Preserve the Home Life 49 



what provision can be made for continuing its 

 education during the next four to six years ? 

 Two or more districts might be joined to form 

 one, for graded school purposes. On every farm 

 is, or should be, a spare horse and a light 

 wagon ; a few dollars would provide a stable 

 near the school building. Such an arrangement 

 would permit the children to drive to and from 

 the central school, although the distance might 

 be two or three miles. All this means that the 

 children will be around the family fireside in the 

 evening instead of on the street, as is too fre- 

 quently the case when they are sent to the vil- 

 lage or city school and remain during the week. 

 All this keeps the boys and girls in sj^mpathy. 

 and healthful touch with home life and their 

 parents, until character has been strengthened 

 by age and knowledge. Here, in these country 

 and village graded schools, the home life, with 

 its restraints- and duties, is preserved. Only the 

 mentally strong or the courageous and aspiring 

 will seek the halls of higher learning, from 

 which, if they tend to go astray or neglect their 

 work, they are quickly returned to the bosom of 

 their families. If the central graded school is 

 impracticable in some cases, then a few families 

 might join and employ a private instructoi' ; this 

 would be far cheaper and more satisfactory than 

 to send the children away from home. 



