Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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OUR H01 A Department D Bette RICHARD HA The editor of this departnen the active member* of Civic at and every one interested in the iml village life. WLat is being done in your to for home employment ? What is do ment and the beautifying of privat Are your local merchants receiv Experience, plans and suggestio tie department and so far as poss THE 1KDEPENDONT T OW. Make Each Rural Center Dependeni Upon Itself and Its Own Resources, There has lately developed a strong sentiment looking to the improvemeil of the home town-malpig eaeL community, as much :s possible, dependent upon itself and its owi resources aid those of its sur rounding country, and independ ent of the great centres which are constantly striving to secure a portiot of the local wealth. This local self sufficiency may be fostered by an in dividual and co-operative determi nation to bring the town up to its highest possible plane of comfort, gen eral usefulness and beauty to its resi dents. This may be described as a movement for civic improvement. The accumulatigg of considerable wealth in many American villages and towns, during the last ten or twenty years, the development of popular education and the increase of leisure, has given an opportunity for the per formance of public duties, such as had not seemed to exist to the young man or wohan of the forner gener ation, who, in the effort to secure a livelihood and establish a home had g1ven little thought to the duties of citizenship and social responsibilities. It is only within a comparatively few years that, "nature study" has entered into any of the public-school work, or even manual training, while there are many who yet think that such institutions as gymnasiums. baths, playgrounds, and even vacation schools and free lectures are unneces sary time-consumers for the young Nevertheless the general movement for a better education along rural lines and for backyard and street improve ment, and the general betterment of the village and town is rapidly In creasing. As an instance of this, even in such a large city as St. Louis, girls and boys are given practical instruction in gardening. through the Junior School of Horticulture of the Missouri lotanical Gardens. The children are permitted to sell their own products a decided stimulus to their e-orts -and in this way many of them earn considerable pocket money for vacation time. This school has been in oper ation for a number of years and is of great value to the citizens as well as to the children of the city, the latter of whom would otherwise know practi cally nothing of nature as country children know it. Even in Texas the school garden and town improvement idea has made headway, although there has been greater difficu-lty in obtaining popular approval and support, possibly, than in any other section of the country. owing r~.-~ the- fact, perhaps, that the Lone Star State has vast areas of unece evpied land, and to the fact that the influential majority has been but a short time removed from the cattle CLASS IN LIVE STOCK JUDG at Waterford, Pa. range business. However, the morc centralized portion of society has taker the matter up, .and it is stated thai the most public-spirited citizens of the towns and cities, together with the progressive teachers have made school gardens and rural education a success during the past two seasons and have aroused such enthusiasm among the pupils, that wherever it has been tried, the school garden has become a fixture, 'Let your child plant his own gar den, gather his own harvest of fruil and flowers, learn through his own small experience something of the influence of the sun, dew and rain, and gain thereby a remote presenti ment of the reciprocal energies of nature and a reverent feeling for the divine life and law expressed ir nature. The c-hild is a plant. a ye-ge table, and must live out of doors. oi nearly so. as conditions will permit. F'roebel realized that health was the basis and test of all our energies. and that this was one of the mornhng vE TOWN. evoted to Village - rment. WILTON BYRD. t desires to keep in touch with d Local Improvement Associations, roveMelnt and the protection of rural en to encourage small industries and ing aloug the line of street imiprove lawns ard public parks? Lng the support cf the local trad? na will be welcomed by the editor of ble givep place in tcae columus. THE AGRICULTURAL HIGHSCHOOL Successful Examples Described by Crosby of Department of Agricul ture of Local improvement 'I hrough Rural Education In the new Year Book of the De partment of Agriculture, just issued, is a description by D. J. Crosby, of the olice of Experiment Stations, which shows, in a number of instances, what splendid results are being attaine: through the introduction of common sense agricultural studies in some of the country village schools, and how they directly affect and benefit their home towns. There is what appears to be, an almost ideal Pennsylvania village high school, which the writer visited. He describes what he saw: In Erie County, Pa., surrounded by a good general farming and dairy country, Is the village of Waterford. on the outskirts of which is the site & Fort le Boeuf, of French and India war fame. At Waterford the first school in Erie County was establish. I In 1S00, and here as far back as 1S22 was erected a stone academy build ing, which is used to-day as the main part of the high-school building. The township of Waterford has a popula tion of 1,460 and about one haL re side in the borough of Waterf--d. Th borough has its own elementary school, but the high school is support ed and controlled jointly by the bor ough and township. This high school, with its three teachers and three courses of study (language. scientific, and agricultural), has an emrollnient of 80 pupils, and 35 of these are in the agricultural course. This course includes agriculture, five hours a week for four years. The work of the first year is devoted to a study of plant life-germination, plant growth, plant food. reproduction, prop agation, transplanting, pruning. and use of plants: the second year to a study of field. orchard, and garden crops: the third year to domestic ani mals. dairying. and soilphysics, a- I the fourth year to the chemistry of soils and of plant and animal life. Text books are used In the class rooms; a small library of agricultural reference books, reports and bulletins of this Department and experiment stations, and agricultural papers con tributed by the publishers is in almo.'t constant use, and lectures on agricul tural subjects are given before th, class and before the whole school by the instructor in agriculture, who i; an agricultural college graduate. But! the feature of instruction which chiefly distinguishes this agricultural course from the ordinary high school course is the prominence given to the laboratory work and the outdoor prac ticum. For the laboratory work there is no elaborate apparatus. The pupil;I make much of their own apparatus. furnish their own reagent bottles, and. moreover use them. In the plant-life course the pupils study not elaborate and carefully prepared drawings, but Forth too prciu-h schol isunfrtunte i haing yain Schoollgtebchrso, athe fats thmpleenth referensh tosthelyifeustorata and eicues. vastl the teaching forcticuf the g school. The ufrtunrs n owngo no iesokeither ladnoromsinimalsi anor folsn tot doora of thealhofihous oo far stuibtheasin ag o rcu4 miles andealds ever barn andrpoe.tIt ysad inothe vlagre thn buchr asgood corsl iltratime totervil and et astly wthteing forced the g hischoo Thelarmers ana huwbnry. Thed rieroc eithe frungte anig mltothe est of the school daulst Octbe said n avring nfportunityd orlsen to come tof the riatin int hghichltue class an4a boys and It had been organized only three or four weeks, and yet the interest man ifested and the readiness with wiich the boys and girls described the beef type, the dairy type, and various breeds of cattle, the mut on and wool types of sheep, the principal breeds of draft horses, and some of the stand ard-bred roadsters and trotters, were indeed surprising. At the close of the recitation the class was taken to a barn in the village w- ere - verz.- fine roadsters were "wned. The owner was not at home, but the teacher had standing permission to take t. - horses from the barn in order that the class might examine them. A fine Hamble tonian mare was led into the yard and examined critically by the pupils and criticised by them, the different points being brought out by skillful question ing on the part of the teac- :. Fom this place the class went to a livery barn where a sph -idid black Percheron stallion was stabled for the day. A member of the class had dis covered the horse as he was ,eing driven in from another town 14 miles away. and following the driver to the barn had got permission for the class to examine him. When the livery barn was reached the driver brought his stallion out into the street, put him through his paces, and helped the teacher in calling attention to his good points and the contrasts between t e draft type and the roadster type of horses. and allowed us to take several photographs. It was an instructive lesson not only for the members of the agricultural class, but for the score or more of farmers and townsmen who collected around the livery stable. In much the same way the local butcher is the in structor in the high school. The class studying the beef type of cattle, or the mutton sheep, or the different classes of swine is taken to the butch er shop and given a dr-ionstration lesson on cuts and their relative val ues, which of the breeds are apt to produce the better cuts, which the better quality. an(. so on. Thus this little village high school, though it pays only $2,230 a year in WATERFORD HIGH SCHOOL CLASS salaries and'- only $370 for other ex penses, has a faculty made up of nu merous specialists and an equipment in illustrative material such as few technical high schools could afford. And the pupils are being trained in the "elements of failure and success," not only on "all the farms of the neighborhood." but in the village shops and markets. This is training for efficiency. It is training for cul ture, for breadth of view, and for sympathy with all that goes to make up the life of the community. Hotncero'Z and Craft. The "homeeroft" id'ea, referred to by Geor-ge H-. Maxwvell in his address be fore the Biennial Convention of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, is closely allied to the "home arts and crafts" propaganda, in which so many. in and out of the federation, are inter ested. The homecrofter, owning his home and a little patch of ground-an acre or two, more or less-is of all persons the one most likely to be inter ested in home crafts-little lines of inanufacture. which, added to the pro duce of his gronid, may afford a sue port to his family, either constantly or as a substitute for wage-earning em ploy0ment when some great shop or factory may be suspended. Aided, perhaps, b~y a little gas engine or elec tric motor, lhe may have a choice of an infinite variety of crafts. in which he and his family may profitably engage. Here is a combiation which scems to offer relief from the demoralizing and devitalizing conditions of our present factory system; also a mode of multi plying the number of those citizens, independent of both landlord and em ployer. who are the backbone of American democracy. Give us the homecrofter and the craftsman in one! Keep Folifies Out. Every public-minded citizen should make it known that he is absolutely opposed to partisan, political control in the management of public parks, roadside improvement, playgrounds and like town betterments. Nothing can be more detrimental to such de 'elopment than the interference of politics. Party responsibility, as a remedy for municipal mismanagement, has been prove1 a "delusion and a snare." Such methods have raised to important places bigote-1, incompetent and sometimes dishonest men, wno, by reason of their weaknesses or mis management, have disgraced what should be honorable and respected positions. Our citizens should insist absolutely that no political consider ations be allowed to interfer with1 park affairs, and should visit with marked censure and disapproval all city officials who prostitute their trusts for mere political gain. Fresh Air Playgrounds. American cities itre far behind European cities in making provision for public parks. especially in pro viding for the instruction and amuse ment of children in them. In, modern municipal erquipment in Europe, much provision is m:ade for the instruction and amusem'rnt of children. and in most modernized European cities large sums of money have been expended in procuring open spaces for them in dis OPPORTUNITIES AT RE$ PE&RICIOUSPIlILOSOPHY OF JOBH J. INGALLO' FAMOUS PCEJM. HOW HOME OPPORTUNI TIES HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKEi?. Solution of ihe Labor Question to be Founo in the Developmenta of ftine industries. Many a beautiful thing Is pernicious in its effect. There is no telling how many men have given up a good fight ing chance and have literally laid own in harness because they had ab orbed from John J. Ingalls' poem OPPORTUNITY the idea that they had had their chance, and that for them at least opportunity would not return. Here is the poem: "iMaster of human destinies am I, Fame, love and fortune on my foot steps wait. Cities and fields I walk. I penetrate Deserts and seas remote. And pass ing by Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late I knock unbidden once at every gate. If sleeping wake; if feasting rise before I turn away; it i. the hour of fate. And those who follow me reacn every state Mortals desire and conquer every every foe Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate. Condemned to failure, penury and woe, Seek me in vain, and uselessly im plore; I answer not, and I return no more." A beautiful poem-yes. but pernic ious as is the theory of fate or the twin tenet of predestination. If oppor unity comes but once, where is the use of striving. President James of the University of Illinois during the recent commence UDGING A HAMBLETONIAN MARE mnt exercises took occasion to refer to the philosophy of Ingalls' famous poem. "It is false and misleading," said Mr. James. "It is not a single op-' portunity which comes to a man; it is a train. It is a never-ending proces sion, some small, some large, growing perhaps more small and more insignifi cant as the years flow on, but ever and always opportunities too numer ous, too great, and too large for us to utilize fully." This Is good, healthful optimism. There never-was a time when opportu nities of all shapes, sizes and colors obbed up on every corner as they do to-day And they are not confined to any particular country or locality. They are waiting everywhere. Under the rapidly changing industrial and economical conditions they are spring ing up in odd and out-of-the-way places. Old settlements-old villages, moss-grown and for years silent as the cemetery that clings to their skirts, are finding new youth in the revival of occupations and simple in dustries which twenty years ago were deemed impossible- The abandoned farms of New England--Tho farms that were left tenantless because it was thought that the only opportun ities for success were to be found in the West-are receiving new leases of life. PENDULUM IS SWINGING BACK. For a full half century the American people have been money-mad. Every thing has been sacrificed to the one idea of accumulation. The dollar sign became the sole badge of honor, and a man's success was measured not by what he made of himself, not by what he accomplished for his fellows or the world at large, but by the size of his pile. This standard of succesa has warp ed the imagination of the whole peo pe- The merchant and professional man bend every energy to the pil ing up of gold bricks. And the farmer, not to be outdone, lies awake nights thinking how he may get more laud. He has now more than he can till, but the land lust has seized him and home comforts and a quiet life are sold in the market in order that tha line fence may be removed This has been the condition for many years, and It requires careful observation to detect any change. But reaction has set in. The pendulum is swinging back. A growing sentiment in favor of a moderate success, a quiet ife and home surroundings is appar ant. With this comes a desire to get ack to original principles; to abandon :he cities and seek the healthful life f the farm and the village. The growth of our cities has bee-1 bnormal-the direct result of ab) iormal transportation conditions. "To un that bath shall be given, and to un that hath not even that which he inthi shall be taken away." has been he working policy of modern comn nercial transportation companies. rho small town has eon sacrificed to e city. This was t - natural result f competition. In centers where rmerous railroads meet, low rates re given to both the in-going and out toog freight. but where there is but me road. the traffic is taxed all that it vil bear. This condition has had a (Continued on column 6.) BE A HOME Learn by Doing. Give every Mg THE SLOGAN OF THE ''Learn by Doing- Work Together Every Child ia a Carlea-Every I vidual, lndustri.. lndecpen2de lome of his Ownz "A littlo croft we owned-a p~ A garden stored with peas And flowers for poies, oft on MPucked while the church he, "The Citizen snding in the doorway of his h gathered about his hearthstone. while the even sounds that are dearest-he shall save the Re; barraks are embausted."--yarY #. Urdy. EDUCAION THE FIRST BOOK .* HAS JUST BEEN PUBLISHED AND THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES The Brotherhood of Man Charity that is Everk The Secret of . Lesson Copies of "THE PIRST 4OO con be obtained by sendinC twell name and address (carefully and : crofter' Cild of the Talisman. 143 I This' book is the first of a Series c that will Chronicle the Progress of the n HOMECROFT MOVEMENT f and inform all who wish to co-operate I with it how they may do so through the formation of local Homecrofters' Circles, Clubs or Gilds to promote 9 Town and Village Betterment, stimu- 8 late home civic pride and loyalty to home institutions, industries and trade, improve methods and facilities of edu- a catiou in the local public schools, and create new opportunities "At Home" o that will go far to check the drift of trade and population to the cities. The first Gild of thbe Homecrofters has been established at Watertown, Massachusetts. The Gildbahl, Shops and Gardens are located at 143 Main c Street, where the Garden School is now fully organized and over one hundred children are at work In the Gardens. The departments for train ing In Homecraft and Village Indus tries are being installed. The Weavers are already at work at the looms. It is not designed to build here an isolated institution, but to make a model which can be duplicated in any town or village in the country. There is New Hope and Inspiration for every Worker who wants a Home t of his own on the Land in the r CREED AND PLATFORM OF THE HOMECROFTERS' which is as (01- ~ lows: "Peace has her victories nao less .re nowned than war." EDUCATiON CO-OPERATIONt OPPORTUNITY HOMECROFTS We belIeve that the Patriotie Slogan t of the Whole People of this Nationa shuld be "Every Child in a Garden- c Every Mother In a Homecroft-aud In- I: dvidual Industrial Independence for ( Every Worker In a Home of his Own t on the Land," and that until he owns e such a Home, the concentrated purpose e and chief inspiration to labor in the life I of every wage worker should be his s determination to "Get an Acre and i Live on it." We believe that the Slums and Tenements and Congested Centers of population in the Cities are a savagely deteriorating social, moral and polit ical influence, and that a great public movement should be organized, and the whole power of the nation and the states exerted for the betterment of all the conditions of Rural Life, and to create and upbuild Centers of So cial and Civic Life in Country and Suburban Towns and Villages, where Trade and Industry can be so firmly anchored that they cannot be drawn into the Commercial Maelstrom thatI is now steadily sucking Industry and Humanity into the Vertex of the Great Cities-. We believe that every Citizen in this Country has an inherent and Fundamental Right to an Education _ which will train him to Earn a Liv ing, and, if need be, to get his living straight from Mother Earth: and that t e has the same right to the Opportun- i: ity to have the Work to Do which will c afford him that living, and to earn not t only a. cor ortable livelihood, but I enough more to enable him- to be a c Homecrofter and to have a Home of his Own, with ground around it I suffcient to yield him and his family C a Living from the Land as the reward t for his own labor. t We believe that the Publie Domain d is the most precious heritage of the E people. and the surest safeguard the ~ natIon has against Social Unrest. Dis. a turbance or Upheaval, and that the C Cause of Humanity and the Preserva. h1 tion of Social Stability and of our Free C Institutions demand that the absorp- p tion of the public lands into specula. h tie private ownership. without settle- E ment, be forthwith stopped: and that h the nation should create opportunities hi for Homecrofters by building Irriga- P tion and drainage works to reclaim h land as fast as it is needed to give fi every man who wants a Home on the i& Land a chance to get it We believe that, as a Nation. we a' should be less absorbed with Making b~ Money, and should pay more heed to raising up and training Men who will S be Law-Abiding Citizens; that the wel- fl fare of our Workers is of more con sequence than the mere accumulation s of Wealth; and that Stability of Na- It tionaV~ Character and of Social and li Business Conditions is of greater im- ft portance to the people of this country as a whole than any other one ques- fI ton that Is now before them: and we believe that the only way to Preserve E such Stability, and to Permanently hi Maintain our National Prosperity, is t carry into immediate effect and ai :CROFTER Work Together. mn a Chance. HOIECROFTERS IS -Give Every Man a Chance." ilolier in a fiome lroft, and Indf. tec for Every Worker in a on the Land." Dt of crn, and mint and thyme. Sunday morn, is rang their earliest eht . xme-contented on his threshold, his family ing of a well spent day closes in scenes and ublic when the drum-tap is futile and the HOMRDFT 1 HOMECROFTERS AMONG ITS CONTENTS ARE OF ABSORBING INTEREST isting \fippon's Power of a Great Calamity The Sign of a Thought K OF THE HOMECROFTERS" re two-cent stamps with your >lainly written) to to The Home gain St., Watertown, Mass. -.; peration the Platform of the -Talis 2a:1. The following is taken there com: :DUCATION, EMPLOYME:NT AND HOMES ON THE LAND. That children shall be taught ardening and bomecraft in the public chools, and that Homecraft and rarden Training Schools shall be stablished by county, municipal. tate, and national governments, there every boy and every man out f work who wants employment where . te can gain that knowledge, can learn tow to make a home and till the soil zd get his living straight from the round, and where every boy wbuld >e taught that his flrst aim in life hould be to get a home of his own n the land. UILD HOMECROFTS AS NATION AL SAFEGUARDS. That the New Zealand system of and Taxation and Land Purchase nd Subdivision, and Advances to Set lers Act, shall be adopted In this 'ountry, to the end that land shall be ubdivided into small holdings in the ands of those who will till it for a ivelihood, and labor find occupation a the creation of homecrofts, which rill be perpetual safeguards against he political evils and social discontent esulting from the overgrowth of ities and the sufferings of unem loyed wage-earners. PROTECTION FOR THE AMER ICAN HOMECROFT. That Rural Settlement shall be ncouraged and the principle of Pro ection for the American Wageworker nd his Home applied directly to the lome byf the Exemption from Taxa ion of all improvements upon, and iso of all personal property, not ex eeding $2,500 in valve, used on and a connection with, every H~omeer~ft *r Rural Homestead of not more than en acres in extent, which the owner ceupies as a permanent home and ultivates with his own labor and so rovides therefrom all or part of the upport for a family. lNLARGEMENT OF AREA AVAIL ABLE FOR HOMEMAKING. .That the National government, s part of a comprehensive nation I policy of internal improvements or river control and regulation, ndl for the enlargement to the itmost possible extent of the rea of the country available for agri uiture and Homes on the Land, and 3r the protection of those Homes from ither flood or drouth, shall build not ,nly levees and revetments where ceded, and drainage works for the eclamation of swamp and overflowed ands, but shall also preserve existing orests, reforest denuded areas, plant ew forests, and build the great reser 'oirs and other engineering works ecessary to safeguard against over ow and .tave for beneficial use the ood waters that now run to waste. OPPORTUi1ITR AT HOME. endency to draw the manufacturing aterests into the great transportation cnters, the tide has flowed strongly oward the city and the smnan' town N tas had a hard struggle to retain its 'an. In this respect, however, the pendu Lm is, swinging back also. The con itions surrounding the work~men in ie cities, the lack of home life and ~e presence of accumulated vice, have emnonstrated to the satisfaction of very one that we will never reach our ighest industrial success until the verage workman is placed where he an have fresh air, a family, and a ome for that family. The small town, verything else being equal, is the lace for industries. A man with a ome, and who spends his evenings ith his family beautifying that. ome, is not only a better citizen, but a is worth infinitely more to his em oyer than his brother laborer who 1s no interest other than that he ads with his saloon companions and Sward politics. When the reformers have settled the dustrial labor questions they will not Scalling for less hours of work, but distributio~n of the hours of work. ix hours in the factory or the mine ad the balance at home working on a acre of ground may be made a >lution of the whole question between .bor and capital. Any man with a me and one acre of the earth's sur ice that he can call his own, and ith employment at fair wages during re or six hours of the day, need never ar want for himself or his family. nder such conditions his family can reared and educated and live under e advantages of a wholesome social