276 



Bulletin 160. 



when it is worth liking. And when they like it, they learn. 

 The fanciest school apparatus will not atone for a charmless 

 school ground. A child should not be blamed for playing truant 

 if he is sent to school in a graveyard. Observe Fig. 23. 



It would seem that land is very precious. Very little of it 

 can be afforded for a school ground. A quarter of an acre of 

 good land will raise four bushels of wheat, and this wheat may 

 be worth three or four dollars a vear. We cannot afford to de- 









24. — A suggestion for a simple little schoolhouse. 



vote such valuable property to children. We can find a bit of 

 swamp, or a sand hill, or a treeless waste. The first district 

 school I taught was on a heartless hillside. The premises had two 

 or three disconsolate oaks, and an old barrel was stuck in the top 

 of one of them. The second school was on an island in a swamp. 

 The mosquitoes loved it. 



The school building is generally little more than a large box. 

 It has not even the charm of proper proportions. A different 

 shape, with the same cost, might have made an attractive 

 building. Even a little attention to design might make a great 



