DAIRY MEETING. 1 55 



'effective system of rural education until the schools are graded 

 and the children transported to those schools. There arise in 

 my mind at the moment all the objections you will raise to this 

 system. I must for lack of time brush them all aside by simply 

 saying that in practice it has worked out a splendid success, and 

 ■that nowhere among the hundreds of towns that have adopted 

 the system has a single town returned to the old way, in the 

 "broadest sense of that statement. 



But, my friends, I want to go one step farther with you. If 

 ■we are to transport these children to a central school, the topog- 

 raphy of towns, the convergence of roads for economy's pur- 

 poses, will be greatly interfered with by the little republics called 

 towns, or by town lines. I know it is not always wise to speak 

 the whole truth, but I see but one logical outcome of the whole 

 situation, and that is to sweep utterly away the township lines 

 in the state system of education, and make one district of the 

 state, and then organize the central school where roads con- 

 verge and where the topography of the ground and population 

 would force the natural site, of the school. And I believe not 

 only that the whole educational system of Elaine would cost no 

 more under such a method but that it would be at least several 

 fold as effective for the dollar as it is now. 



I can only present outlines of the broad subject which I have 

 selected. You ask me what we shall teach in those schools. I 

 want to say a little on this subject. I do not know, my friends, 

 what constitutes a good education. I have thought upon the 

 subject a great deal, but on being asked to define what consti- 

 tutes a good education I should give up the problem and say 

 that I not only do not comprehend myself what constitutes a 

 good education, nor do I believe that the twentieth century has 

 settled this problem. At the moment I am forced to say simply 

 this, — in my opinion no child should enter the public school at 

 the youthful age he now^ does. A sound body must be the 

 home of a strong mind. When it takes nine years to go from 

 the A, B, C start until you close up the grammar department, 

 and have to show for it onlv a little common school arithmetic, 

 a little language, a little physical geography, a little history, I 

 say to you here, and I do not think it is susceptible of challenge, 

 that nowhere along the domain of civil and industrial life is 

 there so little to show for nine years of work and energy as the 

 outcome of the nine years that carry our boys out of the gram- 



