Among country schools

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Preface

This book is not a scientific treatise on education nor a manual of methods for the teacher. This may be the need for the country school. If so, some one better fitted must undertake the task of its preparation.

This little volume is not even a book on agriculture. It may be fairly questioned whether or not the country school-teacher needs something else before a text-book on the science and practice of farming.

In a personal letter to the author dated December 19, 1904, the Honorable James Wilson, United States Secretary of Agriculture, says :

You have many delightful things in that write-up of } T ours, and it seems to me that you' should not stop short in speaking to the public through your pen. We are needing, and needing very much, agricultural text-books. I have said this before to a great many people, and have asked if they could not write one directed to the farm child through farm topics. Something is being done along that line, but there is a great deal yet to be done.

The author hopes that this book will prove suggestive to the teacher and school officer who are striving for the spiritualization of country life through the medium of the country school. He believes that a careful reading of its pages will show a practical way of interesting the "farm child through farm topics."

Vlll PREFACE

What is thus offered is the result of seven years of very earnest thought and hard work in an endeavor to secure for the country child his rights so far as an educational opportunity is concerned. The country school should have that freedom which country life affords. This book has but little to say about the mechanics of school management.

In the training of children and the development of character no greater opportunity can be offered than that now belonging to the teacher in the country school. The author hopes these pages may prove helpful in the way of making the teacher a greater inspirational force in country life. Likewise no such opportunity was ever presented to a school officer as is now before the county superintendent of schools. It is his privilege to become a real leader in an educational way and to do original constructive work in the evolution of the country school to meet the new conditions of country life.

In the development of the country school discouragements will come and seemingly insurmountable obstacles will block the way. It is no time, then, to become despondent or cynical. Go out under the stars and breathe the resolve in prayer to be true to right ideals. The reward

is to the one who remains steadfast to the end.

O. J. K.

Highland, Rockford, Illinois July, 1906

CHAPTER I THE NEW COUNTRY LIFE Improved farm machinery. — Methods of communication

— Spiritualization of country life. — Period of settling down.

— Country school and progress. — Exodus to the cities. — Statistics. — Right Honorable James Bryce in America, 1904. — Relation of country school to new age in country

life.- — New educational ideal 1— 14

Chapter II

An educational creed. — Educational progress in cities. — Country and city contrasted. — Equality of educational opportunity. — A "square deal" — A Teacher's Creed. — Beauty in country life. — Attendance in country schools of Illinois. — Chart No. 60. — Three great movements. — The problem 1 5—33

Chapter III Outdoor Art: Beautifying School Grounds

Influence of environment. — Inoculation for school improvement. — Conditions in Illinois. — Factors in the problem. — Planting and programmes. — Some material. — Seven agencies for the beautiful in country life. — Literature on trees and forestry. — President Roosevelt and the man who "skins" the land. — Consolidated school grounds. — Plea

for wild flowers, etc. — Excuse no longer valid 34-55

ix x CONTENTS

Chapter IV School Gardens

An experiment in country schools. — A modern school. — Education not limited to the " three R's." — Contrast of city conditions and country conditions. — Effects of garden work in Philadelphia. — " Do-nothing " policy. — Twofold purpose of school garden in country schools. — A further plea for the wild. — Literature on planting. — How to have a school garden. — Outline of work for institutes. — Bibliography. — The Macdonald school gardens. — Other school gardens \ 56-84

Chapter V

Aim of chapter. — Present and future. — Ideal school board. — Waste of school funds. — School improvement society. — Responsibility of teacher. — Sanitary commission. — Work of the twins. — Cure rather than endure. — Stove polish and jacket. — Water tank. — Ventilation. — Theoretical art interest. — Work of Art Education Society of Cleveland. — Traveling art exhibits at teachers' institutes.

— Course in art reading. — List of books. — Suggestive programme for school social. — Studies of Millet. — Gifts of an art friend. — Work of Illinois Congress of Mothers. — The

old country schoolroom 85-102

Chapter VI

Growth of libraries. — "Everybody." — School libraries in various states. — Do country children need good books ?

— Plea of poverty on part of school officers. — Teachers and right use of books. — Twentieth-century library movement.

CONTENTS xi

— Traveling school libraries. — Township exercises as one means. — Sanitary regulations for traveling libraries. — Contents of boxes. — Library work at annual teachers' institutes. — List of books on United States history. — Results.

— School libraries in New York, Massachusetts, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and

CHAPTER VII Country-school extension work. — Large pupils in school

— One object. — Machinery of organization. — Relation of school to a boys' club. — Work of boys. — Sugar beets. — Growing high-bred corn. — Circulars of Illinois Agricultural Extension Department. — Corn and regular school work.

— By-products of corn. — Reports from boys. — The work in various states. — Account of contest and banquet at Lincoln, Nebraska. — Widespread interest in boys' clubs . . 129-157

Chapter VIII Educational Excursions To The College Of Agriculture

Excursion a factor. — Value of atrip. — Education for the country child. — Things. — Four annual excursions. — Character of excursions. — One way of reaching people. — Inspiration to boys. — Secret of success. — Programme at Wisconsin College of Agriculture. — Illinois Experiment Station. — What one boy saw. — Visit to Iowa. — Breeding corn. — The "Blue Grays" at Ames. — The corn train. — Testing seed corn. — Bulletins 158-174 xii CONTENTS

Chapter IX The Country School And The Farmers' Institute

Who attend in Illinois. — Who do not attend. — Cooperation of county superintendents. — Educational sessions at state round-up. — Need of enlisting the young people. — Boys' session of Winnebago County Farmers' Institute. — Some reports and papers. — Prize giving. — Boys study score card. — Announcement to boys. — How to secure reports from boys. — Girls' club. — Prizes. — Score card for bread. — Useful bulletins 175-200

CHAPTER X THE NEW AGRICULTURE AND THE COUNTRY SCHOOL " Spasmodic theorization." — Work of previous chapters

— Fundamentals. — Country child and environment. — "Ways and means." — Hodge's Nature Study and Life.

— Attitude of the " educator." — Dean Bailey. — Report of Committee on Industrial Education for Country Communities. — Bulletins in country schools. — Lectures. — Books in traveling libraries. — Agriculture at St. Louis. — Secretary Wilson on value. — Appropriations by Illinois. — Dr. Hopkins on breeding corn. — Funk Brothers' seed farm. — Soil investigations. — Prairie Farmer editorial on "fads." Who is to fit? — -"Prophets in Israel." — An educational campaign. — Dean Davenport on the consolidated country school. — A summary 201-225

CONTENTS xiii

Chapter XI The Financial Phase Of The Country-school

PROBLEM

Increased usefulness of country schools. — Hard to realize change. — • Small schools in various states. — Small school not necessarily a poor one. — Dollars-and-cents argument. — Some statistics in one county. — Some observations. — Amount to be increased. — Better salaries for better teachers. — ■ Per capita. — Assessed valuation and rate of taxation. — Salary list. — Small schools in one county. — Financial phase fundamental 226-239

Chapter XII

Some preliminaries. — First stage. — Consolidation not to cheapen. — Views of Honorable Henry Sabin. — Progress of consolidation. — Indiana. — Ohio visit. — Illinois. — Art at Seward School. — High-school possibilities. — Advantages and objections — transportation. — Assistant Secretary Hays on course of study. — What claim? — Summary of Superintendent Graham's bulletins 240-281

Chapter XIII The Training Of Teachers For Country Schools

Spirit of criticism. — Fitting teachers to teach. — Country-school conditions not fully recognized. — Superintendent Gilbert on course of study. — Department for country schools. — Normal scholarships in Illinois. — High school at the normal school. — Country-school programmes. — Model country school with Indiana State Normal School. — Charman's report on work. — Illinois making a start. — Wisconsin county training schools. — Work in Dunn County. — Work at New Paltz, New York. — Bibliography. — Work in Michigan . 282-308 xiv CONTENTS

CHAPTER XIV Pages Manual training and manual labor. — Table showing

number of pupils in each grade. — Progress in manual training in country schools will be slow. — Opportunity for the school to cooperate with the home. — Account of Cottage Hill School. — The work in Hancock County, Georgia. — Manual training in state normal schools. — Report of Committee on Manual Training for Rural Schools to the Illinois Manual Arts Association. — Work in Mower County, Minnesota. — Mr. Harvey G. Hatch's work in Winnebago County, Illinois. — Possible kinds of hand work. — Reference list 309-341

Chapter XV

Not a final word. — The University of Illinois and the country school. — Resolutions at special conference. — Forward step in Wisconsin. — Educational campaigns. — Work of the School Improvement League of Maine. — Progress in West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri, Minnesota, Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and other states. — The last word 342-366

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig.

1. An Old New England Schoolhouse Frontispiece

Page

2. A Two-Row Corn Cultivator i

3. A New Country Road 3

4. A New Means of Communication for the Farm 4

5. A Steam Roller and a Road Scraper 5

6. A Farm Scene 7

7. A Country Road 10

8. A Country Schoolhouse 11

9. His First Day 13

10. Among the Oaks . 16

11. Among the Oaks 17

12. An Old Schoolhouse in Winnebago County, Illinois 18

13. A New Schoolhouse in Winnebago County, Illinois 19

14. Crab Apple Blossoms beside a Country Brook 21

15. Where the Water Lilies Grow 23

16. A Country Road 25

17. A New. Schoolhouse with Trees 26

18. Work in the New Schoolhouse 27

19. Down on the River 29

20. An Old Schoolhouse 30

2.1. A New Schoolhouse , .... 31

22. Noble Elms spared by the Telephone Company 34

23. Trees should go with the Flag 35

24. The Four Oaks 37

25. A Real Playground 38

26. Standing by their Colors 39

27. A Shrubbery Detail 41

28. The Treeless School Grounds 42

29. Why not on the School Ground ? 43

30. Treatment of Outbuildings 45

31. Treatment of Outbuildings 46

32. Improving Grounds of Consolidated School 47

33. Vines on the Schoolhouse .... 49

34. At the Well 50

35. A Design for the Improvements and Planting of the Seward

School Grounds between 50 and 51

36. A Row of Hard Maples 52

37. The Results of Tree Planting 54

38. Where the Wild Crab Apple, Plum, etc., are Saved 55 xv xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. Pace

42. A School Garden at Home (1904) 63

43. A School Garden at the Seward Consolidated School (1904) . . 65

44. A Desolate Schoolhouse 68

45. A Farm Home near the Desolate Schoolhouse 69

49. Outline Plan of a Macdonald School Garden, Bowesville, Ontario,

Canada 77

50. A Model for a Country School 79

51. Another Model for a Country School 81

52. Trees set out in 1905 83

53. Nature Study 84

54. A Stove Jacket S7

55. A Water Tank 89

56. Studying a Traveling Art Exhibit 91

57. An Improved Interior 93

58. Pictures and Books 95

59. A Room in the Seward Consolidated School 98

60. A Room in the Seward Consolidated School 99

61. A Room in the Seward Consolidated School 101

62. A Country-School Library io^

63. Library Case and Reading Table 108

64. Traveling Libraries for Country Schools: Plan of Disinfection . 112

65. The Winnebago County Board of Supervisors 122

66. Some Prize Winners, Members of the Winnebago County Farmer

Boys' Experiment Club 131

67. A Prize Winner, Eleven Years Old 132

68. A Prize Winner, Twelve Years Old 133

69. With High-Bred Corn 135

70. With High-Bred Corn 136

71. A Sugar-Beet Grower 137

72. Sugar-Beet Growers 138

73. Brother and Sister among their Beets 141

74. This Boy Hopes Soon to Take a Course at an Agricultural

College 142

75. Some High-Bred Corn 147

76. Bottles showing Chemical Analysis of Corn 147

77. Testing the Germination of Corn with Plates of Sand . . . . 151

78. Some Prize Winners of the Winnebago County Girls' Home

Culture Club 152

79. The Excursion of Winnebagoes (1903) in front of the College of

Agriculture, University of Illinois 158

80. The Illinois College of Agriculture 159

81. The Cattle Barn, Illinois College of Agriculture 161

82. Looking at the Live Stock, Ames (Iowa) Experiment Station . 165

83. At the Oats Breeding Plots, Ames, Iowa 167

84. Inspecting Alfalfa at Ames, Iowa 168

85. The Famous "Blue Grays" on Experiment Farm, Ames, Iowa . 169

86. Winnebagoes "on the Trail" to Madison, Wisconsin, June, 1905 171

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xvii

Fig. Page

87. The Arrival at Madison: in Front of the New College of Agri-

culture, University of Wisconsin 173

88. Country Children in School 176

89. A Boy at his Desk in an Old-Fashioned Country School . . . 179

90. Country Children in School 181

91. The Boys' Session of the "Winnebago County Farmers' Institute,

92. A Subject for Consideration at the Farmers' Institute .... 186

93. A Subject for Consideration at the Farmers' Institute .... 187

94. Studying Corn 189

95. Studying Corn 192

96. Pure-Bred Cattle 193

97. Studies in Corn 193

98. A Cross Section of a Kernel of Corn 196

99. The Cooking Class, Macdonald Consolidated School, Middle-

ton, Nova Scotia, Canada . 199

100. Root Growth of Corn at Time of Tasseling 200

10 1. Corn and Soy Beans on Experiment Field, Winnebago County,

Illinois 203

102. Soy Beans on Experiment Field, Winnebago County, Illinois . 205

103. A Traveling Library for District Schools : Works on Agriculture

and Country Life 209

104. An Exhibit of Corn and Oats at the St. Louis Exposition . . 214

105. A Little Literary Man studying Corn 217

106. The Teacher's Corner in an Old-Fashicned Country Schoolhouse 221

107. A Type of Small School in Wmnebago County, Illinois . . . 227

108. Another Typical Country Schoolhouse 233

109. The First Consolidated School Building in Illinois : Seward

Township, Winnebago County 240

no. The Buildings abandoned for the Consolidated School . . . 241

hi. Transportation in Indiana 244

112. Transportation in Indiana 245

113. Going Home from School in Illinois: Temperature Twelve

Degrees below Zero 246

114. The New Way in Ohio 247

115. A Centralized Country-School Building, Green Township, Trum-

bull County, Ohio 252

116. School Building at Kingsville, Ohio, where Centralization of

Schools began in 1892 253

117. A Map of Ohio showing Centralized Schools, 1905 256

118. A Map of Wayne Township, Clinton County, Ohio, 1905 . . 258

119. Transportation Routes, Gustavus Township, Trumbull County,

Ohio 259

120. The Centralized School at Gustavus Township, Trumbull

County, Ohio 261

121. The Centralized School at Lee's Creek, Wayne Township,

Clinton County, Ohio 263

122. An Abandoned Two-Story Brick Schoolhouse in Wayne Town-

ship, Clinton County, Ohio 264

123. Abandoned One-Room Schoolhouse in Wayne Township,

Clinton County, Ohio 267 xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. Page

124. An Old Schoolhouse at Snow Hill, Hancock County, Georgia . 268

125. A New Schoolhouse at Snow Hill, Hancock County, Georgia . 270

126. An Old Academy at Snow Hill, Hancock County, Georgia . . 271

127. New Schoolhouse at Snow Hill, Hancock County, Georgia . . 273

128. Old Schoolhouse, No. 2, at Williamsburg, North Carolina . . 275

129. Old Schoolhouse, No. 3, at Williamsburg, North Carolina . . 277

130. New Building for Nos. 2 and 3 Consolidated, Williamsburg,

North Carolina 278

131. The Interior of Schoolhouse, District 99, Winnebago County,

Illinois 279

132. The Wisconsin Training School at Menomonie 285

133. A Model Country School connected with the Indiana State Nor-

mal School 291

134. An Interior View of the Model Country School connected with

the Indiana State Normal School 295

135. Teachers' Training School at Menomonie, Wisconsin .... 299

136. Teacher and Pupils in a Rural School in Dunn County, Wisconsin 305

137. The Beginning of Manual Training in a Country School of

Winnebago County, Illinois 310

138. Manual Training in a Winnebago County District School . . 311

139. Manual Training Products in Cottage Hill School, near Spring-

field, Illinois 314

140. The Workshop of Cottage Hill School. Workbenches used for

Lunch Counters 315

141. Articles made in a Rural School in Dunn County, Wisconsin . 318

142. The Manual Training Class at Work in a Rural School in Edgar

County, Illinois 319

143. Plan of Workbench for Country Schools 323

144. Plan of Tool Rack to accompany Workbench 325

145. Manual Training in a Country School of Winnebago County,

Illinois 32S

146. Manual Training in a Country School of Winnebago County,

Illinois 329

147. Winnebago County Teachers doing Tool Work at the March

(1906) Annual Teachers' Institute ^^3

148. A House constructed by Grammar-School Boys, to be furnished

by the Children of the Primary Grades 335

149. Learning to Cook. Manual Training for Girls 336

150. Macdonald Consolidated School, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Manual Training Room 337

151. A Schoolhouse built in the Early Fifties 344

152. Bare and Uninviting 350

153. Pleasant to Look Upon 353

154. Such a Tree as this Ought to be in Every School Yard . . . 356

Chapter I

Truly thi's is a new age for country life. In a material way this truth seems to need no proof. The self-binder and the cream separator are tangible things, labor-saving and profitable. High-bred varieties of grains and fruits

Fig.

A Two-Row Corn Cultivator are grown with marvelous results ; while the facilities for quick communication in the use of the telephone, in the daily delivery of mail, and in the trolley line put the farm in close touch with the whole world.

The past quarter of a century has witnessed a great development in all things relating to the farm. The story seems too marvelous to believe. The Illinois country lad who, in the centennial year of 1876, plowed corn and bound grain by hand in the hot July sun little dreamed of the conquests to be made in the domain of agriculture. When, as a city man, in 1904 he helped to observe another centennial of the beginning of our national expansion, by attending the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the Palace of Agriculture told him the new story. Invention has done much to lighten the burden of the farmer and to make his efforts more remunerative by furnishing the right kind of machinery. The exhibits told the story of labor-saving machinery. As a country boy, husking corn during the frosts of November, he thought not of selection and breeding of corn. As a man, standing before the exhibit of the Illinois Experiment Station in the Palace of Agriculture at «St. Louis, he saw the results of seven years of patient, careful work in the development of high-bred corn. Science at last is working for and with the farmer.

As a boy, plowing the rich soil of central Illinois, little thought had he about soil fertility. To him, as a man, comes the soil-survey bulletin with county map showing types of soil in areas as small as ten-acre lots. Inoculation of soil with bacteria for certain fertility-restoring crops seems a fairy tale. And all this in the short space of twenty-five years.

No less significant are the new methods of communication in bringing a different spirit to country life. No longer is the farmer compelled to roam over half a township in his efforts to secure extra help for his threshing or harvesting. A few minutes at the telephone arrange all the details for " swapping work." Or it may be that the binder or mower has broken down right in the midst of a very busy time. The old way was to leave the machine in the field and let the hired help loaf around, while the farmer hitched up and drove several miles for the needed repairs, and then perhaps had to telegraph to the factory in a

Fig. 3. A New Country Road

distant city. The loss of a few hours meant the loss of several hundred dollars' worth of golden grain if the weather was bad. To-day the long-distance phone in three minutes calls up supply house or factory ; the needed machinery is sent out by the night express, and the early morning trolley car brings the needed relief to the farmer's door ready for the beginning of a new day's work. The average farmer is quick to take advantage of all this because there is money in it. But how about the improvement of the country school ? Has it kept pace with this material progress ? Is there money in that also ?

In 1876 the country lad, who dreamed not of telephones, self-binders, corn with a high percentage of protein, alfalfa bacteria, or the coreless apple, made his weekly journey Saturday afternoons to the country store for the mail. Perhaps there was a letter from the folks back in Indiana. Certainly there was a weekly paper or two; if only one, it was a party organ of the same political faith as that of the boy's

Fig. 4. A New Means of Communication for the Farm

father. From such sources the boy read the news a week old and incidentally found out that all the wisdom and patriotic virtue necessary for the preservation of free institutions was found in one party only. The weekly religious paper applied the same narrowing policy to its particular field.

To-day how different ! For years the government at national expense had been delivering mail to the city people, but now the farmer has his daily mail at the expense of the same government. News a week old, with market quotations as ancient, does not satisfy the farmer to-day. He demands the great metropolitan daily, and the post-office department delivers it to him by ten o'clock in the morning. He wants to know what was doing last night at Port Arthur, yesterday's total receipts and top prices for live stock in Chicago, or the attitude of patriots in legislative halls towards election reforms or railway rate regulations. Strange to say, many farmers fought against all these innovations in the way of quick methods of communication, ll

Fig. 5. A Steam Roller and a Road Scraper

urging that the daily delivery of mail would increase taxes and that the mail boxes would be robbed by bad boys ; that the trolley car going across the fields would shade the corn too much and that the yield per acre would thus be decreased. But they survived the change and prospered under it. They recognize the material benefits, and further changes will not be so difficult to accomplish.

But how about the children in the district school, without maps or necessary apparatus, and with text-books in history and geography copyrighted in 1883 and the same book which has been in almost constant use by various members of the family since 1893 ? Is the telephone, daily mail, or trolley line to touch only the financial or social interests of the farmer ? Are these his only interests ?

Things spiritual as well as material make us conscious of the new country life. The spiritualization of country life now going on requires closer study to catch its full significance than does a survey of farm machinery or growing crops. The farm home is no longer isolated. Newer and better comforts of life are coming to the country home. Music, magazines, high-grade literature, are creating better ideals of living. The improved material conditions of the American farmer make possible a richer life" for the American country home. We have passed from the period of settling the country into that of settling down in the same country, and he who would attempt to create a new educational ideal with reference to the district school must, if possible, be imbued with the spirit of the new life that is unfolding. The significance of this change is thus expressed in a recent editorial in The World's Work.

In a sense we have settled the country; and now we are beginning to settle down. We are reaching a period of an equilibrium of opportunity.

This large fact explains many changes in the direction of our activities, and a corresponding change that is taking place in our national character ; for what we do makes us what we are. It is a key to the larger tendencies in present American life.

The difference between a period of settling and a period of settling down is the difference between adventure and development. It is expressing itself in a hundred ways, — in intensive instead of extensive farming, in the concentration of industry instead of duplicating it, in building better homes instead of seeking other homes, in doing the jobs we have in hand better rather than seeking other jobs. All this means greater efficiency. It means sticking closer to business. It has much to do with the production of great wealth, which makes the last decade a period in our history which stands out by itself. It has much to do with the great movements to consolidate industry. It brings us back to all kinds of home problems, — to the proper building and government of our cities and to the almost universal tendency to improve country life.

Now this improvement in country life is manifested in better homes and barns, better roads, and the substitution of the carriage for the old lumber wagon for church and

-

Fig. 6. A Farm Scene

social visits. The increasing use of flowers, trees, and shrubbery around the country home tells of the growth of a love for the beautiful in country life. The great farmers' institute movement is contributing to the intellectual growth in country life. Has the improvement of the country school kept pace with other things ? If so, why are so many people leaving the farm and moving to the cities to educate their children ? Would good schools out in the fields help the movement back to the country ? Is it desirable that people continue to drift to the great centers of population ? Why are the country schools so small, and where are the people ?

According to the United States census reports the poplation of Winnebago County, Illinois, including the city of Rockford, increased 19.7 per cent in ten years, the population in 1890 being only 39,938, while in 1900 it reached

47,845-

The following table gives the population of each civil unit in the county. The civil units outside of the city of Rockford are properly called " towns," though many call them " townships." The report shows how in ten years the city of Rockford has increased in population, while the country communities have decreased.

Burritt 658 733

Cherry Valley (with village) 1,014 1,105

Durand (with village) 1,256 1,223

Guilford 1,042 969

Harlem S37 695

Harrison 550 577

New Milford 761 S65

Pecatonica (with village) 15677 J ,796

Rockton (with village) 1,561 1,492

Roscoe (with village) 811 894

Shirland 520 491

Winnebago (with village) 1,216 1,422

An analysis of the above table shows that ten county towns had decreased in population, while the city of Rockford had increased 7467, or 31.6 per cent. The town of Rockford shows an increase of 1 149, but that increase is suburban to Rockford, and a greater portion has been annexed to the city since the federal census.

The growth of the city of Rockford and the country communities outside since the organization of the city and county is shown in the following table.

Winnebago

City of

Winnebago

City of

Year

County

Rockford

Year

County

Rockford

. . 4,609

• • 17,376

. . 9,680

2,093

• • 16,354

6,979

• • 16,794

3*>°5 [

. . 18,252

11,049

The increase in population for 1900 in Winnebago County is because of suburban population, as the city of Rockford is included in the town of Rockford. In truth, there has been a steady decrease in country population since 1870.

I do not offer a few statistics from one county as proof positive that similar conditions obtain in every county in the United States ; but if small country schools indicate a decrease in population, then the reports of nearly every state superintendent in the great Middle West and in some eastern states verify the fact. At any rate, if any teacher is interested in finding out all she can about her own county, she can ask the county clerk for the United States census reports on file in his office. A few figures there of local reference might have as great an educational value in the schoolroom to country children as the study of the population of the fifteen largest cities in the world.

It is not expected that every one born in the country should remain in the country. That would be a serious mistake for several reasons. But is there not a tendency to disparage country life and interests ?

The Right Honorable James Bryce of England, author of The American Commonwealth, visited America in 1870, in 1883, and again in 1904. In the Outlook for March 25, io