178 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and swings, without sacrifice of appearances. Often the school 

 property is so large that it could include half a dozen such 

 special playgrounds. We have but to begin it to find some feasi- 

 ble plan. 



If the palatial school and its park is reaction against the " ragged 

 beggar " of Whittier's lovely poem, sunning in the midst of the 

 blackberry vines of Hardscrabble Hill, it is a reaction that has gone 

 too far to suit a generation which loves to read Hosea Bigelow: 



" So the old schoobus is a place I choose 

 Afoi-e all others, ef I want to muse ; 

 I set down where I used to set, an 1 git 

 My boyhood back, an' better things with it — 

 Faith, Hope, an' sunthin', ef it isn't Cherrity, 

 It's want o' guile, an' thet's ez gret a rarity." 



If it may be replied, that is not the generation for whom school- 

 houses are now built, it is one which may interpret the wants of 

 its children by just such recollections. 



Another evil has grown out of the centralization of the schools. 

 The smaller schoolhouses formerly stood within convenient reach, 

 and by abandoning them we have forced many little children to walk 

 farther than they are able to walk. In the absence of street cars and 

 sidewalks this becomes a great hardship in extreme weather. In one 

 village in New York, out of an enrollment of fourteen hundred, 

 there was one month last year an average attendance of four hun- 

 dred. The new school building, which had cost seventy-five thou- 

 sand dollars, was more than two miles from some part of the district, 

 and there were no sidewalks; neither were there paved streets or 

 street lamps. In such circumstances a number of children are un- 

 able to get home to the noon meal, usually dinner, and most im- 

 portant. Where do they eat their luncheon ? In their seats, watched 

 by teachers, who are compelled unwillingly to take turns at this 

 duty, and who have also to eat a cold, unpalatable lunch in bad air 

 for a week at a time. After lunch there is an hour to be disposed of 

 by the children, but there is no place to play in except the base- 

 ment or the streets of the neighborhood. The teachers frequently 

 read them a story, that they may stretch their minds a little if not 

 their bodies. It is a painful sight — few more painful to me — to see 

 a crowd of young children having their recreation in one of these 

 basements. Running and loud talking are forbidden; a police of 

 teachers armed with symbols of authority and punishment keep the 

 restless little prisoners within bounds. 



Another objection to the central school is the rainy-day half- 

 session. Though the daily instruction may be managed so that the 

 pupils do not miss anything, it is still a fact that the majority of 



