Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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12 Pages-Part 2 ' l l 2PgsPr Pages 9 to 12.14 1ae9o2 TOL M- XLVIMI. NUMBB S5i. NEWBER~RY, SOUTH CAROLINA, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2.1, 1910.TWCAWEK$10AYA. LITERARY SOCIETIES. Organized in Newberry High School. Starting Out Well-Something About First Debate. Mention has been made in The Herald and News of the organization 0 two literary societies, one for the young ladies and one for the young gentlemen, in connection with the Newberry high school. These socie ties are for the purpose of training and cultivating the pupils in the mat ter of composition, debate and parlia mentary usage. They will serve a very excellent purpose if they are pro -perly conducted and it is gratifying to know that the members are already taking very great interest. The study of English and English composition is not given the importance in any of 'our schools or colleges that it deserves and, therefore, it is gratifying to know these forward steps in the Newberry A high school, and it will be a pleasure to The Herald and News to encourage the young men and the young women in every effort that looks to the im provement in English composition. After the election of officers and the organization of the societies, the first meeting was held last Friday afternoon and the young men went right into the discussion of a live and practical subject. The question for debate at the meeting Friday was: "Resolved, That the rapid growth of American cities is detrimental to the best interest of the nation." The affirmative of the question was maintained by Mr. W. G. Houseal, Jr., and as evidence that he had given -some thoLght and preparation to the -subject, The Herald and News is per -nitted to present his argument in favor of the side of the question es poused by him. The following is his argument: The census returns which are now being published show a remarkably S-rapid growth in the population of many American cities. By the rapid growth of cities we mean a growth that is greater than the natural in crease. This means that some other place, probably to a great extent the country around, is being depopulated, or that foreign countries are contri .buting to this growth. Agriculture is the backbone of a , nation. It is the basis of all industry. "A prosperous agricultural interest is to a nation what good digestion is to a man. All progress, national prosper ity and individual existence depend upon the tilling of the soil and its pro per care." Any influence that works .against the agricultural interests is detrimental to the best interests of the nation. When cities increase by fo'reign immigrants and these people are congested in cities it is not con - ducive to national welfare. It is ire quently impossible for a large num ber of immigrants to find employment in cities at once. Poverty, overcrowd ing, and idleness is conducive to crime and not good citizenshp. If the immi-. grants would go to the country and till the soil instead of crowding in cities it would be for the best inter ~ests of the nation. It is conceded by physicians and scientists that the crowding of peo ple in the houses of cities with lack of fresh air and outdoor exercise leads to bad health, bad morals and tad citizenship.' Some one has said "the wealth of a ration, the character of its people, tin quality and permanence of its in stitutions are all dependent upon a so:>nd and sufficient agricultural ft uindation; not armies or navies or commerce or diversi:y of manufacture, or anything other than the farm is te anchor which will hold through tae storms of time that sweep all else awy." The opposite side was maintained ~by Mr. Jas. Kinard and he presented the following argument: There has been. much discussion on the problem of imn igration. The ar rival of millions of foi g,aers in this country every year is one of the chief causes of the rapid increase in popu lation of our big cities. Most of the immigrants go to the cities to live, but some few go to small farms to live. Many very prominent men of our country today are opposed to im migration on the ground that the ~ reat majority of foreigners are too lliterate and ignor.!m to be taught kthe true principles of self-government nd so they can ot be civilized as na tive born Americans can be. They further argue that nearly all the an archists, and "blackmailers" are from foreign countries. While these thing may be true, why not look at the other side of the ques tion? Some of the very best and noblest men have sprung up from foreign ancestors such as Scotch, Irish, German, etc. Why not put certain restrictions on the immigrants coming into this country? By these the undesirable element would be cut out. Statistics have shown that a large part of the foreigners in this country has been civilized and Christianized as well as the Americans have been and are now enjoying all the privileges of a citizen of the United States. The recent census taken by the gov ernment shows a great increase in the population of our largest cities since the last census of 1900. The population of New York was found to be over 7,000,000. Chicago ranks second with a population of 2, 185,283; New Bedford, Mass., 96,652. and Birmingham, Ala., 132,685. This remarkable increase in the population of the United States shows that the people are appreciating more and more the advantages of the city over the farm. There are various reason for this: 1. The city has better educational institutions than the rural districts. 2. The railroads entering a city fur nish means of conveyance to and from the city. 3. T-here are better streets in the city than the rough roads through the country. The growth of the American cities, though very rapid does not injure the best interests and welfare of the American people. This is what is needed more than anything else to make our United States the grandest and most powerful nation on the face of the globe. The temperance unions, the civic associations, and various other reli gious organizations are making our cities standards of purity and cleanli ness which could be very well copied by some of the European nations. Our cities are growing annually in wealth, power and commercial indus tries. If all the. citizens would get to gether and pull together what a great nation we would be! It's a plan well worth trying and the first step toward it is to better the city's interests as well as the country's. The Herald and News will be de lighted to print items from both of the societies of the high school and is ready and willing to encourage both societies in every way possible. An Extraordinary Cast. Manager George H. Brennan has provided a remarkable company of players for Thomas Dixon's new drama, "The Sins of the Father," which will be presented here at the opera house on Friday, October 28. Among the principals are Mrs. Char les G. Craig and Arthur J. Pickens, the best black-face comedians in America; Warren Conlan, the former Shakespearean star; Ethel Wright and Robert Barton, both -- ~hom were in big New York prodn. .ns in which they enacted leading roles. The character of the octoroon, who plots the mischief in the white man's fam ily, is assumed by Lydia Knott. With a cast filled with names 'like these, "The Sins of the Father" will be the real dramatic treat of the season. An Anxious Time. Lippincott's. Mr. Broughton, the English artist, while sketching in the Alps, was one day in search of a suitable back ground of dark pines for a picture he had planned. He found at last the precise situation he was seeking, and. best of all, there happened to be a pretty detail in the figure of an old woman In the foreground. "I asked the old lady," said Mr. Brougbr on, "to remain seated until I had made a sketch of her. She as sented. but in a few minutes asked me how long I should be. 'Only a quarter of an hour,'I answered reas suringly. "Three minutes or so later, she again asked me-this time with mani rest anxiety--if I should be much longer. "'Oh, not long,' I answered. 'But why do you ask so anxiously?' "'Oh. it's nothing,' she sadly an -wed nly I'm sitting on an ant THE CONON SCHOOLS. Some Interesting Facts in Relation to the Schools of Newberry From Report of Supt. Wheeler. Superintedent of Education J. S. Wheeler has completed his statistical and financial report of the condition of the public schools of Newberry county and has forwarded it to the State superintendent of education. Some interesting figures may be ob tained from this report. The condi tion of the public schools in Newberry county has been very much improved in the last few years and the schools have been so conducted that it has been possible to increase in many cases the salary of the teachers and run the schools for longer terms and also to pay cash each month and carry a balance. This report covers the scholastic year from July 1, 1909, to June 30, 1910. There are a number of special school districts In Newberry county which levy supplementary tax for the maintenance of the schools. The fol lowing are the districts that levy an extra tax, giving the number of mills and the amount the levy raises: Newberry, No. 1, 4 mills.. ..$8,795.95 Utopia, No. 10, 2 mills.. .. .. 141.56 Johnstone, No. 12, 3 mills. .. 484.10 Prosperity, No. 14, 2 mills.. 666.12 Big Creek, N.n. 20, ? mills.. . 93.24 Pomaria, No. , 1-2 mill... 46.80 Little Mountain, No 30, 3 mills 196.51 Excelsior, No. 35, 2 mills.. 200.61 Chappells, No. 39, 2 mills.. 415.23 Whitmire, No. 52, 2 mills.... 966.17 Zion, No. 56, 2 mills. ..... .67.09 The twelve districts raised a total of $12,073.38, in addition to the regu lar 3 mills constitutional tax. The total amount paid for teachers and all other expenditures in the county is $41,438.59, and the county carries a balance of $10,071.57. Of this amount the white schools re ceived a total of $33,816.05; negro $7,628.58. The average annual salary paid to the men teachers, white, is $483.32; negro, $126,59. The average salary paid women teachers was $300.87, and $104.87, negro. The white teachers in the county received a total of $30,234.80 as against $7,316.25 to the negro teachers. In addition to the amount paid for teachers, there was several thousand dollars expenditure for repairs to school buildings and for incidentals and fuel. The proportion of women to men teachers among the whites is' much larger than of women to men among the negroes. For instance, the total salary paid to men teachers amounts to $6,766.46, and to the women $23, 468.34 for the whites, and $2,911.50 for the men and $4,404.75 for the women for the negroes. For'furniture and apparatus for the schools, there was a total expenditure of $7,627.50. The average number of weeks for the town schools for the whites was 32 and for the country 24. The average for the county 28 weeks. The total value of school houses and grounds is put down at $52,479.99 for the whites and $6,931.34 for the neg roes. The average number of weeks for the negro schools in the town is put down at 19 and in the country, 15. The total attendance upon the white schools is put down at 2,728, and the to'al attendance upon the negro schools is 5,329. During the year ending June 30, 1910, Johnstone academy, No. 12 voted off the special tax of three mills, and Trinity, No. 45, voted on a tax of two mills. The schools in this county are in much better condition than they have been in some years and more interest is being taken in the cause of educa tion. Mfaking Liquor The Issue. The contest for the speakership in the house of representatives between the Hon. M. L. Smith, of Kershaw, Dr. Olin Sawyer, of Georgetown, and Dr. Wyche, of Newberry, is growing quite interesting. The effort is already be ing made to draw the lines on the lo cal option and prohibition issue. There seems to be no getting rid of the liquor question, and the qualifi cations of the candidates for prac:i cally all offices and positions of honor are subordinated to this one issue. In some counties they have even elected uperintendents of education on the li ,uor question, and zhat was about th imt of poliia fanli5 hne-Sumt n MR. DIXON'S WORKSHOP. Word Picture of Playwright Who Wrote "The Sins of the Father." In the upper part of New York City, near the Hispanic Museum and the park where the naturalist Audubon made the first collection of American birds, is a roadway leading off into green fields. On a crest overlooking the Hudson river to the west and fac ing a tangle of wild woodland to the east, stands the home of Thomas Dixon. Here he wrote "The Sins of the Father," which will be produced at the opera house on Friday, October 24. It is characteristic of the Southern author's love of Nature that he chose so un-cityfied a spot for his dwelling. Only three blocks away are the bee hives of New York, the great apart ment houses accommodating fifty to a hundred families to a building. The under ground trains roar and rumble just out of hearing. To the midnight worker on the lone hilltop the only sounds are the night. voices of owls and crickets or the occasional blast of tug and steamboat passing up or down the river. Mr. Dixon gets home at 6 o'clock in the evening. After dinner he pilots his high-power limousine for a fif teen-mile spin along the Riverside Drive. At 8 p. m. he is at his desk. Mrs. Harriet Bussey Dixon, a devoted helpmeet,is his amanuensis. There is no time limit to the labor of composi tion. When Mrs. Dixon becomes sleepy or fatigued, she retires to her room; but the playwright works on and on forging into words the brain Images that demand expression until a 'godly pile of manuscript has been heaped up and the graying dawn gives the signal for bed. The author sleeps soundly until 10 o'clock, has breakfast, reads his mail. and then goes to his downtown studio which he reaches at noon. The studio is as characteristically Southern as the home. It consists of two large rooms atop an old-fashioned office building, in the publishing house dis trict. They face South, and the sun floods them light and cheer on bright afternoons. Here Mr. Dixon receives visitors, correc,s the manuscript of the night before, and plans out the subsequent scenes of the play. Endowed with a rugged constitu tion and requiring no stimulant of narcotic or liquor to drive him, the playwright works twelve or fourteen hours daily. He formed the habit of night writing while pastor of the People's Baptist church across the way from his present studio. In the mood, Mr. Dixon is capable of ex tremely rapid compositions For ex ample, the first draft of "The Sins of 'the Father" was completed in twelve days. Weeks and months were after wards occupied in the labor of polish ing and revision, but the entire scheme of the play came, as it were. by inspiration. In appearance Mr. Dixon has chang ed very little from the tall, striking figure, wIth strongly chiselled fea tures and steel-gray hair, that South ern audiences know so well. As his tasks have piled up and the dena-ids of puolishiers and theatrical managers for his plays and novels have b'ec.i1e unceasing, he Is seen less fr.eat.uy in public than he was a few years ago. U.e * * * * * S * * * * * * * THE LAYMEN'S JOB. * * * * By Rev. J. B. Branch. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The raising of the proposed endow me~nt of $150,000 for the Thornwell orphanage on the 9th of December is a .job for the laymen for two reasons: 1. They will be donors largely. 2. The good friends of the orphanage in Darlington county took the mat-er out of the hands of the church so far as their part was concerned and rais ed as their share of the $150,000 the sum of $2,000. Their share would oroperly have been $1,200 for there are only 400 Presbyterians in that coun:y, but they added $800 to that ~or good measure, and it was the kind of good measure that helps the or Thanage and that the orphanage ap rreciates. We are going to ask laymen in all )ur churches on the 9th day of De 'omber to nass a suheeriptionl list a'nd d .argm enhbscriptions as possible for the orphanage endowment. We believe that the Presbyteihians are going to swell the endowment fund that day. We are needing it badly. It takes $12,000 a year to pay the salaries and take care of the repairs and insurance of the orphanage. Dr. Jacobs has to raise that sum every year along with the sum for the sup port fund. It is hoped that we will be able to raise the '$150,000 that will be needed in order to pay these run ning expenses. The support of the children will ever remain on the heart of the church. Plans are being pushed to get lay men in every congregation interested so that they will go forth that day of the 9th of December and see their friends and neighbors for the endow ment. We nope that it will be push ed with vigor. We have a great many friends and they are going to stand by us now. Also we wish to get that $5,000 offered by the Atlanta friend, who expects us to secure $20,000 by the last of the year, when he will give us the amount he offers. That must not get away from us. Remember that the 9th of Decem ber is Thornwell Orphanage Endow ment Day! First Fox Hunt of Season. Mr. L. W. Floyd asked three or four of his city friends to come up to his plantation and go on a fox hunt with him. Messrs. L. W. Floyd, H. H. E., N. G., H. H. A. and E. M. E., expect ing a fine race, went up to the planta tion Sabbath evening and after a good supper retired early in order that they might have a good night's rest and get an early start Monday morn ing. At day-break, after eating their breakfast, the hunters started out on their hunt on horseback. After they had ridden about a mile one of the dogs began barking, but Mr. Floyd told the boys to be quiet that the dog was young and it might only be a rab bit that he was chasing, but that if the old dogs joined in the chase for them to exercise their lungs to their hearts' content as the old dogs would not run a rabbit. Presently all the dogs joined in the chase. Mr. P. A. and Mr. H. H. E. followed the dogs while the rest of the party rode about a mile to the public road to see Mr. P. A. and Mr. H. H. E. chase the fox across the road. Mr. P. A. and Mr. H. H. E., while in the chase, came to a very muddy cow-path across a branch. Mr. P. A. went first and succeeded to get across the mud hole all right, but when Mr. H. H. E. tried to cross his girth gave way and he and his saddle slid off in the mud and water. After getting out of the mud and getting things ready to start again, it was found that the dogs were gone, so they started in the direction 'of the road to see if they could hear anything of them. Mr. Floyd and his party reached the road ahead of tha dogs, but the dogs soon came in full chase, but instead of seeing the fox as they expected, they saw only a big hog. As soon as they could stop the dogs from chas ing the hog, they began to look around for Mr. P. A. and Mr. H. H. E., who soon came up, and when asked where they had been, Mr. P. A. told them that Mr. H. H. E. had been in the branch trying to make a Bap:ist of himself. Now, if you do not want t feel that left hand ot H. H. E.'s you had better not mention his be coming a Baptist in the mud hole or the chase after the hog. Thus ended Mr. Floyd's first fox hunt. X A Poser for the Preacher. A clergyman, who enjoyed the sub stantial benefits of a fine farm, was slightly taken down on one occasion by his Irish plowman, who was sit ting on his plow in the wheat field. The reverend gentleman, being an conomist, said, with great serious ness: "John, wouldn't it be a good plan for you to have a pair of pruning shears here and be cutting a few brushes along the fence while the horses are resting a short time?" John considered a moment, and then said: "Look here: Wouldn't it be well, sir, for, you to have a tub of potatoes in the pulpit and while they were singing to peel 'em a while to be JA k.adyr the not ?"-San Francisce. * * * CLEMSON EXTENSION WORK. * Article 22. * * * Realizing the need of industrial education, the State board placed the subject of agriculture in the public school curriculum. The good to be derived from this step can not, at this early date, be estimated. The average child, when it enters school, knows more about agriculture than any other profession, and most of them go back (to this calling when they hafe finished the public school course and the sad part is, they go back little better fitted to carry on their work than when they entered schoc. They have their minds filled with facts about almost every con ceivable subject except the important one, the one by which they are to derive a living. The interest in the teaching of ag riculture is but a part of a much larg er question, the movement for teach ing by means of things that have come within the student's experience, and for teaching something that will be of some material use to the student when school days are over. Unless our education is of some practical use, time is ill spent in obtaining it. When the subject was placed in the public school course, very few of the teachers were prepared to teach it since %their training had not included it. Realizing the state of affairs, the trustees of Clemson college created the position of rural school agricul turist. The work of this position is to assist the teacher in any way pos sible in presenting the subject of ag riculture to the pupil. This is done by cooperating with the teacher, vis iting the school at regular intervals, and giving help by suggestions or any other way by which the subject may be presented to the pupil in a helpful manner. The plan at present is to select a few schools in different sec tions of the State, and visit each of these once a month, staying a day or two days if necessary and work with both teacher and pupils. It will not be possible for one man to work with all 'the schools of the State, but by working with as many as possible in different sectins, others may profit by the work of those visited. Since the principal thing in teaching is to keep the pupil interested (for if we can keep the interest up, the process of obtaining the knowledgb will fol low naturally), the visits to tha schools will be to work with the pu pils as well as the teacher. This work with the pupil will be of different na ture as circums'ances differ. With some, clubs of an agricultural nature wll be organized and prizes awarded. With others contests of different na ture will be given, as for instance, corn judging contests. With still others, reading courses will be given, and essays written by the pupil on agrcultural subjects./ The underlying reason why such teaching is desirable is because it brings the school in touch with the home life. As Mr. Warren of Cornell says, "The teaching of agriculture will make better farmers, who will make more money," and it is only by this means that we can build up our schools and make our country life what it should be-the most pleasant, profitable, and independent of all lives. Since it will not be possible, as above stated, to visit all the schoo'Is of the State, it will be necessary for the teacher, or any one interested, to make application for the work. This can be done by writing the superin tendent of the extension work, Clem son College, S. C., as this work is di rectly under the extension division. C. B. Haddon, Rural School Agriculturist, Clemson College, S. C. Agreed at Last. Tom-Had any scraps with your girl lately? Dick-No, we're great friends now. Tom-How's that? Dick-We've broken off our engage ment.-Catholic Stanard and Times. Took Big Chances. "After all, a man who marries takes a big chance." '"You're right. I have a friend who contracted a severe case of hay fever immediately after he had nar.~da g rnas widow.