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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEEY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST.
Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of
the Second Class.
JAMES R. GRAY,
president and Editor.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE
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The Semi-Weekly Journal is published on Tuesday
and Friday, and is mailed by the shortest routes for
early delivery.
It contains news from illl over the world, brought
by special leased wires into our office. It has a staff
of distinguished contributors, with strong: department*
of special value to the home and the farm.
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mission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R- BRAD
LEY, Circulation Manager.
The only traveling representatives we have are
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sentatives.
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Atlanta, Ga.
An Incomparable Wealth Producer.
If a State -were given its choice between a hun
dred gold mines and an up-to-date agricultural col- ,
lege, it would undoubtedly be the part of practical
wisdom to take the college; for, the wealth-produc
ing power of such an institution is unlimited both
in variety and extent. It is a continually creative
force, drawing riches from the sun and soil, scatter
ing new treasure along every path of business and
placing directly within the people’s reach the ideas
and opportunities for steady good fortune.
We hear much today of the great food harvests
of Kansas. The promised wheat crop of that State
is pointed out as one of the brightest omens of a
prosperous autumn. This abundant yield of wheat
is traceable directly to the patient work and the
growing influence of Kansas’ system of agricultural
education. It required years of "teaching and talk,”
as one observer remarks, to drive home the value
and importance of scientific methods on the farm,
“but at last, when actual crop yields showed beyond
a doubt the value of science, its principles and prac
tices have been adopted.”
Western Kansas presents a particularly striking
example of what agricultural education can accom
plish. The lands in that section of the State were
notoriously poor, but deep plowing, combined with
intensive methods and in some instances with irriga
tion, have transformed them to teeming acres. “The
western counties,” we are told by a writer who has
recently studied conditions there, “have increased
their wheat acreage until now they rival the eastern
part of the State. There are six million acres of
wheat sown in Kansas, with .an average of twelve
bushels to the acre. But the farmers are not satis
fied with that small average, and they have been
applying the methods of the college to their work,
with the result that next year will see the acre
figures greatly increased. Scientific methods are the
chief secret of the phenomenal yields now seen in
the western counties—yields which will average from
twenty-five to thirty bushels, and in some cases will
reach forty to fifty bushels to the acre.”
The Kansas college of agriculture has accom
plished much in the teeth of circumstances which
are naturally adverse. This it has been enabled to
do largely through liberal financial support. What
may not Georgia’s. State College of Agriculture
accomplish in a region of natural fertility, if it is
supported as it deserves to be? Our own college of
agriculture has' already achieved, and is still achiev
ing, a vast deal for the development of farms and
for the increased production of food supplies. Its
quickening, constructive influence is felt the State
around. It should be financed as generously as prac
tical conditions will permit, for it is one of the great
primal sources of the State’s progress and prosperity.
A11 is quiet in Wall street also.
The South and the Currency BilT
“When the South harvests a ■ cotton crop
worth a billion dollars it needs a lot of money
to pay its hands and meet the planters' other
obligations. This demand for money creates a
scarcity and interest rates go up. In some lo
calities no loans are to be had at all commen
surate with the needs. So the crop is dumped
on the market for what it will bring. It has been
estimated that a responsive financial system
would enable the farmers of the South to save
more than a hundred, million dollars in a year,
through their ability to hold the crop until they
could market it to better advantage.”
Simply and succinctly, the Kansas City Star thus
presents the Sowik-'s peculiar interest in the cause of
hanking and currency revision. While every section
of the country is in urgent need of a more elastic
monetary system, the South is desperately so, for,
here the value of our natural wealth and of the very
sources of our material well-being is crushed and held
down for the lack of money and credit in crucial sea
sons. Not only the farmers but also the workers in
every field of commerce and industry feel the burden
and the injury of such conditions.
The action of the treasury department in offering
between twenty-five and fifty millions of the bovern-
ment’s money to Southern and Western banks on
terms that can easily be met relieves the situation
for the immediate future. But the important thing is
that such relief should be permanently available. The
pending currency bill, if enacted, will make this spe
cial grant of the treasury department automatically
operative whenever occasion demands. The adminis
tration’s measure should have the support of everyone
who is sincerely interested in currency and banking
reform on general principles; it should have the sup
port of »'l Southern Congressmen and Senators be
cause of this section's peculiarly urgent needs.
It is getting along near enough to Christmas to
make the reduction in express rates timely.
President Wilson is compelled to keep bach, but
then he has a pretty faithful cook.
The Legislature’s Duty
To the People,
The few days remaining to the Legislature in its
present session must he turned to the most thought
ful and workmanly account, if the public interests of
Georgia are to be spared the grave injustice and in
jury with which they are now menaced. A number
of bills that lie very close to the people’s daily wel
fare are awaiting passage but unless the House and
Senate work with the utmost possible expedition
these important measures will not reach a conclu
sive vote. Of paramount concern, however, is the
need of a speedy agreement on some effective plan of
tax reform in order that the State’s revenues may
be made commensurate with its pinching necessities.
This matter cannot be neglected without heavy mis
fortune to our schools and to all those institutions
and enterprises which make for progress and public
well-being.
It has long been evident that the State’s interests
demand more revenue, that additional funds must he
had in order that the government may discharge
the plainest duties to its citizens. This need now ap
pears especially urgent in view of reports from the
Comptroller General’s office, showing that the State’s
source of calculable income is thus far more than a
million dollars less than it was in 1912. Fifty-four
counties among the ninety-odd heard from show an
aggregate decrease of over five million dollars in tax
returns.
The Senate has already reduced the House appro
priations hill by some two hundred and eighty thou
sand dollars, a reduction which involves the deplor
able, though now necessary, sacrifice of many impor
tant and highly worthy claims. But if the present
indications of the Comptroller’s office continue, even
this big cut will not suffice to square appropriations
with anticipated income. There must he a further
lopping away of funds granted to the common
schools, to the colleges, to pensions, to agricultural
development and protection and to other activities
upon which the State’s security and prosperity de
pend.
That is to say, this must he done, unless the
House and the Senate reach a prompt agreement on
some adequate measure of tax equalization whereby
the State’s income can be made to meet its needs. But
if such a measure is adopted, instead of cutting down
appropriations, which within themselves are entirely
reasonable, it will be possible to put them through or
to increase them.
The Legislature must choose between these two
courses: it must either deprive our public institu
tions of the means of subsistence or it must provide
a larger State income. The latter course is cer
tainly the wise and just one to pursue, the one that
is in keeping with the people’s rights and welfare. It
is not necessary to increase taxes, it is only neces
sary to equalize them among ail citizens and all
counties in order to secure ample revenues.
To this end the Legislature should work vigor
ously and harmoniously during its few remaining
days; and to this end it must work, unless it is to fail
in its duty to the people.
nations and the people
BT BE. BEANE CRANE.
(Copyright. 1913, by Frank Crane.)
The Mexican Macbeth.
Huerta of Mexico is a miniature Macbeth.
In his last tottering hours, he swaggers most de
fiantly and wears his gaudiest trappings.
Despised by the rank and file of his countrymen
for his treacherous and uncivilized course toward a
rightfully elected President, forsaken by most of the
army over which he once held sway and by many
of his personal fFlowers, he is hemmed in the cap
ital with little or no authority except over imme
diately adjacent districts,
Yet, this is the Huerta who scorns the good offices
of the United States and declares that he will not
recognize or treat with Ex-Governor Lind whom
President Wilson expects to send to Mexico as the
administration’s special representative.
If the present drift of axfairs continues a little
longer, Huerta will treat with no one simply for the
reason that he will be fairly on the path to the
Everlasting Bonfire.
If he in determined to press his rash policy to a
finish, he will soon be paying the penalty of that
“vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself.”
Sober Mexican citizens have hoped to effect an
amicable understanding among the factions now at
war, their plan being the voluntary retirement of
Huerta in favor ot some non-partisan statesman who
would serve as provisional president until a regular
election could be held.
But the would-be dictator will hear to no such
peaceful project.
“Our sovereignty,” he says with a royal emphasis
of the word, must be maintained at all hazards. The
doughty general evidently means to die with his
boots on.
In so far as the interests and duties of the United
States in this matter are concerned, they are being
ably directed by the administration.
The Outlook for Fiscal Reform.
The outlook fer an effective measure of tax reform,
whereby the State’s progress will be assured and
justice will be done all counties and all citizens,
grows distinctly more promising.’ The bill passed
by the House, though manifestly insufficient to the
needs of the time, affords a basis and starting point
for constructive legislation in the Senate. The
Senate is fortunately free from those sharply drawn
conflicts of opinion which severed the House. It
seems agreed aimost as a unit as to the general
course that must he followed in solving the State’s
fiscal problems. It should thus be able to har
monize such differences as are honestly entertained
and to evolve a measure that will he satisfactory to
a majority of the House members.
The opposition to a State hoard of tax equaliza
tion has arisen in part, no doubt, from misappre
hensions as to the' real purpose and the logical re
sults of such a board. We have neyer believed that
the rights or the interests of any county would be
imperiled by a well-considered plan of State super
vision. The Senate can supply safeguards in this
particular, however, that should reassure the most
fearsome.
In the meantime, the Senate does well to reduce
appropriations to a level of anticipated revenues.
The Ijouse appropriations bill calls for the expendi
ture of two hundred and eighty thousand dollars in
excess of the State’s calculable income. So unbusi
nesslike and dangerous a policy should not be suf
fered to prevail. Until an adequate fiscal system,
assuring an increase in revenues, is adopted, appro
priations mut be cut.
We are slaves to words. Speak often enough of an
unreal thing, and after a while it becomes real.
For instance, we have used the word "nation” for
centuries. There Is, however,
no such thing as a nation. All
that really exists is the indi-
dividuals that compose a nation.
National pride, national pros
perity, national honor, are arti
ficial entities. There are only
individual pride, prosperity and
honor, singly and collectively.
In the arithmetic of politics you
cannot add a million people and
make a single sum that is a dif
ferent sort of thing.
Hence talk of justice to na
tions is misdealing. There is
only justice to the people who
compose it. There was once
high howling of them who thought it an outrage upon
the Philippines for the United States to take them
over. But if you cease thinking by counters and la
bels and think of actual folks you will see that the
men, women and children in those far off islands are
freer, more contented, and have more justice, order
and opportunity than they ever possibly could have
had under an independence that would certainly have
meant endless internal strife. The United States in
the Philippines must be judged by the result of gov
ernment upon the individuals, and not by fictitious
sentiment about the rights and feelings of nations.
India is under t u<‘ rule of England, whether that
rule is justifiable or not depends only upon its effect
upon the natives. And British dominion in India does
not endure because of the handful of white troops
there, but because for the first time in history the
common man there can find' some protection and
justice.
If we Americans could be better governed, happier,
and more prosperous under British sway than we now
are, I should favor joining the empire at once. Hap
pily, we believe the contrary would be the case.
No government is entitled to respect that is not
the free choice of its people, that does not give
them order and . equity.
If the government of Mexico does not take decent
care of the lives, rights and property of its citizens,
and of the aliens sojourning there, it has no right
to exist.
If it does not represent the free preference of its
population, if it holds its power only through conniv
ance and fo#ce, it has no right to the consideration or
respect of other civilized -nations.
Destiny has placed upon the shoulders of the
United States a burden of responsibility which cannot
be unloaded by the twists and precedents of interna
tional law. That responsibility is not to states nor
de facto governments; it is to the human beings un
derneath.
Murder, robbery, mockery of human rights, and
semi-barbarism must cease in Mexico, as such things
were caused to cease in Cuba, or the United States
must interfere, by the same right by which any de
cent man may interfere to protect a child who is being
treated inhumanly by his parent.
JUST SMILES
Past stall after stall went the rich merchant fol
lowed by a footman in smart lively. It was the annual
village bazar. •
“Ah, Mr. Fitzbrendon,” said a really sweet and
charming - lady-»at one of the stalls, “and what'are you
going to buy? Dear old auntie and I am running this
table and we have home-made cakes, aprons, penwipers,
and—”
“Yes,” said F., “and I’ll buy just one of each. But
do you sell kisses at your stall?”
“Oh, certainly!” came the ready reply. “One guinea
each!”
“Right!” replied the autocrat. “Then I’ll take a
couple—and good measure, please!”
“Aunt,” remarked the fair and dainty damsel, “for
ward, please! Two kisses for this gentleman!”
For a moment the man of means was nonplussed,
but only for a moment. Then he turned to his servi
tor:
“James,” he said coolly, “just take this purchase,
please!”
Editorials In Brief
Senator Bryan’s objection to extension of the
parcel post on the ground that if the present tend
ency be not checked we may come at last to sending
mail by freight and getting parcels by express is
not so formidable as it sounds. In fact, it might he
beneficial in many a household to get fresher eggs
and fewer letters.-—New York World.
We have troubles enough of our own; still larger
troubles are possible. It is true that many millions
of American capital are invested in Mexico, hut
there does not seem to be any need of haste in deal
ing with the problem. It is better to go slow than
too fast in a case of this kind.—Rochester Union and
Advertiser.
It certainly does not look at the present time as
if any combination could be made against Mayor
Gaynor which would render his defeat for re-election
probable.—Hartford Times.
The Strength of China’s Republic.
The latest revolt in the Chinese republic has failed
largely through its own weakness, leaving the estab
lished government and the influence of President
Yuan Shih-Kai stronger than before. This rebellion
seems to have enlisted little or no support except
among disappointed politicians and certain ragged
remnants from the army that engaged in the first
great revolution, “disbanded and often unpaid sol
diers,” as one writer describes them, “who found
marauding a more congenial occupation than their
ordinary industries.”
The dominant thought and purpose of the Chinese
people are undoubtedly hack of the Republic. There
are slow-minded, ignorant masses who perhaps are
but vaguely aware of the momentous changes which
have recently come to pass in their country and
whose attitude^ counts for little one way or the other.
There are others who are rather suspicious of the
present administration, yet who are waiting quietly
and patiently, hoping that it will really promote
freedom and progress. But the majority of thought
ful and patriotic Chinese appear to be loyally sup
porting the government.
Of the Southern provinces that declared their
independence when the recent rebellion broke out,
all hut one have returned to the federal fold. The
insurgent forces have been routed and in some in
stances their own leaders have fallen victim to the
spirit of anarchy and terrorism they kindled in reck
less adventurers. The complete unification of a
country so vast in its extent and so diverse in its
language and people as is China will necessarily re
quire long years. But that the young Republic has
begun under favorable stars and has thus far moved
constructively forward, no one can gainsay.
^OU/MTRY
^TlME.LTf
IjOME topics
Conducted wjmuHJrtcraft
THE WHITE SLAVE ACT IN CALIFORNIA.
It would be well if' every interested reader of The
Journal would write to their congressmen for a copy
of the Congressional Record bearing date of July 29,
and read for themselves what is there printed concern
ing the noted white slave cases. Get a postal card
and mail your request immediately.
It is surely an eye opener.
Directly after President Wilson’s inauguration or.
March 4 he appointed a man named Anthony Cami-
netti to the very responsible position of commissioner
general of immigration. Under his authority it was
hoped that the atrocities perpetrated on the Pacific
coast on defenseless white women would be punished-
Mr. Caminetti was a state senator in California.
About the first letter that the new commissioner
general wrote was an appeal to the district attorney
of Sacramento district in California to postpone the
trial of his own son, who had been indicted by the
grand jury for an atrocious violation of this white
slave act, and after Commissioner General Caminetti
reached his department in Washington he telegraphed
District Attorney McNab to “avoid setting his son’s
case for trial until after July.” This commissioner
general also wrote that the department of justice
“had no objection to this postponement.”
And the attorney general of the United States, one
McReynolds, did postpone the trial of Caminetti and
that of his equally guilty copartner in the crime, one
Maury Diggs. Diggs’ father was also a state senator
of California, The exposure shows beyond a shadow
of a doubt that the department of justice and "the
department of tabor and the commissioner general of
immigration laid their heads together and determined
that Caminetti and Diggs should not be tried until au
tumn. Attorney McNab, after receiving his orders,
wired President Wilson that he could not serve, under
his oath, in such a manifest attempt to shield these
prisoners. He laid the facts before him and, strangfi
-to say, the president accepted McNab’s resignation,
and the attorney general, Mr. Reynolds, laughed
heartily and said “he was-shewing m> tears” 6ver the
resignation. Mr. McNab’s resignation aroused the
state of California. The atrocity was such a gross
and glaring violation of the white slave act and the
favoritism of high officials so potent, that the matter
went to congress. Also it is strange to say that the
Democratic majority in the house of representatives,
day after day and week after week fought against al
lowing this atrocious affair to be heard or discussed
in that body. Certain representatives friendly to
Attorney General McReynolds flung spiteful remarks
at McNab, where the latter had no chance to reply.
But the whole affair is leaking out, and those
young men, Caminetti and Diggs, sons of former state
senators, men of wealth as well, are now known
abroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific as two of thv.
vilest products of degeneracy and crime. Diggs is a
married man with two young children. By common
repute he kept a harem at his rooms in Sacramento.
He enticed young women there to serve immoral pur
poses. Caminetti had a vicious reputation for entic
ing young girls also.
Two girls of reputable families, one the only daugh
ter of the agent of the Santa Fe railroad, and another
girl, only daughter' of a retired merchant, were en
ticed by these debauches. They were induced to go
on rides, to wine suppers, etc. After this had been go-
irg on for some' months these men determined to
frighten them by threats of exposure and prosecution
until they went away to Reno, in Nevada, where these
men hired a cottage and proceeded to carry on their
vile destruction of these girls. They signed false
names in Reno, and continually warned these girls that
they were already ruined and if they made any outcry
the wives of these men would publish their disgrace.
An old friend of the parents of these girls finally
secured an . entrance into the hired cottage, and the
betrayed and ruined girls flung themselves into the
arms and sobbed out their pitiful story. The parents
of these ruined girls appeared before the grand jury,
and the indictment in full is printed in the Congress
ional Record of July 29.
Each of these men had families. One of the wives
was in bed confined with infant. Both were rich,
dissolute scapegraces. The trial was postponed and
the grand jury presented a written protest to congress.
All that money can do will be done to save these
villains from prison or heavy fines.
They should have been pilloried and then hung.
The crime has become such a common one that the
nation is awakening to its demoniac atrocity.
It is dreadful to know that Democrats should have
been willing to postpone the trial for a single hour.
But, do you write your postal to your congressman
and tell him you want to read the story.
* * *
SPENDING WHAT YOU HAVE NOT GOT.
Extravagance and wastefulness have been the ruin
of tens of thousands of American homes. It is par
ticularly the curse of the fast age we live in. Until
we get back to common sense ways of doing things
we will become known everywhere as a spendthrift
nation. The fortunes of Georgia before the war were
made by economy and saving. It is true there were
but few salaried people (and nearly every third man
you meet nowadays draw’s his living from somebody’s
strong box, particularly from the money chest of
towns, counties, states and the nation). To spend
freely, knowing whero to expect a pay envelope at the
end of the month, has done as much to make a care
less, reckless race of people as anything in the world.
It is said to be a fact that the horde of officehold
ers in Washington City, those who fill the depart
ments to overflowing, are the very ones who never
think of saving a dollar. The army and navy people
are the same way, and if the money chest of the na
tion should suddenly' go dry there would be wailing
and gnashing of teeth inside of thirty days from ocean
to ocean.
It is the bad habit of reckless spending that is
seriously afflicting the moral sense of our people be
cause it is nearly as bad as dope drinks and tobacco
using. It was the curse of old Rome and the end of
such things is certain. The habit is destructive.
I see with dismay that our lawmakers do not real
ize the necessity for economy in our public finances.
Already in debt a half million, the capitol is swarm
ing with interested people to get new and increased ap
propriations. I wish somebody had the nerve to get
up and declare that we had. better omit public schools
for another ten months and allow the parents to
teach their young ones at home awhile. They are al
ready occupied with this constant teaching before the
children go to school with their lessons. It would be
a long sight better than plunging into debt when the
people have already all that they can bear in the way
of taxation. Stop a few months and catch up.
And there should anyhow be a wholesome segrega
tion of schools and fewer teachers.
• • *
BURIED GRIEFS.
Oh! let them rest, the buried griefs,
Why should we drag them to the day?
They lived their hour of storm and shower*
They lived, and died, and passed away.
Oh! let them rest—their graves are green;
New life shall rise above the mould;
The dews shall weep, the blossoms peep,
The flowers of sympathy unfold.
So or the solitary moor,
The soldiers’ graves are bright w’ith flowers
The wild thyme blooms, and sweet perfumes
Attract the roamers of the bowers.
There stays the bee to gather sweets,
And give his booming trumpet rest;
There waves the heath its purple wreath,
And there the linnet builds her nest .
So let them rest—the buried griefs,
The .place is holy where they lie;
On life’s cold waste their graves are placed—
The flowers lock upward to the sky.
THE NEW RURAL SCHOOL
V.—SUGAR COATED SCIENCE.
BY FREDERIC J. BASKIN.
When the second session of the experimental rural
school at Rock Hill began in September, things were
quite different from that March day when the “Fun
School” was first launched. It
was autumn, not spring. The .
flowers were dying, not budding.
And the children, coming from
-instead of from the
mill village and the college cam
pus, were more shy. Further
more, there were more of them,
some of them were older—the
first three grades benig repre
sented—and most of them had al
ready been to school and had
their own ideas of what a school
ought to be. Of course, they
knew this school would be differ
ent, for their parents had talked
of the radical action of the trus
tees in closing up their own school house and hiring a
wagon to take all the children into the new school.
But they were natural conservatives, and they had to
be won over.
• * •
Having brought their old school books, and the
state law requiring the use of certain adopted text
books, there was nothing to do but to add the second
reader and the progressive speller and even an arith
metic to the Mother Goose Rhymes and Fairy Tales
on the big table. But still they were not used until
after the nice, interesting story books had taken away
all awte of a book as an enemy, and had made every;
child to know that a book is a friend. And the school
books were not used at all except for helps—nobody
was required to “learn” out of a book or to recite
from one.
• • •
The children now were of various ages, one boy
being as far along as the fifth grade. No classes
were organized, but the children fell into natural
groups arranged with respect to their advancement.!
And the older ones helped the young ones with reading
while, marvelous word, the younger ones helped theirl
elders in seeing closly, *for their powers of obserYa-'
tion had not been spoiled by even the slightest taint
of a conventional education.
• • •
There were two girls, thirteen and fourteen years
old, who had been to school two months a winter for
several years, beginning when cotton picking was over
in December and quitting when cotton planting began
in March, for these were field working girls.
• * *
They were very shy, and when on the first morning
the younger children ran romping from the wagon to
the school house the two girls reproved them, and
told them they were coming to school now and must
behave. They were amazed when the teacher joined
in the romp and led the school running toward the
garden. They were horrified when the younger ones
talked aloud in school. They didn’t at all like the no-,
tion of playing games in school when it wasn’t “re-|
cess,” but in a few days their shyness had vanished j
and they were heart and soul in the fun of it all.
• • •
In the several school terms they had attended theyl
had advanced to where they could spell out a few les-|
sons in the second reader and they could say the
“second line” of the multiplication table. That wa.sj
all. They could not sew. They could not cook.
They could do nothing but hoe and pick cotton.
• o •
To teach such girls as these, and their brothers'
like them, not only to read and tt> write, but to read
and write to a purpose; and then to teach them use
ful and practical lessons in chemistry, in physics, iiif
botany and zoology—that were surely a wonderful ac
complishment for a year. The best practical proof of]
its success is that when cotton plan ing time came the/
parents of these two girls did not take them out of
school, but let them go on because, they said, “They
are learning so much that it would be a pity to stop
them, and we can manage the planting somehow.”
• • •
The garden is used not only to teach agriculture,
but botany and chemistry as well. The kitchen stove
is first of all introduced as an instrument for thW
demonstration of a lesson in physics—the effect of. thd
draughts of air on the fire. It becomes a chemical
laboratory when biscuits are baked, or tomatoes
canned. The carpenter shop is a practical proving
ground for mathematical accomplishments.
• • •
No seven-year-old child would ever remember, even
if he understood, a lecture on pollenization of the corn
flower, but the experiments of withholding the pollen
from the corn silk proves to him, so that he can never
forget it, the theory of the fertilization of the corn.
* •
But it must not be imagined that such experi
ments were confined to corn. There were the potatoes.
The children learned by comparison of blooms and
fruits that the potato and the bull nettle belong to
the same plant family, but first they noticed that both
were beset by the pestiferous potato beetle. Later
they found to their great surprise that the tomato
% was a cousin in the same family. Then they were
prepared to hear, what they could not see, that all
were related to the deadly night-shade.. Coming to
them in this way botany held the pure joy of original
research and discovery.
• * •
The potato beetles had to be fought with poison,
the plants were sprayed with Paris green. That
brought in a bit of chemistry, but it also mightily in
terested the children in the beetles. A terrarium was
one of the first bits of equipment added to the school.
The lpoys made a shallow box and filled it with earth,
and there they placed for observation and study every
insect they could find, every larva and chrysalis. A
plague of cotton caterpillars demolished the tiny cot
ton crop, but it added greatly to the store of knowl
edge gained from the terrarium.
• • •
Birds, too, were studied, and the children learned
of the way the birds’ bodies were made to facilitate
flight, and why some birds walk and others hop.
Birds and beetles were always discussed, however*
from the economic and not the scientific angle. The
first question was always: Is he our enemy or our,
friend? They learn that the lady bug is as friendly
as .the potato bog is unfriendly; they see with their
own eyes how the angle worm helps loosen the soil to
aid the plants to find food, while the cut worm de
stroys the young plants.
• • •
The liberal sciences are not neglected. Tne begin
nings of orderly accounting are made when each child
keeps a painstaking record of the day the peas were
planted, the. day they came up, the day they were first
cultivated, how many times they were hoed, when the
first bloom appeared, when the first peas were picked,
and finally, how many peas were picked before the
plants died and were destroyed. Also, what was done
with the peas? How many pecks were there in the
pod? How many pints, when they were hulled, How
many were cooked at school? How many taken home?
How many soldi
Pointed Paragraphs
A man may make a guess at what a woman i3
going to do, but that is his limit.
* * -
Do not be one of the majority who expect more of
a friend than they are willing to give.
• • *
Lazy men would rather find fault than Anri
work.
• • •
Even experience falls down when it tries to teach
a fool.
• ...
What a girl likes about a young man is usually
what her mother doesn’t