Rural science reader

Front matter

Class ^.-^^L^l Book.M I a.5", CopightN"

COFSilCHT DEPOSIT.

In Vacation Days

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Ourselves i

The Pupils in the Union School Have a Look at Themselves

Chapter I

Ourselves — ^The Pupils in the Union School Have a Look at Themselves

No two schools in all the country are exactly alike; nor are the pupils in them alike. Indeed there are no two boys or two girls anywhere exactly alike. Schools and pupils have individuality, we say.

There are good schools and there are poor schools. There are manly boys and there are other kinds. There are girls who are unselfish and there are some who are not.

When the pupils of a school are honest and obedient, helpful and considerate, desirous to learn and zealous of a good name, that school is a good school.

This is a picture of our school. Perhaps it is somewhat like your school. You may recognize some of yourselves in it.

Here we are! Here we are!

Girls and Boys from Union!

Here we are! Here we are!

Girls and Boys from Union!

One, two, three, Rah! Rah! Rah!

This was the "yell " with which we made ourselves and our school known at the school fair in Dundas last September. You may think this sounds bold, but we did not feel very bold when we first tried it in public. Even with all the practices we had with Miss Masters we were afraid of hearing our own voices. I suppose we are Hke the pupils in most country schools in this respect.

There are thirty-two pupils' names on our school register. We come from sixteen homes. There are six Petersons (two families), three Arnolds, three Moirs, four Crandalls (two famihes), two Dodges, two Van Burens, two Kellers, two Spauldings, two Snyders, two McKees, one Davis, one Beck, one Sherman, and one Harper. That is an average of two pupils from each home.

Our ages range from six to fourteen years. One day we figured the total and average of our ages. Together they amounted to 328 years. That makes an average of io|^ years. Lucy McKee is the ''baby" of the school. She was only six about a month ago.

Helen Dodge and Christina Moir are the oldest pupils in the school. They are both fourteen years old and their birthdays are in the same month.

There are great differences in our heights. All the Crandalls are tall for their ages, while the McKees are quite short. Harold Peterson is the tallest boy in school. He is 5 ft. 3 in. That is nearly as tall as our teacher. Miss Masters. Elsie Crandall is the tallest girl. She is just an inch shorter than Harold Peterson. Hugh Harper is the smallest pupil. He has been sick a great deal and so has not grown much. Although he is eight he is not as tall as Lucy McKee.

We measure our heights now and then at the black-

OURSELVES board at the side of the school room. Some of us are growing faster than others. I gained nearly two inches between April and October; Catherine Arnold gained hardly half an inch in the same time. She would hke to be taller. Our total heights amount to 1805 inches. This figures out at an average of over 4 ft. 8 in. for each pupil.

Of course there are great differences in our weights.

Hugh Harper weighs only 38 lbs. Harold Peterson is fairly stout as well as tall.

He weighs 112 lbs. Dora Van Buren and Lloyd Davis weigh exactly the same — 86 lbs.

"We added all our weights one day and found that they made a total of 2250 lbs.

There may be some mistake in this as we were weighed on different scales, and farm scales are often not exact. But the average weight for each pupil is about 70 lbs. For the past five years I have weighed myself on my birthday and marked my weight down. I am 40 lbs. heavier now than five years ago. The figures are 65 lbs., 71 lbs., 90 lbs., 88 lbs., 95 lbs., 105 lbs.

For a Nature Study lesson one day. Miss Masters had us note the color of each other's eyes and hair and classify ourselves. It was hard to do this, especially for our eyes. There is much difference in color between eyes that are described by the same word. The blue of Frances Beck's

Measuring Heights eyes is very different from the blue of my brother Harry's eyes. But with Miss Masters' help we counted sLx pupils with dark brown eyes, five with hazel-colored eyes, five with grey eyes, ten with dark blue eyes, and six with light blue eyes. All the Petersons have blue eyes.

Our school has representatives for nearly all colors of hair, too. Helen and Frank Dodge are the only two whose hair can be called really black. It is like their mother's. Tom Crandall has the only "red head " in the school. Miss Masters says, ''Look out for the 'red heads!' They are nearly always clever." Ten of us have dark brown hair, eight of us Kght brown and the rest have fair hair of different shades. Mabel and Isabel Snyder are the only pupils that have curly hair. We calculated the percentages of the different classes afterwards for an exercise in Arithmetic.

If there are many differences in our ages, our sizes, and our complexions, there are also differences in other ways. No two of us are exactly alike. There are family resemblances among brothers and sisters in features, hair, eyes, or build, but even some of those who look most alike show the greatest difference in temper, disposition, and ability.

We have different likes and dishkes. Some are quick and some are slow. Some are neat and some are untidy. Some are lazy and some are willing. Some are serious and some are fond of joking. Some are talkative and some are silent.

Some of us like school and come regularly, hardly ever missing a day from one year's end to another. A few do not Hke school and stay away whenever they can get an excuse to do so. Some like Arithmetic best, some Literature, some Geography, and some like Drawing best. Nearly

OURSELVES 5

every one likes Nature Study. Some are good at Spelling, and there are one or two who do not seem to be able to learn to spell.

It is a question whether Katie Moir or Ernest Arnold is the brightest pupil in the school. Some months Katie stands at the head of the hst and sometimes Ernest does. Katie is better in SpelHng, Literature, and History, and Ernest excels in Arithmetic, Geography, and Drawing. They are the best of friends. Ernest is not a mean rival. He will help any one who asks him for help.

The Mischief of the school is Louis Keller. He is eleven years old. Wherever there is "fun going on" Louis is in the midst of it. If a dinner pail has disappeared we ask Louis about it first. If you discover that you have been going about with a For Sale sign pinned on your back, you can blame Louis for it. He is not mean, however, and does not play tricks to hurt any one's feelings. He is a great favorite. Everybody likes Louis.

The leader in the boys' games is Pat Sherman. He is twelve years old. He is a fairly good scholar, too, but he likes to play better than to study. He is a fast runner, a very good baseball player, and he can cHmb a tree better than any other boy. He is very daring. He is fond of horses and seems to dehght in riding them at full speed. All the boys look up to Pat. He is not the kind of leader that bulHes httle fellows. In fact, he encourages the small boys to join with the older boys in their games. It seems rather odd that the Httle, delicate Hugh Harper and the strong, stirring Pat Sherman should be such chums as they are. They are about the best chums there are in the school.

The greatest favorite among the girls is Dorothy Crandall. It is not because she is clever that every one likes her, but because she is kind and thoughtful of others. No one has ever heard her say a cross or a spiteful word to another pupil. She likes other people. She is not selfish. If there ever was a peacemaker in a school she is one. It is easy to commence quarrels. It is difficult to mend quarrels. Dorothy can do that. Blessed are the peacemakers! Miss Masters calls her "my right-hand man." And she is.

This is a little sketch of ourselves. I suppose we are just Uke boys and girls in other country schools!

1. If you can borrow scales for the school, have a guessing contest of one another's weights. As each pupil goes forward write down his or her weight. Take turns in weighing in order to learn how to do it. Guessing heights would make a good contest, too.

2. For a game try identifying one another by eyes, nose, or hair. One side could take turns in showing eyes, noses, or tops of heads from behind a screen for the other side to guess.

3. Maybe some of you would like to make an Autograph Album in which to keep the autographs of your schoolmates and teachers. If you make it a part of the loose-leaf Souvenir Note Book that you plan to make up with some of your best compositions, maps, drawings, etc., the autographs will be less likely to be lost or thrown away. Autographs written each year by the same pupil will be interesting to compare.

4. Others may prefer to make a School Photograph Album. If any of the pupils take "snaps" with their kodaks, paste these on sheets of paper fitting your Souvenir Note Book to remind you of the "Days of Auld Lang Syne." The photographs might be mounted alongside the autographs, if you wish to combine the autograph and photograph albums in one booklet. Pictures of school groups should be kept. Copies should be preserved in the school.

5. Some may wish to make a School Birthday Book. Have your schoolmates describe themselves under their signatures — e.g., tell their weights, their heights, the color of their eyes and hair, whether

OURSELVES 7

they have freckles, their favorite colors, flowers, books, and poems, what studies they like best, and what they intend to be. These descriptions will be cherished in after years when school friends are grown up and scattered.

6. It will be interesting to keep a record of your physical growth. Each birthday, for example, mark down your weight and height. Perhaps your parents have kept these figures for your younger years. If they have, continue them yourself. You might also record your intellectual growth by marking down the grade you were in at each birthday.

CHAPTER 11

Our School — How the Stover School Pupils Became Acquainted "With Their Own School

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Your school is the most important school in the world — for you, at least. There are other schools like yours, no doubt. And there are still others, likely better than yours, or poorer than yours. All these schools are for boys and girls like you.

And all of them are for the service of your country too — to make you an upright, intelligent citizen of it. That is why America believes in schools. For your own sake and for your country's sake, make the most of your school.

Perhaps your school is an old one. Then it has a history. It has played an important part in the life of your neighborhood. You may be proud of its record.

Perhaps your school is a new one. Then it has a future. You may be proud to have a part in making that.

We have been having some lessons on our school lately. The matters that are retold here are a few of the facts we have learned about it. A school is an interesting thing when one comes to be well acquainted with it. It is like a person who has known many interesting people, or like one who has had many varied e.xperiences. If an old school could speak, couldn't it teU stories? They would be real "tales out of school."

OUR SCHOOL 9

The present school is not the first that there was in the neighborhood. The first school was a log structure, built a few years after the district was settled. It was used for about thirty years, and then, in 1875, our school was built. The old school was located about half a mile farther east. The present site is more central than the old one. It was given by a Mr. Stover, who owned the farm on which it is located. Some of the older people still speak of it as "Stover's School."

The school building itself makes an interesting study. We have used it inside and out for practical Arithmetic lessons. By our measuring and figuring we know about what it would cost to build the stone foundation, and the frame superstructure. We also know what it would cost to plaster it. Mr. Kinsey, who used to work as a mason and plasterer, helped us. Jack Carstairs and George Graham went to him, and he explahied the rules for estimating the number of loads of stone and sand, and the number of barrels of Hme that would be needed for the work. After one has the measurements, it is not difficult to figure on the material and labor. It works out by rule.

The calculations on lathing and roofing are not difhcult either. The number of laths and the cost of putting them on are easily found. So are the number of squares of shingles, and the cost of laying these. For the prices of these materials one of the boys telephoned out to Fulton's mill.

The carpenter's work is more difficult to estimate. The cost of the lumber is not hard to figure out, but one ' has to have the help of a practical carpenter to know how many joists and rafters are required, and of what lO RURAL SCIENCE READER

lengths they should be. To estimate the amount of studding, sheathing, and trimming required, an expert's help is also needed.

The cost of doors and window sashes can be found easily by asking at the planing mill. We were "stuck" with this problem until some one suggested that we get George Graham's father to come over and help us. Mr. Graham was quite willing when George asked him. He used to work at carpentry when he was a young man. He explained to us right in school just how the school was built, how the joists were set, how far apart the studding was, how the floor was laid, and everything. We asked him a lot of questions. With his help our problem was readily worked out. He knew about how much it cost to hang a door, and to trim windows, doors, and the wainscoting.

The painter's and glazier's part of the contract was rather difficult to determine. So was the tinsmithing. Such jobs out in the country at a distance from town cost a good deal, because of the time required in going and coming.

Of course, the school did not really cost $2700, as we made it out. When the school was built labor and material were a great deal cheaper. The cost was only about $1300 at that time. The expense was kept down, too, by the neighbors having a bee and hauling the stones, sand, and lumber.

We "took stock" of the school property, too, as a practical Arithmetic problem. It was rather hard settling on the value of some of the things. By asking the folks at home, however, what they thought they were actually worth, and averaging, we reached fair figures.

OUR SCHOOL

II

Our total amounted to $1299. The building now is not worth nearly what it cost to build it. It is a rather old building.

Land

Fences

School Building. ,

Woodshed

Well and Pump . .

School Desks. . . .

Teacher's Desk. .

Chairs

75.00 Bookcase iS-oo

2.00

We calculated that, in the forty-two years of its existence, about four hundred boys and girls have attended the school. There are a few of the old registers remaining, but most of them were lost long ago. We had to get the names of most of the old pupils from our fathers and mothers. We made out lists for every farm. This seemed to be the surest way of not overlooking any one. Here are the records from the farm that Mr. Allen occupies now, and the McPherson farm. Three generations of the McPhersons have attended the school. The Allen farm has usually been rented.

From the Allen Farm

George Allen Henry Allen Martha Allen EUzabeth Allen David Chambers George Chambers Janet Chambers William Bentley Maud Bentley Clara Bentley

Eveline Konig Maud Konig Sarah Thompson Christina Thompson John Thompson Agnes Thompson Richard Thompson Calvin Thompson Charles Webber Annie Webber

From the McPherson Farm

Kenneth McPherson Esther McPherson Kenneth McPherson John McPherson Jean McPherson

Isabel McPherson Kenneth McPherson EHzabeth McPherson Marian McPherson

There is an old photograph in a frame hanging on the school wall that has made quite a puzzle for us. It is

From an old-fashioned Photograph of a School Group

a group of the pupils and teacher taken many years ago. No one was very sure of the identity of any person in the group. No one could tell the name of the teacher. We thought that one of the girls was Marian McPherson, now Mrs. Thomas Green, and Kenneth McPherson thought one of the bigger boys was his Uncle John Hungate, but he was not sure.

Miss Biggar, our teacher, allowed us to take the picture to our homes. Mrs. Green was able to tell us all about the picture. She was attending the school when it was taken. That was about 1881 — just a few years

OUR SCHOOL 13

after the new school was built. The teacher was a Mr. Ralph Conover, who afterwards became a doctor and went out West.

We wrote down all the names on a sheet of paper, and pasted it on the back of the picture. Thirty-six years have brought great changes to the boys and girls of the group. Ten of them are dead. Only five of them are now living in our neighborhood. A large number of them have gone to the western states.

This study of the old photograph led us to have an "Old Photograph" lesson one Friday afternoon. We had a very jolly time showing each other some of our old family pictures and telling about them. At the commencement of the lesson the pictures were mixed up, and we had great fun guessing who the originals were.

One of our interesting discoveries was about the scattering of people that takes place from a country district. One of the old school registers found was for the year 1895. There were thirty-six pupils enrolled at the school that year. John Thompson was the oldest. He was fifteen. Julia Benton was the youngest. She was five years old. There were seventeen boys and nineteen girls.

Some of the boys and two of the girls are dead. One of the boys, Ray Merrill, was killed in the Philippines. Four of the boys are farmers here, and three others are farming in other parts. Five of the girls are farmers' wives in this district, and five others are at the head of farm homes elsewhere. Two of the boys are storekeepers, one is a doctor, one is an agent, one is a locomotive engineer, and one is a saw-miller. What the last one, Gus Myers, is doing now no one seems to know. Of the remaining seven girls, one is a teacher, one is a nurse, two work in offices, and three are married and living in the city. Of the total enrollment of thirty-six, 47.2 per cent remain on farms, and the others have gone to join the town and city population.

The people are particularly proud of one of the old-time pupils of the school. There have been a good number of the old pupils who have made successes of their lives, but they have not done what John Ferguson did. He did not count success in the same way as most people. From the time he was about ten years old he planned with his mother to be a missionary. His people were poor and he did not have a very good chance, as most people consider good chances. But he had a stout heart and a clear purpose. He spent four years at our school, and in spite of all teasing he kept good-tempered and friendly with every one. He was a good scholar.

After his people moved away he got a chance to attend high school by working at a doctor's for his board. A few years later he completed his education as a doctor. Then he studied for the ministry, and soon after went to China as a medical missionary. Before he went away he visited here and preached in the church at the village. All of his old friends turned out to give him a welcome and at the same time a hearty send-off. He has been in China for twelve years healing the sick and preaching the Gospel. He is our school's greatest pupil.

1. Gather together all the old school registers, have them bound together, and put away for safe keeping and for reference.

2. Use your school for all sorts of measuring problems and for the calculation of costs of painting, glazing, shingling, flooring, lathing, plastering, carpeting and buUding. Use local prices in the calculations.

OUR SCHOOL 15

3. Has your school ever had an Old Boys' and Girls' Reunion? Would it be possible to get the addresses of former pupils and teachers, say, for the past fifteen years, and invite them back to the old school for a celebration of its twenty-fifth birthday?

4. Could you make an album for your school by getting together copies of all the pictures of groups that may have been taken of the pupils at different times, photographs of the building, lists of former teachers, of the trustees, superintendents, and former pupils? Such a record would be of great interest to the people of the neighborhood. If the old school should be replaced by a new one, or merged in a consolidation, do not allow it to pass out of existence without some celebration in recognition of its past services. There are many fond memories in the hearts of grown-up people associated with old schools.

Chapter III

Our Homes — Studies of Homes by the Homemakers' Club at Round Hill School and the Story of One Home that was Remodeled.

A Nation can be only as great as its Homes are good; And Homes can be only as good as People make them.

Nothing that you can do is more important than helping to make your homes happier and better.

"Oh, the auld house, the auld house, what tho' the rooms were wee!

Oh! kind hearts were dwelling there, and bairnies fu' o' glee; The wild rose and the jessamine still hang upon the wa';

How mony cherished memories do they, sweet flowers, reca' !

The mavis still does sweetly sing, the blue bells sweetly blaw The bonny Earn's clear winding, but the auld house is awa'.

The auld house, the auld house, deserted tho' ye be.

There ne'er can be a new house, will seem sae fair to me."

The Auld House, a Scottish Song by Lady Nairne.

For the study of Agriculture and Domestic Science in the Round Hill School we have two school clubs.

OUR HOMES

The boys have their Young Farmers' Club and the girls have their Dorcas Homemakers' Club. Our meetings are held on Friday afternoons. Sometimes we hold joint meetings, and sometimes the girls are guests at the boys' meetings, and vice versa. But usually we have our meetings going on at the same time. Our room is large enough to permit this without one interfering with the other, if we are careful not to speak too loudly.

We have all sorts of topics at our meetings.

One day Annie Karan read a funny composition that she had written on "The Uses of Hairpins."

Another day our teacher gave us a talk on "Homes I Ilave Known."

By means of our programs we have learned many useful things on such subjects as papering a room, saving steps, the uses of gasoline, how to repair window bhnds, how to clean a piano, the care of a sewing machine, fireless cookers, and iceless refrigerators, as well as on such subjects as baking, cooking, sweeping, sewing, and nursing. There seems to be no end to the interesting things that the newspapers and magazines furnish us.

Some of our best programs have been about our own homes. Miss Hackett has had us draw plans and write the history of our homes, as part of our regular work in drawing and composition. Such lessons make one better

Annie Karan Reading her ' ' Hairpin ' ' Essay.

acquainted with one's home and more interested in it. I know I had no clear idea how large our house is nor of the dimensions of the rooms until I actually measured them with a yard stick. And I did not realize that our house has such an interesting history.

I suppose the most interesting thing about a neighborhood is its people, and the next most interesting thing is its homes. Our neighborhood has a good share

of good people living in good homes. Our mothers and fathers have been good home-makers.

We haven't any very wealthy people, and there are no people who are really poor. Most of the homes are somewhat old-fashioned, for they were built quite a long time ago, but they are very comfortable to live in. They are not so convenient, though, to work in. People did not think so much about making housework easy for women years ago as they do nowadays.

We have a saying in our part of the country that if you see a poor house and a fine barn on a farm it is a sign that the man is "boss," but that if you see a fine house and poor farm buildings it is a sign that the woman is "boss" in that home. The saying was truer a few years ago than it is now, and generally, it must be confessed, the barns had most improvements made in them.

A Large Barn and a Small House

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OUR HOMES 19

One can't be so sure now who is "boss" by inspecting the buildings. Inquisitive people would need to make very close inquiries to learn this now in many homes. "Bosses" seem to be disappearing. Several farm homes have been much improved in the last few years. Our home is one of these.

The old house was built about the year i860. For those times it was a very good building. When Father bought the farm in 1900, he planned to build a new house as soon as he felt that he could afford it. The subject was one that we often talked about in the family, but year after year went by and the old house was still made to serve us. Other people got new homes, but ours was still a "castle in Spain." If it had had a better cellar and some arrangement for getting water easily, it would not have been so bad.

Perhaps the old house might still be our home if my sister Isabel had not gone away to teach school. Nearly every time she wrote home she mentioned something about some of the homes in her district, and when she came back at hoHday time she talked so much and so often about building a new house, or making over the old one, that poor Father had to promise at last that he would do something.

Mother was not so concerned about it as were Isabel and the rest of us. She had put up with inconveniences so long that she had become rather reconciled to the notion of ending her days with them. But Isabel had no such notions. She was full of ambition. She stirred up my brother Frank, too, and got him to join her, so that Father's "wait a while" did not answer any longer. It was agreed to get ready during the following winter and start the work early in the spring.

We have been living in our new home now for four years. It has been a great pleasure to us all. The old home was "Home, Sweet Home," but this one is that and "Easy-to- Work-in Home" besides. Father is very proud of it, and says that he is sorry that he did not make the changes many years . before. Mother is even prouder

Our Remodeled House

of it than Father, if that is possible, because she feels it has come to her from her children. We children are proud of it because Mother and Father are, and also because we feel that it fairly represents what our farm and our standing in the community warrant. Working together in making the new home has made us all better chums, too. We are proud of our accomphshment.