construction
of different kinds of grain drills.
We estimated there would be about
1ooo acres of oats grown in this
district this year.
$121|80 Apr. 5 || Father delivered 4 hogs at the sta-
tion to-day, 880 lb. @ $17.25.
They were sold to Mr. Purvis. He
brought home half a ton of fertil-
lizer for the corn and potatoes,
bought from Harris Co. 15|00
Had Nell’s shoes set by blacksmith I|00
Apr. 6 || Mr. Smith was spraying his orchard

as we passed this morning. The
teacher brought some frog eggs to
school in a glass jar.

Father hauling manure to Field No.

6 with spreader.

Apr. 7 || Saturday — Raining and cold.
Mother set first hens. Helped
Father overhaul machinery in shed.
Ordered new parts for corn-planter.

Sent off money for insurance on
barn and contents 140

OUR FARM BOOKKEEPING

157

INVENTORY

Cornlee Farm — March 31, 1917

Land
W215 ACHES) )b7i5io)< fest
Buildings

Barn and Stables. ..$1200
WogeStabless see: 200
envntOusesse ee 75
Work Shope. ce 75
welling ames sees

Horses
Queenie, $175; Nell,
$200; Pat, $150; Tom,
$125; Pete, $160; 2 colts
Ss), SHAD. sis d4u 0506
Milk Cows
Brownie, $100; Sis, $75
DeKol, $125; Bess, $60;
Tom Boy, $100; Sall, $90;
June Girl, $100; Polly,
$50; 4 calves @ $50,

Beef Cattle
4 2-year Steers @ $go....
4 Yearlings @$40.......
Swine

2 Sows @ $30........ .$60
1) LETS (GIS oon oe eee 80

6 Sheep @ $15........ $90
9 Lambs @ $5........ 45
Poultry

60 Hens @ $1.00..... . $60
4 Ducks @ $1.25 ..... 5

$9,375.00

3,050.00

930.00

900.00

360.00

160.00

140.00

135.00

65.00

Feed

Hay 5 tons @ $10. ... .$50
Oats, 100 bu. @ 5o¢... . 50
Corn, 200 bu. @ 75¢..150

Bran, Oil Cake, etc.....20 $270.00

Implements

Wagon, $65; Truck
Wagon, $45; Light
Wagon, $35; Buggy, $80;
Sleigh, $25; Cutter, $35;
Hay Racks, etc., $20;
Wheelbarrows, $8........
2 Plows, $30; Harrows,
$18; Disc Harrows, $35;
Cultivator, $40; Roller,
$25; Grain Drill, $65;
Corn Planter, $35; Ma-
nure Spreader, $75......

$313.00

$323.00

Implements

Hay Rake. $20; Hay
Tedder, $30; Hay Mower,
$55; Binder, $125; Corn
Harvester, $100........

Gasoline Engine, $75;

Cream Separator, $50;
Fanning Mill, $20; Feed
Grinder, $20; Milk Cans,

$330.00

$175.00
Harness, $125; Chains,
$6; Forks, Shovels, etc.,
$10; Carpenter’s Tools,
$15; Blacksmith’s Tools,
$186.00

$1,327.00

158 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Household Effects Summary
INMATES. saooocor $400 Teanden ees $9375.00
Carpets............ 100 Buildings....... 3050.00
PIaNO eke Ge ie eo esete 250 Live Stock..... 2690.00
Kitchen Stove....... 75 Meedis. (pe aes 270.00
1D tsloels petite, santos 35 Implements... . 1327.00
Linen, Curtains...... 35 Household. ..... 1170.00
iBeddineeaeeer eee 75 Gach a kee 372.50
Clothing aaa eee 200 Stocks 73 ee 50.00
$1,170.00
Stock in Cheese Factory. . $2500!) llotalAssets = ie ene $19,104.50
Stock in Co-operative Ass’n 25.00 Teiabilitiesh serene 1375.00
Cashin Eland Sea 2.50
Cashin Bankes 45-5: BOoloo) | /bresents WOrtns {nee $17,729.50
1910) Inventory. -24-.--- 15,872.25
Owing on Mortgage...... 1200.00 ———————
Owing on Notes........ 175-00 AMCrEASC sis eect ees $1857.25
Suggestions

1. Make use of the results of the local bookkeeping for homemade
problems in arithmetic.

2. At your school fair exhibit samples of farmer’s account books
kept by pupils. Induce the directors of the Agricultural Society to give
prizes for this kind of school work at the fall fair.

3. Invite your local banker to come to the school and explain banking
practices, such as opening a savings account, making out a deposit slip,
issuing a check, buying a draft, and borrowing money on a note.

4. Make inquiries to learn how many farmers in your district keep
systematic accounts of .their business. Invite some of these to come to the
school and explain their methods. Perhaps some one can show you how
to determine a farmer’s labor-income or how to estimate the cost of growing
corn, of producing milk, etc.

5. Ask the secretary-treasurer of the local creamery or the manager of
the Farmers’ Club to show you how he keeps records of the business en-
trusted to him. Perhaps a nearby storekeeper or miller can give you a
good lesson in bookkeeping. Find out how the books are kept for your
school, and also for the church.

6. Do any of the pupils in your school keep any account of their per-
sonal expenses? This may be done conveniently in a pocket diary which
is ruled specially to permit this. When one leaves home to go to school

OUR FARM BOOKKEEPING 159

FIELD ACCOUNT

Cornlee Farm — 1916-1919

Uae Ss.
coe) en 900s
rte aud 1b ACRES
25 ACRES SASK rat ; y 3 of , i
~ Se ate -
1916- CORN-1300 BUSHELS| [Nod . ae
1917- OATS ~1000 BUSHELS 15 ACRES

I916- HAY(25 70") ano PASTURE
é 1916- PASTURE
1918- OATS.650 BUSHELS
1919 - HAY Gr3)aoPASTURE.

20 ACRES
1@ ACRES

1916 - HAY Go Tons) PASTURE
FROM AUG.1S!

191 7-CORN-I500 BUSHELS

1918- OATS-1200 BUSHELS

I919-HAY -28 TONS

191G-QATS ~ 800 BUSHELS
191 7 - HAY@otors)ano PASTURE
1918-CORN - 600 BUSHELS
19|9'-WHEAT- 450 BUSHELS

5 ACRES
IN ALFALFA,
I9l6 - 14 TONS

1918- 12 TONS
I919- 15 TONS

' ORCHARD O
BROWNS" 19 16-25 BARRELS S
19 17-40 BARRELS
FARM ]19 18- 18 BARRELS SS
19 19 -CROPFAILURE|

or to make his own way in the world this is a good habit to practice. It
makes for thrift and personal satisfaction. With the little diary regularly
written up one has an interesting record to retain for future years.

7. Cut out items from agricultural papers which give the figures of
practical farmers for such things as raising a colt or other livestock, the
cost of producing any field crops or fruit. Keep these in a portfolio for
reference and comparison.

CHAPTER XXI

Our Weeds — How the Stony Plain School Used
Them for Nature Study Lessons

Weeds, weeds, weeds everywhere!

What a nuisance they are to the Farmer!

How determined he must be to fight them!

And how necessary it is that he should know these enemies well!

Do you suppose any good thing can be said of weeds? Perhaps? They
are interesting, anyway.

Of all plants that grow, they are the ones that make the most success of
their lives in the face of opposition.

That’s something to their credit, even if it does not win a welcome for
them.

I did not need to go to school to learn about weeds.
I knew a lot about them before I started to school. Mother

OUR WEEDS 161

tells me that I began to “help” her weed in our garden
when I was about three years old. Perhaps I did pull
up a few carrots and some of her asters! Somebody has
to pay for a boy’s education! Also I could tell what
o’clock it was with a dandelion time-o’-day if somebody
would count for me while I puffed and puffed. And I
remember having thistles picked out of my sore feet
after helping to bring the cows from the pasture — and
perhaps I cried a bit because it hurt so. And burrs!
It was always a question whether Collie or I could gather
the most burrs about the farm. It was easier to get them
off my clothes, though, than it was to tug them from
the dog’s matted hair. I didn’t need a school teacher
to introduce me to “cheeses” either. The knowledge
of those mallow cart wheels was early handed down in
the family.

For a long time after I did start to school I continued
my practical acquaintance, and not altogether to my
liking. Part of my work was to look after our garden.
There always seemed to be weeds to destroy. Hoeing
and pulling, hoeing and pulling! Day and night they
grew. They were bold. They tried to choke the growth
of everything we planted. I’m afraid Mother had a
hard time keeping me at my job. I didn’t like it at any
time, and I hated it sometimes. To have to stay at
home and weed onions when one’s chums are playing
ball is nothing less than a slave’s life. Weeding onions
is hard enough at any time without that.

If Mother had not been so fond of her garden and an-
xious to have everything looking well-kept, I think I
would have run away sometime and never come back.
But a fellow wouldn’t run away very far or stay away

162 RURAL SCIENCE READER

very long from a mother like mine. So I stuck to it and
weeded and weeded and weeded. When Mother praised
me after I had done a good job, it took a lot of the sore-
ness away. When there was a special treat of my favor-
ite pancakes, I forgot my grievances entirely. And
when Mother would take some of our neighbors into the
garden to show them how well everything was looking
and gather some of our early lettuce or green beans for

I Weeded the Garden Faithfully

them, I was proud. I didn’t like weeding any more for
these reasons, but I hated it less.

I didn’t know that weeds had anything to do with
school or that learning had anything to do with weeds
until last year. When school opened in September,
we had Miss Allin for our teacher. One day she asked
us to write down the names of all the weeds we knew.
I found that although I knew many plants to be weeds I
could name only about eight. And I knew more than

ROADSIDE WEEDS

COVER DESIGN FOR A BOOKLET ON WEEDS

THE BOOKLET ON WEEDS

Every pupil should make a booklet for each of the important subjects
taken up for study. The booklet should be composed of such drawings
and language work as is done in connection with the study as well as
mounted leaves or other specimens that are readily included in it.

The ordinary plain paper used for drawings serves very well. A good
size is six by nine inches. Three holes should be punched near one end for
binding with raffia in a cover of thicker paper.

It is very easy to get material for the booklet on weeds. Characteristic
leaves, branches, and flowers may be pressed and mounted. Young seed-
lings also may be preserved.

OUR WEEDS 163

most of the boys and girls. Hugh Speers and Elsie
Graham knew only five. This little test made every
one of us —I knew it did me — feel that we were
ignorant about one of the commonest things in the
world.

The next day Miss Allin suggested that we go out on
a weed-discovering expedition. She thought the school
yard should be the first territory to be explored. We were
to take twenty-five minutes to search for weeds. Each
one of the older pupils was to take one of the little pupils
as a helper. The couples were to spread out and not
to help one another. A list was to be made by each
group of all the weeds that were known, and if any un-
known weeds were found, samples of these were to be
brought back when she rang the bell. Little Harry
Scott worked with me. We soon realized that our school
yard was an old curiosity shop for weeds. I didn’t
know the names of one half of those we found. Harry
knew the names of hardly any, but he could spy out new
ones more quickly than I could. We had a busy time.
The bell rang before we had finished our search along the
fence at the back.

When we gathered in the school and announced our
figures, we found that some were evidently better ex-
plorers than others. Alice Short and Janet Colville
had found eight that they thought they knew and seven-
teen unknown weeds. Harry and I reported nine known
and fifteen unknown. Chester Matthews and Tommy
Chase had found only six that they knew and eight that
were unknown. Miss Allin put down on the blackboard
the figures given by each of the twelve couples. There
was an average of about six and one half weeds known

164 RURAL SCIENCE READER

—at least we thought we knew them — and twelve un-
known for the whole class.

The next thing was to hold them up and name those
that we knew. In this there were a number of mistakes
made. Jamie Orr thought catnip was peppermint.
Chester Matthews called a dock, a burdock. Alice Short
did not know that black medick was not a clover. We
also found that there was need of distinguishing names
for different plants called thistles. And there were two
kinds of chickweed. After we had gone over all the
weeds brought in, we
could count only eight
of which Miss Allin said
we had the right names.
These were dandelion,
Canada thistle, wild
mustard, burdock, milk-
weed, ox-eye ° daisy,
catnip, and» bilaek
medick. There were
twenty other weeds the
names of which we did
not know. Who would
have thought that there
were twenty-eight dif-
ferent kinds of weeds
in one school yard?

Specimen Plant Mount For next day’s lesson

Miss Allin asked us to

try to find out at home what the names of some of the un-
known weeds were. None of us was very successful in this.
I gathered about a dozen of the same kinds of weed in

OUR WEEDS 165

our lane when I went home and after supper asked Father
and Mother about them. They did not know any names
for most of them, and “didn’t like to say” what the
others were. When we reported to Miss Allin our fail-
ures, she told us she was going to let us try to find out for
ourselves by looking them up in Farmers’ Bulletin No.
28. She handed over her copy of the Bulletin and said
she would give us until the next afternoon to work at it.
We had a busy time at recess and noon hour that day and
the next. Many a weed was pulled, too, to compare
with the pictures in the book.

This time we knew the names better. There were a
few that we were not very sure of, and there were a few
we couldn’t find in the bulletin. But we had correct
names for twenty.

Miss Allin was quite pleased with our results and
gave us the names of the unknown ones. There were
two that we had to send to the Agricultural College
to be named for us. We made a list of them all on the
blackboard and afterwards wrote this out on a large
sheet of paper to hang as a record of our discoveries for
future weed students to wonder at. For Miss Allin
said that now that we knew what a weed bed our school
yard was, it would be a disgrace if we allowed the weeds
to remain. This is another story. I haven’t time to
tell you how we got rid of most of them and got grass
to grow in their stead.

From our school grounds our weed studies were ex-
tended to the gardens, the fields, and the roadsides.
Before the snow came, we had learned to recognize
about sixty weeds. We made studies of the seeds of
some of them, too, and collected samples to glue on cards

166 RURAL SCIENCE READER

or put in little glass bottles. Miss Allin showed us also
how to press the weeds and mount them on paper. I
mounted only six last fall but I now have over thirty.
I keep them in a portfolio. It is an interesting collec-
tion to me, for nearly every plant represents a new dis-
covery. I have also learned a great deal about the
plants while I have been working with them. Both
Father and Mother are interested in my collection.
They know the weeds now about as well as Ido. Some-

[el Of4e (oo
[el 2. Wf, 00€C~ |
ASTER CARROTS TOMATO CELERY
SEEDS GLUED TO PASTEBOARD WITHIN SEEDS GLUED TO PASTE BOARD AND
SQUARES OF ATTACHED CARD BOARD _ BOARD SURROUNDED BY BRASS RINGS

® TIN
\@® @ G
BVCKMIATER
HOLES PUNCHED {N SHEET OF CARDBOARD HOLES BOREDIN PLASTER OF PARIS PLAQUE.
THIS PASTED ON ANOTHER SHEET. SEEDS GLUED SEEDS COVERED WITH GLASS
COVERED WITH GLASS AND PASSE-PARTOUTED AND PASSE~-PARTOUTED

Suggestions for Seed Collecting and Mounting

times they find a new plant that none of us knows. If
we cannot find it in our Bulletin and Miss Allin does not
know what it is, we send it off to the Botanical Depart-
ment of the Agricultural College to be named. The
professor there is always pleased to help us.

At school we have had some interesting weed exami-
nations. Miss Allin would hold up specimens for a
moment and then we would write down their names.
Or we would go outside and as we went about, write
down the names of the plants that Miss Allin would
point out for us. It is pretty hard for her to catch us
now with anything that we cannot recognize. We have
had some good naming and spelling contests on Friday

OUR WEEDS 167

afternoons also. As a rule the boys can beat the girls
at naming, but the girls beat the boys in spelling.

In the winter we had a few lessons with samples of
clover seed. My father got them from the seed dealers
in Lynden, and I brought them to school. We found

A Few Clovers and Many Weeds are Represented Here

a, alsike clover; 6, white clover; c, red clover; d, yellow trefoil; e,
Canada thistle; f, dock; g, sorrel; #, buckthorn; 7, rat-tail plantain;
k, lamb’s quarters; /, shepherd’s purse; m, mayweed; 7, scentless camomile;
0, white campion; ~, night-flowering catch-fly; g, ox-eye daisy; 7, small-
fruited false flax; s, cinquefoil; ¢, two kinds of peppergrass; wu, catnip;
v, timothy; x, chickweed; y, Canada bluegrass; z, clover dodder; 1, mouse-
ear chickweed; 2, knot-grass; 3, tumbling amaranth; 4, rough amaranth;
5, heal-all; 6, lady’s thumb.

that one of the samples had eight different kinds of
weed seeds in it. Another had six, another had four,
and the best of the samples had three. None of the
samples was fit to sow on our farm. There would be
thousands of weed seeds in a bushel. We didn’t know
the names of all the weed seeds, but found them by for-

168 RURAL SCIENCE READER

warding samples to the Agricultural College. The most
abundant of the impurities were dodder, ox-eye daisy,
common ragweed, buckhorn, wild carrot, black medick,
worm seed mustard, and pigweed. Father decided to
send away and get guaranteed seed. He had to pay a
high price for it, but he considers it cheaper to do that
than to fight bad weeds.

I do not suppose there is any place or any farm in the
world that has not its share of weeds. The Stony Plain
School district has its full share. I know that. We have
to keep fighting them. That seems to be part of a farmer’s
job. But knowing them when one sees them and under-
standing their habits give one a great advantage in the
fight. I feel that my weed studies at school will help
me now to keep this enemy under control, and it makes
work more interesting, too, when one is thinking about
the things he is working with.

Suggestions

1. If the school carries on correspondence with a school in another part
of the country or in another country, it will be interesting to exchange
specimens of weeds as well as wild flowers.

2. Send to Washington and your State Agricultural College for Weed
Bulletins. Articles from the agricultural papers might be cut out and
pasted on the back of the weed mounts or on other sheets of paper that will
fit the portfolio.

3. For a reference collection for school use, selections of the best mounts
made by individual pupils should be donated. Likewise the school col-
lection of weed seeds should be a souvenir of the work of different pupils.
The recollections should be kept in a cupboard or a drawer where they will
be safe.

4. For your school fair, an interesting event is a weed-naming contest.
Sometimes this is combined with the naming of varieties of apples, species
of grasses, trees from specimen leaves, kinds of grain, etc. When grown-
ups can be prevailed upon to join the contest, there is usually more fun
for the boys and girls.

OUR WEEDS 169

5. If several pupils in a school are mounting specimens of weeds for
collections, it is advisable to buy a supply of suitable paper sufficient for
all cut to a uniform size. The standard plant-mount paper is a white
ledger paper, 113 inches wide and 163 inches long. For ordinary col-
lections, however, a strong, heavy manila paper will suit better, and a
sheet the same dimensions as letter note paper is more suitable for keeping
in a handy portfolio.

ee, SAEs ray

qyece

CHAPTER XXII

Our Insect Studies — The Elmvale School Learns of
the Farmer’s Friends and Enemies

ee
Seen ZI 707 ww
ny Tur ae Dan
\ Vane WN Sse)
<

Rae => nny ag eal = 2% fF Sey mS Soe
ay ey ~ Bly =
I optiag A\ \ My ss a As 5 {la ae i
» eee \ a NY,
A ay /

Some of the farmer’s worst enemies and some of his best friends are
insects. He should know his enemies and their ways so that he may not
be harmed. It is important, too, that he should appreciate his friends.
This knowledge on the one hand leads to safety and on the other hand to
intelligent friendship.

Scientists estimate that there are more than a million different species
of insects in the world. What a great field for Nature Study! Fortu-
nately, all of these are not found in America. We have enough now,
at any rate, of the enemy sort— bugs and beetles, mosquitos and flies,
moths and plant lice.

This is the story of a few insect studies in the Elmvale
School.

School work had not proceeded very far last September
before our new teacher had us interested in studying
insects. Miss Robinson was interested herself. I sup-
pose that is the reason. She had attended the Teachers’

OUR INSECT STUDIES

BAG OF NET
24 INCHES LONG

COTTON AND THEN

(————e USE LONG CORK
Tk QUININE BOTTLES
HAVE WIDE NECKS

THE CYANIDE MAY
BE COVERED BY
COTTON BATTING
HELD DOWN BY A
PERFORATED
CARDBOARD WAD

PLASTER OF PARIS

COVER WIRE

BINDING WITH WRAPPINGS OF

POTASSIUM CYANIDE

EOOSE
COVERING
OF
COTTON
OVER
WIRE. NET
SEWED
TO THIS

COPPERED STEEL WIRE
GAUGE l0oR 11

vA BLIND STAPLES

VARNISH WITH BLACK JAPAN

1
9 BUTTERFLY'S

IN SPREADING

THE WINGS Sh WINGS SPREAD
INSERT THE \ Le A AND HELD
PIN POINTS ; U i IN POSITION
BEHIND \ With
THE VEINS MOURNING PINS

STRIPS OF STIFF
PAPER SET WITH
THREE PINS, HOLD
WINGS IN PLACE

DO NOT PUT THE
PINS THROUGH
THE WINGS HERE

INSERT THEM UNTIL DRY ANO
AT THE WING SE
EDGES

LOCUSTS MAY

HAVETHE WINGS

OF ONE SIDE ONLY
SPREAD

Insect Net, Cyanide Bottle, Butterfly Stretching Board,
and Collection of Insects

172 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Summer School at the Agricultural College in July and
made a beginning in the study. She had learned just
enough about the subject, she said, to want to learn more.
And she asked us to help her. As this meant to some
extent the use of her insect net and killing bottle, there
was no lack of offers of assistance especially from the
boys. The subject was not merely a study —it was a
sport!

Miss Robinson had begun to make a small collection
at the Summer School, and she wanted to add to it. She
showed us how the net was used and explained how the
deadly cyanide fumes were produced in the killing bottle.
It was not very long before Rudolph Swartz had made
a net for himself. He was a keen ‘“‘bug-hunter,” as we
called him. He had a killing bottle also made at the
drug store in Clarenceville under the teacher’s directions
and started a small collection for himself. Miss Robin-
son encouraged him to do so and introduced him to her
Insect Book to read about the common specimens he
would find. The book soon became quite popular in
the school, as something was being reported nearly every
day that some one would want to read about.

Our first lessons were on the Monarch Butterfly. Of
course we didn’t know that was the name of the insect
until the teacher told us. These butterflies are common
enough, and some of us had often chased them, but we
did not know their name. That’s one of the interesting
things about Nature Study. One learns the names of a
great many common plants and animals.

One day Miss Robinson asked us to take a good look
at milkweeds for green worms, and if we found any, to
bring them to school with some leaves. The next morn-

OUR INSECT STUDIES m7

ing there were no less than twelve worms brought in.
Rudolph Swartz had five of them to his credit. He has
sharp eyes. Miss Robinson put two of them in a lantern
chimney that she borrowed from Mrs. Rodgers, at whose
place she boards. She tied cheese cloth over the top and
in a little bottle of water set bits of the milkweed for the
worms to feed on. The other worms were distributed
among us to take home.

We watched them eating and growing for a few days,
and then one morning when we came to school we found

’ Monarch Butterfly

the most beautiful chrysalis, as the teacher called it,
hanging from the top of the chimney. The next morning
the other had changed, too, and some of the pupils reported
the same about their specimens at home. I don’t think
T ever saw anything that had such a beautiful green color,
and there were bright gold spots on it. We kept watch-
ing from day to day and were disappointed to notice
the beautiful color disappearing. Each chrysalis seemed
to be shrinking too. But in about twelve days we saw

174 RURAL SCIENCE READER

the birth of the butterfly. It was wonderful to think
that the beautiful Monarch could come from the green
worm that lived on the common milkweed. There was
great surprise in the homes as well as in the school. Mrs.
Swartz often speaks of it even yet.

Miss Robinson killed one of the butterflies in her
cyanide bottle, as she wanted it for her collection. Some
of the girls thought
it was cruel, but Miss
Robinson explained
the value of having
specimens to study
closely. She showed
us the curled tongue
and the scales that
covered the wings.
Afterwards she showed
us how to spread the
= specimen on a stretch-

The Needed Screen Door ing board. We made

a drawing of it too.

She cautioned us to be careful not to kill beneficial insects

or beautiful, harmless ones like the Monarch needlessly.

But, she said, we need never hesitate about killing harm-

ful kinds like potato bugs or mosquitos. None of us
needed to be told that.

Our next lessons were on what is perhaps the com-
monest and the most harmful insect in the world — the
house fly. The weather was still warm, and there
were lots of specimens to be seen. Miss Robinson asked
us to notice carefully different things about them. One
day we discussed what they fed on and how they fed.

OUR INSECT STUDIES 175

Another day we reported on their color, shape, and size,
the number of legs and wings, whether they were smooth
or hairy, etc. Miss Robinson let us have her magnify-
ing glass to see the eyes and feelers. It is surprising
what can be seen with a magnifying glass. It was so
interesting that we borrowed the glass at noon and re-
cess to look at all sorts of things.

Our lessons on the fly showed us how necessary it is
to prevent it from breeding and getting into houses to
scatter germs. I think there will be more screen doors
and windows used next year in our district than there
are now. Some people are very careless. They do not
seem to be a bit bothered with thousands of flies swarm-
ing over everything — even on their tables. Calling it
the Typhoid Fly, as we are doing, should turn people into
“‘fly-swatters.”

We have learned a good deal about bees too. Most
of us did not know much more about them than that they
stung. A few of us knew a little more about bumble
bees, for we had robbed their nests. We are not so
proud about our knowledge though, or the way in which
we acquired it, now that we know how useful bumble
bees are. Miss Robinson asked us first to find out what
we could about them just. from watching them work
among flowers. There were lots of goldenrod and Wild
Asters along the roadside, so we had good chances to see
them every day.

There were honey bees, belonging to Mr. Howes, as
well as bumble bees. After discussing what we observed
for one Nature Study lesson, we had a closer look at a
few specimens which Rudolph captured. Miss Robin-
son’s magnifying glass came into good use again, though

176 RURAL SCIENCE READER

we could see a good deal without it. I think the thing
most wonderful to me was to see the hairs that grow in
their eyes. I did not know that bees had little jaws or
that they had two pairs of wings. It
was interesting to have a chance of
making a close acquaintance with the

: sting without any unpleasantness.
Head and Eyes of a Perhaps the thing that interested the

Honey Bee class most was the tongue with its
protecting shields.

We followed up our school studies by a visit to Mr.
Howes’ place on a Friday afternoon. He is the only
person in the neighborhood who keeps bees. His farm
is about a mile from the school. He was very proud to
be asked by Miss Robinson to let her bring up her senior
classes. There were eight of us altogether who went.

fPSTAL, a
q by. q >
Dron Worker.

Mr. Howes is an old man about sixty. He has no chil-
dren coming to school, but he seemed to be very glad to
have us visit him. He is a great admirer of bees and
thinks they are the most wonderful creatures. He
showed us everything about a hive. We stood back
quite a respectable distance at first, but gradually went
up closer as we became bolder. Mr. Howes puffed
plenty of smoke amongst the bees from his bee-smoker,

OUR INSECT STUDIES 177

so we were quite safe. He found the queen for us and
showed us drones. We were shown broods of different
ages and had everything explained to us. We asked a
great many questions.

Miss Robinson was very much interested. She says
she thinks that some day she will keep bees herself. I
believe some of the rest of us may, when we get older,
for we are certainly interested in them. It was not hard
to write our compositions next week. The subject was
“A Visit to an Apiary.” We are inserting the compo-
sitions in our Rural Science Note Books.

Our last ‘‘insect-stunt,” as Bert Stivers names it,
has been a hunt. There has been a great deal of excite-
ment over it. One day Miss Robinson showed us some
odd-shaped masses that she found on the twigs of wild
cherry growing alongside the fence in front of Kaster’s
farm. She explained to us what they were and urged us
to gather all we could find and destroy them. None of us
had any idea that they were the eggs that produced the
ugly worms that made so many apple trees in the neigh-
borhood unsightly and did so much damage. When I
told Father about it that evening, he said he would give a
dollar for prizes to be divided among those who collected
the greatest number. The next morning I explained the
plan to Miss Robinson, and she said she would add an-
other dollar. When the people of the district heard of
the contest, as they soon did, more money was offered,
until the prize fund amounted to six dollars.

To make the division fair to every one who collected,
the teacher decided to take one dollar and divide it into
40, 30, 20 and ro-cent special prizes for the four highest
scores. ‘Then the remaining five dollars was to be divided

178 RURAL SCIENCE READER

among all the pupils, including the highest four, in pro-
portion to the number of clusters gathered by each.
Rules were made, and every one promised to play fair.
There was not the least sign of any bad feeling through-
out the two months of the competition; we were all
made better friends, for we felt we were working to-
gether for the good of our neighborhood.

It was a great success. There won’t be many apple
tree tent caterpillars in this neighborhood next spring
I am thinking. Every Monday the weekly collections
were brought in, counted, scored, and added to our pile.
Miss Robinson kept the scores, and it was not known
until the very last day how each stood. One of the rules
was that we would not tell one another our scores. Of
course, we could tell fairly well from the size of the weekly
“catch,” but we did not know exactly. The last day
there was great excitement when the totals were an-
nounced. It is hard to believe, but we had gathered
31,640 clusters. .

Then there was great interest in calculating the share-
of the prize money. Everybody got a prize —no one
was disappointed. As most of us expected, Rudolph
came first. He had gathered 2264 clusters. With the
special prize of 4o cents and, siéio of $5.00, his prize
amounted to 75 cents. Little Catherine Stivers got 11
cents. She was as proud as Rudolph. This seems to
me a very fair way to divide prize money.

Suggestions

1. Procure a copy of Comstock’s Insect Life for your school library and
send to the Department of Agriculture for bulletins. Add ‘other insect
books from time to time as the interest in reading about insect life grows.

Much Magnified

SANVOSE SCALE

INFESTED PEAR TwiG
Magnified

Face p. 178

Sree ran eam:

eee

In GRASSHOPPER TIME

OUR INSECT STUDIES 179

Sanderson’s Insects of Field, Farm, and Garden and Weed’s Farm Friends
and Farm Foes are good books to have in a school.

2. If specially interested in butterflies—and a great many people are—
procure a copy of the small Butterfly Guide Book by Reed. It is a com-
panion book to his Bird Guide and has colored pictures of our common
butterflies.

3. Arrange for a visit to a local apiary for a practical lesson on bee-
keeping. Find out if your district is considered to have enough bees to
fertilize the orchards and collect the honey available in buckwheat, clover,
basswood, and wild flowers. If not crowding the territory too much,
make a start in bee-keeping.

4. Paste in your Rural Science Note Book interesting newspaper clip-
pings that deal with insects. Insert also drawings of insects made at
school and compositions that may be written on such subjects as the House
Fly, the Mosquito, the Cabbage Butterfly, after making a study of these
insects.

5. Though mites are not, strictly speaking, insects (they have four
pairs of legs and belong to the same class of animals as spiders), make a
special study of these poultry pests and learn the best methods of control-
ling them. It is a shame to allow poultry to be infested with them.

6. Organize a fly-swatting campaign in your neighborhood, or what
is better, a screen-door and window campaign. Simple homemade win-
dow screens can be made cheaply by the boys. Wire can be bought by
the roll for this purpose.

7. If the school has a good cabinet in which to keep it, a collection of
common insects might very well be made by the pupils. But a collection
that cannot be well kept and which will likely be neglected and destroyed,
should not be made.

8. In making individual collections, pupils should pay special atten-
tion to harmful insects and if possible have the life histories represented.

CHAPTER ol

Our Health — The Plans of the Booneville School for
Making Boys and Girls Well and Strong

| I

SW RRSEZ

VFI

MASS iaagg

What would you think of a person who carelessly allowed a valuable
farm that he had received from his parents to slip through his fingers?
Many who have lost their health would give more than a farm to

regain it.
Good health is one of the priceless treasures of life.
If you have it, guard it well, for your usefulness and your happiness

depend upon it.

Poor health is frequently due to ignorance.
to poverty. You must learn to fight against those evils.

Accidents may be the cause of impaired health and strength, or may
even result in death. Learn to avoid them or to deal with them properly

Sometimes it is traceable

if they should occur.
The country needs:healthy boys and girls.
For your country’s sake and for your own sake, Be Strong.
Keep Well!

OUR HEALTH 181

I think it must be because she herself is not very strong
that our.teacher, Miss Jepson, has taken so much interest
in our lessons in hygiene. She knows the value of good
health, or rather, she knows the disadvantages of poor
health. She has never missed any day’s teaching since
she commenced her work in our school last fall, but she
must often have felt like staying at home. You see,
she is very plucky. She also takes the best possible care
of herself and so keeps at work steadily. Often she says
to some of the older girls, when she chats with us, ‘Take
care of your health, girls. Good health is a priceless
possession.”

Our neighborhood is not considered unhealthy. We
have a fair share of people who live to be past their three
score and ten. Old Mr. Shoultz, Menno’s grandfather,
is eighty-two, and as active and bright as most men at
sixty. The doctor never made much from him. Old
Mrs. Lynch is the most famous of our sickly people.
She has had almost every sickness imaginable, and can
talk about them by the day — if any one will listen. But
few care for this kind of health talk. There is a good
deal of rheumatism among the older people. One family
has suffered several losses from consumption in the pas
ten years.

Miss Jepson not only looks after her own health, but
she guards ours while we are at school. For accidents
she keeps what she calls an “emergency kit” in her
desk. She has shown this to us and explained its uses:
It contains a small bottle of disinfectant, a roll of bandag-
ing, some absorbent cotton, and carron oil. The kit
has frequently come into use. One day last winter
Lloyd Harris burned his hand pretty badly on the stove.

182 RURAL SCIENCE READER

The carron oil was applied, and the pain was soothed
very quickly. Only a few weeks ago little Harry Scott
cut his foot on a piece of glass in front of the school. We
had a fine lesson on disinfecting and bandaging while
watching Miss Jepson attend to poor Harry. Some of
us helped her, of course. It was hard on Harry to have
the wound cleaned of every trace of dirt, but he stood
the ordeal bravely. We have learned how to treat nose
bleeding too. That occurs pretty often.

Her care extends beyond accidents. If any one can-
not see easily what is on the blackboard, she makes him
go up’ close to read it. Edwin Stark seemed to be short-
sighted, and had to do this before he got his glasses.
She also believes in having fresh air. At recess she gives
the school a good airing, and she has arranged boards
under two of the windows so that fresh air can flow in.
When any pupils reach the school with wet feet and wet
clothes, she sends them home, for she says that one day’s
schooling lost in this way is better than a week lost from
a bad cold and the possibility of having more than a
cold. She is more like a mother to us than a teacher.
When she notices signs of sickness coming on any one,
such as a flushed face or a headache, she generally sends
him home with a note to his mother, or goes home with
him after school is dismissed. It is no wonder every one
likes Miss Jepson.

I think every one enjoys the lessons on Health. The
information we gather from them is as valuable as the
knowledge we gain in studying Geography or History.
Miss Jepson often lets us suggest the topic ourselves,
and we generally choose something that is commonly
talked of at the time. When the outbreak of infantile

OUR HEALTH 183

paralysis occurred in some of our larger cities, we dis-
cussed that disease for a lesson. When Will Moore
came home from Camden feeling unwell and developed
typhoid fever, we had a talk on the cause and treatment
of that disease. When our soldiers were getting ready
to go overseas to fight in France, we read articles that
told how their health was guarded and how they were
treated when sick or wounded. This made two very
interesting lessons. A number of pictures were shown
of first aid, hospitals, ambulances, and nurses.

In preparing our lessons we use two Health Readers
and a book on Home Nursing that are in our school
library. They are very good for simple matters. We
get as much or more information also from papers and
magazines, or by asking questions at home.

To direct ‘our studies Miss Jepson has put a list of
Health Topics on our bulletin board. There seems to
be no end to the things that concern one’s health. These

are the topics: —

SCHOOL SANITATION

Ventilation
Heating
Lighting
Seating
Cleaning
Disinfecting

Home SANITATION

Location of Home

Ventilation and Heating
Water Supply

Value of Sunlight

Disposal of Refuse

Protection against Flies
Protection against Mosquitoes

CHILDREN’S DISEASES

Measles
Whooping Cough
Scarlet Fever
Chicken Pox
Diphtheria
Infantile Paralysis

HEALTH RULES GOVERNING
Eating
Drinking
Sleeping
Resting
Working
Playing
Travelling

184

Reading
Breathing

Home NuRSING
Diets
Cooking for Patients
Care of Sick Room
Poultices
Care of Babies
Care of Old People
Bandaging
Treatment of Burns
Treatment for Tuberculosis
Treatment of Colds

MEDICINES

Disinfectants

Salves and Ointments
Common Medicinal Herbs
A Home Medicine Chest
Patent Medicines

Care with Poisons

COMMUNITY SANITATION

Duties of District Health Officers
Duties and Powers of Board of Health
Laws relating to Outbreaks of Disease
Protecting Water Supplies

Work of Public Health Nurse

SCOURGES
Tuberculosis
Cholera
Bubonic Plague
Yellow Fever
Smallpox
Spanish Influenza

RURAL SCIENCE READER

PERSONAL HYGIENE

Care of Teeth

Care of Eyes

Care of Ears

Care of Hands

Care of Finger Nails
Cleanliness of Body
Cleanliness of Clothing

ACCIDENTS

Nose-bleeding

Cuts

Stings

Sprained Ankle
Choking

Fainting

Poisoning

Rusty Nails
Apparent Drowning
How to handle Firearms
Clothes on Fire
Specks in Eye

Wonvbers oF MopERN MEDICINE

Anaesthetics
Surgery
X-Rays
Radium
Inoculations
Skin Grafting
Bone Grafting

HABITS
Use of Tobacco
Use of Alcohol
Use of Coffee
Use of Tea
Use of Drugs

We had a good deal of fun the day we discussed patent
medicines. If some of the proprietors could have heard

OUR HEALTH 185

the praises that were given their wares, they very likely
would have paid a good price for them as advertisements.
On the other hand, there were things said about other kinds
that were not very complimentary. Including salves,
lotions, and cough syrups, we made a list of thirty-five
different sorts that were used more or less in the neigh-
borhood. Miss Jepson did not take much part in the
discussion. She expressed the opinion, though, that there
was a great deal of money wasted in buying such medi-
cines.

Our Health Debates, as we called them, have been
interesting. Our first one was on the subject: Resolved,
that health ts more to be desired than wealth. Marion
Maitland was the leader of the affirmative side and Jack
Christie the leader of the negative. Marion’s side won.

Our second debate was on the subject: Resolved, that
life in the country is safer and healthier than life in the
city. It seems strange, but the negative side had a few
more arguments in favor of the city than the affirmative
had for the country. We are busy now collecting all
the proverbs that are known in the neighborhood con-
cerning health. My mother told me a funny one a few
days ago that she often heard her mother use about
any child who was delicate, ““He’ll never scratch an
old head.”

Tuesday we had our lesson on the treatment of the
apparently drowned. There was a good deal of merri-
ment at first. Miss Jepson wanted to show us in a
practical way how a drowned person should be handled,
and called for a volunteer. The boys were shy, but at
last Menno Shoultz consented to lie down and be “oper-
ated’? upon. It was really funny to see him grinning

186 RURAL SCIENCE READER

and winking while supposedly he was having the water
jerked out of his lungs and the air pumped in. But
though it was funny, I do not think we shall forget the
lesson. Miss Jepson thinks every person should learn
to swim.

There was a good deal of excitement in the school in
the spring over our health inspection. It was arranged
for i, the Women’s Institute of the county. At one
oa a1 of their meetings during the
ay : winter a district health of-
ficer had given an address
on the care of school chil-
dren’s health. He explained
how school authorities were
dealing with the matter in
many places, and how our
county might make a be-
ginning. He suggested that

First Aid for the Drowning— a few schools join together

Getting Water : :
oa Ge Lae Tonnes and have a test inspection
in the spring.

Mrs. Stevens, Jessie’s mother, was at the meeting.
As Jessie has had a good deal of trouble with her teeth,
and, besides, does not see very well, she was naturally
interested and promised to bring the subject before our
Mothers’ Club. She was appointed one of the com-
mittee to arrange for carrying out the scheme.

The Mothers’ Club was strongly in sympathy with
the project. The discussion showed that there was
much need of doing something. Many of the young
people in the district had paid dearly for neglecting the
care of their teeth. There were also four deaf people

| iN
ba

- EEA

OUR HEALTH 187

and several who had to wear glasses. Many of the older
people were sufferers from bad teeth and poor health
generally. Every one seemed to realize that this was a
good chance to save the children in the school trouble
and expense in the future. The Club voted $5.00 for
our school’s share in the expenses. The trustees were
willing to have the inspection take place. Mr. Scott
and one or two others offered to share in the expenses
themselves.

Five other schools agreed to the scheme. The county
committee arranged with Dr. Bancroft of Denfield to
make the inspection. Miss Harvey, an experienced
school nurse, was secured from Amherst to help Dr.
Bancroft. For our school the inspection was announced
for Monday morning, May 17.

The pupils looked forward to the inspection with
different feelings. Some of the little folks were a bit
frightened. We all were curious. A few of our mothers
came, and Mr. Scott represented the trustees. Dr.
Bancroft was very nice; so was Miss Harvey. We were
examined one by one. There was nothing very dreadful
about it. The doctor was quite jocular with us, and
Miss Harvey helped to make us feel at ease.

They examined our teeth and throats first. Then
they tested our eyes and hearing. What they noted,
they put down on a printed paper. Our school gave a
pretty good account of itself. While there were a great
many defects found, there were not so many as in some
of the other schools. The report on the six schools was
printed; this is it:

188 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Children examined With defects
Booneville School 22 15
Parkhill School 27 20
Craighurst School 18 15
Strathdale School 36 29
Bradfield School 36 30
Hampstead School 20 16
Total 159 125 Percentage 78.6

There were no serious defects found. At least, they
were not so serious that they could not be remedied.
Edwin Stark’s eyes, as we all knew, were not right. The
doctor said he should get glasses right away, and he now
wears them. Jessie Stevens, too, needed glasses. One
of little Harry Scott’s ears had something wrong with
it. The doctor explained it to Mr. Scott, who took Harry
to town the next day to see the doctor. Ten of us had
bad teeth that needed attention. Marion Maitland
and Mabel Christie had adenoids. Bert Christie had
enlarged tonsils.

Our Health Inspection has accomplished a great deal
of good. Nearly all of us have been taken to doctors
or dentists and had our defects attended to. We shall
have better teeth, better sight, and better hearing than
we should have had if there had been no inspection. It
has made people more interested in our school, too. This
helps Miss Jepson in her work.

Suggestions

1. Invite your local health officer or the public health nurse to give
you a talk at your school. If a former pupil of your school who has trained
as a nurse should be visiting at her old home, ask her also to address you.

2. Calculate the losses to the effective service of your school which re-
sult from sickness. Compare the number of days of absence with the
total days of attendance. Find the percentage of loss.

OUR HEALTH 189

3. Some women’s organizations arrange to bring country pupils who
have to have simple operations for tonsils or adenoids to a central village
or town on a certain day, and to have a special doctor and nurse operate
on them.

4. Purchase an emergency kit for your school, and learn to make
use of it. For your home arrange for a convenient shelf or cabinet to keep
similar appliances. Take special care to protect against the wrong use
of poisons.

5. Help to make things sanitary about your school. Do not leave
anything about that will attract flies. Arrange for a covered garbage
can. Keep the outbuildings clean and disinfected. Protect the drinking
supply. Have you individual drinking cups? Have you a wash basin
and sanitary paper towels?

6. Make yourselves acquainted with the laws that govern attendance
at school in case of an outbreak of an infectious disease in your home.
What are the duties and the powers of the district medical health officer?
As a good citizen who has regard for the well-being of his neighbors, be
loyal to the health laws of your state.

7. If there is a children’s hospital in your state, take a practical in-
terest in it. Some schools take up a collection once a year or give part of
the proceeds of a school concert, to such an institution. Some send gifts
of flowers, picture books, playthings, or dolls’ dresses to the little patients.
If there is a pupil from your school away at a hospital, do not forget him;
write to him and send him treats.

8. Teachers and pupils may have an interesting lesson in testing eye-
sight by means of simple charts. Who has the best sight in the school?
Hearing tests carried out with the pupils blindfolded and a watch held at
different distances from each ear are also of value. Who has the acutest
hearing? Who has the soundest teeth?

CHAPTER XXIV

Our School Savings Bank — Page Crossing School Becomes a
Partner with Uncle Sam in Money Saving

THRIFT CARD

Take good care of your Zarit Card. \f your — Thrift Stamps are on sale at post offices,
Thiift Card is\ost the money paid for slamps banks, trust companies, and other author-
can not be recovered. ized agencies.

A flix only 25-cent US.Government Thrift Stamps in spaces below. Do nof use Postage Stamps
9 13

2 |The tirst principle of money- Manya little
making is money saving. makesa mickle.

Save and have.

10 14

Don't put off fill Saving creales Great oaks from little

Your second slamp here.
P to-morrow. Independence, acorns grow.

Your country invites you to save money, makes it easy for you to do
so, and allows you interest as long as it has the use of your savings. Either
the Post Office Department or the Treasury Department will be your
banker.

You are urged to be saving not only because your country wants to have
the use of your surplus money, but also because it wants you to be a thrifty
citizen. People who save make good citizens. People who waste are a
weakness to the nation.

The savings of the people are the wealth of the nation.

The world does not like mean, grasping, stingy people, but it honors
those who make themselves independent by the patient practice of saving.

Learn to earn, learn to spend, learn to save, learn to lend to your Gov-
ernment — and do not neglect to give!

The Page Crossing School was trained in saving habits
before the necessities of the war brought forth the cam-
paigns to buy War Savings and Thrift Stamps. We

OUR SCHOOL SAVINGS BANK IQI

are rather proud of ourselves, thinking that we have been
so progressive. For two years our school was loaning
its savings to the Government before there was a
national appeal. Our teacher is to be thanked for this.

When Miss Bonner came to our district she went to
board at the Ritter’s. Mr. and Mrs. Ritter were people
who had been brought up to be saving, and they were
trying to train their children in the same habit. Nothing
that might be of use was ever wasted either in the house
by Mrs. Ritter or on the farm by Mr. Ritter. The
children were required to be careful of their clothes, of
their shoes, and even of their school books. No one was
allowed to escape cleaning his plate at the table.

Mr. Ritter had a saying, “Keep a thing for seven
years, and you will find a use for it,” and certainly it
seemed to be true with him. He was always able to
find something with which to make repairs, whether it
was a bolt for some machine or a piece of leather for
broken harness. And just as the house showed Mrs.
Ritter’s good care and management, the farm with its
well-kept fences and gates, its neat buildings, its thrifty
livestock, and its carefully stored machinery showed
that Mr. Ritter was a man of ideals.

All the children, except the baby, had savings banks.
Fred, who was eleven, had gathered together nearly
nine dollars. Nina, who was nine, had over four dollars,
and Bertha, who was six, had quite a respectable pile
of pennies. The children were naturally proud of their
savings and interested Miss Bonner in telling her how
they had gathered them.

Mr. and Mrs. Ritter did not believe in giving their
children money without its being earned in some way.

1g2 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Fred had been allowed five cents a week when he was
eight for helping with the chores, and this had been raised
to ten when he was nine, fifteen when he was ten, and
now he was getting twenty cents a week. Out of this
he had to buy his school books and give to the Sunday
School. Nina had been given the same allowances as
Fred by her mother for helping in the house work.

Miss Bonner herself had been brought up to be say-
ing, and as a teacher believed in it as a good training for
children. She talked the matter over with Mr. Ritter,
who was one of the school trustees, and found him
favorable to making it part of the school work. There
was no difficulty in getting the community interested.
Miss Bonner explained her plans at a mothers’ meeting,
and all the women approved of it heartily and promised
to support her.

Mr. Ritter secured the consent of the other school
trustees to trying the scheme. Their plan was to en-
courage the children to buy postal savings cards and
stamps and start accounts in the Post Office Savings
Bank. Mr. Ritter offered to give the free use of ten
dollars to enable Miss Bonner to keep a supply of the
cards and stamps on hand for sale in the school. The
other trustees thought, however, that it was only fair
that the district’s money should be used for this purpose,
as it was for the welfare of the school. Accordingly
ten dollars of the school funds was loaned to Miss Bonner
to enable her to carry on her scheme at the Page Crossing
School.

From the beginning the undertaking was a success.
It could not fail to be such when all the patrons of the
school were sympathetic and Miss Bonner was enthu-

_OUR SCHOOL SAVINGS BANK 103

siastic. She invited Mr. Carson, the postmaster at
Middletown, to come to the school one Friday after-
noon and tell about the Postal Savings System and ex-
plain how our school could play its part in our Govern-
ment’s plans to encourage thrift. The next Monday
morning when “Our Bank,” as we called it, opened, Miss
Bonner sold seven savings cards and twenty-three sav-
ings stamps. Every boy and girl who was old enough
became a partner with “Uncle Sam” in saving money.
For nearly two years the work went on successfully.
There was never a Monday morning that at least two
or three and sometimes seven or eight did not buy stamps.
Just as soon as the boys and girls reached ten years of
age, they turned their savings into the School Bank.
Our deposits altogether totalled over two hundred dol-
lars up to the close of 1917.

When the War Savings and Thrift Stamp campaign
opened, it did not take us long to take up the challenge.
We were already trained in saving. Our Post Office
Savings deposits were exchanged for Savings Stamps,
and our new savings were used to purchase Thrift
Stamps. We have done better in this than we did in the
Post Office Savings, for there has been much enthusiasm
throughout the neighborhood. I think every one in
the Page Crossing School District is represented in
some way as a financial partner of the Government.
The school alone has loaned over five hundred dollars to
“Uncle Sam’? — without counting the bonds that were
bought for some of the children by their fathers. That
is pretty good for one little country school, isn’t it? It
makes us feel proud to be able to help our country in
these ways.

194 RURAL SCIENCE READER

THE UNITED STATES POSTAL
SAVINGS SYSTEM

Is a valuable aid in the practice of
ECONOMY AND THRIFT

Deposits are absolutely safe.

Any person ten years old or over may open an account.

A married woman may deposit in her own name.

One dollar will open an interest-bearing account.

Any number of dollars may be deposited, and at any time, until
the balance to the credit of the depositor amounts to $1,000.

Interest at the rate of two per cent a year is allowed.

Savings cards and savings stamps may be purchased at ten cents
each.

Deposits may be exchanged for United States bonds of small de-
nominations.

Withdrawals may be made at any time.

Call at the post office for additional information.

A. M. DOCKERY,
Third Assistant Postmaster General.

Suggestions

1. How much has, your school loaned to the Government? Keep a
record on the bulletin board of the growth of the amount from month to
month.

2. Make a study of the different War Loans made by the Government.
Borrow copies of different bonds and examine these in class.

3. Calculate the interest on the amounts paid for War Savings Stamps
to prove the correctness of the statement that they return 4 per cent com-
pounded.

4. Let the pupils send to the Division of Postal Savings, Post Office
Department, Washington, or call at the nearest post office that receives
savings, for information. Study your country’s plans for encouraging
thrift.

OUR SCHOOL SAVINGS BANK 195

5. If a nearby bank has an easily managed plan for receiving deposits
from country schools, ask one of the bank officials to visit the school and
help to organize your school for systematic saving if it is not already en-
gaged in this enterprise in some other way.

6. Add to your school library some books which deal with saving,
such as Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, Waste Not, Want Not Stories
by Johnson, and How Boys and Girls Can Earn Money, by Bowsfield. Per-
haps you can get a good picture showing the advantages of thrift and the
dangers of waste.

7. Invite a speaker to address your school on earning, spending, and
saving money. Through the Farmers’ Club encourage fathers to allow
children a share in the profits from their work in keeping chickens, raising
a pig, feeding a calf, etc. Through the Home-makers’ Club encourage
the mothers to make the girls allowances and to allow them to assist in
shopping and keeping of family accounts.

8. Collect proverbs or old-fashioned sayings that are used in your
community with reference to saving. Keep one of these printed on the
blackboard and replace frequently.

g. Correspond with another country school that has a savings bank
and compare results and experiences.

to. Invite an agent for insurance or some one who is well informed on
the subject to explain the principles of life insurance, the buying of an-
nuities, etc.

11. Ask among the old people of your district for stories of the early
settlers and their thriftiness. They will likely be able also to relate other
stories of people who wasted fortunes, of others who needlessly got into
debt and misused their opportunities to provide for an independent old
age.

12. Work out arithmetic problems which show how small savings in-
crease by the compounding of interest, how profitable it is to care for farm
machinery, how labor-saving appliances in the home save in time and
energy, how doctor’s bills may be saved by proper clothing or care.

13. Do you keep an account of your personal expenses? You will find
it worth while training yourself to do this, especially if you plan to put
yourself through college or to save money to go into some line of business.
How much did you spend last year? How much did you earn? How
much did you save? How much did you give?

CHAPTER XXV

Our Home and School Club — The Franklin School Makes
Progress when the Women of the District Join to Dis-
cuss Educational Matters

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A country community has three great forces within and about it — the
Home, the School, and the Church.

Happy that community that has them bound together in the spirit of
coéperation!

These three forces are very closely related.

If there are good Homes, there will likely be a good School and a good
Church.

If the community has always had a good School, you may expect to
find a good Church and good Homes.

And if the Church has been the right kind, the Homes and the School
will be almost assuredly the right kind.

Good Homes, good Schools, and good Churches are the spiel foundation
for good Citizenship.

A great many Home and School Clubs have been
formed in different parts of our country and in other

OUR HOME AND SCHOOL CLUB 197

countries. We have had one of these in our district for
the last two years. It has brought many benefits to the
school and the neighborhood.

It was started by our minister, Mr. Larsen. Before
he went to college to study to be a preacher, Mr. Larsen
taught school out west. He has always been interested
in schools, and when he had charge of the church at
Greenvale before coming here, took part in forming what
was called a Parents’ and Teachers’ Association for the
Greenvale School.

Mr. Larsen had not been long among us before he called
at the school. We all enjoyed his visit. He told us
some interesting stories of his own school days and of
his teaching experiences in Dakota. Miss O’Neill was
our teacher then. I think she was very glad to find some
one who was interested in the school. She had not
been in the district very long and felt that the community
did not concern itself very much about school matters.
Certainly our school was not much to boast of.

Our minister proved to be a good friend of the school
in other ways. Wherever he visited, he always asked
how the children were getting on at school, and if the
chance came, heard some of them read or recite. At
church, too, he did not forget the school. He looked on
it, as he said, as the partner of his church. He began
to make people think about the school more seriously
than they had done. For the most regular attendance
until Easter he offered two prizes of books, one for the
winner among the boys and another for the girls. When
he suggested to Miss O’Neill the forming of a Home and
School Club, she readily agreed, for he promised to help
her. They talked over the plans with several of the

198 RURAL SCIENCE READER

women of the district and every one seemed to be in
favor of them.

Accordingly, on Monday of the next week Miss O’Neill
proposed to us that we have an Ai Home at the school on
Friday. She explained her plan and asked us if we would
help. Of course we all agreed. None of us had seen
any of our grown-up friends at the school, but we thought
they would enjoy coming if they were asked. We began
at once to make preparations. Alice Gregory and my-
self were to arrange for the invitations. Gladys. Rudell
and Dora Thomas were to see about decorating. The
girls in grades four and five were to tidy up the school and
the boys were to help in this and also clean up outside.
We practiced two songs for the occasion. |

On Wednesday we sent out our invitations. Miss
O’Neill showed us how to write them out and also how
to make a simple little sketch like our school at the top
of each. They looked very pretty. One was sent to
every home in the district. Most of them were delivered
by the pupils, but a few were put in the mail boxes. The
men were not invited, as they were all too busy to come.

Friday was a beautiful day. It was also a busy day
in the school. At noon Gladys and Dora printed ‘“ Wel-
come to Franklin School’ on the blackboard and _ar-
ranged a few bouquets on the teacher’s desk and the
window sills. Some of our maps and a few drawings
were hung about the school. After dinner the boys
carried over some chairs from Gregory’s and the girls
tidied up the school again. I don’t think it had looked
so clean for a great many years. We were all very proud
of ourselves and our school. We wondered what our
mothers and sisters would think. Shortly before three

OUR HOME AND SCHOOL CLUB 199

o’clock our guests began to arrive. Alice Gregory and
Harry Taylor were the Reception Committee. Alice
introduced Miss O’Neill to those who had not yet met
her, and Harry showed them to seats. Almost every
family in the district was represented. There were
about twenty guests in all. Mr. Larsen was present, of
course. Some of the visitors had not been in the school

Miss O’Neill and the pupils of Franklin

School extend a hearty invitation to Mrs.
George Thomas and Miss Mary Thomas to
an At Home to be held at the School on
Friday afternoon at three o’clock.

Franklin School
October rst, 1915

since their school days. They all seemed to be interested
and pleased with what they saw. I know from the way
my mother looked that she was proud of our enterprise.
Of course, I had been telling her every day what we were
doing.

The program was quite simple. Miss O’Neill
told the company that she was glad to see so many pres-
ent. She had just wanted them to get acquainted with

200 RURAL SCIENCE READER

their own school and to see what kind of work it was
doing. Then we sang one of our songs. Next a half
hour was spent in reading, -spelling, and arithmetic.
We had some fun over the mental arithmetic questions.
Miss O’Neill asked the visitors to try them too. Only
one or two of them could keep up with us and get the
answers. We had been having a good deal of practice
at this work and could figure as fast as Miss O’Neill
could give us questions. Then we sang again and Miss
O’Neill dismissed us for the day. Of course none of
us went home. Some of us older girls remained in the
school. The others played and waited about until our
friends came out.

In the school, after the neighbors had a chat and looked
about at the maps and drawings, Miss O’Neill gave them
a little talk. She explained that she would like to have
them help her in her work. She could not do it alone.
She wanted them to come to the school often and dis-
cuss matters about the school and children’s welfare.
She then called on Mr. Larsen to explain what Home and
School Clubs were and what work they could do. He
pointed out how important the school was and how our
school could be improved. He advised them to form a
little Club and to codperate with Miss O’Neill in every
way possible.

Every one thought it was a good idea. Mrs. Alderson
moved that a Club be formed, Mrs. Thomas seconded
the motion, and this was carried. Miss O’Neill then
read the Constitution and By-laws that were used by
other Clubs, and by another motion these were adopted.
The election of officers then took place. My mother
was made president; Mrs. Alderson, vice-president;

OUR HOME AND SCHOOL CLUB 201

Miss O’Neill, secretary-treasurer, and Mesdames Thomas,
Gregory, Carruthers, and Snider, members of the com-
mittee. Every part of the school district was represented
by these.

From the very beginning the meetings were a success.
Every one seemed to enjoy coming to the school. The
program that was carried out for the remainder of the
first year was as follows:

November — What the school aims to do: Mr. Larsen

December — History of the Franklin School: Mrs. Alderson

January — What we should do to improve our school: Mrs. Snider

February — Children’s health: Mrs. Gregory

March — What I read about schools elsewhere: Miss O’Neill

April — Health inspection of schools: Dr. Hepburn

May — Report of county convention: Mrs. Dawson.

Occasionally some of the men came to the meetings.
When Dr. Hepburn spoke on the Medical Inspection of
Schools, there was a large attendance. His meeting was
arranged for the evening and was held at the church.
People came from beyond the district to hear him.

The Franklin Home and School Club did not merely
hold meetings and talk. It also did things, or it got
things done. Many improvements resulted. These did
not come at once, but gradually. The Club has been in
operation now for two years. In that time the school-
house has been nicely painted inside and out. A new
floor has been laid. This summer a new heating and
ventilating system was put in. Half the school has
been. provided with new single desks. A school library
has been started. A community bee was held to plant
trees and level the grounds. |

There are other things to be done yet. And they very
likely will be done, for the people are anxious to have a

202 RURAL SCIENCE READER

first rate school. If you could see our school next year you
would likely find a new fence around the grounds and a
cement sidewalk from the road to the front door. Per-
haps you might find a piano in the school.

It pays to have a Home and School Club in a district.
I don’t mean that it brings any one more money, but it
brings other things that count for more than money.

CONSTITUTION

Name — This society shall be called the Franklin Home and School Club.
Objects — The objects of the club shall be:

A. To develop coéperation and sympathy between the Home and the

School.

B. To improve and beautify our school and its surroundings.

C. To advance the all-round educational interests of the neighborhood.

D. To foster the social spirit of the people in the community.
Membership — Any person interested in the welfare of children and in

their education shall be eligible for membership.

By-Laws

Officers — The officers of the Club shall be a President, Vice-President, a
Secretary-Treasurer, and four others.

Election of Officers —The election of officers shall be held at the first
meeting of the year.

Meetings — Regular meetings shall be held at 3 p.m. on the last Friday
afternoon of each month from October until May, inclusive. Special
meetings may be called by the Executive Committee at any time.

Dues — The membership fee shall be twenty-five cents a year, payable at
the first meeting of the year.

Amendments — The Constitution and By-laws may be amended at any
regular meeting by unanimous consent or by a majority, if notice
has been given at a previous meeting.

A ffiliation — The Club may affiliate with any County or State Association
of Home and School Clubs, or any organization having similar objects
in view. Delegates may be appointed to attend the Annual Meetings
of these,

OUR HOME AND SCHOOL CLUB 203

ORDER OF BUSINESS

Opening song or prayer

Reading of minutes

Business arising out of the minutes
Reports of committees

New business

Program

Auk Y po

Suggestions

1. Have your Club Secretary send reports of your Club Meetings to the
local paper so that those who may not be present will be able to learn of
the Club’s activities.

2. At the close of the Club’s year, have a social meeting in the evening
in codperation with the School Trustees. Arrange for some good speaker
who can arouse enthusiasm for better education.

3. Affiliate with the other Home and School Clubs of your county or
state. Send a delegate to the annual convention. Invite a representative
of the State Association to address your Club. Subscribe for an educa-
tional journal for your Club and circulate it among your members.

4. On the day that the Home and School Club holds its meetings,
arrange to have the school made specially attractive; for example, with
fresh bouquets, the blackboard washed, the desks dusted, the windows
cleaned, maps and drawings put up, a picture and a motto on the black-
board, the book-shelves tidied.

5. Clubs should codperate with the teacher and the school trustee in
such matters as enlarged playgrounds; playground equipment; improve-
ment of the school water supply, of the outbuildings, of the fences, of the
school house outside and in; medical and dental inspection; pictures for
the school; supervision of the school garden; school fair; school picnic;
school excursion to the Agricultural College; selecting books for the school
library; school music; purchasing a piano or graphophone; hot lunches
for winter months.

CHAPTER XXvil

Our Literary Society — How the Young People of Town-
send District Kept Growing and Developed their
Abilities

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Education does not ccase when one leaves school.

Literary societies are a good means of continuing one’s education. They
make for a fine community spirit also.

Country schools may be well used by others than school children.

The young people of the community may continue their education at
them long after their regular school days are over.

The country needs alert, progressive, young leaders who will continue
to train themselves in literary, scientific, and economic subjects by read-

ing, writing, and debating.
A community whose young people cease to improve themselves is at
a great disadvantage.

A very successful Literary Society has been carried on
during the past three years in our community, which is
known as the Townsend District. Our school teacher

OUR LITERARY SOCIETY 205

and Bert Austin, who has attended the Agricultural
College for the last two years, have been the active
leaders in it. Several others have developed into lead-
ers also, so that the continuance of the Society is not
dependent now on one or two.

About fifteen years ago when the Clark family lived
here there was a good Society carried on at the school,
but after they moved away there did not seem to be any-
body left to continue it. There always have to be leaders.
Groups of young people used to meet occasionally in
social gatherings during the winter, and some took part
in church affairs, but there was no organization that
brought in everybody until the Literary Society started.

During the summer of 1916, Bert discussed the matter
with several of his friends, and they agreed to help in
any way they could, though most of them said they were
afraid they could not be of much use. He told them
how much benefit the students at the College had from
taking part in their literary societies; some thought it
was the best training that the college gave them.

Several of the older men in the district encouraged
the idea. Mr. Grant in particular supported it. He
thought the school could be used for no better purpose.
Clinton Dunn, who had come back home an invalid
after bravely trying to make his way in the world, was
in his quiet way the most interested in the scheme and
promised to help. When Miss Walker came into the
district to take charge of the school, the plan found a
strong supporter in her. She had had some experience
in such an undertaking, first at her home school and later
when she attended Normal School. With two good
leaders, both of whom were well liked, success was

206 RURAL SCIENCE READER

assured. With Clinton Dunn’s sympathy and support
it was doubly assured.

It was not long before the Society developed beyond
the plans first made. It had to move from the school
to a larger building. The meetings became so interesting
that people from beyond our boundaries asked permis-
sion to attend. Though intended for the young people
chiefly, some of our older people began to take part in
the programs and were encouraged to do so. The
older school children also were encouraged. The meet-
ings were arranged for Friday evenings, and at least one
item on every program was given by some of the
pupils. The Society represented the whole community
before its first year’s program was finished.

The work of the Society has been well told by Clinton
Dunn, who acted as Corresponding Secretary, in a report
made to the Agricultural College. One of the Depart-
ments of the College keeps in touch with country Literary
Societies and assists them in every way it can. This is
part of the report; it was printed in one of the College
bulletins:

““The Townsend Literary Society represents the entire com-
munity in a way that no other organization we have is able to
do. There is practically no age or other limit to membership,
and the annual fee of fifteen cents can hardly be prohibitive to
any one. The membership has grown steadily each season
for three years, and is now about two hundred. Many are
frequent visitors who have not become actual members, but
the only distinction between the members and the others is
that the former pay their membership fee of fifteen cents for
the whole season, while the latter pay five cents admission for
each meeting they attend, and therefore it costs them more.

OUR. LITERARY SOCIETY 207

“The official name is The Literary, Social, and Debating
Society, but this is too ponderous a title for everyday use. We
use Literary Society for convenience, but it is really too re-
stricted to represent correctly the varied interests of our mem-
bers. Rural Improvement Society would be more accurate.
We have the usual officers, except that there is an Honorary
Council composed of six prominent men and women who are
frequently called in consultation at the committee meetings,
and a Corresponding Secretary, whose sole duty is to keep
the society advertised in the local press. The regular reports
and announcements are made as interesting as possible, and
this policy has helped largely to spread the interest in our
meetings over such a wide district.

“The Society meets every Friday night from the beginning
of January till the end of March. A motion to hold the meet-
ings only once a fortnight was defeated when brought up at
the beginning of the last season. To arrange and prepare for
a dozen interesting and helpful programmes in such a short
space of time is undoubtedly a strain on the committees who
have the work in charge, but the people look forward to the
weekly outing and are reluctant to change.

“The Society met in the schoolhouse the first season, but
since then a larger auditorium has been necessary. The hall
that has been used was rather bare and uninviting, but last
season a Decoration Committee was formed, and at a cost of
less than five dollars a great improvement was made, and now
the meetings are held in more attractive surroundings than
has ever been the case before. The Society which owns the
hall was so pleased with the improvements that it passed a
resolution of thanks and sent it to the Secretary to be read
aloud to the Literary Society at the next meeting, and accom-
panied the resolution by the rebate of a week’s rent of the hall.
The hall costs $1.25 a week, and the care-taking has to be done
by the Literary Society.”

208 RURAL SCIENCE READER

“After leaving the schoolhouse the want of a blackboard was
felt, so last season a portable board was made and neatly framed
at a cost of two or three dollars and has proved a great con-
venience. For instance, our President, who is a builder, gave
a talk on Short Cuts in Building and used the blackboard to
show how to square a foundation, how to get the pitch for
rafters, and other tricks of the trade. One of our local clergy-
men gave an able address on Niagara, a district with which he
was familiar, and to illustrate his remarks he prepared with
great care a map of that region in colored chalk on the black-
board. The map was so good that it caused great regret when
it had to be rubbed off in order to write down the words of a
farewell chorus which had been composed for the audience to
sing at the final meeting. Next winter it may be necessary
to have two blackboards in order to do full justice to the talents
of our members.

‘“‘A piano is rented each season at a cost of $3.50 a month.
It is hard to keep a piano in good condition in such a place as
a public hall, and our local musicians can therefore not do
justice to themselves by their performances, but still the piano
adds greatly to the interest and pleasure of our meetings and
could not be dispensed with.

“In some places such a society as ours might be confined
to the young people, but that is not the case in Townsend; in |
fact, last winter the older members began to be afraid that
they were crowding out the young folks a little, as they found
so many important topics to discuss. Usually a debate is held
once a fortnight, but last season open discussions were some-
times held instead, by which a larger number of speakers could
take part. The first discussion was on the subject How to
make Farm Life Attractive to the Boy. One gentleman opened
the subject by a comprehensive paper, taking it up in all its
aspects, and other men and women followed, supporting or
dissenting from his views.

OUR LITERARY SOCIETY 200,

‘““A mock legislature was held for three consecutive nights.
It was modelled on the State Legislature, but ladies were in-
cluded in its membership, and there was no limitation to the
nature of the bills proposed, which included Woman’s Suffrage,
Taxation of Bachelors, and Local Improvements. The members
of the legislature sat on the stage, the Speaker fronting the
audience. The legislature was opened and closed with the
usual ceremonies, even to the playing of the National Anthem
by the band. It was the Townsend Literary Band and the
instruments were only mouth-organs, but the tune was just
the same as if played by a real band. As far as the speaking
went the session was excellent, and there were several surprises
for the audience in the new debaters who came to the front.

“During the winter the Literary Society was the means of
bringing Dr. McNally, District Officer of Health, to Town-
send to give an address on Public Health, which promises in
several instances to have good results.

“Tt should be mentioned that the Executive of our Society
holds office for a year. Although the meetings of the Society
are held during the winter only, there are always matters that
require supervision throughout the year. For instance, this
summer it is the intention to hold a picnic to give our members
a chance to get acquainted. The attendance is so large that it
is impossible, for lack of room, to hold a social evening during
the winter in the hall at our disposal, and a picnic will help to
develop the social side of our organization.

“Tn conducting a successful Literary Society the matter of
good order is of great importance, and in this respect the Town-
send Society. has not yet attained perfection. In such a large
attendance as we have reached there is bound to be a certain
element who have little concern for the serious aims of the
Literary Society, and come only for a good time. In order to
keep these interested the Society would have to confine itself
to the lightest kind of entertainment. The subjects that re-

Ke) RURAL SCIENCE READER

quire the most serious thought and careful preparation are
usually those that are treated with the least respect by the
light-headed members of the audience. The problem is to
mingle improvement with entertainment in the right propor-
tion to make the meetings helpful and enjoyable at the same
time.

“T might also say that a travelling library is being secured
and a reference bookshelf purchased, both to be kept at the
school for the use of our local societies and the general public.
A selection of the Government bulletins, reports, seed cata-
logues, etc., will be kept on file.”

May 28, 1919. CLINTON DUNN.

Suggestions

1. Send to your State Agricultural College for suggestions for organi-
zation and programs. Invite speakers from the College to address your
Society.

2. Start the meetings promptly on time and close in good time. Train
your community to be punctual. Insist on the best of conduct from every
one in the audience. Do not let your neighborhood have a bad reputa-
tion for its behavior at public meetings.

3. Hold meetings on Friday night so that older pupils and teachers may
be free to attend. Add to the school library books containing good
selections of readings and recitations, song books, and a guide for conduct-
ing public meetings and debates, for the general use of the pupils and the
members of the Society.

4. Encourage community singing. Set aside a portion of the time of
every meeting for: this. Have a competition for writing verses that will
have local interest and that can be sung to popular tunes.

5. Let your Society undertake some service. Societies that exist
merely for self-gratification or even self-improvement often fail. Selfish-
ness is deadening. Interest will be kept alive and every person concerned
will be the better for working, for example, to raise money for Red Cross or
patriotic uses, for relieving local poverty, for improving the local cemetery,
for giving playground equipment or a new fence to the school, for decorat-
ing or painting the church.

6. Inquire about th2 young people’s societies of earlier days in the set-
tlement. Have some of the older members tell of these at some of the
meetings.

SoME COSTUME GROUPS AT OUR LITERARY SOCIETY

OINOIG TOOHOS AHL OL ONIO)

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OUR LITERARY SOCIETY sae

7. Keep in touch with similar societies in adjoining districts. Arrange
friendly visits and contests in debating, spelling, and entertaining. If
your society puts on a play, it might be repeated in another district to raise
funds for some patriotic cause.

8. Keep alive an interest in the Society during the summer by means
of a picnic or an excursion. Even better than this, continue in operation
as an Athletic Society and hold a community field day at the close of the
season.

g. Arrange for outside lecturers or entertainers for one or two open
meetings of the Society during the year. But do not neglect to develop
local talent. Encourage the boys and girls of the neighborhood to take
part. Give every person something to do.

to. Devise schemes for keeping up the interest. Have an evening of
impromptu speeches on topics drawn on slips. Have a spelling match.
Borrow a phonograph. Edit a Society paper. Hold a box social. Or-
ganize a community Christmas tree. Have an auction sale, etc.

CHAPTER SGsavili
Our School Credits for Work at Home

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Do you know of the Just-Hate-To girls? They just hate washing dishes
or taking care of the baby or dusting or sweeping or mending or anything
that their mothers would like them to do.

There are a few such girls. You will notice that they are not the hap-
piest girls or the girls that increase the sum of the world’s happiness very
much.

Or do you know any of the Just-Can’t-Be-Bothered boys? They are
a fairly large family in some places. They just can’t be bothered carrying
in water, washing their faces and hands, brushing their hair, doing chores
for their fathers, or-running errands for their mothers.

You will notice that the members of this family are not as a rule the
cheery chaps that help to make the world brighter for other folks.

And do you know that in helping with the common tasks at home and
in learning to “wait on yourself” you are getting the best kind of education?

School is not the only place where one gets schooling. Home is a fine
school.

And books are not the only things from which one gets lessons. There
are fine lessons to be learned in every kind of worth-while work that comes
to one’s hand at home.

Do not miss your opportunities to learn to be a Helper!

OUR SCHOOL CREDITS FOR WORK AT HOME 213

There are two pupils in the North End School ‘who
have been much improved by Miss Northwood’s scheme
for giving credits for home work. They are Jim Davis
and Nettie Brown. Of course I do not mean that all of
us have not been improved, for I am sure we have. But
‘Jim and Nettie show the most improvement. There
was more room for improvement with them, I suppose,
than with the rest of us, though goodness knows none of
us is near perfection yet. Not quite! Miss Northwood
often reminds us that “the biggest room in the world is
the room for improvement.”

Poor Jim, as people generally spoke of him, really
did not have much of a chance until Miss Northwood
and he became friends. It was not his fault. He
was ‘‘only an orphan,” Mr. Todd used to say and made
this his excuse for keeping him home from school and
working him hard. Jim had come to live with the Todds
when he was eight years old. That was three years ago.
He had not had much schooling when he came, and he
did not get much more until this winter. Jim him-
self cared very little about the matter. He was not
very much interested in school. No one there was much
interested in him, and he was ashamed of being only in
the Third Grade with such little pupils as Elsie Kelly
and Frank Rutledge. Poor Jim would not have had
much of a chance if he had not found the kind of
teacher he needed.

It was Miss Northwood’s scheme for allowing credits
for home work that brought Jim to the front. No one
imagined Jim counted for much until his first few weeks’
total showed him to be the school’s champion worker.
When a fellow is allowed ten credits for milking a cow

214 RURAL SCIENCE READER

and has to milk two of them twice a day, and five credits
for splitting wood, and five more for putting on the fire
in the morning, and five for this and five for that, it is
not hard to run up a big score. Poor Jim was not Poor
Jim any longer —he was Rich Jim. Miss Northwood
praised him. You should have seen the look on his -
face! He began to look different. She went to see
Mr. Todd and had a talk with him. She made a friend
of Mrs. Todd.

Jim began coming to school regularly. He wanted to
learn now, and when any one wants to learn it is not
hard to win promotion. Jim made up for lost oppor-
tunities. He soon got into the Fourth Grade and now
he is in the Fifth. He is a different sort of fellow —
every one likes him and admires him too. He is a
great favorite. Even Mr. Todd has changed his opin-
ion of him and does not speak of him any longer as
“only an orphan.” School credits for home work dis-
covered Jim. Because of it there is going to be in the
world one less poor boy with little or no education. The
world can not afford to have boys with poor schooling
in these days.

Nettie Brown’s story is a different one. In some
ways it is just the opposite of Jim’s. Nettie was not an
orphan. If Mr. and Mrs. Todd were not kind enough
to Jim, Nettie’s mother and father were too kind to
her. Jim had too much work to do, and Nettie had not
enough to do. In fact, she had hardly anything to do
except go to school. She took music lessons, but she
did not like practicing and so she did not practice. Nettie
was good-hearted in some respects and she was clever in
school, but she was lazy and selfish. There was one

OUR SCHOOL CREDITS FOR WORK AT HOME 215

thing about Nettie’s misfortune that was like Jim’s —it
was not her fault.

At first Nettie did not pay much attention to Miss
Northwood’s plan for giving credits for home work.
She was not interested and neither was her mother.
When she saw, however, that her place in the class partly
depended on home work, she began to show more interest.
And she liked Miss Northwood. Nettie’s mother be-
came interested too when she heard so many of the
neighbors laughing about the way we were all hunting
around for work. It would have been pretty hard for
Nettie or any one else to stay out of the “game,” for so
we all spoke of it. Every one in the school, even down
to little Doris Wendell, who is only six years old, was
enthusiastic.

So Nettie began to practice her music and to help her
mother with the housework. She made her own bed
every morning, set the table, and helped to wash the
dishes. She even became interested in baking and did
a share of it on Saturday mornings. One Saturday be-
fore Christmas she had Miss Northwood over to spend
the afternoon and stay for supper, and Miss Northwood
did not know which was the prouder, Nettie or her
mother, for Nettie herself did all the work preparing
the meal. She had baked the bread and biscuits, made
the salad, baked the apples and everything. Miss North-
wood was very proud too, for she realized that Nettie
was growing into a very fine girl. The home credits
plan had stirred Nettie out of her laziness and selfishness.

So you see what I meant when I said Jim Davis and
Nettie Brown had been the most improved by Miss
Northwood’s scheme for allowing us credits for our work

216 RURAL SCIENCE READER

at home. Both of them have been quite changed and
a great deal for the better. One was stirred out of igno-
rance and the other out of selfishness.
A good deal could be said about some of the rest of us
too.
Suggestions

1. For suggestions for different plans of school credits, get Alderman’s
School Credit for Home Work for the school library. This book tells of the
commencement of the scheme in the Spring Valley School in the state of
Oregon.

2. Many different activities are included in different schemes. These
are a few of them. Work out your own for your school:

Household Work.— Making beds, sweeping, dusting, setting table,
washing dishes, baking, churning, washing, ironing, mending, making
fires, carrying coal and wood.

Care of Person and Health.— Washing face and hands, combing and
brushing hair, cleaning teeth and finger nails, going to bed early, arising
early, sleeping with window open.

Chores. — Caring for cows, chickens, horses, pigs; cleaning stables,
splitting wood, milking, hauling water, running errands.

Personal Improvement.— Home study, reading good books or papers,
keeping temper, politeness, attending church and Sunday School, practic-
ing music.

Business or Production Activities. — Working on holidays, raising poul-
try for sale, gardening projects, putting money in savings bank.

3. At the School Fair arrange for a contest among the boys in putting
on a patch or sewing on buttons and among the girls in sawing and splitting
kindling. A knitting. contest between boys and girls would be exciting if
the girls were fairly handicapped. Prizes might be arranged also for es-
says on home credit subjects such as, “The Uses of Girls at Home.”

CHAPTER XXVIII

Our Home Garden—A Girl’s Description of a Country Family’s
Vegetable and Small Fruit Garden,

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Our First Parents had their home established in a garden.
Some say there cannot be a real home without a garden.
Certain it is that every country home should have its garden.

What a great thing it would be for America if every home had its
garden!

“Oh, the green things growing, the green things growing,
The faint, sweet smell of the green things growing!
I should like to live, whether I smile or grieve,
Just to watch the happy life of my green things growing.

“Oh, the fluttering and the pattering of green things growing,
How they talk each to each, when none of us are knowing
In the wonderful white of the weird moonlight,
Or the dim, dreamy dawn when the cocks are crowing.

“T love, I love them so— my green things growing,
And I think that they love me, without false showing,
For by many a tender touch, they comfort me so much
With the soft, mute comfort of green things growing.”

— By Mrs. Mulock, author of John Halifax, Gentleman.

218 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Most of the people in our school district have gardens of
some kind. There are a few very good gardens. Perhaps
the Perkins have the best. Ours is one of the best, I think.

How some people get on without a garden puzzles me.
The Downings do not even grow rhubarb, and that is
about the easiest thing to grow that I know of. Of
course they grow their own potatoes, and sometimes they
put in a few cabbage plants among the turnips which are
grown for the cattle. They like other vegetables, too, for
they buy a good deal of canned stuff at the store. They
seem to think that it is too much bother to care for a
garden. Perhaps when their little girl comes to school
and gets interested with the other children in garden
work, there will be a change.

For one of our garden lessons last spring our teacher
asked us to draw a plan of our home gardens. The one
I drew of ours is not exactly right. There were some
changes made before all the planting was completed. The
plan shows Father’s ideas of making the care of the gar-
den simple. There is a large gate that permits driving
in with a wagon load of manure or bringing in the horses
for plowing. Everything is planted in long rows with
plenty of space between so that the cultivating can be
readily done.

Although many farmers think a garden is a nuisance and
a waste of time, Father thinks there is no quarter of an
acre on the farm that is anywhere nearly so profitable
as our garden. And Mother agrees with him. She says,
“Tf you are good to your garden, it will be good to you.”
And certainly our garden is good to us. Father does not
spare the manure on it. Every fall he plows in at least
five or six wagon loads.

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220 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Between the garden and the house Mother has her
flower garden. At least we call it Mother’s Garden, for
it is she who gives it the most care. But we are all in-
terested in it. There is hardly a time of the year ex-
cept winter when there is not some bloom to be seen.
Even before all the snow is gone we have crocuses showing.
Then daffodils and tulips come next. Nearly every old-
fashioned plant that you can name is in our borders, I
think: tansy, sweet Mary, bleeding heart, daisies, peonies,
hollyhock, sweet William, scarlet lightning, silver shilling,
phlox, forget-me-not, foxglove, pansy, Canterbury bells,
and my favorite, oriental poppy.

Mother is not so fond of annuals, but we usually have
some asters, nasturtiums, and sweet alyssum, about the
house. I always think there should be flowers not far
away from the vegetable garden. I suppose that is be-
cause it is this way at home.

Our garden is really like part of our home. One can _
hardly think of the home without thinking of the garden.
I do not believe it could be better located. Father and
Mother were very wise when they chose the ground di-
rectly south of our house. In fact, they built the house
where they did, so that they could have the garden on
this little slope. It is hardly ever out of sight and so is
never out of mind. Mother looks into it dozens of times
a day from our kitchen, and Father sees it as he goes to
and comes from work. Even in the winter time it is not
forgotten.

The garden is about a quarter of an acre in area. It
is 75 feet wide and 150 feet long. The soil is a deep loam.
A few years ago Father put up a good wire fence that
has proved a great satisfaction. With the old fence

OUR HOME GARDEN 220

there was never a time that the chickens or sometimes the
little pigs might not be expected to get in and make
trouble. Now it is quite secure. There are good safe
gates too. A garden on a farm needs to be especially
well protected.

Every one has a share in the garden. We always call
it “our garden.”’ We all work in it. Sometimes on a
summer evening the whole family will be working in it
at one time. There is a good deal to do in a garden the
size of ours, but Father uses the horse for some of the
cultivating, and our new wheel hoe is a great labor-
saver.

We share in the profits too. At least we children are
allowed to sell surplus products for our pocket money.
We had over $25.00 last year for ourselves, chiefly from
currants, strawberries, raspberries, and onions. There
is a good sale for asparagus, too, but we have not very
much of that to sell. We have had the hotbed only a
few years. It is really not so much trouble as most
people think, and it soon pays for itself. We have given
our neighbors a lot of things from our hotbed. We usu-
ally have more cabbage plants, etc., than we need for
ourselves.

For a garden project this year I am growing garden
seeds. I expect to have seed of beets, lettuce, carrots,
radish, parsnips, and cabbage, and of course we shall keep
seed from the cucumbers, beans, corn, and squash, as
we always do. I expect to have lots of seed to sell or to
give away. The newspapers have been warning people
that there will be a scarcity of seed next year. That is
why our teacher suggested this for my home garden
project.

222 RURAL SCIENCE READER

I hardly know what I like best about our garden.
Perhaps it is working init. I did not care for it so much
at first, but I really do like working in it now. I do not
know anything more interesting than to have a hand in
making things grow. Of course, one finds some jobs
tiresome sometimes. Picking currants on a hot after-
noon is not fun, for example. Father says he thinks my
chief interest in the garden
is the “eats,” and certainly
I do enjoy the strawberries,
and the raspberries, and
the asparagus, and the first
green peas, and the new
potatoes — and everything!
Who doesn’t?

I hardly know when I
like the garden best. Per-
haps it is in the winter

Picking Currants when I see the shelves and

the bins in our cellar stored

with all the good things. A sight of Mother’s canned

tomatoes, and corn, and peas, and beans, and beets,

to say nothing of the jars of pickles and berries and

currant jelly, is good for sore eyes! Those who grow

their own supplies in their own gardens will know what I
mean. Every home should have a garden!

wey

OUR HOME GARDEN 223

MY GARDEN

A Garden is a lovesome thing
God wot!
Rose plot
Fringed pool
Ferned grot, —
The veriest school
Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not —
Not God! in gardens!
When the eve is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign;
*Tis very sure
God walks in mine.
T. E. Brown

Suggestions

1. Organize a garden club at the school to arrange for weekly talks,
canning demonstrations, purchase of seed, School Fair exhibits, procuring
garden books, holding a garden féte, etc.

2. Estimate the area of all the home gardens in the district, not counting
fields of potatoes. Draw plans of the best gardens.

3. Make up your own garden book by pasting articles cut from papers
on separate loose leaves and binding them together in a portfolio. Keep
together articles dealing with the same subject. To this portfolio add your
records of your own gardening experiences.

4. Add good gardening books to your school library. Subscribe for a
garden magazine. Send away for seed catalogues. Keep the garden bulle-
tins published by your Agricultural College and the Department of Agri-
culture at Washington.

5. Keep in touch with the Foreign Seed and Plant Distribution Division
of the Bureau of Plant Industry (Department of Agriculture), Washington,
and test some of the new vegetables that are brought from other parts of
the world.

6. Arrange for a visit to a good local garden and a talk by the owner.
Have him explain what prize-winning vegetables should be like.

7. Hold a garden fair at the school and exhibit canned products, the
result of garden projects, etc. Auction off exhibits for patriotic funds
or give them to charitable institutions,

CHAPTER XXIXx

Our Apple Show and Orchard Study — How the Winona School
Became Interested in Fruit Growing

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Do you know any fairer sight on a farm than the fruit trees in blossom?

Do you know anything that a farm yields that is better than a good
apple?

Do you know anything that people in general are more fond of than
apple pie?

Do you know any gift made to teachers by country boys and girls so
common as apples?

Do you know anything in the country that is as much neglected as
small orchards?

Do you know how more apples and better apples may be produced from
these orchards?

Do you know anything more interesting than working with fruit trees
to make them productive?

The country wants more good apple trees, more good apples,—and more
apple pies!

Help to take better care of the orchards.

OUR APPLE SHOW 225

We have had many interesting lessons on fruit and
fruit-growing at the Winona School. Miss Staples, our
teacher, is very much interested in this subject, as she
was brought up in Stanstead County where a good deal
of fruit is grown for the market. In October she pro-
posed an apple show for the school. This aroused every-
body’s enthusiasm. It was the first one that we had,
and consequently we were all interested. ©

The display was made in the basement of the school
as we have good light there and can easily set up tables.
We had a great time for a few days searching for the
finest samples on our trees. It is harder than most
people think to find first-class specimens. The people in
the neighborhood were invited to the school, and about
twenty came. Mr. Lawson and Mr. Geyman, two of
the trustees, judged the exhibits and explained why they
placed the prizes as they did. The prizes were ribbons.
We sent all the fruit afterwards to the Children’s Shelter
in St. Clemens.

Upstairs in the school room after the judging was done
we had great fun in contests. The first was a naming
contest. Mr. Lawson held up specimens of all the
commonest varieties that had been shown, and we had
to write down their names. Some of the older folks took
part in this too. Allan Dyer was the most successful. He
named nine out of fourteen. The pupils did just as well
as the visitors. Then the boys were tested for their
smelling abilities. Six of them were blindfolded and had
to name the kinds of apples that were held under their
noses. Willie Geyman was clever at this. He knew
every one of the six varieties. They could not “fool”
him. The girls did not do so well in their tasting con-

226 RURAL SCIENCE READER

test. Alice Short was the best. She could distinguish
five of them, but I was sure only of the Talman Sweet,
Fameuse, and Golden Russet.

The week after the Apple Show we commenced what
Miss Staples called an “Orchard Survey”’ of the school
district. This took several lessons, as we had to draw
maps and make a good many inquiries. We calculated
there were about 1750 apple trees, 85 pear trees, 225
plum trees, and 300 cherry trees in the district, covering
about 600 acres of land. We found there were twenty-two
different varieties of apples represented. We could not be
so sure of the plums and pears, as people did not seem
to know different varieties as well as they did in the
case of the apples.

When we had completed the survey the older boys and
girls were asked to write a description of our home or-
chards. This is what I wrote about ours:

OUR ORCHARDS

We really have two orchards at our place. One is called the
New Orchard and the other is called the Old Orchard. The
former was set out by Father in 1911. The Old Orchard was
planted by my grandfather about fifty years ago. That was
before Father was born, but he remembers seeing the funny lit-
tle man that sold Grandfather the trees. He came around
every year to take orders for fruit trees in the neighborhood
until he was very old, and he usually stayed overnight at Grand-
father’s. He was always welcome, for he was very respectable
and had interesting stories to relate. People called him “Apple
Johnnie.” Father used to like to sit up and listen to him when
he told of his travels.

I do not think Grandfather had any special plan for his or-

Face p. 226

GATHERING APPLES

OUR APPLE SHOW 227

chard. He did not have any notion of making money from it.
It was fruit for use in the home he thought of chiefly. The new
orchard that Father set out in rgrt is different. It is a com-
mercial orchard. The crop is for selling and not for our home
use merely. Grandfather’s orchard is about an acre and a
half in extent. There are twenty-five apple trees in it besides
three pear, four cherry, and six plum trees. The wild plums

wPOCLUMP OF
Qa WILD PLUMS

FAMILY TREE
S)

TOLMAN SWEET

Plan of Our Old Orchard

are in a clump and are not counted. A few of the old apple
trees have died and been replaced by Father from time to time,
and of course new plum and cherry trees have been planted.
But it is still Grandfather’s orchard. Blessings on his head
for having given us this good old orchard! Father has cared
for it pretty well lately, but usually he leaves it in grass for the
calves and young pigs. My map shows the plan of the orchard
and the kinds of apples we have.

The orchard was planted near the house, as all the old fash-
ioned orchards were. People wanted the trees to supply fruit

228 RURAL SCIENCE READER

for their homes and so placed them where they would be handy.
I am glad they did. The orchard would not mean so much to
me if it were at a distance from the house. I would not have
become so well acquainted with it if it had not been at our very
door. It is almost part of the home. I used to have a swing
on one of the trees. Mother has a clothes line between two of
the trees. We sit out there and read in the summer. Some-
times we have our tea there. The apple trees may be getting
old and may not be worth very much for their crop, but I would
not be the person to propose to cut one of them down! Every
tree is like an old friend of Father’s. And Mother is just as
fond of them. AndsoamI. Although the New Orchard prom-
ises to bring in better money returns than the Old Orchard
did, none of us can ever think so much of it. Money is not
everything! .

I hardly know when I like our Old Orchard best. It is
beautiful in the spring when full of blossoms. It is the most
restful place in the world in the warm days of summer. In
autumn there is no happier time than the apple-picking days.
In winter, as we enjoy our apples and our preserved plums and
cherries and pears, we look out at the leafless trees with kindly
feelings for the service they have rendered us. All considered,
perhaps blossom time is the favorite time. The air is full of
color and perfume and music then. From the time the wild
plums along the fence open a mass of white until the latest apple
tree blossoms there are pleasant feasts for eye and nose every
day. The birds seem to sing their best in blossom time; with
the bees humming, they make a feast for the ear.

I am not sure which is my favorite tree; I like different
trees for different reasons. There is the old crab apple tree in
which the robins usually build a nest. I remember Father
hoisting me up above his shoulders there, when I was a wee
tot, to see the eggs and afterwards to see the little robins. I do
not care a great deal for the crab apples, though Mother makes
good jelly from them, but I like the tree as the Robin-Tree.

OUR APPLE SHOW 220

Many is the time I have climbed it myself to visit their nests.
I never get tired of seeing the blue of robins’ eggs. Then there
is the golden russet behind the house. That is where we had
our swing. It will always be remembered as the Swing-Tree.
The Family-Tree is an old Talman Sweet about twenty feet
from our back veranda. It is under that we sometimes have our
supper in summer. Father likes to read there (or take a nap!)
on Sunday afternoons.

It is also hard to choose favorites from the standpoint of
taste. At haying time I think that there is nothing so nice
as our Yellow Transparent, but by harvest time I am of the
opinion that the Red Astrakan is the finest apple in the world.
The first apple sauce made from the fruit of the Duchess of
Oldenburg is the best apple sauce, everybody declares, and a
roasted Talman Sweet when one comes home hungry from
school is delicious beyond compare. For eating in the winter
there is nothing finer than our Northern Spy, and for spring,
Russets from a pit. These are my favorite apples. How deli-
cious the wild plums are, and the cherries, and the pears, is
another story.

Suggestions

1. Sketch your favorite apple tree as a drawing exercise. Write the
“Autobiography of an Apple Tree” or the ‘‘History of my Home Or-
chard.”

2. If you have a camera, take photographs of some of your trees in
blossom, and with their loads of fruit; also any picking scenes, family par-
ties, swings, birds’ nests, etc. These pictures would make valuable addi-
tions to your “snap”’ collection.

3. In some places fruit trees or nut trees are being planted along the
roads for shade trees. Perhaps this could be done in your district. Seed-
ling trees are frequently found along the roadside fences. These might be
made to bear good fruit by grafting. Future pupils would thank you for
such a service.

4. Estimate the number of fruit trees in your district and the acreage.
Calculate the value of the total crop for the year. Find out which trees
are the most profitable. Send for catalogues of fruit trees and calculate
the cost of planting an orchard.

230 RURAL SCIENCE READER

5. Keep a record in your Rural Science Note-book of the date of blos-
soming of the different kinds of trees in your orchard, and the date the fruit
is harvested. If the fruit is marketed, record also the expense incurred in
spraying, pruning, cultivating, picking, packing, and shipping, and the value
of the crop.

6. Make a collection at school of all the different varieties of apples
grown in the neighborhood. Have a spelling lesson on their names. If
there are any varieties that cannot be named locally with certainty send
samples to the Agricultural College or Experiment Station to be named
by experts. Have tasting and smelling contests with pupils blindfolded.

7. Discuss plans for renovating old orchards. Visit any local orchards
where this is being done and have the owner explain his methods. Ar-
range for some one to show you how to prune trees and to graft.
Overhaul your home orchard as a home project.

8. Find out from the old settlers when the first orchards were set out,
where the trees were bought, and who were considered the best fruit-growers.
Perhaps some one can tell you of famous (locally) tree agents, or of men
skilled in grafting and pruning. If any old trees are being cut down in the
neighborhood, count the annual rings and find out about when they were
planted.

g. Make enquiries about old-time ‘paring bees.”’ - Find out how dried
apples were prepared and what use was made of them. Draw an old-
fashioned kitchen, showing strings of drying apples. Can any one bring
a paring machine to school? Where were the cider mills located? How
were cider-vinegar, apple-butter, and apple syrup prepared?

CHAPTER XXX

Our Potato Contest—The North Gower School Wins Places in the
County Potato-Growing Contest for Boys.

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There is much to be gained by taking part in a contest — whether it is
in raising a pig, growing corn, spelling, running, or even eating pie at a
school picnic.

But remember the chief gain is not in winning the prize, though many
people think it is. Some think so much of the prize-winning that they sell
themselves for it; they act meanly and selfishly and dishonestly. They
pay a high cost for their apparent success.

The chief gain lies in having striven worthily, in having learned to respect
and to like and even to help one’s competitors, and in having enlarged one’s
knowledge and experience in useful ways.

You may win in a contest and still be a loser!
You may lose in a contest and still be a winner!

Be a winner both ways!

Donald Brownlee and Frank Stone were great friends.
Donald was fourteen and Frank was a year younger.
Their fathers had been schoolmates before them at the

232 RURAL SCIENCE READER

North Gower School, and their mothers were cousins
who had been brought up almost as sisters. ‘Their homes
were only about a quarter of a mile apart. For seven years
they had gone to school together, played together, and
done some of their studying together. This was to be
their last year at school. Both would finish their eighth
grade work and be recommended for high school entrance.
They were big, strong lads, fond of horses, fond of shar-
ing in the work of their fathers’ farms, and though they
liked going to school well enough, they were glad that
they would not have to answer to the call of a school
bell very much longer. As their fathers before them had
done, they would soon be taking their places as steady
workers on the land. School days were about over.

It was early in May. Their help could have been used
to advantage at home, for the spring seeding, and their
fathers had been inclined to keep them from school.
But they had wise mothers. Mrs. Brownlee had always
stood for a square deal for Donald in regard to his school-
ing. She wanted her boy to have the full advantage of
his opportunities in education. She said she had seen
too many boys ‘“‘crippled for life’ by the crushing in of
farm work, and she had always managed to keep Donald
steadily at school. If she had been alone in her desires
she might have been outvoted by Donald and his father,
but she had Frank’s mother to support her at home and
Miss Lee to support her at school. Miss Lee was anxious
to have the boys complete their school studies. They
were both bright pupils and making good use of their
time. She thought it would be a discredit to the school
if they were not allowed to secure their diplomas. She
was of the opinion that they would get honor standing.

OUR POTATO CONTEST 233

So the two boys were staying on at school, feeling that
what their mothers wanted so much for them must be
worth having. And anyway, it was enough that their
mothers wanted them to do it. They were the sort of
chaps that tried to balance accounts for. all that their
mothers did for them. They didn’t shirk their share of
the farm work, however. Before and after school they
helped with the chores, and on Saturdays they gave a
good account of themselves in the fields.

One morning as they were going along on their way to
school, they saw Miss Lee ahead waiting at the cross-
roads for them. They hurried along, for they knew
there would be something of interest that she had to tell
them. She was looking over a letter and a printed circu-
lar that she had received the evening before.

‘““Good morning, Donald; good morning, Frank,” she
said as they came up. |

“Good morning, Miss Lee,” said the boys as they lifted
their caps a bit bashfully; for they had not practiced
their lesson on hat-lifting a great deal yet.

“Here is something that I think you two boys will be
interested in,” she said as she handed the letter to Donald
and the printed circular to Frank. “It is a Potato Con-
test for Carleton County for boys between twelve and
eighteen years of age. Mr. Whyte of Richmond is offer-
ing prizes and is anxious to have the schools interested.
I should like you two to consider the matter and enter
the contest as our representatives from North Gower
school.”

“Tf you will go in for it, Donald, I will,” said Frank.

“‘T believe I should like to try the work,” said Donald,
“if you think I could manage it, Miss Lee.”

234 RURAL SCIENCE READER

“Manage it! Of course you can manage it, both of
you,” Miss Lee assured them. “Do you think I don’t
know what you are capable of, after being your teacher
for two years!” she exclaimed.

“Tt is not for the prizes, though, that I wish you to
enter the contest, neither is it for the honor of the school
— though these are not unworthy reasons,” she explained.
“Tt is chiefly because I believe that you can get very
valuable training from it. It will help to educate you
for your future work. And it will have a good effect on
the school at large. The other pupils will be interested.
We can all get good lessons from it.”

“‘T see that one may enter his name up to the 15th of this
month,” said Frank, glancing at the circular.

“That gives us a week to consider the matter and make
our plans,” said Donald.

“Read the letter and circular carefully and talk over
the project with your folks at home,” advised Miss Lee,
just as they reached the school. ‘I believe they will
be pleased to have you enter for the work.”

“Ves, I think so too,” said Frank. “I heard Donald’s
father and Dad just the other night talking of putting
in more potatoes this year.”

“They are greatly needed in order to save wheat for
shipping overseas.”

The Carleton County Potato Contest for Boys was
duly talked over at the Brownlee and Stone homes. The
fathers of the two boys were quite as interested as the
boys were. So were their mothers. It did not take
them a week to decide about entering. One night was
sufficient. The next morning Donald and Frank re-
ported to Miss Lee their intention, and for their com-

OUR POTATO CONTEST 235

position exercise she had them write out their notices.
These were mailed the same day. They also wrote to
the Agricultural College and Experiment Station asking
for bulletins on potatoes.

While awaiting the bulletins, they read what they
could lay their hands on in the papers and questioned
their fathers. They saw that if they were going to com-
pete with boys from all parts of the county, it was more
than ordinary potato-growing they had to do in order
to make a creditable showing. Their fathers had not
paid particular attention to this branch of their work up
to this time, as they were more interested in live-stock.
They could not help their boys a great deal with expert
advice.

With the receipt of the bulletins, they got all the in-
formation they needed. They read these very carefully.
For the benefit of the rest of the pupils, several of whom
were going to have potato war-plots, Miss Lee asked them
to use the agricultural lesson period on Friday afternoon
for a potato talk and to make it as practical as possible.
Being full of their subject they had no trouble in dealing
with it satisfactorily. They divided it up. Donald spoke
on the best soil for potatoes, how to manure and culti-
vate the land, and how to care for the growing crop. He
showed pictures of up-to-date potato machinery from
the papers. Frank gave his talk on the best varieties,
choice of seed, how to cut the seed and to treat for scab,
and how to plant. He used potatoes that he brought
from home to illustrate his remarks about the right type
and the proper way to cut the seed.

One of the things that the bulletins laid stress on was
the quality of the seed. The very best seed procurable

236 RURAL SCIENCE READER

should be used. As Donald’s father had a very good
crop from some Green Mountain seed that he had planted
the year before, the boys. decided to grow the same. It
was one of the varieties recommended in the circular
they had received. It had been suggested that they
should carry out the work in a business-like way, so they
charged themselves with the amount for which the seed
could have been sold by Mr. Brownlee. Not having any
cash to make the payment, they gave their promissory
notes for the amount. Donald’s father did not want

North Gower, May 10, 1916

Six months after date I promise to pay John Brownlee
the sum of Two Dollars and Seventy-five cents. . . .$2.75
with interest at 6 per cent per annum.

Frank Stone

to take anything for the seed, but the boys insisted. Mr.
Brownlee was very much pleased with the boys’ method.
Seed was high, too, that year. Mr. Brownlee allowed
the boys to pick over his supply and take the best tubers
they could select.

Space does not permit telling about all the work that
Donald and Frank did on their tenth of an acre plots.
From the time they spread the manure on the ground
until the day they made their exhibits of sample bushels
at the Richmond Fair, nothing was neglected. They often
compared notes and inspected one another’s plots. There
was no jealousy. If anything they became closer friends.

OUR POTATO CONTEST 237

Early in July Mr. Merritt, the County Agent, came to
make his first inspection and to score the plots. He
complimented both on their good work. Of the thirty-
six competitions in the contest, he said, there were no
plots better kept or more promising. Naturally this en-
couraged the boys. They began to think they might have
a chance for some of the prizes. Donald hoped that
Frank would get one, and Frank hoped that Donald
would get one. They were the right sort of chums.

By the rules of the contest, the prizes were to be
awarded on the following basis: —

A. Report of County Agent on thoroughness of field culture, etc.. 100 points

B. Certified report of yield as submitted by competitor . ... 100 “
C. Award of judge on one bushel exhibit sent to Richmond Rage TOO) as
D. Written report of competitor by printed form and diary. . . 100 “

The winners therefore could not be known until the
judging was completed at the Richmond Fair.

On the 28th of September the potatoes were taken up.
Miss Lee came over to supervise this so that she could
certify to the weight. Frank’s were dug first. They
were a fine sample. The total weight was 2040 pounds
and only 35 pounds of undersized tubers. Donald’s
plot was better. There were 2360 pounds in all and
60 pounds of small sizes. No one else in the neighbor-
hood had such a crop. There were good prospects of a
high score for Donald on his yield. Frank’s would likely
score higher, though, on quality. His potatoes were
smoother than Donald’s.

The exhibit at Richmond Fair wasa fine one. Twenty-
two of the boys who had entered the contest showed
bushel samples. Twenty-two boys and many times
twenty-two of their friends were keenly interested in

238 RURAL SCIENCE READER

the judging. There was nothing else at the fair that
attracted more attention. It was announced that the
scores would be given out at two o’clock. Frank and
Donald were on hand before that hour, wondering how
they would stand in the list. So were twenty other
boys. There was a good deal of suppressed excitement
among them, but the best of good feeling prevailed. In
fact, they were chatting in friendly groups over their
experiences.

When Mr. Merritt read out Donald Brownlee’s name
first, there was a moment’s hush and then a hearty
clapping of hands. His score was 352 out of the 4oo
possible. Mr. Merritt congratulated Donald and stated
the reasons for placing him first. The winner of the
second prize was a boy from the other side of the county.
Frank came fifth. Both the North Gower boys were
surprised at their good fortune and, needless to say,
pleased. North Gower school and its teacher felt par-
ticularly proud, for did they not share in the honor?

The first six on the list had won with Green Mountain
potatoes. ‘Their scores were as follows:

Written

Field Score Vield Exhibit Total
Records
Donald Brownlee > 883 97 715 95 352
Mervin Gordon 884 93 T73 gl 350
Victor Owens QI 84 864 88 3403
Harvey Gourlay 814 go 824 92 346
Frank Stone 873 86 87 843 345
Joseph Wright go 82 81 86 339

This does not end the story of Donald’s and Frank’s
potato-growing nor of their schooling. Both boys went
back to school for the winter months, and Miss Lee gave
them special instruction in advanced branches. They

OUR POTATO CONTEST 239

are both planning to go to the Agricultural School in a
few years. In the meantime they are improving them-
selves by reading and experimenting. They have ex-
tended their potato plots and by selection and care are
winning their rights to membership in the State Potato
Growers’ Association.

CERTIFICATE OF YIELDS BY TEACHER OR OTHER PERSON NOT
DIRECTLY INTERESTED

Weight of Marketable tubers (those over 2 in. in diameter and free from disease)

2300 pounds.

Weight of diseased tubers Ao diaeeaséed tuber pounds.
Weight of small unsalable tubers (those less than 2 in. in diameter and free from

disease) 60 pounds,

Total weight of tubers on whole plot 2360 et eee ee) ee ee DOUINS:

I hereby certify that I personally supervised the digging and weighing of the
potatoes on the above mentioned plot and that the report of the yields as submitted
above is correct.

(Signed) f, Lee (Seacher)
Dated at Sorth Gower
this Tenth day of

Qclot-er 1916.

EXPENSES IN CONNECTION WITH PLOT
Rentiotlands(at rate olp3.00 pebiacte)) = em ee. seen e = p O00
Cost of labour (a) For horses (at roc. per hour each) .. ..... . B20.

(6) For competitor (at roc. per hour). ....... 00
(c) For other assistance (at 2oc. perhour) . .-... AO
Gostokmanurelatigicoo)periton) iy.) en eye ene ete 2.06
(Costrotyconimercialtentilizerss sree aie col anion olin
(CORR GH? Casals Aah a esol er aise onio™ cmon omotcmicied 2,75
(Costotisprayineamatenialleicmismcmr Aine om setae? seal Orcine a i: VEG

EDOtall COSEAMMS EME IC EO he dec cia ee be abet cuter fen! ‘ $6. 60

240 RURAL SCIENCE READER

RECEIPTS
Total value of salable potatoes on plot at 60c. per bushel . ..... $23.00
Value of unsalable tubers at roc. per bushel . .......... : SG:
Totalivalue’ (2 Sli. on 0k, ots Sut eh Oe et ee ee $23./0

STATEMENT OF PROFIT AND LOSS

Motalivaluciolcroprasiabovierte ss nent alee eaten neers ee $20. JO
Totalscosttof-productiom’ © - es ws Basalt be hee) POM eee 6.60

INetsprolite es ic ong cuca cc apes Coals Pee ee ca ne ; f/6. 50
Net cost of producing one bushel (60 pounds) .......4.2... Viva ola,
Net profit per acre from the enterprise ............. p/ 65,00

I hereby certify that the information submitted in this Report Form is correct
and that I have conducted the work according to the specified rules of the Compe-

tition to the best of my ability.
(Signed) Sonald Brownlee

* (Competitor)

Dated at foith Gower
this Tenth day of
Cetober 1016.

Suggestions

1. Bigger yields and better quality are very desirable. But they are
not so much to be desired as better and more capable boys and girls.

2. Remember in all contests that the competitor who needs to be watched
most carefully is yourself. He will defeat you by being lazy, or neglectful,
or uninformed, or mean, or even dishonest, if you do not “watch out.”

3. No one needs to be told that in taking part in a contest he should
learn all he possibly can about the work before commencing it. Send to
your Agricultural College, Experiment Station or to the Department of
Agriculture for helpful bulletins. Consult books in your library. Watch
the agricultural papers. Make inquiries at home.

4. Make a potato survey of your district to discover the acreage, the
total yield, the varieties grown, and the best methods followed. Devise a
scheme for improving the potato growing by the use of a community plot
for raising selected seed. Some districts are now uniting to grow only one,
or at most, two varieties.

CHAPTER 2OCX)

Our School Fair — How Glendale School Conducted a Fair of
Its Own and Joined in Another

“Och! Paddy and Nora have gone to the Fair,
And an iligant toime they’ll have of it there!
What wid dancin’ and singin’ and feastin’ and fun
Sure, the day will be over before ’tis begun.”

Have you had a school fair at your school? If you have not, arrange for
one next fall.

A fair at a school affords a good opportunity for a community to gather
together in a friendly way and to become acquainted with an institution
which every one helps to support and which aims to work for the community’s
welfare.

Our school has had one fair of its own and has taken
part with near-by schools in another school fair. The
first fair was held a year ago last October. As it was the
first thing of the kind that Glendale School ever had, it

242 RURAL SCIENCE READER

was very enjoyable. Nearly everybody in the district
attended. Our teacher, Miss Hanser, wished to have
the whole community interested in the work of the
school, and so we wrote invitations to every home. The
teacher and pupils at the Hillsdale School were invited,
too, as our guests. They are our neighbors.

We were very busy for a few weeks before the fair get-
ting ready for it. We had to arrange for our exhibits and
the program. We decided to have only ribbons for
prizes. For the entertainment of our guests we prac-
ticed a few songs and drills and also prepared a little play
called “Thanksgiving Day.” The morning of the school
fair day we spent in finishing the decoration of the school
room, putting all our exhibits in place, and holding our
last practices.

At one o’clock the judges arrived.. Mr. Butler and Mr.
Martin judged the garden and nature exhibits, and Miss
Butler and Mrs. Ritchie awarded the different colored
ribbons to the needlework and canning exhibits as well as
to the school exhibits of drawing and writing. About
two o'clock the judging was finished, and the pupils had
a chance to go in and see how successful they had been
in capturing ribbons. When the visitors arrived, they
were shown the exhibits in the school. About three
o'clock the program was started. As it was a beauti-
ful day it was given outdoors. The guests were seated
on chairs that had been borrowed or on benches made
with boards. Miss Hanser first made a little speech
and told the people how pleased she was to have so many
accept the school’s invitation to their first fair. Between
the songs and drills, the judges explained how they had
awarded the prizes for the different exhibits.

Bun-EATING CONTEST AT THE FAIR

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OUR SCHOOL FAIR 243

The best item on the program was the little play.
Harold Butler was dressed up as a turkey and was very
brave and mighty until the Indians (Tom Martin and
Ed Lackner) rushed in and demolished him with their
tomahawks. The National Anthem brought the pro-
gram to a close.

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“AANA co ican WANK

Some Exhibits at the School Fair

After the program there were sports and games for
an hour or so. Besides races by the pupils, the married
ladies had a walking match and the East played the
West a game of baseball with our indoor-baseball. Most
fun was furnished by a contest between the married men
in sewing on buttons. Old Mr. Ritchie won the ribbon
for this. Then we had lunch and after that home-going.
Everybody declared it had been a very happy afternoon.
Miss Page and her pupils from Hillsdale had enjoyed

244 RURAL SCIENCE READER

themselves. They invited us to pay them a return visit
sometime.

Instead of holding our own fair this year, we accepted
an invitation to join with other schools under the County
Superintendent’s plans. Early in the spring, Mr. Ellis,
the County Agent, called at the school and explained
the scheme. It was to arrange competitions for garden-
ing, needlework, canning, raising poultry, growing farm
crops, public speaking, etc., that would be decided in a
big union fair at Virgilin the autumn. He would supply
choice seed free and sell eggs from the very best bred-to-
lay Barred Rocks at fifty cents a dozen. For the prize
money, the boards of directors of the eight schools com-
pet'ng had promised to give ten dollars each, and others
were giving donations that brought the total up to
about one hundred and twenty dollars.

Mr. Ellis asked us to elect a school fair committee
from our school to attend to all details. The chairman
of this committee was to represent our school on the
school fair board of directors that would assist Mr. Ellis
in handling the entire fair. Harold Butler was elected
chairman for our school, and attended a meeting of the
chairmen from all the schools, in Mr. Ellis’ office at St.
Anne one Saturday a week or so later.

The first thing required of us was to choose the com-
petitions we would enter and order our supplies. Eight
of us decided to buy eggs. Six ordered seed potatoes,
and a few asked for oats or barley. Nearly every one
entered for some of the vegetables and also the corn.
Harold sent in our orders to Mr. Ellis’ office. One day
about two weeks later Mr. Ellis drove up to the school and
delivered the orders. In handing them out he gave us

OUR SCHOOL FAIR 245

instructions about the work and left in the school some
bulletins that we could consult if we needed further in-
formation.

Miss Hanser took a keen interest in our work and
encouraged us in every way. She advised us about our
plant collecting, helped the girls with their needlework,
and trained a few of us for the public-speaking contest.

During the summer Mr. Ellis’ assistant spent a few
days in our district visiting every one who had received
supplies. Those who had garden plots or plots of grain
or corn were scored on the appearance of their plots.
He advised us also about caring for our chickens. Very
often he had a chat with our parents concerning other
matters.

As the day of the fair approached there was a good
deal of excitement at the school. We were very anxious
that our school should make a good showing. Naturally
we did not want to be beaten by other schools if we could
help it. Harold Butler was busy advising every person.
Miss Hanser was busy too. Entries had to be sent in.
Cards had to be signed. Arrangements had to be made
to carry exhibits to Virgil. Helen Gibson, who was the
school’s choice for the public-speaking contest, had to
be given some special practice. The insect and weed
collections had to be inspected. There was not a great
deal of other school work done for a few days before
thettaies 0!

Our exhibit was made in a big tent. It was quite a
task to arrange it. There were over one hundred and
twenty entries from our school alone. But Miss Hanser
worked hard, and we gave her all the help we could.
Before noon everything was in “‘apple-pie order” for the

246 RURAL SCIENCE READER

judging. We were very proud of our school’s showing.
We did not think there was any school that had any
better exhibits. What would the judges think? While
the judging was going on, the different schools had their
lunches in picnic style on the fair grounds, but were a little
too anxious over the awarding of prizes to mingle very
much. The teachers, of course, and the parents from
different districts gathered together in friendly groups,
but the pupils were rather too shy for this.

When the word came that the judging was completed
there was a great rush and clamor. It was more than
half an hour before every one knew how all the prizes
had been awarded. There were many surprises and not
a few disappointments. But nearly every one had won
something, and the defeats were not allowed to spoil the
rest of the afternoon’s fun.

There was a programme first. The judges spoke on
their difficulties and their reasons for placing prizes and
pointed out also how improvements could be made. Our
school was declared the winner on points, but Hillsdale
was only a few behind. Then the public-speaking con-
test was held. It was very good. We were all very
proud of Helen Gibson’s speech, and when the judges
declared her the winner of the first prize we gave our school
yell with a hearty will. After the program there were
games and sports for all. Everything was very well
managed by the board of directors. Harold Butler was
a very busy boy that afternoon.

About a week after the fair, a bank check was sent to
our school for twenty-one dollars to pay for the prizes
won. Nearly every one in the school shared in this as the
prizes in each competition were numerous. For winning

OUR SCHOOL FAIR 247

the prize for the best school exhibit we received a nicely
icamed copy of a, picture called ~The Horse Fair.” “It
looks very well hanging on our school wall and reminds
us of our successes at our first union school fair.

Suggestions

1. Do not measure your success at a school fair merely by the prizes
won. There are bigger things than prizes to be won in competitions; such
as learning to do things better, or learning to be glad at a rival’s success,
or learning to admire other people’s skill and ability. If competitions for
prizes make boys or girls mean or greedy or tricky or unfriendly, or if they
destroy the good fellowship in a school, they should not be held.

2. Instead of centering all the school activities in one school fair during
the year, smaller and more frequent exhibits might be made, e.g. the girls’
needlework and the boys’ carpentry (bird boxes, etc.) at Easter; the
school drills and songs at a closing picnic in June; agricultural, gardening,
canning, and cooking exhibits in October; drawing, art, writing, map-
drawing, and reciting at Christmas.

3. If competitions are arranged between schools, make them of such a
character that each school will be permanently benefited whether it wins
or loses, ¢.g., a competition for the highest average attendance of pupils;
for the greatest number of pupils, who do not miss a single day through-
out the year; for the greatest improvement to the school building, the
grounds, and the fences made within the year; for the best arranged and
cared-for school garden.

4. Use the school fair as an occasion for developing practical patriotism;
e.g., raise money for the Red Cross; contribute part of the prize money for
relief funds; auction off garden produce and donate the proceeds to a
Children’s Shelter or an Old People’s Home. The development of a fine
community spirit should be kept in view also. Send for Farmers’ Bulletin,
No. 870, The Community Fair.
|¢ 5. In order to prevent haste and worry as well as to ensure a better qual-
ity of work, it is advisable to arrange for the fair early in the spring or, better,
at the beginning of the New Year. Scrambling to prepare plant collections,
maps or other exhibits a few days before the fair should not be permitted.
A restricted list of competitions with many entries in each will prove of
more educational value than a large number of competitions with scattered
entries.

6. Pupils should not be allowed to enter carelessly prepared or worth-
less exhibits. For the larger fairs at which several neighboring schools

248 RURAL SCIENCE READER

exhibit, or for the county fair, only the best selections from each school
should be exhibited. To make such selections, a preliminary fair might be
arranged at each school. The value of the small local fair to its own com-
munity should not be lost sight of in competitive interests in the larger
school fair.

7. Printed ribbons and purchased badges make attractive prizes as they
can be kept readily as souvenirs. Many small prizes rather than a few large
ones are desirable. The worthy effort of every child should be recognized
as far as possible. Some of the prizes should be for the school. These
should be such things as pictures, books for the library, vines or shrubs,
subscriptions for magazines, a school flag, or a trip to the Agricultural
College.

8. Besides the usual exhibits of poultry, corn, potatoes, garden vege-
tables, canned fruit, sewing, and cookery, the prize list should include a few
of the more unusual competitions, such as three-minute addresses on agri-
cultural topics, a recitation, a reading, school choruses, songs by school
quartette, duets by boy and girl, mouth organ selections, violin playing,
a school drill or march, horseback riding, driving single or double by girls,
knot-tying, quick unharnessing and harnessing. Livestock exhibits of
calves or colts that belong to pupils and which have been cared for by
them create a good deal of interest. Exhibits of old-fashioned farm utensils
or such household articles as churns, lanterns, candle molds, and spinning
wheels, are also of educational value.

9. In drawing up rules for the guidance of competitors, at school fairs,
boys and girls should be deeply impressed with the necessity of “playing
fair” in every respect. Every exhibit made should represent the inde-
pendent effort: of the exhibitor. It is far better to lose than to win un-
fairly. Rural America cannot afford to have its coming citizens trained to
gain any kind of prize by questionable methods. Such actions breed dis-
trust, jealousies, and unfriendliness in neighborhoods; whereas what is
wanted is training in confidence and codperation. Unfriendly people
cannot cooperate.

CHAPTER 2XOOdT

Our School Egg Circle—How the Bellview Pupils Trained
Themselves in Codperative Poultry Improvement and Marketing

S4/site « a

Bee 4

Have you a share in the home poultry? Many boys and girls have.
And because they have, better poultry is being kept and poultry is being
better kept on thousands of farms.

The world always seems to be hungry for good fresh eggs. At reason-
able prices there is hardly any limit to the demand for them. There is no
better food.

Any one who helps the world by producing and marketing good food is
rendering a good service to his fellow citizens.

Learn to codperate in marketing.

We did not know anything, at least in a practical way,
about Egg Circles in the Bellview school district until the
winter before last. Before that time nearly all the eggs
produced on our farms were sold at the stores in Rockford
or to peddlers who traded tinware and other things for

250 RURAL SCIENCE READER

them. Only Mrs. Matheson and Mrs. Lockhart had
private customers. No one paid a great deal of attention
to the hens on our farms. The breeds were mixed greatly
and I do not think there was a first-rate hen house in the
whole neighborhood. Ours was as good as any, and it
was only a makeshift in one end of the pig pen. And as
for cleaning, you know about how much of that would be
done!

But Mr. Waldison started us thinking. He is our
teacher. He was brought up here and lives near the
school. He has taught in our school for about three
years. Two years ago he commenced to teach us Agri-
culture. Although he was brought up on a farm he de-
cided to go to the Agricultural College for a summer
course for teachers. Ever since he has been telling us
things that he learned there. He says it was the best
schooling he ever had. It has been good for us, too.
In fact, the whole neighborhood has benefited.

After he came home from the summer school he began
overhauling his own hen house. He was not satisfied
with it any longer. I, cannot tell you all he and his
father did to it, but when it was finished it looked good
enough to have its picture in a poultry book. He brought
home some young Barred Rock chicks too. They did
not look any different from any other common chicks of
that breed, but Mr. Waldison was very proud of them.
He had hatched them in an incubator at the college.
Every one of them was from an egg laid by a hen that had
a record of over 180 eggs a year. ‘They were the best
strain of bred-to-lay Barred Rocks in the country, he said.
I suppose he had good reason to be proud of them at that
rate:

OUR SCHOOL EGG CIRCLE 25

During the fall term we had some interesting lessons
on poultry keeping. One week we discussed Breeds of
Fowl. Another week we spent the time on the question
of Housing. Later we had lessons on Winter Feeding
and the Marketing of Poultry Products. I never knew
there were so many interesting things to know about
poultry until we took these lessons. Of course, we
talked about them at home, for we prepared for our les-

A Convenient House and Yard

sons by asking questions at home and reading from the
newspapers and bulletins. In our lessons on Marketing
Mr. Waldison told us about Egg Circles, and how success-
ful they had been in some parts of the United States and
in other countries. When I told Mother and Father
about this they were quite interested. So were several of
our neighbors.

Not long after, a meeting was called at the school to
discuss the question. Mr. Waldison wrote to invite Mr.
Davis, the County Agent, to come and speak. The result
of the meeting was that the Bellview Egg Circle was
established, with Father as chairman, and Mr. Waldi-
son as secretary and manager. By-laws were adopted

252 RURAL SCIENCE READER

and rules and regulations laid down to guide members.
All these were very simple. The plan aimed at making
a good name for all eggs stamped with the Bellview
Egg Circle stamp. Mr. Davis helped Mr. Waldison to
get in touch with reliable dealers who wanted to secure a
steady supply of choice eggs.

From the very start the Egg Circle was a success.
Mr. Waldison proved a good manager, and insisted on
every one’s living up to the rules. The first eggs were
shipped in February. ‘The returns were five cents a dozen
higher than most people expected. People became in-
terested and wanted to know more about the business.

Another meeting was held, and for this Mr. Waldison
asked Mr. Mercer, a poultry expert from the Agricul-
tural College, to come and speak. The older pupils at
the school were invited to attend, and nearly all of us
were there. Mr. Mercer gave us a good talk on the
best ways of caring for poultry. He was asked a great
many questions. One of the things he suggested was
that every member of the Egg Circle should keep only
one breed. He showed, too, what advantages there
would be if every one would keep the same breed.

He explained how the poultry department of the
Agricultural College assisted districts to attain this by
selling eggs from their bred-to-lay Barred Plymouth
Rocks through the schools. The plan was to get the
children interested: in improving flocks as part of their
agricultural school work. These were the same strain
as Mr. Waldison had. He advised us to send in our
orders soon and get an early start. The eggs were sold
at 50 cents a dozen to pupils. People who did not have
children at school could get neighbors’ children to order

OUR SCHOOL EGG CIRCLE 253

for them. All the members of the Egg Circle fell in with
the idea. No one fancied any other breed more than
the Barred Rocks, and in fact that was the commonest
kind amongst our mixed flocks.

So our school sent in an order for forty dozen eggs.
Every family represented in the school ordered at least
one dozen. I ordered three dozen for ourselves and two
dozen for my Uncle James. We sent the money on the
2oth of March, and received the eggs on the 12th of April.
It seemed a long time to wait. Most of us had clucking
hens that we were keeping to set. The eggs came in
good condition. ‘There were only five eggs broken, and
as the college had sent a few extra ones, no one was dis-
appointed. There was a printed circular sent with the
eggs, explaining the best way to set a hen and to care for
her while she was brooding. We did not need this very
much, however, as we had been reading about this, and
had discussed the matter in one of our agricultural lessons
during the time we had been waiting for the eggs.

Nearly every one had a good hatch. I was one of the
luckiest. From the three dozen eggs I had thirty good
chicks. Uncle James’ folks had twenty-three from their
two dozen. Tom Wilson had the poorest luck. He got
only six chicks. We had lots of fun comparing notes
with one another about our chickens. In class we figured
out the results from all the eggs and found there was a
seventy per cent hatch. Mr. Waldison was head of us
all, for he had set eggs that he got from their own hens
two weeks before we got our eggs. We were all sure we
were going to have the best birds. I assure you they were
well attended to, for our fathers and mothers were inter-
ested as much as we were. This was partly because the

254 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Egg Circle was very successful, and partly because we
were so interested. The dealers wanted Mr. Waldison to
ship them all the eggs he possibly could. They said they
were very satisfactory, and they were willing to pay the
very highest price for them. ‘This made every person
anxious to follow Mr. Mercer’s advice.

UNCLE RALPH’S PROPOSITION

When Uncle Kalph Hotson (he is Mother’s brother)
came down from Doverfield for his vacation in August,
he was greatly interested in our chickens and the Egg
Circle. He was brought up in this district, and always
likes to come back and give us a hand with the harvest.
He works in the office of a very large factory where more
than a thousand hands are employed. He has a pretty
good position, but he says that Father is better off than
he is. Father and he argue about it good-naturedly.

Uncle used to come with me often when I was feeding
the chickens. One evening he asked me what I was
going to do with the eggs from my hens. I had eighteen
pullets. Isaid that I supposed I would sell them with the
Circle eggs, except those that would be needed for hatching
in the spring. He said, ‘‘Why not get the girls and boys
in the school to form a Junior Egg Circle? If you will
ship me a crate of good, high-grade eggs once a week, I will
see that you get the best city retail price for them. Iam
sure that the men who work in our office will be glad to
have them. ‘Talk it over, and next December, when the
pullets start to lay, write to me.”

So in the fall we talked it over at school, and asked Mr.
Waldison his opinion about it. He thought it would be

OUR SCHOOL EGG CIRCLE 255

a good idea. He advised us to be business-like, and have
a clear understanding about everything we started. We
did not think we could do any better than to follow in
the footsteps of the older people’s Egg Circle. We there-
fore organized ourselves as the Bellview School Egg Circle.
Nellie Lavers was appointed chairman, and I was elected
secretary-treasurer and manager. Dave Thomas, Isabel
Howie, and Harry Taylor were the rest of the committee.
We decided to follow the same rules and regulations
that Mr. Waldison’s Circle used, but drew up a brief
constitution of our own.

The first thing to settle was the terms under which we
could buy the eggs at home. Mr. Waldison thought we
should pay our fathers (I paid Mother) a fair rate for the
feed and housing. He suggested 15 cents as a summer
price, and 18 cents as a winter price. The matter was
discussed by the “ Big Egg Circle,” as we called the other
one, at one of their meetings, and every one agreed to the
plan. They also consented to let us use their stamps,
and to lend us what shipping boxes we might need. We
were to limit our business to two crates a week, and pay
our share of hauling the eggs to the express office at Rock-
ford. Besides, it was understood that we would pay for
any damages to boxes.

It was now the end of November. Our pullets were
starting to lay. We were following Mr. Waldison’s
methods of feeding’ pretty closely. You can imagine
we were all anxious to start operations. I had written
Uncle Ralph and told him how things were going. He
sent word back that his friends in the office’ were all
anxious to get the eggs. ‘‘Send them along as soon as
you can,” he said. “We will settle the express charges

256 RURAL SCIENCE READER

here, pay you a good fair price, and send you a money
order for the balance.”

We made our first shipment on the 15th of November.
The boys and girls who belonged to the Circle brought the
eggs to school in the morning of the 14th, and I packed
them at Mr. Waldison’s after four o’clock. The other
two boys on the committee helped me carry them over.
We arranged to have just the right number brought to
fill the crate. The eggs were small, of course, and we
did not expect to get as good a price as large-sized eggs
would bring. They were all clean, though, and neatly
stamped. The crate went off the next morning with a
shipment from the Big Circle.

It was on Wednesday that we brought the eggs to
school, and it was the next Wednesday before we heard
from my Uncle Ralph. It seemed a long time. His
letter was very encouraging. The eggs had arrived in
good shape on Friday. His friends had taken them
home on Saturday, and the reports that he got on Mon-
day when they paid him were that they “could not be
beaten.”’ Our market, Uncle said, was secure just as long
as we could send such clean, fresh eggs. We had a good
laugh at the ‘Big Circle” — our price was three cents
better than theirs. The money order sent to me was for
$8.25. The eggs brought 35 cents a dozen, but there was
60 cents express charge. I kept out my allowance of one
half cent a dozen, and another half cent to pay our share
of hauling expenses, and paid the boys and girls 32 cents
a dozen.

For the rest of the winter we sent a crate every week.
In the spring we began sending two crates. At Uncle’s
suggestion we began packing them in one and two-dozen

OUR SCHOOL EGG CIRCLE 257

egg cartons. This made it much more convenient to
handle them in the office at Doverfield. We were paid
an extra cent for this. It made it handier for us too, for
instead of bringing the eggs to school, they were taken
with the home eggs to Mr. Waldison already packed in
the cartons. I had no trouble in keeping track of the
shippers, for the boys and girls wrote their names on
the outside of the
cartons, and _ also
stamped them with
the egg stamp.
Every week, regu-
larly, on Wednesday
the money order
came back for our
previous week’s ship-
ment. Mr. Waldison would get it cashed for me, and on
Friday I would pay each member his or her share. To
do this I had to have a good deal of small change some-
times. There was never any misunderstanding, as I
would put up a statement of each shipment on the
school bulletin board every week, and also Uncle Ralph’s
letter, showing the price paid. Never once was there a
report of a bad egg, not even of a blood spot. There
was not a girl or a boy in the Circle who did, not take
the greatest pains to send only first class eggs. We
were very proud of the high reputation we had made.
When Uncle Ralph came down this year for his holi-
days, we had a meeting of the Circle at our place. He |
gave us a talk and explained what a large business could
be built up, just in poultry products alone, between our
neighborhood and Doverfield. I think we all appreciated

An Egg Carton

258 RURAL SCIENCE READER

this, for every one of us had a nice little bank account
started. From November 15 to August 1 I had sold
on an average four dozen eggs a week at an average of
27 cents a dozen. After paying Mother her share for
the feed, and keeping some for spending money, I had
$20.00 in the bank. Nine dollars of this amount was my
allowance for managing the business.

When school opens this fall, new officers will have to
be elected. Nellie Lavers and I will not be going back.
Dave Thomas will make a good manager, though, and
with Mr. Waldison’s encouragement there is no reason
why the Bellview School Egg Circle should not continue
to prosper. I think every one realizes that success de-
pends on fair dealing — fair dealing among ourselves and
fair dealing for our customers at Doverfield. I do not
know of any one in our school who was not always anxious
to uphold the honor of the Egg Circle.

I suppose I shall join Father now in the Big Circle. It
is not settled yet, but Mother and I have talked it over.
She thinks a partnership scheme would be the best way
to arrange the business, and that I should take over the
chief care of all the poultry, keep account of the costs
and gains, and take half the profits. I think Father will
agree. He generally does when Mother and I decide on
anything.

CONSTITUTION

Name. — The name of this association shall be the Bellview School Egg Circle.

Objects. — The objects of this association shall be (a) to market the eggs
produced by the poultry owned by pupils of the school, in a codperative
way; (b) to train its members in methods of codperation as a part of
their education; (c) to help in the improvement.of the poultry business
of the section.

THE CHILDREN’S FLOCK

A ScHooLt GARDEN

OUR SCHOOL EGG CIRCLE 259

Membership. — Any boy or girl attending the Bellview School is eligible
to membership upon agreeing to observe all the rules of the Circle. There
shall be no membership fee.

Officers. — The officers shall consist of a president, a secretary-treasurer
who shall be the manager also, and three representatives from different
classes in the school. They shall be elected in the month of September
as soon as convenient after the opening of school.

Meetings. — Meetings may be called at any time by the president or mana-
ger as arranged with the teacher.

By-Laws

1. The manager shall have charge of the collection, shipping, and sale
of eggs. He shall divide the returns among the members upon a fair and
just basis after deducting all charges and shall exhibit all correspondence
and reports dealing with the business of the Circle upon the school bulletin
board. The manager’s remuneration shall be one-half cent a dozen.

2. Members of the association are subject to the following rules: —

a. Poultry houses must be kept clean and sanitary.

b. The fowls must be well fed and well cared for.

c. Eggs must be gathered twice a day and kept in a cool place free
from foul odors, dampness and draughts.

d. No nest eggs that will in any way taint the new laid eggs may be
used.

e. All eggs must be clean, of good size, unbroken, and not more
than one week old. Dirty eggs are not to be marketed.

f. Members shall be permitted to dispose of eggs from hens owned
by their young brothers and sisters but not of eggs from hens
owned by others.

g. Eggs must be stamped or initialed on the broad end before
delivery so that the producer may be known.

h. Every member shall pledge himself or herself to assist in every
way possible to prevent any carelessness or mistakes that
would injure the good name of the Circle for honesty and high
quality of eggs.

1. Codperation is a very necessary condition for success in all interests
of life —in work, in play, in business, in religion, in politics. For happiness
and success in school life it is no less necessary. Learn to codperate well at
school in all undertakings.

2. Along with codperative selling and buying schemes at the school,
there should be a saving and banking scheme. Schools may make arrange-

260 RURAL SCIENCE READER

ments for this with a local bank, deposits being sent in regularly every week
or every two weeks. The plan may be carried out also through the Post
Office Savings Bank, or by the purchase of Thrift Stamps, War Savings
Stamps and Certificates.

3. There are other marketing schemes in which pupils in country schools
can codperate. Good business connections may be made by selling berries
in the summer and nuts in the fall. Mushrooms in some districts go to
waste. Garden produce, such as choice sweet corn, finds a ready sale.
Boys making bird houses, rustic furniture, hanging baskets, etc., may find
dealers willing to handle their products.

4. Coéperation in buying might also be undertaken by your school.
Supplies of seed for home gardens, eggs for the Poultry Club, select corn for
the Corn Club, and improved seed for the Potato Club could be bought to
advantage by clubbing together. School supplies, such as lead pencils, pens,
note books, plant mount papers, and writing paper may be purchased.
Badges for the Progress Club and uniform caps and sweaters for the boys’
school uniform might be bought. A school committee should be appointed
for such undertakings.

5. The Department of Agriculture has published several bulletins on
marketing eggs and other poultry products. Send for copies of these and
make a study of them in your agricultural classes.

CHAPTER XXXII

Our Play and Games — How the Chalk River School
Interests itself and its Neighborhood in Recreation

sR.

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“Work while you work and play while you play,
That is the way to be happy and gay.”

Some people do not know that a playground is part of a school. Boys
and girls learn useful lessons in playing outdoors as well as in studying from
books indoors.

One learns to follow his leader, to be loyal to his team, to obey rules, to
work together for a common aim, to control his temper, to think quickly,
to guard himself and team-mates, to make his body answer his will, to look
ahead, to use his eyes and ears as well as his feet and hands, to forget both-
ersome things and to enjoy healthy exercise.

These are all valuable lessons. While learning them, the boy or girl
who plays in the right spirit may become stronger, quicker, happier, more
helpful to others, more considerate of others, more fond of his or her school.
If in the wrong spirit he or she may become a horrid thing! Who wants to
be a horrid thing?

All work and no play makes the country a dull place. The country
should be the pleasantest place in the world. Learn to play and do not
forget to play.

262 RURAL SCIENCE READER

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” But all play and no
work makes Jack a useless fellow.

Do not be dull and do not be useless.

Play and Work! Work and Play! Have a Hobby!

Our school is a happy place — most of the time. Of
course occasionally some one is hurt or some one gets into
disgrace over lessons or misconduct. It could hardly be
a school with hearty, natural children without troubles
of this sort. But generally, every one is happy. We
have a lot of pleasures to count against our sorrows. If
there are punishments, there are also rewards. If there
are some things we do not like — there are also fun and

c :

Slate Games

play and games. We play at noon hour. We play at
intermission — unless we are kept in. We come early to
school so that we can play before the bell rings. We
play sometimes for a while after four o’clock. I don’t
know what we would do if we could not play!

Most of us like our school work. ‘There is pleasure in
it. And we have singing and story-telling and Friday
afternoon programs. Those are enjoyable. Outdoors
we run and skip and shout and laugh. That is fun. In
the winter there is sliding and snowballing and building

OUR PLAY AND GAMES 263

snow men. In the summer we have our swing and
teeter. We play all sorts of games outdoors and in the
school.

One of the first games I remember learning was Tit-
tat-to. Before I started to school, my brother Rob showed
me how to play it. The game is very popular at our school
yet. All the younger children — and some of the older
ones too —like to play it. Miss Marshall lets us do
so when we have our seat-work finished, provided
we do not make too much noise. When you have
- your hand over your eyes and cannot see the slate, it
is hard often to prevent Tvt-tat-to, around I go making
itself heard. The Tit-tat-to, three men in a row is not
so noisy. We sometimes play this game on the black-
board if it is too wet to go outdoors to play. Our
teacher likes us to go out, however, for a good play
whenever the weather is suitable. She says we need the
fresh air.

How many games do you know?

It is wonderful how many kinds of plays and games
there are. For one of our lessons, Miss Marshall asked
us one day to find out at home what kinds of plays and
games our mothers and fathers used to play when they
were young. There were some interesting stories told
of old-fashioned Hallowe’en games and old-fashioned
dances that are not often seen nowadays.

Then another day we made a list of all the games or
amusements that are played either by the children or the
grown-up people in our neighborhood. Counting the
old-fashioned games and the newer ones together, we
found that we knew of more than one hundred and fifty
games. We grouped them into the following classes

204 RURAL SCIENCE READER

where we could. Of course, most of the games belonged
to two or more lists.

Babies’ plays and games Ball games Tricks

Little boys’ plays and games Athletic games Puzzles

Little girls’ plays and games Singing games Trials of strength
School boys’ plays and games Dramatic games __ Trials of dexterity
Young people’s plays and games Dances Memory tests

Older people’s plays and games Games with card. Hobbies

Miss Marshall plays with us a good deal. She seems
to enjoy playing as much as we do.. She has taught us
a number of new games. Playing does not seem to hinder,
us in our studies at all. In fact, I believe we can learn
better after a good game. Some games the girls play by
themselves, some are for the boys, and some we play to-
gether. Not counting different kinds of races or jumping,
we play about twenty-five games at our school. We
do not play them all every day, of course. Some of them
are played very seldom. We will play one game a good
deal for a while and then it will be set aside and may be
forgotten for weeks.

This is the list:

Singing Games Ball Games Seven Kinds of Tag
Here we go Round the Mul- Baseball Common Tag
berry Bush | Volley Ball Cross Tag
Green Gravel Dodge Ball Stone Tag
London Bridge Hand Ball Home Tag
The Farmer in the Dell French Tag
Whip Tag
Follow your Leader Pussy Wants a Corner
Pom Pom Pull Away Blind Man’s Bluff
Fox and Geese Jacob and Rachael
Cat and Rat Drop the Handkerchief
Duck on the Rock Hide and go Seek

‘Three Deep

OUR PLAY AND GAMES 265

Besides these the boys wrestle and scuffle a good deal.
Occasionally there is a quarrel that leads toa fight. That
does not happen very often, and it does not seem to make
the boys bad friends very long. From what Father tells
me, there was far more fighting among the boys when he
went to school. In his time they played “shinny” a
great deal too, and often got hurt. It is not played now.
There are not as many big boys at the school now as
there used to be.

We have had a great deal of pleasure this year in play-
ing baseball. Our school grounds are not large enough
for the common kind of baseball, so we play with what
is called an indoor baseball. We bought the ball and
bats for $2.00 with part of the funds raised at our Christ-
mas entertainment last year. The ball is large and soft.
Girls can play the game almost as well as boys. The
bats are small, and a space about sixty feet square is big
enough for the game. One has to be even quicker in
running and throwing in this game than in ordinary
baseball. With Miss Marshall on our side, the girls have
been able to beat the boys in some of our matches.

Besides the baseball, we bought a round soccer foot-
ball for ourselves with $3.00 taken from our Christmas
concert funds. We do not use it for football, however,
though the boys like to kick it about, but for volley ball,
dodge ball, hand ball and basket ball. These are good
games.

I think volley ball is the best liked. At any rate we
play it most. To separate the sides we tie a rope between
the two basket-ball stakes at a height of about five feet.
The game is to bat the ball with the open hand back from
one side to the other without letting it touch the ground..

266 RURAL SCIENCE READER

A point is counted when the opposite side fails to keep
the ball from touching the ground within the court.
Dodge ball requires great quickness. One side forms
a large open ring around the players of the opposite side.
The ball is then thrown at the players within the circle.
When any one is hit, he has to retire. The game is to
see which side can put out the other more quickly. Miss
Marshall keeps the time for us with her watch. I think

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Volley Ball Court

George Bradshaw is the cleverest dodger in the whole
school. It sometimes takes a long time to put him out.

The game of hand ball is much like baseball. Instead
of using a bat, the football is tossed up by the batter
and struck with the hand.

We have not made as much of a success of basket ball
as of the other ball games. We have not enough pupils
old enough to get very good sides. In the other games
it does not make so much difference if the players are
different sizes.

All our games are not played outdoors. One of the
indoor games that we like best is a relay arithmetic

OUR PLAY AND GAMES 267

match. Usually we choose sides for it. Sometimes the
boys compete against the girls, and sometimes one class
races another. The blackboard is cleared in readiness:
Equal numbers of pupils arrange themselves at corre-
sponding desks of two rows. The teacher gives the
word, “Go.” The first two run to the blackboard, put
down a number of three different figures, run back, and
hand the chalk to the pupils in the next seats. These
immediately run up and put down another number made
up of figures differing from those in the first number.
Then the number 3’s race, and so on. The last two
pupils have to add up the column correctly and run back
to their seats. There is a good deal of excitement when
some one fumbles the chalk or makes a mistake in adding.
Sometimes multiplication and division problems are
used instead of sums.

After we learned the Arithmetic race, we tried Geog-
raphy and Spelling Races on similar plans. They have
worked out pretty well. We like inventing games. For
the Geography race, we draw the outlines of two maps,
such as Europe, on the blackboard. When Miss Mar-
shall calls out the name of a country or a place, the con-
testants have to run up and write it on the map.

Joan Miers is good at inventing games. One Friday
afternoon we had a blindfold house-building contest of
her planning. It provided a great deal of merriment.
First two outlines of houses were drawn on the black-
board. Then sides were chosen and the contestants
blindfolded and seated in the front seats. Each was
provided with chalk. As the teacher called out ‘‘chim-
ney”’ or “front-door” or “smoke” the pupils had to go
carefully up to the blackboard in turn and draw the

208 RURAL SCIENCE READER

thing where he thought it should be. They built queer-
looking houses.

The people in our district are interested in our play.
Nearly every day some person stops as he passes the
school to watch us for a few minutes at our noon or re-
cess games. Old Mr. Nixon, who lives only a short dis-
tance down the road, often walks up to visit us at the

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A Country Home with Tennis Court

afternoon recess. He says it keeps him young to watch
us. He has promised to help us buy anything we need
at any time, and he gave Miss Marshall $2.00 for new
baseballs.

The play at school is not the only play in the neigh-
borhood. A tennis court has been laid out this year at
Watson’s, where Miss Marshall boards. Nearly every
evening there is a game there. Miss Marshall is a good
player and has taught a number of the older girls and
boys how to play. Some other people are thinking of
starting tennis at their homes also.

OUR PLAY AND GAMES 269

At our school picnic last June we had a great after-
noon of play. It was a beautiful day, and there was a
large crowd of people present. The pupils and people
of the Rockview and Kirkton schools were present as our
guests. The year before we had been the guests at
Rockview. They gave us a splendid reception then, and
we tried to make them feel at home with us this year. I
think they did. So did the guests from Kirkton. Next
year we shall likely all join at Kirkton for our Play Day
and Picnic.

We had a program for the afternoon. To carry it
out the teachers had the help of the school trustees and
some of the older boys. The first part of the program
was carried out on our school grounds. All the schools
prepared something special. Each sang a song and gave
its yell. Then the Rockview pupils gave a flag drill,
the Kirkton school performed a Swedish folk dance and
the older girls of our school went through a May pole
dance. There were short speeches next from our minis-
ster, Mr. Burns, Superintendent Magrath, and Mrs.
Magrath, who came over from Griswold for the day.

The second part of the program was carried out in
the field across the road. It is a level pasture meadow,
and Mr. Donaldson was good enough to invite us to use
it. He also went to some trouble to roll part of it where
the ball games were to be played.

I can hardly tell you all the things that were done.
There were races for the boys and girls of different ages,
for the school trustees, for the teachers, for old bachelors.
There were walking matches for grandfathers and grand-
mothers, for young women and for married women.
There were relay races, jockey races, obstacle races,

270 RURAL SCIENCE READER

potato races, and three-legged races. There was a
thread-the-needle race, an all-day-sucker race, and a pie-
eating contest.

After the races the ball games were played. Perhaps
the most enjoyable of these was the volley ball match
played between a picked team of boys from the three
schools and their fathers. The boys had the better of
the game in practice and won by a score of 8 to 4 in the
twenty minutes allowed for the match. The baseball
match played between picked teams of married and un-
married men provided a great deal of excitement too.
Only five innings were played, but there was as much
fun as one generally sees in a nine-innings game. The
indoor baseball was used for this match.

There was a contest between the girls of the three
schools in ring ball. The Kirkton school won. The best
of feeling was shown by the girls in their play, and the
Kirkton girls were given three cheers by the others. This
good feeling was shown everywhere throughout the after-
noon. There was no quarrelling to be seen or heard. The
committee in charge made it their business to see that
the day should result in neighborliness and friendships
and not in jealousies and bad feeling. Every one went
home feeling happier for having joined in the Play Day.

After the games there was the picnic over in the school
grounds. It was a very happy time. Every one was
hungry. Every one was in good humor. The “eats”
were the best. Before breaking up the crowd gathered
at the front of the school and cheers were given by our
guests in honor of the Chalk River School. All then
joined in singing our national anthem. It was half an
hour or more before every one got away. ‘There was a

OUR PLAY AND GAMES 271

great deal of handshaking to be done by old friends who
had a chance only once a year to have a good time to-
gether at the school. We could hear the cheering from
far down the roads as the people drove to their homes.
It was a good sign that they had enjoyed themselves.

Suggestions

1. Buy a play book, such as Bancroft’s Games for the Playground, Home,
School .and Gymnasium, for your school library. Some boys like to learn
to do sleight of hand tricks; buy a book on this subject too.

2. Occasionally one hears of a liberal friend of the school giving land
to enlarge the playground. Some people also make gifts of “play appa-
ratus” in memory of children. These ideas should be encouraged.

3. Frequently the surface of school grounds is uneven, and so is unfit and
dangerous for playing games. Have a bee at the school to level the grounds
on Arbor Day, and afterwards arrange for a School Grounds Committee to
see that small hollows are levelled up and stones removed. ‘The school
grounds should be well drained, so that they will not remain muddy after
rains. If part of the grounds is covered with cinders, it permits play to go
on between showers.

4. Join with the neighboring schools in your district and organize a
Community Play Day. Arrange the competitions so that rivalry between
schools will not lead to disagreements, but rather to friendlier relations all
round. Any money raised should be for charitable or patriotic purposes,
or to enlarge school grounds, establish scholarships, etc.

5. The fear of breaking windows frequently hinders ball games. To

prevent such accidents protect the windows with wire netting. This can
be put up at little expense by the boys of the school, and if care is taken
it will not be unattractive. For replacing window panes the school should
have a glass-cutter and putty knife as part of its manual training equip-
ment.
6. A hobby is a very good thing for one to have, provided one does not
ride it to death. There are a great number of hobbies that people take
pleasure in, such as collecting stamps, coins, picture postcards, fossils,
minerals, plants, insects; experimenting with electricity; photography;
keeping rabbits, pigeons, poultry; gardening, fancy-work, bee-keeping,
reading, drawing, painting.

7. The American Playground Association aims to promote play and
recreation in the schools of the country. Write for particulars regarding
their “‘Athletic Badge Tests.”

CHAPTER XXXIV

Our Consolidated School — How the Malton Neighbor-
hood Came into Possession of a Community School

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There must be progress in education as well as in other human concerns,
such as medical science, politics, or transportation.

Old outworn things should pass away for new things to take their place.
It is the law of progress.

For new settlements or out-of-the-way old settlements the old-fashioned,
one-teacher country school still has its good work to do. And it cannot be
too good a school for. this work.

But for old, well-settled districts, with no serious difficulties to hinder,
it is time for the establishment of Consolidated Schools. The law of prog-
ress demands it.

If farmers can codperate in a large way in business affairs, in church
affairs, and in political affairs, there is no good reason why they cannot
also codéperate more largely in educational affairs; to give every boy and girl
in the country the opportunity to get a High School education without
going away from home, as befitting citizenship in the great American republic.

Thanks largely to Mr. and Mrs. Oakley, we have a
Consolidated School at Malton. If it had not been for

OUR CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 273

their generosity and tact, we very likely should still be
attending poor, old-fashioned, one-teacher schools in
this neighborhood.

The story of how our new school came into existence
is interesting. Malton is a pretty country village with
a population of about one hundred and fifty people,
located near the centre of Erie County. There are two
general stores, a blacksmith shop, a grist mill, and three
churches in the place, but oddly enough it had no school
until two years ago. On the south side of the main
street the children used to walk one and a half miles to
what was called the Brick School. Those who lived on
the north side of the street attended the St. Clair School
about a mile and a quarter from the village. It was a
very awkward arrangement, but people had grown used
to it. East of the village at a distance of about two and
a half miles there was the old Mud Creek School, and on
the west, about three miles out, Number 11, or the Lavery
School, as it was called, was located.

The older boys and girls, who were given a High School
education, attended either the High School at Redvale,
ten miles east of Malton, or the High School at Norwich,
eleven miles northwest of us. Some one usually carried
them in Monday morning and went after them Friday
afternoon. However, there were not very many who
sent their children to High School, and those who did,
as a rule, could very well afford to do so. A few people
who could afford it and who would have liked to give their
children the advantages of the High School did not care
to have them living in boarding houses in a strange town,
and so did not send them. My Uncle George was one
of these. Now he is sorry that the Consolidated School

274 RURAL SCIENCE READER

was not thought of ten years ago. If it had been started
then, the two older of my cousins as well as many others
in the neighborhood would have received much more
schooling than they did.

I think Mr. Gregory, the minister, and Mr. Waldbrook,
the blacksmith, were the first to propose a consolidated
school for Malton. Mr. Waldbrook was anxious for the
school, as he realized that his two children, George and
Ruby, would soon be ready for the High School and that
he could not afford to send them away from home. Mr.
Gregory wished to see such a school established for the
good of the whole community. He realized from his
daily contact with the people that they were poorly
served in education by their old, neglected schools.

Mr. Flood, the County Superintendent, favored con-
solidation. He had advised the people in the Mud Creek
and St. Clair districts that they would soon have to con-
sider building new schools if they could not come to some
arrangement about consolidation. The schools in the
Lavery and Brick School districts were not much better.
They were sadly in need of a thorough overhauling. In
all the districts the attendance was very low and irregu-
lar. Sad to tell, a large proportion of the boys left school
with very meagre schooling. The girls were not kept
home so much, however, and the result was that girls
were being far better educated than the boys were.

It is surprising how some people become attached to
the old schools that they have starved and neglected for
years, whenever a proposal is made to consolidate. The
talk started by the minister and Mr. Waldbrook resulted
before long in raising quite a storm in our quiet old neigh-
borhood. A miniature war developed, with a small,

OUR CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 275

aggressive offensive fighting a large and well-established
defensive, and a considerable number of neutrals looking
on, unconcerned which way the battle ended. The
minister was the leader of one side and Mr. Morril, who
lived near the Mud Creek School, became the champion
of the other side. Superintendent Flood remained neu-
tral. He wanted the people to decide for themselves in
their own affairs.

Those who favored consolidation were as a rule people
who were anxious to give their children a good schooling
or those who had read about such schools in the papers
and magazines. Those who opposed the idea were as a
rule people whose families had grown past school age or
people who did not value education for their children.
Mr. Morril and some others like him were very much
afraid that their taxes would be increased and their farms
be lowered in value because of losing a near-by school.
Selfishness and ignorance have always been hindrances
to human progress. The common story was that the
people in Malton wanted to have a good school built in
their village at the expense of the people in the country
round about. Mr. Morril’s followers could not under-
stand that there might be some people unselfish enough
to take up an unpopular cause for the good of the com-
munity and its future citizens.

There is one fine thing to be said about the warfare.
It was carried on fairly. While there was plenty of plain
speaking and not a little warm feeling, no real quarrelling
developed. This was largely due to the good general-
ship of Mr. Gregory. He kept good natured himself
and cautioned his followers against stirring up strife.

“We want a Consolidated School at Malton very

276 RURAL SCIENCE READER

much,” he said, ‘but we want still more a community
with neighbors living together in peace.”

‘““A new school with enemies surrounding it could bring
but little benefit to us,” he would say. “Some of our
children might get a little more schooling, but it would
be at too high a cost. Down in Ferndale in Elgin County,
where my brother lived at one time, they started a com-
munity quarrel over a new school such as we propose for
Malton, and ever since the district has been hardly a fit
place for Christian people to live in — and they have not
the new school either. Slow but sure wins the day. If
we are right, we shall win in the long run.”

There was one good that resulted from the discussions.
People became more interested in their schools. The
teachers were agreeably surprised with more regular
attendance and better prepared lessons. Some began
to ask for information. Mr. Parfitt said, “If we are go-
ing to argue and wrangle over this subject, let us do it
intelligently. I want to know all about Consolidated
Schools before I pass judgment on them.”

So, to get some light on the subject, Mr. Flood was
asked to arrange for a public meeting and to secure a
speaker from the Department of Education. Two meet-
ings were held. One took place in the afternoon. At
this there was a good attendance of the women of the
neighborhood with most of the trustees of the near-by
school districts. A lively discussion took place. The
opposition to the school was strong, chiefly on the ques-
tion of cost. In the evening the village hall was filled
with people, and the speaker showed with lantern slides
what was going on in consolidation throughout America.
The new school for Malton looked more promising as

OUR CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 27

several women became supporters of the idea. But the
question of the cost was sufficiently difficult to enable
Mr. Morril and his supporters to hold up the scheme.

This is where Mr. and Mrs. Oakley come into the story.
They proved to be the reserves that won the battle.
This generous-hearted old couple had lived in the village
for over forty years. Mr. Oakley kept one of the stores.
They were now planning to break up their home and go
out to California to be near their children. They were
not wealthy people by any means, but had more than
enough to meet all their needs. They had always lived
simply, and by careful management had saved a good
competence for their old age. Both of them had always
been interested in the welfare of the community and were
generous supporters of their church.

The discussion about the Consolidated School inter-
ested Mr. Oakley greatly. He had many warm friends
in the country about, some taking one side and some the
other. He and the minister, too, were close friends. He
finally caught Mr. Gregory’s enthusiasm and one day
nearly took that surprised man’s breath away by offer-
ing to deed his fine village property to the community
if they would agree to locate the new school on it.

“You see, Mr. Gregory,” he said, “I have lived prac-
tically all my life here. Mrs. Oakley was born in the
old farmhouse just across the road. Our children were
brought up here. We have had our good living and some-
thing more from this community.

“We are thinking of leaving it soon,” he went on,
with a little tremor in his voice, “and I would like to make
a little return to the community for all the goodness that
has blessed us.

278 RURAL SCIENCE READER

“We had to send our own children away for their High
School instruction when they were pretty young. I would
like to think when I am away from here in California
that I have left something that will make life better for
the children and the children’s children of my old friends
in Malton. And Mrs. Oakley shares my feelings.

“We would like to leave this for our monument in
Malton, instead of a lifeless stone in the graveyard or a
tablet in the church.”

Well, that’s really the story of how Malton came to
have its Consolidated School. Generosity breeds gener-
osity. Five acres of

as | land and a good house
IN MEMORY and barn as a gift con-

Ppa teers vinced Mr. Morril and
oy his party that consoli-

Mr.ano Mars. 5
JAMES T. OAKLEY dation could not be
IN BEHALF OF | talked down. There
THE CHILDREN 4} was another public
oF MALTON 4/ meeting at which all
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One "side: People

The Memorial Tablet 2 :
seemed to vie with one

another in making special subscriptions so that the school
could start off well. Mr. Morril contributed $200. The
village doctor promised $100 a year for ten years in
addition to his taxes. There was over $6000 subscribed
from the four districts. Delegates were chosen to visit
Consolidated Schools in Ohio to see what was best for our
new school. They came back enthusiastic, and the result
of it all is a Community School that gives every boy and
girl within four miles of Malton the opportunity of the

OUR CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 279

best possible schooling up to the age of sixteen or more.
I do not need to describe the school. It is like the best
Consolidated Schools that have come into existence lately
in every state.

The Oakleys are not forgotten. There is a brass tablet
in the school commemorating their gift, and their old
home, which is used as a teachers’ residence, is called
Oakley Hall.

Suggestions

1. Does the opinion prevail in your neighborhood that any one who is
going to be a farmer does not require much schooling? If it does, try to
explain why this opinion is held.

2. How well educated are the people in your district? Are there any
who have lived there all their lives and who cannot read or write? How
many have attended High School? Are there any who have attended
College?

3. Estimate the esteem in which education is held in your district by
(1) the regularity of attendance, (2) the salary paid to the teacher, (3) the
care of the school property, (4) the proportion of pupils who complete
the work of the school, (5) the number of boys and girls who attend High
School.

4. Are the people in your neighborhood proud of their school because
it has produced a large number of teachers, doctors, ministers, lawyers, or
successful business men? Are they proud of its record in producing a large
number of well-educated country folk? Do they base their opinion of the
school’s work solely on the number who pass examinations?

CHAPTER: XOOey,

Our School Correspondence — How a Friendship was
Formed between an American School and an
Indian School in the Far North

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AUSTRALIA

It is good for a school to have an interest in other schools.

All the world over, boys and girls are at school —in Africa, in Asia, in
America, in Europe, and in Oceania.

There may be a few out-of-the-way corners where boys and girls do not
go to school, but the missionaries are gradually taking education to these
places.

When you feel sometimes that going to school is a great nuisance, just
try to imagine what the world would be like without schools.

You will become more interested in your own school when you tell an-
other school about it.

Would you not enjoy making friends with English-speaking boys and
girls in some part of the world?

You and they should grow up to respect one another and to like one
another, for upon such regard depends in no small degree the progress of

OUR SCHOOL CORRESPONDENCE 281

the world into the safe democracy for which you and they are being sent
to school, and for which your and their brothers have fought together on
the battlefields of France and Flanders.

When our teacher, Miss Nealon, was taking a course
at the Agricultural College she became very well acquainted
with a missionary-teacher, Miss Barker, who taught in
an Indian School up at Hudson Bay. The two have cor-
responded since and our school became much interested
in the Moose Fort Indian School, as Miss Nealon told
us about it and read Miss Barker’s letters to us.

Last fall Miss Nealon suggested that our school should
write a school-letter to the pupils in the Indian school.
We did so, telling about our school and our country.
Fanny Stark was chosen to write the letter. We made a
picture scrap-book too, putting in some of our own work
and decorating it for a Christmas present, but this evi-
dently did not get away in time to reach them for Christ-
mas. For next year we are planning to send them a
box of things such as stockings and doll’s clothes. It is
good for a school to have an interest in other schools.

These letters will show what interests us in the school
in the Far North.- One is from the teacher and the other
is from her Indian pupils:

Moose Fort Inpran ScuHoot,
February 5, 1919.
My dear Friend: —

I was very glad to get your letter, and the children were even
more glad, if that is possible, to get the letter from your pupils.
They were really very proud to think that another school is
interested in them. It would have done you good, and your
boys and girls too, if you could have seen how they smiled and
talked. It was a very much read letter, I assure you. They

282 RURAL SCIENCE READER

have asked me all sorts of questions about you, many of which
of course I cannot answer very well. They are all looking for-
ward to receiving the picture scrap-book, which is likely held
up at some place waiting for a dog-train. Even if it was too
late for Christmas, it will be none the less welcome. My pupils
are very fond of pictures, and some of them draw very well.
We will send you some of their pictures.

They have had a great time writing the answer to your pupils’
letter. John Thomas had the honor of writing it, as he is our
best writer. There were many letters written before this was
decided on. |

They are very proud of being able to use our minimum
thermometer and keep the records most diligently. Do not
think we suffer from cold. The days are bright, and we have
plenty of fuel.

You will be interested to hear something of our agricultural
work. I have still good hopes for it here. The children are
interested, and since my short term at the Agricultural College
I have been able to help them much more than I formerly
could. It encourages me to know that my teacher-friends
are working at the same problems with white children.

Oats ripened here last fall, so we are hoping with more culti-
vation to produce fair results in the near future and to be able
to produce fodder for two horses, and for enough cows to keep
thirty children in our boarding school supplied with milk and
fresh meat the year around.

As a result of an abnormal appetite, our two-year-old heifer
came to an untimely end. It took a great fancy for chewing
clothes on the line and did so every chance it got. One morn-
ing we found the poor animal dead. We supposed it had choked
itself. Some one told us it was because it did not get sufficient
salt. If any one knows what to do with an animal with such a
perverted taste we shall be glad to know, as this is not the first
loss of the kind.

OUR SCHOOL CORRESPONDENCE 283

The seed of turnips, cabbage, beets, and potatoes that the
Agricultural College so kindly sent last spring came on well,
and we have been enjoying the results. Some of the turnips
weighed to pounds, and the beets measured four inches in
diameter. The carrots and cabbages were not very large, but
were very good on the table. I think Moose Fort would be a
good place for an Experimental Farm. The soil is a light clay
loam and not wet. It would be good for our Indian and half-
breed children to have more agricultural education than I can
give them. I gave them a lesson in taking geranium cuttings
and making potting earth last fall and it interested them very
much. They are fond of flowers.

We managed to bring a few hens with us when we came back.
So far they are doing well. We have to feed them on corn meal,
as we are unable to get grain. We are looking forward to eggs
for Easter if the dogs do not get ahead of us and devour the
chickens before then. The “huskies” are ravenous brutes
and always have to be watched.

So much for our agricultural projects. You will want to
hear something about the other lines of work at the Mission.

With much love to all my dear old friends of the Agricultural
College and many happy memories of the time we spent to-
gether, I remain,
Your loving friend,
Lucy I. BARKER

Moose Fort INDIAN SCHOOL,
: February 2, 1919.
Dear Friends: —

We were very glad to get your letter telling about your
country. Our country is not very much like yours. We think
it must be very nice to see large fields of grain growing.
We have no fields here, but some day we may grow things for

284 RURAL SCIENCE READER

ourselves. Our gardens were very good last year. We grew
very nice beets, turnips, carrots, cabbage, and some cauliflower.
We have to, take care the deer do not break into our gardens.
We have a thermometer at our school to tell how cold it gets
through the night. You think our country is very cold. This
shows you how cold it was in January. Of course it is not so
cold in the daytime. The 15th and the 29th were very nice
days.

Sunday Monday Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday Friday Saturday

We like school. We learn reading, writing, spelling, geog-
raphy and we learn to work with tools and also at gardening in
the summer time.

Our teacher will send this letter to you when she writes to
your teacher. Write to us again, please.

From your Indian friends,
Joun THOMAS

OUR SCHOOL CORRESPONDENCE 285

Suggestions

1. If you wish to begin correspondence with another school in your own
state or in another state, address your letter to the county superintendent
of any selected county, with the request that he give it to a suitable school
to answer. You may arrange for a correspondence also by writing a letter
to the “Children’s Pages” that are to be found in many of the agricultural
papers or newspapers and requesting another school to reply.

2. To make a connection with a school in the British Empire, say in
South Africa, India, Great Britain, Australia or New Zealand, address
The League of the Empire, 28 Buckingham Gate, Westminster, London
England. The fee for membership, which covers the cost of a monthly
magazine, is 5 shillings. Schools in the United States and Canada are wel-
comed as members. To arrange correspondence with Canadian Schools,
address Canadian Branch of The League of the Empire, 543 Euclid Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario.

3. Some schools, instead of sending a single school letter, send in one
package several letters written by different pupils. These are distributed
among the pupils in the receiving school and answered individually. Ar-
range to write about different things. For example, one might describe
a favorite game played at the school, another a historic place in the dis-
trict, another the local river, another the weeds of the district, another
what your school is doing in patriotic service, another your school or
home gardens, etc.

4. Let pupils take the letters home to read to the other members of
their families. Put the letters on the school bulletin board for a few days
so that all the school may have a chance to see them. Insert the letters in
a portfolio and add this to the school library for the use of future classes.

5. Exchange pressed plants, autumn leaves, drawings, snap-shots, coins,
stamps, picture postcards, local newspapers, examination papers. Ex-
change of products may be arranged too; for example, cotton products
from the South for samples of woods from a lumbering region, or samples
of minerals for samples of fruit, etc. All these exchanges should be made
the subject of class studies; so should the articles that are sent away.

6. Read the story of David Livingstone, the great missionary, and his
pioneer work in teaching the African natives. Add to your library books
that tell of schools in other lands.

CHAPTER XXXVI

Our Red Cross Auxiliary — Greenbank School Plays
its Part in the Great War and is Shown its Part
in the Great Peace

Headquarters American Red Cross, Washington, D.C.

Rescue! Relief! Reconstruction!

The old three R’s — Readin’, ’Ritin’, and ’Rithmetic, have new three
R’s added to them now.

When a country calls on its schools to serve in its war needs, then it is
the duty of the schools to serve.

When one’s country enters upon the difficult times of peace, there is a
no less patriotic duty for the schools to answer the call of its leaders. Peace
hath her victories no less renowned than war — won with hard fighting, too.

In war and in peace there is opportunity under the Red Cross Banner
for every boy and every girl in every school in the land to play the part of
a patriot in the cause of humanity.

In doing this he or she becomes educated in good Gugsnehin.

The Red Cross Auxiliary in our School at Greenbank
has had a very successful career. This has been due,
in the first place, to the enthusiasm and inspiration of
our teacher, Miss Norris, and in the second place to the

OUR RED CROSS AUXILIARY 287

fact that every family represented in the school has some
relative fighting ‘‘Over There.” We had much help and
encouragement also from the members of the Kingstown
Chapter under which we carried on our work. We were
always kept well supplied with yarn and other material
from their headquarters. Mrs. Lowe, the president, de-
clared that no group of workers sent in a steadier stream
of supplies than the Greenbank Auxiliary, nor did any
group do better knitting or sewing. Naturally we were
proud of that good reputation —and we worked hard
to deserve it. We tried to live up to the pledge repre-
sented in the Red Cross Banner which stands at the front
of the schoolroom.

The addition of the new three R’s to the old three R’s
did not hinder progress in our regular school work. In-
deed, Miss Norris thinks our practical interests in Rescue,
Relief, and Reconstruction helped us greatly in our Read-
ing, ’Riting, and ’Rithmetic, to say nothing of the many
fine things learned in Civics, History, Geography, and
Literature. We felt as we never did before that we were
an important part of the citizenship of America, and
this feeling spurred us to do our best in our studies. Be-
ing part of the ““Home Army of Defence” stirred even
Tom Haslam out of his bad habit of coming late, and what
is more wonderful, induced Ned Lewis to come to school
regularly. As Miss Norris frequently pointed out, serv-
ice for one’s country. does not at any time permit trifling
at school, and in time of war such foolishness is downright
disloyalty. We proved the truth of what the President
stated in his proclamation, namely that Junior Member-
ship in the American Red Cross gave every pupil in the
United States a chance to serve his or her country.

288 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Knitting and sewing comprised the most of our Red
Cross work. Every girl and several of the boys in the
school learned to knit. Little Amy Blair, who is only

GREENBANK SCHOOL
Kent County

Illinois

Kingstown Chapter
AMERICAN RED CROSS
School Auxiliary

The Red Cross Banner

“Tt finds no tasks too mean to do, or none too huge to heed —
A baby in a war-wrecked hut, a nation in its need.
It spans the continents to serve, it leaps the ocean’s foam
To bring a hint of heaven and a tender touch of home.”

six years old, learned to make wash-cloths. James
Knapp has five pairs of socks to his credit. Jean Kendals
holds the record. Up to the signing of the Armistice on

OUR RED CROSS AUXILIARY 289

November 11th, she had knitted thirty pairs of socks
and four sleeveless sweaters. We used to have good fun
with noon-hour knitting races. Shortly after New Year’s,
1918, Mrs. Richards lent a sewing machine to the school.
It was of great help, as all the girls in Grades 7 and 8
learned to run it and took delight in doing so. There
was hardly a noon-hour that it was not busy, and fre-
quently after school as well. In learning to make the
simple clothing for the French and Belgian refugee chil-
dren, the girls of Greenbank School learned a great deal
about needlework and dress-making. This kind of edu-
cation served America as well as it helped our needy
Allies.

In addition to sewing and knitting, our Auxiliary car-
ried out several other lines of activity. Once a week we
had what we called our Red Cross hour, when items from
the newspapers and magazines were reported upon.
Pictures and maps were put up on our bulletin board. A
picture of Florence Nightingale was framed. Lessons
on bandaging and caring for wounds were given by Alice
Perkins, who was home on leave for a week. The boys
gathered waste paper and scrap iron to sell. In April
we raised over $30 by means of a Red Cross concert at
which Mr. Lawrence, of Kingstown, gave a talk on the
war, illustrated with lantern pictures. From this amount
every boy from the school district serving in France was
forwarded ten francs. We made up “news-letters” by
pasting clippings from local newspapers in folders for the
use of patients in the hospitals. Once a week we sent a
“school-letter”’ to one of the lads who represented Green-
bank School overseas. In the summer we all enlisted as
war-gardeners. We were a very busy Auxiliary and

290 RURAL SCIENCE READER

very happy in our service. What we shall accomplish
in the future remains to be seen.

About a week after the Armistice was signed Adeline
Kennedy received a letter that showed us our duties in
Reconstruction. As our Auxiliary was at a loss to know
what kind of Red Cross work a country school could do in
peace time, it was very welcome, even if the things it
asks us to do are more difficult than knitting and garden-
ing.

This is the letter:

SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE,
October 15, 1918.
To Adeline Kennedy
and the Other Pupils of Greenbank School.
My dear Girls and Boys: —

The kind note I found to-day in the new socks given to me
by Nursing-Sister Allan has stirred me to a prompt reply.
Lying about here in the hospital nursing a smashed elbow and
a few odd shrapnel wounds, allows one time for letter writing,
should he be so disposed. And wearing a fine new pair of socks
knitted by Adeline Kennedy “with her love,” and forwarded
‘with the kindest regards of the Red Cross Auxiliary of Green-
bank School” induces such a disposition in me to-day, for I
have been thinking a good deal lately of the little school in
which I used to teach in Wayne County —a school very similar
to yours, I suppose.

For the socks and the good wishes which accompanied them
I extend my heartiest thanks. It makes one very proud of
the boys and girls of America to know that they have responded
so generously to every patriotic appeal that has been made to
them. It helps one to fight better here remembering that the
“folks back home” are busy on our behalf. It makes pain
easier to bear, too, knowing that so many of the little comforts
that we have were the work of loving friends.

OUR RED CROSS - AUXILIARY 291

No doubt you would like me to tell you something about the
fighting and the stirring sights we have seen in this part of
France, but the censor would not permit the letter to go forward
if I did. JI shall have to write about other matters.

I should like to tell you some of the things I have been think-
ing lately. Perhaps the thoughts have been due partly to
homesickness, perhaps to a certain amount of anxiety about what
a fellow with a crippled left arm can find to do, and to some ex-
tent perhaps, to feelings of regret for not making better use of
my opportunities in years gone by.

Fighting here to help liberate France from her enemy, I have
become conscious of loving America more than I ever knew that
I did when home. The Frenchman is always shouting Vive
la France! Every day in my heart I shout, Vive America! I
say to myself that if I am spared to return home I will serve
my native land with my whole heart and my whole mind. I
have fought for her abroad. I will fight for her at home — ina
small, feeble way, it may be, but it will be my best.

You may wonder what there will be to fight for in our peace-
ful America. I will tell you in the words of a message that I
read in a magazine. I do not suppose I would have paid much
attention to such a message a year ago, but in this sorry “school
of war’ I have learned to look at things differently from what
I used to. I realize now that there are wrongs everywhere in
the world that should be righted and that every good citizen
should help in this.

_ This is the message. It was written by Stopford Brooke, a
noble soul who was killed in the fighting at Gallipoli.

“When we hear of the miseries of a great war, our heart
is sick with wrath and pity. But we have only a vague
pity and indignation for those who suffer life-long misery,
who are slowly slain, whose bodies are year by year worn
out by over-labor, whose souls are left untrained and un-
comforted for want of any leisure, who do not possess what

292 RURAL SCIENCE READER

they ought to possess of the common necessaries of life,
who are practically enslaved, whose wage is not a living
wage, whose labor does not receive a just return, and whose
war against the injustice and pitilessness and enslavement
of their condition is, even in free countries, much more in
unfree countries, all but a hopeless war, in which they get
all the wounds, and all the sorrow.

“This is the great war of the world.

“Of this terrible social and universal war, covetousness
is also the root. That is as plain as the’ sun in the sky.
If you want to lessen the pains of this war, to bring about
a peace to it, to establish a juster, freer, nobler social state,
purge, I repeat, your own soul, set free your life from cove-
tousness of every kind; and then you will be able by speech
and action to unite yourself with all those who are striving
to redeem society from the curse of this war, and to estab-
lish, however far away, another social state in which this
war shall be no more.

“That is, and is to be, the hope, the faith, the enthu-
siasm of the future world.

“Live in, and for, that hope, abide in the faith of it, and
let every act, thought, and emotion of your life catch the fire
of its enthusiasm. ‘Then the old world may grow young
again. New art, new literature, new politics, new business
will be born, and science will no longer minister to the
destruction but to the health and betterment of men.”

This means that the progress of the world depends on you!
Here is the great task for the members of Red Cross School
Auxiliaries in the days that are to come. Some day — and be-
fore very long, if signs do not fail — this Great War will be over.
Then we shall enter upon the Great Peace! The boys and girls
of America who are now in the schools will play a great part in
that as they take their places in the world’s work, provided they
equip themselves properly for it,

OUR RED CROSS AUXILIARY 293

And how can you do this, you ask? The rules are simple:
(1) Love and serve in your homes
(2) Obey your parents and teachers
(3) Always speak the truth
(4) Be honest and clean in thought and deed
(5) Be helpful and kind, be cheerful and unselfish
(6) Do your best in play, in work, in study
(7) Control your temper
(8) Be true to your friends — and to yourself
(9) Love your neighbor as yourself
(10) Take care of your health.

All of which simply means that human progress is dependent
on character — yours and mine.

You will think this quite a sermon! Well, you can blame
Adeline Kennedy for putting the note in the sock. I wish the
Greenbank School’s Red Cross Auxiliary the best of good luck.
I trust that all its members may enlist for life in the great army
that is needed to make America in very deed the home of perfect
democracy.

No. 864321 Yours sincerely,
JoHN WALTON
Suggestions

1. Continue your interest in Red Cross service in the days of Recon-
struction. Europe will need America’s help for a long time to come. Let
your school arrange for the “adoption” of a
French orphan.

2. Do not allow the school’s interest in
knitting and sewing to cease. Invite some of the
good knitters of the neighborhood to the school
to help in teaching every one to knit. Borrow
or rent a sewing machine for use in the school.

3. Acquaint yourselves with the records of the
American Red Cross in the Great War. Get
Red Cross or war books for the school library and
the local Sunday School library. Arrange for the circulation of the Red

Cross Magazine that you get at your school among the homes of the neigh-
borhood.

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294 _ RURAL SCIENCE READER

4. Arrange for a talk at the school from a returned soldier or nurse.
Make an exhibit at the school some Friday afternoon of war souvenirs that
have been brought back by former pupils.

5. Use Red Cross seals for your letters and sell them in the neighbor-
hood at Christmas-time.

6. Continue the good work of raising money for Red Cross or other
patriotic purposes by war gardens, saving waste paper or metal, a school
concert, a booth at your school fair, doing chores. There is always need
of ‘‘Relief”’ in some part of the world.

7. All the heavy cost of the war must be paid for. This means that
the world is called on as never before to produce and save. Do not waste.
Save your clothes and your shoes. If they are still fit for use when you are
through with them see that they get into the right hands. European or-
phans will welcome them. Keep up. your work in producing and saving
food. ‘This will help in controlling to some extent the cost of living. It is
good service in Reconstruction.

CHAPTER XXXVII

Our School in France — Cloverdale’s Honored
Dead

Though Agriculture is the greatest of the Arts of Peace, there is a time
when the Arts of War have chief claim on a nation’s young manhood.

When war rages, the work of the farm has to be cast aside for fighting.
Thus war turns farmers into soldiers.

And so shall it be until that good time when swords shall be beaten into
plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.

That must be a strange American school that was not represented in the
Great War, which every one prays will bring into existence “the Parlia-
ment of man and the Federation of the World.”

What a load will be lifted off Agriculture by such a happy ending!

Our school has played an honorable part in the Great
War. No one can say that it has failed in its duty in any
respect. Everything it has been called upon to do it
has done gladly. It has not shirked, whether it was
saving food, war gardening, loaning money, making Red

296 RURAL SCIENCE READER

Cross supplies, or sending letters and comforts to our
soldiers. We have felt that our school was at war when
our country was at war. I suppose most schools have
felt this way, especially if they have had a teacher like
Miss Nobel, with two brothers “‘serving the flag.”

Even without Miss Nobel’s enthusiastic encourage-
ment, I think we should have played an honorable part,
for we have been proud of the old boys and girls who
represent Cloverdale School in the fight. Two nurses,
one doctor, one sailor, and five soldiers is not a poor
showing for one small country school. One of these,
Harry O’Brien, will never return. He sleeps in a foreign
field among the “‘unreturning brave.” Poor Fred Weaver
lost his left hand. All the others have escaped unharmed.

The story of Harry O’Brien is one of which we are all
particularly proud. Harry was the first from this dis-
trict to go, and he was only eighteen when he enlisted.
His mother is a widow and lives on the old Bricker farm
with her son Frank, who is a great deal older than Harry.
At the outbreak of the war Harry was attending school
at Oakland, preparing himself to be a high school teacher
of Agriculture. His chum at Oakland was a young man,
Arthur Keene by name. They joined the same regiment
and after a few months spent in a training camp went
overseas together with one of the earliest drafts.

In the spring of 1918 Harry was killed. His poor
mother got a telegram first telling her he had been se-
verely wounded and then about a week afterwards an-
other telegram announcing his death. Poor Mrs. O’Brien!
Every one felt very sorry for her, for Harry was a general
favorite and had given promise of becoming a useful
citizen of whom Cloverdale could be proud. He had

OUR SCHOOL IN FRANCE 207

always been a good son. His mother was very brave.
She said she knew he had died doing his duty. She had
never known him to fail in that.

About a month afterwards a letter came from Arthur
Keene telling of Harry’s death. It was indeed a hero’s
death. That is why we are all so proud of his memory
and why we think so much of the picture of him that we
have hanging in our school draped with the little flags.

This is Arthur Keene’s letter:

Dear Mrs. O’ Brien: —

Though I have never had the honor of meeting you, I feel
that I know you well. Many and many the chat Harry and I
have had of our homes. I can assure you that our mothers
— as they are with all the fellows over here — were the center
of our home thoughts. And I feel that you know me pretty well
too, for Harry sent you our picture which was taken after we
had enlisted, and I suppose often spoke of me in his letters.

By this time you will have recovered some from the great
shock of Harry’s death and will have received the Captain’s
letter telling of his burial. Perhaps when I tell you the par-
ticulars of his unselfish devotion to a wounded companion you
will find some solace in realizing what a brave hero your boy
was.

We had been in many hot places together, but never so hot a
one as on the morning of the roth of May. We were together
as usual. Five months at the front had strengthened the bonds
of our school and training-camp friendship. He was a great
friend! I can never have another like him, I think. On the
fatal morning our company was ordered to “go over the top.”
It was not part of a big battle, but one of those small local en-
gagements necessary to find out what the enemy is doing and
his numbers. We took the enemy by surprise and soon had
possession of the first line of trenches, Then, protected by the

2098 RURAL SCIENCE READER

fire of our machine gunners, we dashed forward to the second
line. Between the second and third lines of trenches, I was
struck down by a German bullet in my side. Harry was right
behind me and disregarding the danger to himself, a danger
made ten times greater by standing still and stooping, he bent
over me and partly lifted, partly dragged me to the shelter of a
little hollow. While in the act of taking off some of my equip-
ment, he was hit by a bullet that pierced his body close to the
base of his spine.

By this time I had partially recovered from the shock pro-
duced by my wound and was able to drag him down beside me.
When the action was over, the boys got a stretcher for him and
carried him to the dressing station. I was able to walk back
with a little help. He was quite cheerful as long as I saw him,
though very weak. The doctor hurried him back to the base
hospital, but his wound was grievous. He died that night,
giving his young life that freedom might live on the earth. As
I was sent to a different hospital I did not see him again. That
was not to be. Our earthly friendship has ended.

I know that you cannot help but feel his loss keenly, but in
his conversations during our intimate comradeship together in
France, when fellows talk of serious things, Harry told me of
your faith in Him to whom mortals turn in time of sorrow. He
had your faith too. I pray that He may bring peace to you
and that you will not forget the fact that Harry died for a com-
rade. ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friend.”” Harry has shown us the supreme
example of love. His memory will be proudly cherished by me
as long as I live.

My words are too poor to express my sympathy in your great
loss. I hope you will accept them in the spirit in which they
are written — the spirit of sorrow over Harry’s death, of pride
in his friendship, and of glory in the beautiful act of self-sacri-
fice that caused his death.

OUR SCHOOL IN FRANCE 299

If I am spared, I plan to visit you in Cloverdale sometime
after the war is over. It is a visit I planned to make with
Harry to see the old farm, and the old home, and chiefly the
mother that was so dear to him. Until fortune favors me with
this,

Believe me,
Yours sincerely,
ARTHUR KEENE.
Somewhere in France,
June 1, 1918.

Arthur Keene’s proposed visit to Mrs. O’Brien will
never be paid. He also made the supreme sacrifice.
After recovering from his wound he rejoined his regiment
at the front, and there in the desperate fighting at Chateau-
Thierry met his death.

Suggestions

1. Keep your school flag flying. Iemember that the struggle is not
completed with the signing of peace. There is much to be done in the
years to come “‘to make the world safe for democracy.”’ Your school has
a part to play in this.

2. Do not let the memory of your school’s fighting men be lost to the
school. Have their photographs neatly framed in a panel and given a
prominent place on the wall. Have the boys’ names and the years in
which they attended the school inscribed on their photographs. Include
the pictures of any of the girls from the school who served as nurses or
volunteer workers.

3. Keep in a scrap-book or portfolio for your school library the letters
and postcards that may have been sent back to the school.

4. Ask returned men and women to visit the school and tell you of their
experiences and adventures.

5. Revive the reminiscences of local veterans of the Civil and Spanish
Wars and have them retold at the school.

6. Erect a bronze tablet in your school to the memory of any of the
school’s old pupils who lost their lives in the Great War. Arrange for a
public meeting when it is unveiled. Establish prizes or scholarships for
pupils of your school as memorials to the dead.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

Our Place in Society — How George Howard Learned
that a Farmer’s Calling Gives Opportunity
“‘to do Something and to be Somebody”

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Lincoln’s Tribute to Agriculture

“No other human occupation opens so wide a field for the profitable
and agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought as agricul-
ture. I know nothing so pleasant to the mind as the discovery of anything
that is at once new and valuable — nothing that so lightens and sweetens
toil as the hopeful pursuit of such a discovery.

“And how vast and how varied a field is agriculture for such a discovery!
The mind, already trained to thought in the country school, or higher school,
cannot fail to find there an exhaustless source of enjoyment. Every blade
of grass is a study; and to produce two where there was but one is both a
profit and a pleasure.”

I do not now go to school as a pupil. After a manner
I attend in the persons of my little daughter Amy and her
younger brother George. Through them I still learn
much from the school, One is never too old to learn from

OUR PLACE IN SOCIETY 301

children, if he will keep his heart young. Amy is eleven
years old, and in the same grade as I was just about
twenty-six years ago. George is nine.

There are many changes in school since my day. We
often talk about them in the evening when Amy and
George pause in their work of preparing the next day’s
lessons, or when they tell us something of the day’s hap-
penings at school. Good old schooldays! There never
again can be such good days to look back upon!

It is strange how one’s memory acts in regard to school
experiences. I seem to be able to remember clearly more
things that I did not go to school to learn than things
I was supposed to go to school for. I have forgotten
many lists of names in geography; I could hardly repeat
a definition in grammar to save my life. I think I should
have more mistakes in spelling now than I had then.
But I could tell you all about the fight that took place
between Jake Hermann and Tom Miller, or the good
times we used to have on our walk home after school,
or the way little Tom Thumb, as we called George Lamon,
used to stand and read.

But there is one lesson that stands out clearly in my
memory, as if it were yesterday that I received it. It
was not a lesson that came from a book or in a class. It
was one that came from a talk on the road. I was about
fourteen years old then. My older brother Herbert had
left home the year before to learn his trade at black-
smithing in Mooretown, and I was very discontented
and wanted to be off too.

I was not very much interested in the school work,
though Mr. Whyte, our schoolmaster, tried to make it
interesting. I would have stayed at home far more

302 RURAL SCIENCE READER

gladly to work among the stock, but my mother wanted
me to get a little more schooling. Mother would have
liked to see us all ‘get an education.” But I did not
have any notion of it. Father kept us home too often
to permit us to be anything but backward pupils in our
classes.

This day I had been particularly uninterested, I sup-
pose, for I made a very poor attempt at the problems that
Mr. Whyte set us for our Arithmetic lesson. They were
interest questions. I did not get one right. Mr.
Whyte was disappointed and told me to wait after four.
He was not angry. I almost wished he had been, for I
was a stubborn lad.

After all the other pupils had gone home, Mr. Whyte
came down to my seat. He had the kindest smile
and he put his hand on my shoulder in a way that
made me feel at once that he was my friend. Then he
sat down in the seat beside me. I felt queer, as if some
great thing were going to happen to me.

‘““Now, George,” he said, ‘let us have a look at one
of these problems. They are pretty hard to solve, I
know, but they are not too hard for a boy with as good a
head on him as yours is.”’

I got out my Arithmetic, feeling that I would like to
justify his good opinion of the head that he had dis-
covered on me. No one had ever praised me before,
that I remembered, except my mother. Father never
did.

Mr. Whyte went over the problem with me very pa-
tiently and explained all about borrowing money and
paying for its use. He made a kind of story of it. I
can remember the very problem to this day. We worked

OUR PLACE IN SOCIETY 303

it out together and got the correct answer as easily as a,
be:

“Now let us go home,” he said. ‘‘You try the other
problems to-night. You can do them just as well as any
other boy in the school, —I am sure of that.”

We started off home together, as he boarded at the
Buckley’s, who lived at that time on the second farm
past ours. It was not hard to talk to him after I learned
that he was my friend. It never is hard to talk freely
with one you can trust. Even when he asked me, after
we had gone a little way, what I was going to make out
of myself, I did not hold back my answer. And that is
usually a pretty hard question for a boy of fourteen to
answer.

“And you think you would like to be a blacksmith,
too, George?” he asked. “Well, it is a pretty good trade
for any one who is strong and fond of that kind of work.
But what about being a farmer?”

“No, not a farmer!” Isaid. “Anything but a farmer!”

“Why not?” Mr. Whyte asked. “The world needs
farmers as much as it does blacksmiths, does it not?”

“Yes, I suppose it does,” I said, surprised at myself
at arguing the question. ‘‘But none of the boys wants
to be a farmer if he can help it. It is all hard work, and
there is nothing interesting sticking around a farm all
one’s life. I’d like to get into work where I’d have more
of a chance to do something and to be somebody.”’

“To do something and to be somebody!”’ Mr. Whyte
exclaimed, laughing. “‘Why, George! Farming is the
biggest job a man can tackle, and the most interesting
one. Agriculture is the most important profession in
the world. You don’t need to go away from home to

304 RURAL SCIENCE READER

‘do something and be somebody.’ Opportunity stands
before you right here.”

“T don’t see how you make that out,” I replied. “TI
never saw much in it.”

“You are fond of cattle, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Ves,” I acknowledged, not knowing what that had
to do with the question.

“Well, don’t you know that the country needs more
cattle and better cattle?’’ he went on. “There is honor
for the man who will serve his country by improving our
herds. There is an interesting job for you—and a
scientific one, too. It is a job for men with brains!

“Tn that part of farming alone, to say nothing of the
work to be done with field crops and fruit, with horses
and sheep and swine and poultry, there is as much scope
for genius as there is in blacksmithing,” he continued.
“Our country can hardly have too many men giving
their minds to such work.”’

“Well, I never thought of it that way,” I confessed.
“T only thought of it as hard work for sometimes little
pay.”

“And naturally you would like ‘to be somebody,’”
he laughed. ‘I would not give much for any one who
did not. Some day I am going to be a great minister
myself, you’ll see, George!

“But it is not a man’s particular occupation that
makes him ‘somebody.’ A man’s true worth is meas-
ured by his ideals and his service,” he said with great
earnestness.

“T sometimes lose patience with farmers for not
showing respect for their calling. There is no higher
calling that a man will ever have, in my opinion. The

OUR PLACE IN SOCIETY 305

farmer nourishes the world. He gives it its daily bread.
The world’s life depends on him.

“Think the matter over carefully, George,” this best
of schoolmasters said as we came near our gate. ‘‘You
have a good farm here, but it may be better. There never
was a farm yet that could not be improved. It is not
necessary for you to leave home. There is a man’s job
for you here at the most natural and the most independent
kind of work that society can offer a man.”’

That was the most memorable lesson I ever had.

I took it to heart, and here I am to-day, on the old
homestead, a farmer, glad and proud of it!

I have tested Mr. Whyte’s words in practice. I have
built up a good herd of pure-bred cattle. I have im-
proved the old farm in many ways. I feel that I have
served my country in so doing. This has been a great
satisfaction to me.

I might have made a good blacksmith. I might have
acquired wealth. I do not think I could have been
happier than I have been as a farmer. I know I could
not be more independent.

Suggestions

1. In your district are farmers selected as representatives of the people
for political offices? If not, why is it so?

2. Invite some of the farmers of your district who have made a success
of their calling and who are proud of it to give talks at the school on the
business and satisfactions of farming.

°3. Who are the farmer’s servants and who are his masters? Make a
list of all the different occupations of people who serve the needs of the
farmer. It will be a long list. Make another list of the people whom the
farmer serves. Has he masters?

4. Are there men and women in your neighborhood who belittle them-
selves as farmers? If they do, is it because they think farm work less dig-

306 RURAL SCIENCE READER

nified or less honorable than other work? Or is it because they feel them-
selves at a disadvantage in education?

5. For some of the Friday afternoon programs, debate such resolu-
tions as: —

(a) Resolved, That a farmer’s position in society is more deserving of re-
spect than the position of a store-keeper.

(b) Resolved, That farm women are the most important group of women
in the nation.

(d) Resolved, That country life is more to be desired than city or town life.

CHAPTER XXXIX

L’Envoi

And so, Boys and Girls, we come to the last chapter
of our Rural Science Reader. If you have done as many
readers of story-books are supposed to do, you have al-
ready turned over the pages to find how “things come
out in the end” in the last educational adventure? And
instead of an exploit you find only this lenvoi — and
what that means, you will not be told, so that you may
have the fun of finding out for yourself!

The last story is about Tom and Mother Carey. Per-
haps you know the story? Your teacher may have told
it to you, or you may have read it yourself as Kingsley
wrote it in the Water Babies “for his youngest son Gren-
ville Arthur and all other good little boys.”

You know poor little Tom fell into the river and was
changed in some mysterious way from Old Grimes’ dirty

308 RURAL SCIENCE READER

little chimney-sweep into a wonderful Water Baby.
And, to make a man of him, his schoolmistress Mrs. Be-
donebyasyoudid insisted on him going out into the world
alone to find Old Grimes at the Other-end-of-Nowhere

Ty a

vir M A

LF FE SS

* Mother Carey and Tom

and to help him out of the trouble that his cruelty and
badness had brought upon him.

It was a great adventure for Tom. First, he had to
go to Shiny Wall and through the White Gate that never
was opened. Then, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid told him
that he would come to Peacepool and Mother Carey’s
Haven where the good whales go when they die. And

L’ENVOI 309

there Mother Carey would tell him the way to the Other-
end-of-Nowhere, where he would find Old Grimes.

At last, after many strange adventures that tested
Tom’s ingenuity and bravery, he reached Mother Carey,
who received him very kindly.

“What do you want, my little man? It is long since
I have seen a water baby here.”

Tom told her his errand and asked the way to the
Other-end-of-Nowhere. |

“You ought to know yourself, for you have been there
already.”

‘““Have I, ma’am? I’m sure I forgot all about it.”

“Then look at me.”

And, as Tom looked into her great blue eyes, he recol-
lected the way perfectly. Now was not that strange?

“Thank you, ma’am,” said Tom. ‘Then I won’t
trouble your ladyship any more; I hear you are very busy.”

‘“‘T am never more busy than I am now,” she said,
without stirring a finger.

“T heard, ma’am, that you were always making new
beasts out of old.”

‘So people fancy. But I am not going to trouble my-
self to make things, my little dear. J sit here and make
them make themselves.”

You are a clever fairy, indeed, thought Tom. And he
was quite right.

Ana the rural school is a clever fairy, too, like Mother
Carey. She sits in our midst and makes things make
themselves. She is the Alma Mater (and we will not
tell you what that means either) for millions of the
country boys and girls of the United States and Canada.
If you have followed us through all our adventures you

310 RURAL SCIENCE READER

will see that she will, if encouraged by sensible people
and not hindered by foolish folks, pour out an abundance
of self-made blessings such as:

Play

Music

Health

Thrift

Progress

Intelligence

Patriotism

Unselfishness

Neighborliness

Coéperation

Happy hearts

Quick minds

Ready hands

Good manners

Self-respect

Pride of calling

Love of home

Joy of service

Knowledge of Nature
Liberty

Equality

Democracy

Good homes

Better housekeeping

Gardens and flowers

Trees and orchards

Better business

Improved live stock

Enriched soil

Better crops

More schooling

Better schools

Improved roads

Libraries

Literary Societies

Fondness for good reading

Home and School Clubs

Community spirit

Federated churches

International friendships

Peace and good will
Fraternity

We trust that when you grow up, each one of you will
be one of the most sensible of the sensible people, and in
the meantime as day by day you learn your lessons in
school and at home, that you may be blessed by these

great blessings.
This is l’envot.

0 Ae What fa y
if nu ; 7 _ 7 i jr
1 ae Lieeri

i, Ey sik

Pee ee Se

+.
- ~- &

HUAN

OO02e&SS8b4ar7b

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