V
Garden
VOL. LXIII        PUBLIC LIBRARY   INDIANAPOLIS DEC.  26, 10O8.
NO  52
Our  Country Schools.
Editors Indiana   Faruaei.
In your issue of last week there was aa
article on Rural Education, written by J.
H. Haynes of Delphi. I wanted to be
close enough to shake hands with him as
"them's my sentiments too." Every one
«f them, and if we do not have the courage of our convictions and speak of them
things will go from bad to worse.
He spoke of our text books being inadequate. Take, for instance, the arithmetic as now taught in common schools:
there are no rules or principles, and a
teacher will often tell her pupils they wil
kave to "just imagine" a problem is such,
and go on; consequently the pupil will
work that way: not ucderstandingly but
ji-st because that is the way they work
nowadays. I have an old White's Complete Arithmetic, which no doubt, Mr.
Haynes remembers quite well, and I
wrote rules and principles from it in our
hoy's book, which helped him over many
riark places. Last year the teachers of
nome schools were requested to teach
•teventh year grade algebra before percentage; then go baek and work percentage according <:o algebra methods. I may
lie "on a back seat", but I did not think
ttc in this instance and made objections
immediately, with the result that in our
school percentage was taught as it should
I*.
Then, in another grade English history
must be taught before our own American
history—I presume that is in accordance
with another fact, American girls marrying into foreign nobility. But the work
is so very hard that the teachers, that is
i.i.ss.1 teachers, complain of it, saying the
< hildrens' minds are not old enough nor
strong enough to grasp it.
And auch reading as we now have; children skip commas, semicolons, periods,
:.nd all those unreproved by the teacher.
I ecause the teacher in nine cases of ten
knows no better; she, in turn, has never
beeu' taught it. There is an utter disregard of all sentiment and expression,
which make up the characteristics of a
good reader.
There are a few good old fashioned
teachers left who will tell you that their
business is to help and instruct children;
the younger class, with but few exceptions, however, seem to be entirely ignor-
.-int of any such thing being required of
them; if the pupil can not get his lessons
without help he can stay behind. The
school authorities are trying to crowd out
those good olsl fashioned teachers and put
cut youug oues, who in many cases never
spent a week in the country in their lives,
and know nothing of country ways nml
customs, but conclude they are something
barbaric aud back-woodsy and don't require any thing particular of them.
Now those consolidated schools; many
have said to me they are the greatest
(rands of the present day. Our trustees
and superintendents will tell us all sons
af good things about them, ansl say. too,
Indiana has the best scliool system nf any
State in the Union; however, if the people
who come here to investigate our s.-lsss.sl
system would go out through the country
they woulsl tind a different sentiment.
The children in somedistricts are taken as
far as seven and eight miles to school; iu
..nr own district the wagon starts now,
during this pretty weather, at 6:30 oclock
a drive ef at least five miles every ms.rn-
kig and evening. And, then, who are
your drivers? Are they men to whom, if
jour    owu wishes    were    considted,  you
vould give your children in charge the
half of everyday? For after awhile when
the days grow much shorter they will see
the sun rise aud set while ou their way to
and from sehool. The trustee has fuli
power to take a school as far away as he
pleases, aud to hire what driver he
pleases. If there is a man who is not
morally competent to drive aud the people
raise such severe objections as to make
the trustee "sit up and take notice," the
man in question gets another man to get
the contract and hire him; and there you
are.    Our boy and    that of    a  neighbor
not gratify its eyes and also its hands;
the two senses of vision and touch, always go necessarily together with chil-
dieu. Of course it does not reason with
itself and say, "What I see does not convey to me its consistency. I only recognize by my vision that it has size, form
color." But tho child instinctively proceeds to find out that which it wishes to
know b.v feeling the thingthat interests it.
"Meddling" is one of the habits which
some young mothers abhor in their children; but if they only pause to consider
that tliis sometimes inconvenient, and not
phere and the attractive condition of the
domestic circle. He soon prefers the restraints that properly belong to a well
regulated household. I happen to know of
a girl fifteen years of age who preferred
to remain in banishmeut for three days,
without a mouthful to eat, rather than
comply with the laws and regulations
that should govern young people, but the
salutary effect was finally deep in proportion to the time required to bring about
entire submission. Of course this process
is one of the utmost pain to a fond mother, but it does not involve the loss of personal respect in the child. It is only au
opportunity for reflection and when his
mind has had sufficient time and experience he weighs the value of his liberty
with obedience against retirement and
self-denial, and generally makes up his
.•r her mind permanently, therefore his
troubles about that special sin are usually
ended forever. G. E. E.
Osborn, Ohio.
Among the Hills of Virginia.
walk one mile and one half to a good old
fashioned district school, where they have
a teacher who knew how to teach before
this educational fad struck  this country.
With Mr. Haynes, I say let our country schools alone. Take this money which
we pay in as taxes, which goes to these
consolidated schools, fix up and repair our
country schools; give us good teachers
r.nd see if our children don't progress. Instead of that, however, they must drag
our children all over the country, at unreasonable hours of morning and night,
until all energy is gone when they get to
school. Then, the schools are so far away
the parents do not take the interest in
them they should, so teachers and all in
authority have tilings their own way, regardless of the wishes of us who foot the
bills for "their fads and frills."
A Country Mother.
Montgomery Co.
       ,   m   . 	
Discipline of Children.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Curiosity is one of the first and most
troublesome characteristics manifested by
a young child, and yet he would be an idiot if it were not for this particular trait.
It is this quality of the brain that makes
him hunger for knowledge and it should
be given ns patiently, continuously nnd
judiciously as necessary food. Mothers
■sometimes appear to be unconscious of
the fact tliat the child is a Strang visitor
lo an unknown country, and that its exploring propensities .rave gratification,
nnd cannot be resisted by the child. The
child cannot comprehend    why it    shonld
infrequently destructive habit is the real
basis of the greatest success in science,
philosophy aud art, rather than thwart
the keen interest that the little strangers
manifest in their small, but to them mysterious world. If a child carries his curiosity too far and too unpleasantly and
refuses to submit to control in his pursuits
the vicious habit of slapping his hands
and hurting his body to punish a condition of his mind, is too foolish and undignified for a sensible woman to adopt. Of
course there must be some room in every
house, or some space outside of it, where
the child can be, at least for a time entirely harmless, and he should be made
is siiinj.rehend that he has gone beyond
the proper limits of liberty by being
quickly removed from his late realm of
mischief. A few banishments of this sort
will establish in his mind theidea of proper limitations to his investigating tendencies.
Solitude where there is no fear, though
the company of a silent companion should
be secured, when the pernicious idea of
indefinite dread has been established in
the mind of the child, is the safest and
surest of subjuga^ngprocesses. The term
of banishment should only continue while
the spirit of disobedience lasts, or as nn
adequate punishment for nn improper
net. limitation of the child's food is an
other barbaric infliction. It is injurious
to the health and sometimes it is danger-
ous, but the withdrawal of luxuries iin.l
the substitution of very plain diet is certain to bring the young criminal to a willingness to return  to the pleasant  atmos-
Obtaining  Humus.
Rditora Indiana   Farmer:
I have a piece of ground which is neither fertile nor fit for pasture. Could I
plow this up and sow it in rape and cow
peas and when the pasture is high enough
turn in my hogs?" Would this be suili-
sient to give it the proper amount of humus to raise a corn crop? I pay tax ou
this ground; it is clenred but the soil has
been run down. Advise me how to get it
in clover. W. P. H
It will take more than one crop of rape
and cow peas to supply your ground with
humus. The cow peas and rape will
help it some. The quickest way to ob-
tcin fertility is to apply stable manure.
This, in connection with green manuring,
will make humus. If the soil is too poor
now to raise clover, then rye, field or cow
peas should ba sown. If necessary this
mny be pastured some, but the main object should be to get a crop that can be
plowed under. When such crops are
plowed under they decay and mnke humus. After a crop of rye or peas is
plowed under there should be enough humus or fertility to raise some money making crop the next year, but after that
clover should be sown. This helps the
soil wonderfully and after one or two
crops have been cut, or the field is left iu
clover for two years and then plowed under the soil will l»e in good condition for
two or three years, for corn, oats, or
wheat, when clover should be sowed
agnin.
Kansas Weather.
Editors Indiana  Farmer:
We have read about the drought you
have had ai! seasou, east of us. In Kansas we have hnd the opposite extreme.
Frssm February to December we have
had 48.19 inches of rain. Last week in
40 hours we had 4.21 inches of rain.
It wns so wet In tbe spring that it was
difficult t.s get eona planted, and much of
it drowned out. Where it was dry enough
to cultivate the corn is good. The Hes-
tion fly was bad on the wheat this year.
Between the By ansl rain the wheat crop
was nearly a failure. There has not been
half as much wheat sown this fall as
there was a  few years ago.
What ihere is looks fine and covers the
ground. Ben Davis apples do well here.
It is an apple for n southern climate, and
here is as fine flavored as any we had
back East. D. M. A.
Home, Knn.