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3 Pritt DAlR COUNTS NEWS THE WORK OF A REAL SCHOOL f Good Teachers Are as Essential as Buildings. INTEREST THE COMMUNITY. The Wonderful Work of Pupils and In structors at the Thorn Hill School. Children Take a Real Interest In Their Studies. Perched upon a hill which overlooks a number of houses that appear to be playing leapfrog In their endeavor to get into the valley is Thorn Hill school. In these homes there are no rich people, and many of the girls and mothers are forced to go into the bottling works to help swell the Satur day pay roll. Naturally one would not expect a splendid building in such a community nor well kept grounds nor a strong school spirit But all of these things seem to be In the forming at present The exterior cf the school is rather shabby. Some palings are missing from the fence, there is no walk, and the doors are scarred. Inside the desks and furniture are mostly old, but there are decorations, and they are child made throughout The white STAKING BASKETS AT KIXESS. curtains that; temper the sunlight are plain, but have been neatly stenciled In bright, pleasing colors. The big ugly doorway between the two rooms is fringed with a unique portiere, which would puzzle the ordinary mor tal as to its manufacture. The secret of the large and many colored beads, that are strung on heavy cords, is that they are made from wall paper. The children had got huge books of sam ples of wall paper, cut the paper into strips and rolled them into beads. A line of nails in the door frame showed a brave display of. baskets of all shapes and sizes. There was no effort at any slavish pattern, for each child had made a basket the size and shape he or she wished. That the work has proved fascinating is shown 'w the fact that half of recess time is usually voluntarily given to this work. As the boys have become adept in the use willow they have been urged to make small stools at home and bring them to school to be topped with strong and beautiful basketry. The teachers have realized the full value of this work, for they are ar ranging for the older boys to cut and prepare the basket willows from the plants along the streams in the neigh borhood. This will allow the child to take the raw" material as it occurs in nature and make it into the finished product with the added value that artistic handwork gives. Gradually this sane activity upon the part of the children and their teachers has caught and held the in terest of the community. In a com paratively short time the parents have -m II if r rs $& '"SxX?- Zm A -Z 3&- .ft- ! M - 1 &WK 1 i UIOKX HIM. SCHOOL seen that the children would be helped by more linger work and a better per ception of form and color. As there was no money beyond the bare con duct of the school the teachers and the parents gave a social and bos party. The proceeds of the entertain ment have been used to engage the services of an art teacher, who corner 1 out from Frankfort twice a week. A school garden is being planned for i tne coming spruijj, uui Lor rear tne.v may be disappointed at the last mo ment the cmiaren nave arranged tj ltivate small plots at home. These ,ire to be entered iu the contest which Is carried on under the auspices of the Franklin County Fair association. HOW MUCH MORE COULD BE DONE IF THEY HAD A BUILDING WHICH WAS HANDSOME ENOUGH TO GAIN THEIR RESPECT no one can tell, but they have taken what wa at hand and with a fine spirit gone to work to make it as efficient as possible and as close to the activities of the community as possible, and they have succeeded.. Under such conditions the building will follow before long. In the meantime the teachers and the parents have the consolation of know- Ing that although a school Is much better for having a fine, comfortable, building, It is a possibility without it PRESENT DAY "" EMANCIPATION The Drudgery o? Farm Life' a Thins ot the Past. KEEP THE BOYS AT HOME. Make Them Industrious, Thoughtful and Independent and They Will Want to Stay The Corn Club Is Best Agent In Keeping From the City. Gradually through the onward march of the centuries mankind has learned that slavery, the buying and selling of human beings, doesn't pay. Mankind has learned that no human being de velops to its highest and best unless It is free. It must know and feel that it is constructing its own marvelous destiny. The child doing almost meaningless chores, the boy slaving the hot sum mer day through for his father, the girl at work in the garden for the ben efit of the family, are one and all in a measure enslaved. Of course every thing in the child's life cannot be made easy and pleasant, but to force the child to feel that he or she is the phys ical slave to the family interest must hurt and dwarf its growth. Go out into the country when the va cation sunshine is making vegetation tremble in its eagerness to grow and chat with some farmer's son, a little fellow still in the grades. If you should ask him about the future he is almost sure to say enthusiastically, "I'm goin' to town to work the very first chance I get. I'm tired dead tired of the farm all right." Why does he say it? Why does he believe he will be happier in the city than in the country? He says it and believes it because he has never got anything more than his "board an' keep" out of all the early rising and hard work he has known. Wherever the boy has had an oppor tunity to grow a crop of his very own he has shown that he is industrious, painstaking, thoughtful and mentally alert Under such conditions he is a free man, working out his own prob- lem, earning his own money and grow ing mentally, ab any free agent must This is not a fancy or fine spun theory trying to set aside the accumulated wisdom that the ages have striven to give us in the rearing of the youth of our laud. It is the experience that a few short years in the Boys' Com clubs has given us. It has shown us that boys, mere lads of ten years, who have worked listlessly for their fa thers in Gelds that produced at best forty or fifty bushels of corn to the acre, can be transformed into wide awake youngsters producing from 50 to 100 bushels of good corn to the acre. Let the children be freed, not be cause their labors have been too heavy, but that they may find them selves in a larger and finer manhood and womanhood, that will make our country life into something better than it ever has been in the past. Breeding Tells. An expert in corn judging was look ing over a county exhibit to select the best ten ears. lie had inspected the display carefully twice, when he hesi tated and looked puzzled. He started to speak, but stopped and examined critically two piles of ten ears each which were merely known to him by their tag numbers. At last he-touched the two piles and said: "I am going to hazard an opinion. These two piles of corn are Johnson county white, and they have been grown from the same lot of seed corn." Again he inspected the corn in both piles, while the few people in the room watched him with increasing interest He smiled as he again began to speak. "Yes," he said, "I am absolutely cer tain of my first two statements, and I am going to make a third. The seed corn from which both of these exhibits were grown wasi not brought from a distance, but was selected and grown by an expert somewhere in their neigh borhood." Several of the bystanders laughed at such a sweeping statement When the prizes had been awarded and the note book which held the names and num bers of the exhibits had been consulted it was found that the corn had been grown by brothers. The seed had been grown by their father, who had been a student of seed corn for eight or ten years. IF THE FARMER IS UNWILLING TO HANDLE SCRUB STOCK OR RAZOR .BACKED HOGS HE SHOULD ALSO BE UNWILLING TO GROW SCRUB CORN. , AN E-UArJCIPATED BOY. WORK OF THE IRL GARDENERS They Raise Tomatoes While the Boys Raise Corn. HAVE CANNING CLUBS TOO. The Splendid Movement Was Started by a Strong Minded Teacher and a Few Far Seeing Parents Mary Rog ers, Who Canned 238 Quarts. The farmer's wife had been examin ing the display of corn at the Boys' Corn show. At length she looked up and asked in a puzzled and hurt mau ner: "How about our girls? You have Boys' Corn clubs. What is there for the girls to do? There must be some thing." Corn growing co itests for the boys in our rural schools are comparatively new. but they are a great success. Girls' Tomato Canning clubs are still newer, but they. too. are a success In less than four years the membership in the Girls' Tomato Canning club has reached the splendid total of 27.000. all K tf! f r. f - v. 1 i! i f 5 ' i i I SIARY BOGEKS. working under directions from the gov ernment and scattered all over the United States. In these contests each girl mu&t grow one-tenth of an acre fit tomatoes and strive to can the greatest possible amount of the fruit. Although the Boys' Corn club is three years old in Kentucky we believe this year is the first for the Girls' Canning club. Last spring,' when Jefferson county organized its Boys Corn and Potato club, it also organized a Girls' Canning club and offered some very substantial prizes. The season was an unfortunate one, and those having the work in charge did not at first realize that it was not only a matter of grow ing and harvesting a crop, but also a matter of mrnufacturing the crop into a marketable commodity. Nevertheless, the club marks the beginning and a very good beginning at that One strong teacher at a small, dilapi dated schoolhouse ten miles from the city was the "prime factor in this be ginning. The second factor was a strong mother who had the ability to see and understand the educational value of the work for her child. That child was Mary Itogers, whose clear gray eyes spell an ability to hold fast to what she undertakes. "Yes; it was awfully hot part of last summer," she replied to the questions put to her. "but I had made up my mind to win if I could. "Lots and lots of my tomatoes rot ted because of the rain," she contin ued, "and then we ate a great many too. I bought my plants, and they be gan bearing about the 1st of August, so I had six weeks' canning i'es; that was hotter than the patch, because I did the work over a wood stove. Next year I think we'll get one of those ten .MAMIE IIULLE SHEPHERD. dollar canning outfits. You know, you can use them out in the yard under the shade of a tree if you want to. "Yes; I'm going to be in the tomato club next year, if they have one. O I'm only thirteen, so I have several years more in tbs club. I forgot to tell you that I canned 23S quarts. I have had a good many offers for some of them, but after getting the prize, which is quite large, we will eat most of them at home." Mamie Belle Shepherd, who was the winner of the second prize, tried to grow her own plants and for that rea son got a very late start in canning her crop. Commissioner of Agriculture Wilson In his late report wrote the following: l (1-Cr.m-n n flonnrrmpnt: with 2.444 em ployees in 1S97 and an appropriation of $3,272,902 it has increased to 13.88 employees at the beginning of the present fiscal year, with an appropria tion this year of almost 23,000.000. "Whereas there are now 52.000 re quests every week for department pub; lications, there were but 500 in 1897. and during this period 225,000.000 copies have been distributed. . , ' ...yBwo-. , y ' ; -w.- - 7 ' , I"? -. -i .L t J'i JJM Iv'.' r" $$?' -' JPi ysvT , "" .&' v, Wk Pl ! b-?H -4 !. fcgyH Mm - mm 'U , HOW MIDWAY "" CAMETO LIFE A $20,000 Investment on Its Boys and Girls. IN MODERN SGHOOLHOUSE, The Town t Began Threo Years Ago to Realize the Importance of Conserv ing Its Future Citizens' Health and Mentality Plenty of Room to Play Many rural communities feel that any building and any grounds will do for school purposes. These commuui ties have never thought definitely how far they have progressed in so man v. other lines. The average man will sa when you press him for a reason for the poor school equipment in his neigh orhood. "WelL that school was got l enough for me, an I reckon it's gnoO enough for my children." His own home, his farming implements, hi 02. "w,v v..y I- .V. .-X V v A J" .. '"t ' AT" VffffSft-SQfy$v)fA .. v .r . .v'.v ev, . 9s s. t?HS 4 i , ,&i-:t.'A...k.;i.iyit-iM v . A H aTIFUIi DOORWAY. barns an l 11 else In his life havo changed .in a "tallow candle ami homemadi- tlail" age to an "electric light and a s'eam thrasher" age. Threo years ago Midway and the sui rounding country began to think it w-i time to have a twentieth century sclmo plant. They began to feel tha' i would be well to have a building . good as any of their churches. At first the general public shook its hea-l and mumbled under its breath. ln' gradually it began to see the wisdo-i of the movement and at last voted tin funds necessary. While the trustees planned a schnn that should be a credit architectural' they did not forget to buy enoi.' ground to give the energetic yoii'i. sters tl.it were to be trained anu elbow roota. The beautiful build?' stands well back from the turni" on five acres of fine blue grass 1: n ' Behind and to one side of the sclm building is a comfortable stable stall to hold twenty-four horses. As Is usual In school affairs all the country, the trustees built th school with rn idea of Its taking ( of all the pupils in tne district for 1 1 next fifty years. Now, after only t and a half years, they are beginning see the natural result of a fine gr a Ing school spirit among both child and paienrs Today five grade and t high school teachers manage to te;u the 230 boys and girls that are rolled. This number is just fifty m than were enrolled last year. It now plain that the school will ha to add a new teache each year to t:i care 'of the steady Increase, and in (i more years an addition will have to i built to take care of the children. I . sides this yearly Increase, the trustc claim that very few of those enroll even try to play truant. Ample pl.w grounds, clean, warm schoolroom -comfortable single desks, light an pleasan1- surroundings make school gi ing less irksome, and the Incentiw for "playing out" has been removed Several schools rolled into one mau. many things possible. It allows tin" school fund to pay for a reliable jam tor. who can heat, clean and care i tlk property as it should be cared te. T: ii ,rxs4. MIDWAY'S SUCCESS. ft provides teachers for the differun grades and makes efficient and strnn. work. By bringing many children t gether It gives a chance for the chi ' to develop his social nature in a grow, of his own age. That the school .-it Midway is a success is to put the in::' ! ter lightly. A school that has . rolled fifty new pupils this year, tli i has added fifty children to the schi population of Midway, that makes th renting of any kind Of house in tli town an impossibility, that in tv and a half years does not show :i scratched wall or desk, is a huge sm- cess. Does all this answer the question "' investment? Can any one ever flsrun exactly what stronger men and wouu In a community are worth? Tli l school cost the community $20,000. I- .thi money a good investment for Mitt way? The answer can only come li asking any of the residents in the dN trlct of those who are willing to semi their children five or sis miles ntui pay extra' tuition to have them In a real live twentieth century school. ms.ic 5&MA " '! &: -kF; v t :,? tr &" v ' olMfSi 51 f "Mwr J .."?. ..ratr3vt"flxx-i vt .v t vsr. 3 Repulsive In Looks, It Is' Really z Harmless Creature. Probably there is no other living creature more feared by the ignorant than the Gila monster, about which all manner of weird cales have been told. It has even been held that the mere breath of this animal is sufficient to cause death to the one upon whom it fell., Scientific inquiry, however, fails to disclose a single instance wherein the breath or even the bite of this creature has resulted fatally. The fact that dissection and microscopic examination do not reveal any trace of glands for the secretion of venom is sufficient evidence to indicate that this curious member of the lizard family has been slandered. Some years ago a civil engineer in the southwest undertook to settle once for ail the question whether "the mon ster" was deadly or not.. A fine speci men was captured and confined in a wire inclosure. A chicken was obtain ed, and its feathers were removed in order that the lizard might have every opportunity to strike at the breast. The chicken was then held quite cloi to the Gila monster, which soon snap ped viciously and secured a firm hold on the fowl's breast, retaining this grin for more than ten minutes. When the victim was released it was found that the chicken's breastbone had been bro ken. Nevertheless the fowl quickly recovered, the bone knitting and the wound healing with no symptoms of poisoning. It is very probable that the reputa tion for evil borne by the Gila mon ster is due simply and solely to iN most repulsive appearance. Harpers Weekly. THE UBIQUITOUS SEA LION. He Strayed a Long Way From Horns Before He Was Killed. The following story is taken from the American Magazine: "Sunday is a dull day, and the ein editors had a habit of detailing men to go to the zoological gardens and got animal stories for Monday morning The reporters got together one Sunday morning and persuaded the head aui mal keeper to let them publish a fak story. It was rather commonplace concerning the alleged escape of a non existent sea lion from the pool to opi a water. " 'Fake.' said the managing editor as he read the story. 'Let's make it .i good one.' "Thereupon he sent telegrams to e ery country correspondent on that wr. ter or its tributaries, merely inquirin if anything had been seen of the e caped sea lion. The response was ap palling. The correspondents neede ! only the hint That day the sea li was seen by at least twenty con spoudents. and Berghand printed .: the reports one after another. Tim spurred, the correspondents went t t in earnest The following day the s, lion was reported at every point with In 200 miles. The story spread IP: ripples on water. In five days the li- . was sighted over half the world, .n: I an enthusiast at Southampton cable I that he was heading toward the not! . sea. Then a cruel correspondent up " Lake Superior killed him and wirovi that he was sending the skin as pro f I always -suspected that the managing editor did it himself." A Fine Sense of Feeling. One of two darkies who run a boo: black "parlor" in partnership was brag ging of his well developed sense -; touch, particularly in the matter of money. He boasted that he could tell the denomination of any United State-; coin merely by feeling it His partner wearied of these boasts and came back with this: "Your sen'-e o' feeliu ain't nothin' to my friend Marcus. Him and me u- to work on the Pullman down through Kansas. Marcus had been on this roun for about 'ten years. One night win-: we was both a-sleepin', 'long aronud midnight. I wakes up and I shakes Mar cus and I s:ij 'Marcus, where are we: And M;y - Ji.t roll over and sticks his hand n the window and he say. 'We're gum through Oswego.' " Ev erybo!Jy"j Writing on a Pillow. Every one who has had occasion to write while riding in a railway train will be interested in the fact that the aisagreeable effects of the jarring of the carriage are greatly mitigated by writing on a pillow. The pillow may be either held on the lap or placed on a table. The pad of paper and the arm which guides the pen or pencil should both rest on the pillow. In this manner it will be found pos sible to write legibly and With com fort in a train flying at full speed. London Answers. Poor Mamma. The Dear Child Oh, Mrs. 'Bloom, tvhen did you get back? Mrs. Bloom Bless you, dear, I was not away any where. What made you think so? The Dear CJiild I thought you were. 1 heard my mamma say that you were it loggerheads with your husband for Dver a week. Original. "Was there anything original in his speech at the banquet?" "Well, he admitted that he knew he (vas to be called on." Detroit Free Press. Well Instructed. Miss Fifth Avenue Maudie claims to e an uninstructed delegate. Miss Bea ton Street Impossible! She's from Bos Jon. Life. Behavior Is a mirror In which every ne displays hls image. Goethe. ' - THE GILA MONSTER. Warning. Washington, December 30. Alarm seized officials of United States Treasury to-day upon the discovery of a remarkable count erfeit five-dollar silver certificate, the most dangerous imitation of currency since the famous "Monroe-head" one-hundred-dollar bill was suppressed in 189S. So nearly perfect is this spur ious note that officials of the cashroom of the Treasury declar ed it was genuine. Norman Mo ran, Assistant Chief of the Unit ed States Secret Service, detect ed slight changes from the orig inal, however, and stamped it unqualifiedly as a counterfeit. The note is so dangerous that it was brought to the personal attention of Secretary MacVeagh and Robert O. Bailey, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. In the case of the "Monroe-head" bill the whole issue was with drawn from circulation because of the dangerous imitation. It will hardly be practicable to resort to thi3 precaution in con nection with the new counter feit, because the five-dollar "Indian-head" silver certificate is so generally in circulation. The counterfeit was discover ed in New York City, where two specimens were obtained by Se cret Service. . Treasury officials have undertaken to investigate the extent of its circulation. Widespread warnings to the public were issued to-day by W. J. Flynn, chief of the Secret Ser vice. "The general appearance of this counterfeit," says Chief Flynn's notice, "is calculated to deceive eyen careful handlers of money." The imperfections of the note are detectable only to the eye of an expert with the aid of a glass. Apparent' it is printed on two pieces of paper, between which silk threads have been distribu ted. HAUSE Uncertainty of the immediate " iture is looked upon by many men t: Iiirs, as a blockade to enter- r,trc and business prosperity, and his b'-ockade is now quite apparent lhrvu;l )ut the channels of trade. The Presidential Election; the ?Vrt f Congress with no fixed ptX'.'j; Organized Labor as a new ."j..C : in -politics; together with .Lcr matters of greater or less import, represent at this time a chaotic conflict of separate inter ests, to harmonize which is now the problem before the country.' All want Prosperity, Peace and Plenty. Read with care the Cin- ctnnati Enquirer, a journal thatj, p-in1 all the news each day from e' cry comircrcial center through cut the .world. A barometer of Cwiu us and effects that points out, as ;. Beacon Liht, the danger and' the safeguard therefrom. A . well .known, the Daily En quirer is tl'e largest in size and highest priced paper in the United S'ntes, yet cheapest, measured vy q.: iity and quantity. The Weekly Enquirer .vith the cream and digest of all the news, able and conservative editorials, market reports, methods and re sults from Government and State Experiment Stations, veterinary mattero, People's Forum, choice lit-cturc, short and continued stor ies, non-sectarian sermons, general information, etc., with the exclusion of cl matters of scandal and im- mrraUty, is today the Cleanest cekly Family Journal obtainable. Each issue is alone worth the irrice of a year's subscription. Solicitors for subscriptions m-ke a handsome profit and increase the good influence of The Enquirer id the uplift of morality andindui'Jryv and for the hetterment and welfare of the community. For terms - !te: to The Enouirer, Cincinnati, Ohio. "Jffr -. 'i . 1' . A ik . r t