FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 145 



be the closest cooperation between the home and school. How can this 

 cooperation be brought about ? Frequently parents are urged to visit the 

 schools. This is all right and proper, but it is not enough. There must 

 be a closer relation than this. The teacher must know more about the 

 home life of her pupils, and the parents must know more about the whole 

 purpose and spirit, as well as the method, of the school. I have no doubt 

 that a great deal of good has been done by the joint meeting of teachers 

 and school officers. It seems to me that this is a very wise device, and one 

 that should be kept up. But so far as I can discover, altogether the most 

 promising development along this line is the so called "Hesperia Move- 

 ment," which originated in our own State, and the principle of which is 

 in operation in a number of counties of Michigan and has spread to other 

 states. The general plan, as you may already know, is to secure a meeting 

 of the teachers of a county with the farmers. This meeting may be held 

 once a year, as in Oceana county, where they have an annual meeting 

 attended by thousands, and secure for the platform speakers of national 

 reputation; or the meetings may be smaller and more frequent, as in 

 Kent county, where they hold five or six meetings a year in different parts 

 of the county. Usually there is a county organization formed which is 

 called a Teachers and Patrons' Association, with regular officers. Some- 

 times these meetings are held under the auspices of the Grange. It 

 doesn't matter so much how the work is organized so long as it is carried 

 on with some degree of system and persistence. These programs take 

 up the work of the school in a way that will interest both teachers and 

 farmers. They bring the teachers and farmers into closer touch socially 

 and intellectually. They disperse fogs of misunders-tandiug. They in- 

 spire to closer cooperation. They create mutual sympathy and under- 

 standing. And I cannot too heartily commend efforts along this line. 

 They are sure to result in bringing the teacher into closer touch with com- 

 munity life and with the social problems of the farm. And they are 

 almost equally sure to arouse the interest of the entire community, not 

 only in the school as an institution and in the possibilities of the work it 

 may do, but also in the work of that teacher who is for the time being 

 serving a particular rural school. 



4. A fourth method is by making the school house a meeting place for 

 the community', more especially for the intellectual and aesthetic activities 

 of the community. A good example of this kind of work is the John 

 Spry School, of Chicago. In connection with this school there is a 

 lecture course each winter; there is a musical society that meets every 

 Thursday evening; there is a men's club that meets every two weeks to 

 discuss municipal problems and the improvement of home conditions; 

 there is a women's club to study for general improvement and social 

 service; there is a mothers' council meeting every two weeks; there is a 

 literary and dramatic society, meeting every week, composed of members 

 of high school age, and studying Shakespeare particularly; there is a 

 dressmaking and aid society, meeting two evenings a week, to study the 

 cutting of patterns, garment making, etc. ; a food study and cooking club, 

 also meeting two evenings a week, an inventive and mechanical club, 

 meeting two evenings a week, and tending to develop the inventive 

 and mechanical genius of a group of young men ; an art club ; and a boys' 

 club, with music, games, reading lessons, reading of books and magazines, 

 and intended for boys of fourteen or fifteen years of age. You must 

 understand that these things are all under the direction of the school, 

 19 



