Tazewell Girl Wins 



State Essay Contest 



Phyllis Jean Wertsch, a 13-year old 

 pupil of the Lone Tree school near Del- 

 avan in Tazewell county, won the state 

 I.A.A.-Farm Bureau calender essay con- 

 test. 



Second place went to Grace Higbee, 

 17-year old student of the Kirkwood 

 high school in Warren county, and third 

 to Thelma Malsbury of Lowder in Sanga- 

 mon county. 



Honorable mention for the excellency 

 of their essays was given Lucille Wright 

 of Riverton, Sangamon county; Mary Jo 

 Welbourne of Barry, Pike county; and 

 Millard Phillips of the Mt. Pulaski 

 • township high school in Logan county. 



The first three prizes are as follows: 

 (1) f50 17-jewel wrist watch, (2) 

 leather traveling bag, and (3) fountain 

 pen and pencil set. 



The decision of the judges, Frank 

 Ridgway, agricultural editor of the Chi- 

 cago Tribune; Floyd Keepers, managing 

 editor, Prairie Farmer; and Giflford 

 Ernest, agricultural writer, Chicago 

 Daily News, was given foUoWing a care- 

 ful reading of the essays) submitted 

 from 19 counties entered ii/ the contest. 



The first prize essay/ appealed to 

 the judges because of its originality, 

 fine sentiment and clean-cut, straight- 

 forward expression. "This essay is out- 

 standing for a girl of 13 years," said 

 Mr. Ridgway, "and clearly shows that 

 the author followed her own original 

 style and thought in writing the story. 



"There were many other good essays 

 in addition to those mentioned above. 

 Some were perhaps better in expression 

 and diction than the prize winners, but 

 all things considered we gave special 

 emphasis to originality on the part of 

 the writer in expressing his or her own 

 thoughts." 



Approximately 500 essays were writ- 

 ten by Illinois farm boys and girls in the 

 I. A. A. — Farm Bureau calendar essay 

 contest. The contestants were allowed 

 to choose their own subject based on the 

 information given in the 12-page 1935 

 calendar designed and published by the 

 Department of Information. More than 

 55,000 calendars were distributed. 



Farm Adviser S. G. Turner reported 

 that 136 essays were written in their 

 calendar essay contest. W. P. Miller of 

 Kendall county reported 85, W. D. Mur- 

 phy of Edwards county 58, H. N. Myers 

 of DeWitt county 42, R. J. Laible of 

 McLean county 30, John Q. Scott of Clay 

 county 27, N. H. Anderson of Logan 

 county 25, etc. Other counties which 

 participated are Warren, Sangamon, 

 Pike, Tazewell, Menard, Knox, Effing- 

 ham, Peoria, Whiteside, Mercer, Winne- 

 bago and Madison. 



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/ 



Phyllis Jean Wertsch 



"I am of the opinion that the essay 

 contest was very effective in calling at- 

 tention to the calendar," reports S. G. 

 Turner, Livingston county farm adviser. 

 "As I have glanced through the essays 

 I would judge that considerably more 

 than half are from non-Farm Bureau 

 members' children. I was surprised to 

 find how grateful the school teachers 

 apparently were for receiving the cal- 

 enders. In six years the only letters of 

 appreciation that have been received by 

 this office were from rural school teach- 

 ers in thanks for their calendars." 



In Kendall county, the superintendent 

 of schools recommended the essay con- 

 test to the rural school teachers as part 

 of a local civics study. The 85 essays 

 were written by pupils attending couri- 

 try schools in the nine townships of this 

 small county. "In securing this response 

 we sent each school in the county a cal- 

 endar and wrote a letter to the teacher 

 and one member of the school board tell- 

 ing about the prizes and giving the 

 rules," said Farm Adviser W. P. Miller. 



County winners whose essays were en- 

 tered in the state contest were as fol- 

 lows: Sangamon county — Thelma Mals- 

 bury, Lowder and Lucille Wright, age 17, 

 Riverton; Warren county — Grace Higbee, 

 17, Kirkwood; Tazewell county — Phyllis 

 Jean Wertsch, 13, Delavan; Pike county 

 — Mary Jo Welbourne, Barry; Knox 

 county — Frances Stevens, Maquon; Me- 

 nard county — Richard Primm, 15, Tallula; 

 Logan county — Millard Phillips, Mt. Pu- 

 laski; Effingham county — Ernest Schott- 

 man, Montrose; Peoria county — Kenneth 

 Bowton, Trivoli; Whiteside county — 

 Claire Gsell, Morrison; Mercer county — 

 Harriet Hofer, Aledo; Livingston county 

 — Ruth Bennett, Pontiac; Kendall coun- 

 ty — Kenneth Naden, Piano; Clay county 

 — Norma Wieler, Clay City; Edwards 



county — Bernadine Byford, age 13, Al- 

 bion; McLean county — Daniel Moore, 

 Colfax; Winnebago county — Kenneth 

 Goldey, Durand; Madison county — Mar- 

 guerite Wilhelm, Collinsville; DeWitt 

 county — Ernest Thorp. 



FIRST PRIZE ESSAY 



Successful Cooperation Results In 

 a Happier Farm Life 



By Phyllis Jean Wertsch, Age 1.3, 

 Delavan, Tazewell County 



Farm families need to learn all about 

 successful cooperation. Being situated 

 differently than their town friends, they 

 are more dependent on each other. They 

 need to know and understand each other 

 thoroughly in order to get the most co- 

 operation in the home. Talents need to 

 be developed so that pleasant pastimes 

 may be at hand when there are idle mo- 

 ments. Pastimes that involve each other 

 also call for cooperation. The farm family 

 must not only learn to play together in 

 a cooperative way but must also learn 

 \ the value of working together — not only 

 to perform his own work but to be will- 

 ing to help others when needed. To be 

 happily successful each member of the 

 home must be willing, unselfish, coura- 

 geous, ambitious, punctual and thorough 

 in whatever he does. But to love each 

 other in the home isn't enough for suc- 

 cessful cooperation. The farm family 

 needs contact with people outside the 

 home. They need church connections to 

 keep them firm in their ideals. No home, 

 whether in town or on the farm, can be 

 happily successful without religious in- 

 fluence. They also need to belong to 

 other organizations which further de- 

 velop their business ability, social, and 

 physical life. The father of the family 

 should by all means be a member of the 

 Farm Bureau. Through their coopera- 

 tive efforts, the farm family saves 

 money, by buying such things as seed, 

 gasoline, and hog serum. The Farm Bu- 

 reau stands back of the farmer in Gov- 

 ernment affairs relating to the welfare 

 of the farm family. It is an organiza- 

 tion that helps the farmer to help him- 

 self. The mother in the home needs to 

 become a member of the Home Bureau. 

 She needs outside contacts also and can 

 be a more intelligent mother through 

 Home Bureau education, where coopera- 

 tion is the keynote. There should be 

 children in every farm family to com- 

 plete the happiness of the home. As they 

 grow older the 4-H clubs await them. 

 Through this organization, again there 

 is cooperation and outside interests which 

 develop young folks and make them 

 more worthy. The farm family who 

 (Continued on page 25, Col. 3) 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



