The Bulletin. 53 



The isolation of the country home, the lack of recreation and social enjoy- 

 ment militates also against country life in the minds of the youug, both boys 

 and girls. 



In how many farm homes do you suppose the recreation of the children is a 

 matter of much conceru? How many fathers did you ever hear encouraging 

 their boys to go to a ball game? Did you ever hear a mother say "there is 

 plenty of work to do if she wants exercise"? Did you ever hear a, parent say 

 that the children were not sent to school to play? 



The question in the rural mind should be changed from "How can I get 

 away?" to "How can I make conditions such that I shall want to stay or be 

 contented if I have to stay?" 



North Carolina has for some time had the unenviable distinction of standing 

 low down in illiteracy. A decided effort has been made by the authorities to 

 raise the standard, and with gratifying results, but the desired end is not yet 

 attained. The trouble is that too few are working, compared with the amount 

 of work to be done. There is not that support from the people as a whole that 

 would appreciably hasten the work. And why? Right here is an open door 

 for the Woman's Institute. One of the first things to emphasize is the neces- 

 sity of regular attendance, and with this the mother has most to do. The 

 brightest child can make but poor progress if kept out or allowed to remain out 

 of school a day or two in every week. The best teacher and course of study fails 

 under such conditions. State and county may furnish the best equipment at 

 command, but it is with the mothers to see that the children take advantage of 

 the opportunities offered. They can at least see to it that the children are at 

 the place appointed, even if they cannot compel them to study diligently. We 

 are bound to admit that chances are in favor of the boy or girl who is there. 

 Mothers can see to it that for no trivial thing the children are kept at home. 

 But before mothers will make it a point to keep their children in school regu- 

 larly they must be made to realize the necessity of such attendance. 



Our public-school system is undergoing a change — better teachers, better 

 salaries, better houses, better everything. Graded schools are being estab- 

 lished in every county, built up on the basis of local taxation. People are be- 

 ginning to think of having a plan of work and working the plan, and even 

 improving the plan as the years go by. Education is no longer confined. to the 

 mastery of the three R's, as in the past, important as these are. Gradually it 

 is taking on a broader meaning. Slowly the idea is growing that the dead past 

 is not more important than the living present. A prominent educator of Wake 

 County defines education as "putting the mind in sympathy with conditions 

 around." You may give this your own interpretation. 



There is certainly a growing demand for what the scientist terms "coming 

 into the knowledge of your surroundings," of getting acquainted with the things 

 about us — the birds, animals, fishes, flowers, trees, insects, rocks — for instruc- 

 tion in agriculture, manual training and domestic science. Now, I believe that 

 the country school needs all of these. We have too long been educating our 

 children not for but away from their surroundings, practically driving them 

 away to the towns and cities. In a recent issue of The Progressive Farmer is 

 this quotation from Dr. G. Stanley Hall : "The germ and extract of as many 

 trades as possible must be introduced into the common schools." 



Put your ear to the ground and listen. These things are coming. Manual 

 training may be left largely to the city schools, but agricultural training will 

 naturally come to the country, while domestic science belongs to both city and 

 country. We can hardly think of a subject more important to our girls than 

 domestic science. Everybody eats. There is no way to get out of it except to 

 die. In the distribution of the world's work it is women's to prepare the food, 

 and it is but reasonable to say that they should know their business, rich and 

 poor — the rich, that they may have their cooking done properly ; the poor, that 

 they may do it properly. We want a dignity given to the kitchen work that it 

 does not have at present. We want to hasten the time when milady's biscuits 

 will no longer add to domestic discord, and what we eat will be what we need. 

 We want to get rid, as soon as we can, of the idea, now largely prevalent, that 

 if a man cannot do anything else he can farm, and if a woman cannot do any- 

 thing else she can cook — the two professions which, of all others, it seems to me, 



