Missouri Home Makers' Conference. 569 



together to meet our own particular needs. To make these 

 needs plain to you involves the telling of some work attempted 

 and accomplished by our citizens. 



In the fall of 1909 the "street fair" craze seemed to take our 

 part of the world by storm. It was suggested by somebody 

 that one should be held at Elm, the village nearest the center 

 of our township. The fair was held and proved such a suc- 

 cess that the people present voted to make it an annual event. 



In February of last year County Superintendent R. H. 

 Boston called a meeting for the teachers, school boards and 

 patrons of the township at Elm. Among other subjects dis- 

 cussed at this meeting was the rural high school. Located as 

 we are 10 or 12 miles from any high school, it has been necessary 

 for the children to board away from home if they attended. 

 Those present became so interested in the matter that a later 

 meeting was called to discuss more fully ways and means for 

 building and maintaining a rural high school at Elm. 



A number of citizens, whose children had finished our eighth 

 grade work and were ready and anxious to go on, felt that they 

 could not afford to allow them to wait on the uncertainty of 

 voting consolidation for high school purposes. So they with 

 others formed a stock company, selling shares at $25 each, to 

 provide for the erection of the house. 



Up to this time the women had helped, mostly by talking 

 and urging the plans forward, but now it seemed the time had 

 come for more material aid to be given. This, we thought, 

 could be more effectually accomplished by organized effort 

 than in any other way. When the matter of organization for 

 women came to be talked about — mostly by telephone — so 

 many things presented themselves that might be helped by 

 co-operation on our part that the idea was gladly accepted, 

 and on May 12th, 1913, the Rural Improvement League of 

 Jackson Township came into existence. The extreme dry, hot 

 weather affected our plans very much last summer. Our people, 

 depending almost entirely upon agriculture for their living, 

 were especially hurt by the short crops and poor water supply 

 for stock. In the face of these conditions the league has put 

 a Waterbury heater and acetylene lights in our high school 

 building, besides several of the district schoolhouses have been 

 helped in matters of comfort and cleanliness. We felt that in 

 this way education would be helped by making the "workshops" 

 more agreeable. We also encouraged the preparation of school 



