228 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



me like an inspiration. I thought of the student who showed his lamp chim- 

 ney to a certain college professor and asked why there was always a dark streak 

 around the center ? The professor gave a philosophical explanation, but the 

 student told him it was because his finger was not long enough to reach any 

 farther. I thought the institute did not want a scientific answer, but simply a 

 woman's idea, so I will tell what I know about "The Farmers' Kelations to 

 the District School." Usually the school is but a haphazard relation of all 

 the farmers in the district except the school officers. The honors or emolu- 

 ments of a district school officer are not so great that, in a struggle to secure 

 them, they should cause any unpleasantness in the neighborhood. We are all 

 interested in having prosperous schools, and to promote the public good should 

 be the chief aim of the school officers. Tlie relationship is not always all it 

 should be. Sometimes the board select the text books to be used ; they pro- 

 vide a school house furnished. When sumptuously furnished they are provided 

 with a dictionary, besides the desk, chair, stove, water pail, and dipper, which 

 are found in all school-houses. After satisfying themselves that there is plenty 

 of fuel, and that the broken window panes are replaced by whole ones, they 

 rest in self-complacency, thinking their duty is well done, and that their rela- 

 tionship to the district school is at an end, to be reestablished only when an 

 order is to be drawn on the assessor. The parents should occasionally visit the 

 school and by their presence encourage both teacher and pupils, thus showing 

 that they feel an interest in their progress in learning. If, when visiting a 

 school, you see the teacher look up over his glasses at some of the mischievous 

 lads and he should happen to say, "Boys, I'm a watchin' on ye," you will find 

 that there is a defect somewhere, and as if you did not wish to own any rela- 

 tionship. It is of the greatest importance to have careful, conscientious 

 teachers that the children under their care may receive the proper training, 

 both by precept and example. The moral discipline that should be commenced 

 in the home should be continued and enforced by the teacher; eradicate all 

 false ideas from the head and heart; if the child can learn the principles of 

 justice, the man will practice them ; the school cannot teach religion, but it 

 can teach purity and honesty. 



As fifty-seven per cent of the population of the United States are engaged 

 in agricultural pursuits it is necessary that this class should receive good 

 educational advantages that civilization may make continued advancement. 

 By law it is the duty of parents to send children between the ages of eight and 

 fourteen years to a public school for at least twelve weeks in each year, but as 

 parents in general want their children to become educated, they do not have 

 to be compelled to send them to school. It is injudicious to have a child who 

 is slow to learn take history till a habit of study is formed ; if undertaken 

 before the mind can comprehend it it will be difficult to overcome their 

 aversion to it. The same may be said of grammar and some other studies. 

 Where the child has a natural taste for any particular study ic can be com- 

 menced earlier than a branch for which they have no liking. On any occasion 

 when extra help is needed at home the children must, of course, stay out to 

 help, as such an interruption in their studies would stimulate them in their efforts 

 to be smart, and learn in one day what the others had learned in their absence ; 

 and it would serve as a means of discipline to the teacher in learning patience 

 to bear other ills of life as they may overtake her; then in after years, should 

 she ever be called upon to write an essay for a farmers' institute, she may be 

 able to bear the interruptions and overcome the obstacles that are in her way, 

 and remain "Calm and unruffled as the summer sea." The world is a school 



