16 THE CORN LADY 



Not all the homes are like this. Some are 

 farmed by renters, who look as though they 

 were not caring very much and as though 

 their corn would not go more than twenty 

 bushels to the acre. There are, evidently, 

 all kinds of people in this district. 



But, even the most run-down homes and 

 farms compare favorably with the school- 

 house and yard. The house needs paint- 

 ing; the coal house has holes in it; the fence 

 is falling down and it looks as though no 

 one cared very much whether it kept step 

 with the advance in country life or not. The 

 schoolhouse is not clean inside, either. The 

 director said he was soriy about this, but 

 could find no one to do the work. 



Such a school it is, for thirty-one bright 

 boys and girls. Just an ordinary country 

 school, such as you were director of twenty- 

 five years ago. Sometimes a better teacher 

 would come for a term and try to improve 

 conditions by making it an imitation of a city 

 school. People do not need to look further 

 than to just such a school as this, to know 

 why the young people are leaving the f arms 

 and crowding our cities. 



I am going to try, in my country school, 

 to teach the children in terms of country life. 



