The Birmingham age-herald. [volume], December 07, 1913, EDITORIAL SECTION, Page 29, Image 29

About The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950

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ROMANCE OF ALABAMA HISTORY—LaF A YETTE’S RECEPTION—By B. F. Riley, D. D.
LARGE barges were in readiness to
convey the party across the Chatta
hoochee to the Alabama side, where
was gathered a multitude of distinguished
citizens, a troop of Alabama militia under
General Taylor, and a body of Indian
warriors in their native attire, who
seemed more enthusiastic than the others.
As the barges glided toward the bank,
the Indains raised yell after yell, and
rushed to the edge of the water to receive
them. They were under the command of
Chilly Mackintosh, or Little Prince. So
soon as the barges were arranged for
landing, the Indians dashed on board, un
hitched the horse from the sulky that
bore LaFayette, each., vying with every
other to render the promptest service,
and drew the vehicle to the top of the
steep bank with every indication of de
light.
When all was over speches of welcome
and the response were in order. Here
TaFayette met a former aide of his, who
had served him during the Revolution, as
a young man. but now' somewhat ad
vance in life—Rev. Isaac Smith, a Meth
odist missionary to the Indians. La
Fayette recognized him, and gave a warm
and affectionate greeting. In the exub
erance of his zeal, the missionary begged
that they bow in prayer. There under
the tall trees of the river’s bank the
party bowed in solemn prayer, LaFayette
and the Indains joining, and with uplifted
voice Mr. Smith prayed the blessings of
heaven on the great patriot. The Indians
intent on showing their interest proposed
to have a game of ball for the enter
tainment of LaFayette, after which Mr.
Smith invited him to his humble home,
where they recounted to each other the
scenes of their lives since they parted
at. the disorganization of the army, about
4.'1 years before.
After a season of rest LaFayette
started with the cavalcade along a road
which led through an uninhabited region
for almost a hundred miles, he riding in
a fine carriage drawn by four beauitful
grays, and attended by the uniformed
state soldiery and the Indians, who pro
posed to see him safely through their own
territory. So complete were the arrange
ments made by Governor Pickens that at
proper intervals along the dreary and
monotonous way, there were the amplest
provisions made for refreshments, of
food, shelter and rest.
At Line creek, twenty miles from the
village of Montgomery, the limit of the
territory of the Indians was reached,
and here they took formal leave of La
Fayette. Their chief, the Little Prince,
made a stirring speech to LaFayette
in his native tongue, not a word of which
did LaFayette understand, and guided
solely by the gesticulation and facial ex
pression of the chief, the old patriot re
plied in Knglish, not a word of which
did the Indians comprehend. With much
ceremony they shook hands with La
Fayette, and quietly turned on their
march to their homes in the woods,
i At Line creek the ranks of the caval
cade were largely reinforced by the ad
dition of a fresh Installment of troops
and of many distinguished citizens who
had made their way across the country
from different directions in order to share
In the demonstration. Once within the
confines of ‘civilization the journey to
Montgomery and beyond was relieved
by the cultivated fields of the white man,
now in the bloom of young and promis
ing crops, and the .homes of refinement
dotting the country over. This was a
great relief to I .a Fayette, who had been
buried for almost a week in the dept.is
of an uncultivated wilderness. The im
proved roads enabled the procession to
make greater speed as It moved toward
the village of Montgomery.
On a range of hills about two miles
from the village, arrangements had been
made for the cavalcade to halt for the
formal reception to be given by the
governor, who had come from Oahabh to
meet the distinguished guest at that point.
| On each side of the road was a large,
snowy-white tent, between which, over
the road, was an arch of beautiful ar
tistic construction, beneath which stood
Governor Pickens and his suite awaiting
the arrival of the eminent guest. When j
the callage which bore I Fayette halted
under the arch, Governor Pickens advanc- ,
ed to greet him, and after a mutual in
troduction, the governor proceeded to ex- ;
tend the courtesies of the new state, in ,
apt and well-chosen terms, for which he j
was remarkable, and was follow’ed by j
the reply of General LaFayette, in
(phraseology just as happy. This was fol
lowed by a sort of improvised reception
on the spot, when the distinguished citi
zens of the state were presented to La
Fayette one by one. In the meantime,
the ladies w’ho had come to assist in
doing honor to the occasion, remained |
in the tents, and the governor taking
the arm of the great guest, led him into
the tents and introduced him to the ladies.
This occurred at noon on Sunday, April
;i. 1825, and Immediately after these in
itlal ceremonies were over, the procession
again took up the line of march for
the village of Montgomery, La Fayette
now being taken in the carriage of Gov
ernor Pickens. A band of music attend
ed on the procession, the notes of which
were mingled with the acclamations of
the multitude, the volume of sound in
creasing ns Montgomery was approach
ed, as fresh accessions were made to the
procession. Kvery object that could
create noise and din was brought Into
use, among which were the detonations
of powder, which in the absence of guns
wfas confined in such way as to cause
a loud explosion and bells of every size
were rung, the people seeming determin
ed to make up in noise the deficiency of
population, for at that time, Montgomery
was nothing more than a small town.
Once in the town, the most sumptuous
quarters possible were placed at the dis
posal of La Fayette and his party, and
though he was fatigued, the people press
ed in to greet 1dm. LaFayette and the
governor dined privately together, and in
the evening attended together divine ser
vice.
Monday brought to LaFayette a busy
day. Citizens had come from every quar
ter of the state to shake his hand, among
whom were some of the old veterans who
had served under him in the campaigns
of the Revolution. His eyes kindled at
the sight of a revolutionary soldier and
his greeting was always one of the most
ardent affection. He must need have a
brief off-hand chat with every old sol
dier that came in to see him. A busy
day was followed by a ball given in hon
or of the eminent soldier and patriot.
This lasted till 11 o'clock at night, when
a procession was formed to escort him
to the river landing, where three small
steamers were in waiting to take the party
down the river to Cahaba—the Hender
son, paliz#sand the Fanny.
The next article will conclude the ac
count of the notable visit of LaFayetta
to Alabama.
■••••••••••••••••••••«••••••••••••••••••••••••••••«
CONCERNING TUBERCULOSIS—By George Eaves, D. D.
THIS Is Tubefculosis Dai'. Hence
this paper. Most people know
many things about the laws of
health and the causes of disease which
Were hidden from our forefathers. Com
paratively few’ stop to consider how
stupendous n change has been induced
by the discovery of th. practically uni
versal cause of all disease. Before that
vast generalization dawned on the hu
man mind diseases were reckoned the
mysterious hand of Providence. But
When It was learned that they are
generally the product of disobedience
to natural laws which may be known
and must he obeyed, the whole scene
shifted from God’s responsibility to
our own.
There is one point worth noting by
the way: That with modern acquaint
ance with the rationale of disease we
may come to treat the matter with a
sort of contempt. That is a real peril.
But no believing mind. jio funda
mentally honest mind, tin deeply rever
ential mind is going to miss the august
fact that to us of this day the Eternal God
has unveiled the way to physical well
»•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
being. He has put It in modern lan
guage, the language of what we -call
science. Already it y^hs partly indi
cated in ancient books of Deuteronomy
and epistles to the Corinthians. But
the age had grown weary of the spir
itual and didactic. It comes back upon
us through surgeons and chemists and
the biological laboratories. God is
speaking.,to us, lifting us up, sayina
as He said to the sick of the myth
ological past, "Go and sin no more."
The causes of tuberculosis, for. in
stance, are, as Professor Hauschen
buoch’s prayer intimates, both univer
sal and social. One of the. facts not
yet widely known is that less than
10 per cent of us escape a battle with
the bacillus of Dr. Robert Koch. "Bad
cess to him!" said a Hibernian, when
he learned that the German physicist
had discovered the cause of consump*
tion, supposing apparently that to dis
cover and to invent were one and the
same thing. No man can distribute
the seeds of tuberculosis more thor
oughly than they have been distributed
already. They are hi the homes of the
rich and poor, on all streets of cities,
and, most amazing of all, in beautiful
country places, where apparently, as n
friend from the cross-roads says, people
die of nothing else.
Mankind is still building houses to shut
out health, to shut out the fresh air and
tlie sunlight. Even in ihe country places
they grow afraid of clean air, but un
afraid of bad air. Even where the tickled
earth laughs with vegetation good for
food few know the virtues of protein or
where to find it. And where the cities
deepen the tint of the sky with dust and
soot and the reek of millions of feet and
wheels, many buildings are constructed
so that no sunlight 'an cleanse them;
no really clean air refresh them or their
gasping, anaemic inmates It is the city
that has not grown normal, Is still feeling
its way towards the true norm, or law, of
its being. In the meanwhile those who
ought to rest have to step out and work
and presently die In the effort to make
a livid*;; those who ought to be restrained
go loose, spreading the disease that
blights them, those who should be fed
well live on meagre scraps, those Who
most need air and pure sunlight are
cooped together, where the streets are
deep in black, unsprinkled dust, where
the windows are blocked by the building
next door, where the skylight is dark
with fallen soot, where the walls nre
laden with living germs left by others
who have passed that way, passed on to
the consumptive’s grave.
For the g^rm, the seed, the bacillus of
tuberculosis loves dark, damp, dirty
places. \Hp 1ms bis biplane too, the com
mon housefly, and that biplane carries
him not by ones or twos, i>ut by millions.
If such a biplane could be invented for
mankind the steamships would rot for
lack of passengers, and Europe and Asia
would settle on these shores with resist
less hordes. All the machinery of laissez
faire civilization is available and most
convenient for the dissemination of the
tubercle bacillus. Hence the awful, but
inwardly most heneficient, fact that he is
everywhere, that practically everyone is
host to him. that everyone does well to
fear him and bo on the watch.
Beneficent? Most certainly. If it were
not for such a disease germ at tHe lips
of aU men they would soon be a most
pleasing diseljdeship of the German who
talked of the superman, a selfish, ruth
loss crowd, losing its soul In an attempt
to save and magnify its life. But more
than that, we should easily fall into the
disastrous mistake of supposing that the
struggle against tuberculosis could he
relegated to the region of what we call
a “charity.” Poor unfortunate devils,
these victims of tuberculosis! But while
we say It the real devil points a red-hot
finger at us and quotes Caesar, "Tu
quoque!” The little jointed bacilli are
on our tongues. Our lungs show tho
scars. It may be that even now, little ns
we guess it, our breath, our lips, are
loaded with poison-breeding seed.
Why do not more men dio of It?
Because they are generally well en
vironed; because sunlight heals, aqd
they got sunlight: because food
strengthens, and they get plenty to
east; because exhausting toll may be
replaced by rest, anti they get back
to wholesome and restful conditions.
Resides all this,here is the enormous
ly recuperative force In men, larger in
some rates than in others; there is
such a thing as immunization by prior
infection, and there are gracious In
fluences that help a man through those
that love him and have wit and money.
But the question still looms, un
expressed ss yet, untouched by any
answer: Why should the poison go on
distributing Itself and creating this
universal battle for life against the
bacillus of community disease? Why
not prevent all this? Not to prevent
it costs a life and death struggle for
millions of people. If 200,000 die of
it, not less than 20 times as many
are dangerously sick of it. Why should
they be forced into such a battle, ex
hausting to family resources and ling
ering deteth to others while they sever
their beloved sick?
It is not cure we must look for, hut
a social regeneration, a getting God
into our social order, a greater con
cern for homes than for buildings,
more earnest care* of the citizens we
have than a lusting for thousands
more that wo may exploit for higher
advantage.
A negro physician asked me the oth
er day, himself a student of the causes
and relief of tuberculosis, whether
white men would get well of it any
more readily than negroes if the aver
age White man lived under the name
conditions as the average negro. I
was forced to say that I did not know.
But what I do know is that union*
we repent, socially and most commun
istically repent, and change our way*
ns well as our hearts, cease toying with
the agonies of the under dog, black or
white, wo shall all likewise perish and \
shall most richly deserve it.
But someone says: Is not the Anti
Tuberculosis association a charity-? And
the answer is, yes, on the same terms
as tlie fire department and fire in*ur-i
anoe and the water supply are char
ities. It is a charity for the same rea-« |
son identically as that our school sys
tem is our greatest charity. But think j
what the children will say, and whatj
the observers of today and tomorrow,
will say to us of this year of gracji
1913 when they discover our level oC
social intelligence! Because our public j
money is unavailable, because our fiscal,
arrangements are undeveloped and
chaotic, therefore and ojnly therefore,
must we voluntarily join hands and
begin to do our duty better.
THE DOMESTIC CAT—By Dr. W. E. Evans
TO write of this common carnivor
ous creature is not to descend
from the proper dignity of a con
tributor to this page, for the cat daintily
treads through the paths of all sorts of
literature and has done so for many
ages. Serious writers have not considered
this animal beneath their literary notice,
for while a cat may look at a king, a
king may look at a eat and learn some
thing, or receive a suggestion of value.
Romanes, in his learned work on “Animal
Intelligence,’' refers to the mind of cats
and curiously Illustrates their ability to
think. Poe found in the “Black Cat'* the
foundation of his wetrdlest story. Bal
zac has a tale called “The House of the
Tennis Playing Cat.” Addison In the Spec
tator has an essay on the “Imitation of
the Cat." The pencil of the great
painter Breughel portrayed upon his
canvas a cat concert, whleh many thou
sands of people have looked upon with
pleasure. Huddesford, the poet and sa
tirist, wrote on “The Death of Dick, An
Academical Cat." Thomas Hood, in humot
ous mood, wrote on the “Value of Dead
Cats." In the “Fairy Tales of the Irish
Peasantry,” by Yeats, the author does
not forget the cat. Shakespeare makes
40 references to the cat, in 20 of his
plays. The cat daintily takes her way
through the “Sketches by Boz.“ And
everybody recalls “Peter Pindar's” rhyme,
“That Niobe mourned not more
For fourteen brats
’Phan Mistress Tofts to leave
Her twenty cats.”
We find a cat In “Alice in Wonderland,”
and a Chesire cat, at that. I do not re
member whether It Is In “The Manxman”
or the “The Bondman" that Hall Caine
tells of the Manx cat, born without a tall.
In Jerome's story, "Two Men In a Boat,"
the smart terrier Montmorency Is held
In check by an old battle-scarred cat.
Heine likens faithless lovers to cats, in
one of his poems. And Matthew Arnold
flinds much In a cat that reminds him of
Tiberius.
I think something important has been
lost to the life of a child who has not
heard the nursery classics from "Mother
cfoose's Melodies" about the cat, such
as—
"Ding-dong bell,
Pussy’s in the well,"
and—
"Heigh, diddle-diddle.
The cat and the fiddle,"
and—
"Pussy cat, Pussy cat,
Where have you been?”
and the more serious story of Tom Whit
tington and his cat, and the articulate,
tones of the blessed "Bow Bells." O,
how sweetly those dear hells rang through j
the story In our childhood! Wise people
now tell us that the "cat" in the story
was not a cat of four legs, but a boat
called a "cat," In which Whittington long
years after he had left London conveyed
coal to that city and made his fortune
thus. I think wise people are very tire
some. Indeed, they are great iconoclasts,
for the most part. They destroy all the
beautiful things that we learned in child
hood. They tell us now that the Indian
maiden Pocahontas did not save the life
of John Smith; that the story of Wash
ington and the cherry tree is only a myth;
that William Tell and the apple on his
son's head is unhistorical; and—and—well,
I am afraid that the children of coming
generations will not even have left to
them Santa Claus, in whom I believe
most profoundly.
Tbe cat was a domesticated animal In
Egypt as far back as 1300 years before
the Christian era. and at an early period
the Egyptians regarded it with religious
reverence. They built temples in honor
of the cat and made sacrifices to it. When
the family cat died it was embalmed and
became a mummy, the owners of the de
funct creature displaying their grief by
shaving off their eyebrows. Diodorus says
if a man killed a cat either by accident
or of purpose the Egyptians put him to
death. Herodotus relates that Diana, to
escape molestation by the giants, changed
herself into a cat.
Blackstone, in his “Commentaries,” says
that anciently to kill a cat was consid
ered a grievous crime and was accom
panied by heavy penalty. There was a
cat appointed to guard the grain of the
King's barn against the depredations of
rodents, and this royal feline was pro
tected by a law which read thus: “If
anyone shall kill or bear away by theft
the cat which is warden of the royal
barn it (the recovered cat) shall he hiing
up by the tip of its tail, its head touch
ing the floor and over it shall be poured
out grains of wheat until the last hairs
of its tail shall be covered by the grains.”
How much wheat would this vertical
burial require, Mr. Farmer? Before an
swering consider the swaying of the body
thus suspended, the squirming, and the
thousand-and-one gyrational motions of
which the swinging cat was capable. You
know, any sort of restraint, or lessening
of its liberty, infuriates a cat, and to
hang it up by the tail is an insult that
results In frenzy. So. while the sentence
passed upon the aforesaid offender might
seem small, it was in fact severe. By
the way. it was the cat s love of liberty
tlu^ caused Proudhon, the socialist, to
carve a sleeping cat on his celebrated
monument, of which the whole world is
awa re.
In nearly all countries cats have been
associated with some sort of supersti
tion, the black cat being, as it has been
supposed, the devil’s favorite expression
of himself. 'Witches w’ere believed to be
representatives of the devil, and they
were pictured always with a black cat
in evidence. The witches in “Macbeth,"
in that weird, unearthly scene upon which
the curtain rises In the first act, asso
ciate the cat with their wild Incanta
tions. The first witch announces, “I
come, Graymalkin," then all three cry
out, “Paddock calls, anon.” It will be
remembered that to the ghostly surround
ings of the mysterious “House of the
Seven Gables," Hawthorne has added a
strange cat, which climbs a fence and
disappears as Phoebe returns after the
awful death of Judge Pyncheon—"a
strange grimalkin, which was prowling
under the parlor window, took to his
heels, clamored hastily over the fence
and vanished.” Because of Its supersti
tious associations only the cat was placed
under the window of the house when'
"ghosts walked." We are not astonished
at the the superstition of Mohammed
which led him to cut off the sleeve of liis
gown rather than disturb the sleeping
cat; but we cannot understand why so
philosophical a person as Montaigne
should he thrown into melancholia by a
disparaging glance from his cat. But
there is no accounting for superstitions.
Many people believe it "bad luc^t” if
an estray black cat enters one's room;
and woe betide the sick man under whose
window' a black cat mews. If a black
cat follow's you on the street, a cat that
belongs to someone else, look out for a
disaster, and If the cat pulls at your
dress, dear madam, or at your trousers,
my dear sir, you had beter turn back
towards your home—this Is eminently true
If you were going where you should not
be.
Some people believe these superstitions,
and their antipathy to cats that are black,
or of any other color, Is accordingly in
tense. Henri III,* King of France; Fer
dinand, Emperor of Germany, and Na
poleon were constitutionally afraid of the
proximity of a cat. After his great tri
umph at Wagram, Napoleon sojourned at
the palace of the defeated King of Aus
tria, and in the night the guards and sen
tinels were startled by screams proceed
ing from the chamber which the French
conqueror occupied. Upon entering the
room they found the idol of France in a
fit of terrible agitation, with perspiration
streaming down his pale face, while he
made deadly lunges at a poor cat that
had quietly crept into the room in search
of mice. Doubtless the cat was as much
astonished as Napoleon was‘alarmed.
To this antipathy to cats Shylock, in
"The Merchant of Venice," alludes, say
ing:
"Some men there are who love not a gap
ing pig,
Some that are mad if they behold a cat."
John Donne, poet and clergyman,
w’hose works were published a few years
after the appearance of the great folio of
Shakespeare’s plays in 1G£1, wrote, "A
man that is not afraid of a lion Is afraid
of a cat.” I knew of a clergyman who
would turn pale and become dreadfully
agitated if a cat came near him.
Suppose Napoleon had klled poor puss,
he would have had to kill her eight more
times before she would have passed tho
possibility of resusitation, for a cat has
nine lives, wo are told. Mereutio, in
"Romeo and Juliet," seems to have be
lieved this curious tradition. For, when
he and Tybalt are about to fight, Tybalt
asks, "What would at thou have with
me?" To which Mereutio makes answer:
"Good king of cats, nothing but one of
your nine lives." I suppose this old con
ceit, that a cat has nine lives, arose from
the cat's ability always to land on her
feet, and her well known tenacity of life.
As one looks over a field of growing
purple clover, he does not associate cats
therewith, I suppose, unless lie be scien
tifically inclined. Yet, so great a natural
ist as Darwdn saw a justification of the
existence of the cat in a wide expanse
of blossoming clover. As a destroyer of
field mice Darwin thinks the cat is of
great economic value. The more field
mice there are the fewer the pollen-carry
ing bees; for the mice destroy the bees,
their nests and the comb. Bees convey!
the fertilizing substance from one clover
bloom to another, and the clover Is de
pendent upon this process for the perfec
tion of the crop. If there w'ere no bees
to convey this pollen the clover could
never reach its full design. If field mice
were left undisturbed the bee would
cease to exist. But the cat is the sw'orn
enemy of the field mouse, and by cuptui -
ing the dispoiler of the bee the cat must
have the credit for the clover crop. And
when cattle and horses enjoy this form
of forage their gratitude should extend to
Miss Puss.
The cat seems to be associated wdth
more comparisons, proverbs and sayings
than any other animal. An old book re
cords that "Titus Oats was scourged, in
the reign of James IT, with a cat be
tween Newgate and TyTwrn, receiving as
many as 17,000 lashes." The eat men
tioned was the "cat-o*-nine-tails.’* Tha
mortification of a public speaker reach**
its height, or depth, when he is Inter
rupted by "cat-calls." Many a time
server says, "Before T act I shall wait
to see how the cat jumps.’* One who has
committed a secret to another is apt to
say, "But whatever you do, don’t let the
cat out o’ tho bag." The mice in a
house had been disturbed by the stealthy
peregrinations of a cat and held a coun
cil to hear how best they might escape
her. It was finally agreed that a mouse
should hang a belli around puss’ neck to
give warning of her approach. "That Is
very well,” said a young mouse, "but
who’ll bell the cat?" It would cost a life
to hell the cat. In every great reform of
an unpopular sort someone asks. "Who’ll
bell the cat?" I think you have often
heard that, "(’are killed a cat," ns a warn
ing against undue anxiety. And no one
wants to be a ’ cat’s paw" for another.
Said I^ady Macbeth when instigating hep
husband to the murder of King Duncan:
"Wouldst thou have that
Which thou esteem'st the ornament of
life,
And live a coward 1n thine own esteem,
T/etting *1 dare not’ wait upon 'I would/
Like the poor cat in the adage?"
The adage was a very old one, and
read. "The cat loves fish, hut won’t wet
her feet to get it." Two people quarrel
ing are said to be like "Kilkenny cats,**
for
1
"There once were two cats in Kilkenny,
Each said ‘There Is one cat too many;'
So, they flt and they fought,
They bit and they claught,
Till instead of two cats—
There weren’t any."
. A REVOLUTION IN AMERICA’S SCHOOL SYSTEM—By.Richard.SniTlane
GARY, Iml., is becoming: the Mecca
of the educators of America.
Not so long ago there was no
town of Gary, only a lot of sand dunes
and u dreary stretch of shore and lake.
Today Gary Is one of the great steel cen
ters of the world, with more than 40,000
inhabitants. Monster steamships come to
its wharves laden with the ores from the
northwest. Its mills transform the ores
into steel that goes to every quarter of
the globe.
Big as are its mills and wonderful as
an- its furnaces, they mean less to many
visitors than do the schools in that city
which the United States Steel corporation
created. To make steel is no longer won
derful. but to Introduce a method of
teaching that may revolutionize the whole
school system of the United States is
startling.
William Wirt, a country schoolmaster
who got his training in the little town of
Bluffton, Ind., has brought the new fame
to Gary. He is modest. He does not
claim to have done anything remarkable.
As a matter of fact he has wiped out
evtery fault under which schools have
struggled for half a century or more, has
used everything that is good and then has
added ideas of his own which have proved
so successful that it seems strange some
one did not think of them long ago.
One of the great things he has accom
plished is in making school so attractive
that children delight in going there. In
most cities the school hours are from 9
to 3. In Gary they are from 8 to 5. In
Chicago, New York, Pittsburg and other
large cities a certain number of hours
each day in the life of the child is taken
up by what the educators call street and
alley time. There is no such thing at
Gary. The children find no particular
pleasure in the streets. The school fur
nishes their every need in that direction.
And as for truancy, such a thing is un
known in Gary.
The trouble the world over in connection
with the educational system has been
that the effort has been to make the child
tit the school. In Gary Mr. Wirt makes
the school fit the child. He does It not
only with greater educational value to the
pupil, but at a cost so much less to the
taxpayer that the difference ts astonish
ing.
I Gary did not get Mr. Wirt because of
any great reputation he had established.
Not at all. Mr. Wirt went to Gary as a
sightseer before a pound of steel had
been made there. He wandered about
looking at the large amount of construc
tion work under way and happened to get
in conversation with a sewer contractor
who was unusually well informed. They
talked about the monster mills, the innu
merable economies introduced and the
thoroughness of the system. Then Wirt
asked what were the plans in relation to
. the schools. Thp contractor was glowing
'in"hla praisa ot the school building that
was under construction. The school was
to be conducted along the most modern
American lines.
*‘I am sorry to hear that,” said Mr.
Wirt.
"Why?” asked the contractor.
Mr. Wirt told him. What Mr. Wirt
said first amazed the contractor and then
aroused his enthusiasm.
"You are the man we should have
here,” declared the contractor.
When Gary was organized as a city,
the sewer contractor talked so muci
about the country schoolmaster that T.,
E. Knott, the first mayor, sent for Mr.
Wirt and offered the superintendency of
Gary s school system to him.
It was not easy for Wirt to convince
the leading men of the Steel City that his
ideas about schools were correct. Most
men are loth to depart from what is ac
cepted, what is conventional and what is J
established the world over. Mr. Wirt I
did not talk to them of the school as a !
school, but as a plant, and he treated the
whole subject from a business and an
engineering standpoint. It would be ab
surd, he pointed out, to use a steel plant
only half the time, yet it was the custom
in schools to let the plant lie idle half the
time. A plant that did not turn out good
material was not conducted efficiently.
The average school turned out poor ma
terial, because the average school held
few attractions for the children. Boys
and girls were eager^ for the arrival of
the closing hour of the school day to get
into the streets. The boys got into mis
chief, shot craps, told dirty stories,
smoked cigarettes and some of them de
veloped into rowdies.
Why not make school a place to which
the children would love to go? Why not
fill the wants of the child the whole day
long? Why not have the school so regu
lated that it could adapt itself to any and
every pupil, from the mentally deficient
to the unusually bright, so that all could
profit without disadvantage to anyone?
All this was fine in theory as it was pre
sented by Mr. Wirt. The men of Gary
could understand it as Wirt put it befoie
them using raw material as a simile for
pupils and mill as a term for school, hut
ore was one thing and human beings an
other and they were doubtful as to the*
result. They had the courage, however,
to give a chance to Mr. Wirt to demon
strate what he said he could do.
He demonstrated. A school building
which, under the old system would ac
commodate 1040 pupils, he proved to have
ample capacity for 2080. His school covers
everything from the kindergarten to the
college. In most cities technical schools
end regular schools are separate. Not
no in the Wirt system. In most cities
high schools and grammar schools are
separate. Not so with Mr. Wirt. Tn
most cities parks, gymnasiums, play
grounds, swimming pools and social cen
ters are distributed widely. Mr. Wirt's
idea was to have all these where the
children could get at them and where
would they be more accessible to children
than In or about the schools? He has
made them part of the school system of
Gary.
There is a Jefferson school, an Emer
son school and a Frobei school In Gary.
In each of these schools the pupils range
from 4 years old to 30 and there are
classes from the kindergarten stage to
tho college. The teachers are specialists
In their particular lines. In the technical
departments each of the teachers Is a
union labor man, who Is a master crafts
man. These men teach plumbing, cab
inet making, tool making, house painting,
tlnsmlthlng, carpentry, wal papering and
lots of other things. Their method of
teaching Is radically different from the
established lines. For the girls there
are classes in sewing, millinery, music,
house decoration, washing, ironing, dish
washing, cooking, dgessmaklng, type
writing, stenography, library work, etc.
There are no desks In the schools of
Gary. Each child has a locker where he
or she keeps his or her belongings. Very
few textbooks are used. Te pupil learns
by doing a thing, more than by reading
about it or having a fact drilled Into him
until his head aches and his brain Is In
a whirl. There is no sing-song answering
of stereotyped questions. There Is none
of the recitation exercises that makes a
nervous child dread the school room. The
classes rotate around the school. In tills
respect Mr. Wirt has departed radically
from the time-worn custom of the grade
room. In which a child was confined to
one room throughout the term and re
cited all his or her lessons to the one
teacher.
Play and study are so distributed that
the pupil Is kept engaged and Interested
all day long. The playbrounds, the class
rooms and the manual training rooms ure
In active use from morning until night.
When one part of the school has finished
its class room studies, the other half
has finished Its playground or manual
training work. The groups simply change
places. After an hour in the class room
the boy plays baseball, tennis, football or
any game he wishes, or goes swimming,
it is the same with the girl. There Is
basketball, tennis, a wonderful swim
ming pool and a multitude of other Joys
for her.
At every turn the child learns some
thing. In many of the games they play
the younger children are taught arith
metic or spelling. They even learn things
while moving about the building. For ex
ample: The chemical laboratory used by
the advanced class in the high school
course Is next to one of the primary
■trade rooms. There is a glasH door
through which the small pupils in passing
can see the others at work and get ail
insight into what chemistry means and :i
desire to study It.
The same idea Is carried through every
department. There Is a clear, full length
view given Into every class room. Every
natural Incentive Is given to the young
to learn to do the work their elders are
doing. Every branch of st*|dy known to
the regular school system Is covered.
Nothing is neglected.
Tile system of rotating classes not only
gives a chance to the children to stretch
and give vent to their animal spirits, hut
It has been made pliable enough to pre
vent any one child «or group of children
from holding back a class. If a child Is
efficient In grammar and deficient in
arithmetic, he simply puts In ijiore hours
at arithmetic and fewer at grammar.
The terms are divided into three-month
periods, so that no pupil has to wait six
months or a year for promotion or demo
tion. If a child is physically deficient he
gets more hours on the playgrounds and
in physical culture, which department is
under a specialist of the highest rank.
No child stays out of school on account
of ill-health unless the malady Is serloiiB.
Children go to the Gary schools to get
well.
Physical examinations are made regu
larly.
The learning by doing Is accomplished
in this manner: In the primary grade a
child is taught to count by games. In
the class rooms there are quoits and
stakes and devices similar to bagatelle
tables, all of which involve scores in sim
ple addition, substraction and simple frac
tions. Heading, spelling and elementary
geography are taught by means of games
similar to dominoes, where the children
build up words, sentences and maps by
meaha of large blocks. These also Involve
scores so there Is a correlation between
studies. The child learns to count with
his reading lesson and .learns to read
with his elementary geography lesson.
The higher branches of arithmetic in
classes of older pupils are taught by prac
tical examples. In the class room are
scales and measuring devices where beans
and other household commodities are
weighed and measured out. These classes
go out into the playgrounds and measure
off building lots, stake out imaginary
buildings, measure up cement walks,
roadways and fences, and figure costs In
labor and material.
This correlation of sfudies Is carried
through the entire system. History, for
instance, is combined with geography. In
studying the geography of England its
commercial, sociul and political history
is considered at the same time.
in the high school manual training de
partment all the work done Is an object
of actual use.
This department is not high kindergar
ten sc the conventional school sys
tems. The girls, for Instance, prepare
all the food for the noon lunches and
those who prepare and serve the food
receive a portion of the profit derive !
from the lunches as payment for their
services.
The sewing classes work on definite ob
Jects for home use—everything from mak
ing a kitchen apron up to a party gown.
The parents soon see the economic advan
tage of this and provide their children
with the necessary material, for all Is done
under an expert and nothing Is wasted.
All the school furniture for all the
schools of Gary is made in the high
school manual training departments by
students.
Ten thousand dollars Wortli of furniture
was made by the boys of Emerson school
for Froebel school.
The man in charge of the regular heat
ing and ventilating apparatus of cadi
school building Is also at the head of the
class of this department and this serves
as a fair example of how everything
works twice and sometimes three or four
times in the. Gary schools, for tile healing
and ventilating apparatus not only heats
and ventilates the building, but serves
an object lesson In teaching.
All work about the school is done by the
’Pupils. Recently tile boys painted one
of the schools, putting up all the scaffold
ing, swings, etc., and doing a really good
Job of the painting, too. Each school gets
up Its own printed matter as far as pos
sible. There is a cost keeping system In
the printing department as in all depart
ments. and this serves as an object les
son In the commercial high school course,
and all bookkeeping and stenography is
done by pupils in these branches, In
charge of an expert.
They have a bank In each of the Gary
schools, which is a branch of the down
town institution, where money is received,
passbooks Issued, posted and balanced,
and Interest accounted and paid on bal
ances.
The correlation of studies Is more
clearly illustrated in the manual training
courses. For instance, each girl is com
pelled to compose a recipe and chemical
formula of the food she Is preparing. The
English and spelling of this Is corrected
so that fundamental chemistry Is not only
carried Into this study, but the three Rs
as well.
As the pupils advance In school years
the play time is reduced and the manual
training time Increased.
The person who visits one of these Gary
schools is impressed by the fact that all
tlie pupils are alive, alert and deeply In
terested 111 what they are doing. There
are no droning voices, chins resting on
hands, or sprawling over desks.
All the pupils seem busily engaged.
They ar- so interested that they do not
look up when visitors enter the class
room's. There Is a total absence of tho
usual school room smell.
On an average there are 23 different
nationalities represented in the schools,
and the pupils are from all walks of life.
They are all alike. They all go under a
shower or Into the swimming tank at
least twice a week,
Every bit of repair work around tlie
I schools Is done by the boys. Tile boys
’ who are learning tinsmilhing have made
all the lockers. The boys In the electrical
department look after the lights and the
wiring. Tile boys who are learning
Plumbing look after everything in that
branch. These departments cost the city
of Gary nothing. The work the boys do
In maintaining tlie school repairs, in mak
ing furniture and equipment, not only
Pays for the* departments, but pays the
salaries of the teachers of these depart
ments.
Saturday Is supposed to be a school
holiday, but half of the school children
of Gary go to school on Saturday from
Choice. In other cities there is a school
vacation of about three months in sum
mer. There is not Injury. The children
ibid school pleasant in summer and they
go there. Tile schools of Gary are not
used in the daytime alone, but In the
night. On certain evenings each week
some of tile big halls of the schools are
open for dancing, in each school there is
a theatre where plays are given ami lec
tures held. The school gymnasium and
swimming pools are used by men and
women in the night time. In’this way tlie
fathers and mothers are drawn as close
to the school almost as the children.
Around each school there is a play
ground nearly five acres In extent.
It is a wonderful monument that Wil
Ham Wirt has built for himself In thf
public school system of that town o(
Gary.
Mr. Wirt does not look like the pedan
gogue. He talks and acts like the g*m-(
era! manager of a railroad, or the super
intendent of a big Industrial plant He
has given the most remarkable example
of the wiping out of waste ever presented
in a public school In .America. The chil
dren of Gary are educated at a lower,
cost per capita than in any other city ita|
the 1’nited States and they are better ed-'
ueated. The raw material which Mr. j
Wirt has to work up Is composed mostly
of the children of Poles, Huns and other I
foreigners of low' grade. 1
In New York city $U).Of*>,000 a year !«(
appropriated for the schools and the re-j
suit is poor. The proportion of well edu- 1
cated boys and girls wrho come out ifl
small.
In Gary It is different—very different.
Gr*at us is the reduction in cost of ed-|
ucation according to the Wirt system
that saving is not to be measured with
the tremendous profit in the output ofj
better boys and better girls who will*
make better men and better women.
That Is why the eyes of the educators
are now directed toward Gary and why !
W illiam Wirt and his system have come
to be subjects of earnest study.
In Time of I’eace
Announcement is made In Washington
that the "war plans" of the army ord
nance department are completed ami that
for the first time In the history of the
country T'ncle Mam is In readiness, at
a moment s notice, to arm and equip 500,
men to send Into the field In event
of a war with a first-class power." The
preparations Include arrangements for
field supply depots equipped with tools,
ordnance stores and supplies estimated as
sufficient for maintenance during six
months. The preparations extend even
to such details as telegrams, letters and
various orders that merely would nave
to be dated and signed to set the ma
chinery of equipment Into motion. So far
as materials go we are In readiness to
go Into a struggle, says the St. Paul Pio
neer Press.
The announcement should he comforting
to those who are disposed to belittle our
military machinery and to imagine ttiat
we are marking time while possible rivals
are getting ready to Inflict disaster upon
us. We are not looking for trouble, and
are hoping that it will not come. But
we are not trusting to luck simply be
cause we do not try to outnumber the
other powers in regard to standing armies.
We have a formidable beginning on a
fighting force of half a million. No one
fears that there would be a shortage of
men In case of need, but patriotism could
not supply guns and ammunition on short
notice arid we have laid by the equipment
required for a war. No nation that might
be disposed to clash with us will make
the mistake of believing we would not
—...
be Rhl« to And two men for every ona
needed] to make use of the supplies m
have on hand.
Sugar From Sawdust
In the course of a paper read before tl j
London Royal Society of Arts. A. Zlrjp
merman described a process by whiofc
sugar might be manufactured from saw
dust. says Tit-Bits.
In its natural state, he pointed mtt,
wood son tains no sugar, but when saw
dust has been subjected in closed retorts
to digestion with a weak sulphurous add
solution under pressure of six to seven
atmospheres, a very remarkable trans
mutation takes place, as much as ur> per
cent of the material being converted into
sugar. In this Mr. Zimmerman claims
that we have a. valuable feeding stuff
for horses, cattle and sheep.
Draught horses In whose daily ration
four pounds of “caechulose molasses'*
were substituted for four pounds of oats
were all found to have Increased in
weight, while a colt which was in so
weak a condition that veterinary sur
geons advised its destruction put on -t*l
pounds in six months, and is now in ex
cellent condition.
The food has also been tried in a large
Durham colliery, with the result that it
kept the pit ponies and horses in good
and hard condition. Many other uses,
it was suggested, would be found for,
this converted wood for example, in th«
manufacture of explosives, of marganins,'
of synthetic rubber, and, in virtue of It*
characteristics as a non-conductor of
b* at. as packing for refrigerators, incitoi
butors, ice chambers and so oa. j