FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 141 



RURAL SCHOOLS AS THEY ARE AND AS THEY SHOULD BE. 



The clpsing address on Thursday evening was by Prof. Orville T. 

 Bright, of Chicago, who gave an illustrated talk on "Rural Schools as 

 They are and as They should be." He showed on the screen, views of 

 tumbled-down school houses which seemed familiar to many of the audi- 

 ence. Many of them might be readily taken for woodsheds, as they were 

 not only devoid of any architectural beauty but were poorly lighted and 

 heated, and without means of ventilation. As a contrast, he showed a 

 number of modern school houses that, although inexpensive in construc- 

 tion, were up-to-date in every respect. He laid particular stress upon the 

 method of heating and ventilating the rooms and, while he favored the 

 furnishing of all schools with a library, pictures and the making of them 

 as homelike as possible, he ridiculed the charts and other "teacher's aids" 

 that are worked off upon school officers by many of the supply houses. 



TEACHEKS' INSTITUTE. 



The schools of Shiawassee county were closed on Thursday and Friday 

 to enable the teachers to attend the institute. On Thursday afternoon 

 and Friday forenoon they met as a separate section with Prof. O. L. 

 Bristol, of Corunna, county commissioner of schools, in the chair, and 

 joined the general institute for the latter part of Thursday afternoon and 

 on Thursday evening. Friday afternoon was spent visiting the schools of 

 Owosso. The appended papers were among those presented. 



THE RURAL SCHOOL AND THE FARM COMMUNITY. 



BY PRES. K. L. BUTTERFTELD, RHODE ISLAND AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



Among the great phenomena of our time is the growth of the school 

 idea — the realization of the part that the school plays in our civiliza- 

 tion and in the training of our youth for life. Without going into great 

 detail, or trying to trace precisely the stages by which this school idea 

 has made progress, we may say that there have been some five or six 

 different reasons given by public opinion why the public school should 

 exist. Our New England fathers started the school in order to teach 



